g n i d n a t s a n o i t a v o MORE THAN 15 YEARS AGO, the city of Newport asked for ideas to develop 25 acres fortuitously situated on a corner of land where the Licking River flows into the Ohio. The site seemed to have it all—a prime location at the confluence of two rivers, sweeping vistas up and down the Ohio, and postcard-perfect views of downtown Cincinnati’s skyline. Owned by the federal government for more than 200 years, it was used to house soldiers during the War of 1812 and was the site of public housing in the 20th century. When the city of Newport took possession, it was considered an opportune site for development, given its connection to the rivers and its nearness to the urban core of Newport and Cincinnati. The Ovation site, as it’s known, is finally taking shape. The billion-dollar-plus development will change the face of Northern
A shiny new place to live, work, and play is coming to Newport’s riverfront. BY DAVID HOLTHAUS
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P H OTO G R A P H C O U R T E SY OVAT I O N
MEYER LANSKY
The Seedy Saga of Northern Kentucky >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Business boomed and corruption ran rampant during Prohibition, back when the region’s propensity for vice built its Sin City reputation. BY GREG HAND
For most of its history, Northern Kentucky was a decided also-ran when it came to immorality. From 1880 until 1920, Cincinnati, controlled by “Boss” Cox’s criminal syndicate, was a wide-open city with a thriving tenderloin, dozens of gambling dens, and ubiquitous bootleg booze. Toss enough bribes into Boss Cox’s desk drawer and you could, literally, get away with murder.
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Nestled so near to “Sin-sin-naughty,” some moral stain was bound to spread across the Ohio River. In 1900, the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune had the nerve to slander Covington as “Spotty Town” due to a few gambling joints that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow on the other side of the Suspension Bridge. Newport, saddled with the nickname “Little Mexico,” declared in 1933 that criminal enterprise had been banished forever from its confines. How little did they know. On the northern bank of the river, Cincinnati’s unsavory underworld succumbed to a series of societal shifts. The U.S. Army shuttered Cincinnati’s red-light district during World War I. Prohibition recalibrated the distribution and consumption of alcohol. The Cox machine sputtered into extinction as the Boss’s successors failed to mirror his ironclad finesse. Cincinnati voters elected a Charterite
P H OTO G R A P H BY A L R AV E N N A , W O R L D T E L E G R A M S TA F F P H OTO G R A P H E R , P U B L I C D O M A I N , V I A W I K I M E D I A C O M M O N S