THE MOB GREW LAS VEGAS PART I
BY
Sharon Hulihan
I was born, raised, and educated here in the “one and only” colorful Las Vegas, Nevada. I’ve seen and heard a lot about my town, Vegas. I find the “old” mob stories interesting because they happened right here in Las Vegas, and I thought it was worth sharing my thoughts with you.
The Mob Museum gives the history of the mob here in Las Vegas; it will shock and entertain you at the same time.
In 1931, John Roselli came to Las Vegas from Chicago to oversee the beginning of the mob here in Las Vegas.
In doing research on the mob for this article, I was shocked to learn I knew a mobster, Al Bramlet.
In the early 70s, Las Vegas was a small town with approximately 300,000 people living here; Las Vegas was in its infancy and well-poised for corruption in gaming and prostitution.
The Chicago Outfit saw this as an opportunity to profit and sent John Roselli to oversee Vegas’s gaming and Hollywood’s movie industries' financial gain and make sure the mob “bosses” got a percentage of the profits.
Fast-forward to the 70s, a colorful, pleasant, and soft-spoken man, Al Bramlet was the most powerful man in the Labor and Culinary Unions in Las Vegas. The union headquarters was a block away from the bank where I worked, and Al Bramlet made deposits for the unions.
Bramlet would come into the bank, daily, and make a huge money deposit. Unbeknownst to myself and other tellers, Bramlet was a soldier for the mob and used the Culinary and Labor Unions as a front for mob activities: greed, gaming, and prostitution. Seemingly, the underworld ran Las Vegas.
In my research, I found out Bramlet was responsible for bombing three restaurants in Las Vegas.
I remember when “David’s Place,” a popular eating establishment, was bombed and burnt to the ground. The owners never rebuilt.
There were rumors the mob bombed the restaurant because the owners would not pay protection money. There was no one that came forward to confirm or deny the allegation, and not enough evidence that would tie the mob to the bombing, but it was suspected the mob was responsible for bombing the restaurant.
Remembering these events brought back memories of the “old” mob.
An example, looking back I never would have thought Al Bramlet was affiliated with the mob; Bramlet was an incredibly nice and respectful man.
Bramlet was murdered in January 1977, he was 42-years old, and dumped somewhere near Mount Potosi, Nevada.
The mob was ruthless when a business didn’t pay protection money, do what the mob wanted them to do, or get needed information out of someone.
The Mob Museum tells and shows pictorially what methods the mob used to persuade someone “to see it their way.”
In the 70s and 80s, there were five notorious mobsters murdered here in Las Vegas: Bill Coulthard, Marvin Shumate, Al Bramlet, Herbert Blitzstein, and Ted Binion.
What is interesting, if a mobster didn’t complete an assignment; or, failing at one, the mob took that seriously, and they took care of one of their own. There is a lot of desert in Nevada, and Lake Mead was the perfect place to dump a body.
It has been said by native-born or long-time residents, Las Vegas was much cleaner when the mob ran Las Vegas.
“I think when the mob ran this town it was a lot safer than those that built the parks and pools. They made sure that employees had what they needed, got their benefits, their pay raises when they deserved it, and if anybody tried to do anything bad against the good people, they’d go to the force and they would take care of it. They made sure the town ran good, and now it's just a mess. That’s what I think.”
Tonya M.
Follow Sharon Hulihan on medium.com for future articles on other colorful people or events that occurred in Las Vegas; past or present.
Any stories you would like me to research and write about, contact me for an article fee, or any other research or writing project. I would like to hear your comments on this story. Email: cwritingguru@gmail.com
