Vegas Rag Doll: A True Story of Terror and Survival as the Wife of a Mob Hitman

by Joe Schoenmann, Wendy Mazaros

As a child, Wendy relished the small frontier town of Las Vegas. But as a teenager in the 1970s, Wendy's troubled home life and rebellious spirit led her to the legendary Horseshoe Club on Fremont Street, where she hooked up with Ted Binion, youngest son of notorious gambling figure Benny Binion. Her affair with the casino scion soon devolved into dalliances with high-rolling gamblers and suitcase deliveries of cash to Midwest mobsters.Binion then passed off Wendy like a trophy to Tom Hanley, a man thirty-nine years older who nonetheless drew her affections and ultimately married her. In partnership with his sadistic son, Gramby, Tom was a mob hitman. Wendy became a terrified and silent witness to his numerous crimes. Authorities say Hanley may have been responsible for more than twenty murders over three decades.Vegas Rag Doll paints a compelling portrait of the final years of organized crime in Las Vegas. In a fascinating era when legitimate facades disguised dark secrets, Wendy had a front-row seat - and a knack for survival.

219 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2011

Reviews

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides answers. Several families are still wondering what really happened to their loved ones, and this book is likely the closest they will get to a conclusion.

There is a lot of Las Vegas history and organized crime information that has been lost to time. This book acts as a memory for it. Las Vegas and Los Angeles have an astounding history of corruption.

It's definitely worth knowing the contents of this book if you are at all interested in Las Vegas history.