In the Summer of 1967, The Sands Hotel and
Casino was bought by Howard Hughes. The changeover occurred very quickly
with the Sands owners receiving their money and Hughes quickly bringing in his
own people. The bulk of the people Hughes brought on were lawyers and
accountants. They came in heavy handed, began doing accounting on
absolutely everything, and looked down upon the "old guys" as mobbed
up or gangsters. The new guard put in place many new casino rules, most
importantly they changed the rules covering casino credit.
September rolls around and Frank Sinatra rolls
into the Sands Casino as he had done so many times before. He walks up
to the Pit boss and asks for some chips. Thinking that Frank is aware of
the new policies, he is casually told no. Frank is pissed off.
Later that day Frank tried again, perhaps thinking he caught the Pit boss at
the wrong time and still unaware of the policy changes. After all, he
had always been extended generous credit. This time he walked away very
angry indeed.
On this night that the "fight" with
Carl Cohen unfolded Frank was scheduled to do two shows, 8 p.m. and 12
a.m. Frank was hollering for someone to get Carl or Jack Entratter to
straighten this whole thing out. He refuses to do the show and cannot
get in touch with Jack. He finally confronts Carl Cohen in the Garden
Room (a restaurant in the Sands) and Carl puts him down with a punch.
Frank wastes little time on sentimentality, and
within one week he is in talks with Caesars Palace where he eventually stays
on. Although he was wrong to provoke the fight, Frank Sinatra did have a
legitimate grievance. The new casino rules were quite stupid, and
ultimately Frank was proved right when one looks at this as the beginning of
the trend towards what much of Las Vegas has become today - an ostentatious,
gaudy, corporate-run, "family-friendly" monstrosity. Frank
Sinatra himself said that the Sands would not make it and he was ultimately
proved correct.
