It is with great sadness that we report that a great friend and an early supporter of The Vegas Tourist has passed away. Author/speaker/mob aficionado Dennis Griffin put his pen down for the last time on Monday, June 21, 2021.
Dennis moved out to Las Vegas after a 20-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State. He was a Madison County Deputy and transferred to the NYS Department of Health to become the Director of Investigations. After retiring in 1994, he fulfilled his ambition of becoming an author of true crime and cold case stories.
He successfully wrote over twenty books that were published. Most of them were mob or organized crime-related. Wait until you hear in the podcast, the story of how he started his writing career! Hint, “Here, hold my beer”
The Podcast
I am not sure of when exactly this podcast was recorded. All my early notes have vanished. However, this was recorded right after I had been introduced to him and devoured his book “The Battle for Las Vegas, The law vs the Mob“. A very detailed, very factual read about Las Vegas during its Mob era. If you love true crime stories or the history of Las Vegas, this is your book! So that puts it late 2006, early 2007.
One of his main sources for the book and he talks about here, was a man who knew the Vegas mob very well. In fact, at the time of this interview, Denny was helping to write his life story. Las Vegas mobster Frank Cullotta – Who we later interviewed as well.
Denny was the second person we ever interviewed on the podcast and was a great man to have on. This was a fun interview because it was so free-flowing and Dennis was a fun man to be around. Listening to how he became a writer then deciding to write about the Vegas Mob and then to meet the men involved in the Vegas mob scene is an interesting look down that rabbit hole you could never imagine at the beginning.
As you will hear, he worked well with both the law enforcement side and getting the actual mobster’s real point of view!
We did a follow-up interview with Denny after he moved to Florida. Podcast 204 Catching Up With a Snowbird – Dennis Griffin
Through the years, Denny was a great friend and supporter of The Vegas Tourist and he will be missed.
He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Faith Griffin; two daughters, Margaret Carro and Antoinette Mahoney: his step-children, Pamela Ashley and Robert McAree; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by a daughter, Kimberly McAree.
Listen to The Podcast
Books Mentioned
- The Morgue
- Policing Las Vegas: A History of Law Enforcement in Southern Nevada
- The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. The Mob
- Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness (True Crime)
- House Party Tonight- The Career of Legendary Saxophonist Don Hill- The Treniers
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