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New memoir ‘The Bookie’ highlights the mobsters and characters in Las Vegas sportsbooks 

Bookmaker Art Manteris spent four decades working in Las Vegas casinos, including the Mob-operated Stardust Resort and Casino.
February 27, 2026

Early in his career at Las Vegas casino sportsbooks, when mobsters were an intimidating presence around town, Art Manteris confronted Sammy Spiegel. One evening in the early 1980s, while working by himself at the Barbary Coast sportsbook on the Strip, Manteris let Spiegel know he owed money on previous basketball bets. The entire situation could have gotten Manteris “in a real jackpot,” he told The Mob Museum. Spiegel, who served as Tony “The Ant” Spilotro’s driver, was known to demand his own betting odds at the Stardust sportsbook instead of the posted numbers. Back then, Spilotro was the Chicago Outfit’s street enforcer in ...

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Alleged former Philadelphia Mafia boss Joey Merlino rebrands himself as restaurant owner

Joey Merlino, a 63-year-old convicted felon and reputed former Philadelphia Mafia boss, has become a social media personality while also…

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In Mafia: The Old Country, a new release from 2K Games, you play as Enzo Favara, center, who rises through the ranks of the Sicilian Mafia in the first decade of the 20th century. 2K Games

Grounded in history, ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ is a game you can’t refuse

The Mob movie may be experiencing a lull, evident by the lukewarm receptions to this year’s The Alto Knights and Mob Cops,…

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Since getting out of prison in 2024, Owen Hanson has reconnected with his former USC teammates and coaching staff. Here he poses with Tino Dominguez, USC’s equipment manager for the last 35 years. Courtesy of Owen Hanson / @theofficialcakid

Owen Hanson goes from cartel kingpin to selling frozen protein bars

At one time Owen Hanson, a former University of Southern California national championship football player, was making millions as a…

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Despite his extensive body count, Detroit hitman Chester Wheeler Campbell was convicted of murder only once in 1955. Campbell is pictured here following a 1975 arrest. Courtesy of Cipollini Collection

‘Dr. Death,’ notorious Detroit contract killer, committed first murder 70 years ago

The shooting death of 43-year-old Luther Mixon on July 1, 1955, landed Chester Wheeler Campbell, 24, and two accomplices in…

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Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana killed 50 years ago

Late in the evening of June 19, 1975,  Sam “Momo” Giancana was cooking in his basement apartment, presumably for a…

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In 1961, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal was subpoenaed to testify before a Senate Rackets Subcommittee after Oregon football player Mickey Bruce told the panel about Rosenthal attempting to bribe him to throw a game the year before. Rosenthal refused to answer any questions. Corbis

Lefty Rosenthal’s alleged sports-fixing past recalled in national sports story

In the 1970s, Mickey Bruce, a former University of Oregon football player, was called to Nevada to testify against Mob…

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Las Vegas casino pioneer a footnote in Southern California slaying

A high-profile murder in 1950s Southern California at the former home of a Las Vegas casino operator led to the…

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