We Can’t Dispel Vegas Myths in 2023
We start 2024 with an acknowledgment...that no matter how hard we try, we don't always succeed. While we're pretty sure the oft-repeated Las Vegas story below is nonsense, we've yet to provide proof.
Maybe this year, with your help, we can debunk these myths.
Manson’s Millions
Charles Manson and his followers were once ambushed by cameras in front of the Million Dollar Display, the first time since 1954 that Binion's Horseshoe (now Binion's Horseshoe) Binion's Gambling Hall is a famous photo location. At least that's according to a report published on January 20, 2000, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun.The report has since been repeated by dozens of publications and websites.
The report, citing only Binion's then-owner Becky Behnen, said the photo no longer existed because the FBI came with a search warrant and seized it.
“To date, the FBI has the only copy of the Manson photo that contained Binion’s millions,” former Sun reporter David Stroh wrote.
As the Twitter/X account Vintage Las Vegas pointed out, "that statement assumes a lot." "The casino had an organized archive of a million tourist photos. The FBI knew Manson visited him and took a souvenir photo and (knew) the souvenir photo archive. They wanted it (why? ) and the casinos know exactly where to find it.”
Nonetheless, his own Vital Vegas blogger Scott Robben spent months communicating with the FBI and trying to track down the allegedly confiscated photos. His thanks came in the form of a big, fat goose egg.
“The search uncovered potentially responsive records,” the FBI said in response to Robben’s Freedom of Information Act request on Nov. 30, 2022. "However, we were informed that they were not where expected." Further searches for the missing records were also unsuccessful. Because we are unable to review records, we cannot determine whether your request was answered. "
In a now-deleted reply, Stroh himself tweeted: "My source (in 2000) was Becky Behnen, but I did not fact-check her." I call it one of the legends of Las Vegas that adds to our color. It's also mysterious, if difficult to prove today. I thought it was as simple as Becky Behnen telling me a third-hand story and me (foolishly) recording it verbatim as fact.
“Rookie mistakes are not nearly as interesting as dark secrets.”
Still, none of this is enough to prove that one of the twentieth century's most notorious mass murderers wasn't laughing and saying "Million Dollar Cheese" in a casino.
Not surprisingly, Beinan did not respond to the few messages we left her.
How the Las Vegas Strip got its name
Former Los Angeles police officer Guy McAfee is widely credited with naming the Las Vegas Strip. The story, repeated in dozens of books, articles and websites about Las Vegas history, is that when McAfee purchased the Pair-O-Dice Casino in 1939, he referred to the street on which it was located as "Las Vegas" Vegas Strip.”
It was said to be a satire on the bustling Sunset Strip he left behind. He expanded the McAfee Casino and renamed it Club 91, which was located near the north end of today's Fashion Show Mall. At the time, however, Highway 91 looked like a dead end.
This story is full of doubts. For one thing, the video was not publicly recorded until McAfee's widow acknowledged it in an interview in January 1960, following the death of her husband. What's more, McAfee isn't exactly known for his honesty. For example, as captain of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad during Prohibition, his job was to crack down on illegal bars, casinos, and brothels.
McAfee eventually co-founded several of these organizations with members of organized crime, who paid him to share their loot.
Bugsy Siegel named the flamingo
We've debunked the myth that Bugsy Siegel is the father of Las Vegas.This dangerous criminal isn't even Flamingo's father. The resort is the vision of Billy Wilkerson, founder and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. In 1945, one of his friends suggested that instead of just losing money in casinos, he should build his own casino so that he could always win.
According to some accounts, all Siegel did was take over the Flamingo Hotel in 1946 Threat of Violence - Wilkerson's dream was dashed before construction was completed, as he reportedly lost all his money.
But the question is who named this union. According to "official" reports, Siegel named it after his friend Virginia Hill, who was nicknamed "Flamingo" because of her long, spindly legs.
The story was most likely first invented by Hank Greenspun, who served as the Flamingos' press agent in 1947 before founding the Las Vegas Sun. This story appears in Andy Edmonds' 1993 biography of Hill, Bugsy's Baby, and 100 other places.
More likely, Wilkerson envisioned it as a Miami Beach resort in the desert and named it after the pink bird he fell in love with during a trip to Florida. "He had a special fondness for exotic birds and named several of his projects after them," Wilkerson's son, William R. Wilkerson III, said in 2023. One of them is his Beverly Hills restaurant L'Aiglon (Young Eagle). "After considering multiple ideas, as well as a variety of exotic birds, he ultimately settled on the Flamingo Club," Wilkerson said. "That was the main working title until Siegel came along."
Wilkerson added that this was told to him in strict confidentiality by his father's attorney, Greg Bowser.
But what about hard evidence? Is there anything to prove that before Siegel, Mo Sedway and Gus Greenbaum stepped in with a sadly accepted $1 million check in February 1946, the project was nicknamed "Flamingo" "? Perhaps graphic artist Bert Worth painted a dated painting of his original flamingo logo?
"There is documentation that corroborates this," Wilkerson said. “But they were destroyed in a fire in my father’s office in 1951.”
Unfortunately, one man's words cannot destroy a myth, no matter how dubious it is.
Read also:
- Football 101: What is relegation in football?
- Big Tobacco has ties to leader of New Jersey Assembly smoking debate
- FBI seizes ransomware group's darknet site in MGM cyberattack
- Las Vegas Myth Revisited: The Las Vegas Strip is located in the city of Las Vegas
Source: www.casino.org
