The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, better known to the general public as the Mob Museum, is a museum that’s been around Las Vegas for over a decade now and is regularly rated as one of the better tourist attractions in the Valley. While my friend Dani was in town visiting, she wanted to stop by the museum, so I joined her yesterday.
Fortunately, we were both able to get discounted general admission tickets at US$16.95, I because I’m a local Las Vegas resident and Dani because she was a student. Regular admission costs $29.95 each, with deluxe and premier passes going as high as $48.95.
Dani took a photo of me sitting in an electric chair. Luckily, it was inoperable.
Back to some more normal museum things…
One of the floors of the museum had a little movie theater that played a short film about how that very room was previously a court used for questioning witnesses about mob activity. They even had a little concession stand outside and sold popcorn for people who wanted to enjoy a snack while enjoying the movie.
Back to even more normal museum things…
The later sections of the museum about casinos, fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion were interesting to me because of the background knowledge I have in legal and financial matters. I’ve studied a lot of these topics to ensure I have a comprehensive professional understanding of the topics for the purposes of running my own business and advising other businesses as a consultant, so it was nice seeing some historical real-world applications of this information.
My favorite part of the museum… was the random fish tank in the basement of the building. I’m not sure why it was even there, but I made some new fish friends.
The basement had a bar that served food and drink, which we visited but did not participate. The bar had a little glass window through which I snapped a photo of some of the equipment used to make moonshine.
At least with general admission tickets, the Mob Museum was an extremely traditional museum that was very display and text heavy. I think it was a good visit at the discounted price, but I’d say the value proposition gets a little bit questionable at full price. The most memorable museums have always had a high degree of interactivity, and it’s unfortunate that anything involving more than just a self-guided tour requires an upgraded tier of admission.
Out of the three available interactive experiences, none of them seemed particularly compelling to me—the crime lab and firearm training simulator are both things that I’ve done in a professional capacity, and the distillery tour and tasting wouldn’t have been relevant to me because I don’t drink alcohol. However, for someone who doesn’t have quite the background in law enforcement as I do, I think the two investigative activities could be fun.