Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more
[00:00:10] Speaker B: specifics, and take care while you listen.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we follow the glittering and deadly trail of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, a man who helped build a desert dream and may have been destroyed by it.
I'm Jennifer James.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: We're psychics.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: We're sisters.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story takes us to beautiful Beverly Hills, California.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: That's right, Jennifer. And can you remind everyone what our intention is and. And was on that day?
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Our intention was, as it always is, to find a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allows us to give voice to the voiceless.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: That's right. And this was a particularly very exciting day because we had a camera woman with us.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: First time ever.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: First time ever. And she is our amazing friend Emily. So thank you, Em.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Em. I believe we have a photo of her and little Echo.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yes, Echo is her son. He's very perfect and very cute.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Yes. So we were driving around Santa Monica. I believe that's correct. All right, tell me more.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Well, I was getting vibes in the car. I was feeling, like, strong mob vibes for, like, days. And I couldn't wait to. To. To explore that with you in the car.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember that. I was feeling a Palm Springs connection. I was being pulled to Palm Springs.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Yes. And I was feeling a mob hit, particularly with guns. So it was like a kind of feeling. What else I was feeling? I was. I asked you. I'm like, could you imagine being a mob wife? Just a woman of a. Someone who is associated with a man in the mob. Think of all the money and access and the glitz and the glam that comes with that.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Yeah. No, I can't imagine that, can you?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: No, not at all. Not at all. What were you feeling?
[00:02:26] Speaker A: I was feeling that there was an important historic hotel that had something to do with the story we were picking up on.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: That's right.
I was picking up on going out to eat or an eatery, but I wasn't clear like the type of establishment. I just knew I was going out to eat.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Not only that, but in the car, you actually said the name Bugs. I did.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: That's insane. I said that I would recognize the name if I saw it. Something like Bugsy. I believe we have a clip.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And we did that whole riff on cartoon characters.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: Yes, because Tweety's an asshole.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Tweety is an asshole.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: He really is. But any name is. Any cartoon name is a good name for a mobster. You got Tweety, you got Sylvester.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: You got.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: I mean, there's so many Woody.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: So many Woody. Woody's a good one, too. Yeah.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Tom and Jerry. I mean, Tom and Jerry. It all works. Every single one.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Those two are aggressive, I gotta tell you. Tom and Jerry.
We had gone to a cemetery. But even when we were in the cemetery, I was feeling something still connected to our mob story. I was feeling an urban woman, the turn of the century, someone who was having a hard life. That was difficult. It was a difficult living situation. That's what I was picking up on. And I felt like I was not. It was someone who was not in
[00:03:54] Speaker A: the cemetery, but connected to the mob.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: And to the story.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: And then at some point, I remember being pulled to the coast. Like the coast was important.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Correct. I remember that. Good call. Good hit.
So this was the easiest research I had done in my entire life for this podcast. I just googled LA 1940s.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Oh.
What?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: I forgot specifically, my mob vibes I was picking up on were in the 1940s.
Specifically.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: So that was really crazy that I got that kind of timeframe. So. So when I googled LA mob, 1940s, this came up and talked about the Dragna crime family, which means nothing to me, but a name jumped out at me.
Bugsy Siegel.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Unbelievable. You said his name in the car.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: I said his name in the car. Cause I'm stupid psychic now. Jennifer.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Tell me. Tell me about Bugsy.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
So Benjamin, or Bugsy Siegel, was one of the most influential and infamous figures in early organized crime, helping shape what would eventually become the Las Vegas Strip. You know it.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: I know it well.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: You know it. Oh, you know it well.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: I know it well. Yeah.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Siegel rose to prominence within a powerful network that connected the Jewish American mob, the. The Italian American Mafia, and the broader coalition known as the National Crime Syndicate.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: That's right.
Jennifer. Can we.
Excuse me. Can we please pull up a picture of Bugsy?
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Okay. Taking a look. Oh, okay. All right.
He's pretty dapper.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Okay. What? What do you see?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: I'm seeing a gentleman reclining. He's got a tie and a suit.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I would relax, but it does all at once.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: What vibe are you getting from him?
[00:06:05] Speaker B: I think he kind of looks like our father.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: I can see it. Our father had a lighter. Lighter complexion, but it does like I
[00:06:16] Speaker B: was thinking, is this man attractive? Is he handsome? I'm like, you know what? Too much like dad.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
And can we get a side by side?
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: I see the resemblance.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: I mean, I really do.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Do you too. Yeah.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: I'm glad that you do, because I was thinking my daddy issues were like, on full display.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: The funny thing was, Jill, before you even said that and brought that to my attention, I looked at him and
[00:06:40] Speaker B: I was like, papa, Daddy, why, Daddy, please come home.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Oh, funny.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Anyway, tell us, like our father Bugsy was known for his striking good looks and magnetic personality.
That's really true. Yeah.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Like I.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Father Siegel took apart from many of his contemporaries, becoming one of the first gangsters to capture national media attention as a kind of celebrity outlaw.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: That's right. Tell me a little bit about his upbringing in his early life.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: It's pretty surprising, I think.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Well, he was born Benjamin Siegelbaum.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: That is surprising.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Not as catchy as Bugsy.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Well, Siegel is, I think, easier than single bomb.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: That's true. Benjamin Siegelbaum on February 28, 1906, in the crime ridden area of Williamsburg, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
He was the second of five children in a struggling Akhshanasi Jewish immigrant family.
Akazi Jews. In case you didn't know this, I had to look it up. Akazi Jews historically settled in Eastern Europe. And this was true for the seagull bombs and their family.
Siegel's parents, Jenny and Max Siegel, had come to the United States from the Galicia region of what was then Austria, Hungary, now an area divided between Poland and Ukraine.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: What was going on in Galicia around 1900 that would cause Ashtinavi Jews to immigrate to America? Did I say it right?
[00:08:29] Speaker A: No, but I'm gonna be really nice.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Oh, shut.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: You can.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: How do you say it?
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Action.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Never mind.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Never mind. Ashkenazi. I'm Ashkenazi.
You totally are. You. You totally are.
That is a great question. That is a great question.
So the thing about Galicia is that it was the poorest province in the entire Austro Hungarian empire.
It was overcrowded in the villages and cities, and there weren't a lot of jobs outside small trades or manual labor.
There was limited access to land that the people could work.
And this meant that survival was extremely difficult, even with constant work. And so people, the people there lived in crushing poverty. The population boom at the end of the 1800s increased competition for survival and just exacerbated these issues. Jill.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Oh, my God. That sounds rough.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: But the situation was even worse for the Jewish residents, anti Semitism was widespread in Galicia at the turn of the century, and Jews there faced social exclusion, barriers to certain professions, and, of course, discrimination.
There were periodic outbreaks of violence, harassment, and scapegoating during the economic downturns and political movements that targeted the Jewish communities. Oh, God, things sound rough.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: If I would move, too.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: For sure.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Was it these unfortunate conditions in Eastern Europe that the seagull bombs went looking to escape their way? And they came to America.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Exactly that, Jill. Exactly.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: 1900s. To build a bigger, better life.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Yeah, in 1900, they came. Actually. Unfortunately, they didn't even find it better in Brooklyn.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Oh, that's rough.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: So they came here, and they lived in town. Tight, overcrowded tenement apartments in immigrant neighborhoods. And Siegel's parents worked long hours for low wages and raised their family in poverty.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Wow, that. That's rough, man.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: But here's the thing about Bugsy Siegel.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: From a young age, Siegel showed a volatile personality.
What?
He had a really quick temper, and he was fearless, and he even had a reckless behavior.
Also, little respect for authority.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: It sounds like something you would read in the DSM 5, right? Like, it seems like a checklist of some kind of different social pattern of behavior.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: I think you might be right.
And he was also drawn to dangerous activities on the New York City streets.
You know what? You would have been friends with him.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: I know.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: You would have.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: You would have dated him if he was taller.
I don't know how tall he was, but I would. I would have. I would have dated him.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: And we have to know how tall he is. Can we get how tall he is? Because.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Let me look.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: What is your limit on height? I. I mean, you always say this. If he was taller, but you. We don't have a limit.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: So I think, realistically, anything small, smaller than five isn't, like. Yeah. Is an issue. You know, then it just looks really ridiculous. Right.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: All right, well.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: But I will tell you, short men really are attracted to me because it's like I'm a mountain they need to climb. It's really.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: You're a real challenge.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: I.
You can say that again.
How tall was Bugsy seagull?
5.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: 10.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: We have a winner.
Very nice.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: So you would have dated him?
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Well, all right, good.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Because. Because of my daddy issues and that he looked like my daddy, I'm sure I would have dated him.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: And he was a criminal and a badass.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: And he was a criminal and a badass, so. Right.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: He was a real badass. Because Bugsy dropped out of School at the age of 11.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: That's young.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Oh, and he drifted into the street life, joining a gang on Lafayette street in Manhattan's Lower east side. And there he began committing petty theft and quickly escalated to more aggressive schemes, including extorting protection money from push card vendors working in the crowded neighborhoods across the east river in New York City. He shot up, up.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Right when he was 12, he started a racket where he was intimidating the push cart owners with another dropout to get money from them for protection.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: That, that is. That is impressive. I'm not going to lie. Evil, but impressive.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Well, how badass does a 12 year old. I have to be to be like, nah, you need me to protect your. You know what I mean? Like, that's pretty.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: That's ballsy.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it is.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
In 1918, around the age of 13 years old, Siegel met Meyer Lansky.
Meyer Lansky was another streetwise teenager from a similar immigrant background. And the two formed a close and lasting partnership, eventually creating what became known as the Bugs and Meyer gang, a group that would grow in both power and notoriety, and to become known as one of the most violent prohibition gangs.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Do you want to take a look at a picture of Meyer Lansky with me?
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Sure. Let's look at it.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: This is a young Meyer Lansky.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Got it.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: He, you know, I don't know if I would be intimidated by this one.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: He's not as good looking as Bugsy.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: True.
But it's not about his looks. It's like, I don't know, I don't think he would scare me. I bet you he's short.
I have to look it up now.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: I don't know. He's.
All right. How tall was Meyer Lansky?
[00:14:41] Speaker B: If, like, if I could take him in a fight, you know what I mean? I don't think I would be intimidated
[00:14:48] Speaker A: because this is really important that we know his height.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Yes, it is.
Oh, guess how tall he was.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Five, eight.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Five feet tall. No. Yeah.
I'm telling you, he was not intimidated. Are you.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: You wouldn't date him?
[00:15:04] Speaker B: No, I crush him. I would crush him, but I'm sure he would have a crush on me. He'd be like that tall. Drink of water, Jill. He could be your, like, mannequin puppet, my ventriloquist dummy. Like, hey, Meyer, how are you?
[00:15:24] Speaker A: But he'd be dangerous. I think you guys would make the perfect couple.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Be like, oh, my God, I sit him out of my lap. Be like, what do you gotta say now?
[00:15:33] Speaker A: You take him out of your guitar case.
Like, what'd you say.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: Say it again. I dare you. I dare you.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Yeah, okay, so that's Meyer Lansky, folks.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: So what about making a name for Bugsy? How did he become the Bugsy that we know him to be today?
[00:15:53] Speaker A: Well, by the age of 24 years old, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel had, through his close partnership with the little Meyer Lansky, built connections with.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Little guy. It's just a little guy.
He's like a little gangster.
And she climbed up on my shoulder. Little guy.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Oh, sorry.
Bugsy, through his close partnership with Meyer Lansky, built connections with some of the most powerful figures in New York's underworld, including, you'll know this name. Charles Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia, and Vito Genovesi.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Now, I have heard of Costello, Luciano and Javisi.
Have you?
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Lucky Luciano, I've heard for sure.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Can we take a look at his mug shot?
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Why don't we?
[00:16:54] Speaker B: This guy scares me. I ain't even trying to play with this one. Yeah, he's looking at me like, I wish a bitch would. I wish a bitch would. Like, that's how he's looking at me right now.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: You don't want him as your puppet, no matter how tall he is.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: No, I don't. I'm not even interested in his height. This is a no go.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: He does look evil. For sure.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: For sure. Those eyes are cold, like shark eyes.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Well, in the early 1930s, then Luciano, Lucky Luciano, and a coalition of Italian gangsters began organizing what would become a centralized crime network, first in New York and eventually nationwide. Often referred to as the National Crime Syndicate. Within this violent and shifting landscape, Luciano's rivals frequently met deadly ends.
And Siegel transitioned from his early days with the Bugs and Meyer gang into working more directly under Luciano's influence.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: That's right. So let me. Jill, explain this for everybody, okay?
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Please do.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Okay, so this is what's happening. So Meyer was working with Lucky. Like, I think Meyer was, like, Lucky's bookkeeper. And Lucky needed, like, jobs done. And when I say jobs, I mean, like, hits done. So he was like.
So he was all like, I got the guy for you. He crazy. He crazy, but he good. And he set him up with Bugsy. And now Bugsy would go out and be a hired killer for the Crime Signature Kit and would go around the country killing these hard targets. And that made him an asset to Lucky Luciano. And that's how he became a. Like a confidant of his.
Can I tell you a story?
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Please tell me a story.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: So to prove that he was going to put the mob and the Organization in front of his own personal priorities or relationships. They had him specifically kill his best friend from childhood because he. His best friend, like, got out of line, and so he was like. Took him for a drive and was like, yeah, we're gonna go hang out. And then ended up like, stabbing him, his own best friend to get pull and to get cred with the mob.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Oh, Bugsy.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: So that's the kind of person Bugsy is. Like, yes, he's hot. Yes, he has charisma, but he's no joke. Like, he is.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: He's a bad mfer.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: He really is.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Oh, that's terrible. Well, thank you for telling me that, because I was kind of liking him.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: I know, I know. I had a. I had a.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Well, you are already dating him in your. In your. In your head, not in.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: When I found that out, then we broke up in my head.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Okay.
Wow.
Well, so. Despite his growing notoriety, Siegel managed to avoid serious legal consequences early on. In 1932, he was arrested on charges related to gambling and bootlegging, but ultimately escaped with only a fine. In 1932, he was arrested on charges related to gambling and bootlegging, but. But ultimately, he escaped with only a fine.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: He was getting a lot of attention in New York, so they were like, you know what? You need to get out of town. And where did. Yeah, dude. Because not only was he flashy, but he was also, like, doing, like, criminal crimes and stuff. You know what I mean? Two don't go together. So they're like, you need to get out of town. And where did they send him? Where?
[00:20:24] Speaker A: They sent him to California.
Yeah, they did.
Wow.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Which is not a bad gig.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: You know, like, if I had to choose a single location in the United States, in the continental United States, Southern California, I actually.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: I love it so much more than I thought I would. It's. It's crazy.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: It's magical. It is magical. It really is. Ugh. The weather.
The weather.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: It's not so bad.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: It beats the Midwest. It beats the Midwest anytime, 100%.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: We live in stupid places.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Stupid.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: So stupid.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Why do we live in the Midwest?
[00:21:02] Speaker B: One day, Jennifer. One day.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Well, he moved to California in 1937, the syndicate sent Siegel west to Los Angeles, tasking him with expanding organized gambling operations there.
In Southern California, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel played a key role in expanding organized crime operations across growing communities. Working alongside figures like Mickey Cohen, he helped establish a network of gambling dens and even offshore gambling ships.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: Mickey Conan was. Yeah, Mickey Cohen. Sorry. Mickey Cohen was a guy that became notorious in la. But he rose in the ranks under Siegel.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Okay. Because I have heard the name Mickey Cohen before.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: You did? I did it.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: You never have.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: No, never.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: So working alongside Mickey Cohen, he helped establish a network of gambling dens and even offshore gambling ships while tightening control over existing enterprises such as prostitution, narcotics distribution, and bookmaking.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Which is.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: It's not like what it sounds.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Making books.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: It's not like, literally, like, he wasn't a writer. He wasn't.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: He wasn't punching holes.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: And like, he wasn't Shel Silverstein. Okay.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: I love Shel Silverstein. I know.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: I do too.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: That's so weird you bring it up. I just did a. I just did a reading for someone on Sunday, and Shell Silverstein was coming in, a light on in the attic. And the guy.
The guy that I was doing a reading for has this, like, mural to it. And literally, the light on in the attic, the COVID of the book. Interesting.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: That's. That's because I'm psychic. Duh.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: Duh.
I should have known. Get out of the brain. So what is a brain?
[00:22:54] Speaker A: What does a bookmaker do, Jill?
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Don't they cook the books?
[00:22:57] Speaker A: They cook the books. Bookmaking is the illegal business of taking bets outside government regulation without paying taxes. That's what a bookie does.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Do. I did not know that.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're a bookie, then the verb is bookmaking.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Okay. Thank you.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: You're welcome.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: One to grow on the more, you know criminal organizations.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: At the same time, Siegel brought a level of efficiency to these operations by modernizing how money moved within the organization. He helped implement a national wire system that allowed profits to be transferred quickly and reliably back to east coast partners, strengthening the syndicate's reach and coordination across the country.
Hmm. So he's like the Thomas Edison of mobsters. Is that what's happening?
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Better hair, but with better hair.
So here he is in California, and Bugsy Siegel finds that his growing wealth is opening doors that had been close to him back in New York.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Like, what kind of doors? Doors to where? To who?
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Well, I guess doors to. I don't know how to answer that question.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: To the elite in the community.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: Doors to the elite in the community. In Southern California. In Los Angeles.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: That would include, like, film stars.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: It would include film stars, but also. And this is. Don't overlook this. He's making a show ton of money. Like, he. He's in charge. Like, he shows up and he is in charge. Like, I don't even wanna. I don't wanna play. And everyone's like, I'll give you my money. Right. Like, pretty much.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: I think, like intuitively feeling him walk into a nightclub, like with that energy, with that charisma with looks. You'd look, you. You'd want to know who he is.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: That. Yes. Who is that person? Because he would tell you by his energy, by the way he held himself that he was a big deal and
[00:25:07] Speaker B: he did not give any fucks at all.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: So to answer your questions, he made a shit ton of money and he purchased an upscaled home in Beverly Hills like you do.
He also moved easily among the elite of Hollywood back in the 1940s. Girl, tell me names named Clark Gable. Yes. Cary Grant.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: And George Raft.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Okay. Never heard of him before.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Never heard of him, but okay, let's
[00:25:42] Speaker B: go through some of this, some of these pictures, shall we?
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Okay. All right. You want to start with Raft?
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Let's know. I want to start with. I want to start with Clark Label, because I have a question.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Okay. Clark Gable. Got you.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: Okay, let's look at Clark.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Looking at Clark. Hi, Clark.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: He's, you know, he's familiar looking.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: I fell in love with him for in Gone with the Wind.
He'll always be Rhett Butler to me.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: I think that's my problem. He's always Rhett Butler.
That's.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: How many movies have you seen with Clark Gable?
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Misfits and Gone with the Wind?
[00:26:20] Speaker A: You've seen two movies with Clark Gable?
[00:26:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Okay, so we're good. You need to be educated.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: So are there good Clark Gable movies?
[00:26:29] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. Where he's not like Clark Gable. Where he's not Rhett Butler. Yes, yes.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Okay, okay, okay.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: It Happened One Night.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: I'll write it down.
I will write it down. It Happened One Night. I watched it tonight. Okay? Now, Cary Grant. Who is Cary Grant?
Cary Grant, he's everything.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: What more do you have to say? He's.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: That the charisma on that. It's so. I mean, his headshot look. He's giving you eyes. Yes, yes, he is.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: He couldn't be more handsome.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: More handsome or more charming. His presence is just silly and fun.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Charisma. But he can also do dramatic roles. Alfred Hitchcock.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: True. Yes. Good job. He's not.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: He's not a one trick pony.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Not a one trick pony. No, that. You know what, that's a really. That's a really good point. Because what you're saying about Clark Gable, maybe he doesn't have as much range as someone like Cary Grant.
Plus, he's not as hot.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Thank you. All good points. All good points. Now let's turn to the headshot of George Rach.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Okay, let's turn. Oh, and the thing is, the reason
[00:27:42] Speaker B: why you haven't heard much about George Rath is because he made a bunch of bad decisions when it came to taking roles. And he turned down several of the roles that made Humphrey Beauregard a star. Wow.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: Oh, that's unfortunate.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: So he was kind of typecast then as just a mobster. Like he played mobsters in the movie.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: I can see it. He's got that swarthy, kind of dark complexion. I believe he was a mobster. Okay, okay. And so your point is that Bugsy Siegel, he's in LA and he is hobnobbing with these movie stars.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Yes. And holding his own in this crowd. Like, I would be like, hum and a hum and a hominin home. You know what I mean?
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How interesting. I bet they were learning from Bugsy.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: It's so funny you say that, because Raft definitely was. There's actually the signature move of Raft where he flips a coin up in the air and catches it when he's being a hard ass on screen. And that he got from Bugsy.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. I'm gonna look him up because I like old movies. I would love to see that. I know.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: You are an old movie buff.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: I am.
Okay. So let's talk a little bit about Raft, shall we?
[00:28:56] Speaker B: We shall. Okay.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: Raft, who had grown up in New York City around street figures and later built a career portraying gangsters on the screen, acted as a bridge between Bugsy Siegel and Hollywood society.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Yep.
He even stood by Siegel in a more formal capacity, serving as a character witness during one of his criminal trials.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Holy cow. That's a good friend.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: That's a writer.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Or die. Yes. You're not going to trial for anything you don't know.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: I don't know what I've done.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Trust me.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: But if you like it.
But if I did. Yes, thank you.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: I would totally. I would lie on the sand all day long for you.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: On the sand.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: Stand.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Oh, stand. You would lie. So not lie now you would.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: Falsehood. Oh, my God. This is being recorded.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: If it came down to it, like, please, Officer.
Thanks.
What about me?
[00:29:59] Speaker B: Is it too. Is it too close to home? You wouldn't. Would you testify on my behalf as at least a character witness?
[00:30:06] Speaker A: As a character witness, yes.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Okay. You hesitated.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: I don't even know why. You're on trial.
I need more information.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Well, I'm sure you have.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: She probably did it, but she's a Great person.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: She's funny and she's generous and nice to be around.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Okay, so.
Oh, my gosh. By the late 1930s, Siegel began a high profile relationship with an actress.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: Who was the actress?
[00:30:38] Speaker A: No one you've heard of.
Her name was Virginia Hill.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Never heard of her.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: I told you.
And we have a photo of Virginia.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: That's a great photo.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: She's giving Judy Garland.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: I thought so, too.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Judy. Hey, have you found the video of us screaming for Judy Garland on the other side of the hedge that separated us from.
From Judy Garland's house?
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Jennifer and I went sightseeing one day out of the week, or a couple days. We were in Southern California.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: On our own.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: On our own. And we went into Bel Air and it's all just hedges.
You can't see the houses. You don't know if real people are behind them.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Hedges and security doors and cameras and lots of cameras.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: And we went to Judy Garland's old address, and we're going, judy, Judy. Screaming in the car at the hedge.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: At the hedge. Yeah.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: No, I didn't find that, but if
[00:31:45] Speaker A: I did, we need to find it.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: If I can find it, we would insert it for you here.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: So Bugsy Siegel and his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, became known as a glamorous yet volatile pair. Their lives marked by both luxury and instability.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Do you want to know the goss on this relationship?
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Spill the tea.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: Okay, so she was, like, bored with regular men because she, too, had her fingers in the mob. She would, like, like, move money around for them and stuff like that. Okay, so she was an earner for the mob.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: And.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: But yeah, so. So an ordinary man couldn't satisfy her because she would devour him. Then here comes Bugsy, and actually, one of Bugsy's friends had a crush on her. So he literally just went up to her to, like, get it on because his friend liked her. Okay.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Are you serious?
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Where to? God.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Dick move.
Dick move.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: I mean, a lot of reasons why you shouldn't like Bugsy. But anyway, so he goes up, he meets her, they begin this volatile affair where, like, in front of people, she would smack him in the face. And he would just be like, that girl's a firecracker. It's like she's the only person that would stand up to him so hardcore that he respected her. And a lot of their fights turned into sexy time.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Ooh, sorry, that. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: Don't yuck their yum.
Sometimes that's just what you need.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Okay, Mad Respect for Virginia Hill for holding her own.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: With a deadly mobster. But I. I wouldn't recommend a volida relationship like that.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: No, it's too. I can't do the ups and downs. I'm just. I'm too old.
I'm just too old for this, you know?
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yes.
So, Jill. Yes, go ahead.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: I want to know how Bugsy Siegel got connected to Vegas, because they say he's like the godfather of Vegas girl.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: In 1941, Siegel was sent to Las Vegas by Meyer Lansky's syndicate to expand organized gambling operations, including establishing a race wire service to control the increasingly profitable horse betting parlors downtown.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: So what was Vegas like in 1941 when he was sent there?
[00:34:11] Speaker A: Okay. When Siegel arrived in 1941, it was absolutely nothing like the glittering strip that you have in your mind right now. So get it out of your mind.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: Get it out of my mind?
[00:34:22] Speaker A: Get it out of your mind.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Out of my mind?
[00:34:23] Speaker A: Out of your mind. No. No glamour, no glitz, no bright lights.
It was basically a small desert railroad town with a population of about 8,000 and with a sparse economy that centered on the railroads and the activities of the nearby Hoover Dam workers. That's pretty much all it was.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Can we look at a picture of 1947 Las Vegas?
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Oh, let's do it.
Wow.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: What are we seeing here?
[00:34:57] Speaker A: We are seeing a little desert town.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Very little desert town. Like crazy.
There were. There were casino and hotels in the town because it was a. Like, you were able to gamble in Vegas. So there were, like, three hotels there, but nothing.
Nothing like it would become to be.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: Right. And actually, the state of Nevada had legalized gambling back in 1931, but like you said, by 1941, the casinos were there, but they were small. They were local. Local hangouts. Not glamorous.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: No, like. Like neighborhood taverns, I would say.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Think smoke filled rooms, modest tables. The idea, the very idea of a luxury casino hadn't even been realized.
Think about that.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: So tell me about what Bugsy did to integrate himself into Las Vegas.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: In 1945, Jill Siegel purchased the El Cortez Hotel and Casino. It was a modest but strategic property near Fremont Street.
That same year, with Hill at his side, he took over development of a far more ambitious project on the outskirts of the city. A luxury hotel casino that would later become the Flamingo Hotel.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: That's right.
He really believed that the national crime syndicate could make a lot of money in gambling in this little town. So he bought 800 acres of. Of what is now known as the Las Vegas strip. And he would tell his friends, get in on it now. Start buying the property now, because it's going to be big.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: Wow. He was a real visionary in that regard.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: He really was what he like, someone who is a genius for crime.
Seriously, like, he's like, how can we be more efficient with the crime?
[00:36:55] Speaker A: True.
Although Siegel is often credited with the flamingos creation, the original concept actually belonged to someone else, to a man named Billy Wilkerson.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Who? Billy.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: He was a Los Angeles nightclub owner and publisher of the Hollywood Reporter.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: I know that. I know the Hollywood Reporter.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: It's still around today, I think.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Oh. Wilkerson envisioned the property, but he ran out of money. After heavy gambling losses, a deal was struck. Meyer Lansky and his associates would finance the project in exchange for a controlling interest, and Siegel would take charge of construction.
But tensions quickly arose between Siegel and Wilkerson, ultimately forcing Wilkerson out. With Siegel now in full control, the project spiraled. Initially budgeted at 1.2 million, construction costs ballooned to around 6. 6 million, infuriating the mob financiers backing the venture.
I mean, I get it, though. Any remodel, I'm going over budget.
[00:38:06] Speaker B: Jennifer. This man bought real flamingos from Florida to Las Vegas. And, like, they died in a few days because they couldn't stand the heat.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: Oh, that makes me so sad.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: That's the kind of stuff he was doing. Like he was being.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: I wouldn't do that. I would not do that. You wouldn't do that? No, absolutely not.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: But that's the kind of shenanigans he was doing. He was like, more, more, more.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: And you're like, yeah, that's ridiculous. Siegel's grand vision of luxury, combined with questionable management and suspicious skimming, drove expenses far beyond expectations, setting the stage for conflict that would follow.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: And that is the setting that leads us to. To the incident.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: The incident.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: I just want to give a trigger warning here. The next few paragraphs that Jennifer is going to describe is pretty graphic, and we also have some imagery that may be really triggering for more sensitive audiences.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: No, I think that's going to be later, actually.
This is just a cursory going over of the incident. When we get to the modern theory, that's when we really get into it.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: I thought, okay, well, either way, this is a very graphic story. It may be more.
It may be less appropriate for more sensitive audiences.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: Thank you, Jill, for that very responsible trigger warning. You're welcome. Why are you flirting with me now?
[00:39:41] Speaker B: I'm not.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Now you're flirting with thank you.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Can I just say thank you? No.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: No, you can't.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: Okay, fine. Shut up.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: On June 20, 1947, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel began his day, like many others during that uneasy spring, under pressure. The lavish Flamingo Hotel project had drained millions more than expected, and his powerful associates were growing impatient.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: Yeah, they were.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: Rumors swirled that Siegel had been skimming money, though nothing was ever definitively proven.
Jill, I don't think mobsters like it when you skim their money.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: No, I don't think mobsters like it when you steal their money from them.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: I think it's like a sticking point.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: The thing is, though, he was so irresponsible with the. With the funds in making this casino that I don't know if he was really skimming off of it. He was probably assumed when he's bringing flamingos in from other states. Like, really?
[00:40:47] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, he wasn't trying to. If he was stealing, he wasn't trying to hide it, let's put it that way.
[00:40:53] Speaker B: The man was not on a budget, I'll tell you that much.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: What was certain was this. His position within the syndicate was no longer secure.
That day, Siegel returned to Los Angeles from Las Vegas to stay at the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who was out of the country at the time, in Europe.
The house sat at 810 N. Linden Dr. In Beverly Hills, a quiet, upscale neighborhood that offered both privacy and the illusion of safety.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: Can we look at a picture of the house?
[00:41:31] Speaker A: Oh, let's.
Ooh it.
[00:41:35] Speaker B: Gorgeous.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. It looks really art deco.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: I think it looks a lot like a Mediterranean.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: Yes, yes, I can see that.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: I love.
There is. The house looks like it's divided on either side of a circular staircase that I can imagine being inside that foyer. It just looks beautiful.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: It does.
Alan Smiley, a longtime friend and mob associate, picked up Siegel up from the airport.
Throughout the day, Bugsy Siegel went about his routine. Taking meetings, making calls. The image of a man still in control.
He reportedly discussed plans, including efforts to stabilize the Flamingo's finances and expand operations.
Despite the tension surrounding him, there was no outward sign that he believed his life was in immediate danger, especially because
[00:42:34] Speaker B: the hotel was starting to turn a profit. It was going from red to profitable. So he probably thought that he was pretty safe because the hotel was doing well.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: And once he makes a profit on the hotel, he can pay back his financiers, right?
[00:42:47] Speaker B: Exactly right.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: So that evening, Bugsy Siegel settles into the living room of Virginia Hills Mansion with Smiley. And they have just returned from A Santa Monica seafood beach restaurant.
The men relaxed, reading newspapers and chatting casually.
Siegel sat on a couch near a large picture window, the warm California night drifting in through the open air.
Then, at approximately 10:45pm Nine shots were fired out in rapid succession.
Four struck Siegel.
One hit the bridge of his nose, destroying his left eye.
Another entered his right cheek and exited through the back.
He collapsed backward onto the couch, dead within seconds. He was only 42 years old.
[00:43:44] Speaker B: Isn't that crazy? Only 42 years old.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: The attack was swift and precise. The shooter never entered the home, and no weapon was ever recovered.
Despite an immediate police response, no one was ever officially charged with the murder.
So what do you think about that?
[00:44:06] Speaker B: Do you think Bugsy is our voiceless for this episode?
[00:44:12] Speaker A: I hate giving someone like Bugsy Siegel a voice.
But his murder technically was never solved.
Am I right?
[00:44:23] Speaker B: You're right. There was no justice for his murder.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Do you think Bugsies are voiceless?
[00:44:28] Speaker B: I do, But I also think there's another person that I'll mention later that I think is coming through.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:44:35] Speaker B: Yeah. The thing is, is that this is the first mobster that I ever researched that I disliked.
[00:44:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: You know what I mean? Like, I honestly dislike this man. Where growing up in the Chicagoland area with the. With the allure of the mob and Al Capone, I.
I like the mob. I. It's. I know. It's like.
It's.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: It's exciting. It's romantic. It's. It's.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a timestamp in Chicago.
You know what I mean? Just that era. So this was the first mobster that I really was like, oh, yeah, you're a bad guy. Hot take. Mobsters aren't cool. Cool. You know? So I wonder how the police would investigate, knowing that this is a bad guy. Yeah, this is a monster. Like, is.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: Is this something that the police are actually taking seriously in investigating, or are they just glad that he's gone?
[00:45:31] Speaker A: Right. Like, how many of the police department resources and FBI resources are going to go into finding the murderer of this guy? Right.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: All right, well, let's talk about it.
As part of the early investigation. June 21 to June 23, 1947, detectives questioned Allen Smiley. Remember, he was there.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: He was there in the room.
[00:45:54] Speaker A: Allen claimed he did not see the shooter, and when the shots started firing, he dove to the floor.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: That checks that. That checks.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: That's exactly what I would do. Right. Forget trying to look at his face.
[00:46:08] Speaker B: Right. Are you kidding?
[00:46:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Police canvassed the neighborhood, and there are no reliable Eyewitnesses. Although a neighbor by the name of Lou Shane said that he heard gunshots and he ran outside to see a suspicious vehicle roaring at high speeds headed north on Linden Drive.
[00:46:27] Speaker B: Lou, that is not something you do if you're from Chicago. If you're hearing gunshots, you ain't running outside to see who's shooting.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you do what Smiley did.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: You do what Smiley did.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Do what Smiley does.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: That needs to be on a T shirt.
Do what smiley did.
Get on the floor.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: Media coverage explodes nationwide. Siegel's celebrity status intensifies pressure, so authorities quickly suspect organized crime involvement.
[00:46:58] Speaker B: But, like, who in the organized crime.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: Good question.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: Because he has good friends in the. In the syndicate. So, like, who?
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Well, Meyer Lansky was his one time friend.
[00:47:08] Speaker B: Shut up.
[00:47:10] Speaker A: And they suspect him. You know, little Meyer Lansky.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Little guy.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: Yeah, little guy on your shoulder. Also, Charles Lucky Luciano.
[00:47:20] Speaker B: He's a badass.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: These are people who he thought were his friends. Yeah.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: These were people that he would rely on the relationships to keep his street cred.
So that's saying something.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: By the summer of 1947, Beverly Hills Police are coordinating with Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI, and investigators explored connections between the Los Angeles rackets, the east coast syndicate leadership, and leads point to a contract killing. But there is no evidence, no direct evidence leading to any one suspect.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Mm.
And the senior forensic specialist in the Beverly Hills Police Department concluded that Siegel was most likely slain by two different shooters. That's interesting, because he said it would have been nearly impossible for just one gunman to make such precise shots to his face because the mobster's head would have turned upon the impact from the first bullet. That's interesting.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: That is really interesting.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: And by late 1947, Jill, the case completely stalled because there's a lack of witnesses, a lack of a weapon, and there's no confession. Of course. Of course, Organized crimes code of silence prevented any cooperation from anyone who might have known who was responsible.
And so the police simply concluded that the killing was professional and. And premeditated. And the shooter was experienced and likely hired. But. Wow, by whom?
[00:48:59] Speaker B: Well, do we have any theories as to who?
[00:49:03] Speaker A: We do. Some of them are good.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: Okay. One theory involved a woman named B.E. sedway, the wife of one of Lansky's associates, M.O. sedway.
Now, B.E. had purportedly learned that Bugsy Siegel was planning to kill her husband.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Why?
[00:49:22] Speaker A: Well, Siegel apparently had grown increasingly resentful of the control that Mo Sedway was exerting over his finances and planning to do away with him.
So according to this theory, B hired her lover, Matthew Moose Ponza, to kill Siegel before Siegel could take a hit out on her husband.
[00:49:41] Speaker B: This woman had a complicated life.
Like, my God.
[00:49:47] Speaker A: Another theory asserted that Siegel was targeted by Virginia Hill's brother because the two of them had a history of, of a knockdown, drag out relationship.
[00:49:59] Speaker B: Yeah, they did.
[00:49:59] Speaker A: And apparently Virginia Hill's brother was over it. And so another theory was that her, her brother had stepped in. Yeah.
Now perhaps the most widely held theory was that Benjamin Bugsy Siegel was killed because of his escape, escalating spending and suspicions that he had skimmed money from the mob backed investments.
By May of 1946, the Flamingo Hotel had finally begun to turn a profit, like you said, prompting Charles Lucky Luciano to call in Siegel's outstanding loan.
And according to accounts, Siegel dismissed the demand outright.
Allegedly telling Luciano to relax and go to hell.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: Dude had some brass balls if nothing else.
That is crazy.
[00:50:56] Speaker A: That's, that's legendary right there.
Later in 1946, a high level meeting of the national crime syndicate, often described as a board of directors, was held in Havana so that Luciano, then living in exile in Sicily, could participate. That makes sense.
At the meeting, the decision was reportedly made to place a contract on Siegel's life.
And Meyer Lansky is said to have reluctantly agreed.
Damn.
[00:51:31] Speaker B: Damn.
Is there any reported modern theories?
[00:51:39] Speaker A: There is.
Why and everything. I, I'm, I'm going there. Are you ready? Are you sitting?
[00:51:47] Speaker B: I'm ready.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: In a February 28, 2026 article published on Siegel's 120th birthday and the.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: You.
That's so recent.
[00:51:58] Speaker A: I know.
[00:51:59] Speaker B: That is so recent.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Okay, that's like a month before we were in LA driving around.
[00:52:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, for real, Exactly a month.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: It was published in the U. S. Edition of the Daily Mail.
It was a detailed timeline of the night of Bugsy Siegel's murder that was published. And it was based on the work of a historian and author of two books about Bugsy by the name of Larry Grag.
And he had reconstructed the timeline using FBI files and the memoir of an FBI agent and other sources. This guy did his homework.
[00:52:35] Speaker B: He did his homework. And I just want to say good on the FBI, that they really took the case seriously and they had these kind of records available.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: So they took good notes.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: Yeah, they took notoriously.
John, can you take me through the timeline that Larry put together?
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So while Siegel was at dinner with his friend and mob Associate Alan Smiley, 280 miles away at his beloved casino, the Flamingo Hotel, a Group of revelers drew quiet suspicion, standing out sharply from the unusual crowd. Their presence was just a little too conspicuous to ignore.
So, okay, it's the dinner show, and everyone was having a good time, except for one table of eight gentlemen who weren't clapping or laughing or even smiling. And during the show, another man moved quietly among them, leaning in to whisper something into each of their ears. Their expressions remained unchanged, but one by one, they rose from the table and calmly dispersed, positioning themselves at strategic points throughout the Flamingo Hotel.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: That is some mob type right there, right?
[00:53:53] Speaker A: Not laughing, whispering, whispering, just getting up. And back in LA, shortly before 11pm seated on a living room couch beside Smiley, Bugsy Siegel was reading the Los Angeles Times when the quiet night was suddenly shattered. From outside the house, a hidden gunman, concealed behind thick shrubbery, opened fire through the window with an M1 carbine.
From just 14ft away, the shooter unleashed nine rounds, killing Siegel instantly.
[00:54:27] Speaker B: Can we take a look at a picture of the house from 1947, the year that he died? I just want to show you. The living room is to the right of that circular portion in the middle. And you can tell from this image how high the shrubbery. Am I saying it right?
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Shrubbery,
[00:54:48] Speaker B: Shrubbery. Okay. You can tell how thick it was and how easy it would be for someone or some people to hide behind it, to shoot.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
So much shrubbery.
[00:55:00] Speaker B: So much. Too much shrubbery.
[00:55:01] Speaker A: Too much rubbery.
[00:55:04] Speaker B: And why, this is another thing.
If you're a mobster, and you are, wouldn't you want a view? Wouldn't you want that to be open so you can check on things like that?
[00:55:15] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, think if Virginia Hill had a better gardener, Bugsy Siegel might have lived that night.
[00:55:21] Speaker B: Might have been. Might have been alive.
[00:55:25] Speaker A: Within minutes of the shooting, a remarkable chain of events began to unfold. Listen to this. An FBI agent by the name of Curtis Lynem received a call from what he described as his most important confidential informant in Las Vegas.
Calling from a payphone outside the Flamingo Hotel, the informant delivered the message. Plainly, Siegel had been shot and killed in Beverly Hills.
And almost immediately after that call, mob figures Mo Sedway, Gus Greenbaum, and Morris Rosen entered the Flamingo and declared that control of the casino had changed hands.
The group of men who had earlier positioned themselves throughout the property was already in place, ensuring the transition happened swiftly and without resistance.
That's a mob shit right there.
[00:56:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Just being like, you know what? This motherfucker, that belongs to us now.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: That is not a coincidence. He dies Hundreds of miles away, FBI gets a phone call, and without like skipping a beat, they announce that the hotel has changed hands.
That's not a coincidence.
[00:56:39] Speaker B: Not a coincidence. And notice the familiar name of Mo Segway. He's one of.
He's one of Myers guys.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: He is. He is one of Myers guys. And reportedly Seagull didn't like him. But let's keep going.
Some historians, including investigator Larry Gragg, believe Sedway himself may have been the confidential informant, noting that lineman's later description closely matched him. The speed of the phone call placed almost immediately after the shooting, like we said, and the seamless takeover of the casino strongly suggest prior knowledge that he's not wrong.
[00:57:20] Speaker B: I mean, there's nothing else it could be.
[00:57:23] Speaker A: While the identity of the gunman remains unknown to this day, the timing of these events has led many historians to the same conclusion, which is the hit on Bugsy Siegel was not only sanctioned, but carefully coordinated. As noted by experts like Claire White of the Mob Museum of Vegas.
Why have not. Why haven't we been to the Mob Museum of Vegas?
[00:57:48] Speaker B: We can.
[00:57:49] Speaker A: We should go immediately. We need to drop everything and go to the Mob Museum of Vegas.
[00:57:54] Speaker B: Is there a mob museum in Chicago?
[00:57:57] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:57:58] Speaker B: I don't know. There should be, but I actually.
Because Chicago's are tight lipped, you know what I mean? Like, they're not trying to put that on display.
[00:58:08] Speaker A: As noted by experts like Claire White of the Mob Museum of Vegas, the fact that leaders in Las Vegas appeared to know exactly what to do within moments of a killing 300 miles away points to a plan already set in motion.
[00:58:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it does.
So what are some takeaways from this story today, Jill?
[00:58:29] Speaker A: Obviously, the birth of modern Las Vegas as we know it.
[00:58:33] Speaker B: I know that people were investing, but I don't think that they were investing in Vegas. With the vision that Bugsy had to bring the glitz and glam of Hollywood to the desert, I think that specifically was his genius.
[00:58:47] Speaker A: Yeah. His biggest legacy is tied to the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.
But he also owned, like you said, the land around the Flamingo, which is the modern day Las Vegas strip. Estimated at about 800 acres.
[00:59:01] Speaker B: Girl.
After he died, that land was like parceled off to like, his daughters and whatever. And one of his daughter's like, father in laws was like, we just need to get rid of this land. And they sold it for like $2,000.
[00:59:16] Speaker A: No, they did not.
[00:59:17] Speaker B: Yes, they did.
Yes, they did.
What a mistake.
What a mistake.
[00:59:23] Speaker A: The Flamingo was one of the first luxury resort style casinos. And it helped transform Las Vegas from a dusty gambling stop into a destination built on glamour and entertainment.
Today's Las Vegas strips.
Las Vegas Strips.
[00:59:44] Speaker B: Las Vegas Strips.
[00:59:45] Speaker A: That should be like a KFC order. I'll head to the Las Vegas strips.
[00:59:51] Speaker B: You know, they're gonna be spicy.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: They gotta be spicy. They gonna be so spicy. Today's Las Vegas strip with its high end resorts, shows and spectacle, follows the blueprint that Siegel himself helped establish.
And not only that.
[01:00:08] Speaker B: I was gonna say that. But not only that.
Not only that. Jennifer. His death was a turning point in organized crime.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: Tell me, how is it because
[01:00:22] Speaker B: his death mark a shift in how the national crime signature.
[01:00:27] Speaker A: I'll just.
[01:00:27] Speaker B: Jennifer.
[01:00:28] Speaker A: Yeah, okay.
[01:00:30] Speaker B: Can you just do that for me? Can you just hear that out? Sure.
[01:00:35] Speaker A: Siegel's death marked a shift in how the national crime syndicate operated. It showed that no one was untouchable.
No matter how connected, no matter how charismatic. You too could be taken out. Yeah.
[01:00:51] Speaker B: And that is something Bugsy Siegel learned the hard way. He was Lucky's right hand man, moving up the ladder, doing the most delicate and important hits, paving the way for Lucky to create the five families of New York, which is like infamous. You started the five Families, right?
[01:01:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Who hasn't? Absolutely.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: Siegel himself took out two mob bosses for Lucky Luciana to create that organization. So, like, the fact that he was, like, taken out, the fact that they were like, now we're going to rub this one out.
[01:01:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
So business discipline mattered more than personality or vision or connection. And the mob moved towards more structured, corporate, corporate style control after his death. In many ways, Siegel's murder was a warning and a reset on how Mafia operated.
[01:01:44] Speaker B: That is ominous.
[01:01:47] Speaker A: So shall we go over our hits?
[01:01:49] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:01:50] Speaker A: Okay.
Some of this is so, like, self explanatory, but you blew my mind.
[01:01:57] Speaker B: We have to do it.
[01:01:57] Speaker A: We have to do it.
[01:01:58] Speaker B: Stop it. Stop saying nice things to me. It's weird. Hmm.
[01:02:02] Speaker A: Jill, you were picking up on the mob for literally days. And we're Chicago girls. Like, we did not know that the mob was in Los Angeles.
[01:02:12] Speaker B: And we did not know not only that the mob was in Los Angeles, but the mob also is operating, like, full speed. In the 1940s, like, when you think mobster, you think 20s, 30s. I didn't.
[01:02:23] Speaker A: Yes, yes, exactly.
When I was feeling a Palm Springs connection. Should we do all your hits first and then go to my.
[01:02:32] Speaker B: No, no.
[01:02:32] Speaker A: I want to do your hits when I was feeling a Palm Springs connection. I still don't understand why that's significant.
[01:02:37] Speaker B: I'm gonna tell you.
[01:02:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:02:40] Speaker B: So they, Virginia Hill and Bugsy frequented Palm Springs. It was like their favorite vacation spot. No swear.
[01:02:49] Speaker A: Huh.
Wow.
Jill, you picked up on a hit, specifically with guns.
Yep. And mob wives.
[01:02:58] Speaker B: I'm feeling Virginia.
[01:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
Now, they never got mob married.
[01:03:03] Speaker B: They never got mom married.
[01:03:04] Speaker A: They never tied the mob knot.
[01:03:06] Speaker B: They never tied the mob knot. But that gets messy, you know?
[01:03:09] Speaker A: But they were. Yeah. No, like, there's really no reason to marry anyone this day.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: These days, you ain't wrong. You ain't wrong.
[01:03:16] Speaker A: But that's just my cynicism coming out.
[01:03:20] Speaker B: Historic hotel Jennifer.
[01:03:23] Speaker A: That's gotta. That's gotta be the Flamingo.
[01:03:26] Speaker B: Shut your psychic face.
[01:03:28] Speaker A: That is seriously crazy.
[01:03:29] Speaker B: That was good. That was.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: That's crazy. Because the Flamingo was directly integral to the murder of Bugsy Siegel.
[01:03:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:03:39] Speaker A: I had no clue.
[01:03:40] Speaker B: I had no clue.
[01:03:41] Speaker A: Okay, Jill, you were picking up on an eatery.
[01:03:43] Speaker B: Oh, my God. So we were in Santa Monica, if you remember.
[01:03:47] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:03:48] Speaker B: The night Bugsy was killed, like, fifth. Not even home 15 minutes. He was in Santa Monica eating seafood at some seafood joint by the ocean.
[01:03:59] Speaker A: I was picking up by the coast.
[01:04:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:04:02] Speaker A: Shut up. Shut up. Right now. He was literally. That's where they ate in Santa Monica on the sea.
That's where we were. We were in Santa Monica. Holy crap. Holy crap. That's amazing.
[01:04:16] Speaker B: The name Bugsy. I mean, that obvious.
[01:04:18] Speaker A: I can't believe. I can't believe you said Bugs.
[01:04:21] Speaker B: I'm so bad at names.
[01:04:22] Speaker A: For real?
For real. Okay. All right. So we talked about this earlier.
You are picking up not only on a mob wife character, but also another character in more. A more urban woman connection from the turn of the century. Tell me about this.
[01:04:42] Speaker B: I believe I was picking up on Bugsy's mom, Jenny.
And I'll tell you why.
You and I, no stranger to the mob and loving the mob.
[01:04:55] Speaker A: Love the mob.
[01:04:56] Speaker B: Love the mob.
[01:04:56] Speaker A: But not Seagull so much.
[01:04:57] Speaker B: But love the mob.
We have connections to people that had been in the mob that we loved and was really good to us. So it's really hard for us to look at the mob in a critical way.
[01:05:09] Speaker A: But also, we're from Chicago.
[01:05:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we're from Chicago.
[01:05:12] Speaker A: From Chicago.
[01:05:14] Speaker B: So side.
But I want to say I have a really hard time reading and connecting with people if I don't like them. And this is really the first mobster that I don't like. And when what I didn't like doing the research. And usually when that happens, like, if I'm reading for someone in real life, And I'm not liking them. Someone that loves them will come through.
Someone will love that loves them, will like, you know, take one for the team and communicate with me for that person. And I think that that's what his mom, Ginny, was doing. She was saying, shit was hard. We were living a really hard life. And he did what he. He needed to do based on his skills to move ahead in life.
[01:05:57] Speaker A: So you're saying that Bugsy's mom, Jenny, is also coming through, needing a voice.
I do.
[01:06:04] Speaker B: I think she's the other person needing a voice, explaining to us that if we were in his position in that space and time, with his set of skills, what else was he supposed to do?
[01:06:17] Speaker A: Yeah, okay, I can see that.
But on top of that, he might have been a bad motherfucker, but he was also her son.
And she never got an answer as to why her son was murdered or who murdered her son.
[01:06:35] Speaker B: That's true.
And the pictures of his. His death scene were all over the newspaper. Oh, so that poor woman. And this was just like two months after she lost her husband, Max. Oh, so it was a double whammy.
[01:06:53] Speaker A: All right, I get it. Okay. We'll let Jenny come through. Well, let Jenny come through. We have a picture of her too, right? Her and her husband. You want to than Jenny? Yeah, let's. Let's take a look.
Okay. Oh, she got pearls on. This is after her son made it big. I'm just gonna say yes because in the beginning, she. They weren't looking like this.
[01:07:14] Speaker B: No. I'm sure they were rough, but she got some pearls. He was looking dapper.
[01:07:18] Speaker A: Right? This is a nice picture. They didn't go to the Walmart for this picture.
[01:07:21] Speaker B: No. This is
[01:07:24] Speaker A: the Sears Portrait Center. Yeah, no, they. This is high class right here.
[01:07:29] Speaker B: I don't like the mustache. It's a little Hitlerist to me. I guess that was a thing in the time.
[01:07:34] Speaker A: Oh, Jill.
[01:07:36] Speaker B: Not liking that. But I don't think these people look like him at all.
Just saying.
[01:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
Anyway. All right, well, good story.
[01:07:45] Speaker B: I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
[01:07:48] Speaker A: I did not. First of all, I knew nothing about Bugsy Siegel.
I didn't even see the movie Bugsy.
[01:07:54] Speaker B: Neither did I.
[01:07:55] Speaker A: Never. But I did see previews for it, like in the 90s when it came out, but never saw it. So had no knowledge of. Of this person and his role in Vegas and his associations in Los Angeles. So this. And. But knowing that he is so big and so written about and so recognized, I'm surprised that he came through Aren't you?
[01:08:21] Speaker B: I was going to ask you that. Tell me, like, why would he bother with us, knowing that nobody listens to us? Well, think about it. Like, why would he come through to us to be like, I'm a badass mobster. I need a voice that sounds ridiculous, Especially because he has so much written about him.
[01:08:40] Speaker A: I think, personally, a couple things.
One is that he was.
He liked the limelight. He was a narcissist. He was probably a sociopath. Right? Like, and. And he liked the limelight and the glamour. And I think that having that article come out about him unveiling a new modern theory in February, I think that energy pulled him in, and he took advantage of talking to us to get more press.
Because at the end of the day, Bugsy Siegel is an opportunist. He was when he was alive, and he is in the afterlife. So thanks for coming through. Bugsy Siegel.
[01:09:21] Speaker B: I love it. Yeah, I agree. Do you think he agrees with the modern theory?
[01:09:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I think he's happy that it's out there.
[01:09:29] Speaker B: I think so, too. I think it's plausible.
[01:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But at the end of the day, he just likes people talking about him.
[01:09:36] Speaker B: We'll leave it there.
[01:09:37] Speaker A: All right, Jennifer, thank you, Jill.
[01:09:40] Speaker B: I really appreciate you. Thank you so much.
[01:09:42] Speaker A: Stop being so nice to me.
All right. Love you.
[01:09:46] Speaker B: No, we have to do the closing.
[01:09:49] Speaker A: What's the closing?
[01:09:51] Speaker B: Check out our website.
[01:09:52] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[01:09:53] Speaker B: If you want more mystics, check out our website, Common Mystics.net. if you follow us on all your socials, you can stay up to date at Common Mystics podcast.
[01:10:04] Speaker A: All right, thank you and good night.
[01:10:06] Speaker B: Thank you. Bye.
This has been a Common Mystics media production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
