FLASHBACKS: JACK RUBY’S VEGAS VISIT, PRINCE HARRY’S FIRST TASTE OF SIN CITY & FLYING ELVI WIN IN COURT


November 16, 1999: Bahraini princess Meriam al-Khalifa elopes to Las Vegas to marry U.S. Marine Jason Johnson against her family’s wishes. Fearing retribution in Bahrain, she is granted asylum and they settle in Las Vegas. The forbidden romance becomes a TV movie, but ends in divorce in 2004.

November 17, 1963: Seven days before he murders alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Oswald in Dallas, Jack Ruby visits Las Vegas. Reports say he cashes a check at the mobster-run Stardust and uses the money to pay back taxes.

Flikr

Flikr

November 18, 2011: Taking a break from military training in Arizona for his first visit to Las Vegas, Prince Harry slips into Tryst nightclub around midnight and parties in the VIP section for about three hours with friends, security guards and two women, one blonde and one brunette.

November 19, 2001: Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland is arrested for spousal abuse after allegedly shoving his wife Mary when she tried to stop him from leaving their room at the Hard Rock Hotel to pick up a prescription drug. He gets probation and they reconcile, but divorce in 2007.

November 20, 1994: Lawyers for competing groups of Elvis-impersonating skydivers – the Flying Elvises and the Flying Elvi – put final touches on lawsuits filed the next day, each claiming exclusive right to the honor. The singer’s estate recognizes the Elvi, and the Elvises ultimately change their name.

November 21, 1980: An electrical fire that starts in a deli at the MGM Grand Hotel (now Bally’s Las Vegas) sends a fireball through the front lobby and casino and deadly smoke throughout the 26-story hotel. The tragic toll – 87 dead and 650 injured – makes it the worst disaster in Nevada history.

November 22, 1989: Steve Wynn opens The Mirage, a $625 million luxury resort/casino whose success ushers in a new era of opulence on The Strip. Siegfried and Roy move their show to lavish new digs at The Mirage, while passing drivers regularly stop to watch the 54-foot-high erupting volcano.

November 23, 2001: Colorful baseball pitcher Bo Belinsky, who dated starlets, pitched a no-hitter, married a Playboy Playmate and overcame alcoholism, dies of a heart attack at his Las Vegas home, age 64. A born-again Christian, he once said, “Can you imagine finding Jesus Christ in Las Vegas?"

—RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY MIKE PRECKER