Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Death of Gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Beverly Hills, June 20, 1947




The scene of crime, Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills Home.

"The arrow points to a window at the home of Virginia Hill, where the assassin stood and fired nine shots that ended the career of Bugsy Siegel. Detectives inspect six of the nine shells (circles) that scattered over the driveway."

 "A detective examines five holes made by bullets fired at the gangster. Some of the bullets passed through Siegel's body before knocking down a statue on the top of a piano and splattering into the wall amid an arrangement of paintings." 

"This diagram-photo shows how, according to police reports, the assassin crept up the driveway of a next door house in the darkness and fired nine shots that ended Siegel's career. The arrow points to Miss Hill's mansion. The killer escaped in a car parked in the street, with its motor running, according to police reports. Siegel's death signalized an underground war for the supremacy in the Pacific Coast rackets." 

Bullet holes in the window from where the gunmen shot Bugsy Siegel as he sat on the living room sofa in the home belonging to his companion, Virginia Hill. 
A mob line-up, 1942. Siegel has been blocked out, but the others are (from the left), Joseph "Doc Harris" Rosen, Harry Teitlebaum, Harry "Big Greenie" Schachter & Louis "Lepke" Buchalter.

Photographs Courtesy of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Collection.

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