
Think on This - Two Truths and a Lie
About This Show
Show Info: A podcast that dissects the world around us.
Show Info: A podcast that dissects the world around us.
This is part two of our two part series on Mobsters and the history of the most infamous gangsters. Last week we covered John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde. Today we will be discussing Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel. To listen to part 1, visit: www.thinkonthiscast.com/7 Bugsy Siegel https://www.biography.com/people/bugsy-siegel-9542063 Ben Siegel was born on February 28,1906 in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrants, and raised in the crime ridden Williamsburg. In 1918, Siegel became friends with Meyer Lansky and started the Bugs-Meyer Gang. This was a violent group of Jewish mobsters who ran a group of hitmen called Murder, Inc. In 1920, a group of Italian mobsters across the country banded together to form the National Syndicate. Bugsy played a major role for the syndicate as a hitman. In 1937, Siegel decided to take his rackets to the west coast. He found great success and wealth in California and became a prominent figure amongst the social elite. He ended up marrying actress Virginia Hill and the two of them moved to Las Vegas with dreams of building a casino. They were able to do this via financial support from the eastern crime syndicate. Bugsy had a budget of 1.5 million dollars to build his casino. The casino ended up costing over 6 million dollars. Once Meyer Lansky, now a major leader in the eastern crime syndicate, found out the overages were due to Siegel’s mismanagement he was furious. On June 20, 1947, Bugsy Siegel was brutally murdered and three of Lansky’s men stormed into Siegel’s new hotel and claimed new ownership. Lansky denied any involvement but it widely assumed the eastern syndicate issued a hit on Bugsy Siegel. Little-known facts about Bugsy Siegel http://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-bugsy-siegel * Siegel became a gangster as a teenager * He also hated his nickname. The name stemmed from kids saying he was “crazy as a bed bug”. He wanted to be called Ben. * He was friends with many movie stars including Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, and Jean Harlow * He led a search for buried treasure in Costa Rica