Milestones

DIED The inspiration for Robert De Niro's character in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Frank (Lefty) Rosenthal ran four Las Vegas casinos in the 1970s and was labeled "the greatest living expert on sports gambling" by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Head of the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina casinos, he was famous for his alleged ties to the Mob. After surviving an attempt on his life, Rosenthal left the city and ended his gambling career. He never admitted any wrongdoing, once invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 35 times in a 1961 Senate hearing on gambling and organized crime. He was 79.

He called himself the "Godfather of Rap," but others remember Rudy Ray Moore simply as Dolemite, the tough-talking character he played in the 1975 film of the same name. As a pimp surrounded by a group of kung fu--fighting prostitutes, Dolemite became a blaxploitation icon. Moore, however, found fault with the term, once telling a reporter, "I never heard The Godfather called 'Italian exploitation.'" Unbeknownst to many, Dolemite was first part of Moore's stand-up comedy routine, becoming a ghetto hero long before hitting the big screen. Moore was 81.

Sister Emmanuelle, born Madeleine Cinquin in Belgium, was a champion for the marginalized. A nun at 23, she taught literature and philosophy in Turkey and became an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church's contraception policies. At 62, she was allowed to begin working with Cairo's poorest people. Sister Emmanuelle went on to found the Asmae Association to fight poverty and homelessness in countries such as Egypt, Sudan and India. She was 99.