Prohibition, a secret speakeasy, the courtroom where gangsters faced TV cameras, wiretaps and a Crime Lab. Here's what I learned at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
The Mob Museum is in a real 1933 courthouse in downtown Las Vegas. It tells the story of organised crime from both sides.
## The law that made gangsters rich
From 1920 to 1933 the United States banned alcohol. Gangs smuggled it and got rich. Al Capone was finally jailed for not paying his taxes, caught by accountants following the money.
## Crime on TV
In 1950 Senator Estes Kefauver held hearings on organised crime, one in this very courtroom. They were shown on TV, and millions watched mobsters refuse to answer.
## Science, not car chases
The Crime Lab lets you try fingerprints and DNA matching, and a police training simulator makes you decide in seconds. Most of the people who caught the mob were patient detectives and scientists.