page_title: Riviera (hotel and casino)
section_title: Bankruptcy and new ownership
hierarchical_section_title: Riviera (hotel and casino) / History / Bankruptcy and new ownership
caption_attribution_description: English: Las Vegas strip, with Riviera Hotel Marquee listing Debbie Reynolds, Billy Williams and Roberta Linn. Licensing This attribution link required with use of the photo outside of Wikipedia: EditorASC
context_page_description: Riviera was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, which operated from April 1955 to May 2015. It was last owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which decided to demolish it to make way for the Las Vegas Global Business District.
  The hotel had more than 2,100 rooms, fewer than half of which were located in a 23-story tower. The casino had 110,000 sq ft of gaming space.
context_section_description: The Riviera casino went bankrupt just three months after opening. A group of former Flamingo Hotel managers led by Gus Greenbaum took over operation of the property, leasing it from the ownership group. Greenbaum had recently retired, and it was widely suspected that he was coerced to return to work by threats from Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo.
  Among Greenbaum's staff was entertainment director William Nelson, who was soon discovered to be mob informer Willie Bioff, leading to his murder in November 1955.
  Greenbaum's drug and gambling addictions led to his embezzling from the casino.  In December 1958, Greenbaum and his wife were murdered in their Phoenix, Arizona home, reportedly on the orders of either Meyer Lansky or Tony Accardo.
  An 8-story expansion was made off the south side of the original 9-story tower in 1959. It was designed by Los Angeles architect Welton Becket. A 12-story tower was added off the south west side of the 8-story tower in 1965. The new tower expansion was designed by Harold W. Levitt with Ernest W. Le Duc and William H. Farwell as consulting architects.
  Mob fixer Sidney Korshak played a major role in the property's management. Law enforcement agencies suspected that he represented the Chicago Outfit's interest in the Riviera, and was responsible for skimming the casino's revenue and delivering the proceeds to Chicago.
  The Riviera was purchased in June 1968 by a group including bankers E. Parry Thomas and Jerome Mack, and investors tied to the Parvin-Dohrmann Corp., owner of the Aladdin, Stardust, and Fremont casinos. In 1969, a deal was made to sell the Riviera to the Parvin-Dohrmann Corp., but the sale was blocked by the Nevada Gaming Control Board due to the company's previous failure to report a change of ownership.
  Dean Martin was hired in 1969 to perform in the casino's showroom, and was given a 10% interest in the Riviera. Martin left in 1972, after management refused his request to cut his performance schedule from two nightly shows to one; the Riviera bought back his shares.
  In 1973, the Riviera was purchased for $60 million by AITS Inc., a Boston-based travel company controlled by Meshulam Riklis and Isidore Becker. The Riviera is the setting for the movie Fake-Out (aka. Nevada Heat, 1982), which was financed by Riklis and starring his wife, Pia Zadora.
  The 17 story Monte Carlo Tower was constructed circa 1974. The tower was designed by Martin Stern Jr. & Associates. The 6 story San Remo Tower also a Stern design was constructed in 1977 by the Del E. Webb Corporation.
caption: The old marquee in 1962, with Debbie Reynolds headlining, and Billy Williams, along with Roberta Linn on the under-billing
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