Former Bozo the Clown sidekick could save Atlantic City casino
Carl Icahn’s decision to save Atlantic City’s second-biggest casino — the Trump Taj Mahal — may come down to whether he quickly finds the right person to run it, The Post has learned.
Icahn is in talks with former magician and business turnaround expert Herbert L. Becker.
“If Carl and I come to terms, I can turn this around in a relatively quick fashion,” Becker told The Post from his South Beach home in Miami Beach, Fla.
“I think the Taj can take the lead [in turning Atlantic City around] and Carl’s influence would be a great help.”
“As goes the Taj Mahal, so goes Atlantic City,” said the onetime sidekick to Bozo the Clown.
Becker said he wants to see Atlantic City become “a great family place.”
“It has just gone the wrong way,” he said.
“It was a place you could afford to stay and afford the restaurants,” he said, referring to Atlantic City decades ago. “We want a place to enjoy ourselves and not be afraid to walk the streets at night.”
The Taj has been reaching out to people in the New Jersey, New York and Las Vegas areas looking for what they are calling a “messiah,” a source close to the situation said.
“The feeling is that Becker with his ties to show business and strong business abilities is the man for the job,” the source said.
Trump Entertainment, the parent of the Taj and the shuttered Trump Plaza, is presently in talks with the union representing one-third of the Taj’s workers and New Jersey politicos about tax breaks to see if all sides can quickly reach a deal that will satisfy Icahn.
The billionaire shareholder activist owns all the company’s $286 million in senior debt, and has committed to forgiving that in exchange for ownership of the casino. Icahn also said he would invest $100 million to improve operations under the right conditions.
Trump Entertainment said in court Monday that Icahn has agreed to provide bankruptcy financing.
The bankruptcy judge overseeing the case has threatened to convert the Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation if he does not see progress by Dec. 4.
Icahn and Robert Griffin — the Trump Entertainment CEO and president of four years — do not wish to run the casino together, sources close to the situation said.
Becker, voted America’s best magician in 1975 and 1976, has advised retailer Wet Seal and five years ago formed a group that was unsuccessful in buying an Atlantic City property.
He said he would help the Taj improve relations with its workers.
“There has been a lot of animosity between staff and management that has gone on for too long.”
The Taj in recent months told the two-thirds of the casino’s 3,000 workers who are not union members that their health-care benefits would come to an end Dec. 31.
Already, it does not contribute to their 401(k) plans or give them paid time off for holidays, a longtime Taj worker told The Post.
Trump Entertainment and Icahn did not return calls.