For my friends on The Chip Board, I've got another book Give-away. I have a new book out, Vegas and the Mob, and the first 5 people who ask for a copy in this thread get an autographed copy for just $5 total, delivered. You can pay via Paypal. This new book is 188 pages with a complete index. The books will ship next week.

Kindle copies (you can download a free kindle reader for your computer, I-pad, or even your phone) at Amazon are just $4.95

The book centers on how the Mob grew, when they took over casinos in Las Vegas, and how the Mob skimmed so much cash out of the desert:

The truth about Las Vegas, unlike the watered-down versions you might have read elsewhere. Sin City was the Mob’s greatest venture and most spectacular success, and through forty years of frenzy, the FBI watched, listened on phone tapes, and did virtually nothing. Thank goodness for that, because Vegas wouldn’t be what it is today without the Mob!

Two of the nation’s most powerful crime family heads went to prison in the 1930’s, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano. Frank Nitti took over the Chicago Outfit while, Frank Costello ran things for the Luciano Family. Both men were influenced by their bosses from prison, and both sent enough gangsters onto the streets to influence loan sharking, extortion, union control, and drug sales.

Bugsy Siegel worked for both groups, handling a string of murders and opening up gaming on the west coast, and that included Las Vegas, an oasis of sin in the middle of the desert – and it was legal. Most of it. The FBI watched as the Mob took control of casino after casino, killed off the competition, and stole enough money to bribe their way to respectability back home.

New York’s “Lucky Luciano” was getting a taste of the profits in the 1930’s, Detroit, Kansas City, and Chicago weren’t far behind. By the 1940’s, nearly every crime family in the United States had a stake in a Las Vegas casino. Some did better than others. Vegas casino owners watched-over their profits while competing crime families eyed the others success like jealous lovers. Murder often followed.