Vegas Mob Museum to Expand

Posted on: July 19, 2022, 04:44h. 

Last updated on: July 19, 2022, 05:42h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The Mob Museum has apparently made someone an offer they couldn’t refuse. The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement has purchased a 30,000-foot parcel, just east of its historic building in downtown Vegas, in which it plans to expand. Neither the sale price nor the previous owner were disclosed.

The Mob Museum
The Mob Museum is expanding into 30,000 square feet of downtown Las Vegas space to its immediate east. (Image: The Mob Museum)

“The Museum has enjoyed enormous success throughout our 10 years of operation, averaging well over 1,000 visitors a day, and we have remained focused on delivering an incredible guest experience, meaningful exhibits, and public programs consistent with our mission,” Mob Museum President and CEO Jonathan Ullman said in a statement. “An expansion would enable us to reach a much broader audience by increasing our offerings, community engagement opportunities, and contribution to the growth of the public’s understanding of organized crime and law enforcement.”

The museum’s historic main structure, originally built in 1933 as the Las Vegas Post Office and a federal courthouse where many mobsters stood trial, will remain intact.

Rolling out the barrel?

Perhaps one of the new space’s exhibitions will be the infamous barrel discovered in May at the bottom of Lake Mead with a body in it. Just last week, Casino.org reported that the Mob Museum is attempting to acquire the barrel (empty, of course) from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department if they determine that it contained the victim of a mafia hit.

A boater spotted the corroded barrel ⁠— made visible because of the lake’s receding waters ⁠— in a muddy spot once located 100 feet under Lake Mead’s Hemenway Harbor. Even two months later, the museum still receives dozens of requests a week from news outlets and documentary crews seeking interviews about the grim discovery.