Vegas’ mob attraction

Museum officials deny they are sensationalizing the mob experience to sell tickets, which cost up to $18 each. One exhibit shows the modern reach of organized crime through the drug cartels of Mexico, money-laundering schemes in the Bahamas, counterfeit rings in China and human trafficking in Brazil.

The museum also attempts to show the personal motivations behind the mug shots. There are pictures of a baby-faced Anthony Spilotro marking his First Communion, Frank Costello relaxing in a hammock at home and gambling titan Meyer Lansky with his daughter at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, his arm tenderly hooked around her waist. All three were among the mob’s most powerful men.

But the museum’s extensive photography collection depicting cratered heads, imploded cars and full body bags likely will be its biggest draw among fans expecting a hefty dose of mob violence. There’s Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, his lifeless body splayed out in a Chicago bowling alley in 1936. Another photo depicts the death of Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, assassinated at his favorite Italian restaurant in New York in 1931.

A small gift store also plays up the mob’s bloodthirsty reputation. The shelves lined with novelty items feature mobster paper dolls and gangster teddy bears dressed in striped suits and armed with plastic machine guns.

A T-shirt reads: “In Godfather We Trust.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.