Book details colorful rise and fall of gambling mecca across river from Cincinnati

The Purple People Bridge connects Cincinnati to Newport, Ky., a small town across the Ohio River with a storied past in the gambling industry. (AP)

LAS VEGAS — As he grew up in the Cincinnati area, Kevin P. Braig often heard chatter about Newport, the small Kentucky town across the Ohio River that once sported a titanic reputation.

“The kind of thing talked about as scuttle-butt around Cincinnati,” he said, “that Newport used to be Vegas, used to be this great gambling town.