If Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman has his way, the history of the city's early days will not be forgotten. Goodman wants Vegas to create a "Mob Museum" to show how underworld figures and others were essential in the creation of the gambling mecca.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, we noticed with horror that all of its casino historical museums had closed. Las Vegas is in a perpetual state of disintegration and rebirth, with little time to think about the past.

So Mayor Goodman's proposal for the yet unnamed museum in a historic courthouse building sounds great. In a survey he had conducted in April, Vegas tourists liked the idea of the Organized Crime Museum. Goodman appears uniquely qualified to make it happen -- the popular mayor used to be a defense lawyer, his clients were some of the legendary racketeers and mobsters the museum could enshrine. [09/10/2006]

February 10, 2012