Born: February 28, 1906
Died: June 20, 1947
As a gangster who ran gambling rackets, Bugsy Siegel was something of a forward-thinker. As part of an expansion of gambling activities in the West, he is credited with putting the small Nevada town of Las Vegas on the map as the kingdom of world gambling capitals.
Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was born on February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York. His poor Jewish parents lived in a crime-ridden slum known as Hell’s Kitchen—the breeding ground for many criminals of that era. Among Siegel’s boyhood friends were George Raft, who later established a movie career playing gangster roles, and Bo Weinberg, later a top aide to gangster Dutch Schultz (see entry).
In a manner similar to fellow gangster Louis Lepke (see entry), Siegel began his criminal career by preying upon pushcart peddlers on the Lower East Side with a sidekick named Morris “Moey” Sedway. Unlike Lepke, Siegel did not usually beat the vendors he was trying to convince to buy protection from him. Rather he would simply have Sedway pour kerosene (a fuel oil) over the vendors’ merchandise and then light it on fire.
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