In Martin Scorsese’s crime drama Casino, Sam “Ace” Rothstein is a smart and incredibly talented man. But he also has a habit of using violence to get his way.
This leads to a lot of trouble between Nicky Santoro and Ace, the two gangsters who run Vegas casinos. Eventually, Nicky gets himself put into the “black book,” and banned from all casinos in Las Vegas.
Nicky Santoro
Nicky Santoro was a childhood friend of Jewish handicapper Sam “Ace” Rothstein and an enforcer for the Mafia boss Remo Gaggi. When the Mafia moved into Las Vegas to skim the profits from the Tangiers Casino, they chose Ace to run it and assigned Nicky to protect him.
He subsequently becomes the main antagonist of the film. His antics end up putting Sam “Ace” Rothstein in trouble and he eventually loses the favor of the Midwest bosses over his actions.
He and his brother Dominick are brutally beaten by the Midwest bosses, who bury them alive as a warning to other potential mobsters. They also murder Andy Stone, John Nance, and two men from the counting room who incriminate them.
Ginger McKenna
Ginger McKenna, portrayed by Sharon Stone in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, is a hustler who married Ace Rothstein. She is a dangerous and ambitious woman who enjoys her high life in the first half of the film but soon deteriorates due to her marriage problems and alcoholism.
As the movie progresses, Ginger starts to lose control and takes many risks. Her impulsive behavior eventually leads her to cheat on her husband with his longtime friend Nicky in a stunning act of desperation.
She later leaves her husband and moves in with Nicky. However, she still feels bad about her past and tries to make up with him but things don’t go well.
In the end, she ends up dead, and Ace gets almost killed by a car bomb that was set off by Nicky. During the whole thing, he had tried to help Ginger change her way of living but she was too stubborn to accept her new life.
Sam “Ace” Rothstein
Sam “Ace” Rothstein is the most famous mob boss of all time. After being assigned to run a casino in Las Vegas by the Midwest mob bosses, he quickly gained a reputation as a smart and ruthless man.
However, his ego and pride led him to do things that other mob bosses wouldn’t have dreamed of doing. His arrogance caused him to step on the toes of Vegas’ police and politicians.
Eventually, his gambling addiction got the best of him and he was forced to take drugs. He also started to lose his grip on reality when he married Ginger, whose drug use and obsession with a pimp were too much for him to handle.
As he tried to get back to his old ways, Nicky began to abuse his powers and cause problems with the mob bosses. After a few unauthorized murders, he was eventually banned from casinos in Las Vegas and the bosses decided it was time to have him killed.
Dominick Santoro
Dominick Santoro is their brother of Nicky and one of his trusted associates. He’s sent to Las Vegas by the Mafia boss Remo Gaggi to protect Sam Rothstein and his casino operation.
While working at the Tangiers, he doubles the casino’s profits. However, he starts to become dissatisfied with the way things are going and begins to perform his own line of work, hustling bookies and performing burglaries in casinos and houses.
Ace catches on to Nicky’s activities and bans him from the casinos. Seeing how much trouble he’s causing, the bosses decide to kill him.
In his last moments, he is ambushed by his own crew and beaten to death, buried alive in a cornfield. They’ve had enough of his mischief and suspect that he may have been behind the car bombing of Sam Rothstein. The feds then seize the casino and begin searching it. They find Nicky’s records and Ginger’s, but Ace refuses to look at them.
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