All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S06E15.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH[EZTVx.to]

Tonight, notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel
is gunned down in his living room.

One minute, he's reading the newspaper.

The next, he's taking two bullets to the
face.

Nine rounds from a military rifle right
through a plate glass window? Not

standard mob hit.

Although Siegel's killing becomes front
page news, no arrest is ever made. Lots

of guys had reasons to want Siegel dead.

Some women had their reasons too. Now.

We'll explore the theories surrounding
one of the most infamous and unsolved

murders.

Bugsy Siegel basically takes over.

He muscles his way into the race wire.
He muscles his way into gambling.

He's doing his own thing.

He won't listen. In the organized crime
world, that type of defiance often

warranted a death sentence.

The LADA believed that there were at
least 100 people.

Who'd want Bugsy dead?

Who killed Bugsy Siegel, and why?

11 p .m., June 20th, 1947.

The Beverly Hills Police are summoned to
a mansion just south of Sunset

Boulevard.

There's been a murder.

As the police officers approach the
house, they can see that the living room

window has been shattered. And through
the window, they can see a body strewn

a blood -stained sofa.

Officers observed that the victim had
been shot several times. He was shot

in the head. One shot actually went
through the bridge of his nose and took

eye out.

The victim is no stranger, police.

It's Bugsy Siegel, the notorious
gangster, dead at 41.

Bugsy Siegel was born in 1906 in the
Lower East Side of New York.

His parents had come from Eastern Europe
three years earlier.

He has a pretty hardscrabble life as a
child, which is very common of Jewish

immigrants in this time period.

As a teenager...

Siegel gets involved with another
immigrant named Moe Sedway.

The two of them start extorting pushcart
vendors.

If vendors didn't pay up the first time,
you just get your stuff knocked over.

The second time, they would burn down
your cart.

Benjamin Siegel was quickly labeled hair
trigger.

Short -tempered, very violent, and
ultimately, as he grew and became a

he was dubbed Bugsy.

Why? Because they said he was crazy as a
bed bug.

Siegel hates the nickname Bugsy. He
hates it when he's youth. He hates it

the rest of his life.

There are a few different avenues for
mobsters. You can be more of the

businessman, or you could be more of the
violent, volatile character.

And that is really the role that Siegel
plays.

January 1920.

Prohibition brings Bugsy into
partnership with another childhood

mobster named Meyer Lansky.

Lansky is intellectual.

He sees opportunities where others
don't. He sees opportunities in

but he also recognizes the need to
organize, that Jewish gangsters should

organize.

along the lines of the Italians or the
Irish.

And one of the first people he welcomes
into the fold is an old friend,

Bugsy Siegel.

During Prohibition, rival gangs led by
Italian boss Lucky Luciano and Jewish

boss Meyer Lansky both grow rich and
powerful.

But the often deadly competition between
the gangs is bad for business.

In order to reduce the conflict between
these rival gangs, Lucky Luciano and

Meyer Lansky's Jewish mob team up, and
together they create this national crime

syndicate. They're going to enter into
partnerships.

They're going to divvy up operations,
divvy up territory.

The thinking being that if they're not
fighting one another, they'll all be

successful.

The National Crime Syndicate completely
changes the way organized crime operates

because it creates this set of rules.

And specifically for Siegel, it gives
him opportunity that he wouldn't have

in a smaller time gang.

Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky launch a
tough new operation within the

Murder Incorporated.

If there was a problem that needed to be
sorted out, maybe the quickest solution

is a hit.

The number of people hit by murder ink
depends upon the source.

It could be in the dozens. It could be
in the hundreds.

And Bugsy Siegel personally is
attributed to between anywhere from 10

murders.

Siegel begins to amass a collection of
enemies.

And this is something that Lucky Luciano
recognizes.

So he sends him to California.

Sometime between 1936 and 1937, Bugsy
Siegel moves to L .A. He basically takes

over. There are already organized crime
groups in Southern California, and he

pretty much treats them as non
-entities.

So Siegel came to Hollywood and
immediately fell in love with it.

He just became this super playboy.

He really attracts a lot of the ladies.

He's known for his philandering.

But one woman in particular really
attracts his attention.

And that is Virginia Hill.

They have a tumultuous, tempestuous
relationship.

They are violent with one another. Hill
is able to give it back to Siegel in a

way that few others can.

By 1947, there are reports that Bugsy
and Virginia's relationship has become

even more volatile than usual.

Sources say that on June 19th of 1947
that they have a very public fight in

Vegas and she takes a plane to Europe
and he takes a plane to L .A.

His good friend Alan Smiley suggested
they go out to dinner.

So they went to dinner with Virginia
Hill's brother Chick.

And Virginia's secretary, Jerry Mason.

Hill and Mason were engaged to be
married. The four of them finish dinner.

come back to the house.

Chick and Jerry head upstairs to bed.

And Smiley and Siegel stay in the living
room. They're reading the newspaper.

Bugsy is unaware of the danger lurking
just outside his bay window.

Just before 11 p .m., the shooter fires
nine rounds.

Two hit him in the head, the other two
to the chest.

He pretty much died instantly.

Neighbors hear shots fired. They see a
car speeding off toward Sunset Boulevard

to the north.

They don't see who's in the car. No one
sees the license plate.

The murder weapon is never recovered,
but forensics quickly determined that it

was an M1 carbine, which was a standard
-issue semi -automatic rifle issued to

soldiers during World War II.

The L .A .D .A. believed that there were
at least 100 people who would want

Bugsy dead, but the Beverly Hills Police
Department believed that the person

that killed Bugsy Siegel was someone
within his inner circle, a known

For many experts, the key to Bugsy's
murder lies in the desert south of Las

Vegas. It's here, in the 1940s, he
builds what will become the Flamingo

And this is, of course, being bankrolled
by the syndicate.

who begin to raise questions about just
what Siegel is doing in the Nevada

desert. They believe that he is making a
lot more on the take than he says he

is. And if there is one thing that you
do not do in the mob, it is steal from

the mob.

By the early 1940s... The state of
Nevada is the only state in the union

has legal gambling, and so the syndicate
is like, how do we get in on the ground

floor?

Mobsters aren't the only people turning
to Las Vegas and looking at casinos as a

really great investment.

Billy Wilkerson is the publisher of The
Hollywood Reporter.

He is also a developer. He purchases
land, and he begins work on the

This is his dream.

Post -war cost of material is so high
that within about a month and a half,

already run out of money.

So the story is that Wilkerson looks to
Siegel, and at first, Siegel and

Wilkerson do work side by side.

Siegel then scares him so far off the
project that he leaves Las Vegas and

pretty much doesn't come back.

Siegel may be great at murdering people,
but what he is not great at is managing

them.

Their plumbing problem.

There's problems with delays in the
construction.

The budget for the Flamingo balloons
from $1 .2 million to $6 million, and

syndicate has to float him a million
-plus dollars to get this project

completed.

They're wondering, is he skimming some
of the money that they're giving him

that's to be used on the Flamingo Hotel
and Casino for his own personal gain?

Shortly before Christmas 1946, Lucky
Luciano convenes a meeting of syndicate

bosses in Havana, Cuba.

Lucky Luciano says, we think Bugsy is
stealing from us and it's time for him

be taken out.

But Meyer Lansky, who is one of the
crime bosses, he pleads for his old

life and he says, let's at least wait
until the Flamingo Hotel is open before

decide what to do.

December 26th. 1946.

The Flamingo's much -anticipated opening
does not go according to plan.

There is a rainstorm that prevents many
of Siegel's high -rolling friends from

Los Angeles from driving out.

The hotel rooms are not ready, and those
who come to gamble take their winnings

and go either to the El Rancho Vegas or
to Hotel Last Frontier.

He loses.

$300 ,000 in the first few weeks of
operations at the Flamingo.

The opening of the Flamingo is a
disaster.

But despite all of the setbacks, Bugsy
doesn't give up.

In March of 1947, they reopen.

And by May, they are already turning a
profit, which is a huge deal in casinos.

But Siegel won't have long to enjoy the
Flamingo's newfound success.

Casino turning a profit was the first
good news that Siegel really got. I

there was a false sense of security
there.

Meyer Lansky protected Siegel, but there
were members in the syndicate who

wanted Siegel dead.

Within minutes of Siegel's murder, a
number of syndicate henchmen, including

Siegel's old compatriot, Moe Sedway,
march onto the casino floor and announce

that the Flamingo is under new
management.

When Bugsy Siegel first moves to
California in the late 1930s, he sets

sights on one of the West Coast mob's
most lucrative rackets.

Horse racing is big business in the 30s.
This is the

era of Seabiscuit. The Santa Anita race
track is a huge deal. It's really like a

cultural touchstone at this period.

In the days before you had the Internet,
you could legally bet at the tracks.

Now, if you couldn't be there and you
were doing off -track betting, you would

have to go through a bookie.

Gambling bookmakers need to share
information about races before they

But that's illegal.

You can't use Western Union to send
information about a horse race or any

of sporting event until after it's over.

Now, this, of course, doesn't work if
you want to run a gambling operation.

So what they're looking for is that
information before the race happens.

The illegal wire service provides that.

And bookies are paying anywhere from
$100 to $250 a week for that

There are two competing race wire
services at this point.

Continental, which is owned by James
Reagan and is organized crime but not a

part of the syndicate.

The second, Transamerica, is run by Al
Capone with the support of the

The syndicate wants to take over all
wire services, so they set their eyes on

Continental.

So Bugsy's part is that if he's able to
take over the illegal wire service in

the southwest United States, then he
gets to run it, and he gets to keep a

of the profit.

And he does just that.

By the early 1940s, Bugsy, through
various means of charm, intimidation,

outright violence, he wiped out
Continental Wire Service.

Transamerica now controls the entire
wire service operation and Continental

fold up.

Bugsy might be the big man in L .A. for
now.

but his Hollywood lifestyle is making
his East Coast backers uneasy.

As Siegel rises in power on the West
Coast, he also rises in prominence.

He becomes something of a minor
celebrity.

He loved the celebrity life.

The Hollywood crowd absolutely loved
him.

Frank Sinatra, he told friends that this
guy has this charisma that's so

appealing, he's so good -looking, and
he's so...

He is a public figure in the way that
mob bosses are not supposed to be. You

not supposed to draw attention to
yourself or anything that you're doing.

This begins to rub his bosses back east
the wrong way.

By 46, Bugsy's wire racket is incredibly
lucrative. By some accounts, he's

making as much as $25 ,000 a month.

on his Las Vegas operation alone.

Siegel is consistently failing to report
profits from his various rackets on

time. First of all, it's just
disrespectful. But where's all the money

Some begin to perceive him as being too
big for his britches, that he's acting

less like a loyal lieutenant and more
like a boss himself.

And one person who's especially upset
about this, story goes, is none other

the actual boss.

Lucky Luciano.

In The Mob, time and time again, if you
don't follow their definition of the

straight and narrow, you're out.

So they decide to take this whole West
Coast wire operation away from Bugsy,

that's when Bugsy loses it.

Siegel is expectantly furious.

They'll tell anyone who will listen that
it's his racket, he'll run it how he

wants. Keep their hands off the profits.
It is yet another open display of not

only arrogance, but defiance. And in the
organized crime world, that type of

defiance often warranted a death
sentence.

According to one source, the New York
mob may have asked the Chicago outfit

help with their Bugsy problem.

It's likely the Chicago outfit had some
inside information on Bugsy's movements.

that would help them to pull off the
hit.

There are theories that the syndicate
reaches out to the Chicago outfit and

says, look, this is a problem for all of
us, and if you want to have more

control over the race wire, you need to
help us take care of this problem.

I think the outfit did stand to gain a
lot if they got Siegel out of the way.

When Bugsy is killed, the horse racing
wire issue is one of the first ideas

floated for why he is murdered.

There are some reports of Siegel and
some of his associates having arguments

the Flamingo about this very subject.

On June 26, 1947, less than a week after
his murder, Bugsy Siegel is

laid to rest.

in a $5 ,000 silver -plated casket.

Typically, when someone who was a
prominent figure in the mafia or the

passed away, you had this lavish funeral
with hundreds of guests, and that

wasn't the case with Ben's funeral.

This man who had so much notoriety and
so many people knew about him.

attracted almost no attention for his
funeral.

Reportedly, there were six guests.

There's no Virginia Hill.

Meyer Lansky doesn't fly out. None of
his associates are there.

They say that his funeral took about
five minutes.

Meyer Lansky and any of his other
compatriots know that once you cross the

everyone has to cut you off.

As he's being laid to rest, gossip is
already fomenting about who killed

Siegel and why.

There's a lot of people who think maybe
this wasn't an inside job, that maybe

it's all the enemies he made in L .A.
rather than the tension that he had with

the syndicate. His ego knew no bounds,
and he started to muscle in on other

people's territory.

Jack Dragnet is once described in a
state crime commission report as the Al

Capone of Los Angeles.

He was involved in Los Angeles for four
decades, kind of helped establish that

mafia organization there.

He made the bulk of his money during
Prohibition.

He runs an illegal wire service,
transmits information about horse races,

betting purposes.

He runs a number of casinos 12 miles
offshore, making it perfectly legal.

And he enjoys a degree of autonomy from
his bosses on the East Coast.

He was a native of Corleone, Sicily, and
was often back and forth between Italy

and America.

He is very much an honor -bound mafioso,
and Siegel

doesn't respect that at all.

So when Bugsy arrives in Los Angeles,
there are really big changes in the

Siegel sends people to essentially tear
apart Dragna's offices. And so this is a

direct affront.

Worst thing that you can do to a mobster
is humiliate him publicly.

But that is exactly what Siegel has
done.

But Dragna is the type of guy who
understands that in the mob world, what

around comes around. Power ebbs and
flows.

Dragna doesn't do anything initially
because he understood that Lucky Luciano

had to give the okay for all of this to
happen. So I think he was just biding

his time and waiting until the right
moment to take Bugsy out.

In the days after Bugsy's murder, there
is a lot of gossip amongst gangsters and

the police that Jack Dragna is the one
that ordered the hit.

Dragna is essentially able to regain
control of all of the Southern

rackets. And so for Luciano, if someone
else is willing to take out Siegel and

he doesn't have to be the one to order
that hit, I think it weighs a little

on your conscience.

The Dragna Theory gets a boost in 1987
when his former chauffeur and bodyguard,

Eddie the Catman Cannizzaro, confesses
that he shot Bugsy on his boss's order.

And according to Eddie Cannizzaro, Jack
Dragna got word from Meyer Lansky, hey,

we'd like this to happen in your
territory, and he gave the assignment to

Cannizzaro. In his confession,
Cannizzaro says, quote, I moved up on

and could see clearly through the bay
window. I nestled the barrel on a branch

and took my time before I squeezed off
the shots in rapid fire.

I was picked because I knew Siegel and
wouldn't make a mistake.

It was no secret to the police who
Cannizzaro was, so the fact that he was

known associate of Dragna lends some
plausibility to this theory.

But there is this strain of mobsters
who, at the end of their life,

they like to claim certain death.

Why would Cannizzaro lie?

Well, to elevate himself in the annals
of mob history.

And there are inconsistencies with his
story. For instance, he says that when

left, he drove southbound towards
Wilshire.

Witnesses said, no, no, no.

We saw the car drive off northbound
towards Sunset.

We also know that Cannizzaro is, in some
sense, is a bit of a strange guy. He's

called the Cat Man for a reason. But at
this time, he's living with his mother

in a house with 30 cats.

Whether Jack Dragna hired Cannizzaro to
take Bugsy Siegel out can't be ruled

out. He was certainly somebody who knew
that world, understood that world, and

would act on behalf of his boss, Jack
Dragna, who had, after all, been

humiliated and probably at some point in
front of Catman.

Bugsy Siegel was one of America's first
celebrity mobsters.

He may have been vicious and ruthless
when it came to business, but his good

looks and charismatic personality also
made him a Hollywood legend.

Perhaps all that adulation and celebrity
had gone to Bugsy's head, leading him

to bet that he was too important and big
to bow down to his syndicate bosses.

Whatever his reasoning, Siegel acts like
he's untouchable, and he does so at his

own peril.

By 1947, Siegel knows there are lots of
people.

out to get him. He's making a ton of
money in both California and Las Vegas,

he's also widely perceived to be
skimming profits.

He's also defiant in the face of his
bosses when they try to take away the

racket. But it could also be the case
that there was a threat literally right

his side the whole time.

In 1937, the syndicate sends Siegel some
help.

a former boxer turned mob enforcer named
Mickey Cohen, who is

notoriously violent, both with his fists
as well as his guns. And Cohen is maybe

one of the few people who could stand up
to Siegel because he knew he could back

it up.

Bugsy makes Mickey Cohen his personal
bodyguard, and before long, Cohen's a

trusted associate.

Cohen was very loyal. In fact, Cohen is
the kind of guy who really does fit the

mold of what organized crime wants in a
soldier.

He was willing to take the rap for
Bugsy. He spent time in jail and in

taking the fall, many believe, for
things that Siegel's actually

for.

With Mickey Cohen as his strong right
arm, Bugsy is the major underworld

on the West Coast.

But are his bosses back east considering
a change of management?

One of the key questions at the heart of
the Siegel mystery is the degree to

which he was or was not expendable.

How far could he push it as a valuable
lieutenant before people would crack

on him?

The mob have really lost trust in his
ability to turn a profit.

An FBI agent came to Ben before he was
murdered and said, I have intel saying

that people back east want to kill you.
You know, I just want you to know.

Reportedly, Siegel's final days in Las
Vegas are not pretty. He's suspicious.

He's lashing out at longtime associates,
accusing them of plotting against him.

One story has it on June 20th, 1947,
just hours before.

Siegel is killed.

He's asking Cohen for some equipment.

Cohen later says it sounds like Bugsy
knew he was going to be taken down and

wasn't going down without a fight.

Saying this to Mickey Cohen and trusting
him, you know, as a valued lieutenant

wasn't really the best thing to do.

I think a man like Cohen looks at
Siegel.

and thinks, you know, maybe I'll get my
opportunity. Maybe I'll get this racket.

Maybe I'll get this cut. But Siegel
doesn't really have that in mind. He

to control everything on the West Coast.

So would Cohen have gotten fed up about
that?

It's quite possible that at some point,
Mickey Cohen had got tired of resting in

the shadow and being his ball guy.

Cohen is Siegel's right -hand man in L
.A., which means he knows his comings

goings. He knows this mansion.

This is exactly the type of person and
the type of inside knowledge that you

need if you're trying to take down a
person who is already fearful, is

suspicious, and already knows how the
mob operates.

Hours after Siegel's murder, Cohen
reportedly drives to the Roosevelt

where he believes the killers are
staying, marches into the lobby, fires

rounds into the ceiling, and demands
that the killers present themselves.

And after 10 minutes, when they don't,
police are on their way, and he drives

out. It is a very theatrical display of
grief.

for his deceased friend?

Boss?

Bystanders suggest that Cohen puts on
this dramatic show because he's trying

cover up the fact that he's responsible
for Bugsy's death.

Mickey Cohen really benefits from the
death of his boss.

Bugsy Siegel's death leads him to gain
control of the majority of the rackets

L .A.

And Cohen becomes known as pretty much
the boss of L .A. This is an opportunity

that I don't think most people would
have anticipated for Cohen.

I think it's possible that this was quid
pro quo. I think it's also possible

that the syndicate wanted someone a
little easier to control, maybe not as

or as charismatic.

Cohen never admits any involvement in
Siegel's murder.

The closest we may become is an
interview he gave between prison stints

to Mike Wallace.

I have killed no man that in the first
place didn't

deserve killing.

Whether one of those deserved men,
Siegel, is something that Cohen took to

grave.

Bugsy Siegel was many things.

A pathological killer with a hair
-trigger temper.

A risk -taking high -stakes gambler. A
handsome, charming, social climber. And

notorious womanizer.

Siegel is someone people get attracted
to because he doesn't look like a

gangster. He looks like a Hollywood
star.

In the late 20s, Bugsy Siegel marries
his childhood sweetheart.

A woman named Esther, he had affairs
throughout the duration of his marriage.

She actually divorces him on the grounds
of his unfaithfulness.

But some say it's the way Bugsy treated
another woman that may have led to his

murder.

Wherever one looked, between 1942 and
1947 with Ben Siegel, one almost always

sees Virginia Hill.

Hill was not a conventional beauty by
Hollywood standards, but she was still

impressive, attractive woman. She had
red hair. She was vivacious. She had a

personality. And she also had her own
criminal backstory.

Virginia Hill is born in Alabama.

She moved as a teenager to Chicago
around 1933 when Chicago was host to the

World's Fair.

The only thing we know for certain is
that she starts working as a waitress at

the San Carlo Italian Village in the
Italian section of the World's Fair.

And who's hanging out there?

Capone's Chicago outfit.

So she starts serving and then working
for mobsters within Capone's outfit.

He would transport illicit materials,
which would range from anything from

letters to cash, narcotics, around the
country. You have to show up on time,

have to deliver as promised, and you
need to keep your mouth shut.

She is reportedly very good at this.

According to the National Museum of
Organized Crime and Law Enforcement,

Virginia Hill rises higher than any
other woman in the national underworld.

Bugsy Siegel falls for Virginia Hill.
There's no doubt in my mind that he

does love her and is really attracted to
her. He lavishes her with furs.

He rents this gorgeous house for her in
Beverly Hills. This is not just any old

affair. I think they legitimately loved
each other.

But just because you love someone
doesn't mean it's a healthy

They're said to have very violent
fights.

They are flinging insults and furniture
at each other.

We know that Hill often gave as much as
she took, but she's taking it from a man

who's twice her size.

Maybe after years of this abuse, she's
had enough.

Bernie Sindler is an associate of Meyer
Lansky's who later writes a memoir. And

in it, he talks about a meeting that he
had with Virginia Hill in 1946.

He's in Las Vegas. He's at the Flamingo.

He claims that she was having something
of an argument with a gentleman. When he

approached, she introduced the gentleman
as another brother.

This one is a Marine stationed nearby at
Camp Pendleton.

Hill is telling her brother about yet
another violent confrontation.

This one's so violent that it left Hill
with bruises.

And she says to her brother that she's
now fearing for her life. She thinks

Siegel is going to kill her.

And Sindler recalled that her brother
said something like, I ought to kill

son of a bitch.

On June 20th, 1947, six months after
Bernie Sindler sees Hill and her alleged

Marine brother at the Flamingo, Her
other brother Chick is upstairs in the

Beverly Hills mansion she shared with
Bugsy when the shots ring out.

Why were the curtains open if it was
late at night?

Somebody must have opened them.

The senator drew what he thought was the
appropriate conclusion.

Chick had opened a curtain before he
went upstairs so that his brother would

have a clean shot at Ben Siegel.

Hill's brother.

Being a Marine would be very familiar
with an M1 carbine.

You'd be probably proficient with it.

Zindler also claims the M .O. in Bugsy's
murder is inconsistent with a mob hit.

Typical mob hit is when you go up to a
guy with a handgun up to his head and

shoot him because you're not going to
miss.

The fact that Virginia Hill suddenly
flew off to Paris the day before Bugsy's

murder also raises questions.

The timing of the travel gives Hill a
perfect alibi.

They had a fight, so she needs some time
away, so she left.

Nowhere near the Beverly Hills mansion
when Siegel was killed.

When Virginia Hill is questioned, she
says that she can't imagine that Bugsy

Siegel is involved in all this criminal
activity, and she says, well, I'm not

his mistress. If anything, his mistress
is the Flamingo Hotel.

Hill is an old -school mobster in her
own right. She's not going to squeal.

not in her nature.

Nineteen years later, in 1966, Virginia
Hill tragically dies of an overdose of

sleeping pills, allegedly committing
suicide, and she takes all of her

to the grave.

But she wasn't the only woman who might
have had a reason to want Bugsy killed

and the means to make it happen.

2014.

71 -year -old Robbie Sedway, the second
son of Bugsy Siegel associate Moe

Sedway, is dying of throat cancer when
he reveals a long -held family secret to

Los Angeles magazine writer Amy Wallace.

A secret that Sedway believes solves the
mystery of Bugsy's killing once and for

all.

Robbie says his mother told him who
killed Bugsy.

It's a love story, he tells Wallace.

And it's a story with his mother, Bea,
at the center. All of this was revealed

in a memoir. And Robbie had not
published his mother's memoir because he

it was too hot. There might be some
problems if he made that information

On his deathbed, he has a change of
heart and sees it as his responsibility

reveal the answer to one of the greatest
mysteries of the 20th century.

Moe Sedway was one of Bugsy Siegel's
oldest and closest friends from their

juvenile delinquent days in the street
gangs of Brooklyn, New York.

Early in the Prohibition era, Bugsy
brings Moe into the Jewish mob formed by

Meyer Lansky.

Whereas Siegel is violent and
confrontational, Moe is more of the

He's quiet and more intellectual.

In 1936, 41 -year -old Moe Sedway
marries 17 -year -old Beatrice B.

Bugsy is the best man at their wedding.

But by the 1940s, the relationship
between the two old friends is starting

fracture. I think Sedway sees himself as

subordinate to Bugsy in a way that he
doesn't believe that he should be.

There's a lot of tension between them.
Sedway's really in charge of a lot of

Las Vegas race wire operations.

And Siegel sees himself as the king of
this operation. He does not think that

anyone should have any control over what
is his cash cow.

In her 2014 article in Los Angeles
Magazine, Amy Wallace details the events

B. Sedway's unpublished book.

Bee writes that Siegel becomes aware
that Moe is not only keeping his own set

financial records, he's communicating
directly with Meyer Lansky about the

financial condition of the flamingo.
Bugsy is so enraged that he decides to

Moe killed.

In the manuscript, B says that Siegel
convenes a meeting of all of his

associates in Las Vegas where he makes
clear what he wants to happen to Mo

Segway. He's said, I want Mo out. I want
him dead.

I want to feed him to the Flamingo Hotel
garbage disposal.

Mo, we heard about this. Called Beatrice
and being the good wife, she came

rushing to Las Vegas and they had a
conversation out in the desert.

She said, I don't want to talk in town.

We need to talk out where no one can
hear us.

And she and Moe hatched an idea that
they needed to eliminate Ben.

They contacted Meyer Lanphie and got his
endorsement to do this, even though

this was his best friend.

Robbie said way.

Moe's son said that he asked his mom B
one night when he was young if she knew

who killed Bugsy Siegel. His mother's
response?

Moose, and don't tell anybody I told you
that.

Moose, panza, 6 '3", maybe 230, 240
pounds, a construction

worker and a truck driver.

Moe and Bea have kind of an
unconventional relationship because Moe

significantly older than her, and she is
having an open affair with this truck

driver, Moose.

And weirdly, Moe even becomes friends
with Moose. He treats him as a

trusted confidant in a lot of ways.

Robbie Fedway claims that his father and
mother asked Moose to kill Bugsy before

Bugsy killed Moe.

Moose has a reputation as an avid
hunter, and so the story is that he gets

access to this rifle.

That he shoots Bugsy, and because he's
so comfortable with firearms that he

leaves the scene, he breaks down his
weapon and he tosses parts into Pacific

Ocean.

Bugsy's death allows Moe Sedway to
flourish.

He and another associate take over the
Flamingo, and they make it far more

profitable than it ever was under Bugsy.

Robbie? Sedway also said that his mom
told him, listen, Bugsy's murder had

nothing to do with money. It was because
he betrayed his friend.

Be clear.

Bugsy's death can be seen as poetic
justice, a violent death for a man who

to fame and fortune through violent
means.

Siegel made so many enemies that we are
unlikely to ever know for certain who

killed him and why.

Bugsy Siegel's life will always be
defined by two contrasting images. The

and glamour of the Vegas nightlife he
helped to create and his bullet -riddled

body on a blood -soaked couch in Beverly
Hills.

Regardless of why Bugsy's life was cut
short and at whose orders, he remains

of the most iconic mobsters in American
history. And his unsolved murder, one of

the mob's most enduring mysteries.

I'm Lawrence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching History's
Greatest Mysteries.