How The Mob Grew Sports Betting

[BCampbell]

Chad Millman
ESPN INSIDER


These strippers have nothing to do with this story.


There at the creation.

That's one of my favorite phrases. It means you saw a flash of brilliance or caught a truly original moment or, if you spoke up, contributed to an idea or movement that mattered. It means that you were a witness to history. Think about all the imaginary light bulbs it would have been cool to see turn on (like, of course, the invention of the light bulb, whether you think it was Thomas Edison or Joseph Swan). I would like to have been in the brainstorming session for the Declaration of Independence. I would like to have been in Naismith's gym class. I would like to have been in the seat next to J.K. Rowling when she first typed the words "Harry Potter" and realized, even if no one else did yet, that her days of struggling were over. Thanks to Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, I was there at the creation when Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook. And it was cool, even if it was just a movie (and one that was robbed of an Oscar).

Those moments are rarely big, I would imagine. The weight of what's to come doesn't usually announce itself in incandescence. Creation myths only make it seem that way.

Beyond the big ones, I have dozens of smaller, more niche moments that I would have loved to have seen up close. And, as a lover of all things gambling, Vegas, the mob and legal dramas, that list includes the 1950 Kefauver hearings, which essentially are when the mob went public. That is why I'm anxious to hit the newly opened Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Built in the old federal courthouse that hosted the hearings, this was a labor of love for Sin City's former mayor Oscar Goldman, a legendary mob lawyer who tried his first case in the courthouse in the late-1960s.

"It was 1967 on St. Valentine's Day," he told me over the phone Wednesday afternoon, a week after the museum opened its doors. "I represented the stepbrother of a fella I came to know as one of the leading mobsters from the Northeast. I dressed my guy in khakis and a rep tie and blue blazer. I got lucky and won, I think the jury felt sorry for me, and from then on I was getting phone calls from associates of this particular guy."

Last year I visited Vegas for the NCAA tournament and spent the morning with the mayor in his office, which overlooked the work on the museum. His 12-year run as the boss was coming to an end. He had artifacts ready to go into the museum lined up along his walls, thanks to donations from the FBI. But my interest was truly piqued when he mentioned the Kefauver hearings. I hadn't realized the old federal building was where some of them had been held.

In 1949, dozens of newspapers and magazines around the country reported on the widespread influence of the mob on local business and statewide elections. Overwhelmed, local police pleaded with the federal government for national laws that had more teeth. In January 1950, Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver responded by proposing hearings on organized crime.
The hearings were held in 14 cities, including Las Vegas, over several months. And they were all televised. This was the beginning of the end for so much of the American underbelly, the first time American-made mobsters were paraded on TV, their influence revealed, their scratchy, East Coast-accented voices heard. They jumped from the pages of Damon Runyon stories and onto American TV screens at the exact moment that that newfangled technology was beginning to fascinate us. With the curtain pulled back, literally, they were no longer protected by fiction. Frank Costello, who ran New York's crime syndicate, refused to appear before the committee unless he wouldn't be shown on TV. During his testimony, cameras focused on his hands, which fiddled with his watch and cuff links so incessantly that people watching referred to it as "the hand ballet."

At times, nearly 100 percent of the televisions in the United States were tuned in. And what they learned, littered among the intricate details of the mob's influence, was how prevalent sports betting was to its operations. Cops in New Orleans supplemented their $186 a week salary by looking the other way when bookmakers did business. A Chicago police captain admitted he hadn't raided a bookie joint in more than a decade and that he had become rich betting on sports, elections and the stock market. When Kefauver finally released his report after a 17-month investigation, he wrote: "Big-time bookmaking operations, largely monopolized by big mobsters, cannot be carried on without the rapid transmission of racing information and information about other sporting events." This note laid the groundwork for the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, which essentially made using the phone to take bets illegal.

"The courtroom is at the centerpiece of the museum," Goodman told me. "It's like a hologram. And we have footage from the hearings. Costello being questioned. Virginia Hill, who had been the girlfriend to so many mobsters, was questioned. You feel like you are entering a place that was involved in a very historic event."
Almost as if you were there at the creation.

[NES]

[NES]

[frankie]

One of the bookies for the Gambino's lived next store to me,when he gave me a horse tip the horse never lost.

[gulfcoastplayer]

Mob? What do you mean mob? There is no such thing, just rumor.... :)

[Donniebaseball]

As the Mob Museum prepares for its opening on February 14, Kathleen Hickey Barrie, who was the museum curator, offered up some background on the museum’s creation.

Barrie, a museum specialist, is principal of the museum and culture planning consulting group, Barrie Projects, and has a 30-year history of museum, civic arts and cultural experiences. She was previously involved with the design and development of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Barrie’s role was to develop the content and coordinate the way the story was presented. She worked closely with the designers and the interactive team.

Her research process began back in 2006, with a brainstorming session with about 50 experts who came in and talked to the team about the unique history of Las Vegas. From those conversations, the main ideas emerged and the mission statement of the museum was born. Because so many people who knew the topic were involved, says Barrie, “We had a pretty good sense of what should be in it.”

Barrie acquired the artifacts from various sources. Many came from a few key collectors, including the family of Meyer Lansky. While others, were contributed by the general public. “Some of the most interesting things have come from the public or someone who has a connection to the story and calls up the museum and says they have something that might be of interest,” says Barrie.

One of the most iconic artifacts in the museum is the brick wall from the bloody St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,underscoring the violence that existed during the tumultuous prohibition era. After a long search forjust one brick, the entire dismantled wall was located in a Las Vegas woman’s garage and then reassembled for the exhibit.

The museum creates an exciting interactive experience that immerses people into the world of law enforcement and organized crime and leads themthrough a chronological tour of history. And there is quite a bit of history and a limited amount of space. In fact, one of the challenges, remarks Barrie, was “to make the stories fit the space.” To
solve that problem, stories are condensed by weaving key story lines throughout
the museum so people aren’t overwhelmed by plotlines that span several decades.
“People want authentic experiences,” notes Barrie, “given in small bites that
are digestible.”

The interactive multi-media exhibits do just that by engaging all of the senses. Barrie thinks people will be surprised by their strong visceral feelings as they progress through the exhibits. Guests can try their hands at shooting a simulated tommy gun and can
put themselves in law enforcement’s shoes, and listen to real FBI surveillance
tapes on wiretapping equipment.

The famed Kefauver hearings on organized crime are brought to life in the beautifully restored courtroom. Visitors can watch archival footage and dramatizations of mob bosses’ and other criminal figures’ testimonies, just as an estimated 30 million people watched the nationally televised hearingsover 50 years ago.

Barrie wants visitors to be surprised at what they learn and to fully understand the impact of organized crime.

Says Barrie of the Mob Museum, “I think it will be one of the most interesting museums in the world.”

Written by Andrea Smith, Special educational consultant to The Mob Museum.



DB.........