Las Vegas is a fascinating city because a big part of the economy here was developed by criminals.

I think really the seeds of organized crime flourishing in Las Vegas really did start with Prohibition.

We clearly sent a message as early as the 1920s that we weren't too interested in what was happening at the federal level.

People collectively across the nation wanted to ban alcohol.

That didn't have a whole lot to do with us.

That was the mindset.

So when organized crime came to Las Vegas in the 1940s, mobsters had all these connections.

And so they were bringing in top flight entertainers to Las Vegas.

They were providing jobs.

I think there's no question that Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was a crime figure who played a role in developing Las Vegas.

Bugsy did not invent Las Vegas.

He did not even invent the Flamingo Hotel.

But Siegel was important because he brought in a new level of sophistication to the casino.

It was no longer sort of this Old West theme.

It was now more of an elegant sort of Monte Carlo, Hollywood theme.

And this was an important development for Las Vegas.

He really understood that people were coming there for the resort experience, not just to gamble, not just to play blackjack.

This was an influence that we still see today in every resort that's built on the Las Vegas Strip.

I think he's also an influence because of the sort of the dark allure of Bugsy Siegel.

He was only operating the Flamingo for six months before he was murdered brutally.

This creates this aura around Las Vegas, that there's this mob element, that there's this somewhat dangerous aspect, this underworld aspect to any visitor who comes to town, especially in those - in that era, late 40s, 50s and 60s.

They had this notion that you go to the showroom and you sit down to watch a show, and there's a table next door.

Those guys might be connected, right?

Or if you're gambling, you might sit down at a poker table and the guy next to you might be associated with organized crime.

And you know, even if that sounds a little bit, you know, weird, it - it's the way we think.

It's the way humans are.

We want to be close to celebrities or to danger in some way.

And so Las Vegas, I think, benefited from that and has ever since.

So we are in the courtroom on the second floor of The Mob Museum.

So the Kefauver Committee was a Senate investigating committee.

It was founded in 1950 and it was chaired by, Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.

They conducted hearings in 14 cities, across the country, including one right here in this courtroom, in 1950.

Kefauver was a young senator looking to make a name for himself.

And he saw an opportunity to investigate organized crime, which had been in the news a great deal.

And following on the murder of Bugsy Siegel in 1947, there was a great interest in finding out - really if this was real, if organized crime was real, and if so, what was it doing and how was it corrupting our, you know, our culture?

They really revealed a lot about what was happening with organized crime and particularly corruption of public officials and public institutions.

You know, one of the unintended consequences of the Kefauver Committee hearings was that it benefited Las Vegas, you know.

They shut down illegal gambling operations all over the United States, and we became like, almost like a monopoly.

We were the place where people needed to come to gamble.

And also all of the expertise that had been in places where gambling was shut down, the dealers and the other people who knew a lot about gambling all migrated to Las Vegas.

So Las Vegas suddenly had this crop of talent, to help operate our casinos.

And ultimately, as Las Vegas grew, we kind of determined collectively that it was time for the mob to move on.

You saw state gaming regulators and local police and federal agencies band together to push the organized crime out of Las Vegas and open the door for corporate investment in the casino business, which is what we see today.