A chance question at Al Moe's talk to convention volunteers in June sent me back to the books to try to figure out the connection between Recrion and Argent and the Stardust. Turns out I had it all wrong! For some reason, I had always thought that Recrion (their name appears on Stardust ashtrays, just as Argent's does) had succeeded Argent in Stardust ownership. Actually, Recrion was first.

Here's how it all worked:

1958 - Stardust opens, Jake Factor (Max Factor's brother) ostensible owner. True owners Moe
Dalitz, Morris Kleinman, et al., Cleveland syndicate)

1960 - Recrion Corp. (Delbert Coleman, also unofficial Teamsters Union and Chicago mob
representative) purchases Stardust. During Recrion's ownership, Milwaukee,
Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City families were the true owners

1970 - Parvin-Dohrmann Company, involved in a welter of controversy for more than a year on
charges ranging from illegal stock dealings to seeking influence with Federal officials,
purchases Recrion and takes its name. By this time, Recrion owned not only the Stardust,
but the Fremont Hotel and the Marina

1972 - Recrion (previously Parvin-Dohrmann) sells Stardust to Allen R. Glick (ARGENT Corp.),
fronting for true owners with a Teamsters Central States Pension Fund loan, which Glick also
uses to buy the Hacienda. True ownership does not change.

1979 - Herb Tobman and Allan Sachs ostensibly operate the Stardust because Frank "Lefty"
Rosenthal has been denied a license in Nevada.

1982 - Rosenthal car bomb; attempt on his life fails

1984 - Gaming Control Board seizes Stardust for skimming, tosses Sachs and Tobman, appoints
The Boyd Group to operate the casino temporarily. Early the next year, Boyd purchases
Stardust and Fremont.

We all know what happened next!

And now you (and I!) know the rest of the story.

Michael