In the pantheon of Las Vegas mobsters, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is perhaps one of the most well known – not so much for his crime, but rather for his death.
On 28 February 1906, Bugsy was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to a poor Jewish family as Benjamin Siegelbaum. As a young boy he was exposed to crime and soon joined a gang on Lafayette Street on the lower east side of Manhattan.
It was here that Bugsy befriended Meyer Lansky, who was forming a small mob whose activities expanded to gambling and car theft.
By the 1930′s, Lansky and Siegel built ties to Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello, future bosses of the Genovese crime family.
It was Bugsy’s move to Las Vegas in 1946 that cemented his reputation, fame and eventual murder.
The early years of Las Vegas were a fantastic time for mobsters looking to expand into new territories and rackets. Bugsy and his mob decided to hedge their bets on a new hotel and casino – the Flamingo.
By November 1946, Bugsy had spent vast amounts of money to get the casino running and his mob partners were getting very impatient.
In an effort to generate enough from the casino to complete the project and repay investors, Bugsy was forced to open the incomplete hotel on December 26.
After two weeks the Flamingo’s gaming tables were $275,000 in the red and the entire operation shut down in late January 1947.
Mob bosses were extremely upset and were planning on ordering a hit on Bugsy. By begging the mob bosses to give his friend a second chance, Lansky got an extension for Bugsy.
By the time Bugsy managed to get the profits rolling in, it was too late. The mob bosses had lost patience.
On the evening of June 20, 1947, Bugsy was sitting with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills home reading the Los Angeles Times.
The quiet of the evening was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When the firing died away, Bugsy was left dead.
Police discovered that a .30 caliber military M1 carbine had been used in the murder. Bugsy had been hit many times – twice in the head.
Vivid descriptions of the murder swept through the Las Vegas community and the crime scene photo’s were made available.
Photographs of the scene clearly show that one shot penetrated his right cheek and exited through the left side of his neck; the other struck the right bridge of his nose where it met the right eye socket.
The most graphic description was how Bugsy’s eye had popped out of it’s sicket and was found some 15 feet away.
To this day the identity of the killer remains unknown.
One theory is that Frankie Carbo, a longtime friend of Bugsy, carried out the hit on the orders of Bugsy’s other friend Lansky.
Since Bugsy’s death, reports of sightings of his ghost are common in the Flamingo, particularly in the presidential suite.
The green colored bidet, toilets and linoleum in the two bathrooms of the suite are still the same ones that Bugsy personally picked. It is near these bathrooms that Bugsy is often seen.
During his life he also stayed in the presidential suite on a number of occassions. During these stays he was known to play pool in the suite. There were frequent reports of guests seeing a ghostly man near the pool table.
Other frequent sightings occur in the later evening when stray guests are still lounging around the pool. Every so often one of the guests glances up and sees Bugsy looking at them.
He is always described the same way, a handsome man with intense eyes, wearing a smoking jacket and slacks.
In 1993, the last remnant of the original hotel, along with Bugsy’s personal suite, was demolished to make way for the hotel’s rose garden This has not stopped his ghost from startling both guests and employees alike.
If you want to see the ghost of Bugsy Siegel today, he is most often sighted in the rose garden, near his memorial plaque. He has also been sighted repeatedly in the wedding chapel, as well as in the new presidential suite.
Will the ghost of Bugsy Siegel ever rest, or will he forever haunt the Flamingo hotel in the endless search for his murderer?
bugsy comes from my home town or city, \BROOKLYN,NY\ and I use to live close to the jewish sections..ofcousrse I was not even born till the 50′s but that was not that long.
I truly felt that he was trying to get out of being in gangs..he wanted to show everyone he could be a great bussiness man if he only had a break. and he would proved it..to bad he was not around to really enjoy it..if it was not for him , who know when Vegas or anything whould have been built there..you had to have guts. and a vision.
I have often thought the same thing.
I quote Gloria: I truly felt that he was trying to get out of being in gangs..he wanted to show everyone he could be a great bussiness man if he only had a break.
The poor, misunderstood man. Seriously? How do you pretend to know his motivations although you admit to being born AFTER his death? How many mobsters just walk away from that life (after using the mob’s start-up money) and go into legitimate business for themselves? None. What a ridiculous assertation. Did his Bugsy’s GHOST confide in you? I guess it’s possible since he allegedly haunts a Las Vegas hotel despite the fact he was killed in Beverly Hills.
Wise up.
While on my honeymoon in Vegas in 2006 my wife and I visited the Flamingo Hotel and snapped a bunch of photos in that rose garden near Bugsy’s memorial at night, and low and behold when we got back home and developed our photos there was a very very noticeable photo of a male figure in that garden with beady eyes and a suit and tie on! The photo is very real and very spooky if anyone ever wants to see it!!
Yes, please. I like to see those pictures. Thanks.