Officially the National Museum of Organised Crime and Law Enforcement, here at the Mob Museum you can get up close to the famous mafia movers and shakers like Al Capone, Whitey Bulger, Bugsy Siegel and John Gotti. With its interactive displays and original artifacts you'll get an insight into how this small desert town grew to become the gaming capital of the world – and how the Mob made its name across America.
The museum is a new fixture on the Vegas scene. The 3,800-square-metre building was opened in 2012 on 14 February, 83 years to the day after Al Capone and Bugs Moran's rival gangs clashed in Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Today the museum plays host to an incredible bullet-riddled wall taken from the site of the original clash and preserved wonderfully right here.
The building itself is an inspired choice. Once a federal courthouse and a U.S. Post Office, it was here in 1950 where one of the country's 14 Kefauver Committee hearings was held, which had a remit to investigate organised crime all across the United States.
Today at the museum you can find out all about the ways in which police and ordinary people have fought to battle the activities of the mob over the years. You can learn all about wiretaps and other technology used by police to listen in on gangsters through the decades in an interactive display. You can even listen to original surveillance recordings and try your hand at getting trained up with the weapons used by the FBI here at the museum.
Situated in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, you can easily reach the Mob Museum by bus or taxi, or even on foot if you're staying nearby. Limited free parking is also available. The museum is open to anyone of all ages, but children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult as some of the exhibits contain graphic imagery, with weapons and crime scene photos among the items on display.
