Published on: October 10, 2025, at 07:21h. 

Most recent update on: October 8, 2025, at 06:49h.

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Debunked” features fresh content every Monday, along with a special edition for Flashback Fridays. Today’s post in our ongoing series originally appeared on October 14, 2024.

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Carl Cohen, the 250-pound Vice President of the Sands Hotel, landed a powerful punch on Frank Sinatra’s jaw on September 11, 1967. That blow was more than justified, yet it didn’t result in any lost teeth.

Just two days prior, the Sands Hotel had, under the direction of new owner Howard Hughes, revoked Sinatra’s casino credit, informing him that he could not gamble until he repaid the $200,000 he had already accrued in debt (equivalent to about $1.9 million today).

Sinatra’s iconic blue eyes ignited in fury.

The chaos he caused included driving an electric luggage cart through a plate-glass window and climbing atop a blackjack table, shouting, as recalled by witness Paul Anka, “This place was sand when they built it, and it’ll be sand when I’m done with it!”

Although he was celebrated for his musical talent and charitable endeavors, Sinatra was also known for his fiery temperament. (People are multi-faceted.)

The Full Story

Following his outburst, Sinatra returned to his residence in Palm Springs and sealed a three-year deal to perform exclusively at Caesars Palace. However, his saga with the Sands was not yet over.

The following Monday, while he was back in Vegas to finalize arrangements with Caesars, he made one last visit to the Sands at 5:45 a.m., insisting on a personal meeting with Cohen, who was having breakfast in the hotel’s Garden Room restaurant.

Witnesses reported that Sinatra unleashed a tirade of offensive remarks at Cohen, including an anti-Semitic comment, before upending the executive’s table, spilling hot coffee all over him.

This incident is what precipitated the punch.

“Singer Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, and Frank Sinatra left his teeth — or rather two caps — in Las Vegas,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the following day.

The story was clever but inaccurate; the items left behind were merely dental caps, not his actual teeth. Sinatra arranged for his long-time dentist, Dr. Abe Weinstein, to fly from New York to Los Angeles to reattach them the following morning.

This particular error from the newspaper might be excused since two distinctly tooth-like objects were indeed found on the casino floor after the brawl.

Cohen did not face termination for throwing the punch, as the casino’s owners deemed it an appropriate response, and no legal action was taken by either party.

Continued Conflict

It came as no surprise that a change in venue did not alter Sinatra’s notorious temperament.

On September 6, 1970, Sinatra requested credit to wager $16,000 per hand at baccarat (approximately $129,000 today). The limit at Caesars Palace was set at $2,000 at the time ($16,000 today) — which had already been extended, just for Sinatra, to $8,000 (over $64,000 today).

When his request was denied, Sinatra erupted once again, creating a second uproar.

He hurled casino chips and targeted another casino vice president, tightening his grip around Sanford Waterman’s throat to such an extent, United Press International (UPI) reported, that it left visible marks.

However, Waterman opted for a different approach. Rather than retaliating physically, he menaced Sinatra with his own firearm, brandishing a .38-caliber revolver.

Before storming out, Sinatra allegedly warned Waterman: “The mob will take care of you.”

Waterman faced arrest on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, but the allegations didn’t hold as both the sheriff’s office and district attorney concluded Sinatra had instigated the confrontation.

In fact, the local sheriff, Ralph Lamb, was so incensed by the incident that he issued a chilling warning to Sinatra.

If he returns to town on Tuesday, he’s coming downtown to get a work card, and if he gives me any trouble, he’ll be going to jail,” Lamb told a UPI reporter. “I’m tired of him intimidating waitstaff, starting fires… He gets away with too much. He’s done with picking on the little people in this town.

“I intend to find out why the hotel owners tolerate this behavior.”

Unfortunately for Waterman, it was too late to save his position, as Caesars Palace terminated him immediately following his arrest.

And Lamb never had the satisfaction of imprisoning Sinatra. Ol’ Blue Eyes canceled the final three weeks of his residency at Caesars Palace’s Circus Maximus theater, with his representative attributing it to “exhaustion and a recent surgery for tendonitis on his hand.” The spokesperson also promised that Sinatra would reschedule the missed performances a month later.

Both claims were false, as Sinatra retreated into retirement for the next four years.

Salerno aimed to put an end to Sinatra’s behavior by eliminating him.

When Sinatra comprehended the gravity of the situation, according to Campi, he “cried like a baby” and pleaded for his life.

“Fat Tony, it seems, took pity on him,” Campi wrote. “Sinatra was reprimanded and vowed not to breach his relationship with the Genovese family again or face severe consequences.”

In 1974, Sinatra made his comeback at Caesars Palace as if the 1970 altercation had vanished from memory. He continued to grace the stages of Las Vegas right up until his final performance — on October 19, 1994, at the MGM Grand — without any further episodes of rage.