Jack Dragna News Today

“Siegel’s Vallejo Girl Friend Believed Kidnapped by Gang,” was the banner headline on the front page of the Oct. 2, 1947, Vallejo Evening News-Chronicle.

Los Angeles is a complex place. We're explaining how it works, its history and its culture.

Los Angeles had Mickey Cohen, Bugsy Siegel and Jack Dragna — Al Capone even visited now and then — but sprawl and civic corruption may have played a role in tamping down the violence here.

A new book cowritten by mobster Jack Dragna’s great-grandson explores the Los Angeles underworld’s role in building up the Las Vegas casino industry. Mobster Jack Dragna is seen during a 1951 court appearance. Dragna was the longtime boss of the Los Angeles crime family. (Image: Calisphere) Released in March by Arcadia Publishing, Los Angeles Underworld is written by two organized crime authors, Dragna relative J. Michael Niotta and historian and researcher Avi Bash. The authors appeared ...

Las Vegas Weekly A casino executive mysteriously disappears. Hikers find a body in the desert. An ignition key sets off a car bomb. Fortunately, these are stories from Las Vegas ’ past, not its present. But mob-related murders—some solved, others enduring mysteries—still loom large.  “There ’s a lot of mythology surrounding organized crime, ” says Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum in Downtown Las Vegas.  “One of the reasons for that is...