Who Killed Bugsy Siegel and Why Was He Killed?

Executive Summary

• The movie Bugsy was very well received by critics and by award-giving entities.
• How accurate was what it proposed about Siegel’s killing?

Introduction

The movie Bugsy proposed that Siegel was killed due to a combination of three primary factors. These are..

• Cost overruns at the Flamingo.
• That Siegel oversold stock to prominent people who would not accept being stiffed.
• Because Victoria Hill embezzled $2 million from the $6 million construction budget.
• The Flamingo opened poorly.

I cover a number of these claims in the article How Accurate Was the Movie Bugsy on Las Vegas and Bugsy Siegel.

In this article, I will only address the issue of Siegel’s murder.

The Timeline Change in Siegel’s Murder

The movie makes it seem he was killed immediately after the casino had a poor turnout during the opening of the Flamingo. The Flamingo did open poorly, but Siegel was not killed anywhere near this time. The Flamingo opened in Dec 1946. And Bugsy was killed in June of 1947. The issue of the timeline change is covered in this quote from the Mob Museum in Vegas or their website.

“The actual killing was in June, of course, not immediately after the December 26, 1946, grand opening as the movie portrays it, but the implication that the shooting was a Mob-ordered hit has gained traction in more places than just the big screen version of events. Those who support that theory don’t doubt who ordered it, they just aren’t certain who might have pulled the trigger, though many point to a couple of suspects, including New York killer John “Frankie” Carbo.”

“In a 2017 interview at The Mob Museum with author Geoff Schumacher, the museum’s senior director of content, Sindler, now in his 90s, said killing Siegel would have required permission from Charles “Lucky” Luciano, “who was the head of everything.” Luciano would not have given permission because Lansky, who was close to Luciano, would not have allowed the killing to happen, Sindler said in the interview.”

“According to Sindler, that made Siegel “untouchable.”

The alleged financial motive for wanting Siegel killed was not a factor, Sindler indicated in the interview. Lansky paid back any Flamingo investor who wanted out, and by May 1947, after the hotel-casino had reopened, it raked in $10 million in four weeks, Sindler said.

There are several contradictory pieces of information regarding this. First, the mob had discussed killing Siegel in several meetings.

These are bad checks written to the construction firm Del Webb in June of 1947. Notice these checks are only a month before his murder. 

Siegel was also engaging in terroristic threats against other casinos like El Rancho, which he threatened to burn to the ground.

The mob had prior knowledge of the hit on Siegel, as they Moe Sedway and an associate walked into the Flamingo only 30 minutes after the murder and announced that Siegel was dead and that they were in charge.

On the other hand this other memo states the opposite.

“Lansky stated that he, Frank Costello, and Joe Adonis were as surprised as anyone when they heard that Siegel had been killed. Lansky believes that the possibility exists that Hill’s brother may have killed Siegel. Those hot headed southerns may have killed Siegel because of Siegel mistreating Hill.” – FBI Memo July 17, 1947

This topic then broaches into who killed Siegel. The first part of the issue is whether Lucky Luciano would approve of Siegel’s killing. The following quote addresses the method used to kill Siegel, which again gets to the most likely culprit.

Moreover, the method used to kill Siegel was out of sync with the Mob way of doing things. Firing a weapon from outside a house increases the risk of missing, Sindler said. That is not how Mob hit men carried out their deadly assignments. The preferred method was a shot to the back of the head by a killer seated behind the victim in a car. That sort of killing reduces the risk of missing.”

The shooter, Sindler contended, was one of Virginia Hill’s brothers, a U.S. Marine named either Bob or Bill — he couldn’t remember which. The Marine brother was stationed at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside, California.

About two weeks before the Flamingo opened in late 1946, just after the end of World War II, Sindler saw Virginia Hill and her military brother in front of the Flamingo, arguing about Siegel beating her up. Siegel and Hill had a love-hate relationship, Sindler said, adding that Siegel’s beatings left her with bruises.”

Standing in front of the Flamingo, Sindler heard Virginia Hill’s brother say he was going to kill Siegel. Sindler’s response: “You shouldn’t talk that way around here because if people hear this, they are going to take it the wrong way.” – Mob Museam

This is the first time I have heard of the weapon used and the method indicators of the killer. I have never heard of a mobster being killed with an M1 carbine or similar weapon. The M1 was the standard military rifle of that day.

This argument and domestic violence activity is explain in the following quotation.

Approximately a week ago, Siegel and Virginia Hill had a very serious argument at the Flamingo Hotel. Hill saw Siegel talking with a cigarette girl in the Flamingo Hotel casino in a manner that Hill did not approve of and that Hill began scratching the girl and pulling her hear. Siegel forcibly pulled Hill from the cigarette girl. Hill began screaming at Siegel calling him a murderer and gangster. Siegel attempted to forcibly remove Hill from the Casino and she became abusive toward them calling them murderers and gangsters also. Siegel then struck Hill in the face…he struck her again He allegedly beat her so badly that she still had visible bruises several weeks later. – FBI Memo June 26, 1947 

Siegel was killed on June 20th, 1947. This memo must be delayed in its publication date from when the information came to the FBI. However, it seems that Virginia Hill planned and took her trip to France not long after this confrontation.

After this altercation, Hill threatened to commit suicide and subsequently took and overdose of sleeping tablets from which she later recovered after a short period of hospitalization. – FBI Memo September 22, 1948

Notice the lag in the date of the FBI memo. Why is this being recorded a year and three months after the event took place.

Hill then packer her clothes and stated she was going to Paris to marry a wealthy Frenchmen. Informant stated that there is as possibility that when Hill got to New York, she was so angry with Siegel that she may have contacted Joe Adonis and other Syndicate associates in New York and really spilled information on Siegel….Hill would be in a better position to know intimately Siegel’s plans and activities at the Flamingo Hotel in possibly defrauding the Syndicate and that if she was angry with Siegel she could really put him on the spot with both factual and fabricated information. – FBI Memo June 26, 1947

What this means is that in both cases the murder of Siegel could have run through Hill. That is Hill could have turned on Siegel, leading to his murder by either Hill’s brother or by the mob. As Hill is at the center of both, the mob could have hired Hill’s brother to be shooter. If I were a member of the mob, I can understand why they would have wanted to get rid of him as well.

Virginia Hill is said to have been relatively unmoved by Siegel’s killing. And like all of the aircraft carriers being out to sea during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Virginia Hill was on a trip to France at the time, which is another inaccuracy, as the movie shows her at the Flamingo. Siegel was killed in Virginia Hill’s house, not as shown in the film in his house. The following quote explains the problem in narrowing down the list of probable killers.

However, if Hill had Siegel killed, it did not seem to do much for her mental state, as she continued to attempt suicide with various pills in the 6 months after Siegel’s murder.

Who Didn’t Want Siegel Killed?

The bigger question to ask about who wanted Siegel killed is who did not want Siegel killed. Seigel had a multi-decade history of violence and intimidation and only lived as long as he did because people were afraid of retaliation by the mob if they attacked him.

None of Siegel’s associates at Las Vegas know whether Siegel was killed by the Syndicate or by someone else…anyone with whom Siegel has had business dealings in the last few months may have had a motive to kill him because Siegel had ‘completely lost his mind’ and had become very ruthless and abusive. – June 26, 1947 FBI Memo

and

There might be a hundred different people who wanted Siegel out of the way. There were plenty who had a motive to kill him. – C.H. Anderson, Beverly Hills Police Chief

There is no definitive answer as to who killed Siegel. No one was ever charged with the crime. There are only competing hypotheses and I did not cover all of the competing hypotheses here, as they are so many of them.

However, what is clear is that the way it is shown in the movie Bugsy is not accurate. Siegel was not down to his last nine lives with the mom in December of 1946. If Siegel was killed by the mob, a combined concern on many fronts, including Siegel’s degenerating mental state were factors, and other factors I did not get to listing, not just the Flamingo.

Conclusion

What is shown in the movie regarding Siegel’s murder is inaccurate. There are numerous hypotheses as to who killed Siegel and why. One problem is that so many people wanted Siegel dead. Siegel’s death is for some reason treated as a negative or unfortunate, however, when looking into Siegel’s behavioral history, it was a very good thing, and should be celebrated.