THE MOB MUSEUM ANNOUNCES NOVEMBER PROGRAMS
The Mob Museum, The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, announces its roster of public programs for November.
Black Market Bets: The Mob and Illegal Gambling in America
DATE: Saturday, November 3
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Organized Crime Today exhibit space
COST: Free for Members or with Museum admission
Las Vegas is a strictly controlled and monitored gambling Mecca with casinos playing by the rules. However, illegal wagering remains a multimillion-dollar business, especially online, and organized crime is heavily involved. Illegal gambling is fraught with cheated customers and unpaid taxes, not to mention earnings that often fund other criminal enterprises. Organized crime expert Jay Albanese says the Mob is still active in illegal gambling rackets, and federal law enforcement struggles to keep up. This program will give participants an intimate opportunity to learn from Albanese, a renowned expert on organized crime and illegal gambling.
Wiseguy Speaker Series Event
Mob on the Water: The Book, the Movie and Organized Crime on the Docks of New York
DATE: Monday, November 5
TIME: 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Courtroom
COST: Free for Members or with Museum admission
Marlon Brando’s breakout role as Terry Malloy in the 1954 film “On the Waterfront” tells the story of a young dockworker who discovers he is being used by the Mob for their dock-related operations. The movie was a fictional drama, but its story was based on actual events, which inspired author Neil G. Clark to spend five years researching the history of the underworld’s control over New York City’s waterfront. Clark’s new book, “Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront,” focuses on Irish Mob boss McGrath and other hoodlums who ruled the West Side docks from the 1930s through the 1950s, encompassing nearly 900 piers and more than 300 miles of active international commerce and trade. Clark will bring the Mob-ruled world of the New York West Side waterfront to life. Attendees will learn about:
- New York City’s Irish Mob after Prohibition and its underworld alliance with the Italian Mafia.
- The gangs, racketeers, and corrupt union officials who maintained iron-fisted control over the busiest port in the world.
- A sensational murder trial that forever transformed the waterfront by bringing a nationwide network of labor racketeers to light.
- New details about a 1930s gang war that resulted in 11 murders, six near-killings and dozens of shootings.
Kefauver Day
DATE: Thursday, November 15
TIME: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mob Museum
COST: No charge to enter the museum with valid Nevada I.D. or buy-one-get-one free for non-Nevada residents
The Mob Museum will celebrate Kefauver Day in honor of the Kefauver Committee hearing that took place in the building’s courtroom on that date in 1950.
Science of Crime program: Coroner’s Office
DATE: Saturday, November 17
TIME: 2 – 3 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mob Museum
COST: Free for Members or with Museum admission
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg will provide insights into the purpose and operation of his office. The Coroner’s Office is responsible for conducting investigations of all deaths caused by any criminal means, violence or suicide and any unattended deaths, whatever the cause. It also provides identification of the deceased, performs autopsies and medical examinations, locates next of kin and carries out all other requirements regarding deaths that fall under its jurisdiction.
Community Safety Forum
Identity Theft & Fraud Prevention
DATE: Sunday, November 18
TIME: 2 – 3 p.m.
LOCATION: Courtroom
COST: Free
Attendees will join an officer from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to learn tips to protect themselves and offer insight into what to do if their identity is stolen: who to report it to, how to restore credit and avoid improper criminal charges, as well as accessing available resources, such as the Nevada Identity Theft Program.
Thanksgiving
DATE: Thursday, November 22
TIME: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
LOCATION: The Mob Museum
COST: Regular admission rates apply
The Mob Museum will be open for limited hours on Thanksgiving day.
Black Friday Book Signings
DATE: Friday, November 23
TIME: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Retail Store
COST: No charge to enter the Museum’s retail store
There are several book signings happening in the Museum’s retail store on the day after Thanksgiving. Attendees can pick up a new read, meet the author and get their books signed.
- Brian Rouff – “The House Always Wins,” 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
A Vegas Kind of Ghost. Anna Christiansen’s small-town life is about to go haywire. A young reporter stuck in a dead-end job, Anna falls head over heels for an interview subject, the bass player in an up-and-coming alt band. In short order, she pulls up stakes, moves to Las Vegas, gets married and pregnant, and buys a big fixer-upper haunted by the ghost of a Sin City racketeer. But not so fast—a corrupt casino owner plans on buying up all the properties on her street to build a parking lot. “The House Always Wins,” Brian Rouff’s third Las Vegas novel, firmly establishes him as one of the keenest observers of life in Sin City. - David Schwartz – “Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas,” 12 – 2 p.m.
Jay Sarno built two path-breaking Las Vegas casinos, Caesars Palace (1966) and Circus Circus (1968), and planned but did not build a third, the Grandissimo, which would have started the mega-resort era a decade before Steve Wynn built The Mirage. As mobsters and accountants battled for the soul of the last American frontier town, Las Vegas had endless possibilities–if you didn’t mind high stakes and stiff odds. Sarno invented the modern Las Vegas casino, but he was part of a dying breed–a back-pocket entrepreneur who’d parlayed a jones for action and a few Teamster loans into a life as a Vegas casino owner. For all of his accomplishments, his empire didn’t last. Sarno sold out of Caesars Palace shortly after it opened–partially to get away from the bookies and gangsters who’d taken over the casino. He was also forced to relinquish control of Circus Circus when the federal government indicted him on charges of offering the largest bribe in IRS history–a bribe he freely admitted paying, on the advice of his attorney, Oscar Goodman. Though he ultimately walked out of court a free man, he never got Circus Circus back. And though he guessed the formula that would open up Las Vegas to millions in the 1990s with the design of the Grandissimo, but he wasn’t able to secure the financing for the casino and, when he died in 1984, it remained only a frustrating dream. - David Schwartz – “Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling,” 12 – 2 p.m.
This narrative chronicle traces gambling’s early emergence from divination rituals through its modern incarnation as a global and cultural diversion, in an account that documents such topics as the practice of casting lots, the invention of playing cards in 12th-century China, and the role of organized crime in illegal gambling operations. - Jeff Burbank – “Las Vegas Babylon,” 2 – 4 p.m.
What happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas and the proof is in this lively and entertaining compilation of stories chronicling decades of decadence, celebrity shenanigans and political corruption, as well as the glitz and glamour of the casinos that pass for everyday life in Las Vegas. Underneath the city’s present success lies many infamous tales of excess and debauchery. Using new information from recently released FBI documents, Jeff Burbank brings to life the Vegas Mob in its heyday, recounting never-before-heard tales of the mobsters who made Las Vegas what it is today. - Jeff Burbank – “Lost Las Vegas,” 2 – 4 p.m.
This book traces the cherished places in the city that time and economics have swept aside before the National Register of Historic Places could save them from the wrecker’s ball or, in the case of Las Vegas, before the Neon Boneyard could claim them. Organized chronologically, the book details the many hotels and casinos that failed to move with the times and got swept away for something bigger, better and brighter. - Scott Decker – “Recounting the Anthrax Attacks: Terror, the Amerithrax Task Force, and the Evolution of Forensics in the FBI,” 4 – 6 p.m.
It was September 18, 2001, just seven days after al-Qaeda hijackers destroyed the Twin Towers. In the early morning darkness, a lone figure dropped several letters into a mailbox. Seventeen days later, a Florida journalist died after inhaling anthrax making news around the globe. The anthrax attacks marked the first time a sophisticated biological weapon was released in the United States. It killed five people, disfigured at least 18 more and launched the largest investigation in the FBI’s history. Scott Decker who was part of the Amerithrax Task Force, provides the first inside look at how the investigation was conducted, highlighting dramatic turning points as the case progressed until its final solution. Join FBI agents as they race against terror and the ultimate insider threat—a decorated government scientist releasing powders of deadly anthrax. Walk in the steps of these dedicated officers while they pursue numerous forensic leads before more letters can be sent until finally they confront a psychotic killer.
For more information, please call (702) 229-2734 or visit themobmuseum.org.
ABOUT THE MOB MUSEUM
The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides a world-class, interactive journey through true stories—from the birth of the Mob to today’s headlines. The Mob Museum offers a provocative, contemporary look at these topics through hundreds of artifacts and immersive storylines. Whether you like it or not, this is American history. It debuted a major renovation in 2018, including a Crime Lab, Use of Force Training Experience, and Organized Crime Today exhibit as well as The Underground, a basement-level Prohibition history exhibition featuring a speakeasy and distillery and sponsored by Zappos. Since opening in 2012, The Mob Museum has accumulated numerous accolades, including being named one of TripAdvisor’s “Top 25 U.S. Museums,” one of Las Vegas Weekly’s “Twenty Greatest Attractions in Las Vegas History,” one of Hotel.com’s Top 7 “Travel Brag Landmarks,” one of USA Today’s “12 Can’t Miss U.S. Museum Exhibits,” “A Must for Travelers” by The New York Times, one of “20 Places Every American Should See” by Fox News and Budget Travel magazine, “Best Museum” by Nevada Magazine and is a multi-year winner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Best of Las Vegas” rankings. The Mob Museum has been awarded accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition afforded U.S. museums. General admission is $26.95 for adults ages 18 and over with special pricing for online purchase, children, seniors, military, law enforcement, Nevada residents, and teachers. The Museum is open daily; visit the website for up-to-date operating hours. For more information, call (702) 229-2734 or visit themobmuseum.org. Connect on Facebook at facebook.com/themobmuseum or Twitter @themobmuseum.