Who Was Marshall Caifano? The Outfit's Man Watching Las Vegas
Mobsters DailyMarshall Caifano was the Chicago Outfit's man in Las Vegas — the overseer who watched the casino skim for over two decades, suspected by the FBI in a string of murders and dead in federal prison in 2003.
Chicago's eyes on the skim
Caifano, born John Marshall Caifano, arrived in Las Vegas in the 1950s as the Outfit's resident supervisor, the man who made sure the count rooms of syndicate casinos sent their untaxed percentage east. He was close to Sam Giancana — whose own web of power is mapped in our profile of Giancana — and lived the part: tailored, quiet, and trailed by federal agents who photographed him more than almost any mobster in Nevada.
Caifano's job was to watch other men steal, and make sure Chicago got its cut — which is why, with November here and the holidays coming, rewatch season belongs to the Tony Soprano Ugly Christmas Sweater: Tony in black-and-white stencil, nothing covering the design, built for holiday parties and long nights back in this world.
Suspect, convict, lifer of the life
Investigators suspected him in several murders, though charges never stuck. What stuck was extortion: a 1980s conviction for shaking down a businessman drew a long federal sentence. Nevada had already placed him in its Black Book of excluded persons, barring him from the casinos he once supervised — a humiliation the old guard felt keenly. The Vegas he policed is the same one mythologized in the true story behind Casino, a world the FBI's wiretaps and the Strawman cases dismantled around him. Caifano died in prison in 2003, one of the last of the skim's watchmen.
Frequently asked questions
What was Caifano's job in Las Vegas? He was the Chicago Outfit's resident overseer, supervising the skim — the untaxed cash siphoned from syndicate casinos and sent back to Chicago.
Was Caifano in Nevada's Black Book? Yes. The Gaming Control Board listed him among the excluded persons banned from entering Nevada casinos.
How did Marshall Caifano die? In federal prison in 2003, while serving a long sentence for an extortion conviction.
Keep reading: Casino's ending, explained · Carlos Marcello, the boss the Kennedys deported · Al Capone at Alcatraz · Who Was Davie Berman? The Mobster Who Helped Build Las Vegas
From the shop: Shadows of the Underworld — the real-mafia history behind the names in this story.
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