Marshall Caifano

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nevada ' s " black book " of unsavory types barred from casinos has lost one of its two remaining charter members, with the recent death in Florida of reputed Chicago Outfit hit man Marshall Caifano of natural causes at age 92.

Mr. Caifano, whose arrest record dated to 1929, had been living in the Fort Lauderdale area since his release from prison several years ago. His funeral was held Wednesday in Chicago.

With Mr. Caifano ' s death, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Southern California crime figure Louis Tom Dragna, 83, is the last of the first 11 inductees in the original 1960 " black book " who ' s still alive.

Since then, dozens of other names have been added to the list of people deemed persona non grata in Nevada clubs. Once Mr. Caifano ' s name is deleted, the list will total 37.

" There has been a substantial transition over the years, " said Keith Copher, the Control Board ' s chief of enforcement. " In this day and age, we ' re looking at more than organized crime members or associates. "

" Now we have members of cheating groups who use high-tech, sophisticated methods, " Copher said. Although the recent inductees ' scams have cost the clubs millions of dollars, there ' s none of the extreme violence that marked Mr. Caifano ' s era.

Copher said it ' ll take a few months to process a report on Mr. Caifano ' s death, get Control Board members to recommend deleting his name from what ' s officially known as the state ' s List of Excluded Persons, and have a final decision by the board ' s parent, the state Gaming Commission.

Born Marchello Caifano in New York City, Mr. Caifano moved as a youth to Chicago. By the mid-1950s, court and police records state, the 5-foot-5 gangster had earned a reputation as a hit man, bank robber and bookmaker, had multiple convictions, and was looking out for Chicago Outfit interests in Las Vegas. He legally changed his name to one of his several aliases, John Marshall.

When he was listed in the " black book " as " a high-ranking member of the Chicago organized crime family, " Mr. Caifano promptly filed a lawsuit to have his name deleted.

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually upheld a lower federal court ruling that said allowing people like Mr. Caifano in casinos was akin to having " an animal running at large while suspected of being afflicted with the foot-and-mouth disease. "

The comparison borders on polite, when one considers numerous accounts of Mr. Caifano ' s criminal activity over the years. Those accounts include a 1958 Chicago Crime Commission report that said he had been questioned many times about gangland murders and shootings.

Among the cases were slayings of other gangsters, including a Chicago policy rackets figure who had killed Mr. Caifano ' s brother; and a mobster friend ' s girlfriend who was bludgeoned, burned and stabbed with an ice pick.

Another report by California authorities listed Mr. Caifano as a top lieutenant in the Chicago crime syndicate run by Tony Accardo, Al Capone ' s successor, and " a suspected underworld muscle and triggerman. "

Mr. Caifano was convicted in 1964 of trying to extort $60,000 from Ray Ryan, an Indiana oil millionaire who testified against him. He had been out of prison for five years when, in 1977, Ryan was killed by a bomb attached to his car.

In 1980, Mr. Caifano was sentenced to 20 years for fencing stolen stock certificates. Control Board records show he was released in 1991.