Bugsy Siegel_ The Gangster Who Built Las Vegas and Paid with His Life _ Our History

June 20th, 1947. Notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel has flown from his new casino in Vegas to his lover's mansion in LA. That evening, he meets with mob associate Alan Smiley. Alan Smiley and Bugsy Siegel went into the living room and sat on the sofa But as they enjoy a drink, a hitman lurks. Smiley dives to the floor as a bullet tears through Bugsy's head. Why did the mob turn on the man who had earned them so much money? Benjamin Siegel grows up in Jewish Brooklyn. Destined to be a criminal, he has a reputation for violence and a brain for business. But in the 1920s, ambitions for Jewish hoodlums are severely limited. You had very strict divisions between the various ethnic gangs. Jews didn't even go into Italian neighborhoods. Italians didn't even go into Jewish neighborhoods, much less cooperate on crime. But in 1929, the world opens up for young Siegel. When an up-and-coming Italian-American mastermind, Charles Lucky Luciano, realizes that segregation is simply bad for business. A true capitalist doesn't care about race or religion, and Luciano recognized that if you keep the rackets just to Italians, you cut out a lot of great earners. With his multi-ethnic gang, Luciano blazes a bloody trail to the top of the underworld. Lucky Luciano was the ultimate mob boss. Nobody messed with him. He ran this huge prostitution ring. He was ruthless. He was basically America's pimp. But before Luciano can be crowned number one crime boss, he needs to remove the two dangerous obstacles in his path. And a savvy Bugsy Siegel is the perfect man for the job. Luciano saw in Siegel somebody who could efficiently carry out the dirty work. Want to hijack a truck? You send Siegel. Have somebody beat up? Serve a lesson, whatever. You send Siegel. Siegel's skills are about to be put to their greatest test. The two big people standing in Luciano's way were the bosses, Salvatore Maranzano and Joe Masseria. They're the dons heading New York's two dominant Italian-American mob families. And Luciano is about to unleash his Jewish secret weapon to take these men out. April 15th, 1931. Luciano baits the trap in a Brooklyn restaurant, allowing Bugsy Siegel to execute a brutal hit on Joe the Boss Masseria. Luciano waits just five months before unleashing Bugsy and his goons on the last standing mob boss in his way, Salvatore Maranzano. Carrying that out established Ben Siegel, in Luciano's eyes, as someone who could be totally relied on. Having exterminated the opposition, Luciano takes command. Restructuring and organizing the entire East Coast criminal underworld into five separate families. It's a criminal revolution. Establishing the modern mafia in America, uniting feuding gangs into a criminal empire powerful enough to outwit governments. And for his role in creating this heinous leviathan, Ben Siegel is assured a privileged position. Ben Siegel was a tremendous asset to Luciano. And Luciano was a tremendous asset to somebody like Siegel. Bugsy's rise to favor with Luciano isn't just due to his ruthless obedience. He also stands out amongst the criminal thugs. Ben, he was charming, great conversation. You couldn't find a more funny guy to be around. Just great. He was also handsome, had a sense of style and was ambitious. With his irresistible charm and social skills, it isn't long before Bugsy becomes Luciano's right hand man. He traveled the country coordinating takeovers of local mobs and rackets. And if his silver tongue can't close the deal, Bugsy lets his gun do the talking. Gangster life suits Ben Siegel to a T. And it's making him rich. Flaunting his wealth, he buys an apartment in the Waldorf Astoria, New York's architectural icon of glamour and luxury. For Ben Siegel, it was all about the display. It was all about the style. It was all about what people thought. Bugsy wanted to advertise a very simple fact. I am a person of poor immigrant background who has made a success. I've achieved the American dream. And for the approval hungry Siegel, what better way to impress than with a string of high class women? Bugsy Siegel is known as Baby Blue Eyes. He was also irresistible. He owned the room when he walked in and that's what women loved about him. But for all the good times, Bugsy will never escape the stone cold reality of mob life. Bugsy Siegel is taking a drive with his boyhood pal, Bo Weinberg. They reminisce about making their bones on the mean streets of New York's Lower East Side. Bo Weinberg, having stepped out of line and disrespected his boss, doesn't know that his old friend Bugsy is on a mission. If Bugsy is to maintain the trust and confidence of the Mafia's top brass, he needs to demonstrate he knows loyalty to the boss is more important than a lifelong friendship. Ben was a guy who understood this is the way the organization works. The organization says get rid of your best friend, you got rid of your best friend. Business is business. That's the way it works. You put your personal feelings aside. Bo Weinberg is just one of a string of hits that earned Bugsy, every mobster's friend, a whole lot of enemies. By 1937, Bugsy is a man with a price on his head. And wanted by rival gangs. Here was the problem. Bugsy had become a little too notorious. There was a lot of heat in New York. There were gang wars and he was vulnerable. Chief amongst his enemies is Waxy Gordon, the East Coast bootlegging king. Siegel has rubbed out six of his men and now Waxy is gunning for revenge. But getting to Bugsy won't be easy. Bugsy's offices in Manhattan are heavily protected. Save one fatal weak spot. The roof is not guarded. As Bugsy listens to a prize fight, a hitman climbs onto the roof and tosses a bomb down the chimney stack. Miraculously, Bugsy survives. Out for revenge, Bugsy leaves hospital against doctor's orders. Bugsy lost his temper and snuck out of the hospital. He got so angry that somebody tried to blow him up. And it doesn't take long for him to hunt the bomber down. He shoots the guy in front of two witnesses in broad daylight. Everybody in the world knew that Ben Siegel had done it. Bugsy's got his sweet revenge. But the violence is threatening to get out of control. And Luciano knows his top man may not be so lucky next time. New York was getting too hot. And the best thing to do was get out of town. Luciano sends Bugsy to California, putting 3,000 miles between him and the vengeance of rival East Coast mobsters. But Luciano hasn't sent Bugsy out west just to work on his suntan. The top mobster has a bigger plan for his protege. Luciano and the New York mafia have the idea, let's expand operations in California. His new mission, to muscle in on the West Coast rackets. Bugsy's immediate target is Jack Dragna, the Al Capone of Los Angeles. He didn't care that he was stepping on toes of Jack Dragna. He just did what he wanted to do. Bugsy's murderous reputation has followed him. And a good old-fashioned threat is enough to make Dragna hand over control of his gambling operation. Bugsy's takeover is soon generating enormous profits for Luciano and the mob. Totaling by 1942, some $8 million a year. Nearly $120 million in today's money. Before long, Bugsy Siegel is California's most powerful gangster. And rumors surrounding this notorious bad boy, captivate Hollywood's A-list. Imagine Bugsy walking into these Hollywood parties, the ultimate VIP, everybody wanted to talk to him because he was so mysterious and he just had this charisma about him. Hollywood actually thought they saw a star in Bugsy Siegel. Bugsy Siegel was a hitman, a mafia guy. They loved it. They loved him. If Hollywood is enthralled by Bugsy, it seems the tinsel town yore has also rubbed off on the mobster. Bugsy Siegel actually did a screen test at one time. While Bugsy's acting fails to impress studio producers, the rugged gangster with baby blue eyes is a hit. With Hollywood's leading ladies. He was that Hollywood gangster and women loved him for that. Bugsy Siegel's sexual appetite is ravenous. Bugsy was the ultimate alpha male. He was driven by power, money, status and sex. The glamorous life of a gangster's girlfriend, known as a moll, attracts many women. And the queen of them all, green-eyed Virginia Hill, is about to stop Bugsy in his tracks. Moll is a party girl. Virginia Hill is the ultimate moll. Not only was she a moll, she was a trusted moll. She was the moll who they could give money to, to be hidden, to be transferred. And they knew, to the penny, she would do it. She loved that world, the excitement, the danger. She believed life is short, enjoy while you can. When Bugsy and Virginia Hill met, sparks flew. Bugsy was so intrigued by Virginia. Here is somebody who's confident and rich and very different than the Hollywood girls he was used to getting his way with. Virginia's brash sexual confidence is a big hit with Bugsy. And the pair soon start a tempestuous love affair. Ben Siegel became obsessed with her. And the obsession was fueled by the fact that she made no bones about spending time with other people, which was a perverse turn-on. Virginia's wild nature has ignited Bugsy's already explosive personality. And their sex-charged union soon develops into a criminal partnership. Bugsy and Virginia had this wild, passionate relationship, but they also were partners in crime in a business sense. Bugsy and Virginia are soon delving into the lucrative narcotics trade. Bugsy referred to Virginia as the bait to his shark. And they opened this elaborate opium heroin business across the Mexico-US border. By 1940, Bugsy Siegel is responsible for trafficking millions of dollars worth of drugs and distributing them via syndicate peddlers throughout the country. Love and crime fueled Bugsy's high life. But his notoriety is about to bring unwanted attention. 1935, New York special prosecutor Thomas Dewey launches a crusade against organized crime. And his first high-profile hit is Bugsy's gangland patron, Lucky Luciano, who goes down on a 30 to 50-year prison sentence for prostitution. Dewey is determined that there will be more. Then the big question was, after Luciano, who's next? Well, one big possibility was a flashy personality like Bugsy Siegel. As Dewey turns up the heat, people start to sing. People like notorious tough guy and mob insider, Greenie Greenberg. The mafia immediately decides Greenie must be silenced. And Bugsy insists on overseeing the dirty work. Greenie's mouth is shut for good, but he's not the only canary. It isn't long before someone else sings. And based on an informant's testimony, Dewey busts Bugsy with a high-profile murder rap. Now a band's in big trouble. Chicago got nervous. A lot of people in New York got nervous. That kind of publicity is not what they were looking for. But Luciano's mafia is now so powerful, it can outwit US justice. Luciano's influence extends right into the prison system. And now he's going to use it to save the mafia's prized asset, Bugsy Siegel. He's put in jail and he decides he wants to have a comfortable existence. He gets a setup where he has catered meals and he's allowed to have women visit him in his cell. Bugsy's defense is mounted by the best lawyer in town. And when the prosecution's star witness mysteriously falls from a hotel window, he has no problem in getting Bugsy Siegel acquitted. Bugsy might have escaped justice, but he can't silence Hollywood gossip. There's a difference between carrying the whiff of gangland and being pinned for a very specific murder. The last thing the smooth-talking ladies man wants is for the world to be reminded of his true nature. Seeing headlines that said Bugsy drove him nuts. Ben Siegel's nickname in Yiddish was a wild animal. And the American translation of that was crazy as a bed bug. That's where the nickname Bugsy came from. He hated it. He wanted to be called Ben. Or Mr. Siegel. Hollywood turns its back on Bugsy, leaving his pride in tatters. He's used to being the life of the party. The one who got all the ladies. And all of a sudden, that stopped. And he couldn't handle it. Bugsy's going to show the world that the Jewish gangster raised in New York's East Side ghetto is not to be sneered at. The level of insecurity at the core of Ben Siegel's self-esteem is a real key part to understanding him. Because no matter how successful they got, somebody like Ben Siegel was very, very aware that there were people looking down their nose at him. With his lover, Virginia, in tow, Bugsy takes the biggest gamble of his life and heads to a one-horse desert town that will make him a legend, but ultimately lead to his downfall. Las Vegas. Bugsy sees a big future for a small town. Las Vegas may lack Hollywood glitz, but it has one thing that L.A. doesn't. Legal gambling. It was just a desert town, pretty empty. It was not the glamorous world that he's leaving behind. But he had a vision for it, and he was out to make it the next destination that he could be the king of. His plan is audacious and brilliant. In the hands of the mob, Las Vegas could become a goldmine. He wanted to bring the Hollywood glam to the desert. Bugsy plans to build a luxury resort, including a 105-room hotel, swimming pool, and lavish entertainment venue. It's on the main highway from California, and guess what? Americans, they love to gamble. God help us, they love to gamble. And if Bugsy's wild gamble pays off, every high roller and movie star in Tinseltown will be lining up at his door to spend that money. And Bugsy is going to name his glitzy resort The Flamingo in honor of his lover, Virginia Hill. Bugsy Siegel called her a flamingo because of her long legs. So she was his flamingo. If Bugsy's going to build a gambling mecca for the mob, he's going to need investors. In order for Ben Siegel to make the flamingo what he wanted, he needed capital, and he needed a lot of it. At first, the figure was a million dollars. Ben Siegel's in luck. Luciano's treasurer, Meyer Lansky, is Bugsy's childhood buddy, and he approves Bugsy's loan. Luciano was all business, and he and Lansky are absolutely convinced they have a winner. December 1945. Construction of The Flamingo gets off to a flying start, but it soon becomes obvious that while Bugsy excels in killing and loving, running a massive building project is something else. He now had to be a property developer, and this comes with a whole different skill set that he simply did not have. Weeks after breaking ground, it's clear Bugsy Siegel's design plans are going to cost big. He had these crazy ideas. I want flamingos. Get a whole bunch of flamingos. Put the flamingos in there. So at great expense, I had to go to Florida, buy these flamingos, put them in the moat, and of course, within three days, they all died. As the financial pressures mount, the construction crew soon learn how Bugsy earned his reputation. Ben would erupt in one of his rages, and he'd start to, as he often did, start to scream and yell, I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you. Bugsy gives the madly extravagant Virginia a free reign on furnishings, and things go from bad to worse. It isn't long before Bugsy is forced to go back to his underworld investors. When you're asking somebody for multiple millions in the 1940s, that was real serious money. In the mob, eyebrows were raised, but Lansky comes through for his old pal, Bugsy. Things improve, but not for long. He was in over his head. He had no idea how to build up a whole casino, so he borrowed more and more money, and he got more and more over his head. Within months, the projected costs for the flamingo jump from the original $1.5 million to a jaw-dropping $4 million. Developing Las Vegas is starting to burn a serious hole in the mob's pocket, and Bugsy is starting to ruffle feathers. At the same time he was out of his depth, he was also talking to his investors very disrespectfully. He was telling them, you know what, mind your own business. You gave me the money, let me do my job. Let me do it. 1946, six months into the flamingo's construction, Bugsy's investor, Lucky Luciano, is running out of patience. They thought that it was going to cost somewhere around a million dollars, and he was already at $6 million for this project. Bugsy knows that Luciano and his associates are starting to think he's a bad bet. With his dream slipping away, Bugsy makes a desperate gamble. He assures Luciano the flamingo will be ready to launch just after Christmas, guaranteeing a grand gala opening night. Living on borrowed time, Bugsy races to finish his casino. December 26th, 1946, the flamingo is finally ready to open its doors. But the dice are loaded against Bugsy as freak rains beat down on Las Vegas. One of the worst storms in 150 years blows up, planes are grounded, all the Hollywood stars can't come. It's raining, the acts aren't there, nobody shows up. It is an absolute debacle. And now the boys back east are very upset. The deal is not paying off. And there's more disturbing news. On top of the disastrous opening, Lansky goes over the books and discovers part of the construction budget has been going straight into Bugsy's pocket. The mob does not like to be screwed over. Bugsy was in the mob, and when you're in the mob, the mob owns you. It's not the other way around. That alone is enough to get men killed. But Siegel has an even darker stain to his name. The mob became convinced that somebody was stealing and that somebody had to be Ben Siegel. Virginia Hill was making frequent trips to Zurich, Switzerland, although she was not known to be fond of skiing. And from that, they extrapolated. Ben was skimming, she was hiding the money in a Swiss bank account. Bugsy's celebrity and connections have gone to his head. Now a law unto himself, the renegade gangster has blatantly brushed aside a mafia cardinal rule. Ben Siegel came to think of himself as a breakout character. And that's a real problem, because in that world, there are no breakout characters. You are still a part of an organism, and it's not about you. It's about them. Unknown to Bugsy, Luciano and Lansky make his girlfriend, Virginia, an offer she can't refuse. They took her aside one day and presented her with the stock choice. Either tell us what's really going on there, or you get acid thrown in your face. And at that point, she felt she had no choice but to betray the love of her life, Ben Siegel. Virginia spills the beans. Bugsy is a brazen thief and a traitor, a major liability for Luciano's carefully structured criminal organization. Bugsy Siegel was disrespecting the mob, because he thought that he was above all that. He definitely forgot that there was a code of conduct and a pecking order in the mafia. And Bugsy thought that he was the top on both. Yet Bugsy's standing in the mafia as the man who helped Luciano create it, means not even Virginia's confession guarantees his death. At the 11th hour, Bugsy's childhood friend, Maya Lansky, intervenes on his behalf, persuading Luciano to give Bugsy one last chance. By May of 1947, the Flamingo finally clears a $300,000 profit. Bugsy's glamorous vision of a gambling paradise finally seems to be paying off. But Bugsy is wrong to assume he's in the clear. The Flamingo began turning a profit. But by that point, a lot of the damage had been done. The Eastern racketeers had Ben Siegel fatigue. Enough was enough. An exasperated Lucky Luciano reaches out to Bugsy. So Lucky Luciano calls up Bugsy and says, hey, it's time to pay up. We loaned you this money. We're gonna need it back now. Most men would quake. But Bugsy's reaction to the mafia's feared and respected boss is extraordinary. Bugsy had the audacity to say to him, calm down, go to hell. I'll pay you when I feel like it. Which is absolutely suicidal in the mob world. You know, the mob owns you. You do not say this to your mob boss. Bugsy Siegel has just signed his own death warrant. The mob has a very strange ethos. They'll steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes. But God help you if you steal from them. Ben had violated the A number one cardinal rule. It's death. Bugsy, knowing the trouble is coming for him, hires more muscle and turns his presidential suite at the Flamingo into a fortress. Siegel had a special suite built for himself. Walls thick enough to withstand a howitzer shell. And a safe in the floor, bulletproof windows, and a trap door in the bottom of the closet with a set of stairs leading to a back entrance. Siegel's weakness is now Virginia. Despite all the fortifications at the Flamingo, Virginia will be the one who leads him to his death. Ben is so far gone. He's so far out of touch reality. He doesn't get it. And it is for that reason that he took no precautions. Bugsy was Bugsy and he ran the show and didn't care about anybody else. June 20th, 1947. Bugsy Siegel has escaped the pressures of the Flamingo, flying to L.A. to see his lover. But Virginia Hill has mysteriously left for Paris. She didn't warn Ben. She didn't say anything to Ben. And she let what happened, happen. Bugsy Siegel has the keys to Virginia's 16-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills. And it's there he meets mob associate Alan Smiley. As the two men enjoy a drink, the executioner is preparing his hit. Alan Smiley and Bugsy Siegel went into the living room and sat on the sofa and they were chatting. Bugsy Siegel was reading the early edition of the L.A. Times. The hitman makes his move. Ben Bugsy Siegel's luck has finally run out. Bugsy's corpse is not even cold when in Vegas, three of Luciano's men storm into the Flamingo to announce they are taking over. And at the time these three men came into the Flamingo Hotel, I don't even think the police had identified Benjamin Siegel as the victim of this murder. With his execution, Bugsy's disrespecting of Luciano has been dealt with and the mob's six million stake in the Flamingo casino safeguarded. Bugsy Siegel acted like he was the boss and he didn't care if there were bosses above him and he should have cared. Even in death, Siegel clings to the glamorous life. When Bugsy died, his funeral still had a touch of glam. He was buried in a $5,000 silver-plated casket. But the mob's brutal execution of one of their own has kept fearful mourners away. The rushed five-minute service is attended by only five people. Ben Siegel had become too hot. A big murder of a big gangster, nobody wants their fingerprints on that. Conspicuously absent is Bugsy's long-standing lover, Virginia Hill. Virginia knew where her bread was buttered. She wasn't about to show up to that funeral and possibly be the latest enemy to have a hitman after her. But Bugsy Siegel's Las Vegas dream finally came true. If he'd lived to see it, the poor boy from Brooklyn might have ended up one of the richest men in the world. He bought 800 acres of desert near his Flamingo resort. Do you know what that 800 acres is now? It's the Las Vegas Strip. At its peak value, that much of the Strip could have been worth over $27 billion. That was part of Benny's vision. He saw it. He saw what was going to happen. That's why he bought the land. Sin City will forever be linked to the legend of a blue-eyed and charming killer who thought he was above the Mafia code and out of reach of its most heinous bosses. Las Vegas should have a giant statue of Benny Siegel right smack dab in the Las Vegas Strip because without them, it would not have done.