mob

The Kefauver hearing in Las Vegas | The Mob Museum

In honor of Kefauver Day, the Mob Museum published a short article I wrote that summarized the drama of the Kefauver Committee’s hearing in Las Vegas; The U.S. Senate’s Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, chaired by Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver, focused attention as never before on gambling-related crime as a national […]

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writing

In Las Vegas, One Of The Mob’s Biggest Money Earners Tells All | Forbes

This Forbes piece looks at one of the most unique shows in Las Vegas: A stage musical of mob history? Surely, you think, this is just another piece of inauthentic Vegas kitsch, a knockoff of a knockoff of the real thing. It’s got to be the mafia equivalent of what Zombie Burlesque is to post-apocalyptic

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forbes

The hit that could have sunk Las Vegas | The Mob Museum

In memory of the 60th anniversary of perhaps the most famous failed mob hit in history, I wrote a blog piece for the Mob Museum: On May 2, 1957, Frank Costello thought he had problems, but he had no idea. He was appealing a five-year prison sentence for federal income tax evasion (for which he

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author

A Casino Strawman

The late-1970s Strawman investigation, an FBI underworld inquiry based in Kansas City, Missouri, discovered widespread skimming at Las Vegas casinos.

You can learn more about how the feds and Nevada regulators chased the mob out of Nevada casinos in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling

Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.

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fromthebook

Three excerpts from Roll the Bones


Today I’ve added three excerpts from Roll the Bones to the site to give you a little flavor of the book if you haven’t picked up a copy already. Enjoy!

1. Author’s Note/Prologue

This is the introductory overview to the book, giving an idea of its scope—and the changes in the Casino Edition.

2. Why the Mob won Vegas

This excerpt, from chapter 10, “A Place in the Sun,” explains how the Mob carved out influence on the Las Vegas Strip in the 1950s and 1960s, and why it was so dominant.


3. The Rise of Atlantic City

The opening pages of chapter 12, “America’s Playground…Again” discuss the rebirth and rise to (brief) dominance of Atlantic City’s casinos in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

To learn where you can buy Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling, please visit here

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atlantic city, author, gambling & culture, life in vegas

Talking about the Mob at UNLV

If you can make it, we’re hosting a provocative talk at UNLV in two weeks. Here’s the info: January 29, 2009 Gaming Research Colloquium Series: Leslie Nino Fidance William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV “The Mob Never Ran Vegas” Thursday, January, 12:15 pm UNLV Special Collections Download flyer (pdf) Center for Gaming Research: Special

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Faith-based gaming

I’ve explained, opined, asserted, declared, and suggested, but at last I’ve reached the stage in my career where I can quip. From the Daily Review: After defeat at polls in 1974, a gaming referendum in New Jersey succeeded two years later thanks to an alliance between gaming interests and the Roman Catholic Church, explained David

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gambling & culture, news about gambling