THE BIG BANKROLL (369 pp.)—Leo Katcher—Harper ($5). Gangster Arnold Rothstein’s life story is the sort of straw out of which psychologists make their bricks. At the age of three, the future “Big ...

It was an idyllic domestic scene straight out of a Hollywood talkie: A pretty young wife kisses her dapper, handsome husband goodbye at the door of their suburban bungalow on a pleasant summer day, a ...

Robert De Niro stars as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, picked by Mob bosses to front four Las Vegas casinos, who ends up doubling their take and changing the rules of how the casinos are run, in “Casino.” (Phil ...

The mob as in ... The Mafia. Goodfellas. The Godfather. The Sopranos. That culture and way of life has fascinated movie and TV audiences for generations. But what about the reality of organized crime?

When you think of Las Vegas, it's hard not to recall the city's colorful past and the people who helped shape it into an American entertainment hotspot. Think members of the mob: Bugsy Siegel and ...