Benny Bision's organization

I read into this guy and it said that he was the Mob Boss of Dallas before the Outfit moved in and he lost his political influence was his status as Mob Boss exaggerated or was he really a kingpin?

If he was that powerful who were his lieutenants/known enforcers etc?

Also why'd he just up and leave and not bother fighting?

There is a well-reviewed new book on Binion, http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Aces-Binion-...Q5TA67VJS4D9E4X

One of his lieutenants was RD Matthews, a knockaround guy form Texas who followed Binion to Las Vegas and just passed away a few years back. Matthews was also associated with the Dixie Mafia, and the Trafficantes (he worked for Santo in Havana).

There's no statue of limitations on murder. It seems to be pretty well established that he killed several people personally, those people's names were known and all and nothing was ever done about it. Crazy.

The legends are legion about Binion but from what I've heard and read from old card sharks they come clost to the truth. Lansky, who was sent to Dallas to reason with Binion since threats and hitmen didn't do the job, called him a cross between Jesse James and John Wayne.

As is often the case when somebody resisted the much larger Syndicate successfully law enforcement lent a hand.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/columns-blogs/norm-clarke/vegas-legend-binion-fbi-informant

Like Whitey Benny was tough and smart but he had help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k15w7xFZlHM

This touches on the kind of guys who he had with him.

He had some pull, atleast with the Dragnas. One time a jewish wiseguy by the name of Russian Louie Strauss tried to shakedown his Vegas casino in the 1950s and he went to Jack Dragna ) to do something about it in exchange for a 25% peice of the casino (as a testiment to how weak the Dragnas were, Binion welched on the deal and Fratianno had to make him pay up years later).

Once Struass arrived in L.A. for a sitdown he was taken to a house where he was going to "wait for Jack Dragna", instead he was strangled by Jimmy Fratianno and Frank Bompensiero shortly after he arrived. The weirdest part about that hit was that a bunch of other Dragna guys showed up specifically to watch the hit go down for sick kicks.

Yep. The interesting part is how annoyed Frattiano would later become when Louis Tom Dragna would try to reminisce over watching Frattiano strangle Russian Louie. Frattiano thought it was creepy and told Dragna to try killing someone himself for a change. He didn't, he was semi-legit and later ratted.

He had some pull, atleast with the Dragnas. One time a jewish wiseguy by the name of Russian Louie Strauss tried to shakedown his Vegas casino in the 1950s and he went to Jack Dragna ) to do something about it in exchange for a 25% peice of the casino (as a testiment to how weak the Dragnas were, Binion welched on the deal and Fratianno had to make him pay up years later).

I've heard that story and it sounds implausible. That means Binion paid millions of dollars for a hit because the Horseshoe was so successful. I've never heard of a hit being so expensive.

Plus this was in 1953. That's just two years after Binion won a Dallas gang war which included car bombs and plane bombings and dozens of killings. He was perfectly capable of doing his own killing which is what he told the FBI almost word for word when the Fratianno floated that story to the media.

That has to be a horrible way to die. That's really fucked up to be there just to watch.

There is also this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Do-Own-Damn-Ki...ds=benny+binion

Which one do you think is better to start with?