Bugsy Siegel

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Bugsy Siegel bigraphy, stories - Organized crime

Bugsy Siegel : biography

February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster with the Genovese crime family. Nicknamed "Bugsy", Siegel was known to be ruthless with associates and was known as one of the most "infamous and feared gangsters of his day". According to an FBI report, Siegel’s reputation of individuals fearing him was acknowledged because "he thought nothing of grabbing a gun and shooting someone when they crossed him". Described as handsome and charismatic, he became one of the first front-page-celebrity gangsters. He was also a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip.

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 After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, he turned to gambling.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.Wilkerson III, The Man Who Invented Las Vegas. (2000). p. 141 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.

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 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. This formally ended the Castellammarese War.Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. (2005). p. 304 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 menDennis Eisenberg; Uri Dan; Eli Landau. Meyer Lansky: mogul of the mob. (1979). pp. 140–141), 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 Lepke Buchalter and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia.Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. (2005). p. 68 Siegel continued working as a hitmanSifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. (2005). p. 417 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.Their last names are spelled Frabrazzo in different sources. See Gribben, Mark. "". Crime Library. 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 and Siegel. 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.Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other. (1992). p. 35