The Hidden History of Vegas and The Mob

They call it Sin City. Las Vegas, Nevada is a larger than life city. Bright lights ignite this desert oasis and tourists from all over the world converge on this mecca for all things fun! But this hot spot is not without its dark side. For several decades the casinos of Las Vegas were backed by the Mob. The 1963 book The Green Felt Jungle shed light on this, and popular movies like The Godfather and Casino fueled popular interest in these "backdoor dealings." Here's the real scoop on how the Mob almost owned Las Vegas...

It all started at The Flamingo. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was a hit man for Lucky Luciano. Bugsy invested a lot of money into The Flamingo hotel. The Flamingo was the first "resort" hotel on the strip and was followed closely by several other Mob owned properties. The Thunderbird and The Desert Inn sprang up shortly after The Flamingo. Bugsy was shot after he reportedly started stealing money from the casino operations. It's been said that the racket was a perfect match: casino people knew how to run a casino but had no funds, and mobsters had funds but didn't know how to run a casino.

There were several attempts by the judiciary system to counteract the Mob takeover. However many of these proved to be fruitless as most of the mobsters they did crack weren't too keen on "flipping" information about their associates. In other words, they were more intimidated by the Mob than the police.

Today Vegas is a top tourist destination and the mob has been, for the most part, wiped out by corporate and commercial entities. But the history of this era can still be explored at The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, better known as The Mob Museum.

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