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# 70 •OCTOBER 19 , 2015
ners and entrepreneurs.
There are over 100,000
people in the Las Vegas
area that claim some Italian descent. Virtually all
of these people moved
here in the past 30 years:
this is significant because almost all either came
from Italy or from another
Italian American community. As such, Las Vegas is
like a second generation
migration west (the first
migration was from Italy to
the USA). The people who
moved were those who
were willing to give-up
what they had, for their
belief that something better was in the West. When
these people moved here
starting in the 70’s, they
were able to meet virtually
every other Italian American or had common acquaintances and as the
city double in size over
and over, almost every Italian American is two-steps
removed from everyone
else. This does not occur
in the large Italian American communities; there,
people know people in
their local community but
not many others.
For example, there are a
few Italian American families that have been in town
for 50+ years, including
Ruvo, Perry, Tiberti, Marnell, Fertitta; today, virtually all the other 100,000
Italian Americans knows
someone who knows
them. Thus, Las Vegas is
much more tightly knit that
the older communities.
There also are approximately 1.5 million Italian
Americans that visit Las
Vegas for business and/or
pleasure each year. Most
come from cities that have
large Italian American
communities. When they
arrive they are treated to
Italian architecture in the
casinos, scores of world-class Italian restaurants,
Italian American entertainers and the permanent
residents. These interactions with our flavor of
Italian American culture
WE THE ITALIANS | 9
www.wetheitalians.com