Cincinnati Magazine
Photograph courtesy Peter Bronson
One of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history destroyed the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate on May 28, 1977, killing 165 people. Former
Enquirer editor and columnist Peter Bronson has published a new book,
Forbidden Fruit, about the tragedy’s connections to Northern Kentucky’s long history as a gambling and organized crime hotbed. The fire was no accident, Bronson claims, but in fact flowed from 40 years of “Sin City” corruption linked to the birth of Las Vegas and even JFK’s assassination.
What was the Beverly Hills Supper Club’s connection to Newport’s organized crime history?