Hit Me!: Fighting the Las Vegas Mob by the Numbers

Las Vegas, 1970s—a golden age of Glitter Gulch corruption. Dennis Gomes--the youngest division chief in Gaming Control Board history--whipped a ragtag group of auditors into hardened, gun-slinging investigators, and shattered clichés about milquetoast accountant cops. Coming within a hair’s breadth of death more than once, Gomes capped off his tenure with the famous bust of the Stardust skim, portrayed in the book and movie Casino. In Hit Me!, there’s action to fill a dozen Scorsese films—midnight raids, heart-rending showgirl romances, and deadly double-crosses. And the cast of characters reads like a roll call of gangster lore. But no matter how much evidence Gomes uncovered, or how many witnesses and informants were bloodied, Gomes was swept aside by a political system that was dirty to its core. It took nearly three decades, but in 2007, Gomes made a date with destiny at The Family Secrets Trial--the justice system finally taking out a “hit” on the mob. In a Chicago courtroom on July 30, 2007, Gomes--a key prosecutorial witness--finally settled all scores.
     Dennis Gomes, who passed away in February 2012, will be posthumously inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in Las Vegas in October 2012.

Danielle Gomes, daughter of the late Dennis Gomes, who owned and operated Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, is a freelance writer and filmmaker. She co-wrote and narrated a documentary short on America’s homeless that won a Telly Award and a Videographer’s Award of Excellence. She is a member of the Association of Writers and Writers Program.

Jay Bonansinga is the author of Pinkerton’s War (Lyons Press), The Sinking of the Eastland, a Chicago Reader Critics Choice Book, and more than ten novels. He is also the author of the novelization of the television series The Walking Dead, a book titled The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.