100 Murder Cases

The Murder of Bugsy Siegel

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was born on February 28, 1906. Growing up with little money in Brooklyn, New York, he and his friends, Meyer Lansky and Morris "Moe" Sedway lived a life that mimicked organized crime. Bugsy managed to establish himself as a teenage thug. They terrorized local street vendors and collected protection money from other gangs in the area. Not too long after, they had a business that included bootlegging and gambling all over New York City and quickly rose through the ranks of the crime world.

In 1937, Bugsy and Sedway were sent to California to build up the mob's presence on the West Coast. Since bootlegging was no longer needed, Bugsy focused on gambling. He invested in the SS Rex, a gambling ship that was docked 3 miles off the coast of Santa Monica to try and avoid California's anti-gambling laws. When authorities closed the ship down, Bugsy turned his sights to Las Vegas since Nevada had legalized gambling and they would avoid any headaches trying to dodge police. With syndicate money in 1945, Bugsy took over a struggling construction project outside the city limits, the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. At that time, Las Vegas was nothing like the glittering city we think of today. The Flamingo was the first luxury hotel on the strip.

Even though the project wasn't finished, Bugsy opened the casino on December 26, 1946. Famous celebrities like Judy Garland and Clark Gable attended the opening. After the party was over, Bugsy closed the doors to finish construction and the mob back on the East Coast became antsy. By this time, the casino's budget had ballooned from $1 million up to $6 million, thanks to Bugsy skimming from the top. During a meeting of mob big wigs in Cuba, it was settled that if the Flamingo was a success, Bugsy would be able to make things right. Luckily for Bugsy, the Flamingo had already made $250,000 in profit. Unluckily for Bugsy, it wasn't enough to please the mob.

On June 20, 1947, Bugsy was sitting on the couch at his mistress Virginia Hill's home in Beverly Hills, California. At around 10:45 pm, from a rose-covered pergola just 14 feet away from Bugsy, a 30 caliber military rifle fired at least 9 shots at the mobster. 4 rounds hit Bugsy, killing him instantly. Moments later, 3 of Meyer Lansky's henchmen walked into the Flamingo and declared that they were taking over the casino.

Beverly Hills Police chief, Clinton H. Anderson said the following statement: "We spent many man-hours investigating the Siegel case and were convinced that he was killed by his own associates. But there was never sufficient evidence to pinpoint the identity of the assassin."