When you think of monuments, you might picture statues of historical figures or leaders. However, in Las Vegas, there’s a monument dedicated to a notorious gangster: Bugsy Siegel. Known for his involvement with the Jewish mob in the 1930s and 1940s, Siegel was a key player in the criminal underworld. Alongside his ally Meyer Lansky, he formed strong connections with the New York mafia, which was governed by a group known as the Commission. Together, their organizations were part of a larger network called the National Crime Syndicate.
Born Benjamin Siegel on February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York, Bugsy grew up in a poor immigrant family. His nickname “Bugsy” was a nod to his volatile temper, although he despised it. Eager to escape poverty, young Bugsy turned to crime at an early age. By 14, he was already running extortion schemes in his neighborhood.
Bugsy’s criminal career took a significant turn when he met Meyer Lansky in 1918. Together, they formed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, which became a formidable force in New York’s Lower East Side. While Lansky was the brains, Bugsy was the muscle. Their gang engaged in bootlegging, gambling, and extortion, and they were known for their ruthlessness, eventually becoming the precursor to the infamous Murder, Inc.
In 1929, a pivotal event in organized crime history took place: the Atlantic City Conference. This gathering of mobsters from across the country aimed to reduce gang violence, which was bad for business. The conference addressed ongoing disputes, including the infamous Castellammarese War in New York. The outcome was a decision to eliminate old-school mobsters, paving the way for a new era of organized crime led by figures like Lucky Luciano and the formation of the Commission.
In 1937, Bugsy Siegel moved to Los Angeles, where he mingled with Hollywood’s elite and formed a complex relationship with Jack Dragna, the boss of the Los Angeles crime family. Despite his glamorous lifestyle, Bugsy’s criminal activities continued, and he was charged with murder in 1940, though he was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Bugsy’s most enduring legacy is his role in the development of Las Vegas. Fascinated by the potential of a luxury gambling resort, he took over the Flamingo Hotel project from Billy Wilkerson, a nightclub owner who had run out of funds. Despite soaring construction costs, Bugsy was determined to see his vision through.
The Flamingo opened on December 26, 1946, but it was a disaster. The hotel was unfinished, and the casino lost money. After closing temporarily, it reopened in March 1947 and eventually turned a profit. However, Bugsy’s financial mismanagement had already sealed his fate.
In December 1946, a crime summit in Havana, Cuba, discussed Bugsy’s overspending on the Flamingo. The decision was made to eliminate him. On June 20, 1947, Bugsy Siegel was shot and killed in Beverly Hills. While the identity of the gunman remains a mystery, many believe it was a mob hit due to his mismanagement of the casino.
Though Bugsy Siegel didn’t invent Las Vegas, his impact on the city’s history is undeniable. His story is a unique chapter in the annals of organized crime, illustrating the complex interplay of ambition, violence, and vision that characterized the era.
Research the structure and influence of the National Crime Syndicate and its key figures, including Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Prepare a presentation that outlines their roles and the impact they had on organized crime in America. Focus on how their operations influenced modern organized crime.
Participate in a debate where you argue whether Bugsy Siegel should be remembered more for his criminal activities or his contributions to the development of Las Vegas. Use evidence from historical records to support your position and engage with opposing viewpoints.
Analyze the business decisions made by Bugsy Siegel during the construction and opening of the Flamingo Hotel. Identify what went wrong and propose alternative strategies that could have been employed to ensure the project’s success. Discuss the lessons learned from this case study.
Engage in a role-playing game where you assume the identity of a mobster attending the Atlantic City Conference. Discuss and negotiate strategies to reduce gang violence and improve business operations. Reflect on the challenges of reaching consensus in a high-stakes environment.
Write a short story or diary entry from the perspective of Bugsy Siegel during a pivotal moment in his life, such as the opening of the Flamingo Hotel or the day of the Havana crime summit. Use historical facts to inform your narrative while exploring his motivations and emotions.
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Nominee gangsters have monuments built in their honor. However, if you were to travel to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, you would find one dedicated to Bugsy Siegel. Siegel was a prominent member of the Jewish mob throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He was an ally of fellow Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, and together they established close ties to the New York mafia governed by the Commission. Their criminal organizations, along with several others, were often grouped together as a loose confederation dubbed the National Crime Syndicate by the media.
Many of the most violent actions of this syndicate, particularly mob hits, were often carried out by a ruthless group co-founded by Bugsy Siegel: the infamous Murder, Inc. Siegel once admitted to a real estate developer that he killed over a dozen men. He had been involved in bootlegging during Prohibition, and after it was repealed, he engaged in gambling, extortion, and prostitution. Yet, the legacy by which he is primarily remembered today has nothing to do with any of that. He is regarded as a smart businessman, even a visionary by some, who looked at a desert wasteland and saw the potential to turn it into one of the biggest gambling destinations in the world. Even today, Bugsy Siegel is often called the man who invented Las Vegas, although this name is not entirely accurate. Nonetheless, Bugsy Siegel was undoubtedly one of America’s most notorious mobsters and played a huge role in the history of Sin City.
Benjamin Siegel was born on February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York, to Max and Jenny Siegel, a pair of poor Jewish immigrants who came to America from Galicia, a region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is now part of Ukraine. His nickname “Bugsy” came later during his mobster years, but for the sake of consistency, we’ll call him that from the beginning. Allegedly, other gangsters came up with it in reference to his quick and violent temper, as he was known to be quite volatile. However, Siegel hated the nickname, likely because it reminded him of his poor childhood.
Unsurprisingly, young Ben wanted to escape his life of poverty as soon as possible. Like many other teenagers in the poor, violent neighborhoods of Brooklyn, he saw crime as the quickest way to achieve his goals. By the time he was around 14 years old, Bugsy already had a gang of hoodlums and even worked his first extortion racket. He would approach pushcart peddlers selling various trinkets and demand payment for his protection services. If they refused, he would threaten to set their carts on fire.
It was around this time that Siegel started associating with other future notable mobsters. One of the guys in his gang was Moe Sedway, who would go on to become an important lieutenant in the Jewish mob and would continue to look after the mob’s interests in Las Vegas after Siegel’s death. Bugsy’s criminal career took a significant turn in 1918 when he met another tough Jewish thug named Meyer Lansky. The exact story of how the two became friends has never been established with certainty, but the popular version says that Lansky saved Siegel’s life during a craps game.
Soon afterwards, the two formed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, which would become a powerful force in New York’s Lower East Side. Lansky was not known to be particularly violent and usually preferred to delegate the dirty work, so he was considered the brains of the operation while Siegel was the brawn. Initially, the members of the mob united to ensure a strong Jewish criminal front against the rise of Italian and Irish gangs. However, Lansky was not one to pass up good business opportunities, so his outfit soon started having dealings with Italian gangs, particularly that of up-and-coming mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano.
Once Prohibition came, the Bugs and Meyer Mob started making a lot of money from bootlegging, in addition to traditional gambling, theft, robbery, and extortion rackets. The gang certainly did not shy away from murder either and developed a particularly ruthless reputation. In fact, the Bugs and Meyer Mob started to become the go-to source for murder-for-hire services and came to be regarded as the precursor to Murder, Inc.
Bugsy Siegel was rising through the ranks of America’s criminal underground during a period marked by turmoil, violence, and shifting allegiances. There were many turf disputes that led to bloodshed, which in turn created unwanted attention from the police and the media. Prominent criminal figures from all over the country gathered at the Atlantic City Conference held between May 13th and 16th, 1929, hosted by Atlantic City political boss Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. This was considered the first crime summit in the United States.
Everyone of importance was in attendance, including representatives from the Chicago Outfit, the Jewish mob from Philadelphia, the Purple Gang from Detroit, and others from Kansas City, Boston, Cleveland, and New Orleans. Unsurprisingly, New York was the best-represented region, with lieutenants from all the mafia families, the Irish mob, the New Jersey mob, and the gang led by Dutch Schultz. Meyer Lansky was one of the men who organized the conference, and he was accompanied by Bugsy Siegel to represent their Bugs and Meyer Mob.
The general idea promoted at the conference was that gang violence was bad for business for everyone. The focus mainly centered on two ongoing disputes: one in Chicago, where the infamous Valentine’s Day Massacre had occurred just months prior, and the other in New York City, where two men were vying for the position of “boss of all bosses.” This conflict was known as the Castellammarese War, and it involved Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, both considered old-school mobsters from Sicily.
The conclusion at the end of the conference was that the old-school mobsters had to die out before any significant change could happen. It started with Masseria, who was gunned down on April 15, 1931, betrayed by his own lieutenant, Lucky Luciano. Bugsy Siegel was reportedly among the four men who shot Masseria as he was leaving a restaurant. Historians dispute this version of events, but we cannot say with certainty either way. We also can’t positively say that Siegel took part in the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano, which occurred only a few months later, but he has been connected to that murder as well.
With both Masseria and Maranzano dead, Luciano and his allies formed the Commission, the governing body of the American mafia, which oversaw all its criminal activities. Seven crime families originally had a seat on the board, with the five from New York plus Capone’s Chicago outfit and the Buffalo crime family. Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky could not be part of the official hierarchy established by the Commission because they were not Italian, but they still held powerful positions as associates, especially given their close association with Lucky Luciano.
With the formation of this new National Crime Syndicate, the Bugs and Meyer Mob disbanded as both men assumed various positions within this larger organization. Meyer Lansky worked as one of Luciano’s closest associates and earned the nickname “the mob’s accountant” as he set up many profitable businesses for the mafia. With Prohibition on the way out, Bugsy also found new avenues of revenue, but throughout the 1930s, his main occupation was still acting as a gunman whenever someone was making trouble for Lansky or Luciano.
In 1937, Bugsy Siegel arrived in Los Angeles, where he met the boss of the Los Angeles crime family, Jack Dragna. The two formed a complicated relationship, often described as bitter rivals who had to work together. Siegel took an immediate liking to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and soon became a regular at lavish parties, rubbing elbows with movie stars and big-time studio executives. During this time, he also began an affair with a would-be actress named Virginia Hill.
In 1940, Siegel was charged with the murder of fellow mobster Harry Greenberg, but he was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. However, the media attention surrounding his trial made Hollywood stars more apprehensive about associating with him. This turned into an opportunity for Siegel to look into a new business venture. He went down to Nevada to acquire an interest in a racing publication and became increasingly engrossed with the idea of setting up a luxury gambling resort in Las Vegas.
Siegel found exactly what he was looking for in the Flamingo Hotel, which was being built outside Vegas by Billy Wilkerson, a Los Angeles nightclub owner. Wilkerson ran out of money for the project and needed new funding, so he accepted Bugsy Siegel as a partner. Siegel took over the building project and began enacting his vision of a luxury resort. However, construction costs soared to over six million dollars, far exceeding the original estimates.
The Flamingo Hotel had its grand opening on December 26, 1946, but it was a total disaster. The casino was open, but the actual hotel was still under construction. Within one week of opening, the Flamingo lost another three hundred thousand dollars. Bugsy closed down the hotel two weeks after the grand opening and waited for construction to finish. It reopened on March 1, 1947, and eventually turned a profit, but it was not enough to save Siegel.
Unbeknownst to Bugsy Siegel, he was a hot topic of discussion among the mob bosses. In late December 1946, another crime summit was held in Havana, Cuba. The meeting took place on December 22nd, and over 20 bosses were in attendance. Among the subjects of discussion was Siegel’s situation, as he had gone way over budget on building the Flamingo. Ultimately, it was decided that he had to go.
On the night of June 20, 1947, Bugsy Siegel was shot multiple times by an unknown gunman while sitting in the living room of Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills mansion. The popular story says that one bullet hit him in the eye, but the reality is that the force of the impact caused his eye to pop out. The big questions are who did it and why. The most obvious answer is that it was a mob hit due to Siegel’s mismanagement of the casino. Many people believe this is what happened, and for them, the only mystery is who pulled the trigger.
While this is more uncertain, the name most commonly brought up is Frankie Carbo, a gunman for Murder, Inc. Another theory suggests that the shooter was one of Virginia Hill’s brothers taking revenge for the beatings Siegel gave his sister. Ultimately, after Siegel’s death, Lansky’s men took over the operations of the Flamingo, and as far as the mob was concerned, it was business as usual.
Bugsy Siegel might not have been the man who invented Las Vegas, but his legacy remains unique in the annals of crime and incomparable to that of any other gangster.
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Mob – A large and disorderly crowd of people, especially one bent on riotous or destructive action, often used to describe organized crime groups in historical contexts. – The rise of the mob in the early 20th century significantly influenced the social and economic landscape of American cities.
Gangster – A member of a group of violent criminals, often involved in organized crime during the early to mid-20th century. – Al Capone is one of the most infamous gangsters in American history, known for his role in the illegal alcohol trade during Prohibition.
Crime – An action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law, often discussed in the context of historical crime waves or organized crime. – The crime rates in the 1920s surged due to the illegal activities associated with Prohibition.
Las Vegas – A city in Nevada, USA, known for its vibrant nightlife centered around 24-hour casinos and other entertainment options, with a history deeply intertwined with organized crime. – Las Vegas became a hub for gambling and entertainment, partly due to the investments made by organized crime figures in the mid-20th century.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs, often focusing on significant developments and their impact on societies. – The history of organized crime in America reveals the complex relationship between illegal enterprises and legitimate businesses.
Organized – Arranged or structured in a systematic way, often used to describe crime that is coordinated and planned by groups. – Organized crime in the early 20th century was characterized by its hierarchical structure and extensive networks.
Violence – The use of physical force to harm someone, to damage property, etc., often associated with the enforcement methods of organized crime groups. – The violence associated with gang wars during the Prohibition era highlighted the brutal tactics used by organized crime syndicates.
Legacy – Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor, often referring to the lasting impact of historical events or figures. – The legacy of the Prohibition era includes the establishment of organized crime networks that persisted long after alcohol became legal again.
Extortion – The practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats, commonly associated with organized crime activities. – Extortion was a common tactic used by mobsters to exert control over businesses and individuals during the early 20th century.
Gambling – The activity of betting money on the outcome of games or events, often linked to the economic foundations of cities like Las Vegas. – The legalization of gambling in Nevada in 1931 paved the way for Las Vegas to become a major tourist destination.
