A bright, festive Casino in the heart of Nice

Try your hand at the Slot Machines or Electronic Games on a terrace between sky and sea. Take in the palm trees and the facade that lights up the night. There's no doubt about it, you're in the capital of the Riviera. On the inside, there's a giant chessboard, a red carpet that runs throughout, fabulous chandeliers and mirror ceilings, creating an extravagant and lustrous rapport. The Games Tables are set in a low-key ambiance surrounded by bright screens, whereas the Fruit Machines feature shades of gold and neon. Whether tucked away or in a bar lounge, choose the ambiance you prefer. The Casino Barrière Le Ruhl-Nice makes its mark on the Promenade des Anglais, at No 1.

The big-time gambling business has returned to the south of France. So, perhaps, has 'la guerre des casinos,' marked by the recollections of unsolved killings and a rash of recent bombings.

However, on the official Facebook of Vertigo parties, it's stipulated that the presentation of a French or European identity document, a driver’s licence, a passport or residence permit is mandatory to enter the establishment. It's the French law. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Casino Ruhl. A shining beacon of unique games on the French Riviera.

The Ruhl casino, shut during the casino war five years ago, was reopened April 10 amid festivities that included big cats--a lion, a tiger and a leopard--imported from Las Vegas and fat cats imported from an international set of gamblers who were willing to risk their francs to the tunes of

'Jailhouse Rock' and the theme from 'Dynasty.'

The celebration also was marked by a deadline. The Interior Ministry`s authorization to reopen the Ruhl is valid only until December. This gives the government the option of closing the casino quickly if the war resumes.

The story of gaming in Nice includes the self-imposed exile of the Ruhl`s former chairman, Jean-Dominique Fratoni, 65, to avoid serving a 13-year prison sentence. Also prominent is the closing of the grandiose Palais de la Mediterranee, once the city`s only casino.

Residents along the Cote d`Azur talk repeatedly of the mafia`s hand reaching from Italy to gain control of the lucrative casino business in southern France. And, in a region where verbal restraint is not an evident virtue, the accusations and counteraccusations flying across La Baie des Anges, the city`s 'Bay of Angels,' sometimes land on some of Nice`s most prominent citizens.

Casino Ruhl Cabaret Hotel

The origin of the casino war dates to the original opening of the modern Ruhl on Nov. 23, 1974. Fratoni, a high-school friend of Nice`s rightist mayor and National Assembly deputy Jacques Medecin, set up the neon and chrome-plated gambling hall to challenge the supremacy of the genteel, 1920s-style casinos along the coast.

The competition turned nasty just a year later when Renee Le Roux took over the Palais de la Mediterranee upon the death of her husband. Shortly thereafter, a group that included three Italians won 4.87 million francs (then $1 million) at the Palais` tables. A bank gave Le Roux the credit needed to keep the business open.

A month later, similar misfortune befell the Sun Beach casino in nearby Menton. That gambling hall lost 3 million francs and was bailed out by Fratoni, who then took control. One of the players both evenings was Simon Gavet, who was shot to death in August, 1976.

A year after the shooting, in June, 1977, one of Le Roux`s daughters, Agnes, 29, voted against her mother at a Palais de la Mediterranee board meeting, depriving Le Roux of control. Le Roux always has maintained that pressure was put on her daughter to vote against her.

In November, 1977, Agnes disappeared. A Nice lawyer, Jean-Maurice Agnelet, was charged with kidnaping and murder, but a judge threw out the case for lack of a corpse. Le Roux has appealed that decision.

A series of shooting deaths also took place. In July, 1977, a senior employee of the Palais, Jean-Pierre Roche, was killed. The following February, Pancrace Santoni, a friend of Gavet, was slain. In January, 1982, Marcel Francisci, a Gaullist politician in Corsica who had planned to buy into the casino, was shot to death.

A Nice businessman, Andre Ferrant, who also had expressed an interest in the casino, was shot in October, 1983. Investigators, however, are not totally convinced that his murder was part of the casino war.

Meanwhile, police in charge of the cases investigated the Ruhl operation and charged 17 croupiers with theft. With Fratoni having fled the country, then Socialist Party Interior Minister Gaston Deferre closed the casino on Jan. 5, 1982.

The Palais de la Mediterranee, where Fratoni was appointed technical adviser when Le Roux lost control, also was closed because of its precarious finances.

Fratoni was sentenced in absentia to a 13-year prison term and heavily fined after being convicted of violating tax and currency exchange laws. He denies the charges.

It was not until France`s right-wing government returned to power under Prime Minister Jacques Chirac 13 months ago that the Interior Ministry allowed a new consortium to make plans to reopen the Ruhl. But its members have aroused fresh passions because of allegations that they are merely a front for Fratoni.

Toussaint Torre, 73, is the chairman of the Societe Nicoise des Bains de Mer, which has acquired the license to run the Ruhl. Torre comes from the same Corsican village, Cuttoli-Cortichiatto, as Fratoni.

Fratoni did nothing to quell the speculation about his involvement in the Ruhl operation. Indeed, his daughter and son-in-law are among those who hold stock in the company and on Radio Monte Carlo a week before the Ruhl gala, Fratoni said of his daughter`s involvement: 'I know every inch of the business and I don`t hide that I am giving them advice.'

Fratoni`s words showed that the Interior Ministry had delivered a gambling permit to 'ghosts,' Le Roux said. 'It`s just the tip of the iceberg.'

According to sources in Nice, Fratoni`s comments infuriated Mayor Medecin, who has placed great hopes in the Ruhl`s economic future. Medecin has estimated that the Ruhl`s reopening could bring Nice an annual income of 40 million francs, or about $6.6 million.

Though some consider this figure ambitious, many of the city`s business executives hope that foreign gamblers, accustomed to bypassing Nice on their way to other casinos, will turn to the Ruhl, which is only a 20-minute taxi ride from the Nice airport.

In the next few months, the Ruhl will be equipped with slot machines that, it is hoped, will attract a new class of gambler. Until now, they have been prohibited in France and limited to Monte Carlo.

The master of ceremonies at the Ruhl`s reopening, over which Medecin presided, said the casino`s ambition was 'to become to Nice what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.' But many Nice residents fear that the reopening will encourage only new violence.

On Feb. 10, a small bomb exploded at the Menton Casino. The next day, another damaged an ice-cream kiosk owned by Max Gilli, Medecin`s campaign manager and a shareholder in the Ruhl. In March, a bomb damaged Nice`s Casino Club, a small gambling establishment once owned by Fratoni.

On April 1, two more attacks damaged restaurants owned by Gilli`s daughter and another Ruhl partner. Medecin blamed the attacks on 'jealousy' and said that they were planned 'to harm the city by creating an unhealthy atmosphere around the casino.'

Casino Ruhl Cabaret Club

Meanwhile, Le Roux is now in her 60s and lives in Monaco. She devotes her time to trying to discover her daughter`s fate.

She said she believed that members of the Nice underworld, angered at recent police closings of some illegal backroom gambling clubs, may have been responsible for the recent bombings.

Casino Ruhl Cabaret Bar

Police sources said the attacks closely resembled similar bombings in Corsica, leading them to look for a Corsican connection.

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At the Ruhl gala, the master of ceremonies noted that the casino`s owners had three types of friends: 'Those who hate us, those who ignore us and those who love us.' Casino off 95.