By the summer of 1947, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel stood out as one of America’s most complicated crime figures. He had once been the country’s most feared gangster and, by 1942, led the New York syndicate’s Murder, Inc. on the West Coast. Later, Siegel reinvented himself as a well-dressed Hollywood insider, making friends with actors and studio executives while promoting his Las Vegas projects as legitimate businesses. Some people thought he was trying to go straight, while others saw a gangster who had become too noticeable and costly.
By Allan R. Ellenberger
On June 20, 1947, Siegel and his longtime associate Alan Smiley came back to the Beverly Hills mansion he was staying at 810 Linden Drive after attending a beach cocktail party and dinner. The house belonged to Siegel’s companion, Virginia Hill, known as the “Queen of the Mob,” who was out of the country. People who were there remembered Siegel as being in a good mood, relaxed, and talkative, with no hint that anything was wrong.
Before midnight, Siegel and Smiley sat in the bright living room, reading the evening newspapers. The windows were open to let in the warm California night air. Suddenly, a gunman outside fired through the window from under the covered driveway, using the trellis for cover. Nine shots rang out. Two hit Siegel in the face: one went through his right eye, and another struck his cheek, killing him instantly. Smiley dropped to the floor, shouting as glass broke all around them.
Upstairs, Jerri Mason, who was Hill’s secretary, heard the gunshots and ran downstairs. She saw Smiley lying on the floor and thought he was dead. Siegel’s face could not be recognized. Smiley shouted to turn off the lights as bullets hit the windows. Police later found nine .30-caliber shell casings on the driveway.
Investigators decided that a professional shooter had waited in the driveway and fired accurately before leaving. Siegel was forty-one years old.
Siegel’s death marked the violent end of a life shaped by ambition, fame, and organized crime. He started as a feared New York enforcer and later became a self-made West Coast businessman. In his last years, Siegel tried to remake himself as the driving force behind the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The Flamingo was planned as the most luxurious casino resort in the country and was supposed to make both Siegel and the syndicate’s plans in the desert seem legitimate. Instead, it turned into a financial mess.
Costs kept rising. Construction delays increased. Revenues were low. By early 1947, there were reports that millions of dollars had disappeared because of overruns and questionable accounting. This financial worry kept growing. Siegel said the project would eventually make money, but his partners in the East were losing patience. Instead of proving Siegel was a visionary, the Flamingo became, for some, proof that he was reckless, unreliable, or even worse.
A coroner's aide bends over the body of Bugsy Siegel
Siegel killed by shooter from this window
'Bugsy' Siegel, dead on the sofa of Beverly Hills home
The newspapers hinted at trouble without saying it directly. Syndicate leaders, including some connected to Lucky Luciano, were said to be angry. There were rumors of meetings and reports that ultimatums had been given. By the time Siegel came back to California from Las Vegas in June, his fate may have already been decided.
Even after his death, Siegel was hard to define. Some people saw him as a ruthless killer who met the expected end for someone in his line of work. Others thought of him as a stylish outlaw who tried, though not always smoothly, to become legitimate. Hollywood welcomed him or at least liked his image. He fit in easily with studio executives, actresses, and writers. He always dressed well, spoke quietly, and acted like he belonged anywhere he went.
For more than three days, Siegel’s body stayed unclaimed in the county morgue. The lack of response said a lot. On June 25, his brother, Dr. Maurice Siegel, finally claimed his remains. Siegel’s estranged wife, Esta, refused to allow a big gangland funeral. There was no show, no extra flowers, and no public goodbye.
One black limousine took Esta, their daughters Millicent and Barbara, Dr. Siegel, Siegel’s sister Bessie Soloay, and Alan Smiley to Groman’s Mortuary on Washington Boulevard. When they arrived, Esta told the undertaker they wanted to begin right away, which surprised the staff.
Siegel was placed in a $5,000 silver casket, wearing a blue suit, white shirt, blue tie, and a white handkerchief. He had no jewelry. Two amber spotlights shone on the closed casket, with a candelabrum at each end. Rabbi Max Kert read the Twenty-third Psalm and the Hebrew prayer for the dead. The service lasted four minutes. Afterward, the family quietly left through a back chapel door without any ceremony.
At the same time, detectives stayed at the mortuary, waiting for Siegel’s associates to show up. No one came.
Later that day, the casket was taken to Beth Olam for a temporary burial in a plot bought by Dr. Siegel. The burial was quiet and private. Rabbi Kert held a short graveside service with only Siegel’s brother present. Later, Siegel’s remains were moved to their permanent place after corridor M-2 was finished, making that his final resting spot in the cemetery.
The murder of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was never solved. No one was charged, and no weapon was found. The silence after his death, both from the criminal world and from Hollywood, was as meaningful as the violence itself. Siegel had tried to live in both worlds: crime and legitimacy, fame and respectability. The newspapers admitted what everyone knew but could not prove: Siegel had been executed, not killed in the usual way. In the end, neither world claimed him.
Remains of Siegel at the morgue (Photo Credit: LAPL)
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's casket (Photo Credit: LAPL)
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