The 24-story Monaco Tower at the shuttered Riviera Hotel & Casino is imploded on June 14, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AFP Photo)
Las Vegas:
The Riviera Hotel and Casino - the Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its ties to organized crime as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's mobster past - exited the scene early Tuesday with a cinematic implosion, complete with fireworks.
A series of explosions demolished the 24-story Monaco Tower around 2:30 am, with the building crumbling from the sides and then into the middle, kicking up a mountain of dust. A fireworks display erupted moments before the demolition.
"The Riv" closed in May 2015 after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip. The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, spent $42 million to level the 13-building property.
A twitter user posted a video of the moment the casino was brought down:
Officials said the Monte Carlo Tower will be imploded in August. The tourism agency bought the 2,075-room property that spans 26 acres last year for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in related transaction costs, with plans to expand its Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Riviera's implosion marks the latest kiss goodbye to what's left of the relics of Vegas' mobster past.
"Ironically, The Riviera is as famous for its imaginary self as much as its actual self," said Geoff Schumacher of the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also known as the Mob Museum, in Las Vegas.
Most of its contemporaries are long gone, with only the Tropicana and Flamingo casinos still in business. The Flamingo has been completely rebuilt at its original location, but the Tropicana still has pieces of its original building, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip, said Michael Green, a Nevada historian and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos, starting the decade before. They skimmed gambling profits to send back home to pay for their gangs' illegal enterprises: illegal betting, drugs, prostitution and murder.
Mobsters were known to have controlled the money-counting at the most famous casinos in their day, including the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust - all of which have already disappeared from the Strip.
"The Riviera was and always was the Chicago outfit's crown jewel in the desert," Schumacher said.
A classic mob joint, the Riviera's place in that seedy time is probably outranked by the Flamingo, historians said. That casino was run by Bugsy Siegel, regarded as the most historically significant mob figure from that era.
State and federal crackdowns on organized crime cleaned up the casinos in the 1970s and 1980s.
Hollywood's version of the past, however, would hoist the Riviera to the top.
Three of the most famous movies ever filmed in Las Vegas used the Riviera as a backdrop, including the Rat Pack's original 1960 "Ocean's 11," the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Casino," the 1995 movie based on Vegas mobsters Frank Rosenthal and Anthony Spilotro during their 1970s heyday at the Stardust.
More recently, it was featured in "The Hangover" in 2009.
The Riviera also pioneered the business model that helped Vegas turn into an entertainment capital. The casino's first headliner was Liberace. Dean Martin was part owner for a short time as part of his exclusive residency.
"(The Riviera) looked like a '50s Rat Pack casino up until yesterday," Schumacher said.
A series of explosions demolished the 24-story Monaco Tower around 2:30 am, with the building crumbling from the sides and then into the middle, kicking up a mountain of dust. A fireworks display erupted moments before the demolition.
"The Riv" closed in May 2015 after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip. The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, spent $42 million to level the 13-building property.
A twitter user posted a video of the moment the casino was brought down:
Was able to see in person the Riviera Casino imploded last night in Las Vegas. The end of an era. #VivaLasVegas pic.twitter.com/0vUYOFXwFp
— Louis A. Acosta (@Locolouie12) June 15, 2016
Officials said the Monte Carlo Tower will be imploded in August. The tourism agency bought the 2,075-room property that spans 26 acres last year for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in related transaction costs, with plans to expand its Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Riviera's implosion marks the latest kiss goodbye to what's left of the relics of Vegas' mobster past.
"Ironically, The Riviera is as famous for its imaginary self as much as its actual self," said Geoff Schumacher of the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also known as the Mob Museum, in Las Vegas.
The Riviera's implosion marks the latest kiss goodbye to what's left of the relics of Vegas' mobster past. (AP Photo)
Most of its contemporaries are long gone, with only the Tropicana and Flamingo casinos still in business. The Flamingo has been completely rebuilt at its original location, but the Tropicana still has pieces of its original building, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip, said Michael Green, a Nevada historian and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos, starting the decade before. They skimmed gambling profits to send back home to pay for their gangs' illegal enterprises: illegal betting, drugs, prostitution and murder.
Mobsters were known to have controlled the money-counting at the most famous casinos in their day, including the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust - all of which have already disappeared from the Strip.
"The Riviera was and always was the Chicago outfit's crown jewel in the desert," Schumacher said.
A classic mob joint, the Riviera's place in that seedy time is probably outranked by the Flamingo, historians said. That casino was run by Bugsy Siegel, regarded as the most historically significant mob figure from that era.
State and federal crackdowns on organized crime cleaned up the casinos in the 1970s and 1980s.
Hollywood's version of the past, however, would hoist the Riviera to the top.
When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos. (AFP Photo)
More recently, it was featured in "The Hangover" in 2009.
The Riviera also pioneered the business model that helped Vegas turn into an entertainment capital. The casino's first headliner was Liberace. Dean Martin was part owner for a short time as part of his exclusive residency.
"(The Riviera) looked like a '50s Rat Pack casino up until yesterday," Schumacher said.
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