ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Dennis Gomes, co-owner of the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City and a former mob-busting Las Vegas prosecutor whose exploits were chronicled in the movie "Casino," died Friday at age 68, his son said.
Gomes died of complications from kidney dialysis, said Aaron Gomes, vice president of operations at his father's casino. The elder Gomes had developed kidney problems and was undergoing dialysis treatments after breaking his back last year.
"Whether or not it was related to his back we will never know, but he ended up having major kidney issues and was put on temporary dialysis," Aaron Gomes told The Associated Press. "He unfortunately passed away of complications due to the dialysis. He was the most unbelievable person I ever had the chance of meeting, and I was even more fortunate that he happened to be my father."
Gomes died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
He and New York real estate magnate Morris Bailey bought the struggling Resorts in August 2010 and saved it from shutting down.
Gomes had a long career in the casino industry, with management jobs at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, where he famously turned a tic-tac-toe-playing chicken into a top draw; the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort; the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas; and Hilton Nevada's properties. And his tenure as Nevada's top casino corruption investigator was chronicled in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film "Casino," starring Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone.
Donald Trump called Gomes "a great friend and a great executive."
"He was my top executive at the Taj Mahal, and he did a tremendous job," Trump said. "Everybody liked him and respected him. This is just so shocking."
Gomes' death rocked the Atlantic City casino industry, where he was beloved by fellow executives and industry bigs. His co-owner, Bailey, pledged to continue carrying out his policies at the casino.
"Dennis was a man of integrity who embraced all who knew him with respect and love," Bailey said. "We have not only lost a business partner who was an industry leader and visionary, we have lost a friend and family member. We are committed to continuing Dennis' vision for Resorts and Atlantic City, and our success will be a tribute to his memory."
In a December 2010 hearing before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, Gomes outlined his unconventional management philosophy.
"There's something in the martial arts called chi, the life energy that guides you. I think I give energy," said Gomes, a martial arts black-belt. "I think love is the most powerful force in the universe. If you do everything from love, you can tap into that energy," he told the commission, drawing big laughs by adding, "those Wall Street guys hate that."
Employees at Resorts were stunned by Gomes' death.
"Dennis was truly the most giving, gracious and kind-hearted human being," said Nicholas Moles, vice president and general counsel of the casino. "Everyone who knew him loved him."
Another of Gomes' sons, Douglas Gomes, died on Jan. 28.
Dennis Gomes was famous for bizarre schemes to attract free publicity to his casinos. While running Atlantic City's Tropicana, he pitted a live chicken against customers in games of tic-tac-toe. To promote a casino in Indiana, he hired a Barack Obama look-and-sound-alike to urge gamblers to bring their "change" to the gambling hall. That earned him a rebuke from the White House and oodles of free publicity.
It was no different at Resorts. Gomes erected a billboard showing a dancer's naked rear end to promote a stage show, leading to a court battle with the state's transit agency, which owned the billboard location. He staged an adults-only big top show called "The Naked Circus" and opened the first gay nightclub in an Atlantic City casino.
After HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," the TV series based on Prohibition-era Atlantic City's political and vice rackets, started taking audiences by storm, Gomes decided to re-brand the casino — whose hotel is an authentic 1920s edifice — to cash in on interest in the show and Atlantic City's shady past. A key part of the new image was new skimpy flapper costumes that female beverage servers were made to wear.
Servers had to audition and be photographed in their new outfits; those deemed insufficiently sexy were fired. That decision, along with pay cuts, spurred three separate lawsuits, one of which is being pushed by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, alleging age and sex discrimination. The suits are pending.
Gomes, who lived in Margate, just south of Atlantic City, wore a back brace recently after breaking his back trying to catch a falling marble table top. Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts and president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said Gomes told him he recently had back surgery in which several discs were replaced.
"Dennis was a wonderful family man, a leader and a role model," Griffin said. "His loss is a great one, not only for his family and many friends, but for Atlantic City. Our industry has lost a fabulous innovator."
Gomes worked tirelessly to try to turn Resorts around. He and Bailey bought the casino for $31.5 million, a fraction of the $140 million former owners Colony Capital LLC paid for it in 2001. Colony walked away from the casino in 2009 after losing money for years and failing to find a buyer.
In an interview in December 2011, Gomes told the AP that Resorts was still losing money, although its cash-paying businesses — food and beverage sales and hotel rooms — were up 40 percent over their level from a year earlier. For all of 2010, Resorts lost $18.5 million.
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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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