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Summary: Casino Review
Review: In the Desert of Las Vegas Nevada is where a lot of the problems of the heads of the Stardust casino are solved. The bright lights of Las Vegas do not shield the darkness of the desert surrounding it. In the novel Casino Nicholas Pileggi delves deep into the lives of the shady side of Las Vegas and the people who run it. The protagonist Frank AKA Lefty Rosenthal makes sure the readers understand that if you love someone you have to trust them with your life, with everything that you have because if you don't than what is the point of being in love. But Nicholas Pileggi puts in his own underlying message of in the life of a mobster you cannot trust anyone including your best friend and your wife. This book is full of non stop action and suspense. It gives you an inside look at the lives of the mobsters that made las vegas famous. I highly suggest readin Casino by Nicholas Pileggi.
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Summary: Exciting look at the glamorous life of the mafia
Review: Incredible, must read, you will not be able to put this book down. A complete portrayal of these secretive men and their ruthless business ways.
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Summary: Pileggi Sans Scorsese
Review: My rating on this book is really a three and a half, if given the option to rate a half-star, that is. I enjoyed tremandously learning about the Teamsters, the politicians and of course the Mafia involvement in the Las Vegas casino operations. The book exceled in the abundance of information. However, the writing itself was not so great therefore lowering the reading experience. Just as in real life, when people tell you their side of the story, it hardly ever concurs with someone else's account. Since the book was really a collage of vaious narrations, the author had a hard time weaving together different points of views and tones. Sometimes readers are left wondering what really happened. I would recommend this book for people who are interested in information and stories regarding the Mafia. The topic is very interesting, but for those who prefers a bit more drama and fluency of writing, then this may not be your top choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: Not a great mafia book - I found myself bored at some points.It really was a little boring at times. For a great mafia book, youcan not go wrong with the Godfather (the only decent Puzo book in my mind.) THe 1st person format I think was a weakpoint in this book
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Summary: Could have benefitted from Pesci voiceover
Review: Note this book is not fiction, nor a novelization of the film Casino. Like Wiseguy, it's the real account that Scorsese fashioned into a film (with Pileggi's help again).
Casino tells the story of the Chicago mob's major role in running Las Vegas, how it happened, and how it more or less ended (or appeared to) in the 1980s. Instead, corporations (institutionalized gangsters) took over, and now we're to assume that gambling is a respectable, fine industry. It's hard to cheer for the state 'gaming' officials as they persue mobsters who are skimming a casino, of all places. A character in the film says it best when he extorts, 'You mean the money we're robbing is bein' robbed?!'
A good read before or after the excellent film. Readers will note that the Frank Vincent-based person provides much of the info here, certainly on Tony 'the Ant' Spillotro, the basis for the Pesci character. There's quite a bit of detail as far shady business dealings, politics, and mob bosses go, but less of the nitty gritty mobster detail from Wiseguy.
Hard to know whether to weep for the old or new Las Vegas. While it was mobbed-up in the past, it's now a neutralized Disneyworld and a respectable holiday destination for families. One wonders who the real greedheads are.
A good, if overlong account.
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Summary: Casino is Pileggi's finest work yet
Review: Pileggi does a fine job in this novel Casino in atrue story about the Mafia in Las Vegas in the 1970'sthis is a great story a must read for any true crime mafia fan a 10.
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Summary: Not what you may expect - a partly hamstrung story.
Review: Readers coming to this book from 'Wiseguy' will become aware of a major flaw in this account of organised crime's workings in Las Vegas from the 1960s through to the 1980s. Henry Hill was free to more or less spill the beans unguardedly and his candour and thrilling free-flowing narrative is exactly what key participants in this story still alive cannot give us (despite what the book's gushing blurb promises).This gives a patchy quality to much of the narrative and by the end the reader is left mulling as many unanswered questions as those the book attempts to amswer. There are fascinating aspects to the book (given the characters involved there could hardly not be) but ultimately the book fails to satisfy. A definitive volume on the history of Las Vegas and organised crime will surely come one day, but at the moment too many lips are zipped.
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Summary: At the end the writer miss the point
Review: The book is good at the beginning, I can't tell you that it goes out of the story because everything written in the book is related to the story, but some parts of the book are really boring.
Everybody knows that in Vegas the mob owns the hotels & casinos at least at first, but what I really don't believe is that the casinos now, at this moment are the cleanest business in the country, maybe they don't take the money as 30 years ago, but I'm sure that in Vegas are many tricks with the bets and the money no matter if now in Vegas have one theme park in every hotel & casino.
At the end of the book, if the wife of "lefty" Rosenthal was killed or not, who really cares?
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Summary: Book differs from the movie
Review: This book (like usual) is different from the movie Casino. This book is worth reading since this adds some more realism than the movie did. Another great mafia book by Pileggi and worth the price you paid for it. Great if you like the Italian mafia and Las Vegas.
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Summary: Olsen Reviewer is incorrect
Review: This book IS NOT fiction. It is the true story that the movie Casino was based on. In the book, the names have not been changed and there are a few more details than in the movie. If you like the movie, I suggest reading the book to get the whole picture of what went down.
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