Nicknamed Bugsy for his volatile nature, Siegel became a prominent player in this newly established group of criminals. Criminal Activityĭuring the 1920s, Mafia kingpin Charles 'Lucky' Luciano and several other Italian gangsters organized themselves into a national syndicate. In 1918, Siegel befriended fellow hooligan Meyer Lansky, with whom he established the Bugs-Meyer Gang - a band of ruthless Jewish mobsters that ran a group of contract killers under the name Murder, Inc. As a teenager, he extorted money from pushcart peddlers on New York City’s Lower East Side. The son of Jewish immigrants, Siegel was raised in the crime-ridden section of Williamsburg, where Irish and Italian gangs were prevalent. Siegel was born Benjamin Siegel, on February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1947 he was gunned down at his girlfriend Virginia Hill's home at the age of 41. He opened the famous Flamingo Hotel and Casino, the start of his notorious gambling operation in the middle of the Las Vegas desert. Bugsy Siegel built a criminal empire through bootlegging, gambling and ruthless assassinations before setting up shop in Las Vegas.
