Las Vegas mob enforcer Tony Spilotro’s house sold
A week after it went on the market, the former Las Vegas house of murdered mobster Tony “The Ant” Spilotro found a buyer.
As the seller hoped, the notorious former owner proved a unique marketing opportunity.
The house, at 4675 Balfour Drive, a few miles east of UNLV, went up for sale Jan. 11 for $419,900. The listing was removed Jan. 18, according to Zillow.
Listing agent Shannon Smith of Realty One Group said Friday that a sales contract was signed a week after the house went on the market.
Around a half-dozen offers were made, said Smith, who declined to disclose the sales price or the buyer. He did say the home is selling for close to the asking price, and that the transaction is expected to close next month.
The owner, Dave Stevens, bought the house in 2017 as an investment. He said Friday that he wanted to capitalize on Las Vegas’ real estate market — the valley’s home prices rose at one of the fastest rates in the country last year — and on the value he saw in the home’s connection to an infamous crime figure.
He also redid the landscaping and a big part of the roof, installed a security system with cameras and replaced pool equipment.
As Stevens explained, it was a “unique home with historical value that had not been marketed by the previous owners, and I saw an opportunity to do so.”
The marketing plan was Smith’s, he said, and “it definitely did work.” The listing got plenty of media attention, including by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Associated Press.
“Press coverage went all the way to Europe,” Stevens said.
The one-story, 2,392-square-foot house was constructed in 1974. Spilotro and his wife, Nancy, bought it that year from a builder, county records indicate.
A Chicago mob enforcer who branched out to burglary and protecting casino skimming in Las Vegas, Spilotro — whose defense attorney was future Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, and who inspired a character portrayed by Joe Pesci in the 1995 movie “Casino” — was believed to be responsible for nearly two dozen murders, according to The Mob Museum.
In 1986, Spilotro and his brother Michael were beaten to death, their bodies found buried in an Indiana cornfield.
Stevens, owner of Las Vegas contracting firm XL Steel, bought the dead gangster’s house for $275,000 through an entity called Antfarm LLC, property records show.
Smith, the listing agent, said the LLC’s name is “definitely” in honor of Spilotro.
“I did it so you and others would chuckle when they saw it,” Stevens said.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.