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There are few cities in America as notorious as Las Vegas.
The mob is one of the reasons for the notoriety.
1880-1924
The Mob is organized crime, and organized crime is as old as crime itself. The current, most visible form is seen in gangs. The Mob as it relates to Las Vegas grew out of immigration. Between 1880-1924 immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island.
The immigrants were mainly composed of Southern and Eastern European (Italians & Slavic Jews) people. These new immigrants faced the same problems most immigrants had.
Gambling
"Protection"
and between the years of 1920-1933
Prohibition - 18th Ammendment is ratified
January 16, 1919
The 18th Ammendment - Prohibition is repealed
December 5, 1933
March 1931
The state of Nevada legalized gambling in March 1931.
Bugsy Siegel was known as one of the most "infamous and feared gangsters of his day". He was handsome and charismatic and was also a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. He was one of the founders and leaders of Murder, Incorporated, and became a bootlegger during Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, he turned to gambling. Siegel traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada where he handled and financed some of the original casinos.
In June 1947 Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel had only been running the Flamingo for six months when he was killed in a hail of gunfire at his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills, Calif., home. Historians believe Bugsy Siegel may have been killed because he was stealing money from the casino operations. There are photos of his bloodied, bullet-riddled body and they are a stark reminder of what could happen when the mob is crossed.
November 15, 1950
Kefauver brought his committee to Las Vegas
The U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce held the seventh in a series of 14 nationwide hearings in Las Vegas. More commonly known as the Kefauver Committee hearings, after U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver who headed them, the committee investigated the influence of the mob in the gaming industry as well as levels of corruption in the business. The hearings were held in cities nationwide between 1950 and 1951 and sought to expose organized crime. This two-year investigation heard more than 800 witnesses and identified organized crime as big business operating in major cities throughout the country.
The March 1951 Time magazine cover on Kefauver summarized the committee’s findings: the committee had “turned up a sinister pattern of organized crime in the U.S.” and evidence suggested that such crime is “not limited to any single community of any single state, but occurs all over the country.” The committee concluded that organized crime in the U.S. was “big business,” dominated by two major crime outfits: the Capone Syndicate and the New York Syndicate. The committee also stated that since the repeal of Prohibition laws, the focus of these crime syndicates was on big-time gambling.
The book, The Green Felt Jungle, estimated that the mob had up to $300 million invested in Las Vegas by 1962. The Green Felt Jungle was first published in 1963 and it was the first book to tell the story of Las Vegas's dark side. It discussed mobsters, prostitution and political influence peddling.
June 28, 1974
In 1970, Meyer Lansky fled to Herzliya Pituah, Israel, to escape federal tax evasion charges. Although the Israeli Law of Return allows any Jew to settle in the State of Israel, it excludes those with criminal pasts. Two years after Lansky fled to Israel, Israeli authorities deported him back to the U.S. The U.S. government brought Lansky to trial with the testimony of loan shark Vincent "Fat Vinnie" Teresa, an informant with little or no credibility.
Lansky was acquitted in 1974.
"History (Official City of Las Vegas Web Site)." History
(Official City of Las Vegas Web Site). City of Las Vegas, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
German, Jeff. "From Siegel to Spilotro, Mafia Influenced Gambling,
Regulation in Las Vegas." Las Vegas Review-Journal. Las Vegas Review Journal, 9 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"Mob Ties - Las Vegas Sun News." Mob Ties - Las Vegas
Sun News. Las Vegas Sun, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"The Mafia." Mafia in Las Vegas -. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"Mob Museum | Mob Museum." Mob Museum. The Mob
Museum, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
Green, MIchael. "Las Vegas Mob." Online Nevada Encyclopedia.
N.p., 19 May 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
"John Roselli." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Oct.
2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
Photo Credits:
Three Immigrants http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/images/Three-Immigrants.jpg
Illegal Gambling Mobsters http://gamingzion.com/images/newsimages/illegal-gambling-mobsters-070814.jpg
Prostitute http://gamingzion.com/images/newsimages/illegal-gambling-mobsters-070814.jpg
Protection http://www.nightingaleatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/Prohibition.jpg
Moonshining http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Moonshining_-_Kentucky_-_Revenue_Man_-_Project_Gutenberg_13181.jpg
Early Casino http://sqlasvegas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/the-early-casinos.jpg
Las Vegas Sign https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/233448249/LasVegasSign.jpg
The Flamingo http://michaellewisart.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/flamingo_mid_50s.jpg
Bugsy Siegel http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/e4/f8/e4f8b983262e0e0047f834f7b5261142.jpg?itok=IWIzrfkH
Meyer Lansky http://cdn.denofgeek.us/sites/denofgeekus/files/meyer-lansky-1902-1983-in-1949-everett.jpg
Newspaper http://images.rarenewspapers.com/ebayimgs/8.26.2010/image040.jpg
Las Vegas Courthouse http://digital.library.unlv.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=%2Fsnv&CISOPTR=1124&DMSCALE=37.341299&DMWIDTH=930pxpx&DMHEIGHT=500pxpx&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMROTATE=0
Kafauver Hearings http://sunnycv.com/steve/USPics15/78426.jpg
Time Magazine Cover http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1951/1101510312_400.jpg
Tommy Gun http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01670/SNN1115TOP---_1670796a.jpg
Green Felt Jungle Gym http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/Depts/parks/PublishingImages/events/exhibit-greenfeltjungle-3-23-2012-lrg.jpg
Johnny Roselli http://www.onewal.com/mugs/roselli-johnny-ch.gif
Loan Shark http://mafiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/moneywad.jpg
Mob Museum http://themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mob-Museum-Building-Angle1.jpg
The Mob Museum opened February 14th, 2012 in the same building where the Kefauver Hearings were held.
Bugsy Siegel