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Blood Aces
- The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
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Publisher's summary
The astonishing story of Benny Binion - a rip-roaring saga of murder, money, and the making of Las Vegas. Benny Binion was many things: a cowboy, a pioneering casino owner, a gangster, a killer, and founder of the hugely successful World Series of Poker. Blood Aces tells the story of Binion's crucial role in shaping modern Las Vegas. From a Texas backwater, Binion rose to prominence on a combination of vision, determination, and brutal expediency.
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In Paddy Whacked, best-selling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and seemingly untouchable Southie legend.
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First Half - 4 Stars - Second Half - 2 Stars
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By: T. J. English
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Animal
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Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia. You had to be Sicilian. And you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford-born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.
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Well done. 5 stars.
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This fresh account of Massachusetts' infamous Bulger brothers unveils a stunning criminal alliance, and with its dual biography format, goes deeper than the New York Times best-selling Black Mass. For the first time, journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulgers, two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state.
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ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
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On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.
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Great read
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By the mid 1980s, the criminal underworld in the United States had become an ethnic polyglot; one of the most powerful illicit organizations was none other than the Cuban mob. Known on both sides of the law as "the Corporation", the Cuban mob's power stemmed from a criminal culture embedded in south Florida's exile community - those who had been chased from the island by Castro's revolution and planned to overthrow the Marxist dictator and reclaim their nation.
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uncle joey approved
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On August 14, 1975, eight daring thieves ransacked 148 massive safe-deposit boxes at a secret bank used by organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, and its associates in Providence, Rhode Island. The crooks fled with duffel bags crammed full of cash, gold, silver, stamps, coins, jewels, and high-end jewelry. The true value of the loot has always been kept secret, partly because it was ill-gotten to begin with, and partly because there was plenty of incentive to keep its true worth out of the limelight.
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Interesting but not the greatest story.
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This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s, they controlled more than 50 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive - supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a ragtag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings.
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Almost Perfect.
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Midcentury Los Angeles: A city sold to the world as "the white spot of America", a land of sunshine and orange groves, Midwestern values, and Hollywood stars, protected by the world's most famous police force, the Dragnet-era LAPD. Behind this public image lies a hidden world of "pleasure girls" and crooked cops, ruthless newspaper tycoons, corrupt politicians, and East Coast gangsters on the make. Into this underworld came two men - one L.A.'s most notorious gangster, the other its most famous police chief - each prepared to battle the other for the soul of the city.
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A good (but a little corny) history of LA
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The Tangled Web
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The Tangled Web tells the dramatic story of detective Richard Cain's criminal career as revealed by his half-brother, Michael. Cain led a double-life—one as a well-known cop who led raids that landed on the front pages, and the other as a "made man" in one of Chicago's most notorious mob families.
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Reviews
- By G. D. Hoppe on 11-19-20
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Killing the Dream
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In the three decades since April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot to death in Memphis, scores of books and articles have questioned whether James Earl Ray, King's killer, acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy. Now, based on explosive new interviews, confidential files, and previously undisclosed evidence, best-selling author Gerald Posner finally resolves the simple truth of the last great political murder mystery of the 1960s, definitively proving that Ray acted alone.
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Enlightening
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In 1919, Texas rancher J. Frank Norfleet lost everything he had in a stock market swindle. He did what many other marks did - he went home, borrowed more money from his family, and returned for another round of swindling. Only after he lost that second fortune did he reclaim control of his story. Instead of crawling back home in shame, he vowed to hunt down the five men who had conned him. Through Norfleet's ingenious reverse-swindle, Amy Reading reveals the mechanics behind the scenes of the big con.
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Confusing Premise Makes for A Tough Read
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What listeners say about Blood Aces
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-31-22
Great Title to listen to
This is a great listen. I didn't know this history. very interesting. highly recommend this one.
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- kol
- 03-03-23
perfect
Great story of Benny’s life and also of the whole era. Very well researched.
Narrator’s voice is perfect. This is a fascinating biography of the man and the times
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- Jeremy roberts
- 05-05-15
good history
Anyone into overall poker and the
wild west, gambling, mobsters this is a must read
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- Dale Sarver
- 09-11-22
a great mobster book.
the story of vinnie Binion founder of the horse casino in Las vegas. he also invented the world series of poker and was a key figure in Las Vegas for many years, but he had a checkered past and was suspected of committing a lot of crimes. a very interesting story.
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- Skippy
- 05-02-15
Good Listen...good story...
I love Poker and Las Vegas. I think the book is worth the listen. I would listen to more stories like it.
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- sleepless
- 01-05-22
Winner
Well researched, constructed and written. Great information about the history of Las Vegas. Bennie Binion was an original; the jury is still out on how to judge him
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- Arthur
- 08-15-15
Truth be told
The image of Benny Binion that was portrayed in Vegas after his death was that he was a friendly old gambler cattle rancher who owed a casino or two. A lot of people, both locals and tourists, believed it too.
Blood Aces shows a different side of Binion. In his early years Benny was the kind of man who would have people killed for getting in the way of his illegal gambling operations in Texas before relocating to Las Vegas.
While the book does cover Binion's conviction for Tax Fraud in the 1950's and the period that the Horseshoe was owned by Joe W. Brown I would have liked a little more detail on this.
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- Lorne A Thompson
- 12-19-21
Great book, I really love the story.
I've read it a few times now. Benny is the ganster story that beats all. And he got away with it.
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- Jonathan
- 08-18-22
Good listen.
Interesting book. Nice lesson. Nice way to pass the time I enjoyed the book and found it entertaining.
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- Josh
- 01-06-23
Unbelievable story
Is this a movie? I feel like it has to have a movie made about this book.
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