BUGSY SIEGEL
Benjamin Siegel
Born February 28, 1906
Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died June 20, 1947
Beverly Hills, California, USA
Murder
Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood, California, USA
Residence Beverly Hills, California, USA
Nationality American
Other names Bugsy
Occupation Organized crime
Religious beliefs Jewish
Spouse Esta Krakower
Partner Virginia Hill
Parents Max Siegel,
Jennie Goldstein
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 - June 20, 1947) was an American gangster, who was behind large-scale
development of Las Vegas.
Siegel was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, to a poor Jewish family from Letychiv,
Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (today's Ukraine). As a boy, Siegel
joined a street gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East Side and first
committed mainly thefts, until, with another youth named Moe Sedway, he devised
his own protection racket: pushcart merchants were forced to pay him a dollar or
he would incinerate their merchandise on the spot.
During adolescence, Siegel befriended Meyer Lansky, who was forming a small crew
whose criminal activities expanded to include gambling and car theft. Siegel
reputedly also worked as the crew's hit man whom Lansky would sometimes hire out
to other crime families.
In 1930, Lansky and Siegel built close ties to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank
Costello, both future bosses of the Genovese crime family. Siegel became a
bootlegger and was also associated with Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Siegel
was also heavily involved in bootlegging operations in New York, New Jersey and
Philadelphia. During the so-called Castellammarese War in 1930-1931, they fought
the gang of Sal Maranzano; Siegel reputedly had a hand in Maranzano's murder and
later in the formation of Murder, Inc. In 1932, he was arrested for gambling and
bootlegging but got away with only a fine. Lansky and Siegel assisted with
Luciano's brief alliance with Dutch Schultz and killed rival loan sharks Louis "Pretty"
Amberg and Joseph Amberg in 1935.
Bugsy's memorial plaque in the Bialystoker Synagogue - On the plaques above see
the name Max Siegel, Siegel's father, whose Hebrew name is "Mordechai Dov "Bar"
(son of) Beirush HaLevi" (from the Hebraic tribe of the Levites) and the one for
Siegel, whose Hebrew name is "Bairush HaLevi "Bar" Mordechai Dov HaLevi";
implying that Bugsy was named after his grandfather who predeceased his birth.
On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills
home reading the Los Angeles Times, an unknown gunman entered Siegel's backyard
and shot Siegel multiple times through the window, including two headshots, with
a M-1 carbine. No one was ever charged with the murder, and the crime remains
unsolved.
Though popular descriptions held that Siegel was shot in the eye, an autopsy
revealed that the bullet actually entered the back of his skull, and exited
through an eye socket; investigators found the eye across the room. The cause of
death was cerebral hemorrhage. According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine
shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand
piano, and then lodged in the far wall".
In the Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Siegel is
memorialized by a Yartzheit (remembrance) plaque that marks his death date so
mourners can say Kaddish for the anniversary of his passing. Siegel's plaque is
just below that of his father, Max Siegel, who died two months prior to his son's
murder.
Benjamin Siegel
Born February 28, 1906
Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died June 20, 1947
Beverly Hills, California, USA
Murder
Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood, California, USA
Residence Beverly Hills, California, USA
Nationality American
Other names Bugsy
Occupation Organized crime
Religious beliefs Jewish
Spouse Esta Krakower
Partner Virginia Hill
Parents Max Siegel,
Jennie Goldstein
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 - June 20, 1947) was an American gangster, who was behind large-scale
development of Las Vegas.
Siegel was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, to a poor Jewish family from Letychiv,
Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (today's Ukraine). As a boy, Siegel
joined a street gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East Side and first
committed mainly thefts, until, with another youth named Moe Sedway, he devised
his own protection racket: pushcart merchants were forced to pay him a dollar or
he would incinerate their merchandise on the spot.
During adolescence, Siegel befriended Meyer Lansky, who was forming a small crew
whose criminal activities expanded to include gambling and car theft. Siegel
reputedly also worked as the crew's hit man whom Lansky would sometimes hire out
to other crime families.
In 1930, Lansky and Siegel built close ties to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank
Costello, both future bosses of the Genovese crime family. Siegel became a
bootlegger and was also associated with Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Siegel
was also heavily involved in bootlegging operations in New York, New Jersey and
Philadelphia. During the so-called Castellammarese War in 1930-1931, they fought
the gang of Sal Maranzano; Siegel reputedly had a hand in Maranzano's murder and
later in the formation of Murder, Inc. In 1932, he was arrested for gambling and
bootlegging but got away with only a fine. Lansky and Siegel assisted with
Luciano's brief alliance with Dutch Schultz and killed rival loan sharks Louis "Pretty"
Amberg and Joseph Amberg in 1935.
Bugsy's memorial plaque in the Bialystoker Synagogue - On the plaques above see
the name Max Siegel, Siegel's father, whose Hebrew name is "Mordechai Dov "Bar"
(son of) Beirush HaLevi" (from the Hebraic tribe of the Levites) and the one for
Siegel, whose Hebrew name is "Bairush HaLevi "Bar" Mordechai Dov HaLevi";
implying that Bugsy was named after his grandfather who predeceased his birth.
On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills
home reading the Los Angeles Times, an unknown gunman entered Siegel's backyard
and shot Siegel multiple times through the window, including two headshots, with
a M-1 carbine. No one was ever charged with the murder, and the crime remains
unsolved.
Though popular descriptions held that Siegel was shot in the eye, an autopsy
revealed that the bullet actually entered the back of his skull, and exited
through an eye socket; investigators found the eye across the room. The cause of
death was cerebral hemorrhage. According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine
shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand
piano, and then lodged in the far wall".
In the Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Siegel is
memorialized by a Yartzheit (remembrance) plaque that marks his death date so
mourners can say Kaddish for the anniversary of his passing. Siegel's plaque is
just below that of his father, Max Siegel, who died two months prior to his son's
murder.