These blogs are not normally going include non work trips.  This trip was a holiday with my wife, we visit Las Vegas regularly as we were married there, and also my brother lives there.  This blog is not going to be about the holiday as such, but one place which we visited when were there, which I found as interesting and engaging as anywhere I have been in the world.

The history of Las Vegas is entwined with organised crime, and especially with the Italian Mafia.  This is a subject which I have always found fascinating and consider myself to be very well versed in.  It's not known exactly when the 'mob' became involved in Vegas, but the first instance that law enforcement put the two together was 2 May 1957, when then boss of the New York mafia Frank Costello was shot in the lobby of the majestic hotel in New York by Vicente 'the chin' Gigante, when the police arrived at the scene they found in Costellos inside jacket pocket a piece of paper on which was written the takings for the Tropicana Hotel for the previous week.  And the romance of a mob led Vegas was born.

The newest, and to my mind best attraction, in Las Vegas, is the National Museum of Organised Crime, locally known as the 'Mob Museum'.  It sits in the old Post Office building which was the site of the 15th November 1950 senate hearing which was during an investigation into whether a Mafia actually existed.  An historic site in this field.

Other attraction include the wall from the factory where Al Capones men conducted the St Valentines day Massacre, Meyer Lanskys headstone and even the suit worn by John Gotti when he was sentenced to life imprison.

I loved visiting this piece of American history and would recommend it to anyone who visits 'sin city'.