Las Vegas, NV

Located in Clark County, Nevada, Las Vegas has been, since the early 1950s, the leading American casino destination. Throughout a crucial part of its history, the city\u27s casino industry was tied to those with connections to organized crime. Founded in 1905 in a land auction conducted by the Salt Lake, Los Angeles, and San Pedro Railroad, Las Vegas was, in its earliest years, a watering stop for that railroad\u27s route. Gambling was, at the town\u27s inception, legal in Nevada; it had been so since 1869. When the railroad laid out the physical plan for the new city, it designated one block, Block 16, for “vice,” which translates to gambling, drinking, and prostitution—classic Western saloon diversions. Off the main thoroughfare of Fremont Street yet easily accessible to visitors arriving by train, Block 16 offered relatively low-stakes, unremarkable debauchery