By Jacquelynn D. Powers, Photographs: Tomas Muscionico

ack Wishna is regarded as the preeminent dealmaker in Las Vegas. This is the man who resurrected Wayne Newton's career in the late '90s and brought Donald Trump to the Strip. Wishna mingles with billionaires (Phil Ruffin and Bill Boyd) and stars (Britney Spears and Michael Jackson), often bringing these two worlds together. Jack, 48, is a natural raconteur, hence his success in matching up clients with such lucrative deals. His storied life includes working as a celebrity photographer in the late '70s, mergers and acquisitions broker in the '80s and '90s, and, most recently, Trump and Ruffin's partner in the Trump International Hotel & Tower. CP America, his consulting company, spans gaming, leisure, real estate and entertainment.

Wishna entered the Las Vegas scene seven years ago when he offered to help his long-time friend Newton acquire a new entertainment contract. Both men were at a crossroads in their lives: Jack, a native New Yorker, had recently retired to Boca Raton, Florida, after selling his company, Globalforce International, in 1998, while Wayne was slowly being edged out of the Vegas market. "Wayne was under contract at the MGM Grand," Wishna recalls. "But he was having a difficult time. Vegas had become more of a production-show town. The headliner-entertainer concept had faded out. However, the millennium was coming and MGM decided to bring in Barbra Streisand to the main room. There was no room for Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton."

After vacationing in Las Vegas with Newton, Wishna decided to do something about the situation. "I didn't know Las Vegas and I didn't know anything about the entertainment business," he says. "But I'm an idea man. I came up with a plan that targeted four companies: the Sahara Hotel, which was owned by Bill Bennett; the Stardust [Resort & Casino], which was Boyd Gaming; The Frontier [Hotel Casino], which was Phil Ruffin; and the Riviera [Hotel & Casino]. I considered them second-tier properties that needed something to compete fairly on the Strip. The idea was to take someone synonymous with Las Vegas, Mr.Las Vegas, and use him as the engine that would drive the train to corporate profitability." Wishna met with Bennett, Ruffin and Boyd to discuss his plan. Boyd understood the concept immediately and, in October 1999, signed Newton to the largest entertainment contract in history at that time, which was worth $25 million a year for 10 years ...

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