Las Vegas Weekly

May 25, 2010 · 12:41 PM

Photos: The Mob Museum aims to be major tourist attraction

By Robin Leach

The future site of the Mob Museum.

Photo: The Mob Museum

It’s been the subject of much debate and controversy, but there’s no denying the fact that The Mob Museum will certainly be a talking point for locals and visitors in the years to come. The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement plans to be a major and successful Las Vegas attraction with hundreds of thousands of annual tourists.

Here’s our first look at the renderings for The Mob Museum, and this morning our Merry Mayor of Mirth Oscar Goodman led an in-depth tour of the building with co-creators Dr. Dennis Barrie, its creative director, and Kathy Barrie, curator and head of content design. It’s the first time that media have been permitted to tour the historic main Post Office building owned by the city since construction began.

The museum is undergoing an extensive renovation to bring it up to Historical Preservation standards. Dennis and Kathy will discuss the renovation in addition to the exhibits themselves -- the technology, multimedia presentations and recently acquired artifacts.

You can find out everything you need to know at TheMobMuseum.org. The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime is dedicated to the history of organized crime and law enforcement. It plans to present the stories and events of mob history in interactive exhibits. There’ll be considerable focus on how law enforcement defeated the mob stranglehold on Las Vegas and continues to battle organized crime in the Southwest.

Our Senior Editor John Katsilometes profiled the competing Mob Experience in his The Kats Report yesterday.

Set to open in 2011, the 41,000-square-foot Mob Museum will have 16,800 square feet of exhibit space on three floors, plus a retail store. The construction budget is $42 million and will employ about 220 during building, adding some $62.3 million to the city’s economy.

A 24-year FBI veteran, Ellen Knowlton, a former FBI special agent in charge of the Las Vegas division, will help oversee the museum’s development and operations.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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