Construction on the interior of the $50 million Las Vegas Musuem of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, to be housed in the old post office and federal-courthouse building on Stewart Avenue next to City Hall, is scheduled to begin "this spring." 300 Stewart Avenue Corp., the nonprofit group working with the city to launch the museum, is planning on a grand opening sometime next year.
And where's the $50 million coming from, you don't ask? We'll answer anyway: $7 million comes from grants, $8 million from city funds, and the remaining $35 million from bonds issued by the city’s redevelopment agency.
The closer this museum comes to fruition, the more heat it seems to be taking from various and sundry sources. The tone of it can be summed up by a crack from comedian Lewis Black on "The Daily Show" in January. "A mob museum? I thought Las Vegas already was a mob museum!"
300 Stewart Avenue Corporation insists that its sensitivities lean toward a "serious and balanced" presentation of the seamy side of Las Vegas history, while at the same time wanting the museum to have "appeal." We'll see. Should be interesting.
In the meantime, if you're interested in Las Vegas' mob history, you might like to check out some of the titles by ex-law enforcement officer and Huntington Press author Dennis N. Griffin, including The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. The Mob, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness, and Policing Las Vegas: A History of Law Enforcement in Southern Nevada. (All titles are available in soft-cover and e-book formats, while there's also a DVD interview with Cullotta available.)
