Steel mill workers from Steubenville and nearby Youngstown, Ohio would frequent these stores after their shifts, spending their meager paychecks for this entertainment.
As a later associate of Santo Trafficante, Sr. and Meyer Lansky, Cellini ran the mob-backed Riviera Casino and Tropicana Club in Havana, Cuba.
The new Cuban president, Fidel Castro, closed all the casinos and forced the American mobsters, including Cellini, to leave the country.
[citation needed] In the early 1970s, Cellini had ties to Mary Carter Paints (precursor of Resorts International) in the Bahamas.
During this same period, Cellini was involved with swindler Robert Vesco in the embezzlement of over $240 million from the mutual fund Investors Overseas Service.
In March 2010, there were reports that actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese were developing a film biography of Cellini.