Talk:Bugsy Siegel/Archive 1

Mugshot Link
The mugshot link is broken, and I can't seem to fix it. Ideas? Johnleemk | Talk 06:27, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)

L.A. Confidence
I've heard while he was in L.A., he muscled into the projectionists union, besides extorting top studio execs. I've also heard Dragna was small-time...

On the subject of L.A., I'd be curious to know more about bootlegging & corruption out there. It's said LAPD was the most corrupt PD in the US, & (almost?) every politician & DA was on the take. I've also heard Luciano had a relationship with Thelma Todd, which got her killed when she refused to let him use her club/restaurant as a base. Trekphiler 07:53, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Disturbing image warning??
I mean, can you just put a close-up photo of a guy shot through the eye on wikipedia? What is wrong with wikipedia??? What are the guidelines on this, this is horrible!

This is a great article.

"gangmates" is kinda awkward.

the bit about his eyeball being found 15 feet from his body is maybe too grusome of an encyclopedia-- though it fits in well with the article and its readable style.

of course its not perfect but it is very good work. Two16

Not bad, although Siegel's contribution to Las Vegas history has been (as ever) a bit overplayed and no mention is made of William Wilkerson, who actually started the Flamingo Hotel and sold out to Siegel. Suggest reading "Las Vegas: The Fabulous First Century" published by Arcadia (Nov. 2003) for a more balanced historical perspective. www.legacymemoirs.com/pages/6/index.htm

Isn't the 2nd image a bit too graphic? Clarityfiend 07:45, 10 May 2006 (UTC) -- I agree. I think there should be a warning before something like that.

Yeah, and let me just say...ew. 68.9.195.203 15:58, 20 June 2006 (UTC)Lisette

Middle Name
Due to my inability to find any clean sources that support Wikipedia's claim that Siegel's middle name at birth was 'Hymen', and keeping in mind that the addition of this information dates back to November 4, 2004, I have decided to remove that claim until someone finds a source that could not have been tainted by Wikipedia's influence. -- Saaber 23:18, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Cultural references
I've removed the reference to Enemy at the Gates. The comparison of the death of Bugsy and the death of the German sniper character by the hands of the main character in the aforementioned movie is tenuous at best. 219.95.234.242 16:53, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Writing
The writing in this article needs to be cleaned up.

Things like "The assassin got away with it, since no one was ever charged with this bloody murder. Apparently the matinee-idol handsome 41-year-old Bugsy Siegel died instantly." sound more like a novel.

Also the mention of Moe Sedway as a fellow youth is a bit off since Sedway was actually 13 years older than Bugsy.


 * When you see problems like purple writing, fix them! Mostly, so long as you're massaging language and not just deleting, even the original writer (not me in this case, BTW) will not object. Usually, people can't spot their own flamboyancies. S  B Harris 23:23, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Dec 17, 2006: Dates are wrong
Dec 17, 2006: Dates are wrong in the Bugsy Siegel section - as the list his birth at 1990 and death at 2040. Other dates are incorrect as well. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.10.85.234 (talk) 13:00, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

No sources
This article needs to cite its sources within the text. I think that would resolve a lot of the problems previously pointed out. Also note that this article conflicts with the account of the founding of the Flamingo Hotel in the article on the hotel .--Mantanmoreland 15:25, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely, the conflict with Wiki's own account of The Flamingo's history is glaring and helps to perpetuate the denial of credit to Wilkerson.Jrm2007 16:20, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Where'd the bullet go in?
In the section "Death", the article says both:

"On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home reading the Los Angeles Times, a long-range sniper hit him in the eye with a thirty-caliber high speed carbine bullet (the embellished popular culture description)[clarify]."

and

"An autopsy revealed that the bullet actually entered the back of his skull, and exited through an eye socket; investigators found the eye across the room. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage."

There's no cite for either of those. So... did the bullet go in the eye, or did it go in the back of the head and come out of the eye? Can't be both?

I assume the cyptic parenthetical "(the embellished popular culture description)" means, "in popular culture he is believed to have been shot through the eye, though the autopsy showed otherwise". But I'd like to see some kind of cite about the autopsy. -- Narsil (talk) 19:41, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Many web sources say an M1 Carbine was used. If true, the "long-range sniper" and "high-speed bullet" parts are wrong. The M1 carbine is mostly limited to under 200 yards, and the .30 carbine cartridge is AFAIK the weakest (by a large margin) of the .30 calibers. They also say the assassin fired 15 rounds (the entire clip), which is very un-sniperlike behavior. BogWhomper (talk) 05:26, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Origin of parents
Why does the article say he's from russian descent, whereas the death certificate states Austria as the birthplace of his parents? Is this a mistake in the article or in the death certificate? Well, there is a possibility that his parents got the russian citizenship, but it's quite unlikely i guess. Could anyone with a reliable source check this please?

'''According to Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 2. ISBN 0-595-00667-1 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000 Bugsy Siegel was born to Max Siegel and Jennie Goldstein Siegel who were immigrants from Letichev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Could anyone update this info in the article? Thanks.'''

Well in reality he was a Polish Jew born on territories seized from the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Before that the town was called Latyczów and the vast majority of its citizens were Polish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.84.126.146 (talk) 04:59, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Trans America race wire service
Anyone know the actual year or date for this venture? I have seen sources that list this as anything from 1941 to 1945. Vegaswikian 23:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

From my sources, Moe Sedway was making trips out to Las Vegas on Meyer Lansky's behalf in the early 1930s to franchise the Trans-America Wire Service. Siegel initially had an opportunity to take on this project himself but loathed the desert and went back to Beverly Hills. By doing so, Siegel relinquished the operation to Sedway. As for specific dates I am not sure but I will certainly look into it more. HumanisticRationale (talk) 09:28, 9 May 2008 (UTC)