Las Vegas Investment

At the showgirl award show, my wife and I have interviewed Bugsy Siegel’s girlfriends at Binion’s casino for breakfast. The ladies still love him, but claim he was completely over his head when he thought he could borrow millions to turn the Flamingo into a profitable enterprise. The ladies who still perform by signing autographs at award shows recall stables for horses. Few spaces for parking cars. Automobiles were a luxury. Valets parked the few cars that were around Vegas. The casinos resembled ranches similar to fancy farms with swimming pools. Not resorts like Caesars, Mandalay, or Bellagio. Frank Sinatra got angry when the floors were covered with saw dust. This was normal on the ranch where cowboys tied their horses to the bar. Saw dust decorated the wooden floor. Frank Sinatra yelled at the mafia Godfathers from New York City and Chicago. Sinatra had performed in Monte Carlo, France. He sang in Paris, Vienna, and London. He wanted to see classic furniture fit for kings. Sinatra wanted curtains, silk, and satin, so that customers would feel like royalty. The Hollywood celebrities Sinatra was hosting also wanted to feel like they were gambling on the French Riveria. Meyer Lansky’s casino in Havana, Cuba was named the Riveria. Employees used horses to go from one stable to the next. Each casino had a stable with caretakers, but the movie stars were provided with European comfort. Their treatment was so nice that the ladies I interviewed still remember the Supper Clubs. After the Supper Clubs provided steak dinners, performers sang. When the stage cleared, Sinatra, Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Joey Bishop played poker with guests on the casino floor. I dated a girl whose grandfather invented the famous seasoning salt known as Lawrys. Her grandmother played cards with Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra. The next table had Dean Martin. They would yell over the crowd at each other. Jokes flew across the room. Bands played music from a stage in the corner. My girlfriend’s grandmother saw everything, because Lawry’s seasoning salt was created during the Great Depression when folks couldn’t afford to buy meat. The seasoning was used by restaurants to turn the taste of chicken, cheaper than beef, into a flavor that tasted like red meat instead of poultry. When seasoning salt made its way to the shelves of grocery stores, restaurants, and bars that used the seasonings to blend into a bloody Mary cocktail, my girlfriend’s grandmother made millions. Her and her husband were treated to the best resorts in Vegas. She talked endlessly about Sinatra. She even remembered when her husband had a headache. He left her at the card table where she played poker with the famous singer. The burlesque showgirls from that era still remember Bugsy. During my interviews Siegel is as good as alive and the night he died still shocks them as well. No one likes Virginia Hill. They blame her for stealing, ruining Siegel, and ruining his marriage to his wife. There is scorn in their voice aimed at Virginia Hill. Hill was one of the first to skim from the casinos. She hid $2.5 million in a Swiss bank account. The IRS seized her house after she was convicted of tax fraud. The mafia had her killed in Salzburg, Austria. The death was identical to Marilyn Monroe’s accidental sleeping pill overdose. Students talk about the professor’s lecture in class. Witnesses found Virginia Hill’s body near a stream ice cold. March is the time when the most snow falls. Virginia Hill was bright, not stupid, so why take sleeping pills with armed guards near the river. Yes, witnesses saw Hill escorted home. Joe Adonis was summoned to testify at the Kefauver Commission in 1950. Virginia Hill also testified with Frank Costello at the Kefauver Commission investigating organized crime. Hill was killed outside by orders from Adonis. She stole money in Las Vegas. The mafia tracked her farther than the IRS could reach. No one gets away with fraud against the groups controlling Las Vegas.

Reporting from Las Vegas, Nevada

p.s. Ask about rides from Boulder, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada