Mob Museum Las Vegas Downtown

New thing today, checked out the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Very cool! It's more like interactive history that brings the Mafia to life. I learned about how the organized crime and gang families rose, and some interesting stories about mobsters, police, witnesses and all that stuff. They also go into stories of the Mafia in movies, pop culture & tv. It is very interesting. Tons of media and interactive touch screens. My favorite was "catch the grift" or something like that, where they show casino footage and you have to find the cheater or scam, and they explain how the players were cheating.

The museum has a nice tone to it. It doesn't glorify the Mafia, but shows the gritty hard dark edge to the world. It shows the great rise of the Mafia empires and the violence and competition within the world. It shows the danger of that lifestyle, both within the Mafia and as the people fighting to bring it down. I suppose it's most like being witness to the rise and fall of empires, with dramatic and intense characters, battles, alliances, strategy, business and all that stuff.

It starts off with a police lineup where you can stand there like you're a bad guy in a Usual Suspects lineup. They have a few gun shooting interactive games. It shows the perspective of the police trying to take down these murderous cold blooded thugs. It goes into undercover work of cops and the intrigue behind people who fought the Mob.

They have REAL artifacts. The Valentines Day Massacre wall, suits & personal items of mobsters, real guns and weapons on display and all sorts of stuff. There's great style to the building and 20s Art Deco style to the place. The museum is in a converted courthouse where real investigations into organized crime occurred. They have real photos and footage of grizzly murders and hits "Mob's Greatest Hits" and all.

I now want to watch all the tv and movies about Mafia. I love the Godfather, Casino and the Departed. We have Boardwalk Empire on our Netflix Queue and I want to add The Sopranos, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas and all sorts of other movies. Some of the real life stories were incredible and you appreciate the movies more as you can totally tell the stories behind the Police & Mafia inspired those movies or tv shows.

I highly recommend this activity to anyone visiting Las Vegas. There's so much info. Could take 2 hours or 4 depending on your level of interest. Nice thing is you buy an all day pass, so go, take a break, and if you want, go back later. It's about a block away from Fremont Street so good to go while you're down there and maybe make a day of Downtown Las Vegas. It's a lot of good stuff to take in all at once. I glazed over a lot and I'm not telling you everything, so you should go because you'll get something else or more out of it.

I recommend doing research and watching movies, tv or documentaries before you go - so when you're standing in front of the exhibit, you really appreciate and understand the significance of seeing this stuff in person. A very neat museum.