Tropicana casino, relic of Las Vegas’s mob era, is brought tumbling down

Landmark hotel and gambling parlor is demolished by controlled implosion to make way for new baseball stadium

With a rumble and colorful flashes, the last true mob-era casino in Las Vegas, the Tropicana, a landmark hotel and gambling parlor, was reduced to rubble on Wednesday.

It was no accident, the legendary haunt of the Rat Pack and the place James Bond said he heard was “quite comfortable” in 007’s 1971 film Diamonds Are Forever, the Tropicana’s heyday, was intentionally destroyed in an elaborate implosion in the early hours.