Joseph Delaney was born on January 22, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Delaney had careers as a columnist/critic for the Las Vegas Sun and as an attorney and consultant for recording companies.
Israel "Icepick Willie" Alderman was a Las Vegas, Nevada casino investor and manager with ties to organized crime. Along with his associates Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Moe Sedway, David Berman, and Gus Greenbaum, he was involved in the El Cortez, the Riviera, the Flamingo, and the Las Vegas Club. Prior to living in Las Vegas, he was mob enforcer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was given his nickname based on his perfection of the icepick method of murder.
Barbara Givens was born September 13, 1937 in California. She grew up in Reno, Nevada and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1952 with her family when she was 14 years old. Givens graduated from Las Vegas High School and enrolled in the first matriculated teacher's program at the Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV).