the Landmark from the Summa Corporation in February 1978, at a cost of $12.5 million. The group was led by Lou Tickel and Zula Wolfram, and it included Gary Yelverton. The purchase was financed using money that Wolfram's husband, Ed Wolfram, embezzled from his brokerage firm, Bell & Beckwith. Faye Todd, the Landmark's entertainment director and a corporate executive assistant, primarily oversaw the Landmark's operations for the Wolframs, who lived in Ohio. The Wolframs were high rollers who frequently stayed at the Desert Inn resort when visiting Las Vegas. Todd met the Wolframs while working for the Desert Inn as special events coordinator, and she became close friends with Zula Wolfram, who had been planning to purchase a Las Vegas hotel with her husband. Tickel, a former magistrate judge and a resident of Salina, Kansas, previously owned several other hotels. The group was confident that the Landmark would overcome its financial problems, and they planned to add a 750-room hotel tower to the property within two years. The sale was completed on March 31, 1978, under the new ownership of Zula Wofram, and Lou and Jo Ann Tickel. However, the new owners were unable to find someone with a gaming license and sufficient funds to continue operating the casino ahead of the sale's completion. The investment group had yet to apply for gaming and liquor licenses, and the Summa Corporation declined to continue operating the casino, citing a lack of interest. The Landmark's casino, which had 272 employees, was closed on April 1, 1978, due to the lack of gaming licenses. The owners began a search for a suitable licensed individual who could temporarily operate the casino until they could receive their own gaming license. The hotel, restaurants, and shops remained open, with 700 other employees. The casino reopened on June 2, 1978, after a one-year gaming license had been granted to Frank Modica, a Las Vegas gaming figure who would temporarily operate the casino on the owners' behalf. The casino's bingo parlor remained closed as it was undergoing renovations. In October 1978, Tickel, Wolfram, and Yelverton were approved by the state to be licensed as the landlords of the Landmark. At the time, Ed Wolfram was listed as a financial adviser on the licensing plan. In 1979, Jesse Jackson Jr. was the Landmark hotel manager, and was the only such manager in the Las Vegas hotel industry to be