Where will the road take YOU?

Destination Diaries

The Mob Museum

By Angela Ash

Admittedly, I am a museum junkie. I love them. I like to actually read all of the plaques and information sheets on the walls. Yes, I am the person who holds up the line.

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However, I am very tempted to say that this may have been one of my all-time favorites.

The Mob Museum sits conveniently just off of Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. The building that houses this grand museum is quite something in itself. It was a U.S. post office, as well as the city’s first federal building, and held some pretty auspicious hearings. Just walking through the hallways and wondering who walked them before you is exciting, in almost an eerie way.

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Speaking of hearings, it was in this very building that the famous Kefauver ones took place. The series of hearings that publicly exposed organized crime shocked the country. And guess who is able to visit the exact courtroom? Well, YOU can when you visit the Mob Museum! This wonderful courtroom turned theater hosts a wonderful presentation on the hearings… yes, exactly where they happened.

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As you stroll through the museum, the vast array of other exhibits will be sure to fascinate even the visitor with a small passing interest in Mob history. I was literally taken aback when I found myself standing in front of the actual St.Valentine’s Day Massacre wall. It was so surreal to read the information leading up to the display and... oh look… there’s the, might I stress again, ACTUAL wall.

This is not the only fascinating wall in the Mob Museum. While every wall holds something of interest, I must have spent, well… an extremely long time in front of the photos of notorious mobsters. Sure, we have all seen things on television, or pictures in books and magazines, but there was something about gazing into their eyes in this particular building that just screamed “Hey, this stuff actually happened”. There is nothing sensationalized in this museum. Mark Twain once said that the truth is stranger than fiction. He must have had a premonition of the Mob Museum.

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And if you haven’t seen proof enough, wait until you get a look at some of the artifacts housed here. I can not stress enough that this is the real deal.  I could literally go on for hours about the insightful stories that this museum holds, but you should come see it for yourself.

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Visit online or call 702-229-2734 for additional details.

I can think of no better way to spend an afternoon in Las Vegas. I didn’t even have to sign up for a player’s card.