On the night Bugsy was killed, he and Smiley were in Hill's Beverly Hills mansion, sitting alongside each other on the couch reading newspapers.

At 10:45 pm on June 20, 1947, a man with a 30-30 carbine shot Siegel a total of nine times.

Smiley, amazingly escaped injury.

Luellen attributed her father's escape to luck. "It went right through his jacket, the bullets. The only reason he was saved is that he acted quickly and dove to the floor," she said.

After the murder, Smiley went on the lam for about a year. Some believe he had known about the hit in advance. His daughter doubts that. "Did he know it was coming? No, I don't think he'd be sitting there," she said. Luellen gave the New York Post an interview a few years back.