A heads up before we get started. Mobbed up contains explicit content such

as adult language and depictions of violence including murder. Please be advised that this podcast might not be suitable for all audiences. December 26th, 1946,

it's opening night at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, and the guest list includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

George Raff, George Sanders, Eleanor Parker, Vivian Blaine.

Plains full of stars have been flown in for the occasion,

and they show up to the hotel one by one in their glitziest attire.

Even the staff at the Flamingo is dressed to the nine's with car dealers wearing

tailcoats and white ties. Locals who stroll in are asked to remove their cowboy

hats something they're not thrilled about. But everyone in attendance is eager to explore the newest

resort in Las Vegas. The Flamingo wasn't the first hotel to open up on what we now call the strip, but it was going to be different.

Bigger, better, more refined and more luxurious than other hotels in town.

This was going to be the start of a new era for the resort industry in Las Vegas, at the time

a small desert city.

Millions of dollars have been poured into the construction of the Flamingo, and on

opening night in 1946, it showed.

The review journals Wally Williams would later write that on opening night the hotel quote

Looks like somebody visited the lot on which Cecilby de Mill is operating from

steals the swankiest set of the super colossal production,

transports it to Las Vegas, and sets it down in the sand and sagebrush.

Guys and dolls from Las Vegas and suburbs, such as Los Angeles and Hollywood, jam the joint until it appears the proprietors will

have to disjoint the walls to take care of the mob.

Of course when he wrote about the mob, Williams was just talking about the crowds. Once you got power a lot of power you don't care about the money no money.

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