Meeting in the middle of the desert always made me nervous. ibid. Rothstein’s commentary
What is the most that this hotel could possible cost? Bugsy 1991 starring Warren Beatty & Harvey Keitel & Ben Kingsley & Annette Bening & Elliott Gould & Joe Mantegna & Bebe Neuwirth & Bill Graham & Lewis van Bergen & Wendy Phillips & Richard C Sarafian et al, director Barry Levinson, Meyer Lansky to Bugsy, Meyer Lansky to Bugsy
To hell with Meyer Lansky! To hell with Las Vegas! And to hell with the Flamingo. ibid. him to her
Meyer, you want a tip? Never sell your shares in the Flamingo. You’ll live to thank me. ibid. Bugsy
Winner winner chicken dinner ... It’s Vegas law. 21 2008 starring Jim Sturgess & Kevin Spacey & Kate Bosworth & Aaron Yoo & Liza Lapira & Jacob Pitts & Josh Gad & Laurence Fishburne et al, director Robert Luketic, opening commentary
In December 2003 the FBI forced Las Vegas hotels to turn in information on over three hundred thousand guests. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s3e7: Patriot Act, Showtime 2005
In the shadow of the Strip there is a fierce battleground where the dealers fight for a share of the Vegas drugs trade. Drugs Inc s3e1: High Stakes Vegas, National Geographic 2012
The Mexican cartels have taken over. ibid.
Up to 25% of Vietnam vets have suffered substance abuse problems. ibid.
West Las Vegas is one of the city’s most drug-ridden neighbourhoods. It’s a hotbed for Vegas’ crack cocaine industry. ibid.
Vegas cops arrest around 30 call girls a day. ibid.
There are over 14,000 homeless in Vegas. ibid.
Las Vegas looks the way you’d imagine Heaven must look at night. Chuck Palahniuk
A drug person can learn to cope with things like seeing their dead grandmother crawling up their leg with a knife in her teeth, but nobody should be asked to handle this trip. Bazooko’s Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing every Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This was the Sixth Reich. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998 starring Johnny Depp & Benicio del Toro & Tobey Maguire & Ellen Barkin & Gary Busey & Christina Ricci & Mark Harmon & Cameron Diaz & Katherine Helmond & Michael Jeter & Penn Jillette et al, director Terry Gilliam, Raoul
Jesus! Bad waves of paranoia, madness, fear and loathing, intolerable vibrations in this place. Get out! The weasels were closing in. I could smell the ugly brutes. ibid.
The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we’d get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. ibid.
This is not a good town for psychedelic drugs. ibid.
Clearly I was a victim of the drug explosion. ibid.
Ah, devil ether. It makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel. Total loss of all basic motor function. Blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue. The mind recoils in horror, unable to communicate with the spinal column. Which is interesting because you can actually watch yourself behaving in this terrible way, but you can't control it. ibid.
We’d abused every rule Las Vegas lived by. ibid.
Man, I really like Vegas. Elvis Presley
If you know how to live in Vegas you can have the best time. Tony Curtis
The night before I left Las Vegas I walked out in the desert to look at the moon. There was a jeweled city on the horizon, spires rising in the night, but the jewels were diadems of electric and the spires were the neon of signs ten stories high. Norman Mailer
Las Vegas has become, just as Bugsy Siegel dreamed, the American Monte Carlo – without any of the inevitable upper-class baggage of the Riviera casinos. At Monte Carlo there is still the plush mustiness of the nineteenth century noble lions ... There are still Wrong Forks, Deficient Accents, Poor Tailoring, Gauche Displays, Nouveau Richness, Cultural Aridity — concepts unknown in Las Vegas. For the grand debut of Monte Carlo as a resort in 1879 the architect Charles Garnier designed an opera house for the Place du Casino; and Sarah Bernhardt read a symbolic poem. For the debut of Las Vegas as a resort in 1946 Bugsy Siegel hired Abbot and Costello, and there, in a way, you have it all. Tom Wolfe, Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, 1965
America’s capital of sin and secrets ... From a secret nuclear past to international terrorism and classified government programs. Codes and Conspiracies: Las Vegas, Discovery 2015
The most visited place on the planet. ibid.
Welcome to Las Vegas: the shadow capital of America. A four-mile-long shopping mall for the seven deadly sins. Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald I, ITV 2015
A wheel of fortune disguised as a city. ibid.
Everyone in Vegas has a favourite place for losing money. ibid.
Part of the Vegas life few visitors ever see: it’s part of the Vegas of the Mob. Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald II
Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky – each of Siegel’s childhood crew has either been the boss or has had the freedom to run his own operation. Siegel wants to be remembered as more than just a trigger man – he wants a lasting legacy. The Making of the Mob s1e7: New Frontiers, AMC 2015
Siegel’s operation has gone wildly over budget ... Now more than ever he needs the Flamingo to succeed. ibid.
Bugsy Siegel’s big gamble on a forgotten desert town finally pays off. ibid.
1947: Siegel becomes the first of Luciano’s original crew to be killed. ibid.
In the Nevada desert a criminal closes in on his target. Card-shark Ace-Face is heading into Las Vegas to hit the one thing that makes this city world-famous: its casinos. Underworld Inc s2e6: Las Vegas Hustle, National Geographic 2015
Every year Vegas casinos turn over more money than most small countries. This enormous cash-rich business is a beacon for criminals, thieves, cheats, working girls and gangstas. ibid.
In Nevada the penalty for casino cheating is up to six years in prison. ibid.
‘Customers don’t want to come back to Vegas after they get robbed.’ ibid. Vixen, room robber
One cheating crew is thought to have scammed $50 million from casinos worldwide. ibid.
Every year around 500 arrests are made in Vegas for cheating offences. ibid.
Experts estimate 80% of trick rolls go unreported. ibid.
I was in America’s fastest growing city taking a look at the pastime that made it famous. Las Vegas: where the neon-lit mega-casinos are dedicated to taking your money while keeping a smile on your face. Louis Theroux, Gambling in Las Vegas, BBC 2007
‘I’m not a quitter … I just need one good streak.’ ibid. gambler
I was $200 on my original $500. ibid.
‘They’re gonna get you in the end.’ ibid. son of gambler
As clubbing time approaches the hard [ticket] sell gets even more persuasive. Scam City s1e9: Las Vegas, National Geographic 2012
I paid up front for an apartment I booked on the internet that doesn’t even exist. ibid.
The VIP line is longer than the other line. ibid.
They call it longhauling: when the taxis take unsuspecting tourists on the scenic route. ibid.
Millions of people were introduced to the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department for the first time after Stephen Paddock opened fire on a large crowd of Vegas concert-goers, killing 58 people and wounding over 500. What Happened in Vegas, 2017
After the sheriff changed the timeline for a third time the LVMPD was sued by seven media companies for failing to release public records from the night of the shooting. ibid.
I saw four cops laughing at this guy as he’s screaming his head off being tortured. The next thing you know, I’m getting beaten, arrested, thrown in jail. ibid.
What else has the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department done? ibid.
[Yant] kicked open the door and shot him [Trevon Cole] with an AR15 in the head. ibid.
They try to dehumanise the victims. ibid.