Sharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas

by John L. Smith

Book Overview

The Las Vegas Review-Journal writer traces the origins of the gambling racket, from mafia vice to big corporate dollars, exploring the changes in the gambling industry over the past two decades.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569802742
• ISBN13: 9781569802748
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Barricade Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Real McCoy.

This book gives you the real story behind the Vegas gaming legends. Nobody does justice to this topic like John L. Smith. His research is impeccable.

Las Vegas history: from mob to corporate

The complete saga of Las Vegas from its early roots with the mob to modern corporate times is presented in a lively history of the city's real rulers in SHARKS IN THE DESERT: THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND CURRENT KINGS OF LAS VEGAS. Many made their fortunes developing the casino business the city is most famous for today - but many myths have surrounded their activities - myths which columnist Smith dispels in an investigative history which tracked mobsters and their connections to the city's rich and monied.

An excellent read and a superb history lesson

With "Sharks in the Desert" John L. Smith wrote one of the best books about Las Vegas ever. This book has a lot of substance and it is full of information. Although it's nonfiction, it reads like a novel. Lots of valuable quality research are packed into the 400 pages. Although we have seen the TV specials about Las Vegas history, it was so refreshing to read John's book -- this is a great read from the first page to the last. The reader learns about today's casino moguls and the harsh but real techniques to separate casino patrons from their money. It also tells the story how like a gigantic masterplan Las Vegas rose from the barren desert into today's Sodom and Gomorrah. Smith is excellent in telling it like it is and this book is a great educational tool for anyone who wants learn more about the meadows, i.e. Las Vegas, and the people who developed this desert oasis in the past and who run this town like clockwork presently.

Casino expert Howard Schwartz says

Sharks' a Fine Vegas History and Biography Combination by Howard Schwartz Related Links Nevada Gambling Online Casino Games John Smith, one of Nevada's finest newspaper columnists and authors (the Bob Stupak bio, No Limit Stupak biography and the Steve Wynn bio, Running Scared among others) has penned one of the best biography-history combination books ever with Sharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas (400 pages, hardbound, $24.95). His book is a new arrival at Gambler's Book Club. It focuses on those folks who made big money in the casino business, or as the publisher (Lyle Stuart) puts it: "From the made men to the corporate tough guys -- they're all here. Things only appear to have changed. The corporate hard-asses have the same goal as the mobsters who preceded them: to make as much money as possible without regard to who gets destroyed in the progress." How HAS Las Vegas changed since the early days? Who were the visionaries, the entrepreneurs, those who anticipated what it has become today? Also, what changed the perception of Las Vegas as an "outlaw city," to "a community that prospered because it remained intriguing and was able to constantly reinvent itself"? From Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, the Flamingo and El Rancho to the earliest days of the Frontier and Stardust, Smith takes us on a historic trip, focusing on the people, their dreams, what went right, what went wrong and how it all led to the Las Vegas we know today. It's a journey down memory lane with a cast of characters -- some gunned down, others who became billionaires. Packed with photos, a tremendous index of names and places and facts drawn from more than 100 books and other documents, the book presents Johnny Rosselli, Marshall Caifano, Frank Costello, Ralph Lamb, Tony Spilotro, Frank Rosenthal. There's much territory to cover and yet Smith does it well. He continues with the roles of Moe Dalitz, Estes Kefauver, Jimmy Hoffa, Sid Wyman, Morris Shenker, Howard Hughes as the century rolled on and times changed. The book shifts to the downtown area with Jackie Gaughan and Mel Exber, back to the Strip for Bill Bennett and Jay Sarno, Ralph Engelstad and Bob Stupak. Two of the city's most important people who get plenty of attention are Steve Wynn and Benny Binion. Remember Meshulam Riklis at the Riviera? Smith reminds us, while examining what went right and wrong at the original Aladdin, later at the Tropicana. He focuses on the rapid rise of the Fertitta and Boyd families and their many successes, the visionary William Harrah; then moves to "relative newcomers" Sheldon Adelson, Carl Icahn, the Maloof family, Peter Morton (the Hard Rock), and the sometimes mysterious but respected Kirk Kerkorian. This is one heck of a book about one heck of a city and as one wise guy once said: "... the place (Las Vegas) remains one thing above all else: Irresistible."

The Gold Station Wynn !

This is one of the easiest, most organized and fun reads of Las Vegas history that I have ever read. The short chapters easily keep your interest and the way the book is laid outl, you can set it down for a while (although that is not easy to do) and return to it without loosing track of anything. I loved it!