Original subtitles

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best-kept secrets, until an unpublished memoir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.