Former prosecutor Dennis Gomes, 68, dies

ATLANTIC CITY -- 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 suffering a broken back last year.

"Whether 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 in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

He and 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 tick-tack-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' co-owner, Bailey, pledged to continue carrying out his policies at the casino.

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."

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 tick-tack-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.