Was it the El Rancho Vegas? I know the El Rancho was the first casino built on the Vegas strip, so I'm assuming Bugsy muscled in on it. Could be wrong.

If so...

While he's not a gangster, per se, who is really the one to be credited for "inventing" Las Vegas?

I'm thinking that you mean Moe Dalitz, but he was a gangster--during Prohibition, he ran the Mayfield Road Gang that shipped oceans of booze across Lake Erie. Wilbur Clark also is a "pioneer" of Vegas, though many historians think he just fronted for the Mob. Senator Pat McCarren also is sometimes called "father" of Vegas.
Assuming one of the above is who you had in mind:
What was the first Vegas hotel that Bugsy Siegel muscled into? (Good try on El Rancho--he tried to muscle in there but was rebuffed. The hotel I have in mind was his next move.)

I'm glad this is back up and running!!

El Cortez was the first one they muscled into, right?

If so:
What was the name of the hotel that publicly rejected Siegel's offer to buy in, at the very beginning? (Hint: Liberace's first Vegas gig)

Well dammit, I think you stumped me! Judging that Turnbull hasn't replied, you mighta gotten him too!

El Cortez was the right answer. El Rancho Grande was the first hotel Siegel tried to get into and was rejected (and the owners lived to tell about it).
Q. What Hollywood sexpot was gangster Longie Zwillman's mistress until Howard Hughes took her away (and lived to tell about it). Hint: it wasn't Ava Gardner or Kathryn Hepburn.

Virginia Hill


What Mafia Captain was given the contract to have Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone, Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera killed?


Don Cardi

Salvatore Vitale, Joey Massino's brother in law.
Repeat of earlier Q: What Hollywood bombshell did Howard Hughes take away from Abner (Longy) Zwillman and live to tell about it? (It wasn't Virginia Hill, either--she was Bugsy Siegel's mistress, and he took her from Joe Adonis.)

(For some reason I thought that Hill had also had an affair with Hughes before Adonis, but she was not a hollywood bombshell anyway).


Was it Gloria Swanson?


Don Cardi

I guess mine wasn't the first, then. I was thinking of the Last Frontier (hence Liberace's first Vegas gig). I guess it was ONE of the first.

The movie star who was Zwillman's and later Hughes's mistress was the famous "Blond Bombshell": Jean Harlow.
Q. Which two gangsters took over the Flamingo Hotel within an hour of Bugsy Siegel's assassination?

Moe Sedway and Gus Greenberg


What is the name of the hitman who it is rumored carried out the contract on Bugsy Siegel?


Don Cardi

When you say "rumored," DC, you're opening up a very wide door, because no one knows for sure who pulled the trigger. In descending order of liklihood:
1. Luciano and Adonis ordered the hit because they suspected Bugsy and Virginia had stolen some or most of the $5-6 million they fronted for the Flamingo. The triggerman may have been Frankie (Mr. Gray) Carbo, who was one of the triggers for the Harry (Big Greenie) Greenbaum hit that Bugsy planned earlier. Carbo, who later ran the fight rackets for the Mob in NYC, would have had a personal incentive to kill Bugsy as well: eliminate someone who could have ratted him out on the Greenie hit. The movie "Bugsy" implies that Mickey Cohen may have pulled the trigger, but I doubt it.
2. LA Mafia boss Jack Dragna organized the hit in revenge for Bugsy's muscling in on his rackets. He got permission from Luciano to proceed. If that were the case, it'd validate the claim of Eddie Cannizzaro, who (much later) claimed to be the triggerman.
3. The Berman brothers did it--they were among the dozens of investors to whom Bugsy sold thousands of points in the Flamingo, but they had the muscle to do something about it.
4. Virginia Hill's brother, Chick, did the deed. Chick supposedly hated Bugsy and was known to own a .30 MI carbine, the type of rifle identified as the murder weapon. But so did several hundred thousand others.
5. The Chicago Mob ordered the hit because Hill was their eyes and ears in the West, and Bugsy abused her. I doubt it--she gave as good as she got, and probably abused Bugsy.

Assuming one of the above is the answer you were looking for:

Who assassinated Italian anarchist Carlo Tresca on Vito Genovese's orders?

Frankie Carranzo was the name I was looking for. It was rumored that Jack Dragna gave the contract to a Frankie Carranzo.


The answer to your question above is Carmine Galante.


Q: Who were the two hitmen that killed
Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano?


Don Cardi

Joey Massino and Ronald Filocomo.
Q. Who was the Puerto Rican drug dealer whose testimony sent Vito Genovese to prison?

Nelson Cantellops.

What Brooklyn mobster was the first man ever convicted under the RICO act?


Don Cardi

Frank (Funzi) Tieri.
Q. Which of the five NYC Dons was not charged in a RICO indictment in the famous Commission case?

Paul Castellano and Neil Dellacroce died before the government could sentence them...But Dellacroce wasn't a NYC boss so I would go for Paulie Castellano...
But I don't know if that is what you mean..

It's true that Castellano was charged in a RICO indictment but was killed before he was tried. But that's not what I meant. Let me try again:
Q. In the Commission case, four of the five NYC Dons were charged in RICO indictments. One Don was not charged. Who was he?

I believe that In the "Commission Case" John Gotti was NOT charged with Rico. As said above Castellano was originally charged, but did not live to face trial, and at that point Gotti was the New Don and had not been named in the original charge.


Don Cardi

Or was it Vincent Gigante? Wasn't he already made the boss before the trials, but no one knew about it yet? I may be wrong, but I think it is said that he was appointed when Tony Salerno got sick, right before the charges were ever brought up.

Turnbull, I believe that both Zia and I are correct. The Bosses charged in the commission case were :
Anthony Salerno, boss of the Genovese family.
Paul Castellano, head of the Gambino family.
Anthony Corallo, boss of the Lucchese family.
Philip Rastelli, boss of the Bonanno family.
Gennaro Langella, boss of the Colombo family.

Don Cardi

Are you going to ask a question?

As soon as Turnbull gives the nod to me or Zia!


Don Cardi

Sorry for the delay:
Vincent (the Chin) Gigante was who I was thinking of. He wasn't charged in the Commission case because he was considered non compos mentis. He got away with the crazy act until fairly recently. Gotti was charged at the same time jointly with Mr. Neil, but Mr. Neil died the same day the trial was to start, and the government had to separate Gotti's case from Neil's.
Zia's turn...

Which boss ordered several unsuccessful hits on his main competitor, Mickey Cohen?

Jack Dragna.
Q. Why was LA mobster Tony Cornero called "the Admiral"?

Cornero was in the bootlegging business and used a small fleet of boats to run his liquor. His specialty was overseeing the transfer of illegal liquor from ships, waiting off the coasts in international waters, to smaller boats that he owned that would then bring the liquor to desolate areas of shorline, hence becoming known as "The Admiral." After prohibition he eventually transformed those ships, that he had once used for bootlegging, into floating casinos.


Q: What are the names of the two Chicago Gangsters who were charged with the theft of a 45 carat diamond from a London jewelry store which eventually became known as " The Mob's Crown Jewel"?


Don Cardi

Joseph (Witherhand) Scalise and Arthur (the Genius) Rachel.
Q. Who was Capone's first boss when he arrived in Chicago from Brooklyn? (Hint: not Torrio.)

Big Jim Colosimo.


Q : What former Brooklyn New Yorker moved on to become the crime boss of Rhode Island?


Don Cardi

Frank (Butsey) Morelli.
Q. What notorious NY Mob boss befriended Fat Vinny Teresa in prison?