The famous Tropicana casino in Las Vegas will be reduced to rubble on Wednesday in an implosion set for 2:30 a.m. The event, which will include fireworks and a drone show, marks the first casino implosion in the city in nearly a decade.
It aims to clear space for a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the relocating Oakland Athletics. The Tropicana hotel towers are expected to fall in 22 seconds.
This demolition highlights Las Vegas’s history of turning such events into spectacles. Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum, said, "What Las Vegas has done, in classic Las Vegas style, they've turned many of these implosions into spectacles." The city last imploded a Strip casino in 2016 when the Riviera’s final tower was demolished.
This latest implosion will mark the end of the Tropicana, which was the third-oldest casino on the Strip, closing its doors in April after 67 years of operation. Known for its luxurious features, the Tropicana was a favorite of the Rat Pack and had ties to organized crime through reputed mobster Frank Costello . The casino opened in 1957 with three stories and 300 hotel rooms.
Despite several renovations over the decades, the original low-rise hotel wings remained, retaining its status as the last true mob structure on the Strip. The Tropicana's connection to organized crime became evident after an investigation following the attempted assassination of Costello in New York in 1957. Authorities fou.