You’re right about the sketchiness of data. A former managing director and vice president of the Stardust, Jaffe’s career is less well remembered than those of several of his contemporaries (although it did generate an exhaustive FBI file that can be viewed at the Web site of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, which promotes governmental transparency). There’s no mention of him in the Las Vegas Sun’s database nor in anything written in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in the last 15 years. Federal records describe his history as "generally vague."
Jaffe was born in Braddock, Penn., on August 19, 1895. His parents, Benjamin Jaffe and Anna Cairo, were both Russian émigrés. He had several siblings including brothers Morris and Abe, and sisters Bessie Radick and Bertha Blau. In maturity (circa age 62), he was described as standing five feet, seven inches tall, weighing 175 pounds, with dark hair and eyes. He served his country in the U.S. Naval Reserve from June 1918 to September 1921.
His career began in Pittsburgh, where he managed fighters, including boxer (and gambler) Billy Conn, whose pugilistic career was effectively ended by a Joe Louis beat-down in 1946. He was also a known bettor and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Arthur J. Rooney (alleged "slot machine king of the Pittsburgh area") identified him as a good go-between to use when laying down a horseracing bet with local bookies. He lived at 5725 Forbes Street and 252 ½ McKee Place. His reputation was of being "well liked and well regarded" about town, "the type of individual that would help out anyone who might need a favor." Jaffe also picked up a few honest bucks as an accountant for J.A. Williams Co.
During the Thirties, Jaffe co-owned The Bachelors’ Club, "the most exclusive gambling joint in Pittsburgh." His reign there came to a bad end when state police raided and ransacked it on April 20, 1941. Jaffe, his brother George and three codefendants pled guilty on June 9, 1941 to "keeping a gambling house," in return for a year’s probation and a $400 fine. Previous run-ins with the law included an unspecified 1927 misdemeanor charge resulting in a fine and a 1930 gambling bust for which Jaffe paid $300 in court costs.
In late October 1946, Jaffe, Conn and Rooney reformed the old Bachelors’ Club crew and opened a casino at 5108 Penn Ave., fronted by John Duffey, aka "The Wheeling Kid." (Jaffe was reported to have a part ownership in the Steelers at this time.) As illegal casinos proliferated in Pittsburgh, the FBI gloomily summarized local newspaper reports that the city "witnessed its first three racket slayings in recent years and … the open return of the old-fashioned slot machines."
In June 1948, the New York Journal American identified Jaffe as a member of a nationwide gambling syndicate whose "overlord" was "Big Man" Frank Erickson, the top bookie in New York City. His vehicle of choice was a black Cadillac, Pennsylvania license number 13Y96.
By 1953, Jaffe had planted his flag in Chicago, where he co-owned the Chez Paris Night Club. With six partners, he negotiated for a $5.8 million controlling interest in Vegas’ Last Frontier Hotel. Members of various criminal gangs, including that of Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, were spotted at the Last Frontier, familiarizing themselves with its operations.
Other business interests included co-ownership (with Conn) of the Rapid Tag & Wire Co., a small firm he founded in 1948, as well as a stake in the Edison Hotel & Tavern. He co-owned the latter with George Jaffe; ditto the Casino Burlesk House. Jaffe was also alleged in 1944 to have a hidden ownership in the Pittsburgh Pirates, something that would have given the Commissioner of Baseball fits had it come to light.
In May 1953, the Bureau was advised in May 1953 that talks had fallen through. Minority owner Beldon Katleman balked at selling to Jaffe’s consortium, complaining of "veiled threats" and expressing his distaste for Jaffe & Co., even in the face of pressure from other Vegas casino owners. Notorious Mob lawyer Sidney Korshak was even dispatched from Chicago to lobby on the Jaffe group’s behalf. Later that year, Jaffe and Morris Kleinman, along with the Epstein brothers, were reportedly "bickering" over whether to purchase land near Lake Tahoe and build a casino there, an idea to which Jaffe was described as being lukewarm. Kleinman and the Epsteins went ahead without him.
Jaffe had already declined an offer from La Cosa Nostra members Samuel and Gabriel Mannarino to get in on the ground floor of a new Vegas casino "because of their reputation." But it was Jaffe’s reputation that continued to interest the feds. In late 1954, its Pittsburgh office was tipped that the gambling kingpin had celebrated the end of that year’s World Series at the Cleveland-area farm of a "Lou Rodey." "Informant claimed," the report continued, "that almost every gambler and hoodlum in the country were present at this party." Throughout his Stardust tenure, Jaffe would be suspected of funneling casino revenue to the Mannarinos.
In February 1958, he, mobster Morris Kleinman and Joseph Epstein had purchased the under-construction Stardust, with Jaffe holding a 2% share her purchased for $6,000. (Epstein, an alleged money-handler for Guzik, made headlines overseas when he squired Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel’s former mistress, around Italy.) Jaffe’s Vegas lifestyle wasn’t entirely salubrious: In 1961, he spent his 66th birthday in the hospital, being treated for hardening of the arteries.
Tomorrow, in the conclusion of our saga, Jaffe takes the reins of the Stardust … and repeatedly comes under an FBI microscope.
