Episode transcript:
In Episode 23, Pettengill revisits the mob’s conquest of the West. He notes that gambling and vice were fixtures of Las Vegas long before the mob showed up but what Moe Dalitz, Billy Wilkerson, and especially Benjamin Siegel brought was innovation. By focusing on the ways the Mafia profited from legalized gambling, Pettengill uncovers the evolution of modern Las Vegas – a luxury destination in the desert where an assortment of characters came together to gamble away their fortunes.