Tag Archives: crime

A Bronx Tale Spins in Las Vegas

Chazz Palminteri was sitting on the front stoop of his parents’ apartment block, minding his own business, when shots were fired during a fight over a nearby parking space. A man was murdered right in front of him, and young Palminteri’s life changed forever.

Palminteri used the shocking event as an inspiration and wrote a screenplay called A Bronx Tale about his growing up in world filled with crime, gambling and gangsters. In 1993, the play was made into a movie, directed by and starring Robert De Niro.

Now an Academy Award-nominated actor himself, Palminteri revisits his checkered past in his one-man version of A Bronx Tale at the Venetian Showroom in Las Vegas.

The production sees Palminteri retrace his steps and navigate the rough streets of ’60s-era New York, as he is forced to choose between the law-abiding life of his father and the lifestyle of a local mobster.

Palminteri premiered his production at the Venetian last year, and he brings it back for a second 11-night running now through May 9. 8 p.m., $45.75, dark April 30 and May 7.

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Mob Money Flows in Las Vegas

Recession?  Las Vegas, apparently, is in the money when it comes to anything related to the M-O-B!  

Yep, we didn’t want to let this one get swept under the rug or becoming the cause for another concrete casting. (Sorry, a bad mob-ism.) 

The Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs in mid-March awarded a $220,000 grant to the new Mob Museum planned for Las Vegas. 

The commission allocated $3 million to 23 projects that week, with the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement by far getting the biggest single award. 

State Historic Preservation Officer Ron James says there is an additional $97,000 in reserve that was allocated to the project. 

The museum is set to open 2011. It has already received – are you sitting down? -$3 million from Nevada over the years.  

We guess it doesn’t hurt the project if the current Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman, is a strong proponent and also a prior mob lawyer. 

Don’t fret about the sifting off of your hard-earned money for a mob edifice:  Officials from the Mob Museum have reportedly told the commission this is the last time they’ll ask for money from the state.  Yeah, right.

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Homicides on Display in Las Vegas

An exhibit covering a century of ultra high-profile homicides and crime cases in Los Angeles opens today, Wed., March 3, at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.  

The first-time display is part of the training for 800 detectives that are learning all the in’s and out’s of proper crimesmanship at the California Homicide Investigators Association 2010 Conference put on by the Los Angeles Police Department. 

The provactive items include evidence, photos and video from the murder trials of Charles Manson and O.J. Simpson (“if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit”) as well as steamy evidence associated with the death of Bobby Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Black Dahlia slaying and more. 

Daring attendees can even get their own crime mug shots. 

The exhibit will be open to the public today and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Welcome to Las Vegas Sign Vandalized Again

For the second time this year, the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip has once again been vandalized.  

On Friday , Dec. 18 police say 69-year-old Joseph Pepitone, wearing his trademark barrel and a red Santa cap, splattered red and black paint on the most visible part of the iconic sign at Las Vegas Blvd. and Russell Rd.. 

This vandalism was more visible than the incident earlier this year which basically caused damaged to the bottom of the sign. Clark County commissioners and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman immediately had that mess cleaned up. No arrests were made in the first incident.  

Friday’s incident marked only the second time the “Welcome” sign has been vandalized in 50 years, officials said. 

Pepitone was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a charge of injuring/damaging the property of another. 

Pepitone is the cousin of the former famed New York Yankee with the same name.  He’s had an ongoing well-documented 12-year beef with Las Vegas casino Arizon Charlie’s, where he claims his $463,895 slot machine win was voided because casino officials said the machine malfunctioned. 

He appealed the decision as far as the Nevada State Supreme Court, but lost each time. 

Pepitone has continued to protest the decision, doing so in an unorthodox way:   He wears a barrel fastened with suspenders from his shoulders as marches frequently in public at demonstrations (including O.J. Simpson’s murder trial), carrying signs that read claims such as, “I was robbed!” in bold, large print.

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“Burglar of the Stars” Awaits Criminal Charges?

As reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access on Oct. 29, 19-year-old Rachel Lee was nabbed in northwest Las Vegas for allegedly burglarizing the Hollywood Hills homes of celebrities including Audrina Partridge, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom and the Hilton family. 

Few facts are immerging on the case, but search warrant records obtained last Friday in Las Vegas show that police seized photos of Paris Hilton, designer jeans, computers, a Korean passport and 204 $100 bills when they arrested her on Oct. 22. 

Curiously, no charges have been filed- yet?

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Las Vegas Ranks Last in Forbes Magazine List for Working Mothers

If you’re a working mom, there are at least 49 better cities to live in than Las Vegas, according to Forbes magazine. The publication ranked Las Vegas at the bottom of the list for working mothers. workingmoms

The list is based on a recent evaluation of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas in such categories as earnings, unemployment, cost of living, violent and property crimes, health care, per-capita school expenditure per pupil, the number of day care facilities and preschools, and park acreage.  

Las Vegas also achieved near cellar dweller status in many contributing categories, including ranking 43rd in employment, 49th in pediatricians, 46th in school quality, 47th in violent crimes.   Other categories didn’t fair much better, mostly in the mid-30s ranking.  The only bright spot of sorts, surpisingly, was a 14th ranking in health care.  

“There are numerous considerations for what working moms want in their choice of a city,” ForbesWoman writer Heidi Brown, who edited the list, said in a statement. “We based our rankings on the premise that different mothers have different needs. Beyond good health care and safety, mothers who work want a city which offers plentiful jobs, high salaries and abundant day care options.”  

The New York metro area took first place on the list, followed by Austin, Texas; Minneapolis/St. Paul; and Milwaukee.

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Brothel Job for Suspected Killer Cop?

Drew Peterson, 55, a brash, mustachioed former Illinois police sergeant who found tabloid fame after his fourthDrewPeterson wife’s disappearance, said he’s considering a tempting brothel job offer he has received from the HBO reality show “Cathouse,” filmed at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch near Reno.                      

Brothel owner Dennis Hoff said he invited Peterson recently to spend the weekend at the Bunny Ranch and discussed working there, saying he wants to hire Peterson to head the brothel’s security detail. 

Those plans, however, are apparently on the backburner as Peterson was indicted May 7 and held on a $20 million bond for two-counts of first-degree murder in the drowning death of Kathleen Savio, his third wife, who was found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004. 

Drew Peterson seems to relish being under the media microscope since Stacy Peterson, his fourth wife, disappeared 1 ½ years ago.  He has appeared in People magazine and on multiple national talk shows– most recently to tout his new engagement to a 24-year-old woman.

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Actress Kelly Monaco Robbed, Hid Under Las Vegas Bed

Actress Kelly Monaco found herself at the centre of a terrifying burglary in Las Vegas after an intruder broke into her hotel room while she was sleeping.kellymonaco

The former General Hospital star is in Sin City performing in the saucy revue Peepshow alongside ex-Spice Girl Mel B (Melanie Brown).

But her stay in the gambling Mecca turned disgustingly sour when she woke up in the early hours last Thursday morning to hear an intruder burst into her penthouse suite at the Planet Hollywood resort. 

Monaco reportedly hid under her bed during the incident, and when she emerged she found the suite’s living room had been burglarized.  The star filed a report with police, and the perp was quickly caught later on Thursday, but detectives have failed to confirm what was stolen, according to TMZ.com.

Monaco has since increased her security by hiring bodyguards to protect her for the rest of her acting stint in Las Vegas.

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