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He was about ninety meters tall, with thick black hair and piercing blue eyes, Benjamin Segal "Bugsy" looked like a gangster of the highest category. He was courteous and charming with women, smartly dressed, athletic and fearless. He spoke and behaved exactly as a real criminal should. It is not surprising that Seagal later became famous in Hollywood and was friends with many celebrities. If his friend Meyer Lansky was engaged alternately in both legal and illegal cases, while remaining in the shadows, then Segal came to the Hollywood stage from the criminal slums of Brooklyn and became one of the most famous gangsters.
Bugsy was a classic psychopath. He took what he wanted and when he wanted, not knowing such a feeling as remorse. He was convinced that other people exist to be used. And this was demonstrated by his already rich experience of robberies, rapes and murders, which he committed from adolescence.
In gangster circles, the nickname "Bugsy" is often given as a sign of respect and honor. It is given to criminals who are fearless in dangerous situations and take jobs that others fear. Bugsy Segal earned this nickname early in his criminal career due to his tendency to "tear and thrash" when he was angry or when he was rebuked. He really did not like this nickname, and the one who called him that to his face risked being mutilated. Seagal preferred to be called Ben by his friends. And if you weren't his friend, the right thing to do was to call him "Mr. Segal."
"In a fight, Benny never hesitated," Meyer Lansky once said. "He moved faster than the hot guys from Sicily, he was always the first to hit or shoot. No one had such a quick reaction as "Benny". Benjamin Segal, who talked with the "cream" of Hollywood and hosted a stormy and bright life, will go down in the annals of crime history as the man who spread racketeering on the West Coast and turned Las Vegas into the Mecca of gambling in the United States.
States.
This is the story of Bugsy Segal - a man who rose from the bottom of poverty and climbed to the heights of a life of crime, but whose arrogance led him to his death.
Start
In the early 20th century, the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn was America's melting pot. Its small territory was home to thousands of Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants fighting for their place in the New World. Here crowded apartment buildings, in which poverty and disease "thrived". Street vendors sold their goods by shouting phrases in Yiddish and Italian.
Ethnic tensions were on the rise, and the streets of this dangerous neighborhood became good breeding grounds for crime. This was the world in which Benjamin Segal was born in 1902. His impoverished immigrant parents raised five children, including Ben, on the meager maintenance that an ordinary hard worker could earn. He saw how his father worked, getting a penny for it, and made a vow to break out of this life. He was not going to ruin himself by working in some factory, he was born for more.
In youth best friend Ben was Moey Sedway, a tiny sycophant who was ready to take on any adventure Ben could think of. Their favorite pastime was extorting street vendors. Ben approached the merchant and asked for a dollar.
When the merchant told him to get lost, Moui would come up, pour kerosene over the goods, and hold a match to them. The next time the boys came, the merchant was ready to pay the money. And then Ben and Moey moved on to another type of extortion: now they collected money from the merchants on Lafayette Street so that other such crooks would not bother them with similar requests.
It was while Ben was doing this kind of work that he met another young delinquent from an immigrant family who had bigger plans. Together, these youths created a gang of hired killers, which soon became the first in the underworld, and later - an integral part of the national criminal Syndicate that was starting its activities.
Bugsy Siegel was a member of the famous assassin corporation (second from left)
There are several versions of how Bugsy Segal met Meyer Lansky. The first and unreliable sounds as follows. Bugsy had fun for free with a prostitute, whose pimp was a young Charlie Luciano, the same "Lucky" who was by no means happy that his ward was doing it on the side.
He attacked the prostitute and Segal with his fists when he caught them doing a pleasant activity, and Meyer, who later became a student and right hand Bugsy, was at that moment nearby. Lansky came to Seagal's rescue by giving Lucky a good beating with one of his instruments, and only then the trio became inseparable.
Another version of the pair's meeting, retold by Robert Lacy in The Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life, states that Lansky was once watching a street game for money when a fight broke out and his gun fell on the sidewalk. Seagal raised the thing and was about to fire at the owner of the gun when police officers whistled.
Lansky knocked the weapon out of Seagal's hands and drove him away. Although Seagal was upset about the loss of weapons, they became friends. Uri Dan, an Israeli journalist who interviewed Lansky for his biography, also mentions this incident.
Lansky, who had already been in a skirmish with Salvatore Luciania, later known as "Lucky", understood that the Jewish boys of his neighborhood in Brooklyn needed to be organized the way the Italians and Irish did. The first person to join his gang was Ben Sigal.
"I told baby Benny he could be my number two," Lansky recalled many years later. "He was young, but very brave. His big problem was that he was always ready to rush first and shoot - to act, not at all
thinking."
Siegel's gang mates were Abner "Long" Zwillman, who later ran racketeering in New Jersey; Lepke Buchalter, involved in the killings; Lansky's brother, Jake, and a young guy named Arthur Flegenheimer, who later went by the name "Dutch" Schultz. Benny and Meyer Lansky were so close that the gang soon became known as the Bug and Meyer Gang.
"Doc" Steicher, another member of the gang, recalled that Seagal was fearless and saved the lives of his friends many times while they were smuggling.
"Bugsy never hesitated in the face of danger," Steicher told Uri Dan. "While we were counting the moves, Bugsy was already shooting. When it was necessary to act, there was no one better than him. I have never known a more fearless person."
"Lucky" Luciano also recalled Ben Segal in his biography "Lucky" Luciano's Last Testament: "We analyzed all the time," he said of himself and Meyer. "We were in no hurry to make a decision until we carefully considered the situation. Segal was complete opposite and I think that's what he was so good at. He just acted, and acted impulsively, absolutely impulsively."
A handsome brunette, parted on the left side, slightly elongated eyes, a dazzling white-toothed smile. This man, who was a member of the highest leadership of the mafia, loved and knew how to kill personally. In the "Murder Corporation" he served as an executioner.
Siegel was distinguished by intelligence, cruelty, resourcefulness. When committing murders, he always carefully provided cover - the destruction of traces, alibis, etc. For the first time he took up the "wet case" at the age of 14, and he killed two people at once, firing two revolvers at the same time.
Outside the gang he led, even on his own territory, he was forbidden to judge on his own. He had to necessarily submit the conflict that had arisen for discussion by the supreme council of the criminal syndicate, consisting of the most powerful leaders, called upon to monitor the observance of order within the organization, to consider all contentious issues, threatening to lead to bloody skirmishes, and resolutely suppress any undertakings that could harm the syndicate.
The Supreme Council made decisions by a simple majority of votes after a peculiar judicial trial, where the accused, who, as a rule, was absent, was defended by one of the members of the syndicate. Acquittals were very rare, mostly high council called for the use of one measure of punishment - death. "In order for the sentences to be handed down not to hang in the air, it was necessary to create" executive bodies ".
And they were created in the form of "Merder Incorporated" - "Killer Corporation". The executioners for this corporation were supplied by gangs from different regions USA. The most successful people were from a gang called the Brooklyn Union.
Siegel personally killed or took part in the murder of dozens of people, including the "boss of bosses" of the American mafia, Salvatore Maranzano. After Maranzano was stabbed by other members of the attack, Bugsy Siegel slit the throat of the screaming Don Salvatore with his own hand, barely managing to jump back so as not to get dirty with splashed blood.
There are serious reasons to believe that it was Seagal who killed the Hollywood movie star Thelma Todd. She was found dead in her garage on December 15, 1935, in the seat of her Packard, and the official version was that it was suicide.
However, the day before, Thelma met with Bugsy Siegel, after which no one saw him. Seagal killed Thelma by the verdict of the so-called "Kangaroo Court" - the highest "organ of justice" that existed in those years in the American mafia. The point was that, having become the front owner of a restaurant owned by Lucky Luciano (the leader of the American mafiosi), Todd eventually stopped paying the "tax" on Luciano's restaurant profits, and he raised the issue of this at the "Kangaroo Court".
The crime syndicate sentenced the actress to death. The actress was killed by greed, although this, of course, in no way justifies her "judges" and cruel killer. Bugsy Segal, having taken a high position in the structure of the mafia, took up the organization of the gambling business.
Death
On the night of June 20, 1947, Siegel sat in the living room of his Beverly Hills villa, which served as his meeting place with Virginia Hill while reading the Los Angeles Times.
Virginia was not at home: a few days earlier, she and Segal had quarreled, and she defiantly left for Europe. At about half past ten, the killer shot at open window with a 0.30 caliber M1 military carbine several times. Two shots went to the head.
The post-mortem photos clearly show that one bullet entered his right cheek and exited through the left side of his neck, and the other into his right eye near the bridge of his nose. Excessive pressure was created, and the left eye came out of the socket, or rather, exploded. Therefore, if you look at the photo, it seems that the shots hit both eyes.
Interrogation of Virginia Hill's mistress at whose villa Bugsy Segal was killed
The Los Angeles coroner's report (#37448) says the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. His death certificate states that the cause of death was murder, gunshot wounds heads.
Items found on the deceased
Siegel was shot several more times in the lungs, his ribs were pierced. Four of the nine shots that night destroyed the white marble statue of Bacchus on the piano and sank into the wall.
Bugsy Siegel died at 42.
Broken statue of Bacchus and bullets stuck in the wall
The day after Siegel's death, the Los Angeles Herald Express ran front-page photos from the mortuary, Siegel's bare right leg with a thumb tag. Siegel's murder shocked Las Vegas, with pictures of his lifeless body making headlines across the country.
Photo from Los Angeles Herald Express
Buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery near Los Angeles.
Quotes:
"We only kill each other" - Bugsy Segal.
"Las Vegas turns women into men and men into idiots" - Benjamin Segal to Alan King.
"Bugsy's dream was to be an actor, but he never had the courage to tell me so that I would cast him" - George Raft
The image of the fictional character Mo Green, who was shot in the eye, from the movie The Godfather was based on Siegel. The same death overtook Brendan Philone from the TV series The Sopranos.
Local landmark - the house where Bugsy Segal was killed
It was Segal who made the dusty and boring provincial town of Las Vegas the world center of gambling. In 1946, he bought land here and built a luxury hotel with a casino. Within half a year, sandy wastelands were landscaped - land was brought in, trees were planted, ponds were dug and pink flamingos were released into them. Seagal did not manage to particularly enjoy the work of his hands (more precisely, money) of his own. A year after the opening of the first casino, he died in a gangster "showdown".
American gangster who started the gambling business in Las Vegas. Even as a child, he joined a gang of street boys who operated on Lafayette Street and hunted mainly by theft. Then he, along with an older friend Mo Sidway, who was 12 years older, was engaged in petty racketeering, forcing street vendors to pay him five dollars a day and threatening to douse their goods with kerosene and burn them if they refused. As he got older, he began working under another aspiring criminal. Meera Lansky engaged in extortion, car theft and gambling. Lansky made acquaintance with Lucky Luciano whom he had known since school. In 1915, he went to prison for drug distribution and was released a year and a half later: he and Lansky volunteered to deal with the son of an Irish policeman who had reported on Luciano. They probably killed him, because the young man disappeared, and his body was never found. In 1918, he and his senior comrades robbed one of the local banks and carried out eight thousand dollars. Soon, their teenage gang attracted the attention of crime bosses. In early 1919, during a dice game, they were attacked by a group of bandits. After beating everyone present, they relayed the words of the gangster Giuseppe "Joe Boss" Masseria that profits should be shared. However, he was not going to give in without a fight. He and his gang met Masseria's people and, despite the significant numerical superiority of the opponents, defeated them in a fight. He and Lansky soon became bootleggers. At that time, he kept in touch with the famous Al Capone until he was transferred to Chicago in 1919. In 1926, he was arrested for raping a woman who rejected his advances in an underground bar. However, he managed to intimidate his victim, and she refused to testify against him. On January 28, 1929, he married a childhood friend, Este Krakow, who later bore him two daughters. During the gangster conflicts of 1930-1931. he and his group were in opposition to Joe Masseria. In 1932, he was arrested for illegal distribution of alcoholic beverages and organization of gambling, but was released again after paying a fine.
In 1937, he was sent to California, having been informed of his transfer to the Los Angeles gangster Jack Dragna, who controlled this territory. In the same period, he made his assistant the leader of one of the Jewish groups named Mickey Cohen. He moved to West Coast and childhood friend Moe Sidway, as well as his family, who knew very little about his true occupation. After settling in Hollywood, he began by taking control of the actors-extras union and through this he was able to extort money from Hollywood moguls. In California, he also had a permanent passion - Virginia Hill, who was engaged in smuggling. She helped him establish connections in Mexico, after which he was involved in the supply of heroin from Mexico to California for some time. In 1945, entrepreneur Billy Wilkerson decided to build a luxurious casino hotel building in Las Vegas. However, he soon used up all his funds, and the gangster, putting pressure on him, bought the site. Mafia funded the construction. By December 1946, a year after the start of construction, the limit of funds that the mafia was ready to spend on this project was exhausted. Lansky, Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese and Joey Adonis had a meeting in Havana (this so-called Havana conference took place in Cuba, since Luciano was deported from the USA by that time) and came to the conclusion that the budget had exceeded all conceivable limits because the gangster embezzled part of their money. In fact, he was sentenced. However, Lansky, mindful of an old acquaintance, offered to postpone the massacre and wait for the casino to open so that his ward had a chance to return the money. The casino began functioning on December 26, 1946, but this project turned out to be a huge failure at first. Since the decoration of the hotel rooms was not completed, the guests spent some time at the card tables and went to spend the night at neighboring hotels. The second opening ceremony took place in March 1947. This time everything went well, and the casino began to make a profit. It is believed that he was in 1947-1948. supplied weapons to the Israeli armed units that fought against the Arabs. Despite the fact that the affairs of the casino went smoothly, the bosses in the end did not forgive him for the waste and, ignoring Lansky's opinion, gave the order to eliminate him. On the evening of June 20, 1947, he was in a bungalow in Beverly Hills and, sitting on the sofa, read the newspapers. About half past ten, the hitman (presumably Eddie Cannizaro) fired several shots from the M1 carbine through the open window. One of the bullets hit him near the bridge of the nose and knocked out an eye, four others pierced his body and caused instant death. The police investigation stalled and the murder remained unsolved.
Two men are seated at a table in a spacious, dimly lit living room. They sip tart twelve-year-old whiskey and talk in undertones. The ashtray is filled to overflowing with cigarette butts, the suffocating smell of nicotine is already watering their eyes, but this is not at all what occupies their thoughts in the slightest. These two are talking about money. The equivalent of power, translated into the dry and precise language of numbers, is the only thing that really matters to Benjamin Siegel and Meyer Lansky, famous gangsters who have thrown down a real challenge to fate.
Poverty introduced them, and friendship began with a street fight. In the Jewish quarter of Williamsburg, on the very outskirts of New York, the science of survival was taught very successfully. Three teenage gangs - Irish, Italian and Jewish - desperately divided power among themselves. Multilingual swearing, stabbing, shooting and street racketeering were the most common thing for Williamsburg.
Already at the age of ten, Ben Siegel, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, realized why he was born in this multinational hell. This was his chance. His pass to the real, bright and rich life, because nothing tempers the will like poverty. If Ben survives in his hometown, it means that any trials are within his power. He realized that he was ready for anything, just to get out of there and build his life the way he imagines it, in all its splendor and diversity. And for this you need money. So, you need to get them. Ben asked to be taken to the Jewish group. And there he began to take his first steps towards becoming. This was expressed in a banal street robbery - Ben and his comrades merrily and fervently robbed drunkards and small shopkeepers. His quick temper and habit of acting without hesitation earned Ben the nickname "Bugsy". It comes from the slang expression go bugs (that is, "fly off the coils"). The aspiring gangster himself could not stand this nickname, preferring to be called simply "Ben" or, in extreme cases, "Mr. Siegel."
The beginning of Bugsy's criminal path was overshadowed by the need to share the loot with older members of the Jewish gang, one of whom was Meyer Lansky. During one of the showdowns, he literally snatched Ben from the paws of a policeman who suddenly appeared. Since then, their union has been formed. Until 1919, the partners continued to engage in racketeering, but after the introduction of Prohibition in America, they realized that much more could be earned on this. So Siegel and Lansky took up bootlegging - the smuggling of alcohol. They bought trucks, began to import prohibited goods and sell them to everyone. This further strained their relationship with the Irish and Italian factions.
Then, in Lansky's living room, their conversation with Ben flowed in a very productive way - the bootlegging strategy had already been actually developed, when suddenly an object unexpectedly fell out of the fireplace chimney and rolled right at their feet with a dull thud. " Hand grenade!" - instantly clicked in the mind of Bugsy. He immediately grabbed her and threw her violently out the window. The blast wave shattered the glass, its fragments slashed Ben's brush, but both he and Lansky survived, which was not at all included in the plans of their enemies. The ability to instantly respond to unforeseen situations and intuitively find the right way out of the situation more than once saved the lives of both Bugsy himself and his friend. Their alliance was built on contrast: resolute and desperate Ben, like his famous patron Al Capone, shot without thinking and recklessly rushed into the most risky adventures. Lansky, on the contrary, preferred to carefully plan and prepare everything, thanks to which he lived to a ripe old age. Unlike his crazy friend. Bugsy's favorite hobbies were poker and horse racing, which was spent on a substantial part of his income. The excitement of the player, without exaggeration, was the engine of his whole life, his guide to Big world, where the purchase of another villa for half a million dollars did not seem like thoughtless waste, but the most beautiful and famous women rushed into the arms of a handsome gangster at the click of his thin fingers.
Exuding an exciting and alluring charm of danger, Bugsy was a favorite trophy of the press. Whenever a particularly brutal murder took place anywhere, pictures of Ben invariably appeared on the front pages of newspapers. There was no evidence against him, but did that change anything in the public eye? The police were not averse to talking to Bugsy, and to talk with weapons in their hands. Realizing this, he decided to move to California, on the west coast, no less - in Hollywood itself. The Dream Factory accepted him with enthusiasm, especially since by that time Bugsy Siegel was an honorary member of the Big Council, a united group of New York gangsters led by Alfonso Capone himself.
America in the thirties was seized by a sudden outbreak of fashion for everything gangster - clothing style, manner of communication, and especially cinema. Action films, which Hollywood produced in abundance, became for Bugsy ... another source of income. This turned out to be easy to achieve. In a 35-room mansion rented from singer Lawrence Tibbet for $200,000, Bugsy hosted parties in honor of the most beautiful film stars of the day. Katty Gallian, Wendy Barry, Marie MacDonald, Jean Harlow and countless others couldn't resist Siegel's manly beauty. And when they woke up after an impressive night, they received friendly advice to demand a triple fee from the director. And Bugsy admonished the unknowing master that it was in his power to persuade the star to slightly soften his demands ... Siegel received enormous pleasure from such “art management”. The money itself went into his hands ... And then love came.
A bright and sublime feeling materialized in the image of the actress Virginia Hill, who bore the romantic nickname Flamingo. Their meeting was for Bugsy the best gift that Hollywood could give.
The 39-year-old playboy Siegel had long been legally married to his starving childhood friend Este Krakow and was the father of two daughters, but his flaming passion for Virginia ignored that fact. In honor of her, Bugsy named his last, grandiose, failed project, now known to the whole world as Las Vegas, the world's largest entertainment and gambling center.
In the early 1940s, most gambling in America was banned. Bugsy Siegel was categorically not happy with this. After all, he was passionate to the marrow of his bones, and besides, he was also in love "with all his head." I wanted accomplishments. Grandiose. Bugsy realized that only a gigantic gaming empire, which he would definitely name after his beloved, could satisfy his appetites. Flamingo Casino!
Siegel took up the construction with zeal. It took place in the vast desert of Nevada - the only place in America where the law on the prohibition of gambling was no longer in force. Authoritative members of the "Great Council" reacted to the idea of a gangster in love without much enthusiasm. But Bugsy stubbornly convinced his partners of the prospects of his project, simultaneously drawing on their own cash for the realization of his idea.
The indefatigable adventurer managed to connect his Hollywood friends to financing. Thus, the construction of the Flamingo took about six million dollars - and this is according to the most conservative estimates! Bugsy consoled himself with the thought that this would be the most luxurious casino in America. Named in honor of Virginia, it is simply obliged to bring good luck and more than recoup the astronomical cost part. However " Big advice' thought otherwise. Most influential gangsters decided to simply eliminate Bugsy, not believing in the timely payment of their huge debts. Meyer Lansky stood up for a friend, persuading the bosses to wait at least until the opening. The "Big Council" shrugged his mighty shoulders and agreed.
Meanwhile, in the middle of a run-down town of Las Vegas, consisting only of dust, sand and stones, the Flamingo Casino, sparkling with neon lights, gradually ascended to the sky. And in addition to it - a restaurant and a hotel.
Bugsy promised his companions that the grand opening of the Flamingo would take place on December 26, 1946. But he didn't make it. On the appointed day and hour, the casino and the restaurant opened their glittering doors to let in the venerable mafiosi, Hollywood stars and other respected persons. But with the hotel there was a nuisance - it simply was not ready. Distinguished guests were indignant at such a frank disregard for their comfort, and a terrible scandal ensued.
The "Big Council" concluded that Bugsy did not complete the construction on time due to the frank appropriation of a significant part of the budget. Bugsy's fate was sealed, and Lansky could no longer help his friend. Ben Siegel was killed in his Beverly Hills bungalow on June 20, 1947. In the evening, about half past ten, someone shot through his window. One of the bullets hit Bugsy in the bridge of his nose and gouged out his eye, four others pierced his body and caused instant death. He was in bloom vitality and at the zenith of fame - he was only 41 years old. His murder remains unsolved.
On the same day, two men entered the Flamingo Casino, announced their names and announced that now they are the owners of this institution, which a year later became the great Las Vegas, the city of eternal play and eternal hope. As bright and merciless as its founder, the legendary Russian Jew and American gangster Bugsy Siegel.
Bugsy Siegel (Bugsy Siegel, real name - Benjamin Siegelbaum) was born in 1906 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York (Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York), USA. He was one of five children of Russian Jews who lived in a poor neighborhood of Brooklyn, populated by many emigrants. His father, Max Siegel (Max Siegel) and mother, Jenny Goldstein (Jennie Goldstein), preferred not to notice that their son from childhood brought the company with a street gang, almost openly traded in theft. A little later, Bugsy started business with Mo Sidway (Mo Sedway); together they set up a real racket for street vendors - who did not pay the designated fee - one dollar - they simply burned the goods. By the way, his nickname "Bugsy" was given to the young head for his unbridled temper and incredibly quick-tempered character (from the English "go bugs" - "fly off the coils"). They say that Ben himself could not stand it when they called him "Bugsy", but they did not call him otherwise behind his back.
With Meyer Lansky, Bugsy began working later - as he grew older, his "cases" became more serious - now the young criminal traded in extortion, gambling and car theft. It was rumored that these two had already acted as accomplices before, becoming hired killers, but there was no direct evidence of this. In 1918, the Lansky gang, along with Bugsy, managed to rob a bank.
In 1930, Bugsy and Lansky teamed up with Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello, future bosses of the Genovese crime family.
In 1937, Bugsy was sent to California (California); Siegel was officially believed to earn his living through legal gambling. Along with him came his friend Mo Sidway, as well as his family, who knew little about true position with Bugsy's "work". His wife, Esta Krakower, Siegel's childhood love, gave birth to two daughters by that time - Millicent and Barbara. It is known that the California period of Bugsy's life was very, very cheerful - he lived on wide leg, rotated in Hollywood circles, twisted novels with starlets and actresses. Siegel was a handsome man, knew how to impress ladies of all ages and classes, and therefore Californian women simply doted on the charming gangster.
In November 1939, Bugsy, his son-in-law Whitey Krakower, and two other members of the group "removed" their comrade Harry Greenberg (Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg), suspecting him of "knocking" the police. On suspicion of murder, Bugsy was arrested. They say, however, that his stay in prison was more than comfortable - he ate well, had an uninterrupted supply of alcohol and even hosted charming visitors. The gangster was never charged - two possible witnesses (including Siegel's son-in-law) did not live to see the trial due to a strange coincidence; the case was closed.
In general, like any self-respecting criminal, Siegel wanted to "tie up." So, his dream in the 40s was to turn Las Vegas (Las Vegas) into the capital of gambling, while acting strictly within the law. In the mid-40s, one way or another, Siegel acquired a plot of land in Las Vegas, on which it was planned to build a luxurious casino with the name "Flamingo" (Flamingo). Lansky, Luciano, and other "colleagues" of Siegel, including mafia bosses, invested in this grandiose construction. However, despite the huge investments, the project continued to demand money. The general discontent eventually turned against Bugsy - the gangsters decided that it was he who appropriated their money. It was, though unspoken, but still a verdict. The last chance was left to Bugsy to open the project, in case of successful work, he had the opportunity to pay off his dangerous investors. However, the casino began to make a profit far from the very opening. So, an unsuccessful start required further investment from Bugsy; his bosses were simply tired of waiting by that time.
June 20, 1947, in Beverly Hills (Beverly Hills), where he usually met with his constant mistress Virginia Hill (Virginia Hill), Bugsy Siegel was killed; at the time of his death he was 41 years old. Several bullets fired from an M1 carbine by an unknown hitman left Bugsy with no chance. Naturally, this murder remained unsolved. It is known that only relatives buried Ben Siegel - none of his former "colleagues" and friends dared to "shine" at the ceremony.
Biography of Ben "Bugsy" Siegel formed the basis of the film called "Bugsy" (Bugsy) directed by Barry Levinson (Barry Levinson). The role of the gangster was played by Warren Beatty. In general, the personality of the eminent gangster Bugsy became very popular in cinema - several heroes of other gangster projects were written off from his image - "The Godfather" (The Godfather), "The Sopranos" (The Sopranos), "Once Upon a Time in America" (Once Upon a Time in America) and several others.
70 years ago, on December 26, 1946, the Flamingo Hotel opened in Las Vegas, named by the owner Bugsy Siegel in honor of his mistress Virginia Hill Nicknamed "Flamingo". It was the most grandiose construction at that time - the hotel cost the mafia $ 6 million. The initial cost of the project increased 6 times due to the fact that the money floated away to the accounts of Virginia Hill in a Swiss bank. The gangsters who invested their money in this project could not forgive Bugsy Siegel for such a swindle: he was shot dead, and his girlfriend came out dry from the water.
Virginia was born in 1916 in the family of an alcoholic who mercilessly beat his wife and children. She was the seventh child of ten children doomed to a half-starved existence. At the age of 7, she managed to fight back her raging father: when he attacked her with his fists, the girl hit him with a frying pan. At the age of 14, Virginia realized her feminine attractiveness and realized that she could make money from her. Trading her own body seemed to her an easy and profitable occupation. At the age of 17, she moved to Chicago with the firm conviction that men can not be trusted, but you can make money on them.
Virginia got a job as a waitress at Al Capone's restaurant, and was soon noticed by mobster Joey Epstein, who controlled the bets on the races. She became his courier and confidant. By the age of 20, Virginia was the mistress of all the major local mafiosi and had information about all their machinations and murders. She was called the queen of the gangster world of Chicago. In just a few years, she became the most valuable money carrier of the Al Capone clan.
Her next big booty became Joe Adonis, a New York gangster who controlled gambling. They often swore and even fought and together earned a lot of money. Once in a bar, Virginia met Bugsy Siegel, who decided to seduce her in order to annoy his rival Adonis, but unexpectedly this meeting became the beginning of a long relationship that killed the famous mafia.
By the age of 25, Virginia Hill had become the most powerful woman in the gangster environment, the mafia leaders of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York considered her their man. Not a single woman before her managed to achieve such recognition and such influence in law enforcement agencies. Bugsy Siegel, who controlled the entire territory of California, spent everything he earned on his girlfriend. They quarreled, fought, reconciled again and remained inseparable for five years. For her sake, Bugsy even became a bigamist: being married in America, he secretly signed with his mistress in Mexico.
Bugsy Siegel called her "Flamingo", and he decided to name the most luxurious hotel-casino in Las Vegas, where they moved together, after her. Other gangsters also invested in this project, and they were very unhappy that the initial cost had increased 6 times. Almost half of this money settled in European banks in the accounts of Virginia Hill. The partners could not forgive Bugsy for the fraud with the money invested in the construction, and decided to remove him. On June 20, 1947, he was shot dead in the house of his mistress, while she herself was in Paris.
It was said that she left not by chance and knew about the upcoming attempt on her lover, and even informed the mafiosi about Bugsy's whereabouts. There were also rumors that it was she who advised Bugsy to steal the money of the mafia. At the same time, Virginia Hill herself stated: “He loved his hotel in Las Vegas more than me. I had no idea that he was involved in all these dirty deeds. I don't know why they killed him."
Virginia did not manage to go unpunished. In 1954, she was charged with tax evasion. To avoid criminal liability, she hid in Europe. Virginia even tried to blackmail the gangsters by threatening to make public everything she knew about their criminal activities.
In 1966, the body of a woman was found in the forest near the Austrian city of Salzburg. As it turned out, it was Virginia Hill, who allegedly committed suicide by swallowing pills. A local police report said that Virginia had died from an overdose of sleeping pills. However, there was another version, according to which the woman was forced to swallow pills by Joey Epstein's henchmen because she tried to threaten her former lover and accomplice.
Virginia Hill was not the only gangster's girlfriend who managed to gain authority in the world of gangsters:.
