When the Mob Museum opens next year in downtown Las Vegas, visitors will see much more than what occurred in Las Vegas from the 1940s through the 1980s, according to the future downtown museum's creative director. "I think you're all going to be very surprised about the content of this museum," says Dennis Barrie, best known as the co-creator of the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
CARSON CITY – The conversion of the Post Office in Las Vegas to the so-called Mob Museum has received a $220,000 grant from the state Commission for Cultural Affairs.
The planned mob museum has yet to receive a warm embrace from the community. Whether it's feared gimmicky content or the outrageous use of public funds to the very idea of highlighting a violent past, there's been a lot of complaining. So we decided to talk it out with Dennis Barrie, the museum's creative director. Because if anyone knows about this type of situation, it's this guy.
Whether it’s feared gimmicky content or the outrageous use of public funds to the very idea of highlighting a violent past, there’s been a lot of complaining about the planned mob museum.
The Las Vegas City Council took another step forward this morning on building a mob museum in the city's downtown. And they also heard it is still on track to be open to the public in a little more than a year in the historic federal office building and post office building at 300 Stewart. On a 6-1 vote, the council approved spending another $83,020 from the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs to continue seismic retrofit measures.
A new mob war is brewing in Las Vegas. On one side, you’ve got the long-planned, $50 million downtown mob museum sponsored by the city. On the other, you’ve got three investors planning their own display at a Strip hotel.
Why stop at a mob museum? If the Mayor is right, if we can launder the city’s grubby soul into squeaky-clean tourist coin, why not capitalize on the full range of immorality Vegas offers?
The mafia was the center of attention Friday night in the Clark County Commission Chambers, as the room played host to a panel discussion on the mob in Las Vegas. The panel is part of a monthly series celebrating the county’s 100th anniversary. The event offered a unique platform for people once on opposing sides of organized crime to come together.
The most expensive arbitration in Las Vegas’ history, costing taxpayers $3.3 million and counting, involves APCO Construction. The city claims the 23 courts at the Darling Memorial Tennis Center weren’t built properly and that each court was cracked before the center opened. In turn, APCO claims its warnings about design flaws were ignored, and is seeking $7 million in damages. Despite being at odds with the city over the costly project, APCO, a well-connected company founded almost a half-century ago, has continued bidding for, and winning, major city contracts since the arbitration began in 2005.
An homage to the legendary shooting of seven men in 1929 will be on display when the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement opens in early 2011. In a news conference this morning at the museum site on Stewart Avenue between Fourth Street and Casino Center Boulevard, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced that the brick wall from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre would be part of the so-called Mob Museum's exhibit.
A judge has denied a motion from an unsuccessful bidder for the Las Vegas Mob Museum that was seeking to have the Las Vegas City Council re-evaluate its bid for the project.
An unsuccessful bidder for the Las Vegas Mob Museum project asked a court Tuesday to intervene and award it the job. Flagship Construction Co. sued the city of Las Vegas in Clark County District Court, saying it twice was the lowest responsible bidder for the job -- but that the work was eventually wrongly awarded to competitor APCO Construction for $11.5 million.
