Going just by what we’re shown on-screen in the movie Casino, of the three central characters, who’s most at fault for the downfall of Sam “Ace” Rothstein?
Ace - his own choices, from marrying Ginger, to firing Joe Bob Briggs, primarily led to his own downfall.
Ginger - her past and addictions were bound to catch up to her eventually; she was always a train wreck just waiting to happen.
Nicky - a career criminal and near or actual psychopath, he was bound to go down and take everyone around him with him.
They were all equally responsible - their lives (and mistakes) were invariably intertwined; on their own they may have succeeded, but together they could only have failed.
Ultimately Ace was being paid to be behind the scenes and make money. Remember when he was told he would be switching jobs just so his gaming application would be in perpetual processing? That’s because his job was really to be unseen and unknown. His own ego of having to be known as the one in charge was the downfall.
Bottom line is, all three of them were in bed with some very bad people People who wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if it made good business sense.
Ace, Ginger and Nicky all did some stupid, crazy, dangerous things that alienated big shots in the Mob. But even if they HADN’T, even if they’d been loyal functionaries who handled things perfectly, their lives were STILL in jeopardy.
Andy Stone (Alan King) was as perfect, as professional, as reliable, as trustworthy as any Mob-affiliated guy could have been. ALL the top Mob bosses said so… and it didn’t matter a bit! When the s–t hit the fan, he got whacked just like the morons who, arguably, brought it on themselves.
There’s so much blame to go around that I voted all three. The actions of each one of them were enough on their own to bring him to grief. Adding it all up together just magnified the effect.
Emphasis added. Sam is most at fault for Sam’s fall. Ego and hubris did him in. From wanting to stay prominent, to convincing himself he could make a hustler love him, to not properly massaging the connected, to not buttering up psycho Nicky ( who would have been psycho anyway, but could have been handled better ).
Interesting ( to me ) that the real “Sam” was most like targeted in that bombing by a pissed off Milwaukee crime boss known for that tactic, rather than Nicky/Tony Spilotro.