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Siegel was one of the founders and leaders of
Murder, Incorporated and became a bootlegger during Prohibition.
After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, he turned to gambling. In
1936, he left New York and moved to California. In 1939, Siegel
was tried for the murder of fellow mobster Harry Greenberg. Siegel
was acquitted in 1942.
Siegel traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada where he
handled and financed some of the original casinos. He assisted
developer William Wilkerson's Flamingo Hotel after Wilkerson ran
out of funds. Siegel took over the project and managed the final
stages of construction.
The Flamingo opened on December 26, 1946 to
poor reception and soon closed. It reopened in March 1947 with a
finished hotel. Three months later, on June 20, 1947, Siegel was
shot dead at the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend, Virginia
Hill.
Early life
Benjamin Siegel was born in 1906 in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to a poor Jewish family from Letychiv,
Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire, in modern Ukraine.
However, other sources state that his family came from Austria.
His parents, Max and Jennie, constantly worked
for meager wages. Siegel, the second of five children, vowed that
he would rise above that life. As a boy, Siegel dropped out of
school and joined a gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East
Side of Manhattan. He committed mainly thefts, until he met Moe
Sedway. With Sedway, Siegel developed a protection racket where
pushcart merchants were forced to pay him a dollar or he would
incinerate their merchandise. Siegel had a criminal record that
included armed robbery, rape and murder dating back to his teenage
years.
Bugs and Meyer Mob
During adolescence, Siegel befriended Meyer
Lansky, who formed a small mob whose activities expanded to
gambling and car theft. Lansky, who had already had a run-in with
Salvatore Lucania, saw a need for the Jewish boys of his Brooklyn
neighborhood to organize in the same manner as the Italians and
Irish. The first person he recruited for his gang was Ben Siegel.
Siegel became a bootlegger and was involved in
bootlegging within several major East Coast cities. He also worked
as the mob's hitman, whom Lansky would hire out to other crime
families. The two formed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, which handled
contracts for the various bootleg gangs operating in New York and
New Jersey – doing so almost a decade before Murder, Inc. was
formed. The gang kept themselves busy hijacking the booze cargoes
of rival outfits. The Bugs and Meyer mob was known to be
responsible for the killing and removal of several rival gangdom
figures.
Siegel's gang mates included Abner "Longie"
Zwillman, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, and Lansky's brother, Jake;
"Doc" Stacher, another member of the Bugs and Meyer Mob, recalled
to Lansky biographers that Siegel was fearless and saved his
friends' lives as the mob moved into bootlegging:
“Bugsy never hesitated when danger threatened,"
Stacher told Uri Dan. "While we tried to figure out what the best
move was, Bugsy was already shooting. When it came to action there
was no one better. I've never known a man who had more guts.”
He was also a boyhood friend to Al Capone; when
there was a warrant for Capone's arrest on a murder charge, Siegel
allowed him to hide out with an aunt. Siegel first smoked opium
during his youth and was involved in the drug trade. By age 21,
Siegel was making money and flaunted it. He was regarded as
handsome with blue eyes and was known to be charismatic and liked
by everyone. He bought an apartment at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
and a Tudor home in Scarsdale. He wore flashy clothes and
participated in the night life of New York City.
Marriage and family
On January 28, 1929, Siegel married Esta
Krakower, his childhood sweetheart and sister of contract killer
Whitey Krakower. They had two daughters. Siegel had a reputation
as a womanizer and the marriage ended in 1946. His wife moved with
their teenage daughters to New York.
Murder, Incorporated
By the late 1920s, Lansky and Siegel had ties
to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello, future bosses of
the Genovese crime family. Siegel, along with Albert "Mad Hatter"
Anastasia, Vito Genovese, and Joe Adonis, allegedly were the four
gunmen who shot New York mob boss Joe Masseria to death on
Luciano's orders on April 15, 1931, ending the Castellammarese
War.
On September 10 of that year, Luciano hired
four trigger men from the Lansky-Siegel gang (some sources
identify Siegel being one of the hit men), to murder Salvatore
Maranzano, establishing Luciano's rise to the top of the U.S.
Mafia and marking the beginning of modern American organized
crime.
In 1931, following Maranzano's death, Luciano
and Lansky formed the National Syndicate, an organization of crime
families that brought power to the underworld. The Commission was
established for dividing Mafia territories and preventing future
wars. With his associates, Siegel formed Murder, Incorporated.
After Siegel and Lansky moved on, control over Murder, Inc. was
ceded to Buchalter and Anastasia. Siegel continued working as a
hitman breaking the law eight times. His only conviction was in
Miami. On February 28, 1932, he was arrested for gambling and
vagrancy, and, from a roll of bills, paid a $100 fine.
During this period, Siegel had a disagreement
with associates of Waxey Gordon, the Fabrizzo brothers. Gordon had
hired the Fabrizzo brothers from prison after Lansky and Siegel
gave the IRS information about Gordon's tax evasion. It led to
Gordon's imprisonment in 1933.
Siegel hunted down the Fabrizzos, killing them
after their assassination attempt on Lansky as well as Siegel
himself. After the deaths of his two brothers, Tony Fabrizzo began
writing a memoir and gave it to an attorney. One of the longest
chapters was to be a section on the nationwide kill-for-hire squad
led by Siegel. The mob discovered Fabrizzo's plans before he could
execute it.
In 1932, Siegel checked into a hospital and
later that night sneaked out. Siegel and two accomplices
approached Fabrizzo's house and, posing as detectives to lure him
outside, gunned him down. According to hospital records, Siegel's
alibi for that night was that he had checked into a hospital. In
1935, Siegel assisted in Luciano's alliance with Dutch Schultz and
killed rival loan sharks Louis "Pretty" Amberg and Joseph Amberg.
California
Siegel had learned from his associates that he
was in danger. His hospital alibi had become questionable and his
enemies wanted him dead. In the late 1930s, the East Coast mob
sent Siegel to California. Since 1933, Siegel had traveled to the
West Coast several times, and in California, his mission was to
develop syndicate gambling rackets with Los Angeles crime family
boss, Jack Dragna.
Once in Los Angeles, Siegel recruited gang boss
Mickey Cohen as his chief lieutenant. Knowing Siegel's reputation
for violence and that he was backed by Lansky and Luciano who,
from prison, sent word to Dragna that it was "in [his] best
interest to cooperate", Dragna accepted a subordinate role. Siegel
moved Esta and their daughters, Millicent and Barbara, to
California. On tax returns he claimed to earn his living through
legal gambling at Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Siegel took over the numbers
racket. He used money from the syndicate to help establish a drug
trade route from the U.S. to Mexico and organized circuits with
the Chicago Outfit's Trans-America Wire service.
By 1942, $500,000 a day was coming from the
syndicate's bookmaking wire operations. In 1946, because of
problems with Siegel, the Chicago Outfit took over the Continental
Press and gave the percentage of the racing wire to Jack Dragna,
infuriating Siegel. Despite his complications with the wire
services, Siegel controlled several offshore casinos and a major
prostitution ring. He also maintained relationships with
politicians, businessmen, attorneys, accountants, and lobbyists
who fronted for him.
Hollywood
In Hollywood, Siegel was welcomed in the
highest circles and befriended stars. He was known to associate
with George Raft, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant, as well
as studio executives Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner. Actress Jean
Harlow was a friend of Siegel and godmother to his daughter
Millicent. Siegel led an extravagant life, he bought real estate,
and threw lavish parties at his Beverly Hills home. He gained
admiration from young celebrities, including Tony Curtis, Phil
Silvers, and Frank Sinatra.
Siegel had several relationships with
actresses, including socialite Dorothy DiFrasso, the wife of an
Italian count. The alliance with the countess took Siegel to Italy
in 1938, where he met Benito Mussolini, to whom Siegel tried to
sell weapons—and German leaders Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels.
Siegel took an instant dislike to the Nazis and offered to kill
them. He relented because of the countess's anxious pleas.
In Hollywood, Siegel worked with the crime
syndicate to form illegal rackets. He devised a plan of extorting
movie studios; he would take over local unions (the Screen Extras
Guild and the Los Angeles Teamsters) and stage strikes to force
studios to pay him off, so that unions would start working again.
He borrowed money from celebrities and didn't pay them back,
knowing that they would never ask him for the money. During his
first year in Hollywood, he received more than $400,000 in loans
from movie stars.
Greenberg murder and trial
On November 22, 1939, Siegel, Whitey Krakower,
Frankie Carbo and Albert Tannenbaum killed Harry "Big Greenie"
Greenberg outside of his apartment. Greenberg had threatened to
become a police informant, and Lepke Buchalter, boss of Murder,
Inc., ordered his killing.
Tannenbaum confessed to the murder and agreed
to testify against Siegel. Siegel and Carbo were implicated to
have shot and killed Greenberg, and in September 1941, Siegel was
tried for the Greenberg murder. Whitey Krakower was killed before
he could face trial.
The trial gained notoriety because of the
preferential treatment Siegel received in jail; he refused to eat
prison food and was allowed female visitors. He was also granted
leave for dental visits. Siegel hired attorney Jerry Giesler to
defend him. After the deaths of two state witnesses, no additional
witnesses came forward. Tannenbaum's testimony was dismissed.
In 1942, Siegel and Carbo were acquitted due to
insufficient evidence but Siegel's reputation was damaged. During
the trial, newspapers revealed his past and referred to him as "Bugsy".
He hated the nickname (said to be based on the slang term "bugs",
meaning "crazy", used to describe his erratic behavior),
preferring to be called "Ben" or "Mr. Siegel". On May 25, 1944,
Siegel was arrested for bookmaking. George Raft testified on
Siegel's behalf, and in late 1944, Siegel was acquitted.
Las Vegas
Siegel wanted to be a legitimate businessman,
and in 1946, he saw an opportunity with William R. Wilkerson's
Flamingo Hotel. Las Vegas gave Siegel his second opportunity to
reinvent himself. In the 1930s, Siegel had traveled to Southern
Nevada with Meyer Lansky's lieutenant Moe Sedway on Lansky's
orders to explore expanding operations. There were opportunities
in providing illicit services to crews constructing Hoover Dam.
Lansky had turned the desert over to Siegel. But Siegel had turned
it over to Moe Sedway and left for Hollywood.
Lansky asked Siegel to watch Wilkerson's desert
development. Siegel, who knew Wilkerson and lived near him in
Beverly Hills, was the obvious choice as a liaison, but Siegel
wanted no part in the operation that would take him back to
Nevada. It meant leaving Beverly Hills and his playboy life. But
at Lansky's insistence, Siegel consented.
Siegel accepts
In the mid-1940s, Siegel was lining things up
in Las Vegas while his lieutenants worked on a business policy to
secure all gambling in Los Angeles. Throughout the spring of 1946,
Siegel proved useful. He obtained black market building materials.
The postwar shortages that had dogged construction were no longer
a problem.
At first Siegel seemed content to do things
Wilkerson's way. His desire to learn about the project took
precedence over his sportsman lifestyle. It subdued his
aggression. Under Wilkerson's tutelage, Siegel learned the
mechanics of building an enterprise. However, Siegel began to feel
intimidated and paranoid. He grew resentful of Wilkerson's vision
for the desert.
Tom Seward, a business partner of Wilkerson,
described Siegel as "so jealous of Billy [Wilkerson] it drove him
crazy". Siegel began making decisions without Wilkerson's
authority. Informing work crews that Wilkerson had put him in
charge, Siegel ordered changes which conflicted with the
blueprints.
The problem came to a head when Siegel demanded
more involvement in the project. To keep the project moving,
Wilkerson agreed that Siegel would supervise the hotel while
Wilkerson retained control of everything else.
In May 1946, Siegel decided the agreement had
to be altered to give him control of the Flamingo. With the
Flamingo, Siegel would supply the gambling, the best liquor and
food, and the biggest entertainers at reasonable prices. He
believed these attractions would lure not only the high rollers,
but thousands of vacationers willing to lose $50 or $100. Siegel
offered to buy out Wilkerson's creative participation with
corporate stock – an additional 5 percent ownership in the
operation (Siegel later reneged).
On June 20, 1946, Siegel formed the Nevada
Project Corporation of California, naming himself president. He
was also the largest principal stockholder in the operation, which
defined everyone else merely as shareholders. (William Wilkerson
was eventually coerced into selling all stakes in the Flamingo
under the threat of death, and went into hiding in Paris for a
time.) From this point the Flamingo became syndicate-run.
Las Vegas' beginning
Siegel began a spending spree. He demanded the
finest building that money could buy at a time of postwar
shortages. Each bathroom in the 93-room hotel had its own sewer
system (cost: $1,150,000); more toilets were ordered than needed
(cost: $50,000); because of the plumbing alterations, the boiler
room was enlarged (cost: $113,000); and Siegel ordered a larger
kitchen (cost: $29,000). Adding to the budgetary over-runs were
problems with dishonest contractors and disgruntled unpaid
builders. As costs soared, Siegel's checks began bouncing. By
October 1946, the costs were above $4 million. In 1947, the
Flamingo cost was over $6 million (around $62,500,000 in today's
money).
The first indication of trouble came in
November 1946 when the syndicate issued an ultimatum: provide
accounting or forfeit funding. But producing a balance sheet was
the last thing Siegel wanted to do. Siegel waged a private
fundraising campaign by selling nonexistent stocks. He was in a
hurry so he doubled his work force, believing the project could be
completed in half the time. Siegel paid overtime. In some cases,
bonuses tied to project deadlines were offered as a way to
increase productivity. By late November, the work was nearly
finished.
Under pressure for the hotel to make money,
Siegel moved the opening from Wilkerson's original date of March
1, 1947 to December 26, 1946 in an attempt to generate enough
money from the casino to complete the project and repay investors.
However, Siegel generated confusion with the opening date. On a
whim, he decided a weekend would be more likely to entice
celebrities away from home. Invitations were sent out for
Saturday, December 28. Siegel changed his mind again and invitees
were notified by phone that the opening had been changed back to
the 26th.
According to later reports by local observers,
Siegel's "maniacal chest-puffing" set the pattern for several
generations of notable casino moguls. Siegel's violent reputation
didn't help his situation. After he boasted one day that he'd
personally killed some men, he saw the panicked look on the face
of head contractor Del Webb and reassured him: "Del, don't worry,
we only kill each other."
Other associates portrayed Siegel in a
different aspect; Siegel as an intense character who was not
without a charitable side, including his donations for the Damon
Runyon Cancer Fund. Lou Wiener Jr., Siegel's Las Vegas attorney,
described him as "very well liked" and that he was "good to
people".
Defiance and devastation
Problems with the Trans-America Wire service
had cleared up in Nevada and Arizona, but in California, Siegel
refused to report business. He later announced to his colleagues
that he was running the California syndicate by himself and that
he would return the loans in his "own good time". Despite his
defiance to the mob bosses they were patient with Siegel because
he had always proven to be a valuable man.
The Flamingo opened on December 26, 1946. The
casino, lounge, theater, and restaurant were finished. Although
locals attended the opening, few celebrities materialized. A
handful drove in from Los Angeles despite bad weather. Some
celebrities present were June Haver, Vivian Blaine, George Raft,
Sonny Tufts, Brian Donlevy, and Charles Coburn. They were welcomed
by construction noise and a lobby draped with drop cloths.
The desert's first air conditioning collapsed
regularly. While gambling tables were operating, the luxury rooms,
that would have served as the lure for people to stay and gamble
were not ready. As word of the losses made their way to Siegel
during the evening, he began to become irate and verbally abusive,
throwing out at least one family. After two weeks the Flamingo's
gaming tables were $275,000 in the red and the entire operation
shut down in late January 1947.
After being granted a second chance, Siegel
cracked down and did everything possible to turn the Flamingo into
a success by making renovations and obtaining good press. He hired
future newsman Hank Greenspun as a publicist.
The hotel reopened on March 1, 1947,—with Meyer
Lansky present—and began turning a profit. However, by the time
profits began improving the mob bosses above Siegel were tired of
waiting. Although time was running out, at age 41, Siegel had
carved out a name for himself in the annals of organized crime and
in Las Vegas history.
Death
On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat
with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills
home reading the Los Angeles Times, an assailant fired at him
through the window with a .30-caliber military M1 carbine, hitting
him many times, including twice in the head. No one was charged
with the murder, and the crime remains officially unsolved.
One theory posits that Siegel's death was the
result of his excessive spending and possible theft of money from
the mob. In 1946, a meeting was held with the "board of directors"
of the syndicate in Havana, Cuba, so that Luciano, exiled in
Sicily, could attend and participate. A contract on Siegel's life
was the conclusion. According to Stacher, Lansky reluctantly
agreed to the decision.
Although descriptions
said that Siegel was shot in the eye, he was actually hit twice on
the right side of his head. The death scene and postmortem
photographs show that one shot penetrated his right cheek and
exited through the left side of his neck; the other struck the
right bridge of his nose where it met the right eye socket. The
pressure created by the bullet passing through Siegel's skull blew
his left eye out of its socket.
A Los Angeles'
Coroner's Report (#37448) states the cause of death as cerebral
hemorrhage. His death certificate (Registrar's #816192) states the
manner of death as a homicide and the cause as "Gunshot Wounds of
the head."
Though as noted, Siegel was not shot exactly through the eye (the
eyeball would have been destroyed if this had been the case), the
bullet-through-the-eye style of killing nevertheless became
popular in Mafia lore and in movies, and was called the "Moe
Greene special" after the character Moe Greene—based on Siegel—was
killed in this manner in The Godfather.
Siegel
was hit by several other bullets including shots through his
lungs. According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine shots
fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a
grand piano, and then lodged in the far wall."
The day after Siegel's death, the Los Angeles Herald-Express
carried a photograph on its front page from the morgue of Siegel's
bare right foot with a toe tag. Although Siegel's murder occurred
in Beverly Hills, his death thrust Las Vegas into the national
spotlight as photographs of his lifeless body were published in
newspapers throughout the country. The day after Siegel's murder,
David Berman and his Las Vegas mob associates walked into the
Flamingo and took over operation of the hotel and casino.
Memorial
In the Bialystoker Synagogue on
New York's Lower East Side, Siegel is memorialized by a Yahrtzeit
(remembrance) plaque that marks his death date so mourners can say
Kaddish for the anniversary. Siegel's plaque is below Max
Siegel's, his father, who died two months before his son.
On the property at the Flamingo Las Vegas, between the pool and a
wedding chapel, is a memorial plaque to Siegel. Siegel was
interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood,
California.
In popular culture
Siegel was the basis for the character and personality of the Moe
Greene character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather (1969). In
the 1972 film adaptation, he is portrayed by Alex Rocco.
Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in America (1984) is loosely
based on the lives of Siegel and Lansky.
In the movie Atlantic City, the real-life mobsters and gangsters
that central character Lou (Burt Lancaster) said he knew, or had
worked for, were Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Al
Capone.
Bugsy (1991) is a semi-fictional biography of Siegel, featuring
Warren Beatty as the mobster.
The 1991 crime drama Mobsters, depicting the rise of The
Commission, features Richard Grieco as Siegel.
The Marrying Man (1991) has Armand Assante playing the role of
Siegel.
Tim Powers imagined Siegel as a modern-day Fisher King in his
novel Last Call (1992).
He is portrayed by Michael Zegen in the HBO series Boardwalk
Empire.
He is a central character in Frank Darabont's television series
Mob City, portrayed by Edward Burns.
In the 12th episode of the second season of Sliders, Siegel has
succeeded in making a gambling empire in California and the mob
controls most of the state. In the season four episode "Way Out
West", Siegel's grandson Ben "Bugsy" Siegel III (Jay Acovone)
planned to turn Las Vegas into a Mecca for gamblers in the same
manner as his grandfather did on Earth Prime. The universe in
question is approximately 150 years behind Earth Prime in terms of
technology and the United States resembles the Wild West into the
late 1990s.
Siegel was one of the primary foes of Greg Saunders, DC Comics'
first Vigilante.
He is portrayed by Jonathan Stewart in AMC's series The Making of
the Mob: New York, a docudrama focusing on the history of the mob
with the first season about Charlie "Lucky" Luciano's life story.
In the Stephen Hunter novel Hot Springs, Siegel plays a major
role. He is a partner of crime boss Owney Maddox and gets into a
physical confrontation with former Marine Sergeant turned
Detective Earl Swagger after Swagger lights Virginia Hill's
cigarette. Swagger attempts to avoid confrontation with Siegel but
beats him in a fist fight, earning his wrath. Later Swagger's
former subordinate-turned-CIA agent Frenchy Short assassinates
Siegel with an M1 carbine, paralleling the real-life murder.