Vegas Reclaims Its Ties to the Mob

After more than a decade of playing every possible hand to draw visitors, Las Vegas is finally pulling its organized-crime card.

Swept under the table in favor of celeb chefs, theme nightclubs, and Broadway-style productions, Vegas’ ties to the mob continued to captivate both Hollywood and history buffs; from the ’40s through the ’70s, these ties made the city the gaming capital of the U.S. Now, two new, heavily publicized “interactive attractions” aim to cash in on that legacy.

Sure, there’s a story in the attractions’ similarities: Will a blood-crusted fedora here or bullet-pocked divan there dramatically alter one exhibit’s attendance? (Both properties have annual expectations in the mid- “hundreds of thousands.”)