here are the articles:

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE BY JAMES BACON APPEARED IN THE MARCH 30TH 2005 EDITION OF
BEVERLY HILLS 213 MAGAZINE



In June 20, 1947, mobster Bugsy Siegel was whacked as he sat on a couch in his mistress Virginia Hill’s home at 810 N. Linden in Beverly Hills. Although the murder is listed officially as unsolved in the police files, most believe it was the work of Lucky Luciano and the New York Mob, who figured Bugsy was skimming money when the cost of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas skyrocketed to six million from Bugsy’s original estimate of one million. The Mob, with the approval of Meyer Lansky (Bugsy’s friend from childhood), was financing the construction of the Las Vegas Strip’s first luxury hotel.


Now, a new book called Family Secret, by Warren Robert Hull with Michael B. Druxman, states flatly that Hull’s father unknowingly gave the murder weapon to a hero of World War II: Bob MacDonald, who had three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star. MacDonald, according to the book, owed $25,000 in gambling losses to Jack Dragna, who was the top Los Angeles mobster. Dragna, the book relates, gave MacDonald the option of doing a hit for him to erase the debt or else get a bullet himself for welching.



MacDonald and two of Dragna’s henchmen waited in the bushes until Bugsy and his friends returned from dinner at Jack’s Café in Ocean Park. Bugsy had also invited two other friends to dinner—Mickey Cohen and actor George Raft, but they declined. Alan Smiley, another friend, went to dinner with Bugsy and later sat beside him on the couch, according to the book.



The book then describes how MacDonald fired nine shots from a 30-caliber carbine U.S. Army rifle with such precision that Bugsy got hit four times, twice in the head and twice in the chest. Smiley was sitting closest to the window through which the shots were fired, but only the sleeve of the jacket he was wearing was nicked.



MacDonald’s war record qualified him as a sharpshooter. He did not know the identity of his victim until he read about Bugsy’s murder in the next morning’s newspapers, the book states. Captain W.W. White of the Beverly Hills Police Department was quoted that Siegel was killed at approximately 10:50 p.m. and that the killed had left nine spent 30-caliber U.S. Army carbine shells and several cigarette butts at the crime scene.



MacDonald had a history of alcohol abuse, gambling, wife-beating, and drug abuse. Some friends attributed his behavior to battle fatigue from his combat experience in the war. He also was unemployed. His father, Archie MacDonald, was a right-hand man to Howard Hughes. A millionaire, the father had paid off his son’s gambling debts in the past. The book doesn’t say why young MacDonald didn’t go to his father again after Dragna’s threat.



(The senior MacDonald was with Hughes before my time. I didn’t know him.)



The author’s father also was in the European theater during the war and came home with a number of weapons. MacDonald, a gun collector, offered to buy the weapons from the elder Hull, but he gave them freely, including a 30-caliber carbine rifle. Little did Hull know that the carbine would be used for murder.



On Sept. 3, 1947, three months after the Siegel killing, MacDonald killed his wife Betty Ann after a domestic dispute at which she threatened to divorce him. He then put the 30-caliber carbine in his mouth and killed himself in front of their six-year-old son. MacDonald had been under psychiatric care since the Siegel shooting. As part of the therapy, he had been advised to confess his role in the Siegel slaying. He had told his wife and the author’s parents. The elder Hull thought it was a bad joke and didn’t take him seriously. Hence, the “family secret,” which the father revealed to the author shortly before the former’s death.



Among the mourners at the Catholic funeral service for Betty Ann MacDonald, age 24, were the movie star Dan Dailey, some members of the Dragna crime family, and Howard Hughes, a good friend of the dead mother of two. Howard placed a dozen yellow roses on her gravesite and knelt in prayer for a moment after the services.



When the construction of the Flamingo hotel was costing the New York Mob six times what Bugsy had initially said it would cost, Meyer Lansky made a special trip west to tell Bugsy that he should start repaying his debt to Lucky Luciano and the rest.



The book quotes Dragna: “Despite Lansky’s pleas, Siegel refused to start paying back on any of the initial six-million dollars that the big hitters from back east had put up for the casino.” The book reveals that when word of this got back to Luciano, he looked straight at Lansky and said in Italian “Farlo fuori,” which means “Kill him.” The book then says that Lansky relayed that command to Dragna




THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN
THE DAILY TITAN - CAL STATE FULLERTON


Former CSUF student solves murder in Family Secret

Author Warren Hull takes readers down the road to find "Bugsy's" killer

By: Nadine Hernandez

Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: News

Former Cal State Fullerton student and "Family Secret" author Warren Hull says he has a real-life family secret of his own; but what makes his family’s history better than most is that his secret involves the highly publicized 1947 murder of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.


According to Hull, he has always known his family was somehow involved with Siegel’s gambling-related murder, but had never given it much thought, especially since the relative who had reportedly been involved in the crime died the same year Siegel was murdered.

It wasn’t until he did a little digging that he found out just how his family was involved.

"The book is based upon the story behind Siegel’s murder and the people involved leading up to that point," Hull said.


According to Hull, his great-aunt worked for Franklin Shaw, a former Los Angeles mayor who had ties to Jack Dragna, an organized crime leader in the 1920s through the 1950s.


"She then became a part of LA’s high society by marrying a wealthy man, eventually having a daughter, Betty Ann, who then married Bob Macdonald, whose father had ties to Howard Hughes," Hull said.


Hull said that Macdonald had to straighten out a gambling debt by murdering Siegel for Dragna. He allegedly shot his own wife, Betty Ann, and then himself after realizing he had just killed Siegel.


"Betty Ann’s parents tried to cover up the crime to protect their status in society," Hull said.

Hull’s research took him seven years, which resulted in a journey of discovering family secrets, rather than one of uncovering the Siegel murder.


Hull, who said his dying father requested that he write the story, has received considerable feedback regarding his book.

Despite the success of his novel, Hull said he was not always interested in writing a book.

Hull, who was an exercise physiology major at CSUF when he started a number of years ago, said he later went on to have a great career in education.


Though Hull said he had no dream of writing a book while he attended CSUF, he had a fine group of professors who encouraged him with his studies.


Hull is now the athletic director at Kennewick High School in Washington.


Hull said he has taught at the college level and that he would like to return to teaching in order to encourage students to write for a living, if not for the sake of writing for success.


He said he encourages students to write, "for your children," in order to leave a legacy.

When it came to publishing the book, Hull said it was not so difficult, and he claimed he was indifferent to the book’s success.


"If we make a few dollars, great... if not, that’s okay, too," he said.


The description of the book may imply that the case behind the Siegel murder is closed, but Michael Druxman, a screenwriter and director, sat down with Hull and believed his story. According to a Family Secret newsletter, he ultimately teamed up with Hull to explain why, "Siegel’s assassin was never revealed."


Hull encourages everyone to write a book. "If I can do it, anyone can," he said



this is the link to the website, where i got all that.

http://whokilledbugsy.org/WHAT_PEOPLE_ARE_SAYING.html