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Benny Binion’s million-dollar gamble lives on 75 years later

August 14, 2026

On August 14, 1951, Benny Binion opened the Horseshoe Club in downtown Las Vegas. Binion’s Horseshoe would become a cornerstone of the casino industry, particularly for downtown. It also made Binion a household name for both locals and tourists, as well as poker players the world over. But when the Horseshoe Club first opened, Binion’s footing was uncertain. His struggles in obtaining a gaming license also offer a fascinating case study for 1950s Las Vegas and just how committed—or not—state officials were in keeping the Nevada casino industry free from organized crime entanglements. From Texas rackets to Las Vegas casinos Binion moved to ...

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After the four-casino blitz of 1955, Life magazine speculated about the sustainability of the boom. The new casinos had to keep up with the big budgets of successful casinos such as the Desert Inn, which paid British musician Noël Coward, pictured here, $40,000 a week. The Mob Museum Collection

Casino boom added four new properties to Las Vegas 70 years ago

Seventy years ago, in April and May of 1955, Las Vegas welcomed four new hotel-casinos in a six-week period. This…

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The Alto Knights, starring Robert De Niro as both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, premiered to lukewarm reviews last month. The Alto Knight is among the first of many Mob movies debuting this year. Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

New Mob movies point to continued demand

While some question whether Mob movies have run their course, a recent slate of gangster films indicates public interest remains…

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Charles Binaggio and Charles Gargotta were found murdered at the First Democratic Club in Kansas City on April 6, 1950. Gargotta’s body is seen here near a portrait of President Harry Truman. The Kansas City Star

Mobbed-up power broker Charles Binaggio gunned down in Kansas City 75 years ago

Mobbed-up power broker Charles Binaggio gunned down in Kansas City 75 years ago

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Las Vegas entertainer Al Martino, second from left in front, became a household name after his casting as singer Johnny Fontane in the 1972 film The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola, second from right, paid a visit to the Desert Inn to help get Martino out of his contract. Alison Martino

Alison Martino recalls her father’s Las Vegas

When singer Al Martino was a showroom headliner performing on the Las Vegas Strip years ago, the mobsters who ran…

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Before John Gotti bricked over the façade, the Ravenite Social Club had a much more welcoming exterior. Crime family boss Carlo Gambino and his underboss Aniello Dellacroce made the Ravenite their headquarters. Getty Images

New film ‘The Alto Knights’ named for one of Mob’s many social clubs

The Alto Knights, the film written by Nicholas Pileggi and directed by Barry Levinson, is named for a once-prominent Manhattan social…

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Nick Pileggi adds a new entry to the extensive library of Mob movies in March with The Alto Knights. Pileggi also wrote Goodfellas and Casino, both mainstays of the organized crime film genre. Courtesy of Kate Henry

New movie ‘The Alto Knights’ revives bitter feud between major mobsters

The newest Mob movie written by journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, The Alto Knights, is his third major script focused…

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After the indictments, U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani, left, and FBI Director William Webster held a press conference and showed a diagram outlining defendant’s position within the Commission’s hierarchy. Bettmann/Corbis

The bosses of the Mafia Commission were indicted 40 years ago

New York, like other major cities across the United States, faced waves of crime during the 1970s and ’80s. What…

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