Monday, April 23, 2012

How the Mafia came to Vegas

 

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The mafia’s time in Vegas has been romanticized for so long that fact and fiction are often hard to distinguish.  While there is a tremendous amount of information about mafia’s time in Las Vegas, details are hard to find and almost impossible to verify.

As long as business has existed there has been organized crime in one form or another.  It’s hard to argue that prohibition helped to developed and fine tune organized crime into what would become known as “The Mafia”.  It also helped to romanticize the notion of a collection of charismatic business men who operated outside of the law to provide a service and a product that people wanted.  It also developed another belief, that the police and government were the bad guys, always trying to spoil every ones good time. 

To be clear, when we refer to people in the “Mafia”, the “Syndicate”, organized crime or any variation, we aren’t accusing anyone of anything.  We are referring to them as such because that is what they are most commonly believed to be affiliated with.  

We also want to make it clear that a large amount of this information is impossible to confirm.  The research we referenced to bring you this feature are recollections, investigations, stories, allegations & myths.  Unfortunately, it’s also the best collection of information available or that could be found to help tell the real stories regarding this period of time and the events and people involved in them.  This is most likely how it went down.  

If you are interested in more information on the subject, recommended reading would be 


However we do caution, while “When the Mob Ran Vegas” is full of interesting information, a significant amount of it is believed to be exaggerated for entertainment value as well as impossible to verify.  Despite that, it is a fun read.

Monday, December 19, 2011

El Rancho: The 1st Resort on the Strip




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Isolated gambling clubs existed on Highway 91 before 1941 but the concept of a full scale resort with overnight accommodations, gaming, dining, entertainment and shopping all in one vacation destination wasn’t conceived as something anyone would want in the harsh desert climate.  The El Rancho not only offered something Highway 91 had never seen, it set a precedent by creating a themed vacation destination that would shape what would later become the Las Vegas Strip.  This is the story of the El Rancho Vegas.

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Billy Wilkerson and the Flamingo (Remastered)




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History hasn’t been fair to Billy Wilkerson.  For years, a myth has lived in romantic Hollywood lour that Bugsy Siegel is the father of modern Vegas.  When in truth, it was stolen and ruined by the notorious gangster who caused the project to cost 6 times more than its original projected cost.  When it finally opened, it was a disaster of such catastrophic proportions that his
partners in the mafia had him killed.  Now it is time to set the record straight about the real man behind the Flamingo. 

For more on the Billy Wilkerson...