In this first of a two part interview with former Las Vegas newsman and current Mob Museum blogger Larry Henry we talk Vegas and the mob and about the famous muckraking reporter Ned Day.

Ned Day

Since we could not interview the late Ned Day, we opted for a man who knew him and the organized crime beat Day covered in 1970s Las Vegas. Larry was the political editor at the Las Vegas Sun during those days in Sin City when some would say “the mob ran the town.” He left Vegas for the slower paced life in Northwest Arkansas and became the managing editor at KFSM-TV,  a CBS Affiliate. Currently, Larry is an official blogger for the Mob Museum in Las Vegas and as as his own blog titled The Mafia Chronicles.

Larry tells how Ned Day, whose car was firebombed in 1986, upset mob figures with his hard-hitting stories about Mafia control of local casinos and street rackets. That bombed proved that Day’s work was uncovering long held mob secret control of Vegas casinos. Ned Day is considered one of the most fearless mob reporters of his generation.

Larry tells us that Day’s colorful exploits began in his mobbed-up Midwestern hometown, Milwaukee. Actually we learn that Day started on the wrong side of the law in his formative years. This may explain how he was able to work the mob beat so well later in life. In Milwaukee of the 1960s, Ned Day was a self-described gambler and pimp, worked in mob boss Frank “Mad Bomber” Balistrieri’s strip clubs and ran a tout sheet providing tips on horse races down in Chicago. Day was once arrested for passing bad checks and held the dubious fame of a marriage to a former Miss Nude International. Ned Day enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a professor steered him into journalism. the rest is history.

Ned Day will die while snorkeling in Hawaii on September 3, 1987.  Some claim he was murdered.

To see his work watch the below linked You Tube mob documentary featuring narration by Ned Day.

If you want to meet myself, Aaron and Larry Henry, come to the MobWorld Summit at the Plaza hotel from June 15-17, 2018. Panel discussions with mob experts at the hotel with a Saturday evening trip to the Mob Museum. All for $100.00. Click on MobWorld Summit for tickets and more information.

Don’t forget to listen to Aaron on the Big Dumb Fun Show, live on Monday nights.

To go to the store click here

To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here

To subscribe on iTunes click here, give me a review and I will send you a link to see the film for free.

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