The Mob Museum

06/20/2026

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary on July 4, Las Vegas is marking the occasion in spectacular fashion. In addition to eight consecutive weekends of fireworks lighting up the downtown skyline, Hoover Dam will shine with a patriotic red, white, and blue illumination display, highlighted by a massive 300-foot-by-150-foot American flag draped across the iconic structure.

The Hoover Dam is more than a landmark; it is the foundation of modern Southern Nevada. In 1931, construction began on the dam while Nevada legalized gambling, two pivotal developments that fueled the city's growth and helped transform Las Vegas into the destination it is today.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the Hoover Dam was built in a series of interlocking concrete blocks, not as one massive pour. The blocks, measuring up to 25 by 60 feet and standing five feet high, were filled with concrete delivered in eight-cubic-yard buckets. After each pour, crews of five or six workers known as "puddlers" stamped and vibrated the concrete into place, eliminating air pockets and packing it into a dense, solid mass.

As the nation approaches its semiquincentennial celebration, the landmark serves as a powerful reminder of the ambitious projects that helped shape the American West.

Take a look at these remarkable photos documenting the construction of the Hoover Dam from UNLV's Special Collections and Archives.

06/19/2026

He was cooking his favorite meal when he was brazenly murdered.

On June 19, 1975, former Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana was standing in the basement kitchen of his Oak Park home, cooking sausages, when he was shot six times. The first shot was allegedly fired from behind, a hallmark of a classic Mob ex*****on.

Born to Sicilian immigrants in Chicago, Giancana rose from the city's violent 42 Gang to become one of the most powerful Mob figures in America. By age 17, he had already been arrested for auto theft, and authorities suspected him in multiple murders before he turned 20. By the late 1930s, he had graduated into the Chicago Outfit, where he eventually became boss.

After losing control of the Outfit in the 1960s, reportedly because national Mob Syndicate leaders were frustrated by the attention his name attracted in the press, Giancana moved to Mexico. He returned to the United States in 1974 to testify before federal investigators examining the CIA's alleged attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Nearly a year later, he was dead.

Who ordered the hit remains a subject of debate. Among the leading candidates as Giancana’s assassin was a young Outfit member named Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro.

06/19/2026

This Father's Day, we're toasting to dads. 🍺

Join us this Sunday, June 21, and enjoy four floors of fascinating exhibits, plus a free beer for Dad with Museum admission.

Beer can be redeemed at the Museum's second-floor concessions until 7:30 p.m. Must be 21+ to redeem.

06/18/2026

in 1957, Minneapolis Mob boss and Las Vegas casino pioneer David Berman died during surgery to remove colon polyps.

Berman's story began when his family immigrated to America to escape military conscription and religious persecution in Eastern Europe. After arriving in New York, his father learned of a program that helped relocate Jewish immigrants to North Dakota. The family soon settled there, including young David and his younger brother, Chickie.

As a teenager, Berman organized local Jewish boys into a newspaper-selling gang. That early venture eventually led him into bootlegging, bank robbery, and illegal gambling. By age 16, Berman was running the largest bootlegging operation in Iowa and had already established ties to organized crime networks in New York City and Minneapolis.

Later, Berman would serve seven years in Sing Sing for robbing a Wisconsin post office. After his release in 1934, he attended a national Mob summit with figures including Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano. According to reports, fellow Mob leaders offered him $1 million for keeping silent while incarcerated. Berman declined, instead requesting permission to "run Minneapolis."

Eventually, Berman brought his talents to the growing gambling center of Las Vegas. There, he partnered with Bugsy Siegel, Gus Greenbaum, and others, investing in casinos such as the El Cortez Hotel & Casino, the Las Vegas Club, and more. He also reportedly hired entertainers like Elvis Presley and Liberace to perform at his daughter's birthday parties.

Berman died of a heart attack on June 16, 1957, while undergoing surgery.

"He was just my father to me, but to the world he was Davie Berman, one of the founders of the Syndicate, a trusted partner and confidant of Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, and Bugsy Siegel. He was the man who one crime reporter said 'was so tough he could kill a man with one hand tied behind his back,'" his daughter, author Susan Berman, would say in her memoir.

06/17/2026

On June 16, 1923, Joseph Colombo was born in New York City.

Colombo rose through the ranks of the Profaci crime family before dramatically changing the course of his career in the 1960s. After revealing a plot to assassinate rival Mafia leaders Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese, he gained the favor of the Commission and was elevated to boss of the family that would eventually bear his name.

By 1970, he had become a regular fixture in the headlines, not only as a Mafia boss, but also as the public face of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, an organization he founded to combat anti-Italian prejudice and negative media stereotypes.

Colombo consistently denied involvement in organized crime, claiming to work in real estate and highlighting the charitable efforts of the League.
Colombo and the Italian-American Civil Rights League also played a role in the production of "The Godfather." According to Time Magazine, Colombo pressured Paramount Pictures during production. According to reports, producer Al Ruddy was followed by Colombo associates, and Paramount Pictures head Robert Evans received threatening calls. A compromise was eventually reached: references to the words "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" were removed from the script, and the League agreed to support the film.

Colombo helped ease tensions between the production and influential Italian-American groups in New York. He also helped smooth relations with Teamsters connected to the film's production. League members and individuals with organized crime ties were even cast as extras in the film.
According to a 1971 New York Times Article, "Ruddy found that with Colombo's men around, instead of being harassed by neighborhood toughs, shaken down by various unions, visited by corrupt cops and generally treated like any other movie company in New York, 'The Godfather' troupe was untouchable."

On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot at an Italian Unity Day rally in New York City. Although he survived the assassination attempt, the attack left him paralyzed and largely unresponsive for the remainder of his life. He died in 1978 from cardiac arrest.

06/17/2026

For more than 40 years, Art Manteris had a front-row seat for the expansion and evolution of sports betting in Las Vegas and across the country.

From the Mob era to the modern age of apps, prediction markets, and prop bets, Manteris took wagers from crazed gangsters, industry icons, celebrities, sports legends, and some of the most criminal figures in sports gaming history.

Join us Thursday, June 18, at 7 p.m. for an insider's look at the evolution of Las Vegas sports gambling with industry veteran Manteris.

In addition to discussing where sports betting has been, and where it's headed, Manteris will recount memorable stories from his new memoir, including how he recognized when the fix was in, his encounters with notorious gambler Billy Walters, and the moment his reputation was put to the test by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

For more information or to RSVP, click here: https://themobmuseum.org/events-posts/the-bookie-art-manteris-on-the-gritty-past-and-uncertain-future-of-sports-gambling-in-las-vegas-and-b/

06/15/2026

Postcards from The Mob Museum.

Pause your scrolling for a moment and enjoy the ambient sounds from inside our historic Museum.

Then come experience it for yourself.

📍 300 Stewart Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101

06/14/2026

in 1986, Anthony "Tony" Spilotro and his brother, Michael, walked into what they believed was a meeting with fellow Chicago Outfit members.

It turned out to be an ambush.

Days later, a farmer plowing an Indiana cornfield discovered the brothers' bodies in a shallow grave.

But how did one of the Mob's most feared enforcers go from a trusted asset to a victim?

Read our latest blog to learn how Spilotro rose through the ranks of the Chicago Outfit, became a key figure in Las Vegas, and ultimately met a violent end.

Forty years ago, Tony Spilotro’s neon excesses gave way to the cold reality of Midwestern soil. In June 1986, a...

06/13/2026

Anthony "Tony" Spilotro's violent downfall inspired one of the most brutal and unforgettable scenes in Martin Scorsese's "Casino."

A piece of that cinematic history is now on display at The Mob Museum.

Joe Pesci's character, Nicky Santoro, is based on Chicago Outfit mobster Anthony Spilotro. In the movie, Santoro is beaten and buried alive in a scene that serves as a reminder that in the Mob, today's shot-caller can become tomorrow's victim.

To make those final moments feel horrifyingly real, filmmakers created a lifelike animatronic body made of polyurethane foam, fiberglass, and wood that could breathe, twitch, and convulse as dirt was shoveled over it.

Combined with Scorsese's storytelling, the animatronic helped bring the film's climactic depiction of Santoro's downfall to life.

Visit The Mob Museum to see this remarkable piece of cinema history up close and learn about the real-life figures and events that inspired the film.

06/13/2026

On Aug. 14, 1962, a gang of armed men disguised as police officers carried out the “Great Plymouth Mail Robbery,” hijacking a mail truck bound for Boston and making off with more than $1.5 million in cash.

At the time, it was the largest cash robbery in U.S. history, but would later be eclipsed by other Mob-connected heists. The truck was transporting cash deposits from Cape Cod banks to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

According to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, one of the robbers disguised himself as a police officer and directed the mail truck to a location, where his armed accomplices were waiting. After seizing the cash, the perpetrators tied up the postal driver and his guard and left them in the truck as they made their escape.

Investigators identified John “Red” Kelley and George “Billy Aggie” Agisotelis as key suspects. In August 1967, with the five-year statute of limitations nearing expiration, federal authorities indicted Kelley, Agisotelis, Thomas Richards, and Patricia Diaferio.

Richards disappeared before trial, while Agisotelis agreed to cooperate with investigators but later vanished under mysterious circumstances. Kelley and Diaferio were ultimately acquitted, and no one was ever convicted for the robbery. Some estimates suggest the investigation cost as much as, or more than, the amount stolen.

According to mobster Vincent Teresa, Kelley and Agisotelis led a crew of robbers who carefully planned the heist, with Agisotelis reportedly conducting weeks of surveillance on the truck's route before the robbery.