The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947-2000The shadowy past and present of Las Vegas--and its role in the shaping of today's America--are here revealed as never before by two of the country's leading investigative reporters. After five years of intensive research and interviewing, Sally Denton and Roger Morris make clear how and why Las Vegas became the greatest "business success story" of the twentieth century, and how the rest of America ensured this success by contributing capital as well as customers. Headquarters of a trillion-dollar worldwide empire, the site of unprecedented political and economic power, Las Vegas, in the view of Denton and Morris, is by no means an aberrant sin city. They demonstrate how, on the contrary, it has grown out of, and reflects, a corruption and a worship of money that have crept into American life since Prohibition. They trace the original funds for the founding of the Las Vegas we know today to nationwide narcotics trafficking. They show how deeply a multiethnic criminal syndicate, in part feeding off gambling profits and the skim in Las Vegas, came to influence American politics and the larger society, and how pervasively its "style of business" has penetrated the entire nation. Denton and Morris detail the amazing rise and reach of Meyer Lansky--the mind that ran the city; exactly how criminals, politicians, and businessmen worked together to control Las Vegas; the curious interplay of the city with the fates of Joseph, John F., and Robert Kennedy; how Howard Hughes and J. Edgar Hoover vastly intensified the city's corruption; how Mormon bankers and Wall Street financiers have bankrolled and profited from casinos ruled by organized crime; how a handful of dedicated journalistsand law enforcement officers were destroyed before they could expose the city's secrets. The Money and the Power is a detailed and illuminating chronicle of an extraordinary place and time-- and a provocative reinterpretation of twentieth-century American history. |
From inside the book
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Page 236
... Chicago . I own Miami . I own Las Vegas , " the Chicago mobster was known to boast . There was a flurry around the Black Book late in 1960 when state agents tried heavy - handedly to harass one of those named in it , a dapper , high ...
... Chicago . I own Miami . I own Las Vegas , " the Chicago mobster was known to boast . There was a flurry around the Black Book late in 1960 when state agents tried heavy - handedly to harass one of those named in it , a dapper , high ...
Page 317
... Chicago mob and California furni- ture manufacturer who had contracts to provide furnishings to Syndicate casinos in Las Vegas , decided to sell out . " Waiting to buy the corporation was a Korshak business associate , Delbert Coleman ...
... Chicago mob and California furni- ture manufacturer who had contracts to provide furnishings to Syndicate casinos in Las Vegas , decided to sell out . " Waiting to buy the corporation was a Korshak business associate , Delbert Coleman ...
Page 326
... Chicago Strike Force had subpoenaed all of Can- non's travel records and was calling witnesses to a grand jury there . Cannon and his neighbors never bought the property , and he maintained his inno- cence throughout the ordeal , but ...
... Chicago Strike Force had subpoenaed all of Can- non's travel records and was calling witnesses to a grand jury there . Cannon and his neighbors never bought the property , and he maintained his inno- cence throughout the ordeal , but ...
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The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America ... Sally Denton,Roger Morris No preview available - 2002 |
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agents already American associates attorney Authors bank became become brother called campaign casino century Chicago city's close committee Confidential interview corporate corruption criminal Dalitz decades Democratic described drug early federal figures finance force gambling gaming governor Greenspun House Hughes Ibid industry interests John journalist Kefauver Kennedy knew known Lansky Las Vegas later Laxalt less loans looking Maheu major McCarran million Mormon murder named Nevada never Nixon noted officials once operation organized crime owners political politicians president Press profits reporter Robert Rosselli Sawyer secret seemed Senate soon story Street Strip Syndicate Teamsters Thomas tion told town turned union University Vegas wanted Washington White wrote Wynn Yablonsky York