Well, sort of.

I retraced the steps of the Vegas mob from the 70’s and 80’s the other night. I didn’t get around to whacking anybody, but hey, the year is young.

When it does happen, I strongly suspect that the victim will be some wiener from Orange County that screams “Vegas Baby!” in my ear one too many times … but I digress.

Last month I was talking to some poker buddies, and they were talking about the movie “Casino”. They eventually got around to asking me what I thought of it. They were shocked and awed when I said that I hadn’t seen it. To be fair, I haven’t seen most movies. I have never seen that demon from hell movie “Swingers” … I just know I hate it because of the saying it spawned.

Not long previous, I was derided for being tragically un-Vegas-hip for not seeing that Hunter Thompson masterpiece, so I had to see what all the fuss was about. I rented “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and thought that it was complete and utter shit. Johnny Depp doing a Jim Carey impersonation for 90 minutes. Wow.

I’ve wiped my ass and made better movies on the Charmin.

But these guys swore up and down that Casino was nothing like that “Loathing” travesty, and that it really was a good movie.

So about 3 weeks ago, I rented it. To my surprise, it was a great frigging movie.

Not only that, but I learned that the thing was based on a true story.

Not only that, but the majority of the story took place within miles of where I live.

Now that is some compelling stuff.

I am not a cornucopia of facts and quotes about Las Vegas, and I know little to nothing about its history.

I’m not one of those guys who can tell you what kind of urinal cakes they put in the old Landmark Hotel and Casino. And face it, we all know a handful of those guys who question your Vegas-cred because you haven’t memorized the whole fucking Vegas obscure trivia book.

But I have always had a bit of interest in the mob days of Vegas. I had always assumed that most of it was simply myth and exaggerations to bolster the mystique of the city … but I have come to find out that I have been all wrong. Some really serious shit has gone down here at the hands of the mob, and they really did basically build the city.

Not only the hotels and casinos, but they have ties to seemingly everything within 5 miles of The Strip.

I learned that my primary doctor’s office is in the first hospital started by a mobster, the main shopping mall I go to was started by a mobster. Hell, the Tony Roma’s I go to is where “Ace” (Lefty) got his car blown up as portrayed in the movie Casino.

The place I went to have X-Ray’s taken a couple of months ago is right on the other side of the wall of the house used in the movie “Casino”, and I live within spitting distance of the real house in which Lefty and Gerry lived.

The shop that fixes my bicycle is diagonally across the street from a large church that was supported by a Mobster. The pizza joint that I sometimes go to near said bike shop is where the guy got shot over holding two sub sandwiches … and now I get subs from. I learned that he was probably holding something other than sub sandwiches, but the rest of the story actually went down pretty much as portrayed.

I’ve been living in a huge museum for years and had no idea that many of the places I go to, to this day (like Commerce Center on Sahara) were after-hour hangouts for mobsters and Vegas entertainers.

How did I learn all of this stuff in such a short period of time?

I took the Vegas Mob Tour.

Shortly after seeing the movie Casino, a coincidence happened. Dennis Griffin found his way to our site, saw that we were talking about the movie online, and started answering reader questions about that period of Vegas history. Dennis is a former investigator, and best selling author on the mob in Las Vegas.

He also helped put together the Vegas Mob Tour … and he pointed me toward said tour so that I could get a 2.5 hour crash course on the subject.

It was incredibly interesting, and very entertaining.

I highly recommend taking this tour the next time you are in Vegas … and also if you already live here.

You didn’t just get the anecdotes from the experts, but you actually got to hear the anecdotes as you were driving past the locations where the events occurred. It was actually a bit spooky at times. The street where the “sub sandwich guy” got gunned down is dark and eerie, and you almost expected bullets to start flying through the bus window as punishment for treading on such hallowed ground.

I learned a lot, and I don’t think I will ever see my neighborhood and its environs in quite the same light again.

I am going to re-watch the movie this weekend, because now that I know where many of the things were actually filmed, and what really happened, it will be a hell of a lot more interesting.

The tour guide was very personable. He didn’t stay 100% on script, and there was a large amount of audience interaction, ad-libbing, and humor.

The only thing that disappointed me was the end of the tour. After it was all over I realized that the town has been taken over by a bunch of corporate beancounting fucks, and I was bummed that I arrived here long after Vegas ceased being … Vegas.

I know that some really unpleasant stuff went down back then, but I really do think the tourist was better off in general.

Sure, some guys got buried in the desert back then … but what’s the alternative?

6/5 Blackjack … that’s what.

I’ll start digging my own hole outside of Primm before I become a victim of that kind of cold-blooded cruelty.

Here’s a video of part of the tour: