Circus Circus | Murder and The Mob In Vegas

Posted: 02.01.2025 | Updated: 02.01.2025

Circus Circus remains at the center of Vegas’s storied history. Since 1968, it has been hosting guests from all corners of the world, and many have stayed behind. 

Viva Las Vegas. From Elvis to showgirls, Deano and Sammy Davis to white tigers, Sinatra to the mob, Vegas has seen it all. From its origins as a barren desert wasteland to one of the single most iconic destinations on earth, Vegas is all about the benjamins.

The glittering gambling empire that is Las Vegas caters to millions each year. Dazzling visitors with its lavish attractions and chateaus of chance, all in the hope you’ll spend, spend, spend. But when does it go too far? 

Make a safe bet and learn more on a Las Vegas Ghost Tour. 

Is Circus Circus Haunted?

The endless lights of Vegas cut through the Nevada night and seem like a beacon in the desert. While Vegas may shine like fire in a cat’s eye, there is a shadow for every ray of illumination. In those shadows lays Vegas’s darker side. Crime, violence, and deaths are as tied to the gambling capital’s history as are the hotels and resorts.  

Las Vegas can be an unforgiving mistress. For Circus Circus, the horrific acts and ghostly tales that follow have dealt a tough hand to this jackpot venue. Some say the truth of it all is as easy as Room 123–one of the most haunted hotel rooms in Las Vegas. 

The History Of Circus Circus, Las Vegas

When Las Vegas was forged into existence in 1905, it was a humble beginning that belied its glittering future. Originally, it was a railroad stop-off for refueling and water on the line to Salt Lake City. No one could have foreseen the gleaming temples of temptation that would rise out of the desert sands. 

Circus Circus, was built in 1968 as a ‘Green Felt Disneyland’ to cater to a more family audience, was also plagued by accusations of mob involvement. Co-owner Jay Sarno, the creative force behind Caesars Palace, believed the sheer attraction of such glitzy entertainment would more than compensate for their lack of a hotel. 

Restless creditors and gaming commission threats seemed certain to bury the hotel quicker than a witness in the desert, but a $23M loan from the Teamsters saved the venture in the shape of a 414-room hotel addition.

A deal with the devil had been struck, with the Teamsters pension fund comfortably under the purview of the Kansa City Mob. Sarno had solved one problem by creating another. 

By 1974, Sarno sought to distance himself from the hotel and the Kansas City-sized elephant in the room, living in fear of both the law and the mob. 

New ownership stepped forward to lease the property. Bill Pennington and Bill Bennet would bought the casino outright for $72M in 1983. 

Promptly evicting Sarno from his 14th-floor suite and ending his chapter with Circus Circus, they leased the property.

Mob profit skimming subsided, and Bennet and Pennington expanded their empire with other casino purchases. MGM Mirage eventually bought all of these acquisitions and maintains them as part of its portfolio. 

This Is Bat Country: Circus Circus’s Legacy

The famous Vegas hotel, even today, contains the world’s largest permanent circus. The old casino floor exemplified the extravagant Vegas approach to entertainment with small pink elephants that could be ridden while trained monkeys roamed the casino interacting with guests. 

The hotel’s unique character is said to have been Hunter S. Thompson’s location choice for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While Circus Circus’s mob ties were partly the inspiration for the 1995 Robert DeNiro film Casino. 

This casino’s ambitious vision even survived the flurry of demolition that washed over old Vegas casinos in the late eighties. A time when empires grew, fell, and were reshaped. 

Bright Lights And Dark Deeds

The clown has seen death and none too rarely. The Vegas strip has often had an unwelcome association with murders and loss of life, with Circus Circus more than playing its part.

Homicides, suicides, and unexplained demises have frequently appeared at the haunted hotel. Some suggestions of the Kansas City mob’s involvement have also persisted. 

You don’t have to look too far back to see a string of disturbing deaths. In August 2012, a woman fell 20 floors to her death.

it was ruled an accidental death. The fact that the woman exited the hotel room through a window that opened a mere six inches was never resolved. 

On June 1st, 2018, Julius Trotter entered the room of Vietnamese couple Sang Nghia and Khuong Nguyen after finding the door lock broken. 

Trotter brutally stabbed the innocent tourists to death before stealing from the room and fleeing. While Trotter was arrested and eventually sentenced to life for his gruesome crime, the act echoed another legendary Circus Circus tale. 

Room 123 is said to have been the scene of a mother’s choice to gun down her own son before turning the firearm on herself. The reason this troubled woman chose to commit this unspeakable act will never be known. 

The murder-suicide, however, has left a lasting imprint on the hotel. Guests report the screams of a child while desperate cries have been heard in the room and the hallways. 

“Help me” has been seen scrawled in the condensation of the bathroom mirror. Disembodied voices abound while the spectral child has terrified staff with appearances and tearful pleas.

Staff have even reported the mother and child hand in hand enquiring about a mysterious man named Robert. The gravity of this violent act echoes through both time and space. 

Haunted Las Vegas Hotel Investigations

The legend of the haunting has spread across the nation, calling many to attempt to peer behind the curtain of the unknown. Such widespread activity has led Paranormal Investigators to find out if the hotel has more attractions than meets the eye. 

Two Ghost hunters from the YouTube channel Barrier Beyond chose to stay overnight at a Circus Circus hotel room. Modern Paranormal Investigation tools, such as a Rempod and an EVP Recorder, helped them in their quest for truth. 

Immediately, the pair record audio of banging on the exterior wall, which unnervingly leads to an empty staircase and the outside of the building. The Rempod begins registering magnetic disturbances, suggesting a location in the room where attention should be focused.

Upon investigation of the area, eerie knocking can be heard in response to their verbal inquiries as to whether anyone is there with them.

The disturbing phenomena escalate as the EVP Recorder calls out to them, registering phrases such as “There is an afterlife,” “Get back,” and “Leave.” 

As the EVP audio seems to suggest an interaction between the suspected spirit and the ghost hunters, their monitor showing the magnetic disturbances shows what appears to be a figure in the direction of the hotel room bed. 

While scratching and heavy breathing are also recorded, perhaps the most disturbing element of the video is the seeming call and response between the pair and the entity they believe to be inhabiting the room. 

The hotel’s notoriety has brought many in search of answers. However, it seems that there are far more questions to uncover at the hotel before answers are revealed. 

More Haunted Hotels In Las Vegas

Both the creation and expansion of Las Vegas have been anything but a bloodless process. The chaos on the strip and crime-fueled violence have reared its head all too often in the gambler’s paradise. 

Much like the pink elephants, the mob involvement, and the famous entertainers that roll through the city, the ghostly goings-on of Circus Circus and Las Vegas apparently make great entertainment that continues to draw a crowd. Try to catch a show from the other side on a Vegas Ghost Tour. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for haunted stories from around the nation, and keep reading our blog for the best-haunted history in America.

Sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlArTbyRfWQ&t=1029s
• https://naqvilaw.com/death-of-woman-who-fell-falling-from-circus-circus-hotel-room-ruled-accidental/
• https://www.zippia.com/circus-circus-casinos-careers-19184/history
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOpcSlS_E08
• https://themobmuseum.org/blog/50-years-las-vegas-strip-circus-circus-still-going-strong/