Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (28 February 1906-20 June 1947) was a Jewish-American mobster who was known for co-founding Murder, Inc. and for being the man who began the development of the Las Vegas Strip into a desert paradise. Siegel started out as a New York City street hoodlum, but he rose to become a successful casino owner and drug dealer. After his failed Flamingo Hotel venture led to the American Mafia's loss of money, Siegel was murdered by a sniper in June 1947 at his Beverly Hills mansion.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Siegel in 1921
Benjamin Siegel was born on 28 February 1906 in Brooklyn, New York City to a family of Ukrainian Jews from Podolia. Siegel befriended gangster Moe Sedway while being a gang member in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and he forced pushcart merchants to pay him for protection, lest he incinerate their goods. Siegel had armed robbery, rape, and murder on his criminal record since his youth, and he became friends with Meyer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein, working for Rothstein during the early 1920s. When Lansky decided to form his own gang, Siegel was the first member, and the two of them hijacked liquor convoys and sold heroin and opium on the streets. Siegel shot one Masseria crime family thug in 1923 when he attempted to prevent Siegel from selling his heroin, and he would also be involved in an assassination attempt on Gyp Rosetti in Tabor Heights, New Jersey. Siegel, disguised as a paper boy, killed four people, but he failed to kill a nude and leashed Rosetti, who chased Siegel out of the apartment.
Murder, Incorporated[]
Tonino Sandrelli and Siegel in 1931 after the murder of Joe Masseria
In 1929, at a conference of bootleggers in Atlantic City, Siegel proclaimed an end to violence between Italian and Jewish gangs, and he assisted in the murders of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano during the Castellammarese War as a hired hitman with his new contract killing organization, Murder, Inc.. Siegel's hitmen would carry out up to 1,000 murders, and Siegel was known as a skilled gunman. In 1931, Siegel and Luciano approached Valentin Narcisse with an offer of partnership in the heroin business, but he refused. Siegel and his friend Samuel Levine both headed to Narcisse's brothel and gunned down a pimp and several prostitutes to make a point. Siegel would take part in multiple murders during the 1930s, and he became known as a fierce executioner.
Gambling business[]
Siegel in 1931
In 1933, Siegel headed to the West Coast after his enemies on the East Coast wanted him dead, and he worked with Mickey Cohen, the Chicago Outfit, and West Coast crime families to establish the drug trade in the American West. Siegel lived in Los Angeles, and he bought a lavish home in Beverly Hills, hosting lavish parties; he befriended directors Jack L. Warner (of Warner Bros) and Louis B. Mayer (of MGM) and actors George Raft, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Tony Curtis, Phil Silvers, and Frank Sinatra. Siegel was also one of the founders of modern Las Vegas, transforming the G.I. town into a desert paradise; just as he had done in Los Angeles, he set up large and profitable gambling operations in the city.
Downfall[]
Siegel's downfall occurred because of his gambling operations. His last venture, the Flamingo Hotel, was backed by investors from the major American Mafia families, and Siegel intended for it to be another center of gambling. However, the air conditioning units broke down, few celebrities visited the hotel, and some rooms were still not ready for visitors when the hotel opened; the business failed by January 1947. Siegel decided to renovate the hotel and attract new customers, turning a profit. However, the mob bosses were not willing to wait any longer for Siegel to pay up, and Lansky reluctantly authorized his assassination. On 20 June 1947, he was shot twice in the head by a sniper with an M1 Carbine through the window of his Beverly Hills home while talking to a friend and reading a newspaper. His death put an end to the Mafia legend of Bugsy Siegel, but his legacy endured with the rise of Las Vegas.