Benjamin Siegel is probably the most famous of the Strip's initial founders with the erroneous statement that Siegel's Flamingo was the first resort on the Strip.

Siegel was born February 28, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York, to Max and Jeannie Siegel. Siegel had one sister, Ethel, and one brother, Maurice, who was a doctor. Siegel's boyhood friend was Maier Suchowljansky (Meyer Lansky). They created a gang known as the Bug and Meyer Mob who provided protection and contract killings on behalf of Brooklyn's bootlegging fraternity. Siegel and Lansky made the post-Prohibition transition from illegal whiskey running to illegal bookmaking, numbers running and gambling. Siegel lived at the Waldorf Astoria and rode in a bullet-proof limousine and being protected by bodyguards.

Benjamin Siegel had the nickname "Bugsy" and he hated it. People would never call him that to his face.

In addition to Meyer Lansky, Siegel also had ties with Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, Frank Nitti, Tony Accardo, Albert Anastasia, Moe Sedway and Frank Costello.

By the time Siegel was 21, he had established himself as a powerful wielder of terror and mayhem in New York's Lower East Side.

Siegel had married his childhood sweetheart, Esther Krakower, on January 28, 1929, and bought a house in Scarsdale, New York. Even though he seemed to be domesticated, he was still involved in bookmaking, and strong-arming.

Married life didn't agree with Siegel. He remained married, but left his wife and children in New York and moved to Beverly Hills, California, where he ran a national horse race wire service and associated with the Hollywood crowd. Siegel's good looks and style made it easy for him to blend in with stars and celebrities. He also had charm and what seemed to be a genuine natural warmth towards people he liked.

Eventually, Siegel moved his family to 250 North Delfern Drive, Holmby Hills, (West Los Angeles), CA. Even though there were marital difficulties Siegel looked down at divorce because of the possible harm a divorce would be on his children.

Siegel also owned a piece of all the gambling ships that operated three miles off the Southern California coast. In the early 1940s, partly because of the wide spread rumors that Japanese submarines were off the California coast, Governor Earl Warren was able to use this to effectively shut down gambling in the state as well as on all the boats.

Looking into all venues to make money Siegel would regularly fly from California to New York. During one of his flights in 1940, he had a stopover in Las Vegas. He looked at the downtown casinos and decided that Vegas would be his next venture. He muscled his way into some of the casinos announcing that he was their new partner. Not satisfied with just collecting money from the owners each week, he decided to actually own a casino, the downtown Frontier Club (not to be confused with the Strip's Hotel Last Frontier).

In 1942, Siegel also arranged with several downtown clubs to provide them with his wire service for a hefty price.

In late 1945, Siegel and his New York "partners", purchased The El Cortez Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas for $600,000. Six months later, in July of 1946, the group sold the El Cortez for a $166,000 profit.

During this time Siegel visited the Las Vegas Strip, which consisted of two resorts, the El Rancho and the Hotel Last Frontier, and a few small gambling and strip joints. He then saw a resort that was partially done about one mile south of the Last Frontier and this seems to be when the dream began. Siegel wanted a resort that would change the Strip. The El Rancho and the Hotel Last Frontier were set in the western theme. Siegel saw something different - Hollywood in Vegas. He saw lights, class, and headliners appearing. As far as Siegel was concerned, the west was dead and Hollywood was in. He wanted the Strip and his resort to be the "in" place for celebrities. Part of that dream was of course Billy Wilkerson's dream wrapped up in his own.

The partially completed resort was owned by Billy Wilkerson who was the owner of the Hollywood Reporter as well as the owner of several hot nightclubs on the Sunset Strip - Caf� Trocadero, Ciro's and La Rue's. Wilkerson wanted to do the same thing in the Las Vegas Desert. In late 1945, Wilkerson purchased land on the west side of the Los Angeles Highway. Wilkerson hired George Vernon Russell to design a casino and hotel that would translate the glamor of his Sunset Strip clubs to the desert. Arizona contractor Del E. Webb began construction in the spring of 1946, but due to the high cost of materials immediately after the war, Wilkerson ran out of money. This unnamed resort was the ultimate dream of Wilkerson. His Sunset Strip on this desert road seemed to be dead.

With the profits of the El Cortez sale, Siegel and his partners, along with Frank Costello invested $1 million. They agreed to let Wilkerson retain one-third ownership and operational control. Of course, Wilkerson was thrilled that his dream would come to reality. Later Wilkerson learned that his new partners included Benjamin Siegel. Siegel took over the project and supervised the building from start to finish, and it became his obsession as he convinced his underworld colleagues to bankroll the vision. Siegel had to pay top dollar for building materials due to wartime shortages. Partly because of the fact that the workers would deliver material by day, and steal it back at night, the original cost more that doubled. It was during one of Siegel's outbursts out of frustration with the slow going of the building, that head contractor, Del Webb grew somewhat fearful, comes the famous quote of Siegel "Don't worry, we only kill each other." A statement that Siegel would later unwillingly prove true.

Siegel had his own special suite. The suite was constructed with walls reinforced with steel acquired from naval ship yards with trap doors and escape hatches, one leading to a getaway car in his private garage. There were gun portals and hallways leading nowhere (and people think that Howard Hughes took things to extreme - I think Siegel beat him on this one).

During the construction of the Flamingo Siegel stayed at the Hotel Last Frontier, Room 401, which the FBI wiretapped. They learned Siegel's problems in creating his dream, and came to the conclusion that he stopped all mob activities concentrating solely on the Flamingo.

Siegel and actor George Raft pled guilty for bookmaking and both were fined $250 in May of 1944.

Around this time, a FBI report stated "Siegel likes California and has made his home there for several years for that reason. He does not want to become too involved in illegal activities in California because he is attempting to enjoy a 'good' reputation there. He prides himself on that fact that he has never been convicted of a criminal offense of a major nature, and is ashamed of his one felony conviction of bookmaking about a year ago. . . ."

In August of 1946, Siegel and Raft enjoyed incredible winnings at a horse track. The FBI investigated the race being fixed and it was determined that Siegel and Raft were just terribly lucky that day. None of the races they bet on were fixed.

On August 1, 1946, Siegel started his new wire service Trans-America in Las Vegas.

Siegel spared no expense on his resort. He built a pool, tennis courts and riding stables. Siegel wanted to create a resort that not only attracted the Hollywood set, but to give its visitors a variety of diversions from their inevitable losses at the tables. Siegel wanted to add a championship golf course but died before he was able to accomplish this goal (Wilbur Clark and his dream, Desert Inn, accomplished this goal a few years later).

Siegel was obsessed with his third lady of the Strip. All personnel had to wear tuxedos. It was reported that Siegel once kicked a tuxedoed guest off a pool side chaise thinking he was part of the help. Siegel also stationed men throughout the casino to not only watch the action, but to prevent guests from flicking ashes on the carpet or obstructing slot machines if they weren't actually playing.

It was also reported that Siegel made El Rancho Vegas publicity man, Abe Schiller, crawl around the El Rancho pool while holding a .38 caliber revolver to his head because Schiller made fun of the Flamingo.

Siegel went to extremes in all aspects of his Flamingo. Another report stated that Siegel heard that the Flamingo French chef had angrily stormed out of the kitchen and was proceeding to demolish his room when pepper was accidently blown all over food he was preparing for a banquet. Instead of showing his temper, Siegel went to the chef's room, calmed him down, handed him a $100 bill and asked him to return to the kitchen. The chef returned to the kitchen.

Siegel's wife subsequently left him and he put his home up for sale. Actress Loretta Young attempted to buy it but Siegel didn't like her and refused her offer. He subsequently sold the house of $90,000. Mrs. Siegel then moved to Reno where she obtained a divorce on August 8, 1946, docket # 108267. Esther alleged that she was divorcing Siegel as he was guilty of extreme cruelty, mental in nature, and requested custody of the two girls with Siegel having visitation rights.

In his personal life, Siegel had a pet charity which was called the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund in which he not only donated his money and time, but got to know the employees very well. When Siegel was killed the employees all broke down in tears. Employees had said he was very generous and was well liked by everyone.

The trials and tribulations of his resort is stated in the Flamingo's page as well as his untimely death in the home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, in Beverly Hills.

Siegel's charm and class built him quite a group of friends including Cary Grant, Jack Warner, Barbara Hutton and Jean Harlow. Siegel was also good friends with gangster actor George Raft. Mobsters watched Raft in his gangster movies to learn how to walk and talk like a true mobster. Even the mob was amazed and little intimated by how fast Siegel worked his way into the Hollywood elite.

The significance of Siegel's presence should not be underrated. Even though he wasn't the first dreamweaver on the Strip, nor was his Flamingo the first resort, the Flamingo started a trend that still exists to this day - a modern, neon filled street that attracts celebrities to not only appear, but to also gamble at these resorts. Even though the dream wasn't initially Siegel's, he took the dream and made it a reality with the Flamingo being the first prototype of the Strip would become.

Siegel was a thug, there is no doubt about it. He was a cold-blooded killer, bootlegger, drug dealer, hustler, and truly the type that people tried to stay away from - or did they? He was a very contradictory person in that he could kill a person without blinking, take their money and belongings with what seemed to be no conscious, and had a temper that caused people to be absolutely terrified of him. On the flip side, he was charming, stylish, generous to a fault, good natured and had a wonderful personality. Siegel tried to lead a normal life from time to time but always returned to the life he was the most comfortable with. People who met him said he was gracious, friendly, and no picture could do his looks justice - that he should've been an actor in the most classic sense of the word. He mingled with the visitors at his beloved Flamingo and made everyone feel like they were number one and that he was truly grateful that they took the time to visit his resort. His love and passion for Virginia Hill was obvious and he did everything he could to make her happy. The only thing that he loved just as much as Hill was the Flamingo. His two ladies seemed to be the only ones that truly mattered in his life.

Some people could do much better than they do and even though Siegel knew he could do better, he remained a thug. He was just 41 when he died on June 20, 1947, and his non-mob future seemed to be bright if he could've bought the Flamingo and be its sole owner. No one really knows if that was his ultimate plan even though people said he considered the Flamingo his own and called it his resort. The Flamingo was the dream of two visionaries but only one had the means to bring it to fruition.

It does appear that after the Flamingo opened, Siegel stopped with all his drug dealing, contract hits, and other mob-related activities. Maybe he thought that being the Flamingo's owner, he could be a legitimate business man and change his image, similar to what Morris "Moe" Dalitz did years later.

Benjamin Siegel, your visions and dreams are now a reality. You may not have seen it come to age, but you can rest in peace in knowing that the neon shines brightly every night in the city that never sleeps. Your precious Flamingo is still going strong all these years later, and your dream of the Strip is glowing and growing with the help of all the dreamweavers that came after you.