Most of you, I’m certain, remember Fred Frazzetta, a heroic Nevadan who essentially sacrificed his career to blow the whistle on Harrah’s Entertainment‘s cavalier attitude toward building regulations (and, one might add, customer safety). He sent S&G the following, in response to a Suzette Parmley profile of Don Marrandino, who’s now BMOC for Harrah’s Atlantic City and Pennsylvania casinos and racinos.
“I caught your article regarding Don Marrandino, and I wanted to take the time to fill you in on a few things that took place while Mr. Marrandino was President of both the Flamingo Hotel & Harrah’s Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas … things I am sure that neither Don or Harrah’s want to talk about.
“Have you followed the plight of Harrah’s and their now well documented illegal remodels in Las Vegas? I am the whistleblower, Fred Frazzetta and I want the world to know what Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. did because their numerous criminal acts were willful. Harrah’s illegally remodeled multiple properties here in Las Vegas without permits being pulled as required, and therefore no inspections. Every room that Harrah’s touched was found to be unsafe for the public to stay in, and we are talking about thousands of rooms. To add insult to injury Harrah’s also exposed their construction workers, hotel employees & hotel guests to ASBESTOS, a known carcinogenic during the course of many of their illegal & some legal remodels intentionally & willfully! I tried to get Harrah’s to fix their screw-ups, but they wanted nothing to do with it, as they felt that no one in this town would listen to me, and for almost a year and a half they were right. I had a meeting with Don Marrandino in his office at the Flamingo, Debi Fetzner the VP of Human Resources for both Harrah’s & the Flamingo was also present. Don Marrandino met with me because he wanted to see what type of person I really was, as my internal memos were rather strong. About ten minutes into our meeting, Don said to me: “You know Fred, if this were the old days we might be handling this a little differently.” I smiled, and told Don that it wasn’t the old days … I am not so sure anymore. We discussed the illegal remodels & asbestos exposure, but when I tried to show Mr. Marrandino the documentation that I had he refused to look at it stating: “I do not want to be holding my arm up in court.
“Don Marrandino was, at the time, President of both Harrah’s Hotel & Casino [left] & the Flamingo – he was well aware of the illegal remodels, as were: Tom Jenkin, Kirk England, Marilyn Winn, Mike Nasby, Tom Adams, Mike Whitehead, Leon Vermillion, George Kirkwood, Robert Bruna, Chris Lubera, Skip Matthews, Jim Taysen, Shane Jacobs, Keith Adams, Brian Riley, Harold Long, Jason Spisak, Reggie White, Beth Cookson, Tommy Cookson, Brad Johnson, John Alcott, Jeremy Farnan, Travis Matthews, Eric Quinterro, Steve Weems, Mike Weems, etc. etc., and I would be remiss to not mention the licensed contractors that helped Harrah’s: Ford Contracting, Siemens, Wood Resources of Nevada Inc., Statewide Fire Protection, and T-Nicholas Co Inc. Two Unions were instrumental in providing labor to Harrah’s and they were The Teamsters Union and the [L]ocal 501 Operating Engineers.
“Don Marrandino’s legacy here in Las Vegas depends on which side of the fence you are on. I was exposed to asbestos multiple times, mold, uncontrolled dust, fiberglass fibers, and God only knows what else. From my side of the fence Harrah’s has no excuse for what they did, and because it was done intentionally over & over again I believe Harrah’s should be criminally charged. Some legacy: intentional illegal remodels and asbestos exposure … yeah Don is a real stand up guy!
Have to give Fred credit here for going out on a limb and doing this, it’s certainly a shame that no action was taken against the company that mattered.
One thing that’s brought up at times is the fact that Nevada outside of mining and casinos, has no real industry. While on the surface this appears to favor business owners, I’m not so sure I’d see it that way if I was a business owner, more like favortism to existing. And if a local government is going to run like that, why in the world would I bring my business or company there and subject myself to that goofiness.
unfortunately, for Mr. Frazzetta, it’s been more like “naming names, & getting his ass kicked” He deserves far more public support, & harrah’s $$$$ than he’s gotten so far.
This kind of name callin and ass kicking got me fired by a who’s who at the Tropicana AC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad thing is…we’ll never know if/when things have been
made right by Harrah’s. I followed this for quite a while and
I’d be quite surprised if they’re ever charged. Small fines are nothing to them, it’s business as usual and there will
NEVER be a guarantee guests will be totally safe in a Harrah’s property again (the majority of whom have no idea this ever happened…)
A good blog with very informative article also give more point able articles in future.
I just don’t understand how someone like Jeremy Farnan did know about the work being done at Harahs casino and still be able to work for another casino ( the Mirage) and be able to apply for A contractors license under the Mirage! But I guess that’s how it goes when you are friends with the manager Brian Graham and he knows about Jeremys past. I guess it all about who you know!