City Of Las Vegas: 10 Years Of The Mob Museum

Press release from the City of Las Vegas:

Feb 11, 2022

The Mob Museum is celebrating 10 years in downtown Las Vegas! We had the opportunity to sit down with the visionary himself, former city of Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman to learn how the idea for a Mob Museum came to be. 

Goodman takes us back to 1999 just after he was sworn in as Mayor. Goodman remembers looking down from his office window from city hall at the historic property that now houses the Mob Museum. “The first old building I saw that registered in me was the first day I was sworn in as mayor,” said Goodman. “I went up to top of city hall, looked down and said, what’s the story with that old post office and courthouse. ”This is when Goodman got the ball rolling to convert the historic property into a Museum. In 2002 the federal government sold the building to the city of Las Vegas for $1, with the understanding that it be preserved and used as a cultural center. Preferable, a museum. Goodman liked the idea, “I’m thinking to myself, that’s a good deal, we have the dollar.”

The building at 300 Stewart Avenue opened in 1933 as the U.S. Post office and courthouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic places. It wasn’t long before the building gained national attention. The courthouse was the setting for one of the famed Kefauver Committee hearings. Las Vegas casino owners and managers with ties to notorious Mob bosses arrived in the second-floor courtroom on November 15, 1950, to answer questions about the Mob from members of the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce. From the Kefauver hearings, to trials, to information shared as federal agents passed each other in the hallways, compelling history happened within this building.

Goodman recalls trying his very first federal court case in the old building. “It was my first federal case. I was nervous. I didn’t know how to pick a jury and the fellow who I’m representing was this mobster’s brother. And the mobsters brother said, you better win this case!” And Oscar did win that case and during his career as a defense attorney, he represented defendants accused of being some of the leading organized crime figures in Las Vegas.

“At the end of the case I got the recordation and I gave it to the mob museum, so you can go there and actually hear a recording--a real recording. It’s not something that’s made up, it’s a recording of a real mafia induction ceremony.”

The centerpiece of the Mob Museum is the second-floor courtroom where Goodman tried his first federal case. The Museum also acquired the brick wall where the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre took place. Other exhibits focus on Mob violence, casino money skimming operations, and the efforts of law enforcement to counteract and eliminate those criminal operations. Jonathan Ullman, President and CEO for the museum explains what can be expected with a visit to the museum. “The mob museum offers an incredible journey; it really starts at the turn of the 20th century. It tells the story of organized crime taking root in America, by the time you work your way through, you’re in present day to organized crime in the 21st century.

Ullman says no visit to the Museum would be complete without a trip down to the basement to visit the fully operational speakeasy and distillery. “It’s such an amazing environment to be in because it’s a working speakeasy. You can shimmy up to bar, get yourself a prohibition era cocktail and learn the history behind that cocktail. ”There are also actual artifacts build right in the bar. “Video, other types of graphics and panels tell you all sorts of amazing stories about the prohibition era while you get to enjoy a little taste of it for yourself.” Jonathan explains that if you were to go through the museum and watch every video, read every panel, try every interactive experience, it would literally take you days. “There is so much we have packed into this building, and it’s all so fascinating.”

Last fall the Mob Museum crossed the 3 million visitor mark and before the pandemic, every single year the Museum has increased attendance. Every year on the February 14th Anniversary, all Nevada residents can visit the Museum for free.

Even though criticized initially for his idea, Goodman always knew the museum would be a success, “I knew it. I knew when I said you know we need something different, that’s Las Vegas, that no other place in the world has. Our history like it or not, is we were born for the mob.”

For more information on the Mob Museum, you can visit themobmuseum.org.

This press release was produced by the City of Las Vegas. The views expressed here are the author’s own.