Taxpayers Are Still Getting Whacked at Mob Museum

One year ago today, the  Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) and the Nevada Policy Research Institute held a press conference in the shadow of the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement (aka The Mob Museum) as it opened its doors calling the expenditure of tax dollars to build the museum a complete waste of money.  TPA first alerted folks to the taxpayer boondoggle in September 2011 with the release of the report “Top Five Most Ridiculous Taxpayer Tourist Traps” in America. In that report, TPA cited the Mob Museum as THE top taxpayer-funded tourist trap.  “Sin City residents have already been shaken down for $7.1 million to install more than 30 exhibits in the former courthouse and post office that houses the museum. Another $200,000 was slipped to the Mob Museum from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which hands out money snagged from a steep hotel tax to provide funding.  According to City of Las Vegas budget documents, local taxpayers aren’t done shelling out money for the museum. Completing the $42 million museum will cost Vegas residents at least another $8.7 million, and possibly much more.”

The museum features many strange macabre “attractions” such as the barber’s chair that mob boss Albert Anastasia was sitting in when he was gunned down in New York and parts of the bullet-riddled wall from the St. Valentines Day Massacre (hence the reason for opening the museum on Valentines Day).

Despite promises from former Mayor Oscar Goodman (and former mob lawyer) that the museum would generate 800,000 visitors in its inaugural year alone, that promise like so many others governments make, has fallen far short of reality.  Far from a sweetheart deal, this museum has failed to even meet its “breakeven” point, which was to see 300,000 visitors in the first year.  According to the museum staff at the completion of their first year, they’ve only had 250,000 visitors walk through the front door.  It’s worth noting that just a few months back in October 2012 the museum had only welcomed its 100,000 visitor.

NPRI has been working to get revenue estimates from the Museum. Even though the Museum hasn’t confirmed their revenue, Jonathan Ullman (Executive Director & CEO of The Mob Museum) told the Las Vegas Sun earlier this year they had an operating budget of $3.5 million. The average ticket price is $14 ($18 general admission, $10 locals).  So, 250,000 visitors times $14 per ticket just happens to equal $3.5 million on the dot, so the best case scenario is that they broke even. Earlier reports had their budget at $4-$5 million, which probably makes more sense given all the celebrations they did last year for their opening. Either way, it’s a great example of how government lowers its expectations to the point where breaking even is your loftiest goal, and then you’re “extremely pleased” you achieve this goal only by lowering it for yourself.  Baseball players would feel just as happy if they got up to bat and the outfield wall was at 400 feet and throughout their at-bat they moved it up 100 feet and celebrated a homerun.

One reason for it’s anemic attendance numbers may be its location, off the Vegas strip.  A review on Yelp may also give some insight into the problems, “It bummed me out that I spent my own money on this…(and that walking here from Binion’s actually melted my dang flip flops!)”

When it came time to fund this bogus, wasteful flop, the museum supporters knew just where to look for the money.  Taking a cue from the mobsters before them and led by former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the organizers of The Mob Museum preyed on the unsuspecting.  In this case, the taxpayers were the victims.   As TPA’s Drew Johnson wrote in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “politicians devoured $42 million in local, state and federal tax money to build The Mob Museum.”  And, “The Goodmans and other city leaders ignored the fact that if building a museum dedicated to the mafia in a seedy area of town was a winning proposition, investors would have funded the project long ago.”

Las Vegas taxpayers aren’t the only ones feeling the heat on this venture.  Thanks to the $2.7 million in federal funding, taxpayers across the U.S. are on the hook.  Despite this unfounded and crooked taking, the museum’s popularity is as well hidden as the mob itself.  But unlike the mob, the museum created in the mob’s honor will have a far more difficult time securing success.  However, former Mayor Goodman and his cronies do have at least one leg up on mobsters.  The Mob Museum doesn’t have to waste time scaring anyone into submission like the mob did.  The government’s already got that covered on every April 15^th when it comes knocking on taxpayers’ doors.

Despite The Mob Museum’s less than stellar start, Goodman and other museum supporters still resist facing reality. Unfortunately for them, reality is staring them smack dab in the face.  And it comes in the form of the privately-funded “Mob Attraction.” Goodman and Jonathan Ullman have tried to excuse the plight of their museum by citing the effect that the “economic downturn” had on it. The funny part of their whole logic is that not only did the competing “Mob Attraction” face the same “economic downturn,” it also overcame the hangover of all hangovers: bankruptcy.  As a result of the restructuring of the private venture, Mob Attraction, it is now more successful than ever.

What the privately-funded Mob Attraction demonstrates is something that by its very nature The Mob Museum will never obtain.  The Mob Attraction is a business and that means investors put their money behind it and have a great incentive to help it succeed.  If the endeavor fails, investors lose their money.  In other words, investors have a tangible stake, which can disappear or thrive depending upon the success or failure of their investment.  Given this, it’s no surprise that after the Mob Attraction’s bankruptcy, the investors made sure the project got its ducks in line.  And that’s what taxpayer projects lack.

At the end of the day if the Mob Museum fails, the taxpayers are the only ones that will be screwed.  Ullman may lose his job, but that’s not the same as losing millions on a bad investment.  Fortunately for Ullman, the museum likely will never close.  That’s because when government “invests” in projects it’s no problem if the endeavor never succeeds.  Government will continue to dole out money regardless.  After all it’s not the government’s money that’s being wasted, it’s the taxpayers.  Government code for a bottomless treasure chest of funds.

If the museum’s past behavior is any indicator of its future proclivities, taxpayers should brace themselves for more hits to their wallets.  As Jane Anne Morrison explained in a column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Since 2002, there have been numerical changes. At one time, the cost was $30 million. Now it’s $42 million. The museum will employ 100 people, double the initial estimates.”  The Mob Museum has basically been suckling on taxpayers’ dimes since its inception and as it continues to falter, it will have no problem turning back to the government asking “Please sir, may I have another.

Last year former Mayor Goodman was quick to throw cheap, ad hominem attacks by calling those who opposed the museum “morons and idiots” and “monkeys.”  But after a year in “business,” it appears that his museum is the only thing left hanging in the trees.