{"id":1479660,"date":"2022-05-18T13:59:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T17:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1479660"},"modified":"2022-05-18T13:59:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T17:59:40","slug":"dead-man-talks-mob-experts-offer-three-identities-for-body-washed-up-in-lake-mead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dead-man-talks-mob-experts-offer-three-identities-for-body-washed-up-in-lake-mead\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead Man Talks: Mob Experts Offer Three Identities For Body Washed Up In Lake Mead"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdead-man-talks-mob-experts-offer-three-identities-for-body-washed-up-in-lake-mead%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1479660&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/Lake-Mead.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Now that the body of a man shot in the head has been discovered in the receding waters of drought-ravaged Lake Mead in Nevada, two Mafia experts speculate he could be one of three men connected to the Mafia who mysteriously disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>The dead man, shot execution-style, according to local police, was wearing clothing from a mid-to-late 1970s Kmart discount store when it was discovered on May 1 inside a corroded metal barrel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur research has found three possible victims who may be the body in the barrel,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-10829211\/Vegas-mob-experts-reveal-link-Lake-Mead-MOBSTERS-BARREL-HITMAN.html\">wrote<\/a> two authors, who have written books on the Mafia, for The Daily Mail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thread that strings these three men together is they were all linked to the most powerful Las Vegas mob operation of that time \u2013 Argent Corp., a front company for an organized crime operation that ran some of Las Vegas\u2019 top gambling operations,\u201d the authors write.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Burbank, the author of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Las-Vegas-Babylon-Glitter-Glamour\/dp\/1590771362\">Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed<\/a>, and Geoff Schumacher, the author of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sun-Sin-Suburbia-History-Expanded\/dp\/1932173994\">Sun, Sin &#038; Suburbia: The History of Modern Las Vegas<\/a> contend\u00a0that one possible identity of the \u00a0victim could be George \u201cJay\u201d Vandermark, who vanished in 1976.<\/p>\n<p>Vandermark worked at the Stardust casino overseeing the slot machines but \u201cfacilitated the skimming of between $7 million and $15 million worth of coins,\u201d the authors contend, adding, \u201cThe mob wanted him dead, but we doubt that it is him in Lake Mead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The second identity suggested by the authors: William Crespo, who testified before a federal grand jury that ultimately indicted 10 defendants, including an executive for a front company for a Mafia operation that supervised some of Las Vegas\u2019 chief gambling operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can reasonably \u2014 by virtue of his owning a boat at Lake Mead \u2014 place him at the scene of the dumping grounds around the time the murder may have occurred,\u201d the authors surmise.<\/p>\n<p>But the \u201cleading candidate for the man in the barrel\u201d the authors suggest is Johnny Pappas, who according to veteran Las Vegas journalist John L. Smith in <a href=\"https:\/\/thenevadaindependent.com\/article\/a-lake-recedes-a-body-emerges-and-the-ghost-of-johnny-pappas-rises-in-my-memory\">The Nevada Independent<\/a> managed \u201cLake Mead\u2019s Echo Bay Resort, a Teamsters Central States Pension Fund-financed project, for the Argent Corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid the Outfit fear that Pappas might have something to reveal about the then-unfolding details about skimming at the Argent casinos?\u201d the authors ask rhetorically. \u201cIf so, they had a motive to rub him out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The authors speculate that infamous murderer Tony Spilotro may have killed the dead man, noting, \u201cHis weapon of choice was a .22-caliber pistol, equipped with a suppressor, and fired into the victim\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very difficult case,\u201d Las Vegas Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer had\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.8newsnow.com\/i-team\/i-team-body-found-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-may-date-back-to-1980s-more-likely-to-appear-as-water-recedes-las-vegas-police-say\/\"><span>told<\/span><\/a><span> the 8 News Now investigation team. \u201cI would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that the body of a man shot in the head has been discovered in the receding waters of drought-ravaged Lake Mead in Nevada, two Mafia experts speculate he could<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":1481291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1481291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}