luxury hotels, according to Janet Paraschos. World War II imposed severe travel restrictions which kept the vast majority of gamblers away and financially ruined the establishments. Since 1970, there has been a revival of legal betting with a renovated racetrack, a 28-day exclusive racing season, a new interstate, winter sports opportunities, and an influx of vacationing young professionals. Cleveland Horse racing has a long history in Cleveland, as elites by the 1860s, worked to keep gamblers and criminals at bay. The Mayfield Road Mob, based in the Little Italy district, became a powerful local crime syndicate in the 1920s and 1930s, through bootlegging and illegal gambling. Local gangsters worked deals with the Jewish-Cleveland Syndicate, which operated laundries, casinos, and nightclubs. Both groups profited from illegal gambling, bookmaking, loan sharking, and labor rackets in northern Ohio.<ref>See [https://case.edu/ech/articles/m/mayfield-rd-mob "Mayfield Rd. Mob Encyclopedia Of Cleveland History ]</ref> The "Harvard Club" (named after its Harvard street location in the Cleveland suburbs) operated in 1930–41, as one of the largest gambling operations attracting customers from as far as New York and Chicago. It moved to different locations on Harvard Street, which accommodated 500–1,000 gamblers who came to shoot craps and to play the slot machines, roulette, and all-night poker. It defied numerous raids until it was finally shut down by Frank Lausche in 1941. Eliot Ness, after building a crime-fighting national reputation in Chicago, took on Cleveland, 1934–1942. He tried to suppressed labor-union protection rackets, illegal liquor suppliers, and gambling, but his reputation suffered. Legalisation in states To overcome the Great Depression, Nevada legalised gambling as a way to bring economic relief. In 1931, Nevada legalised most forms of gambling when Assembly Bill 98 was signed into law, providing a source of revenue for the state. Interest in development in the state was slow at first, as the state itself had a limited population. After 1945, enforcement of gambling laws became more strict in most places and the resort town of Las Vegas became an attractive target for investment by crime figures such as New York's Bugsy Siegel. The town rapidly developed during the 1950s, dooming some illegal gambling venues such as Galveston. Thanks to cheap air travel and auto access from California, Nevada, and Las Vegas, in particular, it became the centre of gambling in the U.S. In the 1960s, Howard Hughes and other legitimate investors purchased many of the most important hotels and