It’s rare that I’m surprised anymore when I travel as I’ve done so much research, read blogs and watched videos across social media so I feel like I know what to expect. However, when the Mob Museum in Las Vegas was recommended to me on twitter (forever twitter), I did zero research. I woke up very early on Sunday morning (body on East Coast time) so I decided to visit the Mob Museum website to book my ticket for when they opened at 10 am. Sunday in Vegas at the Mob Museum seemed a better option than the gaming floor.
Growing up in Philadelphia (the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), the mob was written about almost daily in the newspaper and on the nightly news when there were hits or arrests. The legend of Teamster’s boss Jimmy Hoffa was shared in our house as my dad was a Teamster. As a fan of the mobster movies from The Godfather to Goodfellas to Casino to name a few in the genre. I thought I knew a lot about the history of the mob so that’s why I avoided the Mob Museum for so long.
I can admit when I am wrong – while I knew a lot about the mafia, there was still so much more to learn and it was fascinating history that I soaked up during my visit. I traveled from the Las Vegas Strip to Downtown Las Vegas for Sunday brunch at 7th & Carson, stopped for donuts/doughnuts pre/post the early morning visit to the Mob Museum. For those time constrained the TL:DR, the Mob Museum in Las Vegas is well worth the visit. I took hundred of photos and continue to reference them long after my visit.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Travel from Bellagio Hotel to Downtown Las Vegas Sunday Morning
8:45 am on a Sunday morning in Las Vegas, as you can imagine is empty as folks were still asleep after a Saturday night out. Sunday morning was quiet so my taxi driver drove up the Strip to Downtown area which is rarely an option when the street is full of traffic (they usually go via the highway). This early morning drive and wonderful conversation allowed me to revisit the sidewalks I long ago walked when I first visited Las Vegas more than twenty years ago. I’ve visited many times since and each visit more changes have happened, we passed the newest hotel beyond The Strip and nearest the Convention Center, the Fontainebleau Hotel. There is a hope that tourists will flock beyond The Strip and the posh hotel may prove that hope out. Early morning empty streets on a Sunday provides a different view especially if you are keen to only stay on or near The Strip. The taxi with tip was $25.
Sunday Breakfast in Downtown Las Vegas
My breakfast destination was 7th & Carson Restaurant named for its location. Owned by a Brit who was busy setting up for the day by bringing chairs out to the sidewalk tables, he welcomed me and I chose to sit outside in the back patio. It was a crisp 60-degree sunny day and I left the snow and frigid temps at home so for a February brunch, outside was perfect. The menu was packed with breakfast and brunch options but I stayed on the breakfast side ordering the eggs and bacon with potatoes and sourdough bread.
It was 9am and the restaurant was just opening and had a party of six next to me, a table for two ahead and quickly filling up inside. This award-winning restaurant was a great choice for breakfast. The potatoes were addictive with a seasoning I couldn’t place and the owner wouldn’t disclose.
Donut Shops Downtown Las Vegas
I had less than a ten-minute walk along the empty streets to the Mob Museum which is about a block from the Freemont Street Experience. Despite having a full breakfast, I passed a donut shop that tempted me inside. The Donut Hole at Carl’s Donuts is a stop on the local donut tour so I figured it was worth the try as I hadn’t had anything sweet with breakfast (my justification). With so many tempting flavors, I chose plain glazed as that tells me if the rest are good. If you can’t do a good glazed then it’s not worth it. This was worth it and I quickly inhaled the donut on the short walk to the Mob Museum. After my visit, I walked through Freemont Street and found myself at Pinkbox Doughnuts for another donut experience. Donut enthusiasts will be happy with the crazy variety of donuts but not love the lines. So if you are trying to create your own DIY donut/doughnut tour in Las Vegas, these two shops are a good start.
Sunday Morning Visit to the Las Vegas Mob Museum
The Mob Museum Las Vegas is housed in a former Post Office downtown and on the historic register. The lobby has the original post office windows. They offer an early morning access discount ticket for $44.95 (Premier Pass with Morning Discount at the time) at 10 am opening time. The Mob Museum offers three interactive experiences for an additional cost or you can include two in the early access ticket option. I chose the CSI Experience and the Distillery tour & tasting (moonshine for breakfast is a bold choice – that stuff was intense! so I suggest a later time slot).
Upon entry, I was directed away from the teller window as I had a ticket and reservations for experiences. I was given a wristband with a QR code on it along with separate paper tickets for each experience I booked – one was a Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and the other a Moonshine Distillery tasting. I did not book the firearms experience. I also paid $5 to add the audio tour (worth every penny!). I was given a device smaller than a cell phone with a lanyard to wear along with ear buds. You hold the device near the audio signs to start the narration of the room, artifact or history. You can hold up to your ear like a phone to listen or use the ear buds to keep quiet option.
You start your visit on the 3rd floor and work your way down to the second floor then to the first floor and finally to the basement with the option to visit the bar/speakeasy. With my experiences booked at certain times that you couldn’t be late for, I had to leave the exhibits mid- way and come back later as I was taking so long to read each panel and listen to all the stories.
Since I was on the early arrival ticket, I joined maybe ten other folks wandering at the same time (there were more onsite in various parts of the exhibits and floors). People flow varied with those having audio guide vs. a do it yourself option.
I started on the third floor where there is a mix of pictures, video, items under glass. The video plays the history while the surrounding panels illustrate the areas in which the mob operated -basically exploiting all industries – and how they recruited and what neighborhoods they recruited from in the key cities. As expected, Philadelphia was listed on the wall along with the neighborhoods I was quite familiar with.
I’ll admit that I was pretty impressed with the curation and how easy it flowed. The audio headset spots were easy to access without bothering folks who were reading or looking at displays.When I was done with the third floor, I used the stairs to descend to the second floor and was greeted by staff when I arrived on the floor. She saw my audio guide and directed me to the far-left corner of the first room to begin my tour of this part of the Mob Museum history. I asked about the timing to complete this floor given my timed CSI experience and she said best to go to the CSI area on the main floor and then come back to the second floor.
The CSI Experience in Las Vegas at the Mob Museum
Tucked away in the corner of the lobby level, the Crime Scene Investigation unit is three small rooms so limits guests with timed tickets. My guess is that the limit is 10-12 people and its offered every half hour. The group milled about in the wiretapping display area until the other group left. We filled in the small room and were greeted by two staff members that explained the science of a crime scene. If, like me, you’ve watched many seasons of CSI you’ll be intrigued and ready to “solve the crime”. But it’s much harder than it seems based on the interactive displays and examples throughout.
First up is the autopsy table with two cases to solve. The wall explains the history of the man killed as part of his mob ties. There are interactive popups showing the various bruises and signs on the body during autopsy. You are then asked to guess which of the three plausible answers is best. The table shows the issue, asks the question and of course I guessed WRONG many times. Often, I went with the most visible or easy answer and missed the nuances shown. In the end, I guessed cause of death based on all the wrong answers from the initial assessment. This was interesting exercise.
I then moved along to the DNA table to take samples and drop into test tubes (note it’s a simulation and no liquids are actually transferred) in order to compare DNA and guess which person was at the scene. This was a game of elimination and the group next to me was wrong but this was my first success in the CSI room.
I then moved to the fingerprint machine. You learn about various patterns in fingerprints and how the science works when doing a match. You can opt to scan your fingerprint into the machine and see what criminal you closely match to. The machine prints out the answer along with your fingerprint and I matched with a Chicago Hitman.
The last CSI display was about bullet matching. A microscope had four bullets in it to spin and look at on the monitor to compare against the bullet from the scene. The answer was under the flipboard on the desk. To be honest, this was the hardest test to do as the bullet markings were so similar to look at.
The CSI experience allots a fixed time to go through the various interactive displays individually or as your group. I finished quickly and left early to resume my tour on the second floor.
Mob Museum Courtroom and Prohibition Displays
Back on the 2nd floor, the museum was visibly more crowed from when I first arrived. There is a small snack stand as you enter the first room. Bottled water was $3.50 which was a steal compared to $7 at the casinos! The 2nd floor theme is around the court hearings with mob figures in the 1960’s. The main room was used as a courtroom and the video shows the hearings held there. A bit of actual history in the building where it happened.
I finished the 2nd floor exhibits and arrived early in the basement to tour the prohibition era of mob history. The basement has two main attractions (three if you count the restrooms with famous quotes in the tile) – the Distillery Tasting & History experience (extra fee, timed ticket) and the Pub serving food and drink. The hallway walls are adorned with prohibition propaganda and history of smuggling alcohol in from boats in the harbor – just far enough out to be “international waters”.
The pub continues the museum displays to talk about speakeasies, the rise of jazz music, the folks involved in law & order during that time and the many ways to hide alcohol. The bar has a sliding door view of the distillery and opens for viewing after the tours are over.
The Mob Museum Distillery Tasting
During prohibition, moonshine was homemade and if you were lucky, it didn’t kill you. The room has five tables and holds 20 people with four at each table. They offer the tasting experience every 45 mins. The guide led us through the history of moonshine during prohibition and then walked us through the award-winning on-site distillery manned by two men making many varieties of moonshine (whiskey) available for sale of course and in TSA approved portions for your carryon.
Since the moonshine is 100% alcohol and 50 proof, this was not something you were getting a shot portion of. We were given small tasting cups that looked like medicine cups – apropos as during prohibition some folks were going to the pharmacy for medicines that contained alcohol. We were given four of the five flavors to taste – The Mob Museum Moonshine (original), Ginger Jake, The Goodfella’s Vanilla (not offered during my tasting), Huckleberry Hideout and The Fuzz (peach). The table had a pitcher of water to rinse your palette between tastings. While folks at my table did the tastings as shots, I was in the sipping phase and making weird faces that the family at my table was entertained by. It’s hard to hide the taste when it’s so strong. I drink the occasional glass of wine but otherwise just water on the daily so I am more sensitive to hard alcohol. Mix it in a sour and I might be ok but straight isn’t my thing. I did taste each one though so that was a win. I looked around and the tables were mixed with those finishing the shots and others like me taking a sip and letting the rest go to waste.
This was a fascinating tasting and history tour of prohibition and moonshine and I recommend it. Even if you don’t drink the hard stuff, you can enjoy the stories that bring the time alive. As it was a Sunday the distillers were not working behind the glass but they are there during the week and during the tastings.
Mob Museum Arrest and Prosecute
So, my visit was broken up due to the experiences I booked in between not knowing the time needed to explore the museum. Once I was finished with the basement exhibits, I went back to the lobby to finish the museum tour. I started on the third floor with the history of the Mob in the U.S., learned about the attempts to arrest and prosecute and the gruesome ways folks were killed (I would skip this part if I had kids with me or anyone who is squeamish) on the second floor and finally the advancements in technology leading to wire taps, CSI and firearms advancements.
One of the last exhibits before exiting through the gift shop was how organized crime has evolved and operates globally with counterfeit luxury goods like Hermes bags and Rolex watches, animal products that are illegal to procure and use and the continued rise of drugs and human trafficking.
Las Vegas Mob Museum Speaker in Residence
On the day of my visit there was a guest speaker, Frank Calabrese Jr., a former mobster in Chicago brought into the business by his father. He shared his crazy story of his father, his life and how he served time and turned against his father and brought down a good number of organized crime figures. His story was shown in snippets from television segments and is detailed in his book Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster’s Son and the FBI brought down Chicago’s Murderous Crime Family. He spoke for 20 minutes and left everyone speechless and no one had a question to ask once he was done. He was speaking at the top of the hour. His life story brought the Mob Museum visit full circle – he explained various businesses his father was in and how they made money and wreaked havoc while maintaining the illusion of “family man” in Chicago. He also walked us through the law enforcement, criminal trial and evidence tying all three floors of the museum into one story. Frank shares his story from 11am – 5pm Wednesday through Sunday.
The Las Vegas Mob Museum Final Thoughts
Even the gift shop was fascinating with a variety of educational, cheeky and true-life items and stories. Upon exiting, the last exhibit was about the mob in movies and tv and how they became popular and sympathetic while still very dangerous.
My visit started at 10 am with my CSI experience at 11 a.m, Distillery tasting at 12:30 p.m.. I left the museum at 1pm so spent three hours there which surprised me how quickly the time went by.
I highly recommend visiting the Mob Museum. I would schedule the experiences at the end of your visit to allow you to do the museum in the flow it was curated – third floor, second floor, lobby, basement. The experiences are timed and you must show up 5 minutes ahead of time, no late entrants given the small groups and limited space and time. The pub serves food if you want to take a lunch break. Your wristband gives you unlimited access on the day of your visit so you can take a break or come back later to the pub.
The Mob Museum was a fantastic way to spend my Sunday morning in Las Vegas. I had nothing scheduled which allowed me to wander and experience the museum at my own pace with the added benefit of the audio enhancements. Definitely add the Mob Museum to you “to do list” when visiting Las Vegas.