The Las Vegas Mob Experience will feature personal memorabilia from the mobsters’ families and “interactive entertainment technology” when it opens in December in a 25,000 square foot space at the Tropicana Las Vegas. The Tropicana drove this point home by literally driving mob family members directly to the stage at a recent press conference designed to create buzz on the new attraction.

Among the family members stepping out of stretch limos to step on stage were Meyer Lansky II, grandson of Meyer Lansky and Cynthia Duncan, who was raised as Lansky’s granddaughter but is technically his step-granddaughter, Millicent Rosen, daughter of “Bugsy” Siegel; Antoinette Giancana, daughter of Sam Giancana, Nancy Spilotro, who was married to Tony Spilotro; Vincent Spilotro, son of Tony Spilotro, and Janice Sachs, who was married to former Tropicana investor and Stardust president Allan Sachs.

The special visitors posed for photos, then were escorted back into the limos and driven away. As the press conference continued, reporters were told that through first person accountings, offered by apparitions of famed gangsters themselves, visitors will be able to experience the world of organized crime and learn about the role its major players had on the building of Las Vegas, and their ultimate eradication from the casinos.

Jay Bloom, whose real estate investment company, Eagle Group Holdings, owns Murder Inc., the company financing the Mob Experience, said that family members of the mobsters, “Have provided us more than 1,000 artifacts, many of them jaw-dropping,” He held up as an example the diary of Lansky, a longtime partner of Siegel’s and the statistical mastermind behind the National Syndicate’s financial empire. Lansky’s journal was jotted into four notebooks, 200 pages in all, and was displayed under a glass case at Tuesday’s event. “It’s fascinating reading,” Bloom promised.

According to press releases, the Mob Experience will include, “the largest collection of authentic artifacts, memorabilia, photos and videos of organized crime ever assembled, including Meyer Lansky’s 200 page hand written diary.

Beyond just viewing collection pieces, visitors will make their way through a theatrical, interactive setting that promises intrigue, mystery and suspense. The technologically advanced special effects used to present this never before seen content should set a new standard for attractions.

Guests of the Mob Experience will also have the opportunity to meet the “family members” of a number of the men and women who will be highlighted throughout the Experience. “We believe The Las Vegas Mob Experience creates a perfect synergy with Tropicana Las Vegas,” said Tom McCartney, President of Tropicana. “Its creators have mixed innovation with leading edge technologies and never-before-seen artifacts from the families of legendary mobsters. Visitors will see and hear first-hand accounts of the stories that shaped Las Vegas decades ago with this one-of-a-kind immersive experience.”

The plan is to create an experience far from the static museum. In fact, visitors will be able to begin their mob experience on the strip where they can board one of three decommissioned, restored prison buses at one of 15 stops along the Strip which will carry them to the Tropicana to the Mob Experience. More information about the Mob Experience can be found on its website http://www.LVME.com” href=”http://www.lvme.com/” target=”_blank”>http://www.LVME.com. For information on the Tropicana call 888-826-8767 or visit www.troplv.com.

Story and Photos by Dianne R. Davis