Two reasons why there have been no Mob wars in Vegas:

--Unlike other rackets the Mob was involved in prior to 1931, gambling was made legal—and regulated—in Nevada that year. Repeal of Prohibition was right around the corner (1933). Here were unlimited opportunities for mobsters to make piles of money legally—and be considered “legitimate.” Why screw it up by waging the same bloody wars they fought over booze? Why would tourists come to their hotels and casinos if they feared having to dodge bullets when all they wanted to do was gamble? For once, common sense trumped greed in organized crime.

--Bigotry and stereotyping: Nevada then and now is largely rural. Political life is dominated by Mormons. They share the same prejudice as other Americans, namely that organized crime is the exclusive province of Italians. But members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints believe that Jews are the “Chosen People,” and that Mormons share a common, literal ancestry with Jews. Jews got favorable treatment from the Tax Commission, which regulated gambling after it was legalized. Italians didn’t. Tony (the Admiral) Cornero was the only Italian to build a hotel in Vegas; Jews (sometimes fronting for the Mafia) built nearly all the other earlier hotels.

The prejudice against Italians was reinforced by televised Kefauver and McClellan hearings, which exposed and highlighted Mafia involvement in gambling and labor racketeering. In 1958, the Nevada Legislature took regulation of gambling out of the Tax Commission and put it into a new Gaming Control Board. One of the new Board’s biggest weapons was the Black Book—a list of people who could be permanently barred from even entering a casino, much less owning and operating one, because of criminal records, association with known criminals, or simply “unsavory reputations.” The vast majority of the 47 names in the Black Book were Italian. Only three Jews were listed, and two were removed from the Black Book within a month.

One of the Jewish names that was never in the Black Book was Moe Dalitz, a big-time rum-runner and gambling czar in Cleveland during Prohibition, who decided to go legit in Vegas starting in 1947. He not only built several hotel/casinos, he also built the Convention Center, the Sunrise Hospital, and was active in charities. He won the 1976 Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Research Center. After Dalitz died, Grant Sawyer, Nevada Governor from ’59 through ‘66, said: “Moe Dalitz was probably as responsible for the successful gaming economy in southern Nevada as any one person. In my opinion, he was a good citizen in every way.”