All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S04E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

On this episode
of "Expedition Files"...

Noah's Ark, the story of a man
saving the world's creatures

from an apocalyptic flood is
one of the Bible's

most epic tales.

But is it an allegory,
or is it based in fact?

Now, a jaw-dropping discovery
in the mountains of Turkey

suggests the legendary ark
may have been found.

Then, in the aftermath of 9/11,
the 2001 anthrax attacks

spread fear across America.

The sender of the deadly
letters remains unknown

until the FBI uncovers
a culprit no one expected.

And in the 1940s, mobster
Bugsy Siegel is gunned down

in his Beverly Hills mansion.

For decades, his killer remains
one of the underworld's

best-kept secrets,
until an unpublished memoir

threatens to expose

the betrayal that
brought him down.

[dramatic chord strike]

[theme music plays]

In the corridors of time

are mysteries that
defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling
through history itself

on a search for the truth.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh Gates,

and these

are my "Expedition Files."

Our high school football coach
had a catchphrase that he'd try

to inspire the team with
before every game.

He'd say, "You know what
makes diamonds?

Pressure."

Did it work?
I wouldn't know.

I was metal detecting for
treasure behind the bleachers.

But Coach What's-His-Name
had a point.

The most extreme situations
can lead to the most

extraordinary things.

Tonight, we pressurize
three such tales,

multifaceted mysteries born
under the most intense

of circumstances.

We start with a DIY project,
created under the most powerful

pressure imaginable,
the impending end of the world.

The vessel behind me is
300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide,

and 30 cubits tall.

Now, you're probably asking
yourself, what the heck

is a cubit?

Well, it's a unit of
measurement recorded in

the book of Genesis,
because this shipbuilder here

is Noah, and that is his ark.
It's a work in progress.

It's also no ordinary boat,
because God himself has

commissioned it to be
big enough to hold two of

every known animal on Earth.

And according to scripture,
it's going to be completed just

in time, because the long term
forecast is, well,

let's just say, wet.

Millennia later,
biblical scholars

and archaeologists will scour
the globe, searching for

evidence of a great flood
and traces of this fabled ship.

And eventually, on a remote
mountain in Turkey,

an international team of
researchers claim to make

a discovery of
biblical proportions.

Could it be the true final
resting place of Noah's Ark?

[dramatic music plays]

[thunder rolls]

[trumpeting]

If you're like me,
then it's been a few years

since Sunday school.

So let's crack open
the best-selling book

of all time for a quick recap.

In the Book of Genesis,
God is angry.

[thunder rumbles]

No, like really angry.

[thunder roars]

Much better.

Fed up with the wickedness,
corruption, and violence of

humanity, the rather vengeful
God of the Old Testament

decides to destroy his creation
and start over.

To kick off Humanity 2.0,
God picks Noah,

supposedly the only
righteous man on Earth.

[thunder rolls]

He comes to him in a vision,

instructing him on how to build

a literal lifeboat
for humanity.

Divided into three decks,
with a large door on the side.

Converting our cubits, the ark
is roughly 510 feet long,

85 feet wide,
and 51 feet high.

Tradition says Noah builds
the ship with the help of

his three sons, and that once
it's ready, God commands

the animals to gather,

instinctively making their way
to the ark.

Noah is going to need every
last inch because God wants

every species on Earth
on board, not to mention food

and supplies to ride out
the coming storm.

According to Genesis,
building the ark takes

around 100 years.

Noah is a spry 600-years-young
when the rain starts.

Accompanied by
his wife, three sons,

their wives,
and the huge animal menagerie,

Noah hunkers down
for the end of the world.

[thunders roaring]

For the next 40 days
and 40 nights, a monstrous storm

devastates the Earth.

The waters rise
and all land disappears.

[blowing]

[piano keys play]

Scripture says after
about a year adrift,

the waters recede.

And the boat comes to rest
on the mountains of Ararat.

When Noah releases a dove
and it returns clutching

a freshly plucked olive leaf,
it's proof that land

and life are reemerging.

Humanity has its do-over.

Sure, there are plot holes in
this account big enough to sail

an ark through, but that hasn't
stopped countless

biblical scholars and true
believers from investigating

whether elements of the flood
and the ark are based on

verifiable historical events.

-[trumpeting]
-[growling]

In the first century AD,
Roman Jewish historian Josephus

links the biblical tale
to a strikingly similar

Mesopotamian account carved
on clay tablets

some 2,000 years earlier
of a great flood.

He suggests they may be
describing the same

ancient disaster, placing
the resting place of Noah's Ark

in the region near the
modern-day borders of Turkey,

Iran, and Armenia,

home to a mountain
known as Ararat.

[dramatic chord strike]

In 1829, French and Armenian
mountaineers make

the first recorded ascent
of the remote,

nearly 17,000-foot summit,

but they report
no sign of the ark.

Almost 50 years later, in 1876,
explorer James Bryce summits

the mountain and is seemingly
more successful,

reportedly returning with
a mysterious piece

of hand-hewn timber

that some will claim is
proof of Noah's ship.

It'll be 15 more minutes.

[Josh] Then in October 1959,
an event unfolds that some

believe finally reveals
a real sighting of the ark.

So we're just gonna take
off from over here,

head northeast, and then once
we approach around the base of

the Ararat, we take
a quick look.
-Mm-hmm.

[Josh] Turkish Air Force pilot

Ilhan Durupinar is
preparing to fly

a reconnaissance mission near
the Turkish-Iranian border.

As he flies over the remote
wilderness south of

Mount Ararat, he is stunned
by what looks like

a large rock formation that
seems completely at odds with

the surrounding terrain.

He snaps an aerial photo.

[whoosh]

In addition to being about
500 feet long and 150 feet wide,

the formation seems
oddly boat-shaped.

The resemblance
and dimensions aren't lost

on Durupinar or his superiors.

Immediately, they notify
the Turkish government that

they might have actually found
Noah's Ark.

An expedition team
is scrambled.

They spend two days looking for
physical evidence of

the wooden ship, excavating with
hand tools, not to mention

other techniques like
a little dynamite.

[boom]

When the dust settles,
no definitive evidence

is found.

Even so, the Durupinar site
will continue to fuel debate

for decades to come.

Is something buried within
the hill, or is it just

a strange rock formation?

Eighty years later,
the remote site and mysterious

formation is investigated
once again, this time with

cutting-edge technology.

And the data may show something
truly astonishing,

potential evidence
of Noah's Ark.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh] For centuries,
Biblical scholars have searched

for evidence of the legendary
Noah's Ark.

Then, in 2019, radar scientist
Matt Daniels led a modern

expedition to the remote slopes
near Turkey's Mount Ararat,

where many Biblical scholars
suggest the ark came to rest.

And what he discovered there
raised eyebrows.

We took a bunch of technical
experts, 3D laser scanners,

ground-penetrating radar,
all of this technical expertise

to collect data on that site
in the mountains of Ararat.

The real purpose of it was to
create a high-definition,

photorealistic model of
the site and figure out

what's underneath the ground.

When we processed the data,
it was shocking because we saw

a lot of different structures,
right angles, things that

look like rooms.

We're like,
"Well, what is this?"

Like, what's going on here?

Everything points towards
keep going.

Matt was intrigued.

The data may indicate buried
man-made structures.

Unfortunately, without
permission from

the Turkish government
to excavate,

the team is unable to verify

exactly what is buried
under the mountain.

But if it's really Noah's Ark,
then the slopes would have to

have been flooded
in Biblical times.

So is that even possible?

The answer might lie
in the Black Sea,

the nearest large body of water
capable of producing

that kind of flooding.

While Mount Ararat sits more
than 150 miles away today,

scientists have long questioned
whether ancient geography once

put these two regions
much closer together.

In the 1990s,
an international team of

geologists and oceanographers
set out to answer the question,

did the Black Sea ever
experience a massive flood?

They used seismic soundings,
essentially underwater sonar to

map the seafloor,
and then drilled

sediment cores, which are
long cylinders of mud

from the seabed that
preserve a layered record

of the Black Sea's past.

These cores revealed a dramatic
environmental shift.

In the deepest layers,
scientists found

freshwater shells, evidence
that the Black Sea

was once an isolated
freshwater lake.

Then, abruptly, those species
disappeared, replaced by

saltwater marine life.
The only explanation?

Seawater from the Mediterranean
broke through, rushing in

and transforming the lake
into a saltwater sea.

The data also suggests
the water level rose rapidly by

as much as 500 feet.

And radiocarbon dating places
this dramatic event at roughly

7,500 years ago.

According to their analysis,
a rapidly rising Black Sea

overflowed, dumping
the equivalent

of almost 200 Niagara Falls'

worth of water a day

for 300 days, flooding
60,000 square miles,

an area that would have
included Mount Ararat.

Known as the "Black Sea Deluge
Hypothesis," it has been floated

as potential scientific
evidence for

the Biblical Great Flood.

And so, in 2021,

an expedition set out
to test the theory.

Dr. Faruk Kaya was
the expedition leader on

the 2021 expedition.

So unlike previous
expeditions, the goal of

the 2021 effort was to not find
a boat or structure or man-made

materials, but to see if
there was marine sea life.

Dr. Kaya and his team analyzed
soil samples taken all around

the unusual rock formation.
And what did they find?

So Dr. Kaya and his team found,
through their core samples

and their testing,
three different things.

They found organic sea life,
fossilized coral, seashells.

That type of material.

And then they dated this
organic sea life to the time

about the time of
the Biblical flood.

[dramatic chord strike]

The slopes near Mount Ararat
apparently do contain evidence

of ancient marine life.

And while this supports
the conditions required for

the ark to end up there,
searchers are a long way from

proving it actually did.

Soil samples and radar scans
are continuing.

But the only way to know for
sure is to launch a full-scale

excavation of the mysterious
Durupinar site.

But given the remote location
near the border of Iran,

and that it's smack
in the middle

of a Turkish military zone,

that permission
may take a while.

In the meantime,
while researchers hunt for

definitive answers,
it's left to the faith of

millions to hold
this story afloat.

[dramatic chord strike]

Fast forward thousands
of years, and we turn from

a biblical flood to a very
different kind of threat.

It's October 15, 2001,
four weeks after

the 9/11 attacks
shook America to its core.

And now, another act of terror.

But this doesn't come
from the skies.

It comes in the mail.

Envelopes filled with
a mysterious white powder

start arriving at
media companies

and congressional offices,

including here at
the Hart Senate Building

in Washington, D.C.

Nobody knows it yet, but one of
the most secure buildings

in the country has just been
breached by a silent killer.

Its name?
Anthrax.

Over the next two months,
five people will die,

and the FBI will launch
one of the largest

criminal investigations
in U.S. history.

But, for years, the case
will go cold.

That is, until genetic forensics
leads to a stunning revelation

and a suspect
the FBI never expected.

[dramatic chord strike]

[suspenseful music plays]

Grant Leslie is a new intern

for South Dakota Senator
Tom Daschle.

For her, it's just another
Monday doing her routine task

of collecting and sorting
the incoming mail.

One envelope stands out,
written in what looks like

a child's handwriting.

It's postmarked from
Trenton, New Jersey.

She opens it,
accidentally unleashing terror.

[coughing]

A fine, white powder
bursts into the air.

-[coughing]
-[indistinct speaking]

[Josh] Within minutes,
an evacuation is ordered

and the building
is locked down.

The fine powder continues
spreading, floating through

corridors and ventilation
systems, traveling

hundreds of feet
into surrounding offices.

[indistinct radio chatter]

Leslie is taken to a secure
area, placed under quarantine,

and started on a powerful
course of antibiotics.

At this point, nobody knows
exactly what's

inside the envelope.

But hours later, the tests will
confirm it's anthrax.

These microscopic particles are
toxic spores that attack

the body, destroy tissue,
and overwhelm

the immune system.

Anthrax is so lethal that
just breathing it in

can be fatal without treatment.

And the office
of Senator Daschle

is not the only target.

A week earlier,
anthrax spores were sent to

the Florida offices of
the National Enquirer.

And anthrax-laced letters also
arrived at NBC, ABC,

CBS, and the New York Post.

By the end of November,
five people will be dead.

A photo editor at
American Media Inc.,

two postal workers
in Washington, D.C.,

a New York hospital employee,

and an elderly woman
in Connecticut,

all attacked through
cross-contaminated mail.

17 more will become infected,
and tens of thousands placed on

antibiotics out of fear
of possible exposure.

Investigators fear that this is
another coordinated

terrorist attack
just like 9/11.

And the letters included with
the anthrax seem to confirm it,

referencing the fateful date

alongside statements like,
"Death to America."

To understand what they're
up against, the FBI turns

to the U.S. Army
Medical Research Institute
of Infectious Diseases

at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

One of the first to see
the powder up close is

microbiologist Dr. Bruce Ivins,
a top Army anthrax expert.

He notes that the sample is
a dry, ultra-fine powder,

so light it practically floats
in the bag.

His conclusion?

This isn't the product
of some amateur.

It's an expertly crafted
biological weapon.

The powder is sent to
a specialized lab in Arizona,

where scientists identify it
as the particularly virulent

Ames strain of anthrax.

First isolated in 1981,
this particular strain was

distributed only to a handful
of military and government labs

for vaccines and biological
defense research.

This revelation sends
shock waves

through the investigation.
-No.

[Josh] Instead of an organized
terrorist network,

the evidence now suggests that
this was an inside job.

In a horrifying irony, it seems
one of the very labs tasked

with preventing anthrax
from being used as a weapon

instead unleashed it.

The FBI builds a profile
of the suspect,

perhaps a scientist with access
to the Ames strain of anthrax,

but also someone
isolated, obsessive,

and fueled by grievance.

[suspenseful music builds]

The envelopes were postmarked
in Trenton, New Jersey.

So the FBI and postal
inspectors launch an exhaustive

operation, swabbing more than
600 mailboxes in the region.

And eventually,
they'll get a hit.

This mailbox in nearby
Princeton tests positive

for anthrax.

So, this is where
the attack began.

But who is the mastermind
behind it?

One name emerges that seems
to fit the FBI's profile,

Dr. Steven Hatfill,

a virologist and former
Army biodefense expert

from nearby Maryland.

He works at the Army's
Institute of Infectious Diseases

until 1999,
where he could have accessed

the Ames anthrax strain.

After leaving the Institute,
Hatfill goes to work for

a military contractor,
maintaining ties to

the biodefense world.

During this period,
he also commissions a report

detailing how anthrax could be
delivered through the mail.

And records show that Hatfill
had also recently filled

a prescription for
the antibiotic Cipro,

commonly used to treat anthrax
exposure, raising suspicions

that he may have been
trying to protect himself.

As investigators begin
connecting these dots,

scrutiny intensifies.

And soon, details of
the anthrax investigation leak

into the media, placing Hatfill
at the center of

a rapidly growing storm
of public suspicion.

In June, 2002, the FBI raids
Hatfill's home, searching for

traces of the anthrax spores

or the equipment used
to produce them.

They even drain this nearby
pond, where they suspect

Hatfill may have dumped
his lab equipment

or other evidence.

After pumping out
50,000 gallons of water,

they do recover one thing,
but far from being

incriminating, it turns out
to be a turtle trap.

In fact, not a scrap of
physical evidence ever links

Dr. Steven Hatfill
to the attacks.

After six years under
a cloud of suspicion,

the government officially
clears his name.

He then sues
the Department of Justice for

violating his privacy
and wins $5.8 million.

With Hatfill
no longer a suspect,

the investigation
reaches an impasse.

But then, in 2007,
a scientific breakthrough

enables the FBI to track
the anthrax spores from

the original letters back to
a single laboratory flask

and to a suspect who had been
right under their noses

from the very beginning.

[suspenseful music plays]

For years, the FBI's hunt for
the culprit behind the deadly

2001 anthrax attacks
went nowhere.

That is, until science opened
a new path, a genetic trail

hidden in the anthrax
spores themselves.

Investigative journalist
Gregory Gordon reveals how

scientists used microscopic
evidence to close the case.

Looking at these samples
of anthrax again

and again, they identified

some mutations in these spores,
and they thought maybe

this could be a genetic marker.

And so they searched for these
mutations in all 1,070 samples

in the FBI repository.
This took five to six years.

They finally concluded that
these mutations were

leading them to a specific flask
at Fort Detrick, Maryland,

the bioweapons lab.

[Josh] And the owner
of that flask?

-[Josh] Dr. Bruce Ivins.
-I don't know.

[Josh] Remember him?

One of the Army's top anthrax
vaccine experts and a close

adviser to the FBI on this case
from the very beginning.

-You have to believe me.
-[Josh] Now, they had to ask

a chilling question.

Was he a trusted partner,
or was he the enemy within?

Bruce Ivins had
a stellar reputation in

the biodefense community.

And in fact, the Pentagon had
given him a civilian award for

his work in trying to develop
vaccines to defend against

an anthrax attack.

But in the late 1990s and early
2000s, the funding for

Ivins' program was disappearing.

And so he was
kind of in a panic.

His life's work was
about to disappear.

[Josh] The motive that began to
emerge was something

all too simple -- money.

To be exact, more funding for
Ivins' biodefense research.

After the letters were
discovered and fear was

sweeping the nation,
people were afraid to even

open their mail.

There was suddenly
a rejuvenation of

support for a next-generation
anthrax vaccine,

and it was
all systems go.

The program was rejuvenated.

He was back on track.

[Josh] Motive?
Check.

But what about
means and opportunity?

[Greg]
And then Ivins' lab records,

to the pique of investigators,

showed that in the weeks before
the first anthrax letters were

mailed, he had spent dozens of
hours late at night working

all by himself without any
real good explanation.

So outside of the lab,

investigators found he had been
plagued with behavioral

and mental health problems
for much of his life.

He had had bouts of very

severe anger and obsession.

There was a dark side that was
dragging Bruce Ivins down.

[Josh] The FBI places Ivins
under surveillance.

They search his home,
monitor his emails,

and then deliver the final
blow, suspending his security

clearance, cutting him off from
the lab and his life's work.

In the weeks that follow,
Ivins begins to unravel.

During a group therapy session,
the pressure on him becomes

too much and he allegedly
threatens to go out

in a blaze of glory.

He was sinking into depression
as this investigation drew

to a climax.

He talked about the fact that
he was gonna end up being

the blood sacrifice
of this gigantic investigation.

He made all kinds of veiled
threats to the point where

his therapists were reporting
him to law enforcement.

But in midsummer 2008,
there was a tragic turn

in the case.

On the 29th of July,
Bruce Ivins was found dead

of an overdose.

A week later, the FBI closes
the case, declaring him

the sole perpetrator.
But was he?

If you look back at
the totality of the evidence,

his bizarre behavior
and his murderous threats,

and perhaps most importantly
of all, the science that it

pointed back to his flask.

It's a big arrow pointing
at Bruce Ivins.

-No question about that.
-Despite all the signs

pointing to Bruce Ivins,
doubts persist.

He denied the charges to
the end, and there was

no physical evidence tying him
to the Princeton mailbox.

Some of his colleagues also
insist he lacked the expertise

to produce such
weaponized spores.

A report by
the National Academy of Sciences

even challenges the claim
that the anthrax strain

came from his flask.

The FBI, though, is convinced
they got their man.

So did they?

Well, perhaps
the ultimate proof is

in the mail.

Since 2001, America has never
been attacked by

weaponized anthrax again.

It's June 20, 1947.
I'm in Beverly Hills.

And this here is
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel,

the man who put Las Vegas
on the map.

He's famous for his movie star
good looks and penchant for

partying with cinema royalty.

Heck, one day, Warren Beatty
will play Bugsy on

the big screen.

He's also infamous for shaking
down bookies, extorting rivals,

and murdering enemies.

But tonight, Bugsy's colorful
life will come to a brutal end.

Soon, gunfire will
rip through the night

and rip through Siegel.

His murder will inspire decades
of speculation, but no one will

ever be charged with the crime.

And then, some 70 years later,
a shocking claim might rewrite

everything we thought we knew

about the mob, the man,
and his murder.

-[gunshot blasts]
-[shattering]

[suspenseful music plays]

Brooklyn, New York, 1920.

Benjamin Siegel grows up
in a poor, Russian-Jewish

immigrant family
and hates the life

of back-breaking labor
waiting for him.

On the streets,
he finds another path.

Siegel starts running his own
gang and becomes known for

a violent temper so explosive,

friends call him
"crazy as a bed bug."

[gunshot blast]

And the name sticks, Bugsy.

He teams up with two gangsters,

Meyer Lansky
and Moe Sedway,

building a ruthless
prohibition-era operation,

bootlegging, gambling,

and murder for hire.

[gunshot blasts echo]

Lansky is the brains.
Bugsy is the muscle.

Sedway is the loyal lieutenant.

Together, they help build
the National Crime Syndicate,

a loose alliance of mob leaders
meant to reduce turf wars

and run organized crime
more like a business.

In 1931, Bugsy makes
his boldest power move yet,

when he brazenly guns down
feared Sicilian gangster

Giuseppe "Joe The Boss"
Masseria.

-[ticking]
-[dramatic chord strike]

With Masseria gone,
Bugsy and his partners rise

fast in the new mob order,
establishing a notorious

hit squad known as Murder, Inc.
Bugsy's power is growing.

But as the bodies stack up,
he's making some

serious enemies.

Soon, this titan of terror's
own blood will be spilled,

igniting a mystery
lasting 60 years.

[Josh] In the mid-1930s,
gangster Bugsy Siegel

moves to Los Angeles.

Wearing tailored suits,
with a matinee-idol grin,

the ruthless hitman
looks like he belongs on

the silver screen.

He even parties
with Hollywood A-listers

like Clark Gable
and Jean Harlow.

But behind the scenes,
he's laying the groundwork for

a mafia takeover of
the West Coast underworld.

Acting on behalf of
the National Crime Syndicate,

he pushes into the Los Angeles
rackets it wants to control,

from horse betting
and illegal casinos

to prostitution rings,

demanding a cut of the profits.

Anyone who resists?

Well, let's just say Bugsy

makes them an offer
they can't refuse.

[suspenseful music builds]

[dramatic chord strike]

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪

[Josh] Bugsy takes up
with Virginia Hill,

a fiery Southern belle,

mob courier,
and wannabe Hollywood starlet.

Their relationship is passionate
but notoriously turbulent,

marked by her wild spending,
screaming matches,

and even allegations
of physical abuse.

But for all their chaos,
Bugsy and Virginia share

a driving ambition

and a gambler's hunger
for high-stakes glory.

By the 1940s, Bugsy is looking
beyond Hollywood for new

money-making opportunities,
and he finds them in Las Vegas.

What began as a dusty railroad
stop deep in the Mojave Desert

is now a city on the rise,
powered by cheap electricity

from the nearby Hoover Dam
and a wartime influx of workers

and more than 10,000 servicemen
stationed at a nearby base,

all eager for entertainment.

With gambling legal in Nevada,
the timing is perfect.

The once sleepy casinos along
Fremont Street now blaze with

neon lights, drawing in young
GIs ready to test their luck.

But to Siegel, Vegas still
lacks one thing, glamor.

He believes a luxury hotel
and casino, one worthy of

movie stars
and wealthy high rollers,

could transform Las Vegas from

a frontier town into
a world-class destination.

Siegel convinces Meyer Lansky
and other East Coast bosses to

bankroll a bold, new venture,
the Flamingo Hotel,

a lavish mob-financed
gambling palace

rising from the Nevada desert.

Bugsy even brings in his old
New York pal, Moe Sedway,

to help him run the operation.

Together, they envision
the Flamingo as the crown jewel

of a new criminal empire
and a source of

enormous riches.

But by the time the Flamingo
opens in December 1946,

construction costs have
ballooned to over

a million dollars.

Even worse, the hotel tanks
on opening night.

The Vegas dream Siegel sold
to the mob has become

a financial nightmare.

Some of Bugsy's associates,
including his former

best friend Meyer Lansky
and Moe Sedway,

suspect him of bungling
their investment, or even worse,

stealing the cash for himself.

Six months later, on the night
of June 20, 1947,

Siegel is back in L.A.

Bugsy and his friend and mob
associate, Allen Smiley,

quietly read the LA Times,

unaware that tomorrow
they'll be front page news.

Just after 10:45 PM...

-[gunshot blasts]
-[shattering]

...nine shots rip through

the living room window
from outside.

Four of them hit Bugsy.

One bullet tears through
his cheek and explodes

his left eye out of his socket.
He dies instantly.

Smiley survives with just
a graze on his arm.

But he doesn't get a look at
the shooter, who leaves behind

no trace other than
30-caliber shell casings

in the front yard,
suggesting a military-issue

M1 carbine rifle may be
the murder weapon.

With little evidence,
Siegel's murder becomes one of

the greatest unprosecuted cases
in American mob history.

Decades later,
though, explosive claims will

emerge, and the revelation of
a culprit no one saw coming.

[suspenseful chord strike]

[Josh] After being gunned down
in his home in cold blood,

the murder of gangster
Bugsy Siegel sits unsolved

for 60 years.

But now Claire White,
director of education at

the Mob Museum in Las Vegas,
believes new testimony reveals

the shocking truth of who was
actually behind the hit.

What's so fascinating about
Siegel's death is he is killed

with this military-grade rifle.

That's very uncommon
for mob hits at the time.

And he has so many enemies,
even more so

than your average mobster.

And that really does
call into question

who committed this and why.

[Josh] Who knew exactly where
Siegel would be that night,

when he'd be in his living room,
planted on that couch?

Some point the finger at
the person who knew him best,

his longtime girlfriend,
Virginia Hill.

After all, their relationship
was famously volatile.

And then there's this
rather suspicious detail.

Virginia's brother, Chick Hill,
who was living in

Siegel's house at the time
and home that night,

was conveniently out of harm's
way when the shots rang out.

By this point in
Hill and Siegel's relationship,

by all accounts,
by all witnesses, this is truly

an abusive relationship.

There are people going on
record saying that they have

seen Hill with bruises,
they're fighting constantly,

screaming, in a way that
people are taking notice.

They know who did it.

Just a few weeks prior,
in Las Vegas, another mobster,

a man named Bernie Sindler, says
that he overheard Virginia Hill

and Bugsy Siegel fighting,
and then later overheard

Virginia Hill discussing this
with her brother.

Not Chick Hill.

This is another brother
with military experience.

And her brother essentially
saying, like, "If he lays

his hands on you one more time,
I'm gonna kill him."

The night of Siegel's death,
Chick Hill, her other brother,

is there in the house.
Maybe he's the one

who pulled open the curtain,
making it possible for someone

with a military background,
which both of Virginia Hill's

brothers have, to come up
and take Siegel out for the way

that he treated their sister.

-[gunshot blasts]
-[shattering]

[Josh]
So did Virginia's brothers
decide Bugsy had it coming?

It's a tempting theory,

but most experts say
it doesn't hold up.

There are people who put stock
in this theory, but why aren't

the Hill brothers taken out
or at least reprimanded

in some way if this was
a unsanctioned hit on one of

the higher-ranking mobsters on
the West Coast, then why didn't

the mob in any way retaliate?

There's no indication that
the mob thought that

the Hill brothers were
responsible, and I think equally

importantly, it doesn't seem
like law enforcement thinks

that the Hill brothers
are responsible.

Nothing happens to
any of the Hill brothers.

But for me, the biggest problem
with the theory that

Virginia Hill's brothers
took out Bugsy Siegel

is what happens minutes
after Siegel is killed in L.A.

300 miles away in Las Vegas,
on the evening of June 20th,

Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaum
walk out onto the floor of

the Flamingo, and Moe Sedway
says, "I'm in charge now."

How could Sedway have known
if the mob wasn't at least

in some way responsible
for Siegel's death?

Unlike Bugsy,
who loved the spotlight,

Moe Sedway had a quiet demeanor
and knew how to fly

under the radar.

Could he really have organized
the murder of his old friend?

Well, it turns out there is
fresh, shocking testimony that

could answer this question.
And the source?

Moe's own wife.

Robbie Sedway, the son of
Moe Sedway and his wife Bea,

comes forward saying that
Bea Sedway was working

on her memoir.

And in it, she was going to
explain what happened

on the night of June 20, 1947,
and tell the world

who killed
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

[Josh] Bea passed away in 1999,
but her unpublished memoir

reportedly contained
a bombshell, namely that before

he was killed, Bugsy Siegel
was planning to murder

her husband, Moe.

In her account, Moe uncovered
evidence that Siegel was

recklessly overspending
and even stealing from

the Flamingo Project
and snitched on him

to syndicate leaders.

When Siegel learned Moe
had exposed him,

he began plotting revenge.

Knowing his life was in danger,
Moe turned to the syndicate

once more and received
their blessing to take out

Siegel in order to
protect himself.

If Moe was the man behind
the hit, it would certainly

explain why he and his
buddies were so prepared

to take over the Flamingo.

But even if the story is true,
Moe was 300 miles away in Vegas

when it all went down.

So then, who actually
pulled the trigger?

According to Bea's manuscript,
the person who killed

Bugsy Siegel is a man named
Matthew "Moose" Pandza.

Moose is Bea's lover.

Moose became a bodyguard
sometimes for Moe.

And it would make a lot of
sense that that is who they

would task with
taking out Siegel.

Moose was a hunter.

He was allegedly
a very good shot.

And according to Bea,
he borrowed the M1 carbine from

a friend of his who'd just
returned from the war.

Apparently the night of
the crime, he tiptoes up to

the window, opens fire...

-[gunshot blasts]
-[shattering]

...and then quickly hightails it
to Santa Monica,

where he breaks apart the gun,
throws the barrel

into the ocean,
and throws the butt up onto

a rooftop of one
of the buildings.

[Josh] So, did Bea Sedway's
proposed memoir solve

one of the most famous mob
mysteries in American history?

With everyone directly
connected to Bugsy long gone,

we may never know for sure.

And there are no shortage of
alternate theories for

who orchestrated the hit
on Siegel, including his own

girlfriend, Virginia Hill.

There's also a curious footnote
to this story.

After her husband,
Moe, died, Bea Sedway

married the supposed
trigger man, Moose Pandza.

I guess when it comes to
the mob, there's nothing more

romantic than a good,
old-fashioned assassination.

I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see
you on the next expedition.