The Green Felt Jungle - Hardcover

Ed Reid; Ovid Demaris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089966783X ISBN 13: 9780899667836

Publisher: Buccaneer Books, 1991

Synopsis

The Green Felt Jungle is the first book that dares to penetrate the mirage of Las Vegas, the respectable, fun-loving resort where carefree tourists may innocently and legally indulge in gambling. In a carefully documented exposé (which includes some astounding, secretly taped confidential conversations), the authors explore the real Las Vegas-a clever (and profitable) front for organized crime. Everything is legal, of course-everything except mysterious, unreported murders, systematic tax evasion, widespread prostitution, tacit segregation, and the graft that greases the entire system. Why was Bugsy Siegel, the founder of modern Las Vegas, liquidated? Who are some of Frank Sinatra's sinister partners in the Sands Hotel? How large is Jimmy Hoffa's interest in the glittering hotels along the Strip? Guess who some of Senator Barry Goldwater's companions have been on his numerous gambling junkets. And why was the body of a United States Senator who died just before election day preserved in a bathtub full of ice until all the returns were in? Citing irrefutable evidence, the authors expose the ways in which some of the nation's top criminals, under the pretense of operating "legitimate" businesses, are actually pouring millions of tourist-trade dollars into the coffers of the Mafia. They name the hidden interests who really control the casinos and disclose the hypocrisy and corruption that surround public officials on virtually every level of government. Also explained in detail are the tourist's actual chances of coming away a winner, the various "house percentages," the subtle devices used to lure players to the tables-and keep them there. Ironically, the gambling equipment is possibly the only thing in Las Vegas that is really on the level.

About this title

About the Author:

Ed Reid, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, started on the Brooklyn Eagle in 1935 assigned to a beat in the heart of the Murder, Inc. territory in East Brooklyn. He has covered every police district and court in Brooklyn and Manhattan, involving many of the celebrated murder cases of the day. He broke the Harry Gross bribery scandal as the result of a conversation overheard in a Brooklyn bar in September 1949. For this story which had vast repercussions and is still making headlines - in addition to the Pulitzer Prize and the coveted Byline Award of the New York City Newspaper Reporters Association, he received the George Polk Memorial Award, the Page One Award of the New York Newspaper Guild, the Headliners Club Award, the Annual Award of the Women's Press Club, the Annual Award of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, and many others, including most of the major journalism prizes to be won in this country. In his last book, MAFIA, which Random House published, Ed Reid dug deep into the muck of vice and crime to throw light upon what Senator Kefauver called the cohesive" of the nationwide crime syndicate. He named names, dates and places about the dreaded Black Hand society, This fearless "reporter's reporter" then went on to expose, in a remarkable series of articles in the leading newspaper, the link between Three-Finger Brown (Thomas Luchese) and certain elements in the United States Attorney's office and some of the top officials and business men in the city. As a result of Reid's revelations, efforts are being made toward Luchese's deportation. Ed Reid, who was born and spent most of his life in New York City, lived in Westchester with his wife and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Buccaneer Books
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 089966783X
• ISBN 13: 9780899667836
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 241