Tony Cornero ran illegal ships off the CA coast. He also built the Stardust in LV. He dopped dead shooting craps. He was also the 1st person to run a LV casino with all the trimings. Big stars and all. It was called the Meadows. No chips known to exist. Harvey Fuller is digging in his stash for as much information as possible. It was way before Bugsy thought of the Flamingo. If I tell you much more I will be ruinning a future column for you.

Scanned is the $5 chip from the Newport Ky Stardust. Compare with the Stardust LV. This is the only Newport casino that $500 chips has been found. (to my knowledge) Newport closed shortly before LV was completed.
Tony was a California kind of guy.