Without the influence of the Mafia, Las Vegas would not have been the tourist destination it is today. During the Second World War, Las Vegas had not gained any fame in terms of tourism. I t was just a little dusty town in the middle of a desert with only a few gas stations, greasy spoon diners and a few emporiums of slot machine.
At the end of the second world war, Siegel who then had become very enthusiastic about the idea given to him by Meyer Lansky, convinced so many people to invest a lot of money to developing the town, and this made him get a good amount of money; $ six million.With this kind of money he began constructing the Flamingo in 1946. He was forced to open it earlier than planned out of the public demand. Although the public came to realize later that some of the money was got out of the construction money they gave Siegel a deadline to return the money or face death.
He was later murdered when he could not meet the deadline but with the having opened the Flamingo, Las Vegas came into existence something that drew large numbers of tourists into the sin city as it is widely referred to.The Mafia introduced gambling in Las Vegas which was Mafia dominated until 1960’s. By this time it has already established as an industry which is still popular to date.
When Las Vegas has been a world wide attraction on prostitution and gambling, the mafia have been holding a great sway in the city with the conception of Las Vegas as a ‘leisure Mecca’. Las Vegas Organised Crime’s Promised Land Copy right @2000 CarpeNoctem, Revised: August 2003, Chapters 1,2,4 and 5. When Siegel died, Lansky became the overseer of the Flamingo and it began realizing profits even in its first year.This made a lot of people to pile in and business started flourishing. It is during this time that the state leaders started employing very strict rules with the aim of eradicating the mafias out but without much success.
Lansky also controlled the sands but he did it behind curtains. However it is important to note that most the Casinos were owned and/ran by the mafia families. Below is a few casino and the managers of them Aladdin Casino; this was controlled by the Detroit and St. Louise (these were of the mafia families)Circus Circus Casino; Anthony Spilotro who liked using the names Anthony Stuart, opened a gift shop at the circus circus hotel and began his Vegas career in the circus circus casino which he used as his base.
Desert in Casino; this was opened in 1950 and was managed by Moe Dalitz, Cleveland Mayfield, Morris Klein man, Sam Tucker and Lou Rothkoft. Tropicana Hotel and Casino; managed by Frank Costello with Lou Laderer as the front man. Caesar Palace was build by the Mafia in Las Vegas Jimmy Hoffa, building it out of the money he rooted his workers as pension funds when he was the president of the Teamsters Union.
