UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- It's nearing 1 a.m., exactly one week ago today, and we've spent a couple of hours in clubland at the Mohegan Sun complex. We've modestly imbibed a martini or two, and maybe we're not seeing straight. In the semi-sequestered "white room," a private VIP booth at the nightclub Ultra 88, we seem to be seeing Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, New York mob boss, and Christopher Moltisanti, Tony Soprano's "nephew" and a made man in Uncle Tony's New Jersey mob. Have we fallen through the rabbit hole? Is a deal going down? Is this club Mafia-owned? Are we on HBO? No, it's real life, and the actors who play Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) on "The Sopranos" are in the semicircular booth, with six rather impressive-looking bodyguards nearby. A bottle of chilled Kettle One vodka arrives. Imperioli says, "I'm here every chance I get. I'm here to gamble and I did terrible. I lost money." Still, he's pumped for the night life.
The gang's all here
A trio of nightclubs add their cachet to the lures attracting young people to Mohegan Sun
"At my age," adds the older, gray-haired Curatola, "I like to see what the young people do on Saturday nights." The two men were actually brought up from New York to Mohegan Sun for an earlier corporate appearance -- "We show up, take pictures, it's maybe a treat for the people that work for the corporation," says Curatola -- and they had time on their hands. "It's hard to do an appearance," Curatola adds, "and just go back to your room."
Especially here at Mohegan Sun.
The new wrinkle to this upscale mall and gaming pavilion, this adult playground -- opened in 1996 and graced last year with a luxurious, 34-story, 1,200-room hotel -- is nightclubs. There is an arena for sports and concerts, and there is a smaller site, the Wolf Den, for live music. There are 6,000 slot machines. There have been name-brand restaurants on the premises such as Jasper White's Summer Shack and Todd English's Tuscany for two years, but the nightclubs are new. Lucky's Lounge -- meant to evoke 1950s Las Vegas (at least some of the time) -- opened last year, and the adjacent clubs, The Dubliner, an Irish pub, and Ultra 88, a fast-paced, techno-oriented dance club, opened in June. The clubs shut down at 2 a.m. on weekends, a surprise to some who are swimming in this 24/7 casino world.