Free State of Galveston polls in 2008 and 2010 indicate this sentiment may be changing. Indeed gambling aboard cruise ships leaving from Galveston is now commonplace. Though this era in Galveston's history has not received a great deal of attention in popular culture (compared, for example, to Al Capone's Chicago), there has been some popular fiction and true crime story-telling centered on the era. Some notable examples include the novels "Under the Skin" by James Carlos Blake, "No Greater Deception: A True Texas Story" by Sydney Dotson, "Galveston" by Suzanne Morris, and "Overlords" by Matt Braun, as well as the anthology "Lone Star Sleuths:
Free State of Galveston nephew of Sam and Rose, claimed that most of the equipment was shipped to Las Vegas before authorities ever discovered it. As the vice industries crashed, so did tourism, and the rest of the Galveston economy declined with it. The economy stagnated during the 1950s, and after 1957 the "Free State" was effectively gone. Fort Crockett, which had been used as an Army recreation center following the war, was shut down in 1955. Many of the island's most important entertainment business leaders left the city and set up shop in Las Vegas. Neither the economy nor the culture of the