Caesars Palace Grand Prix: Las Vegas, Organized Crime and the Pinnacle of Motorsport

As a lifelong fan of motorsports and a So Cal resident very familiar with Las Vegas I could not wait to crack this one open and dive in. The intrigue, drama and underworld connections simply blew me away! As a race fan I have attended thousands of races but honestly never considered the back story of the venue, the sponsors or really even the drivers beyond the surface level stuff so admittedly I was only getting half the story! Loved the deep dive into the history of Formuly1 in America and the connections of the Las Vegas track to tracks and the players behind them here in So Cal! I highly recommend for all fans of racing!!

The author seems to think that simply because the Mafia was involved in things at locations near F1 events, then there must be collusion between the Mafia and F1. So, if they meet only 50 miles from Watkins Glen, then they must have had a hand in the race. If there is Mafia activity in Florida, the organizers of Sebring must be corrupt. If the Mafia was present in London casinos that Bernie liked to gamble in, well then he must have gotten involved with them. Etc. And, as pointed out by other reviewers, the author repeats these things over and over and over. I need some hard evidence of collusion if I am gong to buy this story.

This book is very a detailed review of mafia activities in New York State and it’s transition to Las Vegas. Oh yeah, it mentions F1 in the US. It goes on and on about the mafia with dates, locations, who was involved, who begot who and what they had for breakfast. I have to give the author credit for the amazing amount of research done on the mafia for the book. However it gives very little insight on F1 which is what I purchased the book for based upon the title and description. I stopped reading after 300 pages. Too late to return it.

I read a review before buying and decided to give this book a shot despite misgivings expressed by the reviewer. It’s hard to read. Is it a motor sports book or a mobster book? It’s really not much of either. Very repetitive and full of picture captions that are reversed, which is very frustrating. The author sees a mobster under every rock in this story. That may be true, but there’s no particular proof or conclusion presented. I really wanted to like it and gave it a chance after seeing an iffy review, but I really can’t recommend it.