Another Reid story from August 05: he took on the mob a few years ago!

[NVMojo]

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/050808fa_fact

[Gman]

1. He is portrayed in the movie "Casino"

In 1977, O’Callaghan appointed him to the chairmanship of the Nevada Gaming Commission, which oversees casinos, and that was an experience that made his other work look easy. Before Reid took the job, O’Callaghan introduced him to the outgoing chairman, Peter Echeverria. “Pete was telling us, ‘I’ve had people out here watching me, these gangsters,’ and he said, ‘I think they’ve tapped my phone,’ ” Reid recalled. “I thought he was making all this stuff up. It just didn’t make sense. I had no concept of the Mob. It meant nothing to me.” There had been a decrease in Mob activity, but organized crime was again investing in Las Vegas, and for four years Reid confronted wiseguys like Tony (the Ant) Spilotro, who had been sent to Las Vegas by a Chicago branch of La Cosa Nostra, “the Outfit,” and was known for killing his victims by squeezing their heads in a vise. In 1979, Reid barred Spilotro from all casinos.

---------------------------------

Slapping down the mob in Las Vegas makes Reid one tough son of a bitch. He's been slammed many, many times here on DU by people that just don't know anything about him.

[zann725]

2. A 'mob' is a 'mob' is a 'mob'...whether "white-collar" or back-street.

They're all criminals, use threat tactics, threaten to...and kill anyone who tries to stop them. Sadly, only the blue-collar (Cosa Nosta) "mobs" get all the bad P.R....yet the "white collar thugs" have infinitely more power and world-wide retaliatory history on their side.