Black Book nominee comped at Mirage

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A reputed high-ranking Kansas City mobster comped several times at a Strip mega-resort over the past year is heading for Nevada's Black Book.

The State Gaming Control Board has scheduled a public hearing Thursday to consider adding William Cammisano Jr., a 47-year-old alleged "capo" in the Kansas City Mafia, to the list of undesirables banned from casinos.

Cammisano is the second purported La Cosa Nostra kingpin from Kansas City to go through the nomination process in Nevada in two months.

In July, the Control Board voted to include Anthony Civella, son of the late Kansas City mob boss Carl Civella, in the Black Book.

The 66-year-old Civella, recently released from prison, has hired Las Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman to fight the nomination before the Nevada Gaming Commission.

If nominated by the Control Board on Thursday, Cammisano also will get a hearing before the Gaming Commission.

Keith Copher, the Control Board's chief of enforcement, said Monday the Cammisano investigation arose after agents noticed Kansas City mobsters had been making a number of trips to Las Vegas in recent months.

"We've had some visits by associates of the Kansas City mob," Copher said. "We're just trying to determine why they're coming here."

Casino records show Cammisano received complimentary services half a dozen times at The Mirage since last summer, according to Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rodefer, who's presenting the Black Book case to the Control Board.

Rodefer said Cammisano, an ex-felon on Missouri's list of excluded persons, stayed at The Mirage during four of those visits.

Mirage officials said Monday they learned of Cammisano's alleged unsavory ties from a SUN reporter.

"No one knew who he was until now," spokesman Alan Feldman said. "He's not going to be welcome back."

Feldman confirmed Cammisano was comped at the Strip resort. But he insisted the reputed underworld figure slipped through the cracks of the casino's screening process.

Upper-level management was not involved in approving the free services because Cammisano always dealt in cash and never asked for credit, Feldman said.

Feldman added that Cammisano wasn't a big gambler, but was active enough to warrant comps from pit bosses on the floor.

Cammisano's transactions weren't recorded under federal cash-reporting laws because he never did more than $10,000 worth of business at a time with The Mirage, Feldman said.

"Under circumstances like this," Feldman said, "there's no way of knowing up front who he is."

Federal records show Cammisano received a five-year prison term in December 1989 following his conviction for obstructing a grand jury investigation of a gangland slaying in Kansas City.

In a sentencing memorandum at the time, the government described Cammisano as a ranking "made member" of the Kansas City mob with a long history of violence.

"This violence, however, is directed not only for his own personal benefit, but is used to advance the criminal aims and purposes of La Cosa Nostra," the memo said.

Federal authorities have linked Cammisano to several unsolved gangland killings in Kansas City.

Cammisano allegedly rose through the ranks of the Kansas City Mafia with the help of his late father, William "Willie the Rat" Cammisano Sr., who ran the crime family after the reign of the notorious Civella family.