2. Ibid.
3. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 70–74.
4. Thelma Coblentz oral history interview, Collection #: OH-00400, February 17, 1980, audio recording transcript. Project: Early Las Vegas–Rosky project, Special Collections and Archives, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
5. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 70–74.
6. Denton and Morris, Money and Power, 92–99.
7. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 74.
8. Ibid., 74, 75.
9. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 69–70.
10. Ibid., 69–73.
11. Ibid., 69, 70.
12. Tereba, Mickey Cohen, 53.
13. Reppetto, American Mafia, 235.
14. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 80–82.
15. Ibid., 80.
16. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 82.
17. Ibid., 77.
18. Ibid., 79; Friedrich, City of Nets, 373.
19. Denton and Morris, Money and Power, 98.
20. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 78.
21. Lansky and Stadiem, Daughter of the King, 9, 10.
22. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 44, 45; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 84.
23. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 84–85.
24. Ibid., 85.
25. “El Cortez Sold,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 28, 1945.
26. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 146–147.
27. Author interview with Peter Gregory.
28. Letter from Siegel to US Draft Board, July 29, 1944, in FBI vault.
Chapter 7. The Start of an Ill-Starred Romance
1. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 41, 42.
2. Ibid., 86; Edmonds, Bugsy’s Baby, 6, 7.
3. Edmonds, Bugsy’s Baby, 8, 9.
4. Carpozi, Bugsy, 119, 120, 121.
5. Ed Reid, The Mistress and the Mafia: The Virginia Hill Story (New York: Bantam, 1972), 24; Jennings, Kill Each Other, 89.
6. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 90.
7. Ibid., 93; Kefauver Commission on Organized Crime hearings, part 7, 1145–1170.
8. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 108.
9. Florabel Muir, Headline Happy (New York: Holt, 1950), 185; Edmonds, Bugsy’s Baby, 55.
10. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 112.
11. “They Make the News,” Berkeley Daily Gazette, November 12, 1941; Harrison Carroll, “Behind the Scenes in Hollywood,” Times and Daily News Leader, November 15, 1941; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 87; Jennings, Kill Each Other, 131.
12. Virginia Hill testimony, Kefauver Commission, March 16, 1951; Edmonds, Bugsy’s Baby, 181–191.
13. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 146.
14. Ibid., 146.
15. Ibid., 130.
16. Ibid., 132.
17. Ibid., 135; Virginia Hill testimony, Kefauver Commission.
18. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 154.
19. “El Cortez Sold,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 28, 1945.
20. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 157, 158.
Chapter 8. Bugsy Takes Charge
1. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 148.
2. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 225, 226.
3. “Siegel Killing Clues Hunted in Las Vegas,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1947; Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 4–10.
4. Wilkerson, Hollywood Godfather, 50–60.
5. Lacey, Little Man, 152.
6. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 18.
7. Ibid., 19.
8. Ibid., 25, 26; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 90.
9. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 92.
10. Gladstone, The Man Who Seduced Hollywood, 84.
11. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 39; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 89.
12. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 92; Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 52.
13. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 55.
14. Gladstone, The Man Who Seduced Hollywood, 85, 56, 57; Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 28, 1945.
15. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 46, 47.
16. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 92.
17. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 60.
18. Ibid., 61, 62.
19. Ibid., 49.
20. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 94, 95.
21. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 76; Carpozi, Bugsy, 143.
22. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 75.
23. Birmingham, The Rest of Us, 301.
24. Jack Bullock oral history interview, Collection #: OH-00287. Local oral history project—Rosky, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
25. Louis Wiener Jr. oral history interview, Collection #: OH-01974, January 24, 1990; February 4, 1990; February 23, 1990, transcript, Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
26. Ibid.
27. John Cahlan oral history interview, Collection #: OH-00151, October 4, 1978, audio recording transcript, 2 tapes, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
28. FBI Bugsy Siegel files, surveillance, search word: carload.
29. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 76, 77.
30. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 152.
31. Ibid., 51.
32. Wiener interview.
33. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 83.
34. Ibid., 84, 83.
35. Ibid., 71.
36. Ibid., 83.
37. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 237, 238.
38. Ibid.
39. Lacey, Little Man, 138.
Chapter 9. His Every Red Cent at Risk
1. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 98, 99.
2. FBI Bugsy Siegel files, chrono 1, word search: division at Reno.
3. Ibid., word search: Senator McCarran.
4. A. E. Ostholthoff portrait is at https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/ned72774. Alternatively, Google A. E. Ostholthoff images.
5. FBI Siegel files, chrono 1, word search: honest toil.
6. Ibid., word search: fabulous.
7. Ibid., word search: intent.
8. Allan May, “The History of the Race Wire Service, Parts I, II, and III,” Crime Magazine, 2009.
9. FBI Siegel files, chrono 1, word search: intent; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 82–83.
10. FBI Siegel files, chrono 2, word search: overdose.
11. Ibid., chrono Bugs and Meyer, word search: supersedes.
12. Ibid., chrono 2, word search: get that money.
13. Ibid., word search: Did you get that money.
14. Ibid., chrono Bugs and Meyer, word search: headaches.
15. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 85.
16. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 99.
17. FBI Siegel files, chrono 2, word search: cover-up; ibid., word search: concrete floors.
18. Ibid., word search: how much the commissioner; ibid., word search: $100.
19. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 99–100.
20. FBI Siegel files, chrono 2, word search: because I don’t know.
21. Ibid., word search: indict us.
22. Ibid., word search: outside windows.
23. Ibid., word search: not started until April.
24. Ibid., chrono 3, word search: would stop building; also see Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 104.
25. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 17.
26. Wolf, Frank Costello, 172.
27. Reppetto, American Mafia, 237.
28. Wolf, Frank Costello, 173.
29. FBI Siegel files, chrono 3, word search: met with Costello; Pearl, Las Vegas Is My Beat, 20.
30. Reppetto, American Mafia, 237.
31. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 154.
32. “The Daughter of Las Vegas: An Interview with Bugsy Siegel’s Daughter, Millicent,” i
nterview with Millicent Siegel by Diana Edelman, d travels ’round, July 25, 2012, dtravelsround .com/2012/07/25/daughter-las-vegas-interview-millicent-siegel/; author interview with Wendy Rosen.
33. Robert Rockaway, “Hoodlum Hero: The Jewish Gangster as Defender of his People, 1919–1949,” American Jewish History 82 (1994): 215–235.
34. Ibid.
35. Author interview with Peter Rubenstein, rabbi emeritus of Central Synagogue, New York.
36. Gladstone, The Man Who Seduced Hollywood, 88–91.
Chapter 10. The Flamingo’s First Flight
1. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 105.
2. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 158.
3. Ibid., 159.
4. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 116.
5. Ibid., 159.
6. Friedrich, City of Nets, 377.
7. “New Downpour Drenches L.A.; Another Due,” Los Angeles Examiner, December 27, 1946.
8. Friedrich, City of Nets, 377.
9. Ibid., 117.
10. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 101.
11. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 161.
12. Lacey, Little Man, 153.
13. Erskine Caldwell, With All My Might: An Autobiography (Atlanta: Peachtree, 1987), 240, 241.
14. “Flamingo Resort Hotel Jammed at Opening,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 27, 1947.
15. Tereba, Mickey Cohen, 79; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 119, 125.
16. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 163.
17. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 118.
18. FBI Bugsy Siegel files, chrono 3, word search: platinum blonde; Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 119.
19. Denton and Morris, Money and Power, 56.
20. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 180.
21. Lacey, Little Man, 124, 125.
22. Ibid., 223, 224.
23. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 222–225; see also Lacey, Little Man, 127, 128.
24. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 231–233, 235.
25. Ibid., 235.
26. Tereba, Mickey Cohen, 78.
27. Reppetto, American Mafia, 247.
28. Ibid., 236, 237.
29. Ibid., 238.
30. “Lucky Luciano Told Siegel That He’d Be Put on Spot,” Los Angeles Examiner, June 23, 1947.
31. Friedrich, City of Nets, 378.
32. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 123.
33. Denton and Morris, Money and Power, 56.
34. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 172–173.
35. FBI Siegel files, chrono 3, word search: scintilla.
36. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 175.
37. Ibid., 171, 176.
38. Lacey, Little Man, 156.
39. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 121.
40. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 172.
41. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 130.
42. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 105, 106.
43. Ibid., 107.
44. Wilkerson, Hollywood Godfather, 239.
45. FBI Siegel files, chrono 3, word search: race wire.
46. Fischer, When the Mob Ran Vegas, 17.
47. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 169.
48. Ibid., 169.
49. Virginia Hill testimony, Kefauver Commission on Organized Crime, March 1951; Jennings, Kill Each Other, 177; “Siegel Killing Clues Hunted in Las Vegas,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1947.
50. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 181.
51. Gragg, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, 130.
52. Louis Wiener Jr. oral history interview, Collection #: OH-01974, January 24, 1990; February 4, 1990; February 23, 1990, transcript, Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
53. Brigham Townsend, public relations director: News from Brigham Townsend, June 4, 1947, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Chapter 11. Time Runs Out
1. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 240.
2. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 188.
3. Ibid., 188.
4. “Virginia Hill, in Paris, Tells of Siegel Quarrel,” Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1947.
5. “Heiress’ Broken Romance with a Slain Siegel Disclosed; Brother of Girl Tells of New Car and Sister’s Plans,” Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1947; Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 240.
6. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 189.
7. “Virginia Hill Tells of Siegel Quarrel.”
8. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 192.
9. “Who Killed Siegel? What Was Motive?” Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal, June 20, 1947.
10. Friedrich, City of Nets, 380.
11. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 158.
12. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 193.
13. Wilkerson, Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 110.
14. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 193, 194.
15. Ibid., 194.
16. Fischer, When the Mob Ran Vegas, 43–47.
17. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 195–204.
18. Ibid., 206.
19. Ibid., 195.
20. Ibid., 196.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid., 197.
23. Ibid., 198.
24. Ibid., 200.
25. Ibid., 201.
26. Florabel Muir, Headline Happy (New York: Holt, 1950), 197.
27. “Police Probe Siegel Rub-Out,” Boulder City Journal, June 21, 1947.
28. “Underworld Keeps Its Secrets about Siegel,” Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1947.
29. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 204.
30. Muir, Headline Happy, 197–198; Friedrich, City of Nets, 381.
31. Friedrich, City of Nets, 381.
32. “Slayer of Ragen Hunted in Siegel Death Mystery,” Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, June 23, 1947.
33. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 241.
34. Friedrich, City of Nets, 379.
35. “Siegel Murder Ascribed to Gambling Racket Grab,” Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1947.
36. Anderson, Beverly Hills Is My Beat, 129.
37. Harry Belafonte with Michael Shnayerson, My Way: A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance (New York: Vintage, 2012), 184–185.
38. Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, 240.
39. “Who Killed Siegel?”
40. “Virginia Hill Tells of Siegel Quarrel.”
41. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 213.
42. “The Daughter of Las Vegas: An Interview with Bugsy Siegel’s Daughter, Millicent,” interview with Millicent Siegel by Diana Edelman, d travels ’round, July 25, 2012, dtravelsround .com/2012/07/25/daughter-las-vegas-interview-millicent-siegel/; author interview with Wendy Rosen.
43. Lansky and Stadiem, Daughter of the King, 72.
44. “Millicent Siegel Talks about Her Father Bugsy’s Name, Reputation, and Legacy,” Las Vegas Sun News, November 3, 2010.
45. “Probe Siegel’s Link with Girl,” Los Angeles Examiner, June 28, 1947, including “Quiz Widow”; also, “Heiress’ Broken Romance with a Slain Siegel Disclosed.”
46. “Bugsy’s Funeral Hasty, Despite $5,000 Coffin,” Los Angeles Examiner, June 27, 1947.
47. “Brief Rites Held for Ben Siegel,” Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1947.
48. Ibid.; “Love Tangle Suspected as Siegel Murder Cause; Funeral Plans Speeded,” Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1947.
49. “Gangster’s Estate Small,” New York Times, January 21, 1954.
50. “Sanford D. Adler Buys Flamingo Resort Hotel,” Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal, July 12, 1947.
51. Author interview with Billy Wilkerson III.
52. “Probe Siegel’s Link with Girl.”
53. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 215, 218.
54. Ibid., 177.
55. Author interview with Nick Pileggi.
56. “Bugsy’s Funeral Hasty.”
57. “Officials Admit Siegel’s Slaying May Go Unsolved
,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1947.
58. Jennings, Kill Each Other, 249.
59. Lansky and Stadiem, Daughter of the King, 73, 74.
60. Author interview with Wendy Rosen.
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Carpozi, George, Jr. Bugsy: The High-Rolling, Bullet-Riddled Story of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, of Murder Inc. New York: Pinnacle, 1973.
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Gladstone, James B. The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Lives and Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown’s Most Powerful Lawyer. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2014.
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Jennings, Dean. We Only Kill Each Other: The Life and Bad Times of Bugsy Siegel. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
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