A mob museum slated to open soon in Las Vegas will trace Hollywood's portrayal of mobsters from the birth of the silver screen in a violence-fraught exhibit that organizers said is not intended for children.
Screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the book "Wiseguy" and then adapted it into the Martin Scorsese film "Goodfellas," told The Associated Press that he will help usher in the exhibit when the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement opens in Las Vegas in mid-February. Pileggi will appear in a five-minute documentary on the mob and pop culture that will be shown near the end of the museum tour.
The film, part of an exhibit called "The Myth of the Mob," will attempt to explain why so many people are fascinated with organized crime. The exhibit will also feature costumes from mobster-centric TV shows and movies, including "The Sopranos."
"Just because you are depicting something ugly, it doesn't mean you are honoring it," Pileggi said. "I don't know too many gangster movies where the gangster wins in the end. These are tales of morality and that is the key to them."
The downtown Las Vegas museum will open at a former courthouse where a famous mob hearing that helped expose organized crime to ordinary Americans was held in 1950. It is expected to feature gangster artifacts, including the wall from Chicago's St. Valentine's Day massacre, the only gun recovered at the mass shooting and the barber chair where hit man Albert Anastasia's life came to an end in 1957.
Dennis Barrie, the museum's director, said he interviewed Pileggi for up to three hours to create the five-minute film on the history of gangster flicks. Barrie said he wants museum-goers to explore whether popular movies glamourize mob culture, or get it right."I don't think it's a kids' museum," Barrie said. "This is a pretty brutal world and it comes across in the museum."
Pileggi, whose parents were Italian immigrants, said he was attracted to mob stories as a young man because he wanted to know why some people in his neighborhood were drawn to organized crimes, while others shunned it."I don't think they are the worst people in the world," Pileggi said. "I think they are fascinating."
Pileggi began his writing career as an Associated Press crime reporter. He received an Oscar nomination for "Goodfellas" and teamed up with Scorsese again for the Las Vegas crime-opus "Casino" in 1995. He said the movies are "unbelievably realistic."
Pileggi said former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman asked him to get involved with the museum. Goodman, a former mob lawyer who came up with the idea of the museum, provided Pileggi with facts and insight when he was writing "Casino" and had a brief cameo in the movie."Who knows it better than Nick Pileggi?" Goodman said. "When you have his stamp of approval on these kinds of exhibits, it takes on a certain sense of reality as well as legitimacy."
The $42 million museum will be the second gangster-focused attraction to open in Las Vegas in the past year.
The Tropicana casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip unveiled its interactive "Mob Experience" attraction in March. The venue is undergoing a renovation after a brutal start. Attendance was sluggish from the beginning, and then its developer, Jay Bloom, was forced to resign amid multiple lawsuits over unpaid bills, said Spence Johnston, a Mob Experience spokesman.
Goodman said the organized crime museum will have a more successful launch because its collection will focus on history instead of entertainment."I was interested in having a real museum with real culture," he said. "This is not a gimmick."
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Mob Month Panel & Book Signing: How the FBI, Nevada Gaming Control and the IRS Took Down the Mob
Mob Month: How the FBI, Nevada Gaming Control and the IRS Took Down the Mob
1/10/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Clark County Library
1401 E. Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Room: Main Theater
This panel discussion includes former & current representatives from the FBI, Nevada Gaming Control, Las Vegas Mob Museum, and IRS Criminal Investigations Las Vegas unit. Topics will include the strategies and devices that mobsters used to skim the casinos, the creation of The Black Book, and how the Feds conducted their field research and mafia round-ups. Moderated by Master Cheat author and former NV Gaming Control agent Jack Miller.
Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.
1/10/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Clark County Library
1401 E. Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Room: Main Theater
This panel discussion includes former & current representatives from the FBI, Nevada Gaming Control, Las Vegas Mob Museum, and IRS Criminal Investigations Las Vegas unit. Topics will include the strategies and devices that mobsters used to skim the casinos, the creation of The Black Book, and how the Feds conducted their field research and mafia round-ups. Moderated by Master Cheat author and former NV Gaming Control agent Jack Miller.
Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Mobster Confessions
Discovery will premiere MOBSTER CONFESSIONS on Monday, January 9 at 10 PM ET/PT. Andrew DiDonato, John Veasey, Frank Cullotta and Frank Calabrese Jr. are featured in the initial wave of episodes:
MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2011:
10 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Andrew DiDonato
New York street thug is seduced by the power and protection of the Gambino crime family. Yet once the family turns on him, he must choose between being hunted by the mob or working with authorities to bring them down.
10:30 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - John Veasey
A troubled teen turned hitman kills for the Philadelphia mob but is later targeted by his own mafia family. After surviving an attempted hit, he testifies against the men he once swore to protect.
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011:
10 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Frank Cullotta
The riches of a glittering life in Las Vegas tempt a man to do anything, even kill, for the Chicago Outfit. His world is turned upside down when an FBI sting brings him in to warn him that he's about to be whacked by his own mafia family.
10:30 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Frank Calabrese Jr.
A son, desperate to escape the grip of his brutal mafia father, faces a difficult decision: turn on his own dad or be forced to continue a life of crime.
MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2011:
10 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Andrew DiDonato
New York street thug is seduced by the power and protection of the Gambino crime family. Yet once the family turns on him, he must choose between being hunted by the mob or working with authorities to bring them down.
10:30 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - John Veasey
A troubled teen turned hitman kills for the Philadelphia mob but is later targeted by his own mafia family. After surviving an attempted hit, he testifies against the men he once swore to protect.
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011:
10 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Frank Cullotta
The riches of a glittering life in Las Vegas tempt a man to do anything, even kill, for the Chicago Outfit. His world is turned upside down when an FBI sting brings him in to warn him that he's about to be whacked by his own mafia family.
10:30 PM ET/PT - MOBSTER CONFESSIONS - Frank Calabrese Jr.
A son, desperate to escape the grip of his brutal mafia father, faces a difficult decision: turn on his own dad or be forced to continue a life of crime.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Victoria Gotti Joins Celebrity Apprentice
Victoria Gotti is a writer, reality television participant and daughter of former Gambino crime family Mafia boss, John Gotti. She will be competing on the upcoming season of Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Help Capture the "Tire Iron Bandit"
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is asking for the public’s help in identifying the individual dubbed the “Tire Iron Bandit,” who is wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a Willow Springs bank on two separate occasions.
The most recent theft took place on January 3rd of 2011, when the First Merit Bank branch, located at 8480 S. Archer Avenue in the southwest suburb, was robbed of undisclosed amount of money. This individual is also believed to have robbed the same bank on July 16, 2010.
During the most recent theft, the robber entered the bank late in the afternoon just as two employees were preparing to close for the day. The robber quickly approached the teller counter, holding a tire iron in his left hand, and demanding money from the tellers on duty. The robber then placed a small duffel bag on the counter and held it open for the tellers, who placed cash from their drawer inside. The robber then fled the bank, but his method and direction of escape was not seen.
During the previous robbery in 2010, the robber entered the bank and approached the teller counter. While holding a tire iron in his hand, he orally announced a robbery, ordering a bank employee to place money from her drawer into a black gym bag that the robber brought with him. He repeatedly threatened bank employees with harm, if his demands were not met. After receiving an undisclosed amount of cash, the robber fled the bank on foot and was last seen running through an adjacent alley.
No injuries were reported during either robbery, both of which are being investigated jointly by the FBI and the Willow Springs Police Department.
Anyone having any information about either of these robberies is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
Additional information about this and other unsolved Chicago area bank robberies, including downloadable photographs, is available online at the Bandit Tracker Chicago website, www.bandittrackerchicago.com.
The most recent theft took place on January 3rd of 2011, when the First Merit Bank branch, located at 8480 S. Archer Avenue in the southwest suburb, was robbed of undisclosed amount of money. This individual is also believed to have robbed the same bank on July 16, 2010.
During the most recent theft, the robber entered the bank late in the afternoon just as two employees were preparing to close for the day. The robber quickly approached the teller counter, holding a tire iron in his left hand, and demanding money from the tellers on duty. The robber then placed a small duffel bag on the counter and held it open for the tellers, who placed cash from their drawer inside. The robber then fled the bank, but his method and direction of escape was not seen.
During the previous robbery in 2010, the robber entered the bank and approached the teller counter. While holding a tire iron in his hand, he orally announced a robbery, ordering a bank employee to place money from her drawer into a black gym bag that the robber brought with him. He repeatedly threatened bank employees with harm, if his demands were not met. After receiving an undisclosed amount of cash, the robber fled the bank on foot and was last seen running through an adjacent alley.
No injuries were reported during either robbery, both of which are being investigated jointly by the FBI and the Willow Springs Police Department.
Anyone having any information about either of these robberies is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
Additional information about this and other unsolved Chicago area bank robberies, including downloadable photographs, is available online at the Bandit Tracker Chicago website, www.bandittrackerchicago.com.
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