Herbert Blitzstein

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Anthony Spilotro (left) with lawyer Oscar Goodman (center) and Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein (right).

Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein (November 2, 1934 - January 6, 1997 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States) was a loanshark, bookmaker and top lieutenant to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and the Las Vegas La Cosa Nostra.

Born in Chicago, Herbie started working the rackets in the late 1950s. He was later arrested, charged and convicted of racketeering. When he was released from prison, he moved to Las Vegas to serve as muscle for Spilotro. Tony Spilotro, John Spilotro and Herbie ran the Gold Rush Jewelry Store, a front for the Hole in the Wall Gang, so named because they punched holes through walls and ceilings to grab the loot and run.

Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein was a Chicago bookmaker and loan shark who helped run The Goldrush Ltd. in Las Vegas. Blitzstein also worked as a fence for stolen goods at the combination jewelry store and electronics factory. He was one of the few Hole in the Wall Gang members who was not arrested after the botched July 4 burglary at Bertha's Household Products in 1981. Blitzstein is described by FBI agent William Roemer in his book The Enforcer as one of the mobsters tested by the FBI in the early days of the Top Hoodlum Program. Herbert was a 183-cm, 135-kg (six-foot, three-hundred pound) man who drove a white 1973 Cadillac Eldorado and dressed impeccably. He also had a striking resemblance to the late Italian tenor opera singer Luciano Pavarotti.

In 1967, according to FBI affidavits, "Fat Herbie" ordered the murder of associate loan shark and bookmaker Arthur "Boodie" Cowan for holding back a street tax. Although Herbie did not participate in the July 4th robbery, he was indicted with Spilotro on federal racketeering charges. The charges were later dropped for insufficient evidence.

In January 1997, Blitzstein was himself killed gangland style -- three shots to the back of the head -- by Mob members who planned to take over his street rackets, which included prostitution, insurance fraud and loansharking.

In popular culture

Blitzstein, portrayed in the film Casino by Bret McCormick as Bernie Blue, was not murdered by the Las Vegas police during a bungled arrest as portrayed in the film. Instead, Blitzstein was found dead in his Las Vegas townhome on January 7, 1997, with three bullet holes in his head. Of seven people implicated in Blitzstein's killing, none was ever convicted of the murder. [1]

External links

• Fat Herbie and The Hole In The Wall Gang: The Rise and Fall of a Vegas Mobster, a biography by author Cathy Scott
• "Greed in the Desert"
• "Reputed mob figure found dead," by Cathy Scott, Las Vegas Sun, January 7, 1997
• "Mob Trial Riles Las Vegas," APBnews.com, May 17, 1999