Mafia influence in Las Vegas

This semester I am taking a class called "Organized Crime" to satisfy my crimimal justice requirement. For my group project, I have been randomly assigned the topic "The mafia's involvement in Las Vegas". Besides the book/movie "Casino", I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can give me some information on the subject or recommend me some books on the subject.

A good book is the one the movie "Casino" is based on - also called "Casino" - by Nicholas Pileggi. Same guy who wrote "Wiseguy," which "Goodfellas" was based on.

My understanding is that direct Mob control of Vegas casinos is mostly a thing of the past, thanks to corporate interest, the decline of the Teamsters, and the success of the FBI investigations in the seventies and eighties.

I can't remember for sure right now but in the book "Gaspipe", Casso claims to have acted as a bagman for NY Families' cut of casino skim. I don't remember what year that supposedly was.

Other good books are "The Outfit" and "Supermob" by Gus Russo.

Although for me his arrogance spoils some of the reading, you might also want to check out "Accardo: The Genuine Godfather" or "The Enforcer" by former (now deceased) FBI agent William Roemer.

The book "Double Deal" by former chief of Police, mob associate, murderer and bagman Michael Corbitt has some good info about how things work from a lower level. He details how the mob shuffles its couriers around on different routes or changes the amounts expected, all in order to try to find and deal with people skimming the skim.

Finally, although it's not about Vegas, the best book I ever read on the skim and the various points of connection between the upperworld and the underworld was "The Boardwalk Jungle" by Ovid DeMaris, which discusses the various criminal elements involved in the Atlantic City casinos.

Hope this helps.

Ovid Demaris was ahead of his time writing about organized crime. The Green Felt Jungle by Demaris is required reading on organized crime's influence in Las Vegas. Not directly related to your topic, Captive City, also by Demaris and published in the late 1960's, remains one of the best early books on organized crime in Chicago.

Freddie C., are you at Penn State, hence the Happy Valley reference below your avatar?

Good luck and good skill with your report!

tony b.

Freddie,

I have a suggestion for you. I highly recommend that you do some extensive research on the Teamsters and their involvement with the mob and Las Vegas. It's very interesting stuff and for the most part more fact based than speculative. Some of the books suggested by others here are also good sources of information for your project. Green Felt Jungle is one of them. You should also check out an excellent book, one recommended to me by our esteemed friend Turnbull, call The Black Book and The Mob.

I think that combining several of the books suggested here with researching the Teamsters union and it's involvement with Las Vegas will help to make your project an outstanding one.

Good luck and make sure to let us know how you do on your final report.

To echo what DC said:
"The Black Book and the Mob" is the definitive work on criminal influence in Nevada gaming. It's a serious, scholarly work, written by Ronald Farrell and Carole Case, both professors at University of Nevada - Las Vegas. You can also find other sources by checking their footnotes and bibliography. If your library doesn't have it, buy it from Amazon or used from Abebooks.com. It's a keeper.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mafia was Johnny-come-lately to Nevada gambling. Jewish gangsters dominated Nevada gaming from 1931, when it was legalized, until the Kefauver and McClellan hearings drove the gangsters underground.

The mob activity in Vegas is strictly street level operations these days. By this I mean loansharking, exortion, narcotic trafficking, street tax, tele-marketing and credit fraud, plus slot cheating. They are also involved in legitamite venues such as strip clubs, bars, and restaurants. The "Five Families" all have crews in Vegas, as does the Outfit. Peter Ribaste, of the Kansas City family, has a small cre of associates also operating in Vegas. Back in the mid 90s the LA and Buffalo families tried to muscle in, but the feds took them within a couple years. The mob still has a fairly large presence in the Vegas underworld.

Really? I've heard quite the contrary, when they were run out of the casinos they were run out of the streets to, do the books listed mention this?

Ah yes, the Teamsters.
That's a good point DC.

There's an older book that should still be around "Mobbed Up" by James Neff which details the life and times of Jackie Presser, the Teamsters, the transition of the Cleveland Mob from Jewish to Italian, and the links between the various mob groups, Las Vegas casinos/hotels and the Teamsters Union.

It's dry reading but full of lots of facts.

BDuff is right, Ludovico. Wherever there's easy money to be made, and loose morals, you'll find the Mob. Maybe not in the casinos, but right outside...

Hmmm, i suppose thatd be true. just sayin' i heard differently.

New York and other Families sold out most of their interests in the late 1960's when Howard Hughes and others began buying the casinos. But Chicago and other Mid-West Families maintained their interests until the mid-1980's.

Here's a list of which casinos have been tied to which Families -

The Aladdin - Detroit, St. Louis
Caesar's Palace - Chicago, Genovese family, New England
The Desert Inn - Cleveland (Moe Dalitz), Chicago
The Dunes - Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, New England
The Flamingo - Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lanksy, Genovese family
The Fremont - Cleveland, Chicago, Genovese family
The Frontier - St. Louis
The Hacienda - Chicago
The Horseshoe - Genovese family
The Marina - Chicago
The Riviera - Chicago
The Sahara - Chicago
The Sands - Joseph "Doc" Statcher, Chicago, Genovese family
The Stardust - Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Cleveland
The Thunderbird - Meyer Lansky, etc.
The Tropicana - Chicago, Genovese family, Kansas City, New Orleans

Good book, Lilo. There was also a tv movie made about Presser in the early '90s, starring Brian Dennehy as Presser. For tv fare, it wasn't bad.

It was a really decent movie. Dennehy did an excellent job playing Presser. I also enjoyed Eli Wallach's portrayal of Bill Presser as well as Tony Lo Bianco's portrayal of Allen Dorfman.


Hey Freddie C. - Speaking of Allen Dorfman, he was the Chicago outfit's man in the Teamsters Union. Dorfman was in charge of the Teamster Pension Fund. He approved loans from that fund to finance many of the mob owned hotel / casinos in Las Vegas.

In "Running Scared," an unauthorized bio of Steve Wynn, John L. Smith writes that Wynn's father was a big-time bingo operator in the East, as well as a heavy gambler who went often to Vegas and took the kid Steve with him. When Wynn Sr. died, Smith says, Steve paid off his debts to a guy who was connected with the Detroit mob. This made a nice impression, and he was allegedly invited to invest with the mob in buying the Frontier Hotel. When the Gaming Commission learned of Mob's participation, they annulled their investment and prosecuted them. But Wynn was permitted to keep his investment (he sold it at a profit). It was his first step in becoming, for a time, the biggest gaming mogul in Vegas.

Wynn is a remarkable guy. I believe his father's name was originally Weinberg, but he shortened it to avoid anti-Jewish bias following WW II.

Wynn's most remarkable feat to me: controlling interest of the Golden Nugget at 29 years old. That's twenty nine years old!

Wynn has long been said to have ties to the Genovese Family.

Wow, this is way more of a response than I expected. Thanks to everyone.

To be more specific with the assignment, I am in a group with 5 other people. We have to give an approximately 30 minute presentation to the class. I haven't met with the group yet, so I don't know what their ideas are. I was thinking of showing the beginning scene in "Casino" where we the count room and the brief case being flown to Kansas City.

If I wanted to focus on a few mob figures/families that had the most involvment in Las Vegas, who exactly would they be?

Without a doubt, the real godfather of Vegas is Moe Dalitz. He also serves as the model for how to be "legitimate" in Nevada through political contributions, charities, civic works, etc. No project on Vegas would be complete without mentioning Bugsy Siegel, but you will find that his actual role in the growth of Vegas has been somewhat exaggerated.

Among Mafia families: look first for Frank Costello, then Chicago, then Detroit, and then Kansas City.

Are you covering the Mob's influence in Vegas as part of your assignment? If so, the families that operate in Vegas are the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families from New York, they appear to have the most operations. The Chicago Outfit and Civella crime family of Kansas City also operate in Vegas. While their involvment in the Teamsters and the Casino skim are over the Mob still control illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, drug trafficking, credit fraud, and slot cheating. The various families also control many strip clubs, bars, and restaurants.

Good luck with your assignment

My group is going this Tuesday. We made a powerpoint with a slide dedicated to Bugsy Siegel, Frank Costello, Howard Hughes (the teacher suggested him), Nick Civella, Moe Dalitz, Left Rosenthal, Anthony Spilotro, and Roy Williams. Then we are going to show the clip from "Casino" in the beginning where they show the count room skim and the suitcase being delivered to Kansas City. My teacher said this would get us an 'A'. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Good luck on Tuesday, Freddie C...I'm sure youse guys will do better than the Republicans!

Yes, good luck, Freddie. Let us know what happened. I'd be particularly interested in people's questions and reactions to your presentation.

So Freddie, how did it go?

We still haven't gotten a grade yet, but the teacher said we did a great job. I was the only person in the group who knew what they were doing. I ended up basically telling each person what to say, but that didn't really bother me. I just wish that I could've done it by myself.