When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder [Paperback]

Steve Fischer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2005

Vegas like you've never seen, tales you've never heard -- until now. Sizzing, behind-the-scenes stories about the men, the Mob, movie stars, and missing money that made '50s and '60s Vegas such a hot spot in the Nevada desert. “On opening night at the Cal-Neva Lodge, Sinatra's guests included Marilyn Monroe, Joe Kennedy and his son, John F. Kennedy. Also there that weekend were Johnny Roselli and Sam "Momo" Giancana. Uninvited and hiding up in the hills around the casino lodge was an FBI surveillance team with long-range lenses . . . From the chapter Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva Lodge "On Sept 22, 1953, the Riviera Hotel was approved, the name was changed from the Casa Blanca to the Riviera just before this meeting . . . and the list of newly approved owners included Harpo (Arthur) Marx, movie star, comedian; his brother, Gummo (Milton) Marx, comedian" . . . From the chapter Does the Riviera Still Kill Its Executives? ”The Tropicana partners included Rosselli’s bosses in Chicago: Sam Giancana, Paul Rica, Camel Humphries, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Carlos Marcello . . . Fronting for the Chicago Outfit was Ben Jaffe. He owned the giant Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami, and also owned a little insurance company in Indiana” . . . From the chapter Frank Costello Builds the Tropicana "In every showroom in Las Vegas, there are certain inviolate rules. Rule Number One – the headliners go for 60 minutes. Not 64. Those extra 4 minutes represent 4 minutes of lost revenue on the casino floor . . . Then Deano came out on stage with his signature, "Who are all you people, and what are you doing in my room?"– and so started the two and a half hours of the Rat Pack Show!" From the chapter Coffee Shop Stories: Rat Pack and the Sands 21 stories packed with intrigue and mystery, a thoroughly research book, vintage photos.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Benjamin Franklin Awards

Silver - AudioBook Nonfiction

Judge's comment: "Stroke of genius in audiobooks. The author reads like he's sitting down across from you at the table in the coffee shop. I loved it!" --Independent Book Publisher's Association

USA Book News Award

Winner - AudioBook Nonfiction --USA Book News

Book of the Year

Winner - AudioBook/Spoken Word CD --ForeWord Magazine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

What is it about Las Vegas that captivates us historians? Is it how the skim worked at the Stardust and how millions of dollars walked out the door uncounted? Or what really happened when Frank Sinatra threw a chair at the casino boss of the Sands? Did you ever hear the story about how some very bad Vegas guys rigged the gin rummy games at the Friars Club and took a bunch of famous people to the cleaners? Howard Hughes had some weird notions about the Silver Slipper and put his money where his paranoia was. It’s all Vegas, and it is fascinating history. Vegas in the ‘50s and ‘60s was indeed another world. Those were the days when small-time gamblers like me, in town with my wife for a weekend of shows and great food, could ride down the elevator at one of the Strip hotels with Lucille Ball, have an A table at the Versailles Room at the Riviera to see Rowan and Martin, with Edie Adams opening, and laugh until it hurt when Buddy Hackett played the old Congo Room at the Sahara. Behind the scenes, the Mob ran Vegas in those days. And stories abound. Through years of study and interviews and just talking to people from all strata of Las Vegas comes this book, a glimpse into the money, mayhem, and murders of early Vegas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkline Press; 1 edition (July 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977065804
• ISBN-13: 978-0977065806
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good info, odd structure, September 29, 2006

By 

Melissa Allen (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder (Paperback)

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....

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit light on facts, April 24, 2008

By 

limegreencoco "Katina" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder (Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic accounts of mob dealings, December 1, 2009

By 

Creative Muse "The Muse" - See all my reviews

This review is from: When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder (Paperback)

Steve does a great job sharing some detailed secrets and lesser known exploits of bizarre mob behavior- including the seemingly innocent who partnered with them. I especially loved the coverage of Frank Sinatra (what an ego-maniac) and the Stardust story, which had some nice details that I hadn't heard before. Great and entertaining reading!