New memoir ‘The Bookie’ highlights the mobsters and characters in Las Vegas sportsbooks
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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CIA, Mob team up to topple Fidel Castro in Paramount Plus docuseries ‘Mafia Spies’
The CIA’s alliance with the Mafia during the Kennedy years to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro is at the center…
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John Dillinger’s wooden gun and death mask preserve notorious moments in his life
On July 22, 1934, “Public Enemy Number One” – John Dillinger – was killed by federal agents moments after he…
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Scarface retains cult status with Al Pacino’s ‘iconic’ performance
The 1983 movie Scarface, featuring Al Pacino in the title role, continues to attract attention more than 40 years after…
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The life and crimes of a Sinaloa sicario
Ten years ago, the confessions of a California-based hitman revealed new information on decades-old unsolved cases and offered a glimpse…
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Oscar-winning ‘On the Waterfront’ premiered 70 years ago, with Marlon Brando as a dockworker confronting the Mob
On the Waterfront, which debuted 70 years ago this summer, is a ground-breaking tale about dockworkers standing up to a…
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In 1980s New York, the Mob had its hands in everything — even a museum
This is The Mob Museum, but it has never been a mobbed-up museum. As surprising as it may seem, that…
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Mobsters and their four-legged associates: The top 5 pets of organized crime
“You come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do…
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