Legacy of the Mob in Las Vegas

Feb. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- Today marks the 82nd anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago and the opening of the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.  While Chicago may have been the site of the notorious massacre, it is fitting that the museum finds its home in Vegas.  Greg Niemann, author of Las Vegas Legends, explains why the mob continued to have influence in Sin City even after the 1933 repeal of Prohibition, namely, the fact that Nevada legalized gambling.  

“Nevada legalized gambling in 1931 for several reasons, one being to bring out in the open what was already going on in saloons and back rooms across the state.  Nevada wanted to avoid situations that the Prohibition days fostered: illegal activity, bootleggers, and bribed officials.”  

Fortunately for Clark County, which was making revenue on taxes and licensing fees associated with gambling, other states took the opposite approach and cracked down on illegal gambling.  Thus, as the “Smell of Money” wafted out from Las Vegas, the city became a beacon for opportunists.  Gamblers and investors poured in from California, New York, Chicago and Texas.  

In 1929, foreseeing the repeal of Prohibition and eager to eliminate cross-gang warfare, rival gangs joined together under Charles “Lucky” Luciano and formed The Syndicate, an organization to promote cooperation between the gangs and map out territories.  The Syndicate eventually became known as the Mafia or Mob.    Gang bosses were entitled to control bootlegging, numbers, narcotics, prostitution, unions, and businesses in their respective area, but a few areas were deemed “open territory;” amongst them, Las Vegas.  

While an area that had legalized gambling in addition to alcohol would obviously be appealing to the crime families that were shifting their talents towards prostitution, drugs, loan sharking and business shakedowns, it was actually a technological service that fully drew the mob into power in Vegas—a technological service important in the world of gambling.  Horse race results could be instantly transmitted via a wire service, and Continental Press Service initially had the monopoly on the wire nation-wide.
When gangster Al Capone developed the Trans-America wire service in direct competition to the Continental, the mob focused its efforts on Arizona and later Las Vegas while the Continental blindly focused its western efforts in California.  Covering Las Vegas  was a great opportunity considering gambling was legal there.    Mobsters Moe Sedway, Bugsy Siegel, and Meyer Lansky, who headed the Trans-America business in Las Vegas,  soon realized their power-- the casinos were desperate to keep the wire in-house to draw gamblers to slots and tables.  They used this power to successfully demand bookmaking revenue from the service and even ownership shares of the casinos.    

In 1946, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was forced to take over the creation of one of the casinos he had shares in—The Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino.  Siegel strove to make it a fabulous luxury resort, far different from the nearby western-themed casinos, but when he duped The Syndicate to secure excessive funding for the resort, he found himself a wanted man.  On June 20, 1947 he was shot to death in his girlfriend’s home in Beverly Hills.   It was this murder that drew the attention of the county to the exciting town of Las Vegas and it has been a tourist destination ever since.  Thus, it is appropriate that on the anniversary of a famous mob massacre, Las Vegas opens the doors on a museum memorializing the mob, the very faction that made the city what it is today.  

Las Vegas Legends: What Happened in Vegas…chronicles the tough characters of the Old West who created a town that worked for them.  It relives the tragedies and triumphs of those who left their mark on Las Vegas—from the early explorers, miners, and ranchers, to the corporate giants and entertainers of today as they continue to shape this unique and exciting city.   Join author Greg Niemann for a book signing at Summerlin Barnes and Noble at Crossroads Commons on Saturday, February 18th from noon to 2pm.  http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3188027

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