Archetypal Images at the Stardust Casino: Understanding Human Experience

Abstract

In 1978, Lefty Rosenthal—a former Chicago bookmaker—became Director of Entertainment at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Financed by Teamsters’ pension money, the Stardust was “owned” by Allen Glick. Despite Glick’s ostensible ownership, the Stardust was part of the gambling operations of La Cosa Nostra. Rosenthal was the mob’s “inside man” at the Stardust, but Rosenthal is Jewish and, thus, «could never be a member of the organization [La Cosa Nostra]» and did not need to abide by the protocol of La Cosa Nostra (Pileggi, 1995: 43). Roemer, in his book about Vegas, says, «Lefty had traveled a road paved with controversy and dispute. I guess you could say Lefty was representative of Las Vegas» (1994: 111, our emphasis). Martin Scorsese immortalized Rosenthal, a k a Ace, by filming his story. The film, Casino, was billed as the story of “how the mob lost its control of the neon moneymaking machine it created” and as a love story: a “romantic love triangle” among Rosenthal, Rosenthal’s friend (the mobster Tony Spilotro), and Rosenthal’s wife. What makes the Rosenthal story interesting and relevant to organizational theory? We intend to analyze whether Lefty is “representative” of Las Vegas, and in doing so, we examine the issue of representation. Specifically, we analyze the story, as told by Roemer (1994) and Pileggi (1995), from a historical point of view and, then, from a Jungian archetypal point of view. However, we would In 1978, Lefty Rosenthal—a former Chicago bookmaker—became Director of Entertainment at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Roemer (1994: 111), in his book about Vegas, says, «Lefty had traveled a road paved with controversy and dispute. I guess you could say Lefty was representative of Las Vegas». What makes the Rosenthal story interesting and relevant to organizational theory? We intend to analyze whether Lefty is “representative” of Las Vegas, and in doing so, we examine the issue of representation. Specifically, we analyze the story, as told by Roemer (1994) and Pileggi (1995), from a historical point of view and, then, from a Jungian archetypal point of view. However, we would like to be somewhat post-Jungian, and following the Anti-Oedipus of Deleuze and Guattari (1977), we will put forward a revised Jungian account for the material genealogy of Las Vegas. We conclude the paper by commenting upon the “demise of representation” (Knights, 1997) and its implications for organizational theory.