With a Look at the Contemporary News Reports about Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel in His Rise to American Iconicity

According to one account, shortly after midnight on June 21th, 1947, actor George Raft was at his Hollywood mansion. George was one of Hollywood's biggest stars and had been finishing up making his latest motion picture Intrigue which was scheduled to open in October.

Intrigue starred George and June Havoc. George played gangster/smuggler Brad Dunham who unloaded his goods on a lady gangster/fence named Tamara Baranoff (June).¹ Although you can't say the film has a classic Hollywood happy ending, George and the wholesome but independent minded girl not-from-next-door (and no, it wasn't Tamara) live happily ever after.

There seems to be some contradictable information about when Intrigue opened. One popular informational website said it had a premiere in mid-June but the same article also said the production wrapped up in mid-June - an impressive feat of cinematic logistics. Also one author wrote that on June 20, George had gone to bed with the script on the bedside table so it seems he was still working on the picture.

Certainly the newspaper ads for George's movies in 1947 were dominated by the ones that had been released the year before: Whistle Stop, Nocturne, and Christmas Eve. We don't really start seeing ads for Intrigue until January, 1948. Maybe that's why Intrigue didn't do so hot at the box office. Nobody knew when it opened.

But whatever movie George was working on, he picked up the phone and as usual lit a cigarette. The voice at the other end identified himself as being from the District Attorney's office. They wanted to talk to him about Bugsy Siegel.

Although today everyone knows about Bugsy Siegel, at the time reporters weren't even sure how to spell the name. Bugsy, Bugsie, Buggsy, and Buggssy were all used. Of course, if you spoke to him it was "Mr. Siegel". If you were a friend, "Ben" might do.

So knowing Ben's disdain for the nickname, George replied rather testily, "You mean Ben Siegel?"

The caller said it was all the same to him, and they wanted to talk to him at the police station. George said if they wanted to talk to him they could come to his house. After he hung up he began to wonder if the call had anything to do with the $100,000 cash loan he had given Ben some time before.

George needn't have worried. The cops didn't ask him about any loans to Bugsy. They wanted to know if he knew anything about Bugsy's murder about an hour and a half earlier.

Given the iconicity of Bugsy - he's now even fair fodder for serious academic historians - what might surprise the true crime buffs is now little you read about Bugsys life and times during, well, during Bugsys life and times. Information about "Bugsy" Siegel didn't really start showing up until around 1937 when he was over 30 years old and already established in Los Angeles. His was one of the names that cropped up now and then in the Hollywood news. And they didn't even get his name right:

Hunt "Big Shots" In Film Racket

"LOS ANGELES, NOV. 25 (I.N.S.). District Attorney Huron Fitts said today he had ordered a search for "big shots" of the New York underworld, supposedly in Los Angeles. Among them, he said, were Al "Bugsy" Siegel and Louis Shomberg, alias "Dutch" Goldberg, who were wanted for questioning. Meanwhile, John Klein, head investigator for Fitts new racket squad, announced a dozen extras and casting directors are to be questioned regarding the reported shakedowns of film workers. - The Washington [D. C.] Times, November 25, 1937, p. 3

Yes. That's "Al" Siegel. There's no doubt, though, that this is our Bugsy Siegel.

But even with this news there's a gap in our knowledge about "Al". Then we have to jump ahead three years. But at least they got his name right (if not his nickname):

FIVE GANGSTERS ARE INDICTED
Los Angeles Wants Quintette For Murder Done Nine Months Ago

Los Angeles, Aug. 21 [1940] - (UPI) - Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, imprisoned New York racketeer, Benjamin (Bugsie) Siegel and three others were under indictment today for "taking care" of Harry Schachter nine months ago in gangland fashion.
  Also indicted were Champ Segal, Hollywood barber; Frank Carbo, Seattle and New York fight promoter, and Emanuel (Manny) Deiss, one of Lepke's most trusted assistants. These three have not been arrested.
  Siegel, who had been living in a 35-room mansion, playing golf at an exclusive club and acquiring a reputation as a playboy, was held without bail.
  Abe (Kid Twist) Reles, vice-president of Murder, Inc., recently discovered New York killers-for-hire syndicate, and triggerman Al Tannenbaum told the grand Jury that Lepke had ordered Schachter killed because he had threatened to talk. They were flown here from New York to testify.
  Reles said that Siegel, acting as "front man" for Buchalter while he was hiding from New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, had told him in New York last November that Lepke wanted to see him. He said he was present when Lepke said:
  "I've got word Big Greenie (Schachter) is in Hollywood - He's got to be taken care of."
  "If he's in California, hell never leave there. I'll take care of him," Reles quoted Siegel. Schachter was shot last Thanksgiving Eve when he went out to get a newspaper. - The Waterbury [Connecticut] Democrat, August 21, 1940, p. 5.

Yes. Its "Bugsie" which as we'll see was for some time the more or less standard spelling.

It was then three months later that we get one of the first public connections of Bugsy (as we'll continue to call him) with respectable Hollywood.

GEORGE RAFT HAD NAME INJECTED

Hollywood, Nov. 21. - (UP) - A cancelled check for $3,200 to George Raft, the film star, was found among the confiscated papers of Benjamin (Bugsie) Siegel, alleged West Coast representative of Murder, Inc., the district attorney's office said today.
  The check was found among correspondence which indicated that Siegel, under indictment for the murder last Thanksgiving of Harry (Big Greenie) Greenberg, had received $105,000 from a former convict, now said to be a Minneapolis millionaire. On this point, however, the district attorney's aides did not go into details.
  Raft readily admitted having cashed the check, which he said Siegel had given him in payment of a debt. He said he "grew up"with Siegel in the Hell's Kitchen district of New York.
  "We went to school together," the actor said. 'A few years ago, Siegel was hard up and asked me to lend him $3,200, and I never did turn a pal down. He didn't pay me back at once and later when I heard he was in the money, I asked him about it. He sent me a check and that's all there was to it.'
  Raft was the second Hollywood celebrity to have been mentioned in an investigation of charges that Siegel had enjoyed 18 jail leaves in the last 49 days, ate roast pheasant for dinner, wore a tailored uniform and had another prisoner for a valet. On one occasion, he dined with Actress Wendy Barrie.
  Siegel was indicted by the county grand jury on charges of engineering and killing of Greenberg for Murder, Inc., lest Greenberg "talk." - The Waterbury [Connecticut] Democrat, November 21, 1940, p. 10.

Then suddenly it seems that Bugsy's worries were over.

People in the News

Benjamin "Bugsie" Siegel, Hollywood man about town and friend of movie stars, has moved back into his Holmby Hills mansion, freed of charges that he arranged a slaying for New York's Murder, Inc. Charges were dismissed at the request of the state for lack of evidence. He had been accused of participating in the murder of Hyman "Big Greenie" Greenberg on Thanksgiving eve in 1939. - The Tacoma [Washington] Times, December 13, 1940, p. 8.

But Bugsy's relief was short lived and the next year there was a longer article which spoke of Bugsy in most discourteous and even snarky terms.

HOLLYWOOD's FACE IS RED - FOLKS CALL IT HOME OF NO. 1 GANGSTER

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"WEALTHY SPORTSMAN" SIEGEL, POPULAR WITH STARS, IS UP ON MURDER RAP
By PAUL HARRISON
(NEA Service Staff Correspondent)

Hollywood, Oct. 30 - Long the habitat of the make-believe mobster and the spawning place of cinematic crime, Movieland is embarrassed these days by a touch of realism. It is being pointed out as the home and headquarters and playground of the man who has been called America's head hoodlum.
  That dubious and unproven distinction is tacked on Benjamin ("Bugsy") Siegel. He is a loose lipped lug with slick hair and an Adolphe Menjou wardrobe, and he sometimes has been described as "handsome" by local society reporters who for years have been identifying him as "a wealthy Hollywood sportsman."
  Bugsy used to get around with a few movie celebrities and a countess or two, and he lived in a mansion in uppity Holmby Hills. But he isn't doing any of those things now. He is sitting in the jail house and polishing his perpetual manicure and waiting for November 10. At that time, along with a weird character named Frank (Pug) Carbo, he is scheduled to go on trial for participation in a murder.
CALLED COUNTRY's LEADING GANGSTER
  The victim was Hyman (Big Greeny) Greenberg, or Schachter, who is assumed to have been liquidated by some of his old cronies in an eastern enterprise called Murder, Inc.
  With several others, Siegel was indicted last year, but the charge was dropped when District Attorney William O'Dwyer of Kings County, N. Y., refused to lend a couple of witnesses to Los Angeles District Attorney John Dockweller.
  At the time, O'Dwyer was using them in trying to clear up a list of 87 crimes attributed to Murder, Inc. The witnesses are Albert Tannenbaum, known as "the Christmas Tree," and Abe (Kid Twist) Reles. O'Dwyer has promised to send them to California this time, on condition that they are not to be prosecuted here and are to be returned to New York immediately.
  Tannenbaum, a self-declared gangster and racketeer, already has testified before the grand Jury which reindicted Siegel and Carbo. It heard Tannenbaum say that he and Siegel drove the two cars on the local murder expedition of Thanksgiving eve, 1939, and that Carbo shot Greenberg and fled in Bugsy's car.
  He also said of Siegel: "He is the supreme gangster in the United States, the top man. He has been the big boss for the last 10 years."
  This estimate was confirmed by Frank C. Bals, New York police captain who figured prominently in breaking up the eastern murder-for-money ring. Bals declared of Siegel: "He's really the leading gangster of this country. His connections run from east to west."
  Bugsy has, or used to have, an odd assortment of friends. He is now under $25,000 bond on a federal indictment in New York charging him with harboring Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, while that ex-kingpin of the underworld was a fugitive from justice. Buchalter, who specialized in industrial racketeering but was linked with almost every sort of crime, now is doing a 14-year rap in Leavenworth on a narcotics conviction.
  [Photo Caption] In the garb of the "wealthy Hollywood sportsman" he was reputed to be, but looking a bit worried, is Benny ("Bugsy") Siegel, above. He is pictured after being removed from his luxurious Holmby Hills home for questioning in the gangland murder of Harry Schachter.
  Bugsby's [sic] wife is the former Estelle Krakower, sister of the late Whitey Krakower, a Lepke mobster but a suspected traitor, who was assassinated in New York about the time that his brother-in-law first was being arrested in Los Angeles.
  Seizure of Bugsy's personal papers revealed that he was able to borrow $100,000 from a St. Paul manufacturer, Charles Ward, who once served a prison term on a narcotics charge.
BORROWS BIG MONEY FROM DENTIST
  One who seems to have considered Bugsy a lad with a great future was Dr. Benjamin Blank, a local physician. In explanation of canceled checks showing that Siegel paid him $32,000, Dr. Blank said he had loaned Bugsy that amount over a period of years.
  The physician's friendship also came in handy for Bugsy after the latter's first arrest, because Dr. Blank happened to be the county jail doctor and thus was able to provide many little comforts and privileges not enjoyed by ordinary suspects and malefactors.
  To the astonishment of authorities it was discovered that Bugsy spent much of his incarceration in Dr. Blank's quarters, got special meals, employed a fellow prisoner as a valet, and in 49 days left the jail 18 times. These were for the announced purpose of visiting the district attorney (then Burton Fitts, with whom he had ben photographed shaking hands) or a dentist although the jail dentist said that Bugsy's choppers were in fine condition.
  During one of his absences from jail accompanied by a deputy but not handcuffed - Siegel was spotted having lunch with a noted Hollywood actress.
  For these irregularities, Dr. Blank's appointment was rescinded and the deputy was suspended. But the physician also pops up in the research into another chapter of Bugsy's unusual career: Both Siegel and Dr. Blank were fellow adventurers with the Countess Dorothy di Frasso on the Cocos Islands treasure hunt and trouble-stricken voyage of the schooner Metha Nelson. The FBI was interested in that voyage because for awhile there was a suspicion that it might have been planned for the aid of the fugitive Lepke, who was thought to be in Mexico.
  Siegel was seen and hailed around the swanky night clubs, in the boxes of screen celebrities at the horse tracks, and on the bridle paths of Beverly and Holmby Hills, where he and his family ran up a stable bill of some $300 monthly.
  He was a member of the star studded Hlllcrest Country Club. His home, according to the building permit, is a $15,000 structure on a $29,000, 3-acre tract in Holmby Hills. Bugsy and Estelle Siegel have two daughters, 11 and 13. who presumably are away somewhere at a good school.
HE MUST FACE MURDER CHARGE
  In the forthcoming murder trial, the prosecution may have some trouble in trying to reconcile this picture of a big-shot "sportsman" with a vignette of a little-shot hoodlum who would drive a car for a trigger-man bent on wiping out an obscure thug. There may be evidence, though, that Schacter, or "Big Greenle," was a serious menace to his former bosses and worthy of their personal, lethal attention.
  Hyman Schachter, alias Harry Greenberg, twice had been deported to Russia and twice had re-entered this country illegally. He served as a Lepke mobster for about 10 years, quarreled with the boss, and was kept in line by threats of being turned over to the Immigration authorities.
  Shortly before Lepke surrendered on a Federal warrant, Greenberg fled to Canada and from there began writing embarrassing demands for money. Otherwise, he'd sing. Instead of paying, the gang sent deputies to kill him. They tried in Montreal and Detroit, but Big Greenle escaped and went to Los Angeles, where he got a job as a chauffeur and lived as "Harry Gottesman." Finally, through new attempts at shaking down his old pals and superiors, he was located, promptly liquidated. - The Waterbury [Connecticut] Democrat, October 30, 1941, p. 24

So it seems that even with the stories about Bugsy's arrest for murder, it never really sank in into the Collective American Consciousness that he might, just might be connected with organized crime. Instead he was known around town as one of the Hollywood bunch. But despite these difficulties, almost immediately Bugsy "beat the rap" once and for all.

Murder, Inc., Defendant Set Free Second Time

By the Associated Press.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 6. - For the second time in a year Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, accused of killing Harry Greenberg, New York gangster, has gone free.
  Superior Judge A. A. Scott yesterday dismissed the indictment against Siegel, saying he did not think the State had proved its case. Siegel's co-defendant Frank Carbo, prize fight promoter, accused of firing five shots into Greenberg's body Thanksgiving eve, 1939. must face trial, however, the court ruled.
  Allie Tannenbaum of Brooklyn, who acknowledged that he was a member of Murder, Inc., had testified he was present when Carbo fired the shots that killed Greenberg. He said Siegel directed the killing and that he, Tannenbaum, drove an automobile to block off any auto that might impede the getaway of the slayers.
  The State contends Greenberg was killed because he threatened to talk about the activities of Murder, Inc. - The Washington [D. C.] Evening Star, February 6, 1942, p. 14.

Things began looking up - except that Bugsy was no longer a "sportsman" but a "man of the underworld". You began to get stories like:

Man of Underworld
Engaged to Actress

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Film Actress Wendy Barrie Thursday revealed her engagement to Benjamin (Bugsie) Siegel man-about town and New York underworld character who a year ago was freed of murder charges in the investigation of Murder, Inc. - The Tacoma [Washington] Times, March 5, 1943, p. 1.

There was just a wee bit of a problem with this potential liaison. At that time Bugsy/Bugsie was yet married to his wife of 17 years, the former Esther Krakower. However, Esta (as her friends called her) was long fed up with being Ben's wife. But it wasn't until December, 1945, that she finally went to Reno. Bugsy agreed to pay her $600 a month which was also intended to help support his two daughters, Millicent and Barbara. That's about $10,000 - $30,000 per month in today's cash depending on what conversion method you use.

Alas, Bugsy kept finding that crime did not pay well enough. Four months later we read:

Siegel Must Face Trial In Bookmaking Case

By the Associated Press.
BEVERLY HILLS. Calif., July 21. - Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, man about Hollywood and former New Yorker, has been ordered held for Superior Court trial on bookmaking charges.
  Justice Cecil D. Holland yesterday ordered a co-defendant, Film Director Allen Smiley, held to answer on charges of permitting his apartment to be used for bookmaking. Trial of both was set for August 7.
  Film Actor George Raft, in the apartment when it was raided, had testified the charges were "silly and ridiculous." - The [Washington, D. C.] Evening Star, July 21, 1944, p. 10.

Here we have the first mention of Bugsy with his friend Allen Smiley. What the books about Bugsy don't often mention is that Allen was the next door neighbor of big band leader and trombonist Tommy Dorsey and Tommy's actress wife, Patricia. Just three weeks later a rather lengthy article - here in a brief excerpt, edited and adapted - provides the salient facts.

Jon Hall, portrayer of tragic heroes became involved in a fight with Dorsey and other guests in which it is alleged knives and bottles were used.

FIGHT OVER MRS. DORSEY

Dorsey and Hall became involved in a fight when Hall put his arms around Mrs. Dorsey when he returned to the party after departing with the other guests.

He said he did it playfully and thought Dorsey was also kidding about it when he objected. Hall said he apologized and explained but Dorsey landed a punch on his chin, knocking him to the floor.

Police interviewed Hall and reported that he said: "I don't want to prosecute Dorsey because he is a friend of mine. If I prosecute the other guy it would drag Dorsey into it."

Patty and Tommy and Allen
More To the Story

The "other guy" was in fact Allen Smiley who it turns out was Tommy Dorsey's neighbor and enough of a friend to come to his aid when the altercation began. Obviously, there is more to the story which was eventually resolved to everyone's satisfaction and is worth telling in detail - but perhaps at a later date.

In any case, whether George was right about the bookmaking charges being ridiculous, Bugsy and Allen expeditiously resolved the issue with minimal difficulty to themselves.

Siegel and Smiley Fined For Betting on Races

By the Associated Press.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12. - Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, man about New York and Hollywood, and Assistant Film Director Allen Smiley pleaded guilty yesterday to reduced charges of placing bets illegally on a horse race, and were fined $250 each.
  Siegel originally was charged with bookmaking and Smiley with permitting his apartment to be used for that purpose. - The [Washington, D. C.] Evening Star, September 14, 1944, p. 2

The fine seems a bit cheap but that was about $6000 in today's currency. But based on effective purchasing power, gambling fines seem to have dropped a bit. In a Quaint State in the American Southwest a noted and praised civic organization was recently fined for having slot machines on site. The individual managing the site was fined $100 for each slot machine and the court costs brought the total up to nearly $1000. But this is equivalent to being fined $30 in 1944 with court costs of $20. From the court record it looks like the fine was paid for by the organization and not out of the manager's personal purse.²

Stories about Bugsy continued only sporadically. Oddly, given how much you read or hear about Bugsy's tribulations with the Flamingo, there was virtually no newspaper play about his building the hotel and casino. Evidently printing stories about construction problems when building a hotel in the desert was not high on the news editors' agendas.

But people were at least beginning to know who Bugsy Siegel was. There was one story in the sports section which actually had a poem which mentioned Bugsy! As the legendary sportswriter Dan Parker wrote:

IT HAS JUST OCCURRED to me that what this column needs most of all at this pernt is a perm by Betty ZeKind, Brooklyn's beautiful brunette bardess, and will Westbrook Pegler be sorry he ever picked on her beau ideal, The Lip, when he reads this:

WESTBROOK PEGLER—BEWARE!

- The Waterbury [Connecticut] Democrat, December 21, 1946, p. 8.

For those not versed in 1940's sports, "Leo" refers to the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, Leo Durocher. Leo bore the nickname "The Lip" for his tendency to enter into - ah - "discussions" - with the umpires.

The difficulty was that Leo had been associating with George Raft - yes, he got into trouble for associating with one of the most popular celebrities in Hollywood. George and Leo were actually quite good friends and both loved the high life and the occasional game of chance. Leo also tended to get overdrawn at the bank and sometimes he had to find the "ready" where he could (Babe Ruth once even accused a young Durocher of stealing his watch). Of course, because George was a friend of Bugsy and Leo was a friend of George, rumors had begun springing up linking Leo with Bugsy and other mobsters.

Seeing all the adverse publicity a-brewing, the baseball commissioner Branch Rickey met with Leo and told him he should sever all ties with George and George's friends. Leo more or less agreed but other factors in his rather hectic life ended up with him getting slapped with a suspension for one year. Exactly why he was suspended wasn't ever clearly articulated and Leo himself said he never understood what he had actually done. But during his hiatus he did get paid his salary.

But as far as news about Bugsy, a few months later we get an update - and they still didn't get his name right!

Bugsie Siegel Is Slain In Gangland Fashion in Beverly Hills Home
Former Public Enemy Hit By Four Bullets Fired Through Open Window

By the Associated Press

  BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 21. - Gangland bullets late last night snuffed out the life of Benjamin (Bugsie) Siegel, 41-year old gambler and one-time public enemy, as he sat quietly in a home here reading a newspaper. Police Capt. William W. White said an unidentified gunman sneaked up to an open window shortly after Siegel and a party of friends returned from dining at an Ocean Park beach and fired through the curtains.
  At least four shots entered the body of Siegel as he sat reading the paper on a divan. Beside him sat one of the guests, Allen Smiley, 39, well-known sporting world figure here.
  "I heard the glass shattering and I ducked," Capt. White quoted Smiley. "I don't know how many shots were fired, but when I looked at Siegel I could see he had taken most of them."

Bullets Splatter Wall.

Capt. White said the shots pinned Siegel to the divan. When officers arrived they found his body still erect, the newspaper he was reading on the floor at his feet, smeared with blood.
  Five of the bullets splattered into the wall directly behind where Siegal [sic] sat. Another shattered a small statuette and another lodged in a huge oil painting of a woman holding a drinking glass.
  Siegal who, Capt. White said, had been active in the sporting world in this area for about 10 years, once was designated a "public enemy" by Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York while the latter was district attorney.
  The slain man was a witness before a New York grand jury that investigated former public enemy No. 1, Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, racketeer and erstwhile head of New York's "Murder, Inc.," who later was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison.

Questioned in Slaying

  Siegel also once was questioned in the slaying of Harry Greenberg, former New York gangster, who was slain in Hollywood in 1939.
  Capt. White said that in the room with Siegel, owner of the fabulous Flamingo Gambling Club in Las Vegas, Nev., and Smiley, were a man and woman he identified as Charles Hill and Miss Jerry Mason.
  The police captain quoted Hill is saying he is a brother of thrice wed Mrs. Virginia Hill, 30-year-old Alabama heiress, known in the Hollywood film colony as the "feminine Diamond Jim Brady" because if her lavish spending on night club parties.
  Capt. White said the spacious residence where the shooting occurred is occupied by Miss Hill but that she had left the city recently to spend the summer in Paris. Siegel died a death as violent as any of the other gangland victims in this area in recent years. Besides Greenberg, they included Paul (Paulie) Gibbons, 45. and Benny

(See SIEGEL, Page A-3.)

⋮

SIEGEL
(Continued From First Page.)

(the Meatball) Gamson and George Levinson, 43.

Smiley Hit the Floor.

  The officer said Smiley told him that on the party's return from dining he and Siegel sat down on the divan to read the newspapers. "I sat down on the other side of the sofa." the officer quoted Smiley. "When the first shot was fired, I hit the floor. I don't know how many shots were fired.
  Police Lt. P. R. Smith reported Lou Shane, visiting friends in the neighborhood, said he heard the shots.
  "I rushed out in the street and heard an automobile being driven away," Lt. Smith quoted Mr. Shane. "It was really traveling."
  At the coroner's office a preliminary examination indicated two bullets struck the gambler in the head, the others lodging in his body.
  Capt. White quoted Hill as saying Siegel telephoned him last night and the party was arranged.

Invited Siegel Over

  "He said he had Just arrived from Las Vegas so I invited him over to spend the night," Capt. White quoted Hill. "We returned from the beach and I was upstairs when I heard the shots. I called police immediately and then ran downstairs and found Siegel dead on the sofa. I have no idea who could have done this."
  Smiley was one of those present during the widely publicized fight in 1944 between Tommy Dorsey, orchestra leader, and Actor Jon Hall. The fracas, in which Hall's nose was nearly severed, took place in Dorsey's apartment after Dorsey had accused Hall of being too familiar with Mrs. Dorsey, known on the screen as Pat Dane. Both Dorsey and Smiley later were freed of felonious assault charges.
  Siegel and Smiley were fined $250 each in 1944 after they pleaded guilty to bookmaking charges.
  Siegel's career was a notorious one, involving him frequently in underworld investigations.

Accused of Harboring Buchalter

  In 1940 he was charged with the Hollywood murder of Greenberg. He and Buchalter were indicted for the murder. Four months later charges were dropped.
  A year later Siegel was arrested here by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of harboring Buchalter in New York City at a time when the infamous crime ring leaders were being sought by Gov. Dewey's investigators.
  Operators of Siegel's Flamingo Club expressed great surprise when informed of his death and said they knew of no discord in his enterprises. They said he left Thursday night for Los Angeles to visit his wife and daughter.
  News of Siegel's death was withheld from the club's patrons. With bars and gaming tables crowded, the orchestra played on with lively tunes. - The Washington [D. C.] Evening Star, June 21, 1947, p. 1, 3.

Despite the stories that appeared about Bugsy before his death, his life was not a common topic in the news. A perusal of the literature shows that approximately 90% of the newspaper accounts of Bugsy were written after June 20, 1947. Bugsy wasn't even mentioned in Life Magazine until a month before his death and then only in passing. In the article "Las Vegas Strikes It Rich - Gambling Town Cashes In On Its Major Industries: Gambling, Liquor, Marriage, and Divorce", a horse named Lucky Silver that the El Rancho Vegas hotel taught to gamble got more publicity than Bugsy.

Interest in Bugsy began to wane after the 1940's and he actually fell into a period of relative oblivion. There was a flurry of interest in the mid-1960's with the first BB (Bugsy Biography) We Only Kill Each Other. The excerpts published in what was called The Man's Magazine was the first time most baby boomers had heard of Bugsy and the article's printing of the famous full face picture of Bugsy on the sofa certainly piqued their interest.

Then interest in Bugsy suddenly began picking up around 1983 and peaked at around 2010. Ironically it seems that it was events on the other side of the country that sparked the revitalization of Benjamin's life and times. Or at least the rise in the books and articles about Bugsy that began in the early 80's coincided with the opening of the first casinos in Atlantic City.

Other states soon followed suit and gambling, long a disreputable failing of moral character and the road to perdition, now became a respectable source of revenue for state governments. Parents with kids in tow hied off to casino towns and Las Vegas began touting it as a city for the whole family. Even churches sponsored gambling junkets, for crying out loud!³

Naturally the widespread gambling brought on a new interest in the history of America's sporting life and you can't really write about the history of gambling and not mention Bugsy.

The irony is it's his connection with Bugsy Siegel that keeps the memory of George Raft in the collective American conscience. Despite an entertaining biopic that was released in 1961 (when George was still hale and hearty) nowadays he is sometimes referred to as a "forgotten" celebrity. But from the mid-1930's to the early 50's, he was one of Hollywood's most popular stars and was in the news far more often than Bugsy.

But with the waning of the popularity of the gangster movies, George ended up being cast in self-satirizing rolls in Some Like It Hot starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe. Reflecting his later career as a casino host George had a part in the 1967 spy spoof Casino Royale. There was a biography that was written during his lifetime and there are various articles (and a bit about George here.). But in general George's life has not garnered much academic attention.

People who met Bugsy at the casino or at the various Hollywood parties remarked how friendly and genial he was. But stories about his temper, which Bugsy often reserved for private business meetings, was legion as even George sometimes found out.

As we saw Bugsy had been quite friendly with Wendy Barrie who in 1933 played the part of Jane Seymour in The Private Life of Henry VIII which starred Charles Laughton. George, though, advised Wendy to stay away from Bugsy and when Bugsy learned about George's advice showed up at his apartment with a .45 at the ready. George was able to talk Bugsy out of taking action.

Sometime Bugsy went ballistic over simple jokes. Bugsy was sensitive about his thinning hair line and once as a joke George sent his friend a toupee. Bugsy was so mad he stormed into George's house and it was more than an hour before George could calm Ben down.

Of course, the one name linked with Bugsy Siegel is Virginia Hill. Often considered a pair like Antony and Cleopatra, Héloïse and Abelard, and Albert and Victoria, the two - as Khalil Gibran advised partners - made spaces in their togetherness. For her part, when asked by reporters about her relationship she replied:

I never was very friendly with Ben ... I never knew Ben was involved in all that gang stuff. He never mentioned anything about it, and I never asked any questions. I never saw him before he got started on the Flamingo.

Ben? Ben who?

When Bugsy ended up on the sofa in Virginia's rented home, Louis Wiener - who was the attorney for the Flamingo project as well as for chaps like Howard Hughes, Redd Foxx, and Frank Sinatra - also made a comment that some see as intentional distancing.

The Flamingo will conduct business as usual, despite the death of Benjamin Siegel. The Flamingo is owned by the Nevada Projects Corporation, and Siegel was only a stockholder in that corporation, and his death will have no effect whatever on the future operations of this hotel.

Despite a brief (very brief) attempt to distance itself from Bugsy's legacy, the Flamingo Hotel finally bowed to practical reality. At first, the management had tried to disavow any importance of Bugsy in their establishment and during the celebration of the 50th Year Anniversary of the opening of the Flamingo there was nary a gibber nor squeak about Benjamin "Bugsy" "Bugsie" "Buggsy" "Buggssy" Siegel.

But, dang it! The people who visit the Flamingo want to learn about Bugsy Siegel! So after the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the Flamingo you can have dinner at Bugsy and Meyer's Steakhouse and then take a nice walk along a "Habitat Path". At one point you will come to the Bugsy Siegel Memorial. There you see a stone pillar with a memorial plaque and a not very convincing relief portrait in bronze. But in what surely would have raised his dander, the name on the plaque is Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

But regardless of whether studying the life of Bugsy Siegel is simply glorifying crime and criminals or is a proper subject of study for professional historians, his life and times do leave us with the one question that everyone wants to know.

What do you call a bird with a fedora and double breasted suit?

(Click on the image to find out!)

References and Further Reading

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas, Larry Gragg, Praeger Publishing, 2015.

We Only Kill Each Other: The Life and Bad Times of Bugsy Siegel,Dean Jennings, Prentice Hall, 1967.

Bugsy's Baby, Andy Edmonds, Birch Lane Press, 1993.

Bugsy Siegel and the Postwar Boom, Stephen Otfinoski, Blackbirch Press, 2000.

"George Raft: Hollywood's Forgotten Star", Josh Sims, The Rake.

"The Native Juice - Notable Old School Vegas Families That Shaped Las Vegas", Candice Wiener, Real Las Vegas, July 27, 2022.

"A Quiet Evening With a Quick Death - The Demise of Bugsy Siegel", Los Angeles Public Library, July 21, 2017

"Coming Attractions", The [Washington, D. C.] Sunday Star, January 11, 1948, Page C-6.

Intrigue, George Raft (actor), June Havoc (actor), Tom Tully (actor), Marvin Miller (actor), Greer Garson (actor), Edwin Marin (director), George Slavin (screenplay), Barry Trivers (screenplay), United Artists, 1947.

"Who Killed Bugsy Siegel? 50 Years Later, Still a Mystery", Los Angeles Times, June 20, 1997.

"Davis and Blanchard to Remain in Army", Dan Parker, The Waterbury [Connecticut] Democrat, December 21, 1946, p. 8.

"1947 Dodgers: The Suspension of Leo Durocher", Jeffrey Marlett, Society for Baseball Research.

"Las Vegas Strikes It Rich - Gambling Town Cashes In On Its Major Industries: Gambling, Liquor, Marriage, and Divorce", LIFE Magazine, May 26, 1947, p. 99 - 105.

"Bugsy Siegel Monument - Las Vegas, Nevada", Atlas Obscura.

"Purchasing Power Today - US $", Measuring Worth.

Don't Call Me Bugsy, Documentary, MPI Home Video, 1992.

Chronicling America, Library of Congress.

"Bugsy Siegel", Ngram Viewer.

"George Raft", Ngram Viewer.