Lansky brought in new underworld associates to run the Flamingo after Siegel’s death, and the resort became the model for a string of mob-backed joints, including the Thunderbird and Desert Inn, that later sprang up on the Strip. Journalistic photos of his bloodied, bullet-riddled body lying in the Beverly Hills home are a stark reminder of what can happen when the mob is crossed.

Historians believe the flamboyant Siegel may have been killed because he was stealing money from the casino operations. Siegel, a hit man and trusted associate of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who organized the Mafia from New York into a national crime syndicate, had financed the Flamingo with the help of the mob’s money man, Meyer Lansky. “It was the mob that moved (Las Vegas) forward, with the good, the bad and the ugly.” “We owe a debt of gratitude to the Mafia for developing Las Vegas, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Rocha said. The colorful mob era has long since passed, but Rocha believes it should not be forgotten. Many had representatives in Las Vegas for decades, with Chicago being the most dominant. In reality, Las Vegas was regarded as an “open city” for more than two dozen Mafia families across the country. So did the buzz on the Strip over the Rat Pack, led by headliner Frank Sinatra and his associations with high-profile underworld figures. Groundbreaking books such as “The Green Felt Jungle” in 1963, which revealed the mob’s early grip on the city, and popular movies such as “The Godfather” in 1972 and “Casino” in 1995 enhanced this perception through the years.

“The general perception on the part of the public is that Las Vegas and the mob have been inextricably linked, and I don’t think it will ever be extricated,” former longtime state archivist Guy Rocha says.

(AP Photo)īenjamin “Bugsy” Siegel had been at the helm of the Flamingo for only six months in June 1947 when he was killed in a hail of gunfire at his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills, Calif., home.īut his vision for the Flamingo, the first resort-style hotel on the Strip, was the beginning of a 50-year relationship between Las Vegas and traditional organized crime that helped define “Sin City”and turn it into one of the world’s top tourist destinations. Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel poses after apprehension in Los Angeles on Apin connection with an indictment returned in New York charging him with harbouring Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter.

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