MY REVIEW OF MY FAVORITE TRUE-CRIME AUTHOR



September 10, 2015   Thursday

When true-crime author Dina Di Mambro reviewed my 30 Illegal Years To The Strip on Amazon.com, I reread her book so I could review it and confirmed she earned 5-Stars. My review follows.

Carefully researched and interesting true-crime writing in the glamour of Hollywood!

I really enjoyed True Hollywood Noir: Filmland Mysteries and Murders, because the author handled every element of the presentation extremely well. I am impressed with her depth of research, her coherent organization of the issues, and the clarity of her writing. With each of the dozen murders, she presents a very human view of the lifestyle and character of the victim and the relevant key figures in his or her life. While factually too little evidence was ever discovered in some cases to judge guilt, in the other cases, she draws well-reasoned conclusions based on a strong preponderance of evidence. This all combines to create interesting, first-rate writing. That is why this book established her as my favorite true-crime author.

On a personal note, I was 17-years old when the press reported George Reeves committed suicide. Since Superman was one of my favorite early TV shows, I was very disturbed by this event. It was hard for me to process how a man who had so much going for him would commit suicide. In this book, the author proves Reeves' was murdered and points to the likely suspect. The author's excellent analysis transformed what appeared to be a suicide, which I found unsettling, into a murder that, while sad, is understandable.

MY THIRD APPEARANCE WITH A RADIO HOST



September 8, 2015

I did a third 45-minute interview with the female radio host in Los Angeles who is interested in legal issues. I think I have become her favorite return guest when an opening arises in her schedule.

MY THIRD RADIO INTERVIEW FOR SENIORS



August 13, 2015   Thursday

Today, I did the third one-hour monthly interview on the seniors' network. Each interview featured a different theme from 30 Illegal Years To The Strip. The network went into such detail because the senior listeners lived through the last of the era covered in the book and most knew these gangsters' names well. This show also focused on some of the many legal injustices of that era.

A READER'S WELCOME REVIEW!



August 7, 2015   Friday

Dina Di Mambro is my favorite true-crime author, so I was thrilled when she called to tell me she had read my book 30 Illegal Years To The Strip and critiqued it on Amazon.com with 5 Stars. This is her revue.

Well researched and fascinating!

This book is exhaustively researched and fascinating reading. Future authors who cite this work will owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Friedman for putting a wealth of documented information all in one place. "30 Illegal Years to the Strip" is more of an information bank than advertised "mafia encyclopedias", the exception being that it is well written, exciting and captures the reader's interest. It is not just a dry listing of the facts but is most readable. In addition to research on the previously published, the author does not rely strictly on secondary resources having done interviews of his own with mob legends such as "Jimmy Blue Eyes" and others. The author gives well rounded portrayals of leading mob figures showing them as real human beings---neither all good nor all bad. One myth that has been perpetuated over the decades is that Charles "Lucky" Luciano was involved with narcotics and prostitution for which he was arrested in 1936. Friedman sets the record straight; Luciano was framed by Thomas Dewey. While most definitely a foremost leader in organized crime, Luciano, at this point, was not involved with drugs and flesh peddling. The fact that Friedman corrects this misconception leads me to believe the veracity of the other information presented in this book. Love "30 Illegal Years to the Strip: The Untold Story" and I'm looking forward to reading other works by this author.

A READER POINTS OUT INCONSISTENCIES IN AMC'S THE MAKING OF THE MOB: NEW YORK



August 6, 2015   Thursday

Reader Jim Walmsley of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania emailed me his observations about the recent AMC-TV eight-part one-hour series The Making Of The Mob: New York that ran from June into August 2015.

He said, "I have been reading your book - 30 Illegal Years, as I have also been watching the weekly show "Making of the Mob" on AMC. That show's timeline, etc. is about the same as your book. However - there are so many absolute contradictions. The TV show doesn't acknowledge the widepread corruption in government at all. That shows puts ALL of the blame on the mob and the members."

I explained to Jim the reasons for the many incredible differences between the advertised "authentic" TV series and my book. "Thank you for taking the time to email me about my book 30 Illegal Years To The Strip. You can systematically confirm every fact I learned in my lifelong historical research because my book contains 546 endnotes of all my sources that are detailed in 41 pages. The date of every important event is listed along with extensive timelines of interrelated dates. Much of the information about New York gang activities and the city's politics came from the New York Times, and most about these activities in Chicago came from the Chicago Tribune. Thus, you can quickly confirm most facts by looking up the dates in one of these two newspapers' archived files, which are offered to the public on the internet for inspection. I believe you will find my presentations are highly accurate based on the investigative reports presented in these two newspapers and the many other sources that I used such as FBI files.

"This type of analysis using the dates presented in my endnotes will also expose the many gross inaccuracies presented in AMC's eight-part series The Making Of The Mob: New York that you refer to. The specific evidence collected at the crime scene is where effective detective work and true-crime analysis begins, but this series depicts one gangland murder after another very inaccurately. If you study the facts contained in the police reports, autopsies, coroner inquests, and newspaper investigative reports, you will find that most of the murders in this TV series suffer from one or more of the following forensic errors. They are at the wrong time of day, in an improper location, have an incorrect number of shooters and/or gunshots, and/or the wounds are inflicted to wrong parts of the body. If essential details of the killings are incorrect, how can anyone rely on the suppositions presented about the complex subjects of properly assigning guilt and determining motivation?

"This TV series is filled with many incredibly incorrect statements, and each should have raised a glaring red flag to anyone who claims to be an expert about the early history of organized crime. For example, in that era, there was no federal statute against murder, except for the killing of a federal law-enforcement agent. Yet, the AMC TV series has FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover  investigating three local murders over which the Justice Department had no jurisdiction to prosecute, and the FBI's files demonstrate that agents never investigated. Then, in Luciano's prostitution trial, AMC dramatizes the gangster's testimony and Prosecutor Tom Dewey's statements to the jurors, but their words on TV are the exact opposite to what they actually said in the courtroom, as reported not only in the New York Times, but also in the book by Dewey's career-long publicist Hickman Powell (Lucky Luciano: The Man Who Organized Crime in America). Even though Dewey was the lead prosecutor in Manhattan in New York County (or Borough), AMC has him prosecuting three cases in Brooklyn in King County, which had a different DA. Not only did Dewey have no jurisdiction in King County, but the records of these Brooklyn prosecutions demonstrate that Dewey had no participation in these trials. The AMC series also has Meyer Lansky building new casinos in Havana a decade before Cuba allowed them. AMC states that New York's Ben Siegel led the huge extortion of the Hollywood movie studios, but the unions that directed these shakedowns were under the sole control of the Chicago gang. The leaders of these unions and the studio owners testified against the Chicago-gang thugs regarding every aspect of the extortion, leaving no conceivable role for Siegel. And the list of well-documented serious errors presented in this AMC TV series goes on, and on, and on with this type of gross misinformation.

"You should also consider the veracity of the sources AMC relied on for this series. Not one person who was quoted had been born when these events occurred, and AMC does not explain how any of them learned anything about what they were talking about. AMC used a number of actors who appeared in fictional mobster films; a few organized-crime authors, including the co-author of The Last Will and Testament of Lucky Luciano, which the nation's press proved was a complete fraud before it was even published; a federal prosecutor, even though it was the IRS and local prosecutors rather than the FBI and Justice Department who brought down these gang leaders; and a former mob associate who would not have known any of the characters discussed in this series. Finally, extensive law enforcement investigations and criminal trial testimonies prove that many of AMC's assertions about some of the key characters are totally untrue, including AMC's even placing some top mobsters in the wrong New York gangs."

Jim's reply to me said, "Thanks so much for your detailed response in regard to the glaring discrepancies between your book and the AMC series. I did, often times as I was reading the book and then again after I completed the book, read all of the end notes and sources you cited. That was a very helpful addition to your work. The endnotes which I referred back to as I was reading were also valuable as your book wasn't an "easy read" - that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that in today's world of most people wanting things to be simple and immediate your book required some thought and I found myself rereading and referring to the endnotes for further explanation.

"I have passed my copy on to an employee of mine and have recommended the book to several others that I know have an interest on the subject. I encourage those who find themselves watching the AMC series to read your book, 30 Illegal Years. I am disappointed and a bit sad when shows like "Making of the Mob" are able to present "history" so inaccurately. ... Feel free to use my questions and comments in your blog. I am interested to read the views of others as well.

A READER'S QUESTION ABOUT GANGSTER MOE DALITZ



July 28 2015   Tuesday

Reader Anthony Damato of Staten Island, New York, emailed me his interesting thoughts about my book, including the following question. He asked, "As an eyewitness and player to a time in American history that is unique to the American experience in terms of men, money and results, do you ever think of what would have happened in your life, had you lost your nerve and never made that (telephone) call that fateful Sunday morning to Mr. Dalitz?"

I had explained in detail on the Coast-to-Coast AM interview about how Moe Dalitz, who  built the Desert Inn and Stardust gambling resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, at our first meeting had ordered me to stop my research and leave town, because he was afraid my actions would cause him to go to prison. After that first angry meeting, he and his key executives became major contributors to my research, and he assisted my career in the Las Vegas casino industry. I had mentioned his contributions in the Preface to 30 Illegal Years To The Strip.

I replied to Anthony, "To your question about what my life would have been like if I had not made contact as a young man with Moe Dalitz and had not then been mentored by him and his key executives, I cannot begin to imagine. Dalitz built the first high-rolling casino on the Strip at the Desert Inn and then built the world’s biggest hotel and casino at the Stardust that catered to all economic levels. He created the template for both types of operations, and without all the interviews with the members of his organization, I would never have been able to understand what had occurred or why in a key part of the Strip’s development, nor would I have likely found a great career path like the one that opened up. Opportunity only knocks so many times in any life, and this is an example of why a person should embrace one with fervor."

THREE RADIO SHOWS



July 16, 2015   Tuesday

So far this month, I have done three radio interviews, all of them repeat appearances that I hope were because of popular demand. It began with a 15-minute interview with the woman who was the first to introduce my book three months ago on April 10.

Then I did a second one-hour interview on the seniors' network. This was followed by another one-half hour interview with the Midwest network.

BLOG REVIEW BY TALK-RADIO HOST



June 30, 2015  Tuesday

Today the following review about 30 Illegal Years To The Strip was published by Stan Wiesleder's View From Over Here to his 25,000 blog subscribers. Stan is a talk-radio host and retired Los Angeles Police Department detective. Thank you, Stan!

A PERSON OF INTEREST
The other week I met and had lunch with an author whose books I admire and am fascinated with.  What are they about? Gangsters, gamblers, hoodlums and assorted crooked politicians.  So what else is new?  I don't think that there has been another individual who has been able to cross the line, back and forth, in order to get the stories that to this day have eluded all of us, including the vaunted FBI.
The author's name is Bill Friedman, who I met through Irwin Zucker, and the names of his books are: "All Against The Law" and the newly released, "30 Illegal Years To The Strip". If you would like to acquire copies of these books, contact bill@BillFriedmanAuthor.com.
 We met at the Gold Town Casino in Pahrump, NV, which is roughly halfway between Vegas and the Amargosa Valley, where he lives with his wife Glady and a host of farm animals.  Not at all like your typical Vegas casino with all the glitz, the Gold Town Casino could have been a substitute for a movie set of a decrepit old west casino.  Before I left on the hour or so drive from Vegas, my wife said to me, "Are you nuts?  You sure you want to do this interview?  This guy sounds like he's connected up the wazoo.  Maybe you should take your Beretta with you."
I have to admit that in spite of the reputation of his subjects and subject matter, Bill Friedman is a nice guy, down to earth, unassuming and straight talking, or in Vegas parlance, a "stand up guy".  I don't remember what Bill had for lunch when we met but I had potato skins with extra jalapeno peppers.
I started the interview with the following questions, "Tell me, what's a nice Jewish guy like you doing in a place like Amargosa Valley?  You're not in the Witness Protection Program, are you?"  It turned out to be a good opener because it got him to chuckle, albeit ever so slightly.
We talked about everything, starting with his fascination with gambling, gamblers and the world of casinos from when he was but seven years of age.  I know what you're thinking.  So what?  Don't some kids declare at that early age that they want to grow up to be a doctor, an actor, a policeman or policewoman or maybe even, God forbid, an attorney or a politician?
Before Bill began to write about Las Vegas with everything and everyone that led up to it, he put in his time as a Blackjack dealer and eventually managed casinos for Howard Hughes, who he readily admits that he never met.  He has also taught and written about successful casino management.  In short, he's been there and done that.
The people that he interviewed and got to know over a lifetime of dedicated research staggers the imagination.  Whatever these individuals confided to Bill about themselves and their business of gambling, or gaming if you will, and the casinos they ran, they never did with anyone else.  Although these people have all died, Bill has been able to verify, once he knew where to look, all of the stories told to him by people with names such as 'Jimmy Blue Eyes' who was Meyer Lansky's closest friend and lifelong partner in both legal and illegal casinos or 'System Smitty' who developed the technique of card counting fifteen years before Mathematics Professor Edward Thorp came out with his New York Times bestseller, "Beat The Dealer", as well as the erstwhile super secretive executives of the Summa Corporation.
The third volume in the series, as yet un-named, will be out in about two and a half years.  In it, Bill will reveal who killed Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel and more importantly, why.  I think I smell a movie in the making and I can't wait to get hold of a copy.

TWO MAJOR NEWSPAPER COLUMN REVIEWS



June 19, 2015  Friday

I received two wonderful reviews about 30 Illegal Years To The Strip by highly-respected columnists at two major publications. The first was at the Las Vegas Review Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper. The second column appeared six days later in the weekly international newspaper that focuses on the Hollywood movie and TV industry, VARIETY. Both columns follow in the order of their publication dates.

AUTHOR SEPARATES ‘GOOD HOODS’ FROM ‘BAD GANGSTERS’

By Jane Ann Morrison, Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 27, 2015
After 48 years researching the mob, author and gaming consultant Bill Friedman knows the difference between “good hoods” and “bad gangsters,” and his new book “30 Illegal Years To The Strip” examines the differences between the two.
One example of a “good hood” was the late Moe Dalitz, who came from the illegal liquor world spawned by Prohibition in the 1920s and transitioned into legal gambling in Las Vegas.
In 1968, Dalitz had trouble talking about himself with Friedman, who at the time was a young historical researcher on organized crime. Dalitz shied away from Friedman who for a year had stalked the man who came from the Cleveland mob and became a sterling citizen in Las Vegas.
Dalitz sat with him for two interviews, but then decided he couldn’t talk about himself, so he told Friedman to talk to others — and gave those others permission to talk about him.
Mark Swain, Dalitz’s chief enforcer, talked extensively to Friedman. Many years later, he told Friedman, “You think you and I became friends because I liked you. I didn’t. We told you things to find out who you were talking to and what you learned.”
Friedman said Swain was a top executive at the Stardust and also “a flat-out killer.” Dalitz was not a violent man but Swain “stopped problems.”
The author said Dalitz told associates, “This is the most aggressive personality I have ever met, except for (Sam) Giancana.” That was not a compliment, according to Friedman. “Giancana pushed people around.”
“At one point he (Dalitz) told me to stop my research and get out of town,” Friedman said. “Moe told me: You keep up this research, you’re going to put me in prison.”
The researcher never uncovered what would put Dalitz in prison, but was told the answer years later. Dalitz organized the skim of untaxed gambling winnings and hidden ownership at the Stardust from the 1960s through the 1980s, a major part of a future book.
At 73, Friedman plans to write more books that move the Las Vegas mob story from the 1950s until the beginning of the megaresort era starting in 1989.
It’s an ambitious goal and he admitted Tuesday he’s a slow and lengthy writer (I can relate) but he’s done nearly 600 interviews at least two hours long and often more. The interviews began in 1967 and ended in 1976 when he was working full time as a casino executive.
Friedman has the background many mob writers lacked. He grew up in Nevada, attended the University of Nevada, Reno, was a dealer for three years and eventually became president of the Castaways Hotel and the Silver Slipper.
Friedman approached his research from an historian’s angle. “I never asked a question that wasn’t at least 10 years old,” he said Tuesday from his home in Pahrump. “If you ask a recent question, they give you the most socially acceptable answer they can think of. After the 10-year mark, the body language changes and they actually get introspective.”
In the world of gamblers, liquor peddlers and organized crime, women were minor players with few exceptions. “There was no point in interviewing the wives because they didn’t tell their wives anything.”
So the 582 interviews were all guys.
Guys like Benny Binion, Bill Harrah, Jackie Gaughan and Major Riddle — all gamblers — and gaming regulators like Robbins Cahill and Ed Olsen and attorneys like Lou Wiener and Cliff Jones, who negotiated the early contracts for almost every Strip casino, according to Friedman.
Riddle described dating Virginia Hill, when she was a sweet girl in the 1930s before she linked with Ben Siegel. Later she became a foul-mouthed fun-time girl. Riddle told Friedman he wouldn’t have dated her then.
His 500-page opus details how illegal liquor and illegal gambling mixed with political corruption in places including Chicago and New York and ultimately chased the illegal casinos out of those places and into Las Vegas and Havana.
He describes the lives of the seven men who started with distributing illegal liquor during Prohibition and eventually made it to the top of the organized crime pyramid and transitioned into Las Vegas gambling — Dalitz, Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Charlie Luciano, Joe Adonis, Frank Costello and Vincent Alo.
Friedman said his goal was not to correct the record about organized crime, although he did that throughout, condemning false or speculative information. His goal was to show who these men actually are. “They were the most fascinating men and I wanted to understand them, who and what they really were, the good, the bad and the ugly.”
“All organized crime wants is to separate you from money, but gamblers want to separate you from money without pushing you around, without hurting you physically,” Friedman said.
That’s what distinguished the good hoods from the bad gangsters.

ARE MOVIE, TV MOBSTERS GETTING A BUM RAP?

Peter Bart, Variety EVP and Editorial Director, June 2, 2015
Even before the era of hacked emails, there has always been a fascination (and entertainment value) in the private documents of public figures. One of the classic “leaks” was a telegram sent in 1935 to a renowned gangster by the publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, Billy Wilkerson, in which he pledged to do the mob’s bidding. The Reporter at the time was running a series of articles about how mobsters had taken over the Hollywood unions, and Wilkerson’s telegram was addressed to mob enforcer Johnny Rosselli. The articles promptly disappeared.
I was reminded of Wilkerson’s surrender by consultant and author Bill Friedman, an expert on the gangster community and its impact on various U.S. institutions. Friedman, who served as president of two Las Vegas hotel-casinos, has made it a point to interview key mob figures and their progeny over the decades, and has written two books on the subject (the newest titled “30 Illegal Years to the Strip”).
Having lived in the mob’s playground, Friedman believes that society does not understand the gangster mind, and that mobsters are ineptly portrayed in movies and TV shows. The surly hoodlums in the “Sopranos” were way over the top, in his estimation, yet Johnny Depp’s depiction of Dillinger in “Public Enemies” was absurdly benign.
Yet Friedman regrets the fact that the gangster film has faded as a Hollywood staple (though Depp will try to resuscitate the genre with September’s “Black Mass,” in which he plays Boston mobster Whitey Bulger). Many of the top mob figures Friedman has observed were not tough-talking hoods but, rather, “highly personable men who lived by their word,” he claims, citing Ben “Bugsy” Siegel and Moe Dalitz as examples. Nor did some live up to their reprobate reputations. Friedman argues that Arnold Rothstein did not fix the 1919 World Series and was never charged with a crime, and says that Rosselli was more inept than homicidal; when the CIA paid him to assassinate Fidel Castro, he botched the job. The fabled Lucky Luciano, Friedman maintains, while a criminal, nevertheless protected New York from enemy agents during World War II.
Mobsters like Luciano, Dalitz and Meyer Lansky were among the younger generation who basically built the Las Vegas Strip, and ruthlessly guarded their kingdom. While they were criminals, to be sure, the financial impact of their crimes seems trivial today compared with the $5.6 billion in penalties paid by the five major banks that admitted this month to illegal currency trading.
Friedman was shielded to a degree from the direct impact of the mob; the casinos he ran (Silver Slipper and Castaways) were owned by Howard Hughes, who had government contracts to protect, and who disdained the hoods from the East.
Friedman by no means misses the mobsters, but he regrets the corporatization of Las Vegas. Gaming today accounts for less than 40% of overall revenues, and is dwindling. Symbolically, attendance at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, which celebrates the careers of top gangsters, has suffered reduced attendance lately.
Still, giant sums of money are being placed on Las Vegas’ revival. Malaysian developer the Genting Group broke ground last week on a $4 billion Chinese-themed casino on the Strip, with plans for a replica of the Great Wall of China, as well as a panda exhibit. Vegas, it seems, is still a place that invites the big gamble.


The first newspaper mention about 30 Illegal Years To The Strip was a Shout Out by Nevada's most read columnist, John L. Smith, in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He announced my book was coming out in his March 26, 2015 column. He said, "Longtime Las Vegas casino marketing and management specialist Bill Friedman is just coming out with another big book, this one titled "30 Illegal Years to the Strip." The 500-pager is full of biographies of some of the Strip's "founding fathers." Information: www.BillFriedmanAuthor.com."

I am most appreciate for each of these three top columnists' encouraging comments.

THREE RADIO INTERVIEWS



June 18, 2015   Thursday

I have done three radio interviews so far this month. The first was a two-hour interview with Morgan White Jr. on his clear-channel broadcast that reaches two-thirds of the nation from the east coast. His penetrating questions on so many different issues made it clear that he had thoroughly read my book. He is a delightful and inquisitive man who bills himself as the master of trivia for his radio show, club appearances, and convention meetings. He can speak knowledgeably on almost any subject, but his success really derives from his being a consummate entertainer who keeps his audiences fascinated with interesting concepts as well as facts. Whenever I call to see how he is doing, it always turns into a long conversation, because of our shared interests in American history, especially the Las Vegas casino industry and entertainment in general.

Then came a 90-minute interview with a Midwest radio network. This was followed by a one-hour interview with a syndicated radio show devoted to seniors' interests. They plan to have me back again each of the next two months, because seniors lived through the last of the era that  my book 30 Illegal Years To The Strip is about.

TWO MORE RADIO INTERVIEWS



May 27, 2015  Wednesday

Two weeks ago, I did an hour interview with the Cable Radio Network. A week later, the host took a day off, and he selected my interview to be the one repeated from the archives. Thank you CRN.

Then this morning I did a 30-minute interview with a Los Angeles radio station. A month ago I did an interview with this same female host who likes to focus on legal issues. This time she focused on specific politicians and prosecutors of the era covered by my book. These power figures had gone after political enemies with perjuring witnesses and Blue Ribbon trial juries, which are made up of the prosecutor's friends and political supporters, rather than empanelling an impartial jury and using only truthful witnesses. 

PODCAST WITH GAMBLERS BOOK STORE



May 7, 2015 Thursday

I completed a one-hour podcast interview at the Gamblers Book Store in Las Vegas today. It will go on the air tomorrow for the 200,000 subscribers. Podcast host and former owner Howard Schwartz has been a special friend for several decades. He has also followed the history of the casino industry closely. Gamblers Book Store offers for sale my Nevada casino and organized-crime history books and my casino business books among its large selection of more than 3,000 titles that cover most forms of gambling, the gambling industry, and organized crime. The store's large inventory is listed on www.GamblersBookClub.com.

The store also features my photo with the store owners on its Wall of Fame of key Las Vegas casino executives and famous players. I really like that picture because it is of a twenty-years younger version of me, and it brings back wonderful memories about the late John and Edna Luckman, who created the Gamblers Book Club in their home garage, as a mail-order business. They were literally like family to me during my early casino history researching years. I frequently spent time discussing my most recent research and interview findings with John, as he wrapped books for mailing in their garage. He was a great sounding board for my new findings and concepts. John was a pit floorman at the Tropicana Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, and he arranged interviews for me with the casino's high-roller hosts and the hotel's executives from the department heads up the ladder to the managing owner.

MY FIRST TV INTERVIEW



May 3, 2015  Sunday

My first TV interview airs this afternoon at 3 p.m. on the NBC-TV affiliate in Las Vegas. The Ed Bernstein show was recorded at the studio eleven days ago. It is a fifteen-minute segment. Ed is a very pleasant soft-spoken man, but he thoroughly read my book and asked very specific penetrating questions. I cannot believe the total number of relevant questions he fit into this single segment.

THE GREAT KIRKUS REVIEW!



May 1, 2015  Friday

I received my Kirkus review today, and I am very pleased. Kirkus is America's oldest book-reviewing agency, and it is the most respected book reviewer by the publishing industry and the academic world. You can read this review in this website on the page named KIRKUS REVIEW that can be reached from any of the pages about my new book in the section "30 ILLEGAL YEARS TO THE STRIP" listed at the top of every page.

THREE MORE RADIO SHOWS



April 30, 2015  Thursday

Two days ago, I did a 15-minute interview with a lady host at a Lewistown, Montana radio station.

I followed that up yesterday morning with a 45-minute interview with a female radio host in Los Angeles. She is interested in the historical criminal legal issues my books deal with in studying these infamous gangsters' careers.

Then this morning, I did a one-hour interview with a radio station in Sacramento, California.

ANOTHER TWO RADIO INTERVIEWS



April 27, 2015  Monday

Four days ago, I did another Las Vegas radio show. This fast hitting seven-minute interview was broadcast to 71 other stations across the country. Actually we did two seven-minute sequences. One for broadcast on the day of the recording and the second for the following day.

Tonight, I did a two-hour nationwide radio show with host George Knapp on Coast-to-Coast AM. I just finished it at midnight Las Vegas time. It is the country's number one listened to late night radio show. As a longtime Las Vegan, George himself has been investigating for many years the city's more recent casino-related events that I will present in later books in my historical series. He also heads the investigative team for the CBS-TV affiliate in Las Vegas. He is an old-fashioned style professional investigative reporter like the ones who wrote the many newspaper articles that I rely so heavily upon for my detailed information. George knows how to dig deep to find out everything available on an issue, but he reports it with traditional journalistic integrity, so if he does not turn up any explosive or shocking facts, he unabashedly admits there was little if any fire behind the apparent smoke.

TWO MORE RADIO INTERVIEWS



April 21, 2015  Tuesday

This week I did two more radio interviews. The first was five days ago with a local talk-radio station here in Las Vegas. It was a 45-minute interview.

Then today, I did an hour radio interview with a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills. We discussed the family lives of the nation's top gangsters as presented in my book 30 Illegal Years To The Strip.

MY FIRST RADIO INTERVIEW



April 11, 2015  Saturday

Yesterday, after I started this blog, I did my first radio interview for 30 Illegal Years To The Strip. The 15-minute interview was with a Boston radio station's female host. I mention in this blog how many female hosts have invited me on their shows, because this points out how much 30 Illegal Years To The Strip appeals to female audiences. This is because my book is not only the first inside-story about the development and early years of organized crime in America, but it is also the first history that reveals the human side of these infamous gangsters, just like they actually were except when involved with criminal activities.

MY FIRST POST!



April 10, 2015  Friday

Hello and welcome to my new website blog. Here you will be updated about my historical book writing, publishing and marketing activities. This blog begins with the publication of my new book 30 Illegal Years To The Strip, and it presents my many radio and TV interviews and newspaper and blog reviews

I look forward to your comments and posts as you review my books on the history of organized crime and the Nevada casino industry. I will share your interesting comments with my readers. This should result in some exciting stories and information that will go well beyond what is contained in my books.

I will provide updated posts on a regular basis about my promotion of this book and the writing and  publication of each future book in this historical series. The next book will begin with the thorny political fight that made Nevada the only state to offer legalized casinos, and then it will present the first two decades of the earliest casino's operations and marketing. This book will cover the unique economic periods of the Depression, World War II, and the post-war boom of the 1930s and 1940s. While the early casinos were small, my wife Gladyce, who is my primary editor, finds many of the pioneer owners to be among the most colorful characters in the state's history. It is also the period when organized-crime leaders from several cities began investing in the budding Nevada gambling industry, and the state innovated its gaming control apparatus. Like 30 Illegal Years To The Strip, this next history will be based on strong documented evidence and my exclusive interviews with the many key figures who were involved in the legalization and operation of these casinos, as well as those who led the state's initial gaming control efforts.

Thank you for joining me on my ongoing historical publishing adventure.