Who was the gangster who started Las Vegas?

If you are curious about the history of Las Vegas, you might wonder who was the gangster who started it. The answer is Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, a Jewish-American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip.

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was one of the founders and leaders of Murder, Inc., a group of hitmen who worked for the Mafia. Siegel became a bootlegger during American Prohibition.

After the Twenty-first Amendment was passed in 1933 repealing Prohibition, he turned to gambling. In 1936, he left New York and moved to California.

Siegel traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he handled and financed some of the original casinos. He assisted developer William R. Wilkerson’s Flamingo Hotel after Wilkerson ran out of funds.

Siegel assumed control of the project and managed the final stages of construction. He had a vision of turning the desert town of Las Vegas into a glamorous resort destination, and he invested millions of dollars from his underworld associates into building the Flamingo Hotel, one of the first luxury casinos on the Strip.

However, his dream was cut short when he was assassinated by a sniper in his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills home in 1947, just six months after the Flamingo opened its doors.