The Mob Museum — Attraction in Las Vegas

I was quite shocked and surprised at how awesome this museum was. It is a little on the dark side (they even have an "old sparky" Sing Sing electric chair that you are welcome to be strapped into and mock-electrocuted by your husband or wife!), so you have to be prepared for that sort of thing. It's fine for kids, it has a lot of good moral tales throughout, but it definitely accurately covers the horror and lawlessness of the mafia, etc all over the earth. It was full of very fascinating historical and pop culture entertainment. It's also just a little off the beat of normal museums. Don't miss the free day for locals that happens every year (we went on Saint Valentine's Day). It is reasonably priced for about 5 hours and 3 1/2 floors of real solid entertainment. Down in the basement they have a nice bar area and bootleg whiskey tasting on special days. They had a secret speakeasy room back behind a full-size painting, pretty cool! They had tons of stuff about various assassinations: The Saint Valentine's Day massacre which Hampton inn near where I lived in Lincoln Park Chicago. They have a great multimedia presentation in their large courtroom. A history of mobsters in film too. The building itself is a true beauty, having been a post office long ago. It's in a fairly easy to park area (might cost you about 10 or $15 to park nearby). There's a Cajun place across the street that you might want to hit after. They have all sorts of memorabilia from actual mob murders,Tommy guns, ballistic tests, a mock gun range where you can practice being an FBI dude. Anyway I was very impressed with how interactive and fun the joint was. I love weird/dark/offbeat stuff like this (I'm proud to say I swam just a few feet above one of the rotten rusty barrels containing 1970s human remains found recently in Lake Mead, dumped there by mobsters!) so this museum really worked for me.

They had their writer in residence, Frank Cabrese Jr who told a fantastic story about his life in the mob in Chicago right in the neighborhoods where I lived. He sells his book there which I would also highly recommend. I'm reading it now! He brought the whole thing alive and much closer to home inappropriately uncomfortable way. Check this place out and you will not be disappointed if you like anything to do with mob movies, Vegas history, racketeering, money laundering, gang wars, Al Pacino, Chicago, Vegas and New York gangs. Long live Brando, Deniro, Pesci, Scorsese...

If you’ve never visited this museum, I would strongly encourage you do. It’s filled with a myriad of interesting information, visual displays and historical data on the Mob and organized crime. The weaponry used by the Mob and the lengths they would go to avoid apprehension from authorities was astonishing. The Mob’s impact and influence on the justice system, local government and society in general was deeper than one would imagine. Several movies and documentaries highlighting the Mob’s rise and fall can be seen on all media genres. Guided tours are available, however, I would recommend self-tours allowing you more time to view the exhibit. After the tour as you walk through the gift shop you’ll find a “speak easy” offering a variety of alcoholic beverages, including “Moonshine.” I recommend ordering the “Moonshine Flight.” I’d also recommend the meat & cheese plates. The museum is extremely clean and its layout offers visitors a user friendly experience. The staff is friendly and understands the importance of good customer service. This exhibit is a must see for those who have a curiosity on this era and the Mob. It’s definitely a place where students should visit for an informative and educational experience.

3/6/24 @ 7pm

Attended a panel discussion at the museum focusing on the uptick in the number of women being sentenced to correctional institutions and the issues and challenges faced upon their release.

I found the discussion very insightful as it highlighted several contributing factors, which play a significant role in their incarceration. The impact of these incarcerations on the families and in particular the children can be devastating.

I did learn there are programs available, which assist women in transitioning back into society offering employment and teaching needed life skills. This is crucial in facilitating the reintegration of these women back into society.

The good news is women who once were incarcerated are now helping those being released.

The Mob Museum host a variety of special events which, I believe you’ll find very interesting and informative. More Information can be found on...

Skip this, and definitely skip the audio tour if you do go. The audio tour scanners are hard to find, clips short, and not very interesting/just cumbersome.

There are exhibits that are interestingly arranged, like creating the feeling of being in a court room, but this museum strikes me as the most propaganda-laden of any I've ever been to outside of authoritarian regimes (e.g., the national museum in Myanmar). It's perhaps less than 40% mafia and Vegas historical connections and 60% law enforcement public relations, tributes, and apologism. Corruption is seldom explored adequately, and the government/state is cast heroically as the good guys who cleaned up the mob. Their actions, such as harassment, are glossed over and excused as a necessary evil, if acknowledged at all. Their complicity is neglected.  There's a whole exhibit devoted to excessive force constructed in partnership with, and no dubt funded by, Las Vegas Metro Police (with UNLV "research"). It manipulatively showcases law enforcement public relations lines, championing transparency and body camera footage that is supposedly so helpful and protective, and paying lip service to consideration of implicit bias while emphasizing how hard it is for law enforcement that uses excessive force, how sorry we should feel for them, how entitled and legally excused they are (within their rights to do it), etc. One interviewee in the video even says that the police found out they had too many excessive force deaths "with the help of the newspaper" which they continue to deny public records to according to reporting. Just go to Review Journal and search "Las Vegas police." You're welcome. Skip this museum, especially if you're a Nevadan or a marginalized person. You'll walk through in awe, intellectualizing it as a case study in whitewashing and conflicts of interest, or horrified by the gravity of democratic erosions such historical cherry-picking and selective narrative illustrates. If you ask intellectuals like Chris Hedges, the line between the mafia and the state is so blurred that we've got a Mafia...