It is often said that what happens inside las vegas stays in vegas. It’s a not-so-bad slogan for organized crime, a fundamental element in the history, operation and folklore of the ‘sin city’. But the mob always knew they had to have an opponent bigger or more than the biggest informant: climate emergency. And the worsening of this crisis by leaps and bounds justified them.
A brutal drought is hitting the western United States. It caused the authorities to apply. Drawing water from the depths of Lake Mead, a reservoir half an hour from Vegas behind the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. With the falling water More than 52 meters since 1983they started swimming human remains. While the authorities have yet to make any official contact, it has not been able to prevent many from coming to mind with images of gangsters disposing of corpses, which cinema and literature have made part of the popular legacy.
In fact, even Vegas police lieutenant Ray Spencer told local television KLAS-TV: “As the water level continues to drop, let’s go find more human remains”.
A shot and a barrel
The first body was found last week. happened in a rusty barrel What people in boats see on the new shoreline of the lake, stuck in the mud from the receding water. Police, the man inside had been shot to death. Personal items found in the barrel and shoes worn by the corpse indicate that the victim was killed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The deceased person is identified and investigated as whether his death was a homicide.
Days later, a local television crew found a second barrel that was empty. But a second body was discovered on Saturday. A pair of sisters surfing in a popular area of the lake for water sports some bones and they initially thought it was the remains of a ram from the typical rocks of the region. Seeing the jaw with teeth, they realized they were looking at human remains, not an animal carcass, and alerted the park rangers. This second case, in which the bodies were also examined and identified, was not investigated as murder.
Ideal place to get rid of a corpse
It seems that few people doubt it may not be just these two corpses come to the surface. Oscar Goodman, a three-term mayor of Las Vegas and an attorney who also represents mob figures like Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, told The Associated Press it was impossible to predict what else the lake would reveal, but he also remembered. “Not a bad place to dump a body”. Likewise, Goodman said many of his former clients are interested in “climate control,” which is referred to in mob language. keeping water levels high and far below the bodies are in underwater tombs.
Michael Green, a professor of history at the University of Nevada, also told the AP, “If the lake (level) drops much more, it’s very possible that very interesting things will come to the surface,” and “I bet you there will be a few more corpses”. Geoff Schumacher, vice president of the Mafia Museum in Las Vegas, agrees with him. “Many of these individuals will likely be drowning victims, but a barrel has its signature. a mafia hit”, he explained to the agency.
Both Green and Schumacher recalled the case of John “Handsome Johnny” Roseelli, a leading figure in organized crime in Vegas in the 1950s, who disappeared in 1976 and whose body was found while swimming off the shores of Miami a few days later. Florida. , in a steel drum with a capacity of 208 liters.
In any case, the professor said, “it must be forgotten that the mob didn’t like that there were murders in Vegas because they didn’t like that bad publicity was tied to the city”. Other experts, such as former police officer David Kohlmeier, a podcast and TV show, say there may be relics unrelated to the mafia in Lake Mead. For example, relatives of people whose disappearances were not linked to organized crime contacted him. Specifically, he mentioned a man suspected of murdering his mother and brother in 1987, a Utah father who went missing in the 1980s, or a hotel worker who went missing in 1992.
brutal drought
Beyond the colorism, the corpse case, your attention devastating consequences of climate change and the intensification of adverse effects, such as increasingly brutal droughts. Along with Lake Powell, Lake Mead is part of a system. provides water to nearly 40 million people It is in cities, farms, tribes and industries in seven states in the southwestern United States and is already at only 30% of its capacity.
This lake is especially vital for Las Vegas and southern Nevada. With a population of 2.5 million and 40 million tourist visits per year, 90% of the drinking water here comes from Mead. And now a scarce commodity, so much so that it is enforced by law, for example in the city. remove planted grass to make “useless” gardens and it just needs to be irrigated and replaced with an aesthetic and more desert-appropriate landscaping.
Also, drought continues in neighboring California. It was recently announced that supply will be reduced by up to 1% in several counties in Los Angeles and the metropolitan area. with the goal reduce water consumption by 35%Angelenos will be able to water their gardens just two days a week and for only eight to 15 minutes. In other areas the restriction is even more severe and it will only be possible to irrigate for one day.
Source: Informacion
