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Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, born in Brooklyn in 1906, always despised his nickname, derived from his volatile temper. Even at a young age, he was on the path to organized crime, demanding protection money from pushcart vendors. Then halfway through his teen years, he meets Meyer Lansky, and they form the Bug & Meyer Mob, a gang that deals in gambling and car theft. The Bug & Meyer teams up with Lucky Luciano and by 1937 there are a number of contracts out on him because he angered several dangerous mob bosses.
With legendary Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen as his underling, Siegel backed illicit gambling joints, and in the mid-40's Siegel used about $5 million of syndicate money to construct the first super-casino/hotel in Las Vegas, The Flamingo Hotel. When the opening of the casino turned out to be a fiasco, and the money did not start flowing in as expected, Luciano demanded that Siegel return the $5 million. Siegel, thinking himself as powerful as Luciano, told him to "go to hell." On June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat in the Beverly Hills living room of his girlfriend, gun moll Virginia Hill, he was shot three times in the head by Luciano hitmen. Neither Hill nor any of Bugsy's so-called Hollywood friends attended his funeral. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, with his Hollywood friends and flamboyant lifestyle, goes down in the annals of crime history as the man who brought the rackets to the West Coast and made Las Vegas the gambling Mecca of the world.
Specifications
- Standard Full Frame
- English
- Color & B/W
- Approx. 65 Min./ Single Layer
- This Disc Is Playable On All REGION 1 NTSC Compatible or Multi-Region / Dezoned DVD Players
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