Bugsy seal

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Bugsy Siegel in the 1920s (police photo)

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel , actually Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum , (born February 28, 1906 in Brooklyn , New York City , † June 20, 1947 in Beverly Hills ) was an American mobster who is part of the Kosher Nostra .

youth

Siegel was born under the name Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum in the Brooklyn district of Williamsburg as the son of poor Jewish immigrants (Max Siegel and Jennie, née Riechenthal) from Letischew , Russian Empire , and became part of the company of petty criminals as a child. In a district dominated by Italian immigrants, he teamed up with Meyer Lansky . The two were soon known as " Bugs and Meyer Mob ". They complemented each other almost ideally. The big and choleric seal intimidated opponents and other young people, the small and highly intelligent Lansky developed the strategies for this and, among other things, brokered an alliance with the Italians Frank Costello and Charles "Lucky" Luciano .

On January 27, 1929 Siegel married his childhood sweetheart Esther Krakauer, with whom he already had their son Irwin Leo (born February 3, 1928). Esther's brother "Whitey" Krakauer also belonged to Lansky and Siegel's circle. He was one of the first internal casualties in the fall of Murder, Inc. in 1941. Siegel and his wife moved to Scarsdale, a small town in Westchester County of New York. From this marriage two daughters were born: Millicent, b. 1931, and Barbara, b. 1934.

los Angeles

Siegel narrowly escaped death in 1932: Waxey Gordon , a Philadelphia gangster , had set the three Fabrazzo brothers on him as a killer. Siegel had two of the brothers killed and personally killed one of them. To avoid prosecution , Siegel moved to Los Angeles in the late 1930s . He took his family and some of his killers there with him, starting the mob's gambling activities in California and later in Nevada .

At the murder of Harry Greenberg, alias Harry Schachter, a disgraced member of Murder Inc., on November 22, 1939, alongside Albert Tannenbaum, who had chased Greenberg across America from the east to the west coast, Frankie Carbo and Siegel - so to speak as representatives of organized crime on the West coast - thought to be involved as an accomplice. Greenberg was murdered on behalf of Louis Buchalter , who was facing legal prosecution from Attorney Thomas E. Dewey and wanted to silence Greenberg as a potential witness. Frankie Carbo and Siegel had to answer for the murder in court, but a conviction could not be achieved despite the testimony of Abe Reles and Tannenbaum, who were even flown to Los Angeles for questioning.

Siegel took control of the local bookmakers , leaving a trail of blood, as well as the extras union that was vital for Hollywood studios . Through his friendship with the actor George Raft , who also came from Williamsburg , Siegel also got to know some stars who liked him because of his melodramatic gangster image and because of his good looks. Among other things, he had an affair with Jean Harlow .

Continental Press

With the help of his buddies Bugsy Siegel, Mickey Cohen and Jack Dragna , Gus Greenbaum gained control of Trans-America Race Wire Services (a news agency for horse racing results) in the Southwest in 1928 . Carlos Marcello wanted to complete the monopoly by taking over Continental Press , but James M. Ragen , who had bought it from Moe Annenberg on November 15, 1939 , refused .

On August 15, 1946, Ragen was murdered; a risky approach: Ragen belonged to the Ragen's Colts  - an Irish-Italian gang from Chicago - and his brother Frank Ragen had even made it to the police chief of Chicago . One witness was murdered and another disappeared without a trace. In addition to Dave Yaras , Leonard Patrick , Willie Block , Gus Alex , Shlomo Daffodyl and Strongy Ferraro are also believed to have been involved in the murder .

The trick of the news monopoly was on the one hand to market sports betting independently of the racetracks, but on the other hand to gain an information advantage, because today's independent mass media, which publish the sports results immediately, did not exist back then.

Las Vegas

In 1945 Siegel moved to Las Vegas , where there were only two casinos at the time. At first he tried to push himself into it. When this attempt failed, he bought one of them, had it rebuilt and named it "The Flamingo Hotel" . He was supported by Mickey Cohen . The funds required for this were mainly provided by the American Cosa Nostra . When the budget for the construction of the casino and hotel complex increased sixfold and the suspicion arose that Siegel had taken two million US dollars abroad with his girlfriend Virginia Hill , who later became the wife of Austrian skier Hans Hauser the situation dangerous for him.

Although the rise in construction costs had been driven up mainly by post-war inflation in the USA, when the Flamingo opened and despite the appearance of Jimmy Durante it flopped, Bugsy's end was sealed.

At the week-long Havana conference of the National Crime Syndicate from December 22, 1946 in Havana , the flamingo is said to have been discussed and Siegel's death decided. Lansky failed to calm the other bosses down. Siegel was shot dead in his Beverly Hills home on June 20, 1947. The perpetrator could not be identified. After Siegel's assassination, the flamingo was directed by Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway , whereupon it soon made big profits.

According to another theory, his stake in Trans-America Race Wire Services also played a role in Siegel's murder . At the Havana conference in question, this line of business had been awarded to the Italians, and Siegel would not have accepted this decision and would have kept his shares.

Adaptations

literature

  • Robert A. Rockaway: Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel & Co. Life stories of Jewish gangsters in the USA. Konkret-Literatur-Verlag, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-89458-170-0 .

Web links

Commons : Bugsy Siegel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David A. Chapin, Ben Weinstock: The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe. Volume 2. Universe, Lincoln, NE, 2000, ISBN 0-595-00667-1 .
  2. ↑ Frankie Carbo Standing with His Arms Folded Corbis Images, January 26, 1942 (photography and text (English))
  3. ↑ Bugsy Siegel Corbis Images, October 12, 1941 (photography and text (English))
  4. ^ Mobsters Sitting Together in Courtroom Corbis Images, September 18, 1940 (photography and text (English))
  5. ↑ She was once America's No. 1 gangster bride - Virginia Hill took poison - 1966 - Hamburger Abendblatt. In: Abendblatt.de. Retrieved August 29, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Full text / preview in Google Book Search
  7. ↑ Full text / preview in Google Book Search
personal data
SURNAME Siegel, Bugsy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Siegel, Benjamin; Siegelbaum, Benjamin Hymen (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mobster
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1947
Place of death Beverly Hills