Reply #53: What are you basing your position on, may I ask? [View All]

[enlightenment]

I'm not saying the mob didn't have an influence, or that the Flamingo didn't bring a more "east coast" sensibility to the what would become the Strip - but let's cut the "revisionist history" crap. ALL history is revisionist; hauling the phrase out to use as a bludgeon on people who disagree with you is foolish.

Please clarify who "they" were, and how you can justify the "NEVER" comment. Never is a very strong word. Bugsy's Flamingo was hardly a rousing success - there are those who believe that his assassination was a direct result of his cost-overruns and poor management decisions about the casino. I don't know the answer to that, but it is not "revisionist" (using your meaning) to say he wasn't very good at the job he took on.

More importantly, it is specious reasoning to state that ONE hotel made the city. Today's Las Vegas owes far more to Steve Wynn - why not give him the credit for it all? Or no, let's pick Howard Hughes. Or perhaps we could move away from the hotels and give credit to the railroad - or the Boulder Dam project - or the Arrowhead Highway project - or BMI. My point is that Las Vegas' history shouldn't be reduced to such simplistic terms.

I have no idea why you brought Paul Laxalt into the discussion; were you trying to make the mob connection to Las Vegas stronger? Laxalt was from Northern Nevada. I could come up with a few southern Nevada pols who had similar shady dealings if you like, but I still don't understand your point.

As for the "gambling in a big way" remark - Nevada legalized gambling in 1931; New Jersey gave Atlantic City the nod in 1974. Do you honestly believe that the ONLY reason Las Vegas is "what it is today" is because of a single hotel and without the Flamingo the city would have simply blown away in a desert wind? There were casino hotels before Bugsy came to town and there were more successful casino hotels that opened within two years of the Flamingo. I'll give Bugsy credit for picking a good location on the road to LA, but he didn't single-handedly make Las Vegas.

wow.