Oral history interview with Steve Martinez conducted by Claytee D. White and Kristian Taketomo for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Martinez discusses his early life growing up in the Bay Area of California. After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science, he worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), investigating child abuse, mortgage fraud, and counterintelligence. Martinez talks about how his work with the FBI led to moves to El Paso, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Martinez recalls highlights in his career including arresting Warren Jeffs, traveling to China as a foreign liaison, and interviewing Iraqi nationals before the start of the Iraq War. In 2015, Martinez retired from the FBI and began security consulting work in the gaming industry and was vital in the casinos' response to the October 1, 2017 shooting. He was approached by Oscar Goodman to join the Board of Directors at the Mob Museum where he serves as the chair. Martinez concludes the interview talking about his retirement and spending time with his family. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Oral history interview with Steve Martinez conducted by Claytee D. White and Kristian Taketomo for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Martinez discusses his early life growing up in the Bay Area of California. After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science, he worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), investigating child abuse, mortgage fraud, and counterintelligence. Martinez talks about how his work with the FBI led to moves to El Paso, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Martinez recalls highlights in his career including arresting Warren Jeffs, traveling to China as a foreign liaison, and interviewing Iraqi nationals before the start of the Iraq War. In 2015, Martinez retired from the FBI and began security consulting work in the gaming industry and was vital in the casinos' response to the October 1, 2017 shooting. He was approached by Oscar Goodman to join the Board of Directors at the Mob Museum where he serves as the chair. Martinez concludes the interview talking about his retirement and spending time with his family. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Steve Martinez oral history interview, 2025 November 17. OH-03972. [Cite format consulted: Audio recording or Transcript.] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1ff6w
This interview was conducted and transcribed by the Oral History Research Center (OHRC) which is part of the UNLV University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Division.
Interview materials were processed by UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2026. Tammi Kim wrote the collection description. Access copies were created for born-digital audio files. The audio has been minimally reviewed and all readily available information has been included in the description.