At the risk of beating a dead horse, I’ve finished another book that deals with Las Vegas casinos and the impact organized crime had on the city and its eventual financial health as the 1980s rolled around. However, Vegas and the Chicago Outfit is primarily about how the Outfit came to power, how its early... Continue Reading →
Collecting Casino Chips Never Gets Old
The first casino chip I ever saved was from the Pacheco Inn after I lost $18 playing poker and saved two $1 chips. I was underage, but that never stopped me from cruising the poker rooms in Northern California or casinos at Lake Tahoe, and I always found chips to collect. Now, as good as... Continue Reading →
The Lure of Casino Chips
What is it exactly that makes people collect casino chips? Is it the round shape? After all, who hasn't taken a coin of some type and flipped it - heads, tails, heads, tails............that's got to be a universal urge. But chips, I'm not sure. The fact that you can hold a chip in your hand... Continue Reading →
El Rancho – First on the Las Vegas Strip in 1941
The El Rancho in Las Vegas was built by Thomas Hull as an addition to his chain of “El Rancho” hotels in Gallup, New Mexico, and Fresno and Sacramento, California. The 63-cabin resort was designed as a way-station, a break for families to enjoy on their trip through Nevada, not as a casino property. Still,... Continue Reading →
Mob City – Reno Connection
When Lucky Luciano organized the first Commission of the American Mafia, the cities with representation were all large, heavily invested in the riches from Prohibition, and had a ready delivery system for the booze that came in, usually along waterways and docks controlled by gangs. Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland (although each currently seeing a decline... Continue Reading →
Totally Nevada Since the 1970s
I've thought Totally Nevada since I was a kid in the 1970s when we traveled through the state. There were so many things to do (skiing, horseback riding, swimming at Lake Mead and Lake Tahoe, sneaking into the Sahara pool on the Strip, and wandering the casinos looking for loose quarters in the coin trays... Continue Reading →
Vegas and the Mob Book Trailer
Thanks for watching - Al W Moe
Vegas and the Mob
The Mob didn't start the gambling in Nevada, and especially not in Las Vegas. In fact, they were relative latecomers, since Nevada had gambling for years before it was officially legalized in 1931. Because Nevada was such a large state with such a small population, there wasn't much reason to spend any capital to set... Continue Reading →
Beautiful Heber, Arizona and the Buckskin Lodge
So here we are, halfway between Casino Arizona's Talking Stick Resort in 60 degrees Scottsdale and Buffalo Thunder, outside Santa Fe in New Mexico. All right, halfway may not be accurate. I can't remember. Talking Stick has 497 rooms, Buffalo Thunder has 395. Heber, Arizona along highway 260, 40 miles... Continue Reading →
2010 Chip Convention on the way to Las Vegas
The 2010 edition of the CC>CC convention hits Las Vegas in just a few weeks. This year's event is being held at the South Point Casino. Conventioneers will begin arriving as early as the 18th, but the main event, the show in the Grand Ballroom, opens to the public on June 24th at 10:00 AM... Continue Reading →