The Unexplained Murder Of Mobster Bugsy Siegel

this week on BuzzFeed and saw we investigate the murder of Bugsy Siegel the infamous mobster who helped launch the mega casinos that we associate with Las Vegas today let's be rolling oh you rolling the dice taps table you know what you can Scott speaking of rolling the dice we are taking a chance here by doing another mob episode getting gutsy yeah that's probably grant doesn't really matter how old you are pulling the trigger is just as easy but you know what I don't need to sleep in okay geez that easy okay let's do it all right Benjamin Siegel was born on February 28 1906 in Brooklyn New York there along with childhood friends Meyer Lansky and Morris Moe said way Siegel began a criminal career extorting local street vendors in exchange for protection from other gangs in the area fellow gang member started calling him Bugsy a slang term for crazy at the time due to his violent temper allegedly Bugsy was not a nickname that Siegel cared for and those who knew him would never call him that to his face now this is something I find interesting about most mob nicknames almost all of them this is the rule that applies you don't call them you don't call them their nickname to their face but when talking about them you use the nickname I guess I could see if someone were calling you babyface or tiny or tiny who else was I'm trying to think of other popular that's embarrassing that those are the only two that come to mind you know well look I'm not I'm not embarrassed to not know much about the mob put them behind bars eventually Siegel sedway and Lansky transitioned to other crimes like car theft bootlegging and gambling rising through the ranks of New York's organized crime world it's widely thought that Bugsy was one of the four men who in 1931 executed Joe Masseria and an Italian restaurant in New York leading Lucky Luciano to take the throne as the chairman of the board of the American Mafia in 1937 Lansky sent Bugsy and Moute to Los Angeles to build up the mobs presence on the west coast while the mob had been heavily involved in bootlegging during the 20s by the time seagull landed in California the 21st amendment had put a stop to money to be made on importing illegal hooch it feels like the West Coast is always painted as like this just like do good coasts like we were always always like we got to take the crime syndicate over to the west coast some over there he never started it over here too much crime here let's put some over there and says we could never start anything on her own over here yeah we're too distracted by the sunshine Bugsy decided to focus on gambling he invested in the SS Rex a gambling ship that was docked three miles outside of Santa Monica to try and avoid California anti-gambling laws while authorities eventually shut it down Bugsy set his sights on Las Vegas Nevada had legalized gambling so there wouldn't be as many headaches trying to avoid police in 1945 with money from the syndicate back east Siegel took over a struggling construction project outside of Las Vegas city limits the Flamingo Hotel and Casino at the time Vegas was nothing like we think of today the Flamingo would be the first luxury resort on the strip Siegel hosted the grand opening of the resort on December 26 1946 while the project was still unfinished nevertheless mega superstars like Judy Garland and Clark Gable were at the opening for shadowing Vegas his glamorous future after this party Siegel closed the resort to finish construction and the mob back east became antsy I I will say building a big giant expensive luxury resort in the middle of the desert yeah you know what it seems like a bit of a gamble it's good it's really great it's good stuff bit of a gamble by this time the project's cost had ballooned from siegels originally budgeted 1 million to up to 6 million dollars much of the overruns believed to be due to Siegel's skimming from the top if there's one thing to remember about the mob it's that you don't steal from it during a meeting of mob bigwigs in Cuba an agreement was reached on the feet of Bugsy if the Flamingo proved to be a success he'd be able to make things right luckily for Bugsy by May of 1947 the Flamingo had already made 250,000 dollars in profit unluckily for Bugsy that apparently wasn't enough $250,000 a profit that's like a decent enterprise right there I would say not good enough for me not enough for you to be stealing yeah I would not be happy with him yeah on June 20th 1947 Siegel was sitting on a chin sofa in the living room of his mistress Virginia Hills home in Beverly Hills at 10:45 p.m. from a rose covered pergola just 14 feet from Bugsy a 30 caliber military rifle fired at least nine shots at the mobster four rounds hit him killing him instantly just moments later three of Meyer Lansky's henchmen strolled into the Flamingo Hotel and declared the casino was now theirs despite his fame coroner's misspelled Siegel's name on his toe tag and his funeral lasted a mere five minutes with only about six people in attendance I don't see I don't think that's a testament to how popular he was as much as it was a testament to maybe the mobs power get him in the ground well it's like don't show up well I'll go to a funeral yeah you know the mob whacked this person yeah maybe don't show up in support of him yeah you don't want to add yourself to an ever-growing list if I get murdered nobody come to my funeral don't think you're gonna have to put that disclaimer out it's gonna happen on its own now that I've put the disclaimer around yeah yeah yes the reason why there it is they want anyone at my funeral you here yet according to Beverly Hills Police Chief Clinton H Anderson quote we spent many man-hours investigating the Siegel case and were convinced that he was killed by his own associates but there was never sufficient evidence to pinpoint the identity of the assassin end quote with that it's time to start looking at theories behind who murdered Bugsy Siegel theory one the mob see you next week our first theory is Eddie Cannizzaro aka the Cat Man Cannizzaro was a former errand boy for Jack dragna who was once described in a report by the State Crime Commission as the Al Capone of California end quote Cannizzaro died in 1987 of heart failure but before he passed on he called a reporter and federal agents to his death bed where he confessed to seven murders including seagulls according to Ken Azura's confession quote it was a clean hit I was picked because I knew seagull and wouldn't make a mistake end quote I don't know if a murder being personal necessarily makes you less likely to make a mistake but I guess if he's on his deathbed let him have the sentiment uh you may in the sense that you know them better you know maybe how they react you know maybe where they but wouldn't that also like bring into emotion what if you like remember like you're about to do the hit I have the scope right at your big head and I'm thinking we did have some good times on the road maybe I shouldn't do this yeah you know that kind of thing but then you're but then I got a job some wins over rationalist ones over and you pull that trigger Mike Gallagher your head yeah so casting doubt on Ken Azhar was confession are a few inconsistencies in his story Cannizzaro claimed he was questioned in connection with the murder at the time but there's no record of an interview with him in the bugsy case file as well Cannizzaro claimed that after the murder he drove off in the direction of Wilshire Boulevard a neighbor question after Bugsy was killed however told police that after the gunshots a car was heard hurtling in the opposite direction towards Sunset Boulevard at the time of his death Cannizzaro was living with his mother and over 30 cats in the Agoura Hills neighborhood of Western LA County he was hoping to create a birth control serum for cats and had asked some of his old pals in Las Vegas for funding very funny that this man has 30 cats and is trying desperately to stop them breeding yeah maybe like I like to think he had two cats and then a year later had 30 cats is like I got a I got to shut this down yeah I just I don't feel like that's something you disclosed to your mob buddies like you're tossing back beers I'm like you know I got 30 cats working on it everyone's probably like telling them crazy stories like well you know I got 30 cats and was like okay I mean I'm trying to brought the can trying to stop him I'm trying to stop them bounine controlling my mind I got a serum you want to try it I'm working on it also I hate that he calls it a serum it makes me feel like he is doing some like more odd science lesson a little juice that I injected that testicles Eddie get out of the garage it's not working on your damn Cyril shut up mother the second theory is a world war two vet Robert McDonald this theory comes from Warren Hall an executive assistant in Nevada who said MacDonald's role in Siegel's murder had been a family secret for decades on his deathbed Hall's father urged his son to research the story and get it out there hole obliged the dying man's request going on to create a 400 slide PowerPoint presentation laying out the points of his case yells ah who's he showing that to yeah yeah who is he showing that I guess investigators perhaps you just inviting friends over for margaritas yeah I got some time oh sure it's crazy Oh think about four and a half hours since your trip to Niagara Falls hope you went to the bathroom because there's no breaks McDonald was married to holes mother's cousin and best friend Betty Anne McDonald Betty Ann's mother Gaynor Rockwell worked at City Hall in Los Angeles there she met Jack dragna the Al Capone of California from our previous theory gaynelle told dragna her daughter was having troubles with her husband McDonald who could be violent at times McDonald also happened to oh the mob $30,000 dragna went to McDonald explaining his debts would be forgiven if he offed Siegel according to whole MacDonald's time in the military made from an expert marksman including with the 30 caliber carbine the alleged murder weapon again however the neighbors report of a speeding car cast doubt on this theory whole thinks that McDonald who lived just on the other side of a golf course from Virginia Hill would have escaped on foot sneaking back to his home less than a mile away in the dark he just lived on the other side of the hill he'd sneak you know through the dark covert like conflict mm-hmm so unless he wanted to throw them off yes why would I Drive when I could just walk you really think he went that deep into it he'll double bluff just three months after Bugsy's murder McDonald would go on to shoot himself and his wife Betty Ann Hall says there's no evidence that Beverly Hills police ever investigated McDonald as a suspect in Siegel's murder despite the fact that McDonald allegedly used the same type of weapon to kill himself and his wife as he did on Siegel less than a mile away and only three months after Bugsy's murder all believes it's even possible that Howard Hughes may have pressured police not to investigate McDonald as he had worked closely with the man's father how he came in and most of these mob ones I feel like it's like maybe he did it behind the barn and buried him and then you know doc tossed his body in the river whereas this one actually has things that linked him to the crime I feel like tricky thing is the mob is good at covering their tracks that is true that's what they're built on yeah a third theory comes from be said way the wife of Mo said way Bugsy's childhood friend coming up in the mob according to be mo had been sending casino numbers back to Meyer Lansky on the East Coast including gambling winnings and crucially construction costs Bugsy conducted a meeting in March of 1947 without Mo there he reportedly said he was looking to get rid of Moe saying quote I'll have Moe shot chop his body up and feed it to the Flamingo hotels kitchen garbage disposal end quote I thought you were gonna say he was gonna feed him to the flamingos and that would have been cool as hell one of the attendees told Moe who called his wife and asked her to drive from LA to Vegas the two then drove out into the desert and then walked even further to ensure a private car precision walking into the desert to have a private conversation well cuz that's the only way you can ensure hey I get it also not gonna lie if you do have a death threat on your head maybe not best to walk out where no one could find you or see you good point let's prepackaged ourselves for this murder make it real nice and easy there's me real nice they can't hear us at all let's have a private conversation you know what we ought to do dig a hole for ourselves they'll never find us down here six feet down I feel that'll be pretty it'll be good it'll be great when Moe told his wife of the threat against him be immediately called Matthew moose Panza a crane operator and bees lover Moen be who married when he was 41 and she just seventeen had a very unconventional marriage for the time they were very honest with one another and knew about one another's extramarital companions in fact Moe had insisted that upon his death moose was to marry B after their meeting moose arrived in Las Vegas to protect Moe after the mob boss meeting in Cuba were cost overruns on the Flamingo were discussed however Lansky gave Moe his blessing to take matters into his own hands moose volunteered to do the job and spent weeks practicing his marksmanship I got a question about my boy moves yeah see a little guy Oh cuz you think usually in the mob it's kind of like yeah yeah yeah like a big big tall lanky guy like me would be a short stack or something they are fan of boxy they are a fan of boxing yeah I love I love a I love you be like oh wait till moose gets here big knock at the door they opened the door and although it was from it was in trouble let me have it the moose 'mobile drive down according to B after pulling the trigger moose hurried to the car and drove straight to Santa Monica where he broke down the rifle leaving the butt of the gun on a rooftop and throwing the barrel into the ocean as his health was failing B's son Robbie reached out to her reporter to tell his mother's story when that reporter reached out to the Beverly Hills Police Department to check whether moose had been considered a suspect they replied quote it's in the best interest of the city of Beverly Hills not to speak to you and quote I love the fact that that posh office could be possibly beat dirty yeah that's just I think that's just how everything in California back then was just filthy really though oh yeah I guess Beverly Hills I always saw as a place of like you know I know a lot of LA was corrupt all of it Oh every all of it so you go by the principle that the more glamorous the more dirty perhaps yet another theory suggests the Chicago mob took down Bugsy with the help of Siegel's mistress Virginia Hill Hill had been considered a trusted mob courier and according to author Andy Edmonds the Chicago mob used Hill as a source of information on Bugsy's dealings while Siegel was building the Flamingo the Chicago mob was financing a competing resort the dunes on the current site of the Bellagio Siegel's murder also took place at Hills home he would have been able to inform an assassin about Siegel's habit of reading the paper in her living room at night and Hill had conveniently skipped town for Paris that day he'll eventually move to Europe to avoid charges of tax evasion where she died at the age of 49 her death was deemed an overdose but some have their suspicions that the mob was involved Chicago mob heard of what they do I know you're gonna come to this shocker as someone who was born under the beam let me tell you a cog oh we know what we're doing I know it's interesting a lot of mob movies you look at Goodfellas stuff like that sure all takes place east coast but you really want something done go to those boys in Chicago man you know I got a say in a shocking turn of events Shane talked about Chicago again in an episode frankly what an upset oh and the pizza as one expects with mob killings there are plenty of other theories out there mostly unsubstantiated to this day no one has ever been prosecuted in the death of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel and while what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas what happened to the man who helped birth modern Vegas remains unsolved I know I've busted this out before but this is very much a case of oh boy just gonna have to let it be mr. there it is it took us three episodes to get to that and we've arrived some things will just never uncover and you just got a yeah that's the way of the world if there's one where the evidence seems the most strong I would say that it's the one that involves mo mousse and Lansky and just love mousse do love me some big moose and a moose fan but either that or the hill one also makes sense too yeah but if I had to go with one I would go with them loose all in on what do you put it in all the new you slide them all in so I could go is that okay to end on a nice Vegas reference yeah there you go see you next week [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 6,356,501

Keywords: BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed Unsolved Network, Buzzfeed unsolved, Ryan Bergara, SffZ, Shane Madej, bugsy siegel, case, casino, cold case, cold-case, creepy, creepypasta, crime, criminal, detective, detectives, eerie, investigate, investigation, investigative, las vegas, las vegas strip mobster, mini doc, mobster, murder of bugsy siegel, mystery, scary, spooky, strange, theories, theory, true crime, unexplained, unsolved, unsolved mysteries, unsolved mystery

Id: Iv7PW4ZEFD4

Length: 18min 19sec (1099 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2019