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| - The 500 Club was a front for an illegal gambling operation. To draw gamblers, he had such big name entertainers as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis,Jr., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform at the club. Back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. D'Amato's supper club and gambling den on South Missouri Avenue, where the doors opened at 5 p.m. and closed at 10 a.m., was the world’s most notorious fairground. The biggest names in politics, sports — and the mob — mingled, smoked, drank, gambled (long before it was legal) and cut deals in secret rooms filled with roulette wheels, craps tables, baccarat and high-stakes card games, all protected by a police department on Skinny’s unofficial payroll.
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| - The 500 Club was a front for an illegal gambling operation. To draw gamblers, he had such big name entertainers as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis,Jr., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform at the club. Back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. D'Amato's supper club and gambling den on South Missouri Avenue, where the doors opened at 5 p.m. and closed at 10 a.m., was the world’s most notorious fairground. The biggest names in politics, sports — and the mob — mingled, smoked, drank, gambled (long before it was legal) and cut deals in secret rooms filled with roulette wheels, craps tables, baccarat and high-stakes card games, all protected by a police department on Skinny’s unofficial payroll. He also managed a club in Lake Tahoe for Frank Sinatra, for which he got troubles from the IRS and lost a lot of money when the casino commission linked Sam Giancana to the Lake Tahoe operation and revoked its license in 1963. Other than that and other minor run-ins with the law D'Amato never spent a day in prison. Soon Atlantic City began to decline and the 500 club, once the most popular nightclub in the nation, was on its way out, too. In 1973 Skinny's wife suffered psychological problems and died. Six months later, The 500 Club burned to the ground. Skinny, with scant insurance, lost about $2 million on the fire. He never recovered — financially, emotionally or spiritually. His son, Angelo, was convicted of two chilling murders. First he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the murder case of a family friend who had been butchered and was jailed and then paroled in 33 months and was later sentenced to 25 years to life in 1983 for the murder and dismemberment of a 28-year-old escort.
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