Yesterday (June 20) was the 65th anniversary of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s murder. Vegas Seven editor Greg Blake Miller asked me to write something about it, and I thought it would be a good time to introduce someone I’ve recently met, Bernie Sindler, who actually knew Siegel. I share a little of Sindler’s story and his theory about who really killed Bugsy in this Latest Thought:
Few murders have seared the soul of Las Vegas like one that didn’t even happen in the city—the June 20, 1947, murder of mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills home.
Just about everyone in Las Vegas thinks they know who Bugsy Siegel was—the guy who founded the Flamingo and created modern Las Vegas. Actually, the credit for the former goes to Hollywood Reporter publisher/Los Angeles nightlife impresario/compulsive gambler Billy Wilkerson, and the latter … it’s safe to say can be credited to a few dozen people.
Who really killed Bugsy? Obviously, I wasn’t there, and as I say above, there’s no shortage of theories. But Sindler’s makes a lot of sense.
Bernie has an interesting story to tell, to say the least.