Bugsy Siegel - Death

Death

On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home reading the Los Angeles Times, an unknown assailant fired at him through the window with a .30-caliber military M1 carbine, hitting him many times, including twice in the head. No one was charged with the murder, and the crime remains officially unsolved.

One of the main theories of Siegel's attributed death was his continued defiance and excessive spending (and possible stealing of the money) was affecting the mob's assets. Allegedly, this upset the mob bosses but they were indecisive on what to do. In 1946, a meeting was held with the "board of directors" of the syndicate in Havana, Cuba so that Luciano, who was exiled to Sicily, could arrive and make the final decision. Shortly after the private meeting it was concluded that a contract was set out on eliminating Siegel. According to Stacher, Lansky tried his best to save Siegel but he finally, reluctantly, agreed to the decision.

Although there were descriptions which determined that Siegel was shot in the eye, he was actually struck twice on the right side of his head. Both the death scene and the postmortem photographs clearly show that one shot penetrated his right cheek and exited through the left side of his neck; the other struck the right bridge of his nose where it met the right eye socket. Overpressure created by that bullet's striking and passing through Siegel's skull blew his left eye out of its socket. The Los Angeles' Coroner's Report (#37448) states the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage. His death certificate (Registrar's #816192) states the cause of death was homicide, "Gunshot wounds of head".

Though as noted, Siegel was actually not shot exactly through the eye (the eyeball would have been destroyed if this had been the case), the bullet-through-the-eye style of killing nevertheless became popular in Mafia lore and in movies, and was called the "Moe Greene special" after the character Moe Greene - based on Siegel - who was killed in this manner in The Godfather.

Siegel was hit by several other bullets including shots through his lungs. According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand piano, and then lodged in the far wall".

The day after Siegel's death, the Los Angeles Herald-Express carried a photograph on its front page from the morgue of Siegel's bare right foot with a toe tag dangling from its big toe. Siegel's murder thrust Las Vegas back into the national spotlight, as photographs of his lifeless body were plastered on newspapers throughout the country.