AHC: Mafia's Greatest Hits- Sam Giancana

Source:AHC- U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) I believe in 1960.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Mafia´s Greatest Hits Sam Giancana" 

From AHC

Sam Giancana to me at least was a real life Hollywood gangster. He is the gangster that we see in a lot of the Hollywood Italian Mafia movies the gangster in charge who made all the decisions as it related to his crime family the one guy you couldn't afford to have on your case because it meant your life would literally be on the line. Whether you were a gangster yourself who even worked for his crime family, an associate who did business with his crime family. 

And of course any law enforcement agent of investigator who was trying to bring Giancana and his family down. Or a politician who was somewhat crooked at least in the sense that they relied on organize crime family power and influence to get reelected or elected to the next office.

The Kennedy Family especially Joe sr. is a perfect example of that. Joe's son Jack, doesn't get elected President in 1960 had he not just won Illinois but Chicago as well. Which is a big reason why Sam Giancana and his crime family hated the Kennedy Administration so much when they came into power in the early 1960s, especially Attorney General Bob Kennedy but his brother President Jack Kennedy, because Giancana felt betrayed by The Kennedy's when the U.S. Justice Department started their war on organized crime led by Bobby Kennedy as Attorney General in the early 1960s. Since Giancana had a major role in seeing that Jack Kennedy won Chicago and Illinois in 1960. He felt the The Kennedy's owed him and would say out of his way and let him run his crime business.

Sam Giancana was more than just a Hollywood gangster in the sense that he looked like the gangster that we tend to see in gangster movies. Similar to Benjamin Bugsy Siegel the famous Jewish gangster who had a big role in Las Vegas being what it is today, Giancana had friends in Hollywood. Frank Sinatra, Joe Kennedy who was a major investor in Hollywood films. 

Giancana liked being around entertainers especially Hollywood entertainers and wanted to party with them and hang out with them. As ruthless a killer that Giancana was Phyllis McGuire who was a Hollywood actress, was one of Giancana's girlfriends. She was a gorgeous Hollywood actress and Giancana was a gangster and a killer, a little man in stature and yet they fell for each other.

Sam Giancana and his crime family, also represent the best and perhaps only legitimate alternative theory to Lee H. Oswald being the lone killer and conspirator in the JFK assassination. Because they had the access, influence, and all the motives in the world to assassinate President Kennedy because of what President Kennedy's Justice Department led by Attorney General Robert Kennedy, were doing to bring down organized crime in America with Giancana being one of their major targets. 

Giancana was no John Gotti. So much smarter and more powerful than Gotti. Giancana was a survivor who never served much time at all in prison and had one of the longest and most powerful carriers in organized crime.

Virginia Hill: Mistress To The Mob

Source:The Mob Museum- Hollywood actress and mob businesswoman Virginia Hill.

Source:The New Democrat

"On March 24, 1966, passersby walking on a footpath beside a picturesque brook near Salzburg, Austria, found the body of a woman in the snow beside a tree. Her coat was neatly folded on the ground. A possible suicide note indicated the person was simply “tired of life.”

The woman was Virginia Hill, the onetime so-called “Queen of the Mob,” a courtesan and entrusted cash courier for household-name American gangsters from the mid-1930s through the 1940s. An Austrian official concluded the 49-year-old Virginia died of a self-administered overdose of sedatives, not a surprise given her history of near-fatal pill-swallowing going back to the 1940s.

Hill, born in 1916, was surely something of a mental case, perhaps diagnosed today as bipolar, sociopathic, borderline personality or worse. But while still only a teenager in 1934, she showed her mettle as the beautiful and beguiling redheaded apprentice of Mob bookmaker Joe Epstein in the rough and corrupt city of Chicago. Soon, with incredible ease, using her looks, sexual liaisons and talents for laundering money and stolen merchandise, Hill rose higher than any other woman in the national underworld, an equal among the most infamous male racketeers in the United States, among them Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis, Frank Costello, Johnny Rosselli, Charles and Joe Fischetti, Tony Accardo, Frank Nitti, William “Ice Pick Willie” Alderman, Jack Dragna and, most famously, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel." 

From The Mob Museum 

"Virginia Hill (August 26, 1916 – March 24, 1966) was an American organized crime figure and the Mob's top courier for nearly 30 years. She was famous for being the girlfriend of mobster Bugsy Siegel who was killed at her palatial mansion." 

Source:Bloodletters and Badmen-Hollywood actress & mob lady Virginia Hill.

From Bloodletters & Badmen

If you watch the movie Bugsy from 1991 with Warren Beatty playing Ben Siegel with Annette Being playing Siegel's mistress Virginia Hill, the movie portrays Virginia as much more than a mobster's mistress. Mistresses are common with mobsters and mobsters who are married with children is also common with both Italian and Jewish mobsters and perhaps Irish mobsters as well.

Mob women are generally, but always babes in the woods. ( To use a Goodfellas line ) Basically unaware or ignoring what their husbands do for a living at least until their husbands go to prison for the first time. Then maybe, they get a clue that their husbands actually aren't construction workers or auto mechanics, legitimate businessmen, or whatever lie their husbands feed them as far as what they do for a living.

If you watch the movie Bugsy you see Virginia Hill as not just a mobster mistress but she basically handled the finances of Ben Siegel's Las Vegas operation and business. Siegel had the vision that Las Vegas would become a gambling and entertainment mecca that it is now today and has been since the 1960s, if not farther back. 

In the 1940s when Siegel got this vision Las Vegas was basically a pitstop four hours east of Los Angeles. Where people would go to gas up, get a bite to eat, perhaps stay for the night, but generally not a place where people would go to vacation. Unlike what it is now which is one of the top vacation towns in America.

Virginia Hill was not a babe in the woods. She knew who Ben Siegel was and that he was married with kids and that he was a New York mobster before they got involved out in Los Angeles. And didn't have any major issues with that. 

Virginia was attracted to Ben physically, but his charm, his humor, and perhaps the most of all his power and wanted to be with him. And became his business partner and had a role in helping his build his Las Vegas casino which was the Flamingo.

Peter Collinson: Mobsters- Benjamin Bugsy Siegel

Source:Peter Collinson- Jewish gangster Benjamin Busgy Siegel.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Mobsters - Bugsy Siegel"

Source:Mob Video Vault- Jewish-American mobster Benjamin Bugsy Siegel.

From Peter Collinson

One of my favorite quotes about Ben Siegel was about his friendship with actor George Raft. The quote being that Ben Siegel was a mobster who wanted to be an actor. And George Raft was an actor who wanted to be a mobster.

That is sort of how I view Ben Siegel. This Hollywood looking mobster who is the lead character and the mobster that is profiled in either Italian or Jewish mobster movies. Ben Siegel just didn't have the look of a criminal, at least not the look of a mobster or Ben's case a mobster enforcer who worked for both the Italian Mafia, even though he was Jewish and not Italian and also worked for Jewish mobsters like Meyer Lansky.

Now, Ben Siegel did have the look of a white-collar criminal, a scammer, gold digger who scams wealthy widows out the the money that they inherited from their dead husbands. Not saying that Ben Siegel didn't have the profile of a mobster or even enforcer but you see him walking around and he looks like a legitimate businessman. Perhaps a Jewish banker or something like that from New York. (Not to play off on Jewish ethnic stereotypes)

But that is what made Ben so effective as a mobster is that even though he didn't have the face of a mobster or the overall appearance, he had the mental and physical toughness of a mobster. Plus the intelligence of not a mobster but someone who would've been a successful New York businessman.

He was a lot smarter than the average even successful mobster in America. And that is not like saying he makes idiots look stupid or something. Or he's a really intelligent rookie. Siegel was a very bright man even though he never had much of a formal education. Who in some ways was even a visionary when it came to business especially gambling and casinos.

Along with Jimmy Hoffa, Ben Siegel is literally one of the architects of the modern Las Vegas that is so popular today. Siegel had the vision of a Las Vegas that would be come a popular entertainment vacation town back in the 1940s when Las Vegas was a town of about 10 thousand people or so.

Seventy years later today Las Vegas is a city of about 600 thousand people and a metro area of about 2 million people. Siegel wasn't just a mafia hitman who eventually has his own crew and division that was part of a broader Mafia family. He was a businessman and a visionary in business.

CBS News: 60 Minutes Presents John Gotti

Source:CBS News.

Source:The New Democrat

John Gotti, is not someone who I see as evil. At least not in the pure evil sense like an Adolph Hitler, or Saddam Hussein. Gotti was clearly a bad guy and I think anyone familiar with him knows that. But this not someone who didn’t have positive qualities. This is a man who loved his wife and kids and took care of them the best that they can and provided very well for them. Who raised his kids and his children have actually turned out pretty well. Especially considering their father is one of the top and most successful Italian gangsters of all-time. His daughter Victoria, is a very successful businesswomen and John Jr. has made a life for himself as well. And as far as John Jr. I hope he’s sincere in that he wants nothing to do with the gangster life and wants to live a productive life.

John Gotti Sr. went to prison for the last time in 1992 and was given a life sentence and died in prison about ten years later. He was in solitary confinement and yes there have been gangsters who have run their crime families from prison. Lucky Luciano, is a perfect example of that from the 1940s. When you’re in solitary you don’t have any outside contact from prison except for the occasional visits. So it would have been impossible for Gotti to run his crime family from his situation in prison. So someone on the outside had to do it for him. His son would have been a candidate for that. I think its clear that John Jr. ran that family at least for a time in the 1990s. What he did with it, I don’t think anyone will ever know. And its pretty obvious why he wouldn’t want to admit that he did. Because any crimes committed under his watch he could be held responsible for them.

The Lip TV: 'Whitey: The United States of America V. James J. Bulger'

Source:The Lip TV- talking about the life of Boston-Irish gangster, James Whitey Bulger.

Source:The New Democrat 

"WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER is the documentary about infamous Boston gangster "Whitey" Bulger, and we get the first look at the movie, direct from its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Director Joe Berlinger explains to us the fascinating story of Bulger, the true story behind the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the Departed, and the long manhunt and eventual apprehension of one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives in this BYOD."  

From The Lip TV

Source:Mob Video Vault- The Making of a Monster is also about James Whitey Bulger.

Off the top of my head I don’t know of more successful (and I don’t mean that as a complement) Irish-American mobster than James Whitey Bulger. He is the baddest Irish gangster as far as the amount of damage that he’s done in his life to other people. Being personally responsible for at least nineteen murders. And not being convicted of any of them until his early eighties. 

Here’s a guy who started his criminal career in his early teens and was able to keep it going until his early eighties without spending much of that time in prison. We’re not talking about John Gotti, or some other uneducated Italian mobster. We’re talking about an educated intelligent mobster who used his knowledge of the real world to work the system during his criminal career.

The mind-control program that Whitey was part of in Federal prison in the 1950s certainly didn’t help him. And if he doesn’t go through that it would’ve been a great thing for society. He would have spent more time in prison as a result with fewer people being murdered by him. But he was already a bad guy to begin with that had no issues killing anyone who he thought was a threat no matter the consequences that came from it. Not so much to him, but the relatives and friends of his murder victims. 

The Federal prison mind-control program was a mistake and should have never been started. But you can’t say that is the reason why Whitey became the serial murderer that he became. Again, Whitey was doing horrible things before gong to Atlanta and then later Alcatraz.

You could say that Whitey Bulger is the worst piece of garbage that was ever thrown out (and I’m being nice) and again when it comes to his criminal career I would have a hard time arguing with that. But he did have people in his personal life that he loved and took care of. Long-term girlfriends and people who loved him. 

As they say, Whitey was someone who was able to compartmentalized. He didn’t bring his work and I guess evil at home which just made him even more dangerous. Because it meant people around him didn’t know who he really was and he really operated. And fewer people who could turn him in and put him away. 

Whitey isn’t the baddest Irish mobster because of all the people he murdered. But how he was able to murder all of those people. The intelligence and skills he brought to his criminal activities. 

All Things Film: Goodfellas: The Making Of A Classic

Source:All Things Film- actor Paul Servino.

Source:The Daily Review

If you ask the people who were actually part of these Italian crime families in New York in the 1960s and 1970s when Goodfellas takes place, they’ll tell you watching this movie is like watching their lives take place on the big screen. Henry Hill, who was played by Ray Liotta, who a lot of this movie is based on and Henry’s life, would tell you this movie is a true story. And what I would add to that is that it’s a true comedy, or at the very least a true dramatic comedy. Because this is not just perhaps the best Italian Mafia movie of all-time, but I believe also one of the funniest movies of all-time.

I talked a lot about this about the piece about Joe Pesci with David Letterman. But a lot of the humor in this movie is improvisational. Here is this very true story about some really bad people who have all killed a lot of people in their lives. Most of those people being bad people, but still guilty of a lot of murders, but a lot of these characters live such crazy lives and do a lot of dangerous things. And I believe humor is a way that these real-life characters use to get through each day and simply survive. Otherwise they might go crazy always worrying about if your best friend just poisoned your drink, or food trying to whack you, or something. Or is this the day the FBI puts you way, or whatever the case.

And I think Martin Scorsese and his crew meaning his cast especially Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta, who are all great improvisational comedic actors to begin with all saw about the characters that they’re playing. And decide to play their characters as if they’re playing wise assess as well as wise guys and played them like they’re crazy and hysterically funny. If you listen to Ray Liotta narrate the movie, there is one dry joke after another in how he narrates the movie. Like the way he talks about how you cut up a dead body and does it in such a casual way. And to be honest with you I’m not sure if Bob De Niro and Joe Pesci especially when they’re together, are capable of playing a character in a completely straight way. They’re humor always comes out.

Goodfellas, is about the crazy and at times at least the hysterically funny lives of people who work in and out of the Italian Mafia in New York in the 1970s. And even though it is a true story and a dramatic story, it’s still one of the funniest movies ever. And I believe the funniest Mafia movie of all-time. Just because of the characters that these actors play and the actors who play them. Who are all great improvisational comedic actors. And then you throw in the great soundtrack with Eric Clapton, Tony Bennet, Johnny Mathis, The Crystals and many others and you’re talking about really I believe the perfect dramatic comedy movie.

The Late Show With David Letterman: Joe Pesci Talking About Goodfellas (1994)

Source:My Talk Show Heroes- Joe & Dave: Two All-American Guys.

Source:The Daily Review

"JOE PESCI - `GOODFELLAS`: Letterman 1994."

From My Talk Show Heroes

Here you have a Hall of Fame comedy duo here in David Letterman. One of I believe the top five or so best late night talk show hosts of all-time and a hell of a standup comedian as well. And Joe Pesci, whose one of the best improvisational actors of all-time. Who can make serious characters look like comedians and make the funniest people you'll ever see seem even funnier. Because again like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to use as examples, he's not only a great improvisational actor, but he has a great sense of humor as well. A great comedian who perhaps has never done standup comedy in his entire career other than giving awards speeches.

Dave and Joe, are talking about Goodfellas here. Which is one of my top 2 Italian Mafia movies of all-time. I go back and forth between Goodfellas and Casino. Donnie Brasco, is also one of my favorites. But Goodfellas is a movie that is not just based on a true story and about Italian mob families in New York, but if you talk to the real-life characters that these actors played, like Henry Hill the character that Ray Liotta played they would tell you that Goodfellas is a true story. And it was like seeing themselves in real-life in that movie. Joe Pesci, played mobster Tommy DeVito and he probably has the funniest part in that movie.

Joe Pesci, like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Cary Grant, Burt Reynolds, are actors/comedians that don't need scripts. At least to be funny they can turn their character into themselves and you tell them who the character is and what they're doing in the movie and they'll not only play it, but add their own flavor to the role and especially add a lot of their humor to the role. They can make simple lines and scenes look hysterical. De Niro, with his facial expressions and the way he delivers lines and perhaps adds his own material. Pesci, by taking a crazy, or funnier character and making that person look like the funniest and craziest person in the world.

Mysteries & Scandals: Bugsy Siegel

Source:IMDB- Mysteries & Scandals.

Source:The New Democrat

“Susan Berman (author), Ralph Saierno (NYC mob investigator), Frank Ragano (lawyer), Frank Wright (curator Vegas), W.R. Wilkerson III (author), Rose Marie (entertainer) and Michael Druxman (author) are a few of the people interviewed about the dream that would cost Bugsy Siegel his life.

The 30s and 40s were full of famous gangsters that remain some sort of cult figures today and Bugsy is one of them. He pretty much stole the idea of a casino in the desert and it cost him his life. The story of Bugsy was turned into a very good movie with Warren Beatty and it’s pretty interesting to see how badly gambling in Vegas tanked. The interviews here are extremely entertaining and they certainly give you a detailed idea of what was going down and what led up to Bugsy murder…

From IMDB

I saw the movie Bugsy a few nights ago for like the hundredth time, or whatever. It is one of my favorite movies and what I get from Warren Beatty as Bugsy and from what I know about Bugsy, is that Beatty did a great job playing Bugsy.

And had Bugsy decided to give up the mob, which is almost impossible to do, but let’s believe in Santa Clause for a second and say he was able to do that, Hollywood would’ve been perfect for him. As either an actor himself, playing gangsters, but with his personality and humor, he would’ve been able to do other things.

There’s this saying that the friendship between Ben Siegel and actor George Raft, is that Benny, was a mobster that wanted to be an actor. And George, was an actor that wanted to be a mobster. Which is why George Raft got so many gangster roles as an actor and actually got tired of that and wanted to do something else.

And if you see The George Raft Story, a movie about the life of guess who, that movie makes it clear that Raft was tired of playing gangsters and wanted to do other things. Ben Siegel as an actor, probably would’ve had a similar career as his buddy George Raft. I mean, he was a Jewish gangster and one of the most successful ones.

I believe the legacy, or at least the positive side of Ben Siegel’s legacy is what we see as Las Vegas today. Before Ben Siegel, Las Vegas was essentially a hick Southwestern town of about ten-thousand people or so.

Today, Las Vegas is a town of over five-hundred and eighty-thousand people and an area of about two-million people. It is one of the biggest and most economically successful cities in America today. And a lot of that has to with the casino and gambling industry.

Siegel, didn’t put all that together himself. But he had the vision that others used to build Las Vegas in what it could be. A great big city where people from all over the country and even world, could go to and have a great time. All of that got started with Ben Siegel.

Biography: Mobsters- Anthony Spilotro

Source:Biography-

Source:The New Democrat

Tony Spilotro was one of the worst pieces of garbage and I’m being nice here, that was ever produced by the Italian Mafia. I’m not even sure he cared about his own family, wife and kids and people who are supposed to be close to you. If the man had any conscience, it was as tiny as a flea and you needed a telescope or something, perhaps super vision in order to see it. He wasn’t one of the worst killers in American history. He was one of the most successful as far as the amount of murders that he’s responsible for. Either doing them personally, or ordering people to be murdered.

Spilotro leaving Las Vegas for Chicago, was a Chicago blessing and Las Vegas hell. Because The Ant who was a giant among serial murderers for the amount of people he murdered, but he was never caught for any of them and never did anytime for them. To the point that Las Vegas Mafia saw The Ant as a threat and did everyone involved a favor by whacking him in 1986. Not the most successful and dangerous mobster of all-time. But that might only be because The Ant was killed in 1986.

Roy DeMeo in New York might of actually been worst than Spilotro. But that would be like comparing Ted Bundy with John Gacy when it came to serial murderers. You can’t really lose there, but Spilotro dying actually benefited everyone involved. And serial murderers like Tony Spilotro are why America has a death penalty. Whether you are in favor of the death penalty or not, it is for people who murder. Murder multiple people and have no feelings or remorse about their murders.

Bloodletters & Badmen: Casino Boss Frank Lefty Rosenthal

Source:Bloodletters & Badmen- casino boss Frank Lefty Rosenthal.

Source:The New Democrat

“Frank Lawrence “Lefty” Rosenthal was a professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. The 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino is based on his career in Las Vegas.”

From Bloodletters & Badmen

I don’t feel sorry for Frank Rosenthal at all. He knew the risks and consequences that could come from being a professional gambler who associates with mobsters. But I don’t see him as a big time criminal who is really dangerous and needs to be in prison for long periods of time.

I see Lefty as someone who was dumb enough to work for and go into business with casinos that were run by the Las Vegas mob. His job wasn’t illegal and what he probably did on the job running the casino he ran, probably wasn’t illegal. But he still chose to associate with criminals and work for their business’s, which is what got him kicked out of Las Vegas.

What Lefty should’ve been doing, was just be a professional gambler and make a lot of money from that. And run his own business. Stay way from Tony Splilotro and other mobsters. And run his own business and make millions from that. And he probably ends up retiring in Las Vegas or never gets to Las Vegas, because of the successful business he had in Miami.

PBS: Frontline- JFK & the Mob (Nov. 17th 1992)

Source:The New Democrat

It is clear that the Italian-American Mafia invested in the John F. Kennedy Campaign For President in 1960. And at least to a certain extent got Jack Kennedy elected President of the United States. Especially if you look at their role in Chicago in the Illinois election. And what JFK ever knew about the Mafia's involvement in his presidential campaign, I don't think we'll ever know. But his father Joe Kennedy certainly knew about it and perhaps even reached out to Italian-American mobsters.

But as President of the United States especially because of his Attorney General, who just happened to be his little brother Robert Kennedy, the Italian Mafia didn't get much if anything for their investment in JFK. The Kennedy Administration if anything under Bobby Kennedy went harder after the Italian Mafia and put policies in place that essentially eliminated the Italian Mafia in America by the early 1990s. With new wiretapping laws and isolating these crime families and going after their leaders.

So yeah, the Italian Mafia may of stole the 1960 presidential election for Jack Kennedy and I'm not saying that is a good thing and not serious. But they if anything invested in their own demise and help bring themselves down, instead of investing in Richard Nixon for President in 1960, who didn't have any special plans to go after the mob, or at least didn't run on them. So you can't make the case that the Italian Mafia had bought President John Kennedy, because if anything the opposite is true.

Nevada Policy Research Institute: 'Las Vegas Mob War- Government-Funded Museum'

Source:Nevada Policy Research Institute- talking about the Las Vegas Mafia.

Source:The New Democrat

"The Mob is notorious for shakedowns, but in the battle between competing Mob exhibits in Las Vegas, it's the government strong-arming a private business and taxpayers. The privately funded Mob Attraction must compete with the government-backed Mob Museum that's already received over $42 million in government handouts.

That was one offer taxpayers wanted to, but couldn't refuse." 

From the Nevada Policy Research Institute

Las Vegas and Southern Nevada in general became a personal State for the Italian and Jewish mafias, an area they developed and owned by means of legitimate investments in Vegas that served as a cover for their criminal activities, turning Vegas into a bank they could use to fund their criminal operations but also to buy the politicians and public officials needed to keep law enforcement off their backs.

Then you add the crooked elements of organized labor in the 1940s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and perhaps even longer than that with Jimmy Hoffa, Sr., and company, which had all the resources they needed not only to stay in business but also to keep the politicians and public officials at bay and to send the message through their henchmen and hit men that messing with them would have a heavy price in terms of lives lost or ruined.

Las Vegas is the ultimate story of starting from scratch and building a major city with all the investments, businesses, and land as well as people to maintain these operations. The American mafia, Italian and Jewish for the most part, had a huge role in this along with the people they brought with them. As in government and organized labor, it took really clean, powerful people unconcerned about whether the mafia would destroy them to bring down these characters.

Watch Mojo: ‘History of Las Vegas: Casinos and Crime’

Source:Watch Mojo- welcome to Sin City, Nevada.

Source:The New Democrat

“This city in the middle of the desert was originally named Las Vegas by Spanish explorers, and that name translates to “the meadows.” Soon, a Mormon population relocated there from Utah and eventually became important members of the community. Once a connection to nearby Los Angeles was established, it was only a matter of time before Vegas grew. However, first, the city needed an attraction. Casinos and theaters began popping up and soon Vegas was known for unlawful and sinful behavior. That encouraged organized crime to get into the action. Today, Las Vegas is known as a city of quick marriages, gambling, and glitz. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns more about the history of Las Vegas.” 

From Watch Mojo 

“History of Las Vegas: Casinos and Crime” 

Source:Watch Mojo- from a History Channel documentary.

From Watch Mojo 

"By Ned Day, Robert Stoldal, KLAS-TV, 1987. History of mob involvement in gambling in Las Vegas, 1931-1980s. Includes segments on Moe Dalitz, Allan Dorfman and the Teamsters Union, Tony "Big Tuna" Acordy and the Atlantic City mob, Frank Rosenthal, Tony Spilotro, and the Chicago mob." 

Source:Vintage Las Vegas- The Stardust Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

From Vintage Las Vegas 

“Some people call “The Mob” the founding fathers of Las Vegas. They were gangsters, hoodlums and thieves that migrated to Las Vegas from all over the country. Before Las Vegas became big business run by corporations the mob ran this town. From the early 1950′s through the 1980′s you could find the mob running the best casinos on the Vegas strip.

Even though the mob helped make Las Vegas the tourist destination it is today it wasn’t without it’s flaws. The mob was always known for being a major part of prostitution, drug dealing and loan sharking. Mobsters were often ruthless businessman who withheld tax money that should have gone to the Government to build schools, hospitals and roads. However, there were a small portion of the mob that changed themselves for the better to become model citizens and respectable businessmen."  

Source:Travel Vegas- to be completely candid: Las Vegas isn't nearly as important, without the Italian and Jewish mobs.

From Travel Vegas 

Take Jimmy Hoffa and Bugsy Siegel, and Howard Hughes as well, away from Las Vegas and that city might still be a desert town, a country town, perhaps a place where people go to get some peace and quiet, but not the the entertainment capital of the United States that it is today. This city was literally built with blood money from the Italian and Jewish mobs, but also from crooks in organized crime such as Jimmy Hoffa, Sr.

Good business people, whether legitimate characters or crooks, are always looking for the next profit and investment where they can make that next fortune. There was no one in Vegas 80 years ago, a city of perhaps 10,000 people, similar to Bethesda, Maryland (if you are familiar with my area) which was, pre-1970 at least, just a stop on the way to somewhere like Washington or Baltimore, but that started to change in the late 1930s and early 1940s as the mobs discovered Vegas.

That is what you see in this video about the men who built Las Vegas and gave the Southwest and the broader West and even the United States (once the word was out that Vegas was a great place) the opportunity to either lose or make money, but Vegas was also a great place to have a good time just a 4-hour drive from Los Angeles.  It gave the State of Nevada a serious revenue source to build its infrastructure, schools, and everything that States need to do well.  

Bill Kurtis: Vegas and the Mob: The Early Days

Source:The New Democrat

Las Vegas was perfect for the Italian and Jewish-American mobs because it was a physically large but barely populated city, with great potential to become the entertainment capital of the United States, which was not the case for Cuba, Florida, etc.  The State of Nevada itself was a huge area with a small population that these mobsters could easily control by offering them jobs in their dubious businesses.

Benjamin Bugsy Siegel (the great Jewish mobster) and Howard Hughes saw what Vegas could be before anyone else, which would be a haven for money and for business that they could develop by bringing in people from all over the country, especially the West, and from outside the United States.  They could run legitimate profitable businesses but also cover up criminal activities.

The Italian and Jewish mobs, along with Howard Hughes and a few others, made Las Vegas what it is today, the entertainment capital of the United States, where millions of Americans and foreign tourists go every year to spend their hard-earned money, lose some money, and make some money, but also have a great time and escape their everyday tedium, which is the city you see today.

Tania Ayde: 'Bugsy Siegel & The Flamingo Hotel'

Source:Tania Ayde- Jewish mobster and perhaps the creator of Las Vegas, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel.

Source:The Daily Post

"A film by Tania De La Cruz

Directed by Tania De La Cruz & David Villapando

Edited and Written by Tania De La Cruz

Interviews provided by:Biography. " 

From Tania Ayde 

Benjamin Bugsy Siegel was an interesting mobster. Italian, Irish or in Bugsy’s case Jewish, because he could’ve been anything he wanted to be. Because of his intelligence and charm. But because he lacked basic discipline and patience he went very far, but in a short time. But was only around for a short time. Being killed by the mob leadership in his early forties after being killed in his Los Angeles home by perhaps both the Italian and Jewish mafia’s and their leaderships. 

If you’re familiar with the film Bugsy from 1991, where Warren Beatty plays Bugsy Siegel, according to the film Bugsy’s bosses fly him back to Los Angeles from some supposed meeting. But the only meeting that Bugsy went to was his assassination, after the mob leadership decided that Bugsy was no longer worth the investment with all the money Bugsy spent to build the Las Vegas casinos and that even though Bugsy was very effective as a hitman for the Italian and Jewish mafias, as well as an enforcer, he was no longer worth the investment. Because of how bad a businessman he was. And that he needed to be taken out before he cost his bosses more money. 

Bugsy, again, had many good personal qualities about him. (Even for a murderer) But he lacked discipline and realism. He was too idealistic and too much of a dreamer, to survive as a mobster long-term. Whether you like it or not the Jewish and Italian Mafias’s, were business’s and didn’t want to associate with people who lost them money. Which is how they say Busgy in the end.

The mafia were worried that Bugsy would end up in prison or talking to police, or whatever. That he was too big of a gamble (even in Las Vegas) for them and needed to be dealt with. But without Bugsy Benjamin Siegel and Jimmy Hoffa, Las Vegas is not what it is today. A big vibrant city that it is in the Southwest and the entertainment capital of America. That is just a half-hour flight from Los Angeles. Where Americans all over the country go to everyday to have a good time. 

You take the criminal mindset away from Ben Siegel and you also discipline him without losing his imagination and vision, which is what created the Las Vegas that we know today and I think we’re talking about a brilliant businessman. But of course we’ll never know that.