Why Meyer Lansky Hated Bugsy Siegel So Much

Why Meyer Lansky Hated Bugsy Siegel So Much There is a crime scene photograph taken in Beverly Hills on the night of June 20, 1947. Benjamin Siegel lies on the sofa, a copy of the Los Angeles Times beside him, his right eye blown out of its socket. The photo ran in every newspaper in America. People saw it as the Mafia punishing a traitor. The man who authorized those shots had guaranteed Siegel’s loan, funded the assassinations, and in 1945 sent Siegel to Nevada to build a casino budgeted at one million dollars that ended up costing six million. Twenty minutes later, three men walked into the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and announced they were taking over. All three were Meyer Lansky’s people, the victim’s closest friend for thirty years. There was a theft, a girlfriend who transferred 2.5 million dollars to Switzerland, and a meeting in Havana where the bosses voted. Lansky agreed. The story begins with money, because money tells you what kind of friendship this was.