In this episode, we explore the intriguing life of Wayne Newton, “Mr. Las Vegas,” and his unexpected ties to organized crime. I share discoveries into a strange relationship between a Gambino family associate and this Las Vegas entertainer. I reveal Newton’s connections with mobster Guido Penosi amid his performances at the Copacabana Club. The narrative delves into how Newton’s rise to fame attracted the attention of the Gambino family, leading to offers of “protection” and entangling him in a web of crime, investigations, and betrayal. As the story unfolds, I reflect on the complexity of Wayne Newton’s legacy, inviting listeners to engage with our community as we continue to explore the captivating intersections of celebrity and organized crime. Wayne Newton was a dynamic showman in Las Vegas for many years, and his innocence led him to get into a business relationship with a mobster. He even allowed his mob connections to become involved with another Las Vegas entertainer, singer Lola Falana.

Support the Podcast

Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week.

Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwireClick here to “buy me a cup of coffee”

To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here

To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. 

To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here

To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.

To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Donate to the podcast. Click here!

Transcript

[0:00]Well, hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in the studio. This is like a little extra, as you’ll notice, you got this soon. We’re experimenting with trying to get my new logo, this part of this logo here on the top of the email that comes out if you’re a subscriber to Gangland Wire website, which if you’re not, you need to be a subscriber.

[0:19]Although I say you get a free book or a link to get a free book that I knocked out here a few years ago, and I need to change that book up a little bit. It a lot of people have gotten it be that as it may i’ve got to put out the keep experimenting putting out blog shots or blog pieces or a podcast and and i think we’ve got it fixed now so when this comes out if you go to the if you’re subscriber and you go to the email you’ll see a different picture you’ll see my new logo always had that old logo that i had for several years that had the wave sign and the green wave sign and the red gangland wire and i paid a guy to come up with this new logo. And, and, you know, and then I never could figure out how to get it up. Finally, my wife finally sat down. I convinced her to go into the back end and figure it out. And it took her about three hours to figure it out. You’d think it’d be easier than that, but it wasn’t. So I thought I’d do a little separate podcast here for you, just for fun. A story that I had always wondered about when I was younger was Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton. I I don’t know if you know who Wayne Newton is. Most of you probably do. I saw his show once. I was out in Las Vegas and saw his show. He was getting older then. He’s probably, shoot, he’s older than me.

[1:33]But he’s had a lot of work done, and he obviously was wearing a girdle or something. He looked pretty slim and trim for his age and what I know about him. But he put on a hell of a show in Vegas. I mean, he is the consummate showman. I always had heard that Wayne Newton somehow was hooked up to the mob, but yet not really, or the mob, you know, being a Las Vegas entertainer like that, you got to have, you got to somehow get along with the mob back in the 70s and 80s. Now, since then, you don’t have to. I started researching, and I found that he once got himself hooked up with a New York mobster, not a Chicago guy.