Las Vegas History: 10 Infamous Crime-Related Moments in Vegas History

81. Block 16 (1906-1941): Block 16, the nightlife and red-light district located downtown between Ogden and Stewart, and First and Second, thrives with prostitution, gambling and liquor in spite of Prohibition and laws restricting gambling. In 1929, government inspectors arrive to determine whether Las Vegas will pass federal standards as a suitable place to house workers recruited to build Boulder Dam. Despite orders from Police Chief Percy Nash to disguise the bars and lights of Block 16, the inspectors give a thumbs-down to Vegas thanks to Block 16's reputation. Boulder City is built as the "sin-free" workers' town. In 1941, the Air Force base opens, and the War Department threatens to bar service personnel from the entire town unless something is done about Block 16. It is officially shut down the next year.

82. Bugsy Siegel (1946): Funded by $6 million in mob money, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel opens the Flamingo hotel in 1946, dubbed so for the nickname of his mistress, Virginia Hill. In response to building contractor Del E. Webb's concern over an influx of mobsters on the site, Siegel laughs and assures Webb, "We only kill each other." It would prove to be a prophetic statement. Just six months after he opened the Flamingo, Siegel was murdered in Los Angeles, a slaying reportedly ordered by Siegel's mafia bosses to effect a change in management at the Flamingo.

83. Valentine's Day raid (1979): The FBI conducts a Valentine's Day raid on the Tropicana Hotel after gaming executive Carl Thomas' link to Kansas City's Civella mob family is revealed. Several convictions help to break organized crime's control of the Tropicana, leading to an upheaval in the gaming industry.

84. Rosenthal survives a car bomb (1982): Chicago-born Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal was one of the nation's top sports handicappers, but it was in Las Vegas where he became a legendary figure in the gambling industry. By the mid-1970s, Rosenthal was hosting a Las Vegas-based television variety show, had introduced Vegas' first sports book and was running four Las Vegas casinos -- the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina. He also was reputed to be the mob's inside man, directing skimming operations at those casinos. It was this reputation that prevented him from receiving a gaming license and in 1988 earned him a place in Nevada's Black Book , a list of people prohibited from entering the state's casinos. But before the state took action against him, Rosenthal was subject to trouble from his mafia associates.

On Oct. 4, 1982, Rosenthal exits Marie Callender's restaurant at 600 E. Sahara Ave. He gets into his vehicle only to have it explode a few moments later. Rosenthal escapes the attempt on his life with injuries and leaves town a short time later. His life and the bombing were immortalized in "Casino," the book by Nicholas Pileggi, as well as the movie of the same name. Today, Rosenthal still handicaps sports and lives in Florida.

85. Tailhook Association Convention(1991): The Tailhook Association -- a private organization for active duty, reserve and retired naval aviators -- holds its annual convention at the Las Vegas Hilton. The convention -- held in Las Vegas every year since 1963 -- comes under scrutiny when the group's rowdy and unlawful behavior at the Hilton results in 90 instances of indecent assault, $23,000 in property damage and some major forced retirements and reassignments in the naval hierarchy.

86. Wynn kidnapping (1993): Kevyn Wynn, the 26-year-old daughter of casino mogul Steve Wynn, is kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in the affluent Spanish Trails community and held for ransom until her father pays the kidnappers $1.45 million. After releasing Wynn unharmed, kidnapper Ray Cuddy is arrested in California after foolishly paying cash for a Ferrari, and he and Jacob Sherwood (a third accomplice, Anthony Watkins, receives a softer sentence after turning stool pigeon) are convicted and sentenced to 24 years and 19 years in prison, respectively.

87. Tupac murder (1996): Driving to a nightclub with Death Row Records owner Marion "Suge" Knight after a Mike Tyson fight Sept. 7, hip-hop superstar Tupac Shakur is shot three times when a gunman opens fire from the back seat of a passing car. Shakur dies six days later at University Medical Center. His murder is never solved, though it is thought to be connected to an East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry.

88. Blitzstein murder (1997): "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, once Chicago mobster Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro's untouchable top man in Vegas, is gunned down in his home by two hit men. Spilotro was murdered in Indiana in 1986, and Blitzstein was reduced to small-time racketeering and hustling in Vegas after serving time in a federal prison camp. Blitzstein's rackets -- run from his auto-repair shop -- eventually became lucrative enough to attract the attention of the Los Angeles and Buffalo, N.Y., crime families. At the time of his murder, Blitzstein was under investigation by the FBI (the sting was nicknamed "Operation Thin Crust"), though the FBI's mob informant, Johnny Branco, knew nothing of the murder before it happened.

89. Binion death (1998): Former Binion's Horseshoe owner Lonnie "Ted" Binion is found dead in his Las Vegas home on Sept. 17 by his girlfriend, former stripper Sandy Murphy. The cause of death appears to be a drug overdose, but foul play is suspected, and in 2000, Murphy and her lover Rick Tabish (with whom she had an affair while living with Binion) are convicted of murdering Binion. The Nevada Supreme Court overturns the convictions, and after a second trial is held in 2004, the pair is found not guilty of Binion's murder, though they are convicted for conspiring to commit burglary and/or larceny, burglary and grand larceny.