Las Vegas Mob Museum to Display Personal Items of Mobster Bugsy Siegel

The Mob Museum in Las Vegas will display personal items found at the scene of the murder of infamous mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who was a highly influential figure in the early development of the Strip back in the 1940s. Why Siegel Is Important in Las Vegas History Located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas, The Mob Museum offers an immersive journey through the ongoing battle between organized crime and law enforcement, from the Mob’s origins to the present day. According to its website, the museum uses compelling storytelling to share facts and myths and explore the events and notorious figures that helped shape US history. Now, the museum will add another key set of artifacts to its collection detailing the life of mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. The mobster, who was killed in a shooting in a mansion that he rented for his girlfriend in 1947, played a key role in the early development of the Las Vegas Strip. In the 1930s, Siegel was influential in the Jewish-American mob, the Italian-American Mafia, and the largely Italian-Jewish coalition known as the National Crime Syndicate. It wasn’t long before he became one of the front-page celebrity gangsters of that era. Siegel later traveled to southern Nevada to explore new business opportunities, including supplying illicit services to the crews building the Boulder Dam. By the mid-1940s, Siegel had established operations in Las Vegas, while his associates worked to consolidate control over gambling in Los Angeles. When developer William R. Wilkerson ran out of funds, Siegel stepped in to support the Flamingo Hotel project, taking control and overseeing the final stages of construction. The casino opened on December 26, 1946, with a three-day launch event that attracted considerable attention. However, the fun didn’t last long, as without a completed hotel, the business struggled and temporarily closed on February 6, 1947. The Flamingo reopened on March 1, 1947, once the hotel was ready to welcome guests. Siegel didn’t have much time to admire his creation, as just a few months later, in June of the same year, he was shot in the incident we mentioned above. To this day, his murderer remains unknown. What’s Going In the Collection? The items, believed to have been found in Siegel’s pockets or wallet, were donated by his granddaughter, Wendy Rosen. Earlier this year, she contacted the Mob Museum through her attorney after successfully suing the BHPD last year to obtain the belongings. The police had kept the items concealed for nearly 80 years. They include business-related items such as Meyer Lansky’s (one of Siegel’s associates) business card, a Dixie Shops business card, documents relating to his vehicle ownership and Automobile Club of Southern California membership card, and personal items, such as a photo of his daughters Barbara and Millicent Siegel. According to Geoff Schumacher, VP of research and collections for the Mob Museum, open a window on who Siegel was and what he was doing around the time of his death. Schumacher further explained that a judge had ordered the items to be returned to Siegel’s family, noting that the museum had since acquired them permanently for an undisclosed amount. In other news related to Las Vegas’s mobster past, Joseph “Joey” Cusumano, a longtime associate of Chicago Outfit enforcer Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, died at the age of 90 after battling various medical issues.