Organized Crime Timeline (From 1907 through 1993)

1907-After the silver strike in 1907, Bill Graham at the age of 18 came to Tonopah (Las Vegas) and opened the Big Casino.
1920s-Bill Graham, who was born in San Francisco, operated the Willows in Reno with his partner James McKay.
1933-(September) Lansky gets permission from Batista to open up casinos in Cuba. Also getting permission to run the already operational Hotel Nacional.
1933-(November) Lansky gets the Molaska Corporation up and running.
1933-(December) Prohibition ends in America, making bootlegging an almost obsolete business venture.
1930s-Costello and Kastel open the firm Alliance Distributors, monopolizing the “legal” whisky market.
1935-Davie Berman gets arrested for kidnapping Abe Scharlin. Sharlin was a known bootlegger and Berman gets a twelve-year sentence of which he would serve seven years in Sing Sing penitentiary. Later Berman would become the gambling king of Minneapolis.
1935-The Cleveland mob would open The Plantation in Miami.
1937-Siegel and his crew go to Las Vegas and start new ventures.
1943-Siegel’s “hit squad” goes to the Bahamas to murder Sir Harry Oakes for botching a casino deal.
1943-The Wofford Hotel opens in Miami, where Frank Costello and Lansky often meet. Al Polizzi (mob boss of Cleveland) and Tatum Wofford are the owners.
1944-Siegel starts to build The Flamingo in Las Vegas; Lansky, Luciano and others gave money.
1945-Santos Trafficante buys the The Capri Hotel and Casino in Cuba.
1945-(December) The Beverly County Club opens in New Orleans. The owners are Costello, Lansky, Coppola, and Tanico.
1946-The Flamingo opens under heavy expectations by the mob investors.
1946-El Cortez in Las Vegas is purchased by Charles Berman and his partners are Siegel, Moe Sedway, Gus Greenbaum, and Lansky.
1946-(February) Charlie Luciano gets released from prison and is deported to Italy.
1946-(September) Charlie Luciano goes to Cuba and stays at the Hotel Nacional. He is there for an important meeting with all the major mob members to discuss Siegel’s future.
1947-(June) Siegel gets shot nine times while sitting on his couch in his Beverly Hills mansion. Moe Sedway, Gus Greenbaum, and Morris Rosen quickly declare themselves the new owners.
1948-The Thunderbird casino opens in Las Vegas, Jake Lansky would run this casino under his brother’s watch.
1950-Kefauver Committee first hearing conducted, publicly closes Florida Casinos.
1950-The Dessert Inn casino was opened in Las Vegas and Wilbur Clark was the owner.
1952-(March) Fulgencio Batista, who was financed by Lansky, took over Cuba’s government with a coup.
1952-The casinos The Strip and Sands open up in Las Vegas.
1955-The casinos Riviera and Dunes open in Las Vegas
1957-The Tropicana casino opens in Las Vegas. Built by Phil Kastel, who had previous involvement in the Beverly County Club.
1959-Cuba is taken over by Fidel Castro. Lansky and partners become concerned about their casino’s future in Cuba. Soon after their involvement in Cuba would be ended by Castro.
1963-The Bahamas become a new location for casinos. Several people become interested in financing casinos there.
1964-The first legal casino is opened in the Bahamas by Wallace Grooves.
1966-Howard Hughes, the owner of Trans World Airlines, begins buying casinos in Nevada.
1967-Hughes owned the Sands, Dessert Inn, Castaways, Frontier and the Silver Slipper.
1968-Lansky, Cohen, and Lansburg are indicted by the American Government for skimming thirty million dollars from the Flamingo casino between 1960-67.
1970-Lansky flees to Israel and claims citizenship there.
1970-Howard Hughes begins putting his casinos up for sale.
1970-The Laxalt brothers (Peter and Paul) open the Ormsby House Casino in Carson City. Their funding came from mob investements.
1971-Paul Laxalt visited President Nixon to ask for Hoffa’s freedom.
1971-(December) Nixon helps Hoffa get released, but isn’t allowed to run for Teamsters fro the next nine years.
1976-James Napoli, the Genovese mobster, goes to prison for running numbers. His operation was claimed as America’s largest at the time.
1976-Rosenthal is charged with skimming seven million a year from the Stardust Casino.
1981-Frank Cullota, Wyane Matecki, Larry Newman, Leo Gardeno, Enest Devino, and Joe Blasko all get arrested. Police find jewels on them to be worth one million dollars.
1988-Casino Gambling is now available in 38 countries worldwide.
1992-48 states in America have some form of gambling available.
1993-Chris Petti gets convicted of trying to “infiltrate” an Indian Casino and received nine years in prison.