The Birth of Vegas | Casino Combat | 4

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Vegas is getting a bad rap in the press, thanks to the increasing spotlight on the mob’s control. The legitimate powers in the halls of Nevada government need something—or someone--to spread a veneer of respectability over Sin City.

That someone arrives. He’s one of the most wealthy, powerful men on the planet. And he’s also a loose cannon. As far as new governor Paul Laxalt is concerned, that’s not a deal breaker.

And rich developer Kirk Kerkorian has plans to build the biggest hotel on the planet. Plans that herald a new wave of building on the Vegas Strip.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Business Wars Add Free on Amazon Music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:07.0	It's Thanksgiving Day, 1966, at 4 a.m.
0:28.2	It's still dark with a chill in the air.
0:32.7	Two private train cars stop at an abandoned depot four miles north of Las Vegas.
0:38.3	It's an isolated barren stretch.
0:41.8	A small cargo van waits by the tracks its engine running.
0:46.2	At the wheel is Chicago mobster Johnny Rosselli, known as Hansom Johnny.
0:52.2	He's a fit, affable guy who favors tasteful suits.
0:57.0	His associate Joe Brine ride shotgun.
1:00.4	Brine surveys the scene and shakes his head.
1:04.4	Christ Johnny, I can't believe this is how the guy comes to Vegas.
1:07.6	He's a freaking multi-billionaire.
1:10.2	It's just weird.
1:13.1	You think this is weird?
1:16.2	You ain't seen nothing yet.
1:18.7	Rosselli flashes his headlights three times at the train.
1:22.6	Two men slowly emerge carrying a stretcher.
1:27.4	Sprawled on top of it is the emaciated billionaire in question.
1:32.3	Howard Hughes.
1:35.2	Hughes is 61 and a shadow of his former self.
1:39.5	In the 1920s, he was a Hansom Maverick aviator.
	...

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