Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, a former casino executive once called the greatest living expert on sports handicapping and the man on whom Robert DeNiro’s character in Casino was based, has died at the age of 79.

Officials said Rosenthal died from a heart attack in his Miami Beach condo.

Rosenthal, who once survived a car bomb, ran the Chicago mob-owned Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina casinos through the 1970s and into the mid-1980s. [CNN]

**pours out a little coffee on the floor for my homeboy**  Here’s to you, Lefty, I hope you’re up in Heaven right now trying to bang that chick from TLC.  Oh wait, he was Jewish?  Nevermind about the Heaven thing.  …Hey don’t look at me, I don’t make the rules, Jesus does.