♪♪ (Tommy Caprio) Good evening and welcome to a special edition of Vegas All In.

And tonight, I'm at the legendary Bootlegger to have dinner with some of the city's most influential people.

Now, as a newcomer, I often hear stories of "old Vegas" when deals were sealed with a handshake and the community felt like family.

Well, tonight I'm going to get to sit down with some of those people who lived during that era.

At the table is Larry Ruvo, a true Vegas icon, entrepreneur and philanthropist; his wife, Camille, known for her work in the arts and local charities; Lorraine Hunt Bono, Larry's cousin and former Lieutenant Governor, whose family restaurant, the Venetian, was a staple of old Vegas; her husband Dennis Bono, a classic Vegas entertainer; and Michael Severino, a long-time hospitality executive with deep roots in the city.

I'm excited to hear their stories.

Pull up a seat and join us for an intimate dinner with some of the people who helped make Las Vegas the city that it is today.

Come on.

♪♪ So I'm doing a show about Las Vegas, but I look on it with, with fresh eyes.

Everything is exciting to me.

We can start with Larry.

Talk a little bit about yourself and how you know all these, all the other people around the table.

(Larry Ruvo) You couldn't make this story up if you tried.

♪♪ My mom and dad.

My mom was from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

My father's from Niagara Falls, New York.

It's like walking across the Strip; there was a river.

And they met at a dance.

They were dating.

They were in love.

The war breaks out December 7, 1941.

My dad gets drafted, goes to my mom and said, Angie, I'm going off to war.

I don't know how long this is going to last.

I'm breaking up.

I don't want to go away.

I don't want to worry about you.

And maybe one year, ten years, I don't know, but we're-- this is over.

She's heartbroken.

She calls my Aunt Mary, her sister.

Sis, Lou broke up.

I'm heartbroken.

Uncle Al, her dad, had rheumatic fever.

So back then, the place was dry desert.

That was the script from the doctor.

They moved to Arizona.

They didn't like it.

They come to Las Vegas.

Now, in 1942 my mom-- 1943 my mother comes out here to see her sister, heartbroken, and they decide they're going to go out dancing after she got adjusted to, I don't know, 10-day train drive, whatever it was.

And when she walks into the dance in Las Vegas downtown on Fremont Street, the first person she sees is my dad.

What are you doing here?

(Dennis Bono) Stationed down here.

-He was stationed at what was then called McCarran Airfield, not Nellis.

It was called McCarran at the time.

They're both stunned, and it was immediately this, this synergy, the two of them.

And he went off to the Pacific Theater to Guam, but she waited and they got married and they came back.

That's, that's how they got back together was really because of her sister and Uncle Al.

She was about three years old.

So subsequent to that, they get married, I'm born.

My father had a crap game plus a sightseeing business in Niagara Falls.

And this is a really true story.

There was a new sheriff in town, police captain, and the other one really liked my dad.

He goes, Listen, I'm just telling you, this new guy's not me.

You're gonna have to close the crap game down.

And my father says, I can't make money just doing the sightseeing.

We're going to go to Las Vegas.

It was legal gambling, so they moved out to Las Vegas.

One day, my dad and Uncle Al came home, and I was there, and they said, Well, we rented a restaurant today.

What?

What do you mean you rented a restaurant?

You know, Angie, everybody loves your cooking.

Mary, everybody loves your cooking.

And the two guys--I think it was like you and Steve Lawrence--they must have rehearsed it.

You know, they're giving all the accolades to my mom's cooking and baking and Aunt Mary's cooking.

What do you mean?

Well, you're going to come down tomorrow.

We all went down, and within a week, Lorraine and myself were painting down on 1980 East Fremont Street, and they opened this restaurant.

But the funny thing was-- -1955.

-1955.

And they went to the business license, and they said, Well, what are you gonna-- what's the name of your business?

And my mom and Aunt Mary were from Venice, so they're gonna call it the Venetian Pizzeria?

The guy said, What's a pizzeria?

It was the first-- -They didn't know what a pizza was, yeah.

-It was the first pizzeria in Las Vegas.

And Aunt Mary and Uncle-- or my mom, and they're all getting a license.

And they open up this tiny little restaurant.

Lorraine's there.

I'm making boxes and pans and grating cheese, and we're doing everything.

The restaurant opens, and it didn't take, I mean, not weeks.

There were lines at the door to get it, but when they went to get the sign--and I brought some information to show you this--they didn't have the money to put the Venetian.

You see, that was the sign, the Venetian Pizzeria.

But the Pizzeria was lit in red letters because they didn't have money to light the Venetian.

So at night, all it said was Pizzeria, so it became known as the Pizzeria.

And the Venetian was there.

My father hated it.

He didn't know the first thing about food or cooking, but the restaurant became such an enormous success, and the reputation and the people that would come in there.

I was just turned 14.

I was working really, really hard.

This was one of my-- a lot of life lessons I had from Uncle Al and Aunt Mary and my mom and dad, but this one still sticks with me.

At 14, I went in.

It was a very hot day, and this was a tiny little place.

So I went in there on a Friday night before the restaurant opened, and John Kirk was the chef.

And I see them all drinking beer before the restaurant opened, so I fired the chef.

-At 14?

-Yeah.

-Oh, nice.

[laughter] -Lot of guts.

-My mom calls my dad.

My dad comes down, and the way he handled it was so smooth.

-He was always an executive.

-My dad was so smooth.

He walks in, he goes, I gotta talk to you.

So we went outside because you couldn't talk in the place.

I mean, the place wasn't as big as this room.

He said, Did you fire the chef?

I said, Dad, they were all drinking before the shift.

I knew they were going to get drunk.

He said, Well, first of all, you never fire a chef on Friday.

Wait till Monday.

You need him for the weekend.

You got to hire him back.

Then I knew I could fire him on Friday.

So we sit down at the table, like a two-top, John, my dad, and me.

He says, John, Larry wants to talk to you.

I said, John, I overreacted--whatever I said, I was 14, whatever I said.

I'm really sorry, dad-- or John.

I got to hire you back.

And, Accept my apology.

My dad said, You guys friends here?

Shake hands, shake hands.

He says, John, I'm just promoting you to general manager, and your first job is to fire my son.

[laughter] -It was the handshake.

-Lessons learned.

-The handshake.

-And that was a major turning point.

♪♪ -Lorraine said when she moved here, there was how many people?

(Lorraine Hunt Bono) 6,000.

I'll go a little bit back before Larry and Angie and Lou moved in with us on New York Street, we all opened the pizzeria.

My mom and dad came out in 1943, as Larry said, for my dad who had rheumatic fever and needed a dry climate, The doctor said Arizona or Nevada.

And he said, Where in Nevada?

He said, Las Vegas?

And they swear to God, the story I'm told is they said, Well, let's go to Las Vegas, because that sounds more Italian.

So lo and behold, they throw everything into that big car.

They had that old Chrysler, and me in the back seat with little Aunt Madeline who was 14.

Las Vegas in the '40s was a small, dusty western town, and it developed into this magnificent mecca today of global entertainment and, of course, gaming and then food and, I mean, everything that we have here today.

In retrospect-- -It doesn't seem like it, but you think back now, it's 40-some years, yeah.

I caught the end of an era.

♪♪ (Michael Severino) They had such people skills.

They genuinely, genuinely loved people, liked people, and I think that really made it-- it was in their DNA, and it's hereditary.

-You can't teach that in college.

When these kids come out and they got a degree in business or hospitality, it's not-- they don't quite understand.

This was a town based upon hospitality.

It's making people feel at home, making it feel, making them feel comfortable.

It's not, it wasn't about numbers.

It was about making people feel so comfortable they couldn't wait to come back.

Every great relationship in my life was based on a handshake.

It wasn't based upon a contract.

And I'm in the entertainment business, but all the great things that have ever happened in my life, you could throw all the contracts out the window.

But all the good things that happened were based upon a handshake.

A handshake meant one thing, but if they looked you in the eye, that was like the handshake was being notarized.

You know, does that make sense?

The handshake is, handshake is one thing, and that's wonderful.

When they looked you in the eye and said it, and you said, I just had my handshake notarized, and that meant it was etched in stone.

♪♪ -Steve Wynn and I started the liquor company.

Steve went back to the Golden Nugget.

I kept the liquor company.

And it was running on fumes.

And I didn't-- I always tell people I was turning the lights out at night.

I get a call one day from Billy Weinberger.

Billy Weinberger came and opened Caesars Palace.

He was the food and beverage director, but he elevated through the years to become president.

And he called me one day and he said, I'd like to talk to you.

I call my office.

It's my biggest account.

Did we do something wrong?

And I'm sitting there, and he goes, I need a favor.

I said, What is it?

He said, Well, Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra is going to your mom and dad's restaurant almost every night.

And when he's not going, he's calling, and our bellmen are going to pick up the food and bring it up to his suite.

And it's demoralizing.

We have this new restaurant that just opened.

I said, What do you want me to do, tell my mom and dad they can't serve Frank Sinatra, or you want me to go see Frank Sinatra?

And I was very fortunate in that I had a relationship with Sinatra.

I had traveled with him.

I said, Frank, do not shoot the messenger.

Again-- he says, I'm going to shoot the effen messenger.

I want to know what the message is.

I said, I just came from Billy.

You know I'm starting a company, and he'd like you to come eat at his restaurant and not go to the Venetian every night.

And it's demoralizing, because when you don't go to the Venetian, you're sending food in.

What'd you say?

What?

I want you to repeat that.

So I tell him-- we may be on the air, but I'm gonna use some of the vernacular Mr. Sinatra used, not my words.

He goes that foolish [beep]!

I said, Okay, well, I'm just delivering the message.

He goes over and he picks up the phone.

It's Mr. Sinatra.

Can I have Mr. Weinberger?

While he's holding, he says, What's your most expensive champagne you sell?

Now, at that time I didn't have Dom Perignon and Cristal and all these great brands we have today.

I says, Mumm's Rene Lalou.

The most expensive thing I had.

He says, Okay.

Hey, Billy, hi, it's Francis.

Hold on.

What's the name of that?

Billy, every two people that are coming in the showroom, I want them to have a bottle of Mumm's Rene Lalou.

I don't know.

What's the cost?

Tells him the cost.

He goes, Well, then you'll have to do that, right?

Yeah, tonight.

And I'm going, No, not tonight.

I gotta get it over here.

Tomorrow.

Okay, tomorrow night, every two people come in the showroom get that.

And, yes, you'll have to raise the minimum.

I'm sorry about that, but you will have to.

But thanks a lot.

Hangs up the phone and he says, Nobody tells me where to eat.

Now, now, Frank Sinatra came out on stage every single night.

That's me, 1973, with a bottle of Rene Lalou.

And he would come out on stage every night and say, Post time!

And for every performance.

And I think he did like two on the weekends.

Well, the sales of Rene Lalou went like this.

But the thing was, everybody knew I had a friendship and a relationship with him.

I also knew where he was going at night, so I would call the restaurant.

He was going there anyway.

I'd say, Listen, Tom, Dave, Sam, I'm gonna be out with Frank tonight.

I could bring him to your restaurant, but I need a little help.

I need a little more on the wine list, a little more of this, a little more of that.

He was going there anyway, but that was the residual.

But that's, that's how powerful that name was in this town.

I mean, we all know him and he was a legend, but he was-- if he needed or wanted or did something in this town, nobody questioned it.

It was done.

(Camille Ruvo) You know, it was the land of great opportunity, because you could be a person who tends bar or you could be a cocktail waitress or you could be a dealer, and you were-- you made an extraordinary living.

-Right.

-Extraordinary.

It really helped you get ahead.

And you know, before corporate America came in, it wasn't just a middle-class income living, you know, paycheck to paycheck.

People were comfortable.

-And we-- I think that the people that live here and work here and come here all seem to add to that energy that continues that, that entrepreneurial spirit.

And so I see nothing for the, for Nevada's future, except the best is yet to come.

-The reason that I think Las Vegas has been so successful is the people, but the people that wanted to put back into the town, not that people are going to come here and they think they were going to make a score and leave.

-We can be everything to everybody, and we've become that.

-I remember being at the Desert Inn, and-- -You were in the lounge.

-I was there for two years.

And all of a sudden, it's Christmas week, and they said, You can go home.

You know, you go wherever you want.

We're shutting down.

I'm going, What do you mean you're shutting down?

Because there was everybody normally went home for holidays, whether it be the workers in the hotels.

And so all of a sudden there was nobody there.

It was a ghost town during the holidays until, like, New Year's Eve.

And then all of a sudden the city became explosive again.

Until the rodeo came into town--and you were instrumental in that--but when the rodeo came into town, all of a sudden it was like is busier than any other.

I mean, there was no such thing as take a week off during the holidays.

♪♪ -One of the total gentlemen of Las Vegas is Bill Boyd.

Later on in my career, I started to get more success, and I was traveling a lot.

And I was buying an airplane, and Bill Boyd had this airplane.

And I called him on the phone.

This whole conversation happened on the phone.

And this is why this handshake rarely exists.

I get Bill on the phone.

I said, Bill, I understand you're selling your airplane.

Yeah, I'm going to start going back East.

I got to get a bigger plan.

I'd like to buy your airplane.

But before I say something, this is my budget.

I heard what you were asking.

It's a little more than I need.

I don't want-- you're a friend; I don't want to negotiate.

I'm just telling you where I'm at.

This is the most I can pay.

And if I pay that amount of money, it's got to go through the precheck, it's got to go through the check, it's got to go-- Okay, I'll make you a deal.

I'll accept your price, and I'll guarantee you that everything is fine on the plane.

He says, But I need a favor.

What is it?

He said, You feel my hand shaking?

I'm on the phone.

I said, Yeah, you feel mine?

He goes, We got a deal.

Now, the plane had to go to Texas.

I fly down to Texas, and I'm gonna get this airplane.

And I was there at West Star Aviation.

I sat there, the guy said, Listen, I'm on my way to New York.

I'm gonna leave the plane.

Whatever needs to be done on this plane, in addition to whatever Mr. Boyd didn't take care of, I want it done now.

The guy said, Mr. Ruvo, take the plane with you.

What?

He said, Mr. Boyd came down here and he says, I'm selling this airplane to a friend of mine.

Whatever it needs, do it.

Whatever it doesn't need, do it.

And make sure this plane is 100% as close to new as possible.

That's the handshake.

The other handshake, because my cousin calling me-- and we had the Venetian restaurant.

They had the Bootlegger at the time-- She says you know there's a new hotel coming.

I said, Which one?

She said, The Venetian.

I said, What Venetian?

She said, They're gonna implode the Sands, and they're gonna build a new hotel called the Venetian.

I said, I don't think so.

She said, Yeah, they are.

So I verified.

I knew what she was saying, so I called Peter Bernhard, our attorney.

Send this guy named Sheldon Adelson, send him a letter, which he did.

And this story's in there.

And when my friend Sheldon passed away, they published this story, part of his obituary, but it's all true.

I walked in and he was sitting down, and he said, I checked you out.

I said, We're even.

He said, What'd you find out?

I said, You go first.

He says, You're in my office.

What'd you find out?

And I said what I found out.

I says, I heard that you like to litigate, you're a very gruff guy, blah, blah, blah.

And I said, Nothing positive.

I said, My father always told me you never judge a book by its cover.

You gotta read the book.

I said, What'd you find out?

And he said some very nice things.

He says, Well, we're here.

I want to buy the name.

I said, Who says it's for sale?

Ah, you're going to hold me up!

You're gonna hold me up, huh?

I said, I just said it wasn't for sale.

Over the next 10 minutes, he's negotiating, telling me what he's going to pay me for this name.

I look at him, and I said, Sheldon-- and it was 1994.

My father had just passed away.

I knew we weren't going to keep the restaurant open long.

It was too hard on my mom and Michael.

And I says, You know, I got to tell you something.

If my father sat here-- if my father would come back, kick me in the fanny if I had to try to hold you.

You're going to build a giant hotel, employ thousands of people, stimulate the economy, buy my liquor.

I just can't sell you the name.

He says, Wait a minute.

What do you think it's worth?

I said, I'll tell you what it's worth.

Steve Wynn bought the Mirage Motel for 750,000 ten years ago.

With CPI, I think the name's worth 2 million.

That's what you want?

I said, It's not for sale.

So I said to him, I'll tell you what.

Take the name, be an important part of our community, support our community, you got the name for free.

What?

And he stands up.

And screaming at me, he says, I am the son of a Boston cab driver.

Nobody ever gave me a thing in my life.

I looked at him, and he had one of those little flip calendars.

I said, Sheldon, see that date?

Mark it down.

He got the name.

Handshake, goodbye.

-Handshake.

-Never charged him a penny.

And he never ever forgot it.

♪♪ -As a little girl--8, 9, 10, 11--my dad and mom would take me into the clubs.

I'd see all the acts, and I just loved the entertainment, because that's what I wanted to do when I grew up.

So now I'm in my teens at Las Vegas High School.

My best friend is Carol Entratter, and her father is Jack Entratter, who does all the shows at the Sands Hotel.

You see it on the marquees, "Jack Entratter Presents" Frank Sinatra and Count Basie.

Jack Entrotter Presents Peggy Lee, Lena Horn, Nat King Cole.

It goes on.

We were always in the-- by the pool, in the shows, watching the shows.

Frank Sinatra, I tell that story because of Dennis and his relationship there that Frank would say, The girls are coming in tonight.

Okay, Lorraine, where do you want to sit tonight?

Do you want to sit by the horns or the strings?

Watch the show.

Next week we'd go in.

Frank is going, Okay, strings tonight or horns?

I go, I'd like to see the horns.

We go sit.

We were all dressed up like we thought we were gorgeous because Kim Novak, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Humphrey Bogart, all the big stars were there all the time for these shows, and we just took it for granted.

-And we, from the economy standpoint, you're going, These people are coming in on a Friday.

They're staying till Monday.

This is a great boon to the economy.

-And where do you have, what do we have, over 200,000 rooms within a seven mile radius in one big line between, what is it, from-- you go from Fremont Street, if you want to include downtown, and all the way out to now past the South Point, maybe Cactus or further.

But the South Strip, there used to be a five mile radius, Sahara.

There's no other place like it, plus our convention facilities.

If you look at that, you go to other cities, you have to go one hotel over here, the other group is staying there.

It's not-- the town was built to bring people in.

♪♪ -I think in the end, we can all count on knowing that if you are true to your word, look somebody straight in the eye, shake their hand, not forget how you got to where you are today, technology can never take that over.

Nobody, no.

There is no way technology could ever take that over.

-Personal contact is of the utmost importance.

I'm not sure that young people are experiencing it as they should.

-Before we leave, I have two things.

The 80s, because I met my wife, but there were so many people that came through this town, and I have to share this photograph with you.

This, this is Don Carano, Steve Wynn, George Bush, and myself.

Daddy watching his son give the first State of the Union as President, George W. Bush, 43.

-Was that at the Wynn?

-No.

That was in Reno at the Eldorado hotel.

And Daddy Bush was going to go back and watch his son.

He goes, I don't want to go there, I'll upstage my son.

I won't do that; it's his first time.

So he stayed, and we all watched.

And there's his son with the father watching him.

So how do you get those kind of stories and what we discussed tonight?

-Well, thank you very much for having this dinner.

We-- I think we should definitely do it again, but I want to end it here: Salute to the past and the future of Las Vegas.

Wow!

Larry Ruvo and his guests shared some incredible stories about old Vegas.

It's truly inspiring to hear how this city came from humble beginnings to become the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next time on Vegas All In.