In our previous installment, Jaffe made his name as a bettor in Pittsburgh and had participated in a failed attempt to purchase Las Vegas’ Last Frontier Hotel. In 1958, he was part of group with Mob ties that purchased the Stardust. Opening a new chapter in his life, Jaffe reinvented himself as the Stardust’s managing director.
As manager, Milton Jaffe "was very successful in that endeavor," according to his FBI file, which added that he "made it clear that he wanted no part of any gambler who had a criminal record or who was allied" with what he called "the syndicate." According to an informant, Jaffe "tried to maintain friendly relations with persons connected with the syndicate, but … refused to associate them with in any form of business."
"He is all business, strict and, and keeps his employees in line and the operation honest," ran another eyewitness report. "Jaffe actually knows very little about the actual mechanics of gambling games, however, he is an excellent executive." Although "strictly solid" when managing money, the Stardust manager had "a weakness for women which works out well for him as he meets a good many in this employment." As much as that might have amused the feds, it would surely have been distressing intelligence for Jaffe’s wife, the former Ruth Schindle. (Mrs. Jaffe was alleged to carry as much as a half-million in her purse because her husband distrusted the security of the safe-deposit boxes at the Stardust.)
Old crony Billy Conn was hired in 1963 as a casino greeter, reporting directly to his former manager. Jaffe allegedly gave him the job to get the middle-aged pug out of trouble back home, where he’d become known as a "stumblebum" and "moocher" who wouldn’t pick up a dinner check.
Conn was persistently rumored to be a "Courier of Skimmed Funds" for the Mannarinos -- a charge the government was hard put to verify. Perhaps the Mob knew, as a Conn acquaintance and Bureau informant put it, the ex-boxer was "an irresponsible individual who cannot be trusted with money or information," and who was frequently in his cups. Numerous other informants corroborated that Conn would have to have been hand-picked by the Mob – unlikely, since he was "very unpredictable … not trustworthy at all."
Yet another informant said that not only was Conn leery of lawbreaking, lest it endanger his financial well-being, but Jaffe "would not let him get involved in illegal operations due to their close friendship." Conn, who left the Stardust’s employment in June 1965 (partly because Mrs. Conn wife didn’t like it here) but, before he did, hatched a scheme to smuggle Vegas slot machines back to Pittsburgh. Conn found no takers.
He may have been one of the cleaner figures on the casino’s premises. G-Men found several denizens of the Pittsburgh underworld employed at the Stardust, including numbers runner Ralph "Foots" Angelo and bookie Oscar Rappé, now a pit boss. It was at this time that the feds were advised by Angelo "Gyp" De Carlo, an underboss in the Genovese Family, that the Stardust was 60% owned by the Cleveland Mob. (At other times, the "Chicago syndicate" was alleged to be running the place.)
Club manager Tom McDonald was a Stardust employee who ran afoul of Jaffe, getting sacked after he’d supposedly been advised by Jaffe that spending 12-14 hours a day on the premises was still insufficient. Casino dealers allegedly quit when required to share tips with pit bosses. And, in a truly deplorable choice of language, the FBI reported that Jaffe was part of a "shylocking" operation, loaning money at 5%-10% interest.
Not surprisingly, Jaffe denied to Nevada authorities than any skimming was taking place. However, in 1964, former Stardust cashier Paul Elwood Horn Jr. "advised that it was apparent to him … the persons where taking money out of the count and not recording it." Jaffe’s name was at the top of those he identified as participating in the skim, "always present during the count." Jaffe also garnered local headlines when he bought Stardust dice from manufacturer Jack Kress, reputedly a maker of loaded dice – an accusation Jaffe refused to believe. The FBI agreed, eventually closing the case.
Although he was heard on FBI bugs at the Stardust and Desert Inn during the early Sixties, as was convicted felon and co-owner Yale Cohen, Jaffe was never the target of a federal wiretap. However, the feds learned some interesting things about Jaffe and his Mob associates. Dalitz protégé Mark Swain, convention director at the Stardust, was taped recounting a confrontation between Jaffe and co-owner Joe Bock, who was irked by Jaffe’s friendship with Desert Inn and Stardust Secretary-Treasurer Allard Roen.
"I made you. I taught you. You don’t know a thing about this place," Bock allegedly ranted. "What right have you got to go to Allard Roen? I’m your teacher … Roen knows less than you know." Jaffe was said to be "white as a sheet" and "so dumbfounded he couldn’t get out of the chair" after Bock stormed out.
By 1964 the FBI had concluded that Jaffe was a Mob front man, "considered to be a clean, respectable, honest person by Jewish persons who patronize the casino." Jaffe’s extensive connections in the gambling demimonde were also a major draw for the casino. Although Jaffe was believed to be bankrolling Jackie Lerner’s numbers racket back in Pittsburgh, "no known skimming operations are directed to Pittsburgh racketeers."
In 1966, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Sandy Smith ran a front-page story, "How gangsters here cut up Vegas loot." Smith estimated that $100,000 per month was being siphoned out of a half-dozen Las Vegas casinos, including the Stardust. Although one casino owner was suing the federal government for probing his activities, Jaffe told Smith he wouldn’t be taking part. "The government’s a cinch winner," he reasoned. The following year, he was interviewed by G-Men and deemed "cooperative." (Jaffe had "presented a friendly attitude" during previous colloquy with the FBI.)
According to a July 19, 1967 letter to J. Edgar Hoover, Moe Dalitz was arranging the peaceful removal of convicted extortionist Ruby Kolod from the Stardust by arranging the sale of Kolod’s share to, among others, Jaffe.
"Closely associated with Pittsburgh hoodlums" was about a damning a charge as the FBI could ever level with any certainty at Jaffe. Attempts to tie him to a Stardust skim proved inconclusive and Jaffe was always careful to be cooperative with the authorities. Following the closure of the Jack Kress investigation, in 1967, the paper trail on Milton Jaffe peters out. Ownership and control of the Stardust would eventually pass from Kleinman’s cronies to Mafia front Allen Glick and strongman Lefty Rosenthal … but that’s another story.
