The Birth of Vegas | Sunrise on Sin City | 1

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1931, the massive Hoover Dam project brings thousands of workers to Nevada. They have paychecks and nowhere to spend them. The state legalizes gambling, setting a small, dusty town called Las Vegas on its way to becoming an unsurpassed phenomenon.

The mob realizes there are untold riches to be made in gaming, and by the late 1940s, gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel are opening casinos on the fledgling Strip.

For the mob, the situation is a dream come true. Gambling is legal, prostitution is ignored, and local politicians are either for sale or agreeable. And best of all, there’s virtually no competition.

But that won’t last.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.
0:14.0	A note to listeners. This episode contains adult language.
0:19.0	The New Catty
0:28.0	Is the summer of 1942. Temperatures push past 100 degrees under the searing Nevada afternoon sun.
0:36.0	As a dusty Cadillac sputters down Fremont Street, the main drag in a sleepy western town called Las Vegas.
0:44.0	The New Catty left Los Angeles a sleek and gleaming machine.
0:49.0	But as it heads east for six hours on highway 91, it takes a brutal beating, overheating repeatedly.
0:57.0	The car pulls over, and two men step out, squinting into the blinding sun.
1:05.0	Jesus Christ, Ben, some oasis you picked.
1:08.0	The town's a hellhole, Maya.
1:10.0	Maybe so, but remember, you can do something here. You can't do anywhere else in the country.
1:15.0	Ah, kill guys and bury them in the desert?
1:19.0	No. Talking about gambling here. Legal gambling.
1:24.0	Mopster's Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Bugsy's Seaco have fringe criminal business ties to Vegas.
1:31.0	They're on a scouting mission to expand their holdings.
1:35.0	I'm telling you, Ben, this place is an investment opportunity. Sure, it ain't much now, but the local governments easy to work with. They like making money.
1:46.0	Lansky is the head of the Jewish mob and a brilliant financier who runs his underworld business like a corporation.
1:55.0	He's made a fortune from narcotics, bootlegging and casinos with setups in Cuba, Florida, and New Orleans.
2:03.0	Now, he's focused on Vegas.
2:06.0	Competition is slim. El Rancho Vegas is pretty much the only game in town.
2:12.0	It's nothing special. A year old Cinder block structure with only 63 rooms.
2:18.0	Lansky wants Seagull to develop a major resort as a national gambling mecca, but he prefers staying out of the spotlight.
	...

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