Fat Herbie’s rise and fall
Second of two parts. Part One looks at Herbie Blitzstein’s murder twenty years ago. Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein was born…
Author: Jackie Apoyan
A late Mob hit in Las Vegas
First of two parts. Part Two looks at Blitzstein’s criminal activity in Las Vegas. By the mid-1990s, death had claimed…
The Hollywood legend, the Mob and the jukebox racket
The venerable actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, who died last week at age 84, was a risk-taker for decades when…
Wilkerson’s idea, Bugsy’s baby
On the evening of December 26, 1946, it seemed that Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel had done almost everything right for the…
Castro revolution had major effect on Las Vegas
This is the third of three blogs on the death of Fidel Castro. Part one looks at the harsh blow Castro dealt…
Mob involved in attempts to assassinate Castro
This is the second of three blogs on the death of Fidel Castro. Part one looks at the harsh blow…
Fidel Castro derailed Mob’s plans in Cuba
This is the first of three blogs on the death of Fidel Castro. Part two looks at Mob ties to…
Journalist tracks history of New York Mafia
In the summer of 1963, Joseph Valachi, longtime Mafia soldier involved in more than a score of gangland killings for…
Howard Hughes and nuclear testing
When the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes arrived in Las Vegas 50 years ago this month and took up residence on…
In the 1920s, American women were Ready to Roar
In popular culture, representations of the 1920s “flapper” present a misleading image of an over-sexualized and rebellious woman breaking away…