Argent Corporation was a company in Las Vegas that at one time controlled the Hacienda Hotel/Casino, the Stardust Resort & Casino, the Fremont Hotel and Casino and the casino in the Marina Hotel. The company was owned by Allen Glick, a San Diego real estate investor. The name Argent came from the three initials of his name, combined with the first three letters of the word "Enterprises". However, state and local officials in Nevada believed that the casinos were controlled by organized crime families in the Mid-West and that a huge skimming operation was conducted within the casinos.
Argent Corp. purchased the Hacienda in 1974 and obtained a Nevada gaming license. Argent then purchased the Recrion Corporation, which owned the Stardust and Fremont. The purchase was financed by a loan from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. After Argent purchased the Stardust, Frank Rosenthal was installed as a manager, although he did not have a Nevada gaming license. The Nevada Gaming Commission refused to license Rosenthal because of his past, and he began changing job titles to positions that did not require licensing. His story was partly fictionalized in the movie Casino, where he is played by Robert De Niro. During the time that Argent owned the four casinos, between $7 million and $15 million is estimated to have been skimmed from the casinos and sent to organized crime members in Kansas City. Argent was forced out the casino industry in the late 1970s. Glick denied any wrongdoing and was never charged with a crime. He became a cooperating witness, immunized from prosecution in a criminal case in 1983 against 15 individuals charged in the skimming operation. The 15 individuals indicted included many people in the top echelon of organized crime: Joseph Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, Joseph Lombardo and Anthony Spilotro from the Chicago Outfit; Frank Balistrieri and his two sons from the Milwaukee crime family; and Carl Civella from the Kansas City crime family.