Joe Friday tackled the Los Angeles crime syndicate
William H. Parker, a hardnosed police chief in midcentury Los Angeles, did not want organized crime in his city. In…
Las Vegas
Forty years ago, Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno turned on his Mob family
Some mobsters left their legacy by the gun, some by the knife, but Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno is best known…
Ten years ago, epic ‘Family Secrets’ trial crippled the Chicago Outfit
The historic “Family Secrets” trial began 10 years ago in Chicago, finally bringing to justice several top Midwestern mobsters responsible…
Seventy years ago today, Bugsy Siegel’s storied Mob life came to an abrupt end
It is important to our Museum and to me as the resident historian that criminals and their criminal acts are…
The hit that could have sunk Las Vegas
On May 2, 1957, Frank Costello thought he had problems, but he had no idea. He was appealing a five-year…
Legendary comic Don Rickles, a Las Vegas showroom staple, has died
Don Rickles, who comically insulted Las Vegas audiences for seven decades and had a prominent role in Casino, died Thursday…
Sixty years ago, the Tropicana opened under Mob’s hidden control
Las Vegas was in the middle of a slump. It was April 1957, and the town was still coming to…
Seventy years ago, Luciano’s Havana sojourn was cut short
Written February 2017 In 1946, Charles “Lucky” Luciano was persona non grata in America. Though he was granted a pardon…
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…
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…