Big Mike "as he was known during his hell raising days on the streets of Detriot," had been working on the west coast in conjunction with his brother-in-laws from the Matranga clan for a number of years. Mike was designated by the 5 ruling dons of the Detroit Partnership to go out to Vegas and keep an eye out on their investments following the convictin of Pete Licavoli on income tax charges in 1960. Licavoli knew his conviction would effectively end any involvement he had with the gambling fraternity as a move toward legitimizing the gaming industry was underway. Licavoli introduced Polizzi and Anthony Zerilli to Vegas powerbroker and fellow friend John Roselli who had been directed to keep an eye out on the two young men as they learned the ropes in sin city. Roselli would later play a huge role in Zerilli and Polizzi acquiring a role in the Frontier Hotel and Casino but at the time he was holed up in a penthouse suite at the Desert Inn. Polizzi was actually an aide to Zerilli the son of then reigning Detroit Don #1 Joseph Zerilli and the nephew of Don #2 Black Bill Tocco. Polizzi would stretched thin between his Vegas schooling and his participation in the California rackets of his father-in-law Papa John Priziola. Polizzi and Zerilli are often credited with the acquisition of the Frontier Hotel and Casino on behalf of the Detroit Outfit in 1965 but the deal was actually put together by Maurice Friedman, a close friend of Roselli's who had been placed in charge of all vitall business transactions for the Detroit Outfit. The Frontier would eventually lead to the downfall of Polizzi and Zerilli as Vegas operators when their hidden interest in the establishment was discovered by gaming authorities in the early '70s. Polizzi and Zerilli would be convicted of obtaining a hidden interest in the Frontier following the discovery of their involvement with the establishment through a Buffalo front company known as Emprise Inc., in 1972. As a result of his conviction, Michael Polizzi was sentenced to a term of 4 years in federal prison and fined $10,000. Both Polizzi and Zerilli fought off prison for 2 1/2 years by filing numerous appeals against the convictions. During this time the Nevada gaming commission took action and moved to enter both men into the Black Book nominating Polizzi for inclusion first on August 29,1975. The Nevada gaming commission presented evidence that from 1965 untill the Frontier was sold to Howard Hughes for $25,000,000 in 1967, Polizzi and Zerilli skimmed approximately $250,000 a month from the Frontier's casino. Both men avoided entrance to the Black book when they ran out of appeals and were shipped off to federal prison. Michael Santo Plizzi had his name removed from the nomination of excluded persons list on April 15,1976., the official reason being both he and Zerilli were in prison and therefore were no threat to enter any Nevada casino properties.
