1. Edward Levinson was an American criminal and gambling operator.
32 Facts About Ed Levinson
1. 2.
Ed Levinson was raised in Chicago, Illinois, then joined the underworld in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1920s and became an associate of Meyer Lansky.
3.
Illegal FBI tapes seemed to show that Ed Levinson was involved in skimming profits for delivery to hidden underworld partners.
4.
Edward Ed Levinson was born on March 2,1898, to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois.
5.
Ed Levinson was a prominent member of the Detroit illegal gambling fraternity and collaborated with Samuel Garfield, a friend of Moe Dalitz.
6.
Ed Levinson was arrested occasionally, but usually the charges were dismissed.
7.
Ed Levinson became an associate of Bugsy Siegel, the partner of Meyer Lansky.
8.
The Ed Levinson brothers moved to Newport, Kentucky, in the 1930s as representatives of Lansky's national organized crime syndicate.
9.
At one time Ed Levinson controlled the illegal gambling in Newport.
10.
Ed Levinson started gambling operations in south Florida in the late 1940s.
11.
Mike and Louis Ed Levinson ran gambling places in Covington, Kentucky, until stopped by a reform in 1960.
12.
In 1950 and again in 1951 Ed Levinson was arrested in Miami for offenses related to gambling, but was not convicted.
13.
Ed Levinson was one of the investors in the Sands Hotel and Casino, which opened on December 15,1952.
14.
Ed Levinson was described as a bookmaker in Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere.
15.
Ed Levinson said both Levinson and Clarke, licensed in the Sands Hotel, had gambling backgrounds which were studied minutely before they were granted casino permits.
16.
In September 1953 Ed Levinson, described as "Sands casino boss", was quoted extolling the value provided by Las Vegas hotels with their low prices, swimming pools, plush casinos and high-quality entertainment.
17.
Ed Levinson would be connected with the Flamingo after the sale.
18.
The Sands management agreed to take over operation of the Dunes, and the Nevada Tax Commission agreed to an arrangement where Ed Levinson would run the casino and Jack Entratter would be Entertainment Director for both hotels.
19.
Ed Levinson partnered with Lou Lurie, a San Francisco financier who had experience with hotels in Miami, to build the 15-story Fremont, the first refined hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
20.
Ed Levinson brought in Chef Shillig, formerly of the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Savoy in London, and made Ed Torres the food and beverage manager.
21.
Torres and Ed Levinson arranged high-class entertainers like Wayne Newton, Kay Starr, Pat Boone and Helen Reddy to draw the crowds.
22.
Ed Levinson managed Meyer Lansky's Havana Riviera before Fidel Castro took over Cuba in January 1959 and closed it down.
23.
Ed Levinson moved back to Las Vegas in 1959 to run the Fremont.
24.
In February 1962 Levinson applied for approval of a sale of one third of his share in the Fremont to local businessman Jerome D Mack for a maximum price of $370,000.
25.
Ed Levinson answered that "it all goes to Florida, then to New York and New Jersey".
26.
Ed Levinson brought a lawsuit against the FBI for the bugging.
27.
Baker tried to use his influence to obtain a casino license there for Ed Levinson, but did not succeed.
28.
In 1965 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics suspected that Ed Levinson was involved in Meyer Lansky's drug smuggling business.
29.
In May 1973 Ed Levinson, 74, was resident in Las Vegas, and was reportedly involved with Lansky in investments in oil wells.
30.
Ed Levinson died peacefully after a long life in the County of Los Angeles, California.
31.
Ed Levinson was probably the biggest bookmaker Detroit ever had.
32.
Ed Levinson came under the granddaddy law; it excused him for anything he ever did as long as he stayed working in Nevada.