From courtroom stares to camera flashes — Gotti and Gravano lit up the front page, but the real story runs deeper.
Capone owned the spotlight, Lansky played the long game, Luciano built the syndicate and the government fought back.
Learn about the facts, the fiction and everything in between at The Mob Museum. Plan your visit at themobmuseum.org
Ever wondered what’s inside The Mob Museum?
Explore three floors of immersive exhibits, fascinating artifacts, and unforgettable stories that bring the history of organized crime and law enforcement to life. Discover the infamous figures, legendary cases, and pivotal moments that shaped America’s underworld.
Plan your visit today at admission.themobmuseum.org (also linked in bio) and save with online-only discounts on early morning and evening tickets.
Robert Blakey, the architect of the landmark RICO Act, died on May 1 at age 90.
In 1969, Blakey left his post as a professor at Notre Dame Law School to serve as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures. There, he drafted the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, which became law in 1970 as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act signed by President Richard Nixon.
The legislation transformed the government’s ability to prosecute organized crime. Rather than targeting isolated crimes, RICO allowed prosecutors to expose entire criminal enterprises and hold powerful Mob leaders accountable for patterns of illegal activity carried out within their organizations.
By the late 1970s, RICO prosecutions were dismantling organized crime syndicates in cities including New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas, leading to convictions of some of the nation’s most powerful Mob bosses.
Blakey also shared a connection with The Mob Museum. In 2013, he appeared at the Museum for a spirited discussion on the JFK assassination alongside author Gerald Posner. In 2024, he donated 25 boxes of books, journals, government documents, photographs, and artifacts from his personal collection to the Museum, including materials related to organized crime and the Kennedy assassination. Many contained highlighted passages and handwritten notes, reflecting Blakey’s lifelong scholarship and enduring fascination with the history he helped shape.
Read more about Blakey's legacy by clicking the link in our bio.
Happy Birthday to our fabulous city of Las Vegas! 🎉
May 15, 1905, is recognized as the official birthday of Las Vegas. On this date, the newly completed railroad launched a two-day auction of land parcels that would establish the townsite we now know as downtown Las Vegas.
Learn more about the city’s fascinating history on the third floor of the Museum in our exhibit, Tough Little Town.
Although it’s widely believed that the Mob created Las Vegas, that credit belongs to railroad builder William Clark, who established the original townsite in 1905 at the halfway point between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. As Clark sold lots beside the railroad tracks, a town quickly sprang to life. A red-light district known as Block 16 offered gambling and prostitution to miners arriving in town after long months working in the desert.
Las Vegas continued to grow rapidly after the construction of Hoover Dam and Nevada’s legalization of gambling in 1931. Soon, the first casinos lined Fremont Street with dazzling neon signs, creating what became known as Glitter Gulch.
Here’s to the history of our city and the stories that continue to shape Las Vegas today.
With the final resort in Primm, Primm Valley Resort & Casino, along with the gas stations and Lotto Store set to close on July 4, it’s a fitting moment to look back at the history of the once-bustling border town.
According to reporting by The Nevada Independent, Ernest Primm and his son Gary developed the three casinos in the area. Whiskey Pete’s, named after legendary bootlegger and moonshiner Pete MacIntyre, opened in 1977. Primadonna Resort & Casino, later renamed Primm Valley Resort, followed in 1990. Buffalo Bill’s opened in 1994, with a second hotel tower added the following year.
The Nevada Independent also reported the region was historically known as State Line before adopting the name Primm Valley as the Primm family acquired surrounding land. Records from the Clark County Assessor’s Office show that entities connected to the Primm family own 15 parcels totaling roughly 568.5 acres on both sides of Interstate 15, including a vacant 237-acre parcel east of Buffalo Bill’s. Despite developing during the waning years of organized crime influence in Nevada gaming, Primm itself was never regarded as a Mob stronghold.
On May 10, 1906, Abe “Kid Twist” Reles was born.
A key triggerman for Murder, Inc., a notorious hit squad, Reles was linked to at least 11 murders, with some estimates reaching as high as 30. His story took a dramatic turn in 1940 when he became a government informant, helping authorities unravel dozens of gangland killings.
By 1941, his testimony had already sent several former associates to the electric chair, and he was preparing to testify against alleged crime boss Albert Anastasia. But before he could take the stand, Reles either jumped, fell, or was pushed from a sixth-floor window at the Half Moon Hotel in Brooklyn.
The information he provided ultimately helped solve at least 85 murders, including the 1935 killing of Dutch Schultz. In this photo, Albert Tannenbaum (left) and Abe Reles are seated next to each other.
Photo courtesy of the Cipollini Collection.
In honor of National Police Week, The Mob Museum is thrilled to offer complimentary general admission to all federal, state, and local law enforcement professionals from now until May 17.
Show your law enforcement I.D. at The Mob Museum box office to redeem. Valid on general admission ticket only.
For more information visit, click the link in our bio.
#OnThisDay in 2002, notorious Mob boss Joseph Bonanno died in Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 97. Bonanno was the founder and longtime leader of the Bonanno crime family, one of New York City’s infamous Five Families. Rising to power in 1931, he remained a major figure in organized crime for more than three decades.
Born on January 18, 1905, in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Bonanno was the son of a “prosperous farmer whose family commanded both fear and respect,” according to the Los Angeles Times in 2002. His family would move to the United States when Bonanno was a baby, but returned to Italy about five years later. After losing both of his parents by age 15, Bonanno returned to the United States at 19, illegally entering through Cuba before settling in Brooklyn. There, he aligned himself with Mafia boss Salvatore Maranzano, a close associate of his late father whom Bonanno would later describe as his “hero.”
Bonanno quickly rose through the ranks of organized crime. Following the reorganization of the New York Mafia, five dominant crime families emerged under the leadership of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Vincent Mangano, Thomas Gagliano, Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci, and 26-year-old Joseph Bonanno, the youngest boss in the national crime syndicate.
By the mid-1960s, Bonanno had been pushed out of New York and forced into retirement in Arizona.
“I say before, and I say again: All my life I’ve been misunderstood,” Bonanno told Mike Wallace during a 1983 "60 Minutes" interview. “I just run my family as a father.”
“I was born a man of honor. I was the most respected man in New York and all over the country.”
On this Mother’s Day, let's look at a series of historical photographs.
These photographs offer a glimpse into the lives of several figures connected to organized crime, capturing moments spent with family.
#1: The Spilotro family, circa 1984. Tony Spilotro is pictured on the left, with his brother Michael second from the right.
#2: Arrie “Ma” Barker, mother of the four Barker brothers, pictured with family associate Arthur W. Dunlop near the Barkers’ Missouri hideout. Barker and her son Fred were killed in a 1935 shootout with the FBI in Ocklawaha, Florida.
#3: A family portrait of Meyer Lansky with his first wife, Anna Citron, and their three children. Lansky married Citron in 1929; the couple later divorced in 1946.
Greg Scarpa was born in Brooklyn, New York, on this day in May 1928 and later became a notorious hitman and captain in the Colombo crime family.
Nicknamed “The Grim Reaper,” the FBI believed he was responsible for as many as 100 to 120 murders. In the 1960s, Scarpa was recruited as an FBI informant, beginning a relationship with the Bureau that lasted, on and off, for nearly three decades.
In 1986, following emergency ulcer surgery in Brooklyn, Scarpa received multiple blood transfusions from associates rather than a hospital blood bank. One of those transfusions, from a donor later found to be HIV-positive, resulted in Scarpa contracting the virus.
In 1993, Scarpa pleaded guilty to three murders and racketeering charges and was sentenced to life in prison. Already in declining health, he died in federal custody the following year from AIDS-related complications.
Celebrate Mother’s Day at The Mob Museum with a complimentary mimosa for mom. 🥂
Do something unique this Mother’s Day and explore The Mob Museum. With Museum admission, moms will receive a complimentary mimosa during their visit.
We’ll be open on Sunday, May 10 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What began as a small gathering of seven players in Las Vegas has grown into one of the most prestigious tournaments in professional poker.
Later this month, the World Series of Poker will resume. Its origins trace back to the late 1960s, when casino owner Benny Binion sought to create a competition that would bring together the most skilled poker players in the world. Drawing inspiration from exclusive, invitation-only games of the era, Binion developed what would become the World Series of Poker.
The inaugural tournament took place in 1970 at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Seven players, Johnny Moss, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Sailor Roberts, Doyle Brunson, Puggy Pearson, Crandell Addington, and Carl Cannon, participated in a no-limit Texas hold’em cash game, according to the WSOP’s website. Rather than following a traditional tournament format, the winner was determined by a vote among the participants. After an initial round in which each player voted for himself, a second vote was conducted to determine the runner-up, ultimately resulting in Johnny Moss being named the first champion.
In its earliest years, the event remained modest in scale. Binion once remarked to Doyle Brunson, “You know, Doyle, someday we may have a hundred people in this tournament."
In this photograph, taken circa 1980, Binion sits with his hands folded at a poker table during the World Series of Poker.
Photo credit: Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
