I think FFC and Puzo intended the Moe Green "unlucky" remark to continue the close parallel to Bugsy Siegel's life. Siegel became infatuated with the casino/hotel business, even though he had no experience in either. His involvement in every little detail of the building of the Flamingo Hotel was obsessive. His original $1 million estimate to build the hotel ran past $5 million. Even though he and/or Virginia Hill may have been embezzling some of that, the bulk of the overruns were caused by Bugsy's lack of savvy. He overpaid tremendously for building materials that were in short supply due to wartime conditions, and his contractors ripped him off mercilessly. He also ceaslessly fiddled with the design, which ran up the bill.

When he opened on December 26, 1946, only the casino, restaurant and show floor were ready--the sleeping rooms weren't. A huge storm kept his Hollywood pals bottled up in LA. The guests came early and, taking advantage of the newness of his dealers and croupiers, cleaned him out. They then repaired to the hotels in town (the Flamingo was on the outskirts at that time) and, according to legend, lost Bugsy's money, enriching his competitors. Bugsy was forced to close the Flamingo. When it reopened that Spring, it began to make money. But by that time, he'd made countless enemies to whom he'd sold thousands of points in the hotel--to say nothing of his suspicious partners in the NY mob. That's why, in June, 1947, "Someone [cough] put a bullet in his eye."

Bugsy wasn't unlucky--he was more naive than unlucky. The Flamingo wasn't under his ownership long enough for him to be skimming profits, and there weren't any, initially. Within an hour of his assassination, two big-time, mob-connected gamblers--Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaum--took over and began making money hand over fist.