Summary Of Alan Balboni's Beyond The Mafia

Alan Balboni wrote a book called, Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas, which is about Italian-Americans’ involvement in the developing of Las Vegas but also explained about mafia’s role as well. Balboni mentions in his book about Siegel’s entrance to Las Vegas, “During the twenty years following the second and successful opening of Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel in 1947.” Siegel started to appear in Las Vegas by opening hotels which means he wanted to make his businesses look legitimate. Balboni’s book also mentioned about the connection between Siegel and Italian Americans as well. In addition, Balboni’s book focused on a role of Italian Americans in Las Vegas as well, because mafia was populated with Italian Americans and which means mafia’s contribution can be connect to Italian Americans. According to Balboni, “Italian Americans provided the building blocks for Las Vegas's gambling industry, the foundation upon which the town

Balboni says, “They were well represented among the dealers, pit bosses, floormen, shift bosses, and casino managers.” Balboni’s claim showed that how deep Italian Americans got into business of Las Vegas and what kind of role they were in. Balboni’s detailed explanation of Also, Balboni explained, “A rare week passed that Italian American entertainers were not among the star performers; it was rarer still that Italian Americans were not among the lounge performers. Italian American contractors helped to build not only the Strip and Downtown hotels, but also the homes, apartment houses, churches, and schools for the city's expanding population.” This passage showed that Las Vegas was built and developed by Italian-Americans. Also, Balboni’s explanation made it clear that Italian-Americans were leading force in Las Vegas. Although mafia was also contributing force in Las Vegas, and mafia’s role of Las Vegas wasn’t