Bugsy

I just watched this movie last night on TV. If this has already been asked I didn't find it. I figure Meyer Lansky and the other "Dons?" had him killed, but in the scene where they're all discussing the Flamingo and Virginia Hill Meyer says if the Flamingo makes money they'll all be happy, if it doesn't he'll take care of Ben himself. Is it common knowledge that maybe they deliberately sabotoged the opening of the casino to kill him, or was it just rotten luck that it did bad? If the casino's opening was a success would they still have found a way to kill him? Also, was Bugsy as idiotic as depicted in the film?

Beth, no one was ever charged with or indicted for Ben Siegel's murder. There are four theories. In descending order of credibility:
1. Charlie Luciano and/or Joe Adonis ordered the assassination because they suspected Siegel had pocketed some or all of the $5-6 million they had put up for the Flamingo. Meyer Lansky probably did not organize the hit, although he assented to it. Another reason for the hit was that they saw that the Flamingo had potential to generate huge profits, but not with Bugsy at the helm. This theory is the most credible because, within an hour of Siegel's demise, two big-time gaming operators with ties to Lansky--Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaum--moved in and took over the Flamingo.
2. Jack Dragna, the LA Mafia boss, organized the hit because Siegel had been muscling in on his territory for years. He obtained New York's permission for the hit because they were fed up with Siegel's excesses (as above). Dragna had motive, but bear in mind that Siegel moved in on him on behalf of Luciano, Adonis and others in New York.
3. The Chicago Mob ordered the hit because Siegel had been abusing Virginia Hill, his mistress, who was said to be the "eyes and ears" of the Chicago Mob in Nevada due to her long-standing relationship with Joe Epstein, who was #2 to Jake Guzik, who in turn was #2 to Capone (and who ran the Chicago Outfit with Frank Nitti while Capone was in prison). This theory lacks credibility because Hill gave as good as she got.
4. Hill's younger brother, Chick, killed Siegel because of his abuse of his sister. The only circumstance connecting Chick to the murder was that Chick owned an M1 carbine (the same type of weapon used on Siegel) and dropped out of sight after the murder.
IMO, the first theory is the most credible. Siegel wasn't stupid, he was just naive and overenthusiastic about the hotel/casino business. Vegas had been a boom town since 1931, when gambling was legalized in Nevada. By the time Siegel got involved with the Flamingo (it had been started earlier and named by Billy Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, a degenerate gambler who ran out of money to finish the hotel), there were seven hotel/casinos in Vegas, all making money. Big-time mobsters all over the country knew that the casino business was a goldmine. Siegel's contribution was to envision a hotel in the modern style (all the others were in the Western-corral style). He overpaid for everything and was mercilessly ripped off by his contractors, who lived to tell about it. Whether or not Luciano and Adonis believed Bugsy was stealing their money, they had no faith in his business sense. That's why he was knocked off. Sedway and Greenbaum started making money hand over fist at the Flamingo almost immediately.
BTW: No one sabotaged the Flamingo's opening night. Bugsy, in his naive enthusiasm for the hotel business (which he knew nothing about) stuck to his long-predicted opening night--December 26, 1946--even though the sleeping rooms weren't ready. A rainstorm kept his Hollywood pals bottled up in LA. High rollers showed up early and, taking advantage of the newness of his dealers and croupiers, cleaned out the Flamingo before retiring to the hotels in town that did have sleeping rooms (and probably dropping most of their Flamingo winnings before hitting the sack).

Thanks for the wonderful insight as usual Turnbull. I did a search and had read this paragraph, I was mainly wondering of the opening of the Flamingo was sabotoged, as you explained in your last paragraph that it wasn't. It seems to me Bugsy and Virginia were in over their heads from the beginning.

Did Bugsy really believe Virginia didn't steal that money? Even in the scene before he goes to LA and she admits she took it, he just shrugs it off and tells her to put it in the bank. He should have whacked her right then and there. Did Virginia not know what Bugsy was? She seemed utterly shocked when she invited herself to ride along which turned out to be Harry's whacking. Just from watching this movie I don't think these two people should have been put in charge of the opening of a jar of peanut butter.

While "Bugsy" is a great and enjoyable movie (gets better with every viewing, fantastic performances), quite a bit is fictionalized. In real life, Bugsy first went to California in 1933 (not during WWII, as the movie claims), and more or less moved there permanently in 1935. He hooked up with Virginia right away, so she knew exactly who and what he was, both from experience and her own Mob connections. Another (probable) bit of fiction: Virginia never returned any money to Meyer Lanksy or anyone else--probably because she didn't take any (or a lot); if she had, she'd have been killed. It's also not clear that she was as involved with the design and construction of the Flamingo, if at all, as the movie implies.

The movie's depiction of the hit on Harry (Big Greenie) Greenberg was mostly fictionalized. Big Greenie ratted out some New York higher-ups and tried to hide out on the West Coast. He didn't seek refuge with Siegel--far from it, he tried to hide from him. The New York Mob ordered Siegel to find him, and sent two hit men to assist: Allie (Tick Tock) Tannenbaum of Murder, Inc., and Frankie (Mr. Gray) Carbo. Siegel also recruited his brother-in-law, Whitey Krakauer. Bugsy found Greenie, and drove for the killers, but he didn't pull a trigger. Virginia Hill was nowhere near the shooting. Carbo later ran the prizefight rackets for the Mob in New York City.
The movie also shows Charlie Luciano at liberty for most of the time. In reality, Luciano had been in prison since 1935.

Thanks for clearing that up Turnbull. The movie also suggests Virginia killed herself. Is that true. I guess one shouldn't try to get their facts from hollywood sensationalization.

Virginia Hill led an interesting life after Siegel's death. She was called as a witness before the Kefauver Subcommittee investigating organized crime in 1951. A member of the committe jocularly asked her how she'd managed to maintain Joe Epstein's loyalty while living as Siegel's mistress. "Haven't you heard?" she replied. "I'm the greatest c**ksucker in America!" She ran narcotics for the Chicago Outfit, then married and divorced a legit guy in Europe. On March 24, 1966, her body turned up in Koppl, Austria. The authorities ruled her death a suicide.

Thanks for setting the record straight for me. From watching the movie I got the impression she was more innocent then in fact she was. Do you know of any book that gives factual accounts of Bugsy and Virginia lives?

If you can find them, try "Bugsy's Baby" by Andy Edmonds, and "We Only Kill Each Other" by Dean Jennings. Both are pretty trashy.

I could be wrong but i remember my
grandfather telling me that siegal
had given hill some 2-million in
cash to hold for him and when it
was known that he did so he was
questioned about the money.
AS it went they did not like his answer
and he was soon clipped by the powers to
be,2 known associates of the lanskey
crew were put into place within hours
of siegals death,turnbulls right on w/
that,I just wonder sometimes if she
was in on the hit to save her own skin,
her house,she knew he was there and
the layout of the property,just my own
theory for what it is worth.

Could be. Hill was conveniently in Europe at the time of Siegel's assassination, supposedly buying wine for the hotel. Some writers believe that she was warned to absent herself that night.