Las Vegas Luxury Redefined: What the Mob Accidentally Taught Las Vegas About: Experience, Desire and Service

by James Hogg

147 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2026

About the author

James Hogg was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many of the great writers of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, of whom he later wrote an unauthorized biography. He became widely known as the "Ettrick Shepherd", a nickname under which some of his works were published, and the character name he was given in the widely read series 'Noctes Ambrosianae', published in Blackwood's Magazine. He is best known today for his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. His other works include the long poem The Queen's Wake, his collection of songs Jacobite Reliques, and the novels The Three Perils of Man, The Three Perils of Woman, and The Brownie of Bodsbeck.

Reviews

[Don]

This book by James Hogg was excellent. It talks basically how the mob just observed customers and were able to give everybody the feeling that they’re important and welcomed. It chronicles how they stumbled on increasing customer satisfaction via food, entertainment, and respect.
Now pretty much every place in the hospitality world has some type of player rating. Customer rating system where you’re either a gold or a medallion or something, you’re not known anymore cause you earn your perks. But this is an excellent read for anyone in the hospitality industry.

[Mnawrocki]

As an avid fan of Vegas and Mob history, I found this book to be very enjoyable and an easy read. Great background stories to help share the insights that most of us never have the opportunity to experience.