THE BIGGEST MOB HIT IN YEARS

speaking at UNLV, I worked in
retail, and at one point I was a
belly dancer and a stilt walker at
the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas.
However, the one constant was
the love I had for my family and
spending time with them. We did
everything together—I grew up
listening to my dad tell his stories,
and I LOVED hearing them. My
favorite stories revolved around
his escapades chasing the mob
through the neon lit streets of
Las Vegas.
Once I was older, I began to notice
how much everyone else loved
hearing his stories. So much so,
they would ask my dad to tell his stories over
and over—to their friends, to their wives, and
to their children. The audience didn’t matter;
whoever happened to be listening to one of
my dad’s stories was fascinated.
When my career as a stilt-walker and belly
dancer didn’t pan out (as you read that
statement please know that I am winking
Gomes Family: Dennis, Danielle, Mary, Gabrielle, Aaron, Doug, Barbara
my eye at you), I decided to go back to
school. While I was in graduate school
at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas I
needed to fulfill a credit outside of my focus
in journalism and media studies so I took
a screenwriting class. This class had one
assignment—pitch an idea then turn it into a
full-length script. Everyone in the class was
given thirty minutes to pitch their idea, so
when it was my turn, I simply told my dad’s
story. The class was so
interested that my “pitch”
session went on for two
class periods, which was
roughly three hours.
Dennis and Aaron Gomes
My dad’s stories had always
been part of me until that
class, when I started writing
them down. Then his
stories became something
that I did—with my dad.
I spent countless hours
interviewing my dad, or
really just talking about his
life. I eventually turned the
The Boardwalk Journal | May 2013 | 51