The Mob Museum

09/02/2026

Did you know the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino opened in 1948?

Named after the thunderbird found in Native American cultures, the resort featured an Indigenous-inspired theme reflected in its décor, artwork, and entertainment spaces, including the Pow Wow Showroom. One of its most recognizable features was a large, colorful neon eagle perched above the hotel, which became an enduring symbol of early Las Vegas.

Construction on the Thunderbird began in October 1947 under Marion Hicks, a Los Angeles contractor and partner in Las Vegas’ El Cortez Hotel and Casino, and Clifford "Cliff" Jones, Nevada’s lieutenant governor, according to the Online Nevada Encyclopedia. The property stood along Highway 91 on what was then the still-developing Las Vegas Strip.

Hicks and Jones completed the Thunderbird in September 1948. Despite losing $145,000 to craps players on opening night, the resort quickly became a financial success. Its restaurants attracted tourists and local families, while prominent figures such as aviator Howard Hughes and U.S. Senator Pat McCarran became regular visitors. The Thunderbird also helped establish Las Vegas as a destination for conventions and trade shows.

But the Thunderbird’s history was not without controversy. In 1950, Jones testified before Senator Estes Kefauver’s committee investigating organized crime and its influence across the United States.

Committee counsel Rudolph Halley questioned Jones about the Thunderbird’s ownership structure and possible connections to prominent underworld figures, including Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello. Jones denied that either man had a financial interest in the resort and said he had never met Lansky. He did acknowledge that Lansky’s brother, Jack, had stayed at the Thunderbird on multiple occasions.

Despite the scrutiny, the Thunderbird remained profitable into the early 1960s. Business declined in subsequent decades as newer, more elaborate resorts transformed the Las Vegas Strip. After several ownership changes and renovation efforts, casino executive Ed Torres purchased the property in 1981 and renamed it the El Rancho. The Thunderbird’s distinctive neon eagles were removed, closing a chapter on one of early Las Vegas’ most recognizable resorts.

Photo credit: Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

09/01/2026

Are you captivated by the golden era of Las Vegas? The Flamingo, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and that unmistakable image of him in a houndstooth jacket, cigarette in hand?

Step inside The Mob Museum and discover the complicated story behind one of the Las Vegas Strip’s most legendary resorts.

Our Fabulous Flamingo exhibit traces the casino’s beginnings through rare artifacts that reveal there was much more to the story than Siegel alone. See Billy Wilkerson’s original $9,500 down payment check for the land where the Flamingo would rise, checks documenting his mounting Las Vegas gambling debts, and an original invitation to the resort’s glamorous three-day grand opening in December 1946.

At the center of the exhibit is an original legal document signed by Siegel himself, formally removing Wilkerson from the Flamingo operation and promising him $600,000 for his interest in the resort. Wilkerson received only half before Siegel was killed in 1947.

Come see the artifacts and uncover the real story behind the Fabulous Flamingo at The Mob Museum. 🦩

09/01/2026

After nearly three decades without a conviction in the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur, a Las Vegas jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Davis is the only person ever charged in Shakur’s fatal shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

Prosecutors did not accuse Davis of firing the fatal shots but argued that he orchestrated the killing as the group’s “shot caller.”

His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was charged with murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death.

08/31/2026

For decades, Gennaro Angiulo was one of the most powerful figures in Boston’s underworld. This month marks the anniversary of his death in 2009.

As underboss of New England’s Patriarca crime family, Angiulo oversaw a lucrative criminal operation built around illegal gambling and loansharking. But inside his Prince Street headquarters in Boston’s North End, the FBI was listening.

Acting on intelligence from informants, including rival mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, federal agents secretly planted listening devices inside Angiulo’s headquarters. The conversations they captured helped build a sweeping federal racketeering case against him.

Angiulo was arrested in 1983. Three years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison after being convicted on charges including racketeering, gambling, loansharking and obstruction of justice.

After spending more than two decades behind bars, Angiulo was released in 2007. He died in August 2009 at age 90, closing the chapter on one of Boston’s most notorious organized crime figures.

08/30/2026

Kind of chic to make The Mob Museum part of your Las Vegas weekend plans ✨

If you’re looking for things to do in Las Vegas, come explore the history of organized crime and law enforcement in downtown Las Vegas.

08/29/2026

He produced one of the Las Vegas Strip’s most famous shows. The FBI said he was also the Kansas City Mob’s man in Las Vegas.

in history, Joseph Agosto died of a heart attack while in federal custody.

In the late 1970s, Agosto worked as a producer of the “Folies Bergère” at the Tropicana Hotel. But federal investigators alleged he held another role behind the scenes, identifying him as the Kansas City Mafia’s overseer in Las Vegas.

Agosto became a government witness after he was convicted in Minneapolis in a wire and mail fraud case. As part of his cooperation agreement, he later pleaded guilty in Kansas City to participating in a $280,000 casino skimming conspiracy at the Tropicana, the Las Vegas Sun reported in 1983.
His cooperation made him a key figure in the government’s efforts to expose organized crime’s influence over Las Vegas casinos. Agosto testified that he took orders from Kansas City Mafia boss Nick Civella.

Agosto’s attorney, Stanley Greenberg, later accused federal prosecutors in Minneapolis of acting in “bad faith” in the days before his death and argued that the resulting stress contributed to his fatal heart attack. Agosto had suffered from several serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

At the time of his death, federal authorities were pursuing an even broader investigation into alleged Mob influence over Las Vegas casinos formerly owned by Allen Glick’s Argent Corporation, the Las Vegas Sun said.

His death dealt a significant blow to that investigation.

Las Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman, who represented alleged Kansas City Mob figure Carl DeLuna at the time, called Agosto’s death a “debilitating, crushing blow to the government.”

“I don’t know that they can do anything without him,” Goodman said. “They can continue with their efforts, but without Agosto they have to fail.”

08/27/2026

Thank you, Las Vegas! 🎉

We’re honored to be named “Best Museum” in Las Vegas Weekly’s 2026 Best of Vegas awards!

Las Vegas is more than the place The Mob Museum calls home. It’s a community whose history, people, and stories are woven into so much of what we do.

Thank you to everyone who has visited, supported, and learned at The Mob Museum. We’re incredibly proud to be part of this community, and grateful for your continued support. Thank you again to the Las Vegas Weekly for this incredible honor!

08/26/2026

in history, Virginia Hill, the onetime so-called “Queen of the Mob,” was born in Lipscomb, Alabama.

Born into a large family, Hill left the South as a teenager and arrived in Chicago in 1933. She initially worked as a dancer before becoming a waitress at the San Carlo Italian Village, a popular gathering place for members of the Chicago Outfit.

There, Hill met Joe Epstein, a bookmaker and financial figure connected to the Outfit. Impressed by her confidence and street smarts, Epstein introduced her to a criminal world populated by some of the most powerful figures in American organized crime.

Throughout the 1930s, Hill reportedly worked as a courier, money launderer, and intermediary, moving money and information between underworld networks in Chicago and New York. She became romantically involved with several men connected to organized crime, including New York racketeer Joe Adonis, and may have had a relationship with Chicago Outfit associate Johnny Rosselli.

Hill's activities soon extended beyond the United States. Fluent in Spanish, she reportedly became involved in coordinating he**in trafficking out of Mexico for Chicago associates and cultivated relationships with influential figures there to gather information useful to the Outfit.

But the relationship that would define Hill's place in Mob history was with Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

After Siegel escaped conviction in the 1939 murder of Mob associate Harry Greenberg, he and Hill resumed their turbulent relationship. By 1945, Siegel had become involved in the troubled construction of the Flamingo hotel-casino in Las Vegas. With financing from organized crime figures, including Meyer Lansky and Chicago mobsters, the project's cost eventually ballooned to approximately $6 million.

Hill temporarily joined Siegel in Las Vegas as he pushed to complete the resort. The unfinished Flamingo opened on Dec. 26, 1946, but its highly anticipated debut proved disappointing. Siegel closed the casino weeks later, completed more of the property and reopened it in 1947.

On June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot to death inside Hill's rented Beverly Hills home while she was in Europe. His murder remains officially unsolved.
Hill's life after Siegel was marked by increasing scrutiny from federal authorities, who investigated her finances and potential tax violations. In 1950, while visiting Sun Valley, Idaho, she met Austrian ski instructor Hans Hauser. The two married and welcomed a son, Peter, later that year.
Then came national attention of a different kind.

In 1951, Hill appeared before the U.S. Senate's Kefauver Committee investigating organized crime. Questioned about her relationships with prominent underworld figures and the source of her considerable income, Hill portrayed herself as someone who had received generous gifts from wealthy male friends. Her colorful testimony helped cement the public image of Virginia Hill as the glamorous "Queen of the Mob."

Hill eventually moved with her family to Europe, settling in Austria. Her later years were far removed from the glamorous world of Hollywood nightclubs, Mob figures and Las Vegas casinos that had once surrounded her. Her finances dwindled, and she struggled personally.

On March 24, 1966, Hill was found dead near Salzburg, Austria. Authorities ruled that she died from an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. She was 49 years old.

08/26/2026

Before he became one of the nation’s most powerful politicians, Harry Reid served four years as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, a tumultuous period when the Mob remained a force in the casino industry.

Reid had a famous run-in with Chicago Outfit associate Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, and his career was almost ruined by wiretap recordings claiming he was in the Mob’s pocket. Veteran Las Vegas political journalist Jon Ralston, author of a critically acclaimed Reid biography, will focus on the late U.S. senator’s early years, and how those experiences helped shape his political philosophy and success.

Don’t miss this special program at The Mob Museum on Sept. 19 at 11 a.m.

RSVP: https://themobmuseum.org/events-posts/harry-reid-vs-the-mob-the-fight-that-made-a-senator/

08/25/2026

in 1902, Carlo Gambino was born in Palermo, Sicily.

Quiet, calculating, and rarely one to seek the spotlight, Gambino became one of the most powerful and influential Mafia bosses in the United States.
Gambino reportedly entered the Sicilian Mafia as a teenage "hit man" before arriving in the United States in 1921 at age 19. In New York, he became involved with relatives connected to Prohibition-era Mob boss Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila and steadily climbed the ranks of the city’s underworld.

By the 1930s, Gambino was a member of the crime family headed by Vincent Mangano, one of New York’s Five Families. In 1957, after Albert Anastasia was assassinated in a Manhattan barbershop, Gambino took control of the organization that would eventually bear his name.

For the next 19 years, Gambino quietly built an underworld empire.

Under his leadership, the Gambino crime family expanded its influence over the New York and New Jersey waterfront, JFK Airport, and the trucking, construction and garment industries. Its members and associates also profited from bookmaking, loansharking, hijacking, extortion, and sophisticated white-collar schemes.

Gambino’s influence extended far beyond New York. As one of the dominant figures on the Mafia’s Commission, he cultivated relationships with organized crime leaders across the country while maintaining a reputation for discretion. He also discouraged narcotics trafficking among his men, fearing that lengthy drug sentences could pressure members into cooperating with law enforcement.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gambino spent relatively little time behind bars. After serving nearly two years in federal prison following a 1930s liquor-related conviction, he never again served a prison sentence.

Gambino died of heart disease on Oct. 15, 1976, at his Long Island home. Before his death, he selected his brother-in-law Paul Castellano to succeed him, bypassing underboss Aniello Dellacroce. The decision helped shape the internal tensions that would eventually transform the family and set the stage for John Gotti’s violent rise to power.

Nearly 50 years after Gambino’s death, the New York crime family he once commanded still bears his name.