COREY: So, what do we have here?
MICHELLEY: This is the Las Vegas Sheriff Department
Organized Crime Blue Book.
It is all the high-profile organized crime
figures that were in Las Vegas in the '50s and the '60s.
It was distributed to a select handful
of detectives and deputies or on-the-street enforcement.
So what page do you think the old man's on?
MICHELLEY: It's been in my family for many years.
A lot of the characters in this book
are well known and notorious.
Some of them were scary.
Some of them faded away in jail cells.
[laughs]
COREY: So what can you tell me about it?
It's an index of organized criminals.
It gives their names, their aliases, their stats, their mug
shots, and their hangouts, which are historical Las
Vegas sites like the Pussycat a' Go
Go and the Silver Dollar Club.
It's really funny when you read all these.
Because like one guy, his significant mark
was that all 10 of his toes are amputated.
COREY: Oh, wow.
OK.
So is Lefty Rosenthal in here?
Well, he's a known associate of Charles Tureen,
who's a big Chicago organizer.
COREY: Frank Lefty Rosenthal, he was a big thing here.
You know everybody knows "Casino" was made about him.
Lefty Rosenthal brought Spilotro out,
who's probably the most notorious gangster
in Las Vegas.
MICHELLEY: Precisely.
Vegas back in the day was nuts.
You had Chicago mob bosses running casinos
like the Stardust and the Hacienda,
and New York families running the Flamingo and the Sands.
And this would have been a cop's reference
point for all the bad guys working for these guys.
So how much are you looking to get out of it?
Well, I've had it appraised by a reputable auction
house between $5,000 to $7,000.
COREY: Wow.
It's the only one.
All other copies of this book have been destroyed.
And I've had a few different museums express interest in it.
COREY: Do you have a price?
MICHELLEY: I wasn't expecting an auction price.
I would like to start negotiation around $4,000.
OK.
Do you mind if I call up a buddy of mine who could kind of shed
some more light on it for me?
I'd really like to ask him if he knows of any more out there.
That would be a great idea.
COREY: OK.
Let me give him a call.
MICHELLEY: OK.
Historical Las Vegas is nothing like today's Vegas, baby.
You should have been there.
MARK HALL-PATTON: OK.
I know what these things are.
These were used by the Sheriff's Department here.
The Sheriff here then was Ralph Lamb.
He was the one that created the first crime lab here.
He helped create the Intelligence Bureau,
which is what created this.
This basically predated having a computer in your car
or something like that.
MICHELLEY: Precisely.
This was how they could keep track
of who they wanted to make sure didn't come into town.
You know, he was--
Ralph Lamb was an interesting guy.
They would pay parking lot attendants,
who would then watch for any bad guys
that were parking their cars.
And they would call in and get a little money for having told
them, oh, so-and-so is in town.
So, Corey, what did you just want to know about this?
Well, she said there's only one left.
Is that possible or--
MARK HALL-PATTON: That's possible.
They were not tracked.
So my guess is there's probably a couple
of other old detectives that may very well have taken them home.
There's probably not many of them out there, though.
And it could be only one or two still surviving.
COREY: OK.
So Mark, in your opinion, is it more of a museum piece,
or is there a collector's market for this, or--
You're asking me whether it's a museum piece?
COREY: [laughs]
I think it's a wonderful museum piece.
But my guess is, yeah, there'd be some collectors market
for it just because it's sort of the heyday of Vegas kind
of stuff.
It would probably be somewhat narrow, just because you have
to be wanting a piece that's not got
a lot of visual appeal, that has a lot of information in it.
I think it's basically an historical piece.
COREY: OK.
And you'd have to have people that actually read, you know,
which I don't know.
Sometimes I wonder.
[laughter]
Well, Mark, I appreciate it, buddy.
Not a problem.
Thank you.
This particular piece is actually quite historical
for looking at the mid-'60s in Las Vegas,
so from an historian standpoint, a very interesting document.
COREY: OK.
So here's where I stand on it.
To me, I see the binder with photocopied paper in it
with history on gangsters in Las Vegas.
You said that you had auction houses appraise
it between $5,000 and $7,000.
I don't see being able to sell it for half of that much.
MICHELLEY: The museum have offered me cash.
COREY: What museum offered you cash?
That's some--
MICHELLEY: Three different museums.
That's a-- let's go--
I would run, run, run, and go sell it to them.
And there is a lot of insider information in this
that is not commonly known.
COREY: Is it cool?
Is it interesting?
Yes.
Do I think I can make a profit on it?
I don't.
You know, after hearing what Mark had to say,
it's something I'm just going to pass on altogether.
I think I'll have a lot of troubles
trying to actually move it.
OK.
I really think you'd be better off donating it to a museum,
or putting it up for auction, or something like that.
OK. COREY: All right?
Thank you.
Fair enough.
Thank you very much.
COREY: Part of our job is to realize the difference
between something that's really cool
and something that will actually sell.
I hate to say it, but if I bought it,
it would just end up on the old man's desk under a coffee cup.