Mob-linked trio may join Black Book

Friday, Sept. 12, 1997 | 10:20 a.m.

The Gaming Control Board is scheduled to recommend to the commission the additions of Stephen "The Whale" Cino, John Joseph Conti and Charles "The Moose" Panarella for inclusion among those banned from Nevada's casinos.

"It has to do with the substantial integrity of the gaming industry in Nevada and how it's perceived by others around the world," Gaming Commission Chairman Bill Curran said of the list.

According to a control board investigation:

-Cino, 60, a Henderson resident, was sentenced earlier this year to three years probation for conspiring in 1991 to bribe a union official who oversaw stagehands in the "Night Dreams" show at the old Dunes.

In April, he was indicted on racketeering charges along with eight others who had ties to slain mobster Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein. He's now in the North Las Vegas Detention Center.

Cino is listed as an associate of Los Angeles' Milano organized crime family in the 1993 book, "The World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime," by Jay Robert Nash.

-Conti, 63, a Las Vegas resident, was identified in a 1988 Senate subcommittee hearing as a soldier in the Lucchese crime family.

In 1993, Conti pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy for scheming to defraud the Maxim casino out of $5,000.

He was sentenced to 11 months in prison and was required to pay a $5,000 fine after admitting to filing a false credit application with an FBI agent who was working undercover at the off-Strip hotel.

-Panarella, 75, a Las Vegas resident, was convicted in 1994 of attempting to launder money through the Maxim, as part of a scheme to purchase a farm for $500,000 to $1 million.

Panarella arranged for profits from illegal drug transactions to be deposited at a cashier's cage at the Maxim, said James Taylor, a control board investigator.

Panarella pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August 1994 and served 15 months of an 18 month sentence, and is currently on probation.

He was identified in the 1988 Senate hearing as a member of New York's Columbo crime family, and is identified as "a mean guy, an enforcer," in the book, "Donnie Brasco," by Joseph Pistone.