Seems like only yesterday we weren’t so comfy with the mob

I see his murderously handsome mug on downtown billboards and still can't believe my eyes.

Can it really be true that, after all these years, Las Vegas has finally grown so comfortable with its own notorious history that it's willing to embrace the image of one of its bloodiest founding fathers, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel?

It must be true. The billboard advertising the new, improved, but historically well-connected El Cortez tells me so each time I pass it on my way to Fremont Street. Sure, the El Cortez is under an aggressive new management (although, thankfully not as aggressive as the old, bent-nosed management). It has redone its rooms and re-established itself as a place to go for a good gamble, a generous drink and a sizzling steak in the recovering downtown corridor.

Local bargain hunters will tell you the El Cortez is making a new name for itself as a place to stretch a buck in tough economic times. With all the food and gambling discounts associated with the room specials on its website, players can stay at the venerable gambling palace for next to nothing.

Bully for the El Cortez and its intrepid managers, who by my estimation rank among the bravest souls in the gambling racket. But they can afford to buy their own newspaper ad.

The real history of the El Cortez includes chapters on its ownership by Siegel and Meyer Lansky in the World War II era, but its greater story was written by J. Kell Houssels and Jackie Gaughan, a couple of sharpies who knew more about the day-to-day operations of a gambling hall than just about anyone.

The question I'm asking is this: Does anyone else remember a time when merely mentioning an association with the Benny Siegels of Las Vegas history would have been enough to ring the sheriff's phone off the hook and attract an investigation by the state Gaming Control Board?

But that's life in the new Las Vegas, where city officials have embraced with their votes -- and taxpayer revenues -- the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement in the historic downtown post office. It sounds like a winner to me, but it also sounds like an undeniable sign of change in the perspective of Las Vegas.

Although less successful, the Las Vegas Mob Experience at the Tropicana is further evidence that we've learned to live with our deez-and-doz roots. The Mob Experience features memorabilia from a long list of notorious characters, including Siegel, Lansky, Tony Spilotro and other mugs and thugs.

This new comfort with all things mob-related makes me wonder how all those hardworking Control Board agents feel after putting in so many years chasing the local hoodlum element around Strip and downtown casinos. For that matter, we have a number of state casino Black Book members who didn't rise anywhere close to Siegel in the notoriety department. While his image is used in a casino advertisement, their images can still be found on the List of Excluded Persons.

Given the popularity of gangster movies and organized crime shows on television, the new embrace of the old mob images seems like a sound marketing technique -- as long as we don't one day discover traditional organized crime elements have been up to their old business in the new Las Vegas.

I'm just glad El Cortez management decided not to use the photo of Benny Siegel with his handsome head shot off in June 1947.

Might be bad for business.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.