Brain Teaser: The Mob in Las Vegas

Since it’s Mob month in Las Vegas, I thought we would test your knowledge of the mob in Las Vegas.

1. Who wrote Vegas Rag Doll?
2. Who wrote Murder of Mafia Daughter?
3. Name two of the notorious Chicago Mob associates featured this month in Las Vegas.
4. Who is the ex-mobster turned author/actor/film producer who made the movie Goodfellas?
5. Who did Henry Hill talk to just before he died?
6. What is the name of the Las Vegas sheriff who kicked the mob out of Las Vegas?
7. Who wrote the Battle for Las Vegas?
8. What was the name of the committee that held hearings to investigate organized crime in Las Vegas in the 1950s?
9. In which Las Vegas building is The Mob Museum located?
10. Which mobster opened the Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas?

How did you do?

0 – 1 Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 – 5 A reasonable stab.
6 – 8 A good showing. But there’s still room for improvement!
9 – 10 You really know your stuff. Well done!

Related articles

• Mob Month 2013 (lvccldnews.wordpress.com)

Rev. Jesse Scott

This week Rev. Jesse Scott, a long time resident of Las Vegas, passed away.  He was very influential in the community.

As part of grant the Library received two years ago, to create video memory project in which he participated, we have an interview of him talking about his life in Las Vegas.  You can download and view the video or transcript from our eMedia Catalog.  Here’s an excerpt:

Reverend Scott:
Well, the best thing about West Las Vegas is that they were able to get employment with the casinos as one of the reasons why they left the South during the late 20s, the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Because they could get jobs that would pay more per hour than they could when they were in the South, and so the upside of West Las Vegas, the upside Las Vegas is that it offered opportunities for employment.

The Down side is that nobody really encourages you to have advanced education to come out to people who own the businesses as they do in a lot of cities.

The other down side is that many people feel that if they get a high school diploma they can drop out of school because they know that they can get a job on the Strip making 50-60 thousand dollars with a high school diploma if they good in mathematics and can count well. The down side of that is that if the person who come to the casino don’t like you and fire you – you have no protection then you on your own.

We want people to stay in school and advance their education and be prepared no matter what the circumstances are in life you prepare to hold a job if you have advanced your education to that extent.

Africian-American Collection at West Las Vegas Library

Recently, the Las Vegas Sun published a great article Librarian’s collection highlights people, events ‘history has left out’. The article talks about the Library’s special collection  of books, photos and clipping about the local history of African-Americans who lived and worked in West Las Vegas which was compiled by Librarian Barbara Coleman.