Before there was Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson or even Howard Hughes, there was Jay Sarno. He had to use mob money to build his casinos and he was driven out of business by financial problems and IRS demands but, argues David G. Schwartz, he was the innovator who created the luxury resort, the spectacle of the Strip and first hit on the idea that Las Vegas could offer much more than gambling. Schwartz has written Sarno's biography and we talk to him about the life of the man he thinks made Las Vegas.
David G. Schwartz, author of "Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas"