Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is mistakenly credited by many as the man who created Las Vegas. This is of course, not true in the least. Siegel was not the Christopher Columbus of Las Vegas, nor was he even the first person to see the potential for two track railroad junction. He was merely a gangster who saw an opportunity and decided to act on it. It is a testament to how big a personality Bugsy Siegel was in those days the actual founding is erroneously ascribed to him. In fact it was his activities in Vegas that led to his eventual death.
At first Siegel didn't think that Vegas was worth that much. The heat and arid desert air was not exactly the environment one thought about when the subject of vacation destinations came up. In fact the only thing that Vegas had was its location in Nevada, where gambling was legal. Bugsy's associates were already familiar with the gambling industry. They operated a couple of floating casinos that operated in international waters. The idea of setting up a permanent lavish casino in Las Vegas would give them a chance to set up a business that was both legitimate and a profitable.
Siegel convinced his organized crime friends to put up millions of dollars to finance "The Flamingo" hotel and casino. In the end the investment was a bad one as the hotel turned into a money pit.
The patience of the mob is historically short lived, and on the evening of June 20th 1947 Bugsy Siegel was at home in his when he was shot in the head. Four more bullets hit his body and at 42 years of age Bugsy Siegel was dead. The irony was that at this point the Flamingo had turned a corner and was now starting to show a profit.
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