Moe Dalitz
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Morris Barney Dalitz (December 25, 1899 – August 31, 1989) was an American
gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...
, businessman,
casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the major figures who shaped
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
in the 20th century. He was often referred to as "Mr. Las Vegas".


Early life

Dalitz was born on December 25, 1899, in
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, Massachusetts, to
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parents, Barnet "Bernard" Dalitz (b. May 8, 1874 in Austria) and Anna Cohen (b. October 1876 in Austria). He was raised in
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. He worked in his family's laundry business early on, but began his career in bootlegging when
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
began in 1919, and capitalized on his access to the laundry trucks in the family business. Additionally, he developed a partnership with the Maceo syndicate which ran
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and supplied liquor from Canada and Mexico. Though he admitted under oath that he had been a bootlegger and had operated illegal gambling houses, Dalitz was never convicted of a crime. During Senator Estes Kefauver's committee hearings investigating organized crime, when questioned about his bootlegging, Dalitz said: "If you people wouldn't have drunk it, I wouldn't have bootlegged it." With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Dalitz turned to gambling and operated illegal but protected casinos in
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, and
Covington, Kentucky Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers, across from Cincinnati to the north ...
. For part of its ten-year run, Dalitz ran The Pettibone Club, an illegal gambling hall that operated in far southwest Geauga County, Ohio (on Pettibone Road east of Solon) from 1939 to 1949. He enlisted in the Army in World War II on June 25, 1942 and rose in rank from private to first lieutenant. He was discharged on May 29, 1945.


Career

His investment in Las Vegas began in the late 1940s with the
Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the ...
. When the original builder of the resort
Wilbur Clark Wilbur Clark (December 27, 1908 – August 27, 1965) was an American casino owner and land developer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early life Wilbur Clark was born on December 27, 1908, in Keyesport, Illinois. His parents were Shirley and Lulu Clark. Ca ...
ran out of money, Dalitz led a group of investors that became partners in the hotel-casino. When the Desert Inn opened in 1950, it was the largest employer in Nevada. Clark was the public face of the resort, with Dalitz and a team of others as licensed co-owners and operators of the resort. Dalitz and the Desert Inn team opened the
Stardust Resort & Casino The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by h ...
in 1958. The last casino that Dalitz owned was the Sundance, opened in 1980. With Allard Roen, Irwin Molasky and Merv Adelson, he founded Paradise Development, a real estate development company in the 1950s.Ed Koch
Desert Inn, Stardust chief helped integrate Las Vegas Strip
''
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'', September 1, 2008
The partners founded the Sunrise Hospital, The Boulevard Mall and the
Las Vegas Country Club The Las Vegas Country Club is a private membership club located in the Winchester area of metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada. History It was built on the site of a 1950s horse and automobile racetrack named Las Vegas Park and later the Las Vegas Pa ...
. Later, they co-founded the La Costa Resort and Spa in
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. In a 1983 interview, Dalitz said he considered construction of the
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to be his greatest achievement. "Las Vegas used to be just a gambling town. Now we are a resort destination. The Convention Center complements our purpose," he said.


Philanthropy

In 1982, Dalitz received the "Torch of Liberty" award from the Anti-Defamation League. It was presented by comedian
Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...
.


Personal life

Dalitz was married to Averill Dalitz; the couple had one daughter, Suzanne. They lived in Las Vegas. Averill and Suzanne later lived in New York,
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, and
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. His first marriage was to Edna Louise Keating whom he married March 23, 1922 in Indiana, and after that to Toni Clark, whom he married December 8, 1945 in Dade County, Florida. In 1946, they had a son, Andrew B. Dalitz; he died in 1972. Dalitz married Averill Knigge in the early 1950s, and they lived together in a home at the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, they had a daughter Suzanne Dalitz in May, 1957. They divorced in 1965. Moe Dalitz lived with Barbara Schick until Schick's death in 1986. Suzanne Dalitz is mother to three of Moe's grandchildren: Christopher Brown (born 1985), Chelsea Brown (born 1988), and Noah Gollin (born 1996).


Death

Moe Dalitz died at 2:00 a.m. PST on August 31, 1989. He had been seriously ill since 1986. Death was attributed to congestive heart failure, chronic
hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...
, and kidney failure. He also suffered from failing eyesight. Services were held September 5, 1989 at Congregation Ner Tamid.


References


Further reading

* ''Subscription needed.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalitz, Moe 1899 births 1989 deaths Businesspeople from Cleveland People from the Las Vegas Valley Criminals from Michigan Place of death missing Businesspeople from Boston American gangsters of the interwar period Jewish American gangsters 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers