THE “MOB” GREW LAS VEGAS PART I
I was born here in the “one and only” colorful Las Vegas, Nevada. I find the old mob stories interesting because they happened right here in Las Vegas. I thought you would enjoy these factual stories about the mob. I had a front-row seat. I knew a mob “boss” for 3-years and didn’t even know it. “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The Mob Museum gives the history of the mob here in Las Vegas; it will shock and entertain you at the same time.
In the early 50s, mobster John Roselli came to Las Vegas from Los Angeles 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 who was a “boss” for the Chicago Outfit, the patriarchs of the mobsters.
In the early 50s, Las Vegas was a very small town; 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 (a California mobster) to Las Vegas to oversee 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 where Al Bramlet made deposits for the unions.
Bramlet would come into the bank, daily, and make a huge cash 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.
It was rumored 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. The town knew it and so did the police.
Remembering these events brought back memories of the “old” mob and the legendary Ralph Lamb.
Sheriff Ralph Lamb (1961 to 1979) fought the mob for most of his tenure in office during the 60s and 70s. According to George Knapp, TV anchor and reporter for Channel 8 News; Knapp said, “many of the sensational stories about Lamb, like the one that he dragged Murder Inc.’s Johnny Roselli out of a coffee shop on the Strip,” are true.
The more research I did on the mob, I felt like I just came from the movie The UNTOUCHABLES, and Sheriff Lamb was Las Vegas’s own Elliot Ness.
So much crime was happening in Las Vegas and we were oblivious to it all.
However, I did know a mobster who was a ruthless killer, Al Bramlet. This soft-spoken man who came into the bank every day, I wouldn’t have thought this man couldn’t kill a fly let alone a human. Bramlet was an enforcer. One of the five Las Vegas crime bosses that were notorious for being hitmen, callus, and cold-blooded killers.
An example, looking back I never would have thought Al Bramlet was affiliated with the mob; Bramlet was an incredibly nice and respectful man when he came into the bank. He sure fooled all of us!
Bramlet was murdered in January 1977, he was 42-years old, his body was 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, do what was necessary to get needed information out of someone.
The Mob Museum tells their story and shows pictorially what methods the mob used to persuade someone “to see it their way.”
In the 60s and 70s, 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 was a lot of desert around Las Vegas and in the 50s Boulder Dam (now Lake Mead) was the perfect place to get rid of a body.
It has been said by native-born or long-time residents, Las Vegas was much cleaner and safer 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.
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