00:00:11Las Vegas Nevada the 1950s
00:00:16ahead mystic oasis in the middle of the
00:00:18Mojave Desert in the aftermath of the
00:00:23Second World War this is a chance to
00:00:26escape the straitjacket of middle
00:00:27America and let your hair down
00:00:31the city of daytime some nighttime and
00:00:36the people behind the whole show
00:00:38the Mafia Las Vegas is the original
00:00:41gangsters paradise
00:00:42it was really unique to Las Vegas they
00:00:46made the town and they made it the frost
00:00:48post time
00:00:51the Mafia makes millions of dollars in
00:00:53legitimate gambling profits
00:00:56that they have far more at stake an
00:00:59illegal financial operation called the
00:01:02skin the tamada tea is green cast
00:01:06there’s stuff from the outside there’s
00:01:08stuff from the inside
00:01:10in there skimming the skim is money
00:01:13siphoned off from the casinos counting
00:01:15rooms before it can be taxed the amount
00:01:19runs into the millions Mafia families
00:01:22from across the nation each receive a
00:01:24share in the skim based on the
00:01:26percentage of ownership it holds in a
00:01:29casino there is no record of the money
00:01:30so it’s extremely valuable to the mob
00:01:34it’s money that they can spend a hundred
00:01:36percent of and have to account to no one
00:01:40for
00:01:43and good evening
00:01:45radio DJ true Hawkins grew up in Las
00:01:48Vegas during the 1950s his father was a
00:01:52cashier at the Mafia run Riviera casino
00:01:55but he didn’t just count the money he
00:01:58helped the mob run the skim one of his
00:02:03jobs became to put hundred-dollar bills
00:02:06in a lockbox drawer and set it on the
00:02:10back counter and it disappeared and an
00:02:13empty one showed up that was every day
00:02:15five days a week quality was at work and
00:02:18it was just understood that that box
00:02:20didn’t exist never happened nobody
00:02:22talked about it
00:02:23the Mafia holds a monopoly over the
00:02:26gambling and hotel industry the biggest
00:02:28employer in town going to work then
00:02:31means going to work for the mob even
00:02:35though it was illegal for employees like
00:02:37Chu Hawkins Father Counting the skin was
00:02:40just part of everyday life in my
00:02:42father’s eyes he was just doing his job
00:02:44what I got to do that’s what they told
00:02:47me here’s your paycheck you did it you
00:02:49knew what was going on however the
00:02:52approach of all of those mob-connected
00:02:54guys they were perfect gentlemen to
00:02:58everybody at work
00:02:59[Music]
00:03:01the Mafia keeps violent crime out of Las
00:03:03Vegas they have too much at stake the
00:03:07gambling profits and the skim are worth
00:03:09millions and they don’t want to attract
00:03:11eat from the authorities or scare the
00:03:14tourists away
00:03:16[Music]
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