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In the article, “Denunciation and the Illusion of Social Control: The Case of the Nevada Black Book,” authors Carole Case and Ronald A. Farrell discuss the exclusion of organized crime figures from the gambling industry in Nevada. These individuals’ names are written in a black book and remain there forever, thus insuring that they are excluded from the gaming industry.
Based on previous fears in the mid 1950s on congressional hearings and the results from the President’s Task force against organized crime in 1967, those that were put into the black book were ones who had the mafia stigma associated with them, which tended to be Italians.
By the mid 1940s, in the post World War II era, Las Vegas was undergoing immense economic growth, and gambling played a critical part in this. In the early 1950s, hearings were held expressing concern over the involvement of the Mafia. This led to concern directed towards Italian Americans. In the end, there was a disproportionate amount of Italians on the black book. The black book’s purpose was to provide security to the public in believing in a clean and lawful gaming system, however based on social stereotypes, a large number of names that appeared on this black book were Italian.
The fear of Italian Americans involved in the gaming industry leads to an increased amount of depth of the movie. The movie is able to play off of current events of the period in order to add strength to the movie. The movie plays off of many of society’s stereotypes in order to convey subtle messages.
by Joanne Aitken, Harris Steinberg, and Elise Vider
The Next American City
PHILADELPHIA: Gambling on Philadelphia's Future: Can Casinos Fit into a Big City Downtown?
by Joanne Aitken, Harris Steinberg, and Elise Vider
In the article, “Denunciation and the Illusion of Social Control: The Case of the Nevada Black Book,” authors Carole Case and Ronald A. Farrell discuss the exclusion of organized crime figures from the gambling industry in Nevada. These individuals’ names are written in a black book and remain there forever, thus insuring that they are excluded from the gaming industry.
Based on previous fears in the mid 1950s on congressional hearings and the results from the President’s Task force against organized crime in 1967, those that were put into the black book were ones who had the mafia stigma associated with them, which tended to be Italians.
By the mid 1940s, in the post World War II era, Las Vegas was undergoing immense economic growth, and gambling played a critical part in this. In the early 1950s, hearings were held expressing concern over the involvement of the Mafia. This led to concern directed towards Italian Americans. In the end, there was a disproportionate amount of Italians on the black book. The black book’s purpose was to provide security to the public in believing in a clean and lawful gaming system, however based on social stereotypes, a large number of names that appeared on this black book were Italian.
The fear of Italian Americans involved in the gaming industry leads to an increased amount of depth of the movie. The movie is able to play off of current events of the period in order to add strength to the movie. The movie plays off of many of society’s stereotypes in order to convey subtle messages.