The Las Vegas Mob Mo.

Buried deep in the fine print of the current Economic Recovery act are a cruelly wonderful collection of absolutely necessary life enrichment projects that will goose the economy back to life and enrich the cultural and recreational life of hundreds of cities and communities. There are bike and walking paths on old railway right of way’s, there are beaches where citizens can take their dogs and allow them to run free, there are restored landmark homes and commercial buildings, railroad stations restored to gaudy three color Victorian glory, 19th century churches converted into hipster friendly restaurants, wine bars and hang outs.

Of all the life enriching projects one stands out. The City of Las Vegas Nevada proposes a national museum of organized crime. This project jumps off the page at you, it’s not just another city beautification dream. This museum grabs you by the lapels and says in soft but ominous voice, “You got a problem with that?”

Please join me in my time travel speedster and let me give you the highlights from a long review of the newly complete National Museum of Organized Crime, or as it is called by everyone in Las Vegas, MOB MO.

You approach the domed three story monument on a long fountain lined arcade. The large building is in tasteful classic forms inspired by the 16th century Italian architect and author Antonio Paladio’s Venetian country villas. Three balanced wings extending from the central rotunda but the finish and feel is very elegant Ocean Liner Arte Deco, reflecting the 1930's golden age of organized crime.

On entering the building you proceed to the soaring rotunda. In niches in the four piers that support the dome are bronze busts of Alfonse “Scarface” Capone, Meyer Lansky, Giuseppe “Joe Bananas” Bonanno and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. A pair of marble staircase fall gracefully into the rotunda. Each of the wings is dedicated to one branch of organized crime. To the right is the Cosa Nostra wing honoring the titans of Italoamerican crime, to the left is a wing dedicated to the great Jewish criminals while passing through the rotunda is the Gangsters All wing honoring a wide variety of historic American felons, thieves, murders and criminal giants. In the basement is the Garage, which has a collection of thirty important automobiles. Additionally, there are a bookstore on one side of the entrance vestibule and On the other side, a delightful New York style trattoria, “Mama Gambino’s.” The New York Chopped Salad and the hand made veal and spinach ravioli are amazing as are the authentic scungilli fritters. (Italian for meat of the spiral shellfish Conch. Pronounced: Skun'GEE'lee.)

In the cosa nostra wing are some fascinating displays and life size portraits of leading mobsters. In the center of the grand gallery is the barber chair where Albert Anastasia got whacked. At the far end of gallery is a fresco of Joey’s Clam House the night Crazy Joe Gallo was machined gunned. On the second floor on the right side of the gallery is a large hands on display of Bootlegging and Speakeasies. On the right side is a definitive display of weapons of the Mafia, s superb collection of pistols, sub machine guns, sawed off shotguns, knives of every sort including beautifully made Parthenopian (The region around Naples, Italy) stellettos, switchblades, and "butterfly knives. Also are other things like car bombs, garote's and special piano wire implements and last but not least baseball bats and other clubs. On the third floor is a dazzling 1930’s night club based on the elegant main dinning room of the French Line flagship, Le Normandie. The rest of the floor is dedicated to fashion displays of famous mistress, or as they were called at the time, “Gun Molls.” Strippers and whores, moonlighting librarians, society girls out for trills and of course leading Strippers and torch singers.

Across the rotunda in the wing of Jewish Gangsters is a large display honoring Las Vegas promoter, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. This display shows the great compelling vision of the New York born and bred mobster. On the other side of the hall is a large display dedicated to the long fruitful career of Meyer Lansky (born Majer Suchowliski in Poland), the J. P. Morgan of crime. It includes his 1960 Plymouth sedan and a reproduction of the modest home he lived in Miami in his sunset years. At the far end of wing is a café, actually a reproduction of small deli in the Bronx where all the favorite delicatessen comfort food is available, soups, sandwiches, desserts and other Gotham City favorites. Additionally, the Jewish wing includes a display noting that the last big time Capo of New York crime, John “The Teflon Don” Gotti was in fact half Jewish by virtue of his mother who was the daughter of a minor Jewish gangster.

In the central wing, "A Diversity of Gangsters Hall" are two displays: On the right hand side, Irish gangsters are remembered. The Hell’s Kitchen gangs, the Five Points gang and the O’Bannions of Chicago and their cohort "Machine Gun" Kelly. Included is a tableau of Valentine Day’s Massacre where Capone’s guys settle score once and for all with the Northside O’Bannions. Across the way, on the left hand side, the outlaws of the old west are honored: The James Brothers, the Dalton Gang, John Wesley Harden, Butch Casady and the Sundance Kid, additionally their enemies are also noted: Judge Roy Bean, Judge Parker, the Texas Rangers and the Earp Brothers.

Upstairs there are displays on other ethnic gangs: the Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yukusa, the Filipino “White Flower" Gang, Chicano gangsters, the African American Crips and the Bloods, American Indian and French Canadians bootleggers and smugglers, red neck moonshiners from the South and river pirates from the great Mississippi.

On the top floor are various financial crooks: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, Mr. Ponzi and Mr. Madoff his greatest successor. Then there is a fascinating display of the great bookies and gamblers, centering on Arnie Arnstein and how he fixed the 1919 World Series and led to the conviction of seven players on the Chicago White Sox.

The final display is in honor of little known felons, the Midwest’s unique and entprising criminal figures, the German American and Scandinavian American Margarine runners. These bold Lutheran mobsters in their hot Studebakers and Hudson Hornets would smuggle colored margarine from Des Moines and Chicago into Wisconsin and Minnesota where state laws made it a felony to possess or traffic in margarine. The Supreme Court threw out the anti margarine laws in the early 1960's.

All in all, the tasteful museum provides a look at a colorful if lethal slice of American life.

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