I have not addressed the “elephant in the room” much, if at all. As most of you know, in the film, Casino, Producer Martin Scorsese and writer Nick Pileggi tell about the Las Vegas casino skim. They show a clip indicating the FBI hidden microphone was inside a vent in the back of a store. The character, Artie Piscano, was supposed to be Tuffy DeLuna. First of all, that character was not anything like Tuffy. I knew Tuffy DeLuna and the Artie character was no Tuffy DeLuna. The FBI heard the first mention of the skim in this mike. As you know, in reality, that was at a table in the Villa Capri.

1. Artie Piscano Casino Games
2. Artie Piscano Casino No Deposit

• NANCE leaves the casino and gets into a cab parked at the curb. KANSAS CITY AIRPORT - DAY NANCE arrives. He is greeted by ARTIE PISCANO, a gray-haired sixty-year-old underboss. TITLE IN: 'KANSAS CITY' NICKY (V.O.) That suitcase was all the bosses ever wanted.and they wanted it every month.
• The Casino movie character Artie Piscano was based on Carl 'Tuffy' DeLuna. The raid on his home happened on February 14, 1979. Unlike what is depicted in the movie, Tuffy did not die of a heart attack during the raid. He was sentenced to prison for his participation in skimming Las Vegas casinos and was released in 1998.

In the below clip, I found a piece of the Casino film that shows a conversation about the skim and then a conversation between Vincent Borelli (the Nick Civella character) and Artie Piscano (Tuffy). Borelli tells Piscano he must go out and check on the skim. Artie complains about not getting reimbursed for his expenses. He said he was going to keep records so he could get his money back. Borelli tells him, “Artie no records, What do you want to keep records for, to pay taxes.” Watch this clip to see what really happened. I inserted some actual audio from the mike.

When the casino counters begin stealing some of the profits for themselves, the Midwest Mafia bosses put incompetent Kansas City underboss Artie Piscano in charge of overseeing all cash transactions. Artie writes everything he knows about Las Vegas and the skimming operation in a private notebook, and rants about the cash costs in his grocery. Artie Piscano Philip Suriano. Casino Executive Casper Molee. Counter David Leavitt. Counter Peter Conti. Arthur Capp Cathy Scorsese. Piscano's Daughter (as.

Carl Angelo 'Tuffy' DeLuna (April 30, 1927 – July 21, 2008) was an organized crime figure who was once the powerful underboss of the Kansas City crime family. He was also brother-in-law to Kansas City crime boss Anthony Civella. DeLuna was heavily involved in the 'Skimming' of profits from Las Vegas Casinos in the 1970s and acted as both a courier and middleman between the leaders of crime family's involved in the multi-million dollar scheme.

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, DeLuna rose through the ranks of the Kansas City family to eventually become underboss and second-in-command to Nick Civella. He was said to be personally responsible for the ambush of a rival mob crew, the Spero brothers, who were the bosses of a renegade faction challenging Nick Civella's authority, at the Virginia Tavern in Kansas City, Missouri in May, 1978. The shooting resulted in one brother being paralyzed, another injured and a third, Mike Spero, dying (one of the four Spero brothers had previously been found murdered in the trunk of a car a few months before the barroom shooting).

Artie Piscano Casino Games

The Spero brothers shooting resulted in the FBI planting surveillance and listening devices in hangouts of certain members of the Kansas City family, which in June, 1978, resulted in the FBI unwittingly overhearing DeLuna and Carl Civella discussing Allen Glick and the sale of Las Vegas casinos, discovering the mobs infiltration of these multi-million dollar a year enterprises.

Artie Piscano Casino No Deposit

DeLuna was a well-respected and trusted mobster, he maintained the Kansas City family’s close ties with the Chicago Outfit, to the Milwaukee crime family under crime boss Frank Balistrieri and the Cleveland crime family during the mob infiltration of several Las Vegas casinos in the mid-1970s. Federal prosecutors in Kansas City alleged that Nick Civella, Carl Civella and DeLuna each held secret investments in the Tropicana hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. DeLuna along with Charles Moretina were in charge of traveling to Las Vegas and receiving the Kansas City crime family's share of the skimmed casino profits. DeLuna once threatened to kill Las Vegas Mob front-man Allen Glick and his family to force him to sell the Argent Corporation through which Glick legally owned many mob-backed Las Vegas casinos. DeLuna told him they wanted him to sell the Argent corporation because he and his partners were 'finally sick of having to deal with me (Glick) and having me (Glick) around'. Glick would later testify against DeLuna describing him as 'vulgar and animalistic'. Within days of DeLuna's meeting with Glick at Oscar Goodman's law office, Glick went before the Nevada Gaming Commission and announced his intention of selling his shares in the Casino's.

Arrest and Conviction

On February 14, 1979, DeLuna's home was raided on and it was found that he kept extensive cryptic notes hidden in his basement which, together with wiretaps, connected all the dots the FBI needed in linking the mob to illegal control of Las Vegas casinos. It would not be an exaggeration to say that some of DeLuna's recorded meetings and notes were responsible for getting the mafia kicked out of Las Vegas. DeLuna was an inverted, compulsive note-taker and had meticulously noted his expenses for his Las Vegas trips and used codes to refer to people involved in illegally controlling and skimming from the Casinos in addition to basically laying out blueprints on FBI wiretaps as to how to skim from a casino. In 1979, DeLuna was placed in the Nevada Gaming Commission's Black Book. On November 5, 1981, DeLuna and Carl Civella were charged and convicted of conspiracy, travel act violations, interstate gambling and transportation of stolen property. DeLuna was sentenced to 30 years in jail in addition to pleading guilty to felony crimes in 1983 along with Joseph Agosto.

The feds seize the casino and start going through the books. Philip Green admits he was being extorted and is willing to cooperate. While going through Artie Piscano's house, the feds find his record books, giving them all they need. Piscano becomes so upset that he drops dead in front of them from a heart attack.

DeLuna was released from prison in 1998 after serving 17 years in prison. He died in Kansas City in 2008 of natural causes, he was 81 years old.

In Popular Culture

DeLuna was portrayed in the 1995 film 'Casino' as Artie Piscano (played by Vinny Vella). In the film, Piscano is portrayed as being a loud mouth and dying of a heart attack during the FBI raid on his home.

DeLuna was also prominently featured in the book 'Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas'.