When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder Reviews

• Why These Men Gave Their Money

  
  By A5I96IVLHDY5P on 2006-10-19
  The Kefauver Committee is a 1951 flashback on the Las Vegas of the 1940's. The original charge of the committee was to combat crime of any type which crossed state boundaries. What the committee ended up investigating was gambling. One witness was Frank Costello
  who raspy voice was imitated by Marlon Brando in The Godfather. "On advice of counsel" Costello took the 5th Amendment 138 times in five days of testimony. Meyer Lansky was subpoenaed as were Joey Adonis and Virginia Hill. Kefauver quizzed Hill about the death of her former boyfriend, Bugsy Siegel. Hill handled the questions easily. Then Kefauver made the mistake of wanting to know why men gave her money for no apparent reason. "Senator, are you sure you want to know why these men gave me money?" Hill asked. The Kefauver Committee hearings were broadcast live on network TV. There was no time delay to censor Hill's response.
  
  What is now the commonly conceived of view of Las Vegas began in 1945 when an attorney by the name of Bautser bought the Folsom Guest Cottages on US 91, which were at that time six miles south of Las Vegas. The buyer was one of Ben (don't call me Bugsy) Siegel's men. The planned project was The Flamingo. Siegel got lumber and pipe for the project from movie studios in Hollywood and Culver City. Marble came from the Mexican black market. Siegel made friends with a US Senator named Pat McCrarran who reprioritized the building needs of southern Nevada so that Siegel get copper fixtures and tiling in time for the Flamingo to open by Christmas 1946. Siegel had a competitive racing service in Vegas run by James Regan. During the Flamingo's grand opening, Regan was shotgun blasted in half.
  
  Siegel had already begun to scare off the movie stars. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn declined the Flamingo's grand opening. Clark Gable got a cold. Marlene Dietrich sprained her ankle. Gary Cooper said his mother had become very sick. At this time these stars were MGM stars and William Randolph Hearst ran the studio. Hearst hated Siegel because the latter had had a series of one night stands with starlet Marion Davies. Siegel in turn owned the Screen Actors Guild. The opening night of the Flamingo was disastrous. George raft was the only well known loser. Raft said he lost $75,000, but that didn't matter as the house was down $200,000 on just its first night. The next night was worse. Rose Marie (remember her from the Dick Van Dyke Show?) played to fewer than 20 people. Jimmy Durante played to the smallest crowd he had ever seen. New Year's Eve faired a little better with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. In 65 days the Flamingo closed while losing close to three quarters of a million dollars.
  
  It will be quite a number of pages before Fischer finishes his story. Along the way one will run into Meyer Lansky, Elvis, Joe Kennedy and his son John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Howard Hughes, Marilyn Monroe, Harpo Marx, and on and on. There are more big names than in front of Grumman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Fischer ends his story with Lefty Rosenthal leaving Las Vegas in the early 80's. There was no question that the Sands just had to close. Fischer and his wife take one more trip to Vegas and have to put up with a Jerry Lewis who is way too loud. Buddy Hackett does a show that under 18's can not enter and which has Frank Sinatra rolling on the floor. In the Rat Pack years of the early 60's the sands was "mobbed up." The Sands closed in 1996.
  
  

• good info, odd structure

  
  By A1XUR8FFZGILKT on 2006-09-29
  As much as I enjoyed the stories and histories, I found the organization of the stories was lacking in clarity. Stories jumped from 1930s to th 1970s then back to the 1940s without a sense of continuity. Many times, I had to look back at other chapters to get a sense of what time I was reading about. Other then that disconnect, the stories were fascinating, the tone was clearly that of someone excited about the topic, and a breezy read. For someone that grew up in post-mob Vegas, it was an eye opening look at the city just before my time....
  
  

• Great Gift For People Who Enjoy Vegas

  
  By A1WOWD8PT00UHI on 2006-02-04
  Though I've never been to Las Vegas, I got this book for myself and also copies for some friends who frequent Las Vegas. I enjoyed the stories - very colorful characters! And, I got hearty "thank you's" from the people I gifted with this book. My sister took hers with her on her latest trip and read it on the flight and enjoyed it tremendously.... she said it gave her a new perspective of the place. A friend at work took it with her on a cruise and read it by the pool. She then mailed her copy to her daughter who lives in Las Vegas. I highly recommend this book for its many quick, interesting stories and also because it makes a great gift.
  
  

• Fischer identifies Old Vegas's famous and and infamous

  
  By A3QP8G9PKLCRPS on 2006-07-07
  This book took me back to the days when I used to feel guilty visiting "sin city." I had heard it was run by the mob and I eyed every beady-eyed, felt-hat wearing male I saw with ill-concealed suspicion. Who were they?
  Meyer Lansky, Sam Giancana? Joey Adonis, Johnny Roselli?, Tony Accardo? Until I read this book I didn't know that most of the mobsters had already been popped, knocked off or whatever happened to them in those days.
  
  I spent a part of my honeymoon at the Sands, "Ole Blue Eyes" stamping and scrapping ground. One evening we joined a large crowd that had gathered to watch a lone gambler at a blackjack table hunched over the biggest stack of chips I had or have ever seen. We didn't get a good look at him, for we were cautioned to stay a respectful distance from the table, but I wonder now if he may have been Howard Hughes. Fischer tells us that Hughes often bet as much as $100,000 per hand.
  
  I still have the drinks menu, a Tiki mug and some swizzle sticks from the Aku Aku Restaurant at the Stardust where I had my wedding dinner. It was interesting to learn from Fischer's book that Tony Cornero, the Stardust's builder, fell over dead after being presented with a $25.00 bill for drinks at the Desert Inn. If he languished for any length of time I expect he knew how we felt when we were presented with our drinks bill at the Stardust!
  
  This book is crammed with interesting facts about those who built the old Vegas. Go to Fischer's website for a stunning Old Vegas slide show. [...]
  
  

• The Early Days

  
  By AI03Z096DZYMC on 2005-09-08
  A very factual and interesting take on the early days of Vegas. I was dancing there at the time and the first nude showgirl (Lisa Malouf) is my dearest friend.
  
  
• A bit light on facts
  By A2Q54VIJNUB23M on 2008-04-25
  This book was recommended to me by a bookstore in Vegas. They didn't have it in stock so I purchased it from Amazon on my return to Australia.
  
  While I found this book very informative and factual, it is rather repetitive at times and I found myself asking, "didn't I just read that?" It is apparent in some sections that the information is fairly scrambled and does not flow.
  
  This book is more or less a summary of the days when the mob ran Vegas, as opposed to a detailed account of this era.
  
  Of note, even though the book contains 240 pages, the font is somewhat larger than most books and can be read in a matter of hours.
  
  Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone who is after a brief run down on the mob and the days they ran Vegas.
  
  
  
• LAS VEGAS......THE LAST FRONTIER
  By ABTJBNX3PIY4L on 2005-10-12
  STEVE FISCHER IS A GREAT LAS VEGAS HISTORIAN...HIS BOOK DETAILS THE LIVES OF THE EARLY LAS VEGAS MOVERS AND SHAKERS AND IS A FASCINATING BOOK TO READ FOR ALL AGES..IT WOULD BE A GREAT COMPANION GIFT FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO READ ABOUT..."WHEN THE MOB RAN LAS VEGAS"
  
  
• If you are interested in Vegas ... You'll love this book!
  By AN70EYEWMXTQE on 2007-03-08
  I have lived in Las Vegas since 1992 and this book is very accurate for the period of time that it covers. I've met and talked to a lot of "old-timers" and they have filled me in on the "mob-run" Vegas so I knew some of the info written in the book ... however this book filled in the blanks (so to speak). A GREAT read!!
  
  
• Entertaining as well as informative
  By AFRSWN14LSMPC on 2007-03-12
  I could not put this book down! A lot of nonfiction books have all the allure of required reading in school. This book is written in an almost
  conversational style. I learned a lot of things I did not previously know about Las Vegas history. I have loaned it to others, urging them to read it.
  
  
• Great Read
  By AKU23HMUUJYJW on 2007-05-24
  The book was excellent. A lot of names were mentioned so one should really read it twice and to get the full impact take some notes as to the persons involved as the accounts have what one might count as flash backs.
  For those that want to know what Las Vegas was all about when the Mob & their associates were involved this is a MUST read. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Vegas
  By AC6B5L9XPYX73 on 2008-05-05
  Interesting stories and an easy read in terms of getting through the book quickly but the stories don't seem to follow any sort of order or sequence of events. Would have been much better had it included a list of characters because there's a lot of jumping around w/ the same people and if there was a chronological sequence of events or some other similar structure so that it would have been easier to follow.
  
  Did enjoy learning just how deep the mob was involved in building Las Vegas.
  
  
• Good book about mob life
  By A2CKWTO7J35UGJ on 2008-05-08
  I enjoyed reading this book. The author revealed factual information about early life in Vegas. It was interesting reading about the mob with a humorous bent to their shenanigans.
  
  
• WHEN THE MOB RAN VEGAS
  By A27GHRL7L4RHOW on 2005-10-12
  Really an interesting read - great book. I love Las Vegas and go often and this really added a juicy new perspective to the town and its history.
  
  It was really handy that each chapter was a free standing story so I could read a chapter or a few chapters when time permitted.
  
  
• For Mobster Fans!
  By A3SHT6CVYNWSD4 on 2007-01-10
  If you loved the Gofather, Goodfellas, The Untouchables, Sopranos... and so forth. You will love this book. Some parts to drag on but for the most part a great book. Interesting facts about the real mobsters which later were used to make movies like Casino and The Godfather. Also some great storied or I guess "myths" about President Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
  
  A must read for you mob fans
  
  
• Book
  By ALQG8V6P7OJLE on 2007-12-18
  The book was received sooner than I thought it would be and it is great.
  
  Thanks so much and Happy Holidays!
  
  

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