Gambling is a vital business for the Mafia. They’ve earned lots of money from playing card games and betting on virtually every sport. The Mafia ran numerous illicit and deluxe gambling joints all over the United States. The Mafia Bosses had police officers and other law enforcers on their payroll and thus their gambling maneuvers went down without interruption by state agencies. However, the 1931 legalization of gambling in the state of Nevada transformed the casino and gambling industry in the country. After the legalization of gambling in the state, there was little activity as only a few people cared, including military men from adjacent camps and some local cowboys.

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The humble beginnings of a desert town

Positioned in the interior of the expansive Mojave Desert in Nevada, Las Vegas was a dusty town that seemed ages away from its now revered nightlife, casinos that operate round the clock as well as numerous other modern entertainment options. During the early 1940s, the town was essentially made up of a small number of filling stations, some slot machine shops and a few outlets dishing out junk food. Living or working in Las Vegas was not pleasant. The Mafia only caught onto the humongous money mining capability of the town after the end of World War II.

Oct 04, 2017  1. Which casino was first to be built in Vegas? Las Vegas is well known for having dozens of casinos. The first casino was built in 1946 by Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, a notorious gangster and it covered an area of 40 hectares.It cost him $6 million to build and during the grand opening, Jimmy Durante, a well-known singer and comedian entertained the guests as well as the Cuban bandleader. Flamingo Casino – Las Vegas. The Flamingo is one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas and can trace its history back to when Vegas was but a dusty strip of road in the Nevada desert. Instrumental in the establishment of the Flamingo was notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel. Bugsy was eventually shot in 1947, but is said to still hang around his most.

Mafiosi Bugsy Siegel

How the Fidel Castro Revolution impacted on Las Vegas

The famed American crime boss Alphonse Gabriel Al Capone, aka Scarface, aka Big Boy, aka Public Enemy No. 1, had a great interest in Las Vegas, although he wasn’t able to accomplish his agenda of transforming the town into a casino harbor for holidaymakers and gambling enthusiasts. As such, Las Vegas stayed without the Mafia until its potential was realized by

. The timing of the coming of these Mafiosi couldn’t be any better. Prior to the development of Las Vegas by these Mafiosi, American holidaymakers searching for a splendid gaming time had to travel to Cuba. The crooked Batista administration warmly received gangsters in Cuba; there were countless casinos and the earnings were great. About ten years passed after the first Las Vegas casino was opened and Cuba was swept with the Fidel Castro Revolution. Consequently, there was no choice for legitimate gambling other than heading to Las Vegas.

The Flamingo and other resorts

The moneyed Mafia launched The Flamingo, the first gaming resort in Las Vegas on Boxing Day of 1946, courtesy of Siegel’s superb organizational skills and creativity. The opening of several other resorts backed by Mafia followed suit. Gaming in Las Vegas became an exceedingly lucrative and lawful commercial activity for the Mafia. The previously dull dusty desert town was duly transformed into the ritzy Las Vegas Strip.

Before the mid-20th century, the New York City Mafia Families and Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit had launched businesses in Las Vegas. The Outfit operated three main casinos, specifically the Riviera, the Stardust and the Desert Inn. The Outfit opened other casinos in the 1960s including the Golden Nugget, the Fremont, and the Hacienda. Travelers from across the country and the rest of the world flocked Las Vegas to at least have a taste of the city’s unrivaled gaming, vibrant nightlife and world’s best entertainment.

Sharing the spoils

Many Mafia Families were coming up with gambling resorts as the existing businesses started being concerned about the shrinking of profits occasioned by increased competition. The different Mafia families from across the country struck a deal ensuring that each one would receive an intertwined profit share from the other’s resort. It was almost impossible to identify which resort was owned by who. Every Mafia Family received a share of the spoils; mind you it was a colossal share.

The fall of the Mafia

Enter the antisocial and self-centered magnate Howard Hughes in the 1960s, and businesses of Las Vegas Mafia started falling. Hughes rooted for and achieved the legislation of a Nevada law that banned conglomerates from having interests in casinos and resorts. Hughes went forth to purchase over fifteen gambling resorts, expelling Mafia from them. By the end of the 1970s, Hughes suffered huge losses instead of the huge profits he had craved for and thus left the casino business.

The Mafia made a comeback to the Las Vegas casinos, albeit for a short time. In the 1980s, the FBI instigated far-reaching assaults on the Las Vegas welfares owned by the Mafia. Casinos and resorts controlled by Mafia were taken by the FBI and vented to legitimate proprietors. The new landlords transformed the city’s appearance into a family-friendly vacation destination. The majority of the members of the Mafia were arrested and charged, mostly for tax evasion, and faced the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in jail.

Online casino gaming

Las Vegas still carries on with its gambling legacy as it’s the hub of some of the world’s best online casinos that can be played from any corner of the world. Gaming enthusiasts do not need to travel all the way to Las Vegas for gambling; rather, one can gamble and play slot games online and enjoy free spins and other casino bonuses upon registering. It’s only a matter of time before online casino becomes fully legal in all states in the US.

The Mob Museum, officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, is a history museum located in DowntownLas Vegas, Nevada. Opened on February 14, 2012, the Mob Museum is dedicated to featuring the artifacts, stories, and history of organized crime in the United States, as well as the actions and initiatives by law enforcement to prevent such crimes. The museum is housed in the former Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse, which was built in 1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum is located on Stewart Avenue, two blocks north of Fremont Street, the main artery of the downtown casino district.

Developed under the creative direction of Dennis Barrie, co-creator of the International Spy Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the museum is governed by a non-profit board, the '300 Stewart Avenue Corporation,' in partnership with the City of Las Vegas. The museum is dedicated to the contentious relationship between organized crime and law enforcement within the historical context of Las Vegas and the entire United States.

History[edit]

In 2000, the federal government sold the former post office and federal courthouse to the city for $1, with stipulations that the building be restored to its original look and be used for a cultural purpose.^[1]

Then-Mayor Oscar Goodman, himself a former Mob defense attorney, had the idea for a mob museum in 2002.^[1] The idea faced early opposition from Italian-American groups, while being supported by the FBI, including the former head agent in Las Vegas, Ellen Knowlton, who joined as president of the museum's board.^[1]

The project budget was estimated at $50 million, including $26 million for restoring the building.^[1] Funding included federal, state, and local grants.^[1] Goodman generated controversy by suggesting that federal stimulus money could be used for the museum.^[1][2]

Which Notorious Gangster Built The Flamingo Casino Las Vegas

Which Notorious Gangster Built The Flamingo Casino Movie

The museum opened February 14, 2012 to the public at 2:00 PM. (The morning and day before were reserved for press and dignitary ceremonies.) Admission for adults starts at $29.95 ($16.95 for Nevada residents). As of January 2020, prices were $29.95 for adults ($16.95 for Nevada residents), $16.95 for students, with varying prices for other specific categories, groups and packages and discounts when you purchase online.

Exhibits[edit]

The centerpiece of the Mob Museum is the second floor courtroom, which was the location of one of fourteen national Kefauver Committee hearings to expose organized crime held in 1950 and 1951. The museum also acquired the brick wall where the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place.^[3] Other exhibits focus on Mob violence, casino money skimming operations, and wiretapping by law enforcement.^[4]. In 2018, a new exhibit called Organized Crime Today was added to the first floor following a major renovation. ^[5]

The self-guided tour commences on the third floor where the actual wall of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is on display, accessible by elevator or stairs, and winds its way down to the second and first floors. Visitors can watch a film about the history of Organized Crime (beginning around the time of the passing of Prohibition). The main part of the exhibition consists of Mob-related photos with captions explaining the significance of the particular images, but also what individuals/events they were connected to.

The museum offers a wide array of thematically oriented sections addressing the Mob's involvement in illegal activities such as gambling, drugs, prostitution or bootlegging and the efforts of law enforcement to counteract and eliminate those criminal operations. Additionally the visitor is able to view some uniquely disturbing, otherwise rarely accessible material, for example the photographs of victims of the most famous murders credited to the Mafia (appropriately named 'Mob's Greatest Hits'; these are quite graphic in nature, because they show the actual corpses of the deceased), as well as pictures and short biographies of the most popular and notorious gangster personalities. A special Wall located near the exit depicts images of all the actors who portrayed well-known Mobsters in movies or series. A significant number of exhibits are interactive; there are also several stations situated throughout the museum, where relevant film footage is played on a loop.^[6]

There is a gift shop on the first floor. Using photos, text, displays, interactive techniques, hands-on exhibits, and other first-class museum methods, the visitor learns about the history of organized crime, Prohibition and the business opportunity it provided. Visitors learn about Las Vegas' first casinos, Howard Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover, the origins of the FBI, Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and much more. A visitor can sit in a replica electric chair, listen to actual wire taps, train in a use of force training simulator and explore an interactive crime lab exhibit related to forensic science.^[7]

In April 2018, the museum opened a fully operational speakeasy and distillery in their basement exhibit, The Underground.^[8] The space features exhibits related to the cultural history of the Prohibition era as well as the bootleggers, rumrunners, and moonshiners who ensured Americans still had access to liquor during the 13 years of federal Prohibition. The museum distills its own 100 proof, 100% corn moonshine in a custom-built pot still located in the Underground.^[9]

Notable mobsters[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefFriess, Steve (9 January 2009). 'Stimulus Money for a Mob Museum. Got a Problem?'. New York Times. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
2. ^Ayres, Chris (17 January 2009). 'Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman plans museum to the Mob'. The Times. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
3. ^Rackl, Lori (2 March 2011). 'Vegas mayor bets new museum will be a hit'. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
4. ^Morrison, Jane Ann (27 March 2010). 'What will be on Mob Museum's cutting room floor?'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
5. ^'Where Mobsters Start Fresh with The Mob Museum's Ashley Miller'. Virgin Holidays. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
6. ^http://www.deesultimatereviews.com/the%20mob%20museum.htm
7. ^'The Mob Museum'. The Mob Museum: the Exhibits. The Mob Museum. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
8. ^'THE MOB MUSEUM TO DEBUT THE UNDERGROUND, A PERMANENT PROHIBITION HISTORY EXHIBITION FEATURING WORKING SPEAKEASY AND DISTILLERY, APRIL 2018'. The Mob Museum. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
9. ^'Distillery'. The Mob Museum. The Mob Museum. Retrieved 4 April 2019.

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 36°10′22″N115°08′28″W / 36.1728°N 115.1412°W

Which Notorious Gangster Built The Flamingo Casino Game