Albert “Mokie” Faccinto Sr., one of the most powerful casino figures on the Las Vegas Strip in the 1960s and ‘70s, recently died at age 91. Faccinto was one of the founding executives of Caesars Palace under Jay Sarno in the mid-1960s and a part owner of the property from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s under Clifford Perlman, who died earlier this month.
Faccinto, a native of Steubenville, Ohio, helped open Caesars Palace in 1966. In 1969 he joined Lum’s restaurant chain owners Clifford Perlman and Jerry Zarowitz, along with Nathan Jacobson, Harry Wald and the Rogers family of Beaumont, Texas, in the purchase of the property, which at the time offered 500 rooms, for $60 million. With the sale of Caesars Palace to the Lum’s corporation, Caesars Palace became the first publicly held gaming resort in Las Vegas.
Under Perlman, Faccinto and the other owners led Caesars growth, including the addition of 1,200 hotel rooms and positioning the property as a world sports capital, offering championship boxing megacards, men’s pro tennis, women’s gymnastics and Formula 1 Grand Prix racing.
Under Faccinto, hundreds of Las Vegans got their first jobs in gaming, with dozens becoming major executives. He retired from Caesars Palace in 1985.
