The historical documentary strand continues with an exploration of the events that inspired the Martin Scorsese movie ‘Casino’. The 1995 film was based on the true story of a murderous enforcer who ruled Las Vegas for the Chicago mob. Only a highly organised FBI operation was able to expose the criminal tentacles flowing through the city’s underbelly. In the 1970s, Las Vegas was ruled by the Chicago mob. Around $1million was siphoned from the top three casinos each month to line the pockets of mob bosses in the Windy City. One of the mafia’s key men in Vegas was a ruthless enforcer named Tony Spilotro, who inspired the Nicky Santoro character played by Joe Pesci in ‘Casino’. Spilotro was sent to protect the mafia’s take – known as the ‘skim’ – from light-fingered employees. Despite orders to keep a low profile, Spilotro fuelled a wave of violence. In his first three years in Vegas, more people died in gangland murders than in the previous 25. Spilotro also established his own burglary ring – the ‘hole-in-the-wall gang’ – which targeted wealthy homes in the suburbs. By 1979, Spilotro’s activities had come to the attention of the FBI, who were keen to impose law and order on the desert town. “We had to come in here and replant the American flag,” recalls former agent Emmett Michaels. A huge FBI surveillance operation recorded thousands of hours of illicit conversations. Agents even dressed up as maintenance men in order to infiltrate mob dens and plant bugs. In late 1979, an increasingly paranoid Spilotro learned that one of his underlings, Jerry Linser, had turned informant. He ordered his right-hand man, Frank Cullotta, to deal with Linser. “I went over to Linser’s house that same night, I opened up the door and that’s when I proceeded to kill him,” recalls Cullotta. By killing a state’s witness, the mobsters had raised the stakes. The FBI redoubled its efforts and began to follow the money fl