In the history of Las Vegas, for a long time, Benjamin "Baggers" Siegel's name was deafening, with a halo of horror, and now looking back, he The story still bears the stigma of violence and is the beginning of all Las Vegas legends.
"Baggs" Benjamin Siegel was born in 1906 to a poor Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Ukrainian immigrants and needed meager wages to support five children. Benjamin was the second of them, and he was poor as a child. The brand made him determined to stand out. The teenage Benjamin dropped out of school easily, started to join gangs, and grew up in the standard way of a hooligan—starting from stealing in the South Side of Manhattan, developing to occupying territory and collecting protection fees, until he met the then gang leader Mayer Lan. Ski, he already has a lot of people, his main business is gambling and car theft, and he is hoping to establish a Jewish gang to compete with the local Italian gang and Irish gang. Benjamin was the first Jewish child Mayer recruited and played a huge role. He began to participate in the smuggling business, and gradually expanded his power to several cities on the east coast, taking over the supply of local bootleg wine. At the same time, he also arranged the work of thugs-Mayer originally looked for another man to be responsible for this important business, but Benjamin was very happy to undertake this. responsibility. It didn't take long for the "Baggs and Meyer Gang" to become known, sweeping across New York and New Jersey until the rise of "Murder, Inc." in the 1930s took its place. As their business expanded into drugs, by the time Benjamin was 21, he was rich and used to spending. The 1991 "Pride in the World" set the story after Benjamin made his fortune. As soon as it opened, it was clear that he was a gang leader and already had a family. He was in charge of the business and commanded the staff, but he personally shot to clear the door. Delusional extremely dangerous elements.
In the process of climbing step by step, the nickname "Baggs" began to spread, which came from the root of "bug", due to Benjamin's elusive fiery temper, the gang brothers joked that he was "crazy as a bug" when he got angry, and also It is conceivable how much Benjamin hated the name "Baggs", especially when he was arrested by the police for suspected gang murder in 1939, the media exaggerated his long criminal history from underage, "Baggs". 's nickname became a gossip, making him even more annoyed by the term. In the movie, it was repeatedly rendered that Benjamin's jumping foot, who was called "Baggs" in person, was out of control, which made people more aware of the irony of this paradox - the nickname comes from jumping feet and madness, and the increasing jumping feet and madness made him more unable to shake his life. Abandoning the nickname, to this day, "Baggs" has become his number one name, blatantly appearing in the title of the film.
In the late 1920s, Baggs and Lansky were involved in many high-level gang assassination incidents, so they were also in crisis and became a thorn in the eyes of many opponents, trying to kill him quickly. Beginning in the 1930s, when the gang business needed to expand, Baggs began to travel frequently between the east and west coasts. He went to California to discuss cooperation with the gangster Jack Deller in Los Angeles, and joined the local Chicago gang to build a drug network in Los Angeles. By 1942, the average daily transaction amount in this trade network had reached 500,000 US dollars, and Baggs still controlled a large number of casinos and brothels. befriend.
It was also the business activities in California that gave Baggs access to Hollywood. The dramatic treatment in the movie is that Baggs originally planned a four-day trip to Los Angeles, because he was instantly infatuated with Beverly Hills sensual dogs, and immediately threw money around with a handbag full of bills, Save the house, the car, and the mistress you'll be obsessed with for years to come. In reality, Baggs is indeed a good dancer in Hollywood. George Rafter is his childhood friend. Through his introduction, big stars such as Clark Gable, Cary Cooper and Cary Grant have become his buddies. Louis He can talk to big men like Mayer and Jack Warner, and Jane Harlow is not only his good friend, but also the godmother to one of his daughters. In Baggs' own Beverly Hills mansion, everything is Luxurious to the point of being too extravagant, at his lavish parties, many young actors came attentively and instead became his fans, including newly debuted Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra. He traveled to Italy to meet Mussolini through the then socialite Dorothy de Forance and her Italian count husband, and tried to make an arms deal with him - although as a Jew, Bagus felt from the bottom of his heart. I hate the Nazis, and I wish I could kill them all, but in the face of the Countess who is courteous and courteous, I still feel a little sloppy. Others had to remind him that his words and deeds were like a lunatic.
Like in the movie, Baggs did have intimate relationships with many female stars, so the movie happily portrayed him as a lover, and with a single glance, he could make the beauties he met in the elevator fall into his arms, and he and Virginia Hill's spark of passion became a narrative thread throughout the film, and even the establishment of Las Vegas was treated as being related to Virginia - stemming from a quarrel on their way to Nevada to investigate business, leaving Baggs confronted When the desert empties itself, it burns with inspiration and sees luxury hotels, restaurants, casinos, fine wine, beauties, swimming pools, but when Baggs took over the construction of the hotel and renamed it "Flamingo", it is indeed a nickname from Virginia. The film also accentuates Virginia Hill's role in Baggs' life, putting Virginia in charge of building the hotel when Baggs was incarcerated for murder. However, the film really beautifies the love between Baggs and Virginia, including the two affectionately kissing goodbye in the rain at the end of the film, Virginia returns the "stealed" $2 million check to Baggs, and Baggs stares at the beauty's eyes and tears the check... In reality, the relationship between the two is simply a bad deal. In addition to interacting with Baggs, Virginia has three ex-husbands and a gangster boyfriend in Brooklyn. The only public statement after Baggs was assassinated was " It's a shame to have this happen in your own home."
And in reality, the idea for a fancy casino in Las Vegas came from former publisher William Weeks, who first started legalizing gambling in Nevada. Note, and in early 1945, for $84,000, a 33-acre circle was drawn in the Nevada desert. William's idea itself is very huge. What he wants is not just a casino, but an oasis in the desert. All the furnishings are extremely luxurious, so that gamblers will forget everything and indulge in it, but he does not have enough funds to complete his vision. Everything was solved with the addition of Baggs. Under Meyer's arrangement, Baggs was reluctant to go to the desert to investigate his business, and he was deeply greedy for the comfortable life in Beverly Hills, but the concept of the desert palace "Flamingo" gradually made him enthusiastic. This also coincided with his desire to enter the legal business field, so after William hid his French debts to escape, Baggs took over his hotel in May 1946. The uncontrollable "Dreamer" color.
In "Across the World", Baggs' contribution to the "Flamingo" is also strongly rendered. He personally led the design team to discuss the drawings, and made drastic revisions to all the details that were not to his liking, completely disregarding the budget, so that the load-bearing walls were torn down. Reconstruction, he repeatedly emphasized, is the palace, oasis, city in the desert, olive tree, rose garden, standing in front of the main building window must see the swimming pool, and the swimming pool must be bathed in sunlight all day long—— Although in William's original blueprint, the casino should not have windows, so that people can spend all their lives here without knowing the morning and evening. "He doesn't respect money", he is clearly defined at the beginning of the film, and it has come into full play at this point. In reality, Baggs' extravagant style has indeed caused a great contradiction between him and Meyer. After all, in addition to his own investment of 1 million, there are also 6 million of other bigwigs, who are constantly adding Under the repair and renovation, this huge investment will soon bottom out, and the completion of the casino is still in the future. The big guys are all gangsters, and all of them become more and more angry. In the movie, Meyer persuaded Baggs to stop and count his net worth. After the divorce, most of his real estate and stocks belonged to his ex-wife and daughter. Baggs' answer was, I can buy things, my house and furniture. , one-third of my "Flamingo" shares can also be sold. Meyer asks, then you have nothing, Baggs said, but the flamingos are still there, not nothing.
After frantically selling many non-existent stocks to raise funds, and after working overtime and starting work all night, in December 1946, under the huge pressure of investors, "Flamingo" hurriedly opened its doors for business ahead of schedule, which was like a disaster: Benjamin wanted to use a private jet to pick up his star friends, but thunderstorms prevented the plane from taking off; most of the hotel rooms were not finished, causing guests to find other accommodation at night, the casino was always losing money, and the net loss for two weeks was 27.5 Wan, after only one month of support, "Flamingo" announced its closure because it could no longer afford to lose money. It seems that God is punishing Baggs for all his anger in half his life. All the misfortunes fell on him overnight. The "flamingo" who exhausted all his dreams just couldn't fly. Movie and reality also overlap here.
On the evening of June 30, 1947, 41-year-old Baggs was shot dead at the scene in the living room of his Virginia Hill home in Beverly Hills, including two in the head. Has fallen out 15 inches away. The gunman was unidentified and was never apprehended, and no one was subsequently declared responsible, although a long list of suspects could be drawn. After a while, "Flamingo" began to make a profit, and later reached an astonishing annual profit of 4 million US dollars, attracting more funds, gamblers and dreamers. By the 1950s, it had a modern "gambling" City" prototype.
Baggs didn't get to see his dream come true, but Las Vegas will always remember him.
Originally published in "DVD Guide"
View more about Bugsy reviews
