AAA World MobMuseum

MOB museum
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The Mob Museum is housed inside a former
federal courthouse and U.S. post office.
A Las Vegas institution chronicles the events and lives of legendary
mobsters—and salutes the brave law-enforcement officers who
fought—and still fight—to bring them down. • By Laura Daily
L
A Museum You Can’t Refuse
Lucky, Bugsy, Dutch, Capone. In Las Vegas, you need only one name for
everyone to know who you are. Here, in a city essentially built by and once ruled by
the baddest of bad boys, you can step into the mobsters’ shoes, as well as those of the
brave lawmen and women who brought them to justice, at The National Museum of
Organized Crime & Law Enforcement (a.k.a. The Mob Museum).
This $42 million survey of the American gangster—
both of old and those still plying their criminal trade
today—resides in “old Vegas,” an area undergoing a revitalization to rival some of the megacasinos still rising
into the city’s neon-lit skies. The museum unfolds over
three floors in a former federal courthouse that once
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played a pivotal role in the saga of organized crime.
It’s so big, in fact, that visitors are issued wristbands
instead of tickets so that they can come and go during
a day. You can take your time (some folks spend three
or four hours) soaking up the exhibits, and then take
a lunch break at some of the restaurants on nearby
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Fremont Street, home to Las Vegas’s
earliest hotel-casinos. As one museum
guide quipped, “A day here is as close as
you can get to the Mob without wearing
a wire.”
Rather than starting at the bottom,
begin on the third floor, and work your
way down. The elevator ride sets the
stage for an immersive experience with a
video of a police officer reading you your
Miranda rights. Step out and into a circa
1950 police lineup in which you’re the
crook, not the victim.
The museum exposes fact and fiction,
shows how the Mob came to be, tells of
battles that were fought and reveals what
remains today. It’s not for the squeamish.
More than 600 artifacts are on display,
some gruesome and graphic. One of the
first encountered is also one of the most
startling: the brick wall, bullet holes and
all, from Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day
Massacre in which seven men affiliated
with George “Bugs” Moran’s gang were
murdered by the South Side Italian gang
led by Al Capone in 1929.
Visitors can also examine the blue
barber chair where Albert Anastasia was
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The former federal courthouse that now
houses the Mob Museum was once the site of
one of the 14 Kefauver Committee hearings.
A Thompson submachine gun. Nicknamed a
“Tommy Gun,” this firearm became very popular
among law enforcement and the Mob during the
Prohibition era and came to be one of the most
iconic symbols of that time period.
getting a shave when he was murdered
in New York City on October 25, 1957.
Anastasia, better known as Lord High
Executioner, was then boss of the
Gambino crime family, which operated
a gang of hit men and contract killers
known as Murder, Inc. His murder, like
so many others, was never solved.
Even the building itself is an artifact.
This former federal courthouse was
the seventh site to host the 1950–51
U.S. Senate Special Committee to
Studio J
Bugsy Siegel’s jewelry box
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MOB museum
Investigate Crime in Interstate
Commerce. The Kefauver hearings,
named after Committee Chairman
Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver,
sought to expose organized crime and,
over two years, heard from more than
800 witnesses.
An estimated 30 million people, twice
the audience of the 1950 World Series,
flocked to restaurants, bars and homes
to watch the all-day hearings on newfangled television sets, as crime bosses,
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bookies, pimps and hit men testified. At
the museum, you can step into the dimly
lit restored courtroom (complete with
the judge’s bulletproof bench); take a seat
in one of the original pews; and watch
historic film from the hearings.
The Kefauver hearings didn’t result
in immediate federal legislative action;
however, several states later passed
antigambling laws. Ironically, though the
hearings confirmed the strength of the
Mob, they cemented Vegas as the gaming
capital of the country. Crackdowns on
criminal activity in other states drove
gambling operators and more mobsters
to Nevada, the only state where gambling
was legal.
The museum also tells stories about
the staggering amount of money that the
Mob reaped in Vegas. In early years, coins
from slot machines were weighed instead
of manually counted. How did mobsters
“skim” a little off the top? Easy. They reset
the scales so that 1,000 pounds would
read as 1,400, and the pocket change was
taken home. Estimates are that from 1950
to 1960, the Mob skimmed $300 million
from four casinos alone.
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The barber chair
on which Albert
Anastasia was
sitting when he
was murdered in
New York City
on October 25,
1957
Guns, weapons, customized jewelry
and personal belongings of Al Capone,
Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky,
Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Sam Giancana
and Mickey Cohen, among others, fill
room after room. There’s the evidence
book that the Las Vegas Police
Department put together after the bombing of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s car at
Tony Roma’s restaurant, an original
Tommy gun and a replica of the electric
chair at Sing Sing prison.
Mementos abound from legendary casinos, such as the Desert Inn and
Flamingo. Ever heard of Vegas’s Moulin
Rouge? Likely not, as it was the first
integrated casino, opened in 1955 but
shuttered within a few months. If all
you know about the Mob is Casino,
The Godfather and The Sopranos, you’ll
get a kick out of costumes and props from
these cinematic takes on organized
crime.
Even with the emphasis on mobsters,
the museum honors lawmen and women
and their fight to bring down the gangs
and cartels. Want to step into the shoes of
a federal agent? You can listen to actual
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Vintage 1931 10-cent slot machine
incriminating FBI surveillance wiretaps
and learn the meaning of what is being
said and decoded, or take part in FBI
weapons training.
But the Mob was involved in more
than gaming and scams. The museum
digs into conspiracies, assassinations,
the influence on world affairs and
unions. These were the “wise guys” who
“fixed” the 1919 World Series when the
Chicago White Sox took bribes to throw
the games. And the museum purports
that John F. Kennedy’s assassination was
the result of Mob involvement in the
attempted assassination of Fidel Castro.
The story ends with a look at current
worldwide Mob activities. Unfortunately,
the battle never ends.
If You Go
The Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Avenue,
Las Vegas, Nevada
mobmuseum.org, 702/229-2734
The museum is open daily. Admission is
$19.95 for adults, with special pricing for
children, seniors, military, law enforcement and teachers.
46 AAA World • January/February 2014
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