# FBI Vault file on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (32 parts)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fbi-vault-bugsy-siegel/

Finding aid to the FBI Vault's 32-part file on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel: the 1946 Flamingo inquiry, the Bureau's crime survey, and the 1947 killing, with each part's address and a one-line description.

The FBI Vault posts its file on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel as 32 parts, each a scan of typed Bureau pages with an OCR text layer. This finding aid lists every part with the Vault viewer address and a one-line description. The descriptions rest on the readable passages in the OCR text of each part, as far as the OCR can be read. The OCR is noisy, much of the file is redacted, and some parts are largely illegible. Where this archive has read the page images and filed a page, the link is given.

The file is a Bureau "crime survey" and Flamingo inquiry of 1946 and 1947, followed by material on the killing of June 20, 1947. Statements in it are Bureau memoranda, informant reports and newspaper clippings. They are recorded as such, and none of them is a court finding. The clippings in Parts 21 to 25 and 29 to 31 are press reports filed by the Bureau, and they are not federal works.

- [Part 01](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2001/view). July to August 1946: requests for authority to place a technical surveillance on Siegel's telephone at the Last Frontier Hotel, and the report of the Civilian Production Administration stop order against the Flamingo's construction. Filed here: [the August 8 memo](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p01-flamingo-stop-order-1946/).
- [Part 02](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2002/view). August 1946 memoranda on coverage of Siegel's movements and on the CPA hearing at San Francisco. Filed here: [the August 20 memo](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p02-cpa-hearing-memo-1946-08-20/) and [the August 23 memo](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p02-technicals-pulled-1946-08-23/).
- [Part 03](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2003/view). Informant reports gathered for the 1946 crime survey. Several pages are heavily redacted and the allegations are the Bureau's record of informants' statements. Filed here: [filed page](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p03-los-angeles-report-1946/).
- [Part 04](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2004/view). Coverage of the August-September 1946 CPA hearing in San Francisco, including whether the Flamingo's buildings were begun before the CPA's March 26, 1946 order, and a Bureau official's discussion of possible fraud against the Government.
- [Part 05](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2005/view). Further CPA-hearing material and interviews about the Flamingo's construction, including references to the contractor, Clark County building-permit files and photographs of the property.
- [Part 06](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2006/view). Largely illegible in the OCR. Readable passages report associates saying they could not secure a loan on the Flamingo because of the CPA and FBI inquiries.
- [Part 07](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2007/view). Ten oversized pages whose OCR text is unreadable. The text layer says nothing about their contents and they have not been described here.
- [Part 08](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2008/view). Bureau memoranda of September and October 1946 assessing whether the Flamingo construction amounted to fraud against the Government.
- [Part 09](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2009/view). Surveillance of Siegel and Virginia Hill in Los Angeles, and a reported conversation about passing Las Vegas race information on the Trans-American wire.
- [Part 10](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2010/view). October 1946 reports, including the Justice Department's request for information of October 15 and a photostat of the CPA hearing transcript. Filed here: [filed page](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p10-justice-department-request-1946-10-15/).
- [Part 11](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2011/view). Largely illegible. Readable surveillance logs follow Siegel's party by car in Southern California.
- [Part 12](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2012/view). New York Office report on Siegel's activities in New York City, October 5 to 10, 1946, and later pages on the Flamingo's construction.
- [Part 13](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2013/view). September 1946 San Francisco and Los Angeles reports from the CPA hearing period.
- [Part 14](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2014/view). Material on earlier Los Angeles killings passed to local authorities, and Salt Lake City's request for technical coverage of the Trans-American News office being opened in Las Vegas.
- [Part 15](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2015/view). A January 14, 1947 summary memorandum finding no evidence of violations within the Bureau's primary jurisdiction, and the recommendation to discontinue the investigation. Filed here: [filed page](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p15-summary-memo-1947-01-14/).
- [Part 16](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2016/view). Crime-survey reports on Siegel's associates in Los Angeles and the discontinuance of technical coverage.
- [Part 17](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2017/view). Mid-1946 Los Angeles memoranda and Bureau discussion of examining the Flamingo's construction books and records under oath.
- [Part 18](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2018/view). August to September 1946 correspondence on a complete investigation of the Flamingo, including the August 9 summary of the articles of incorporation of the Nevada Project Corporation. Filed here: [filed page](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p18-nevada-project-corporation-articles-1946/).
- [Part 19](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2019/view). September 1946 San Francisco memoranda from the CPA hearing, including surveillance at the St. Francis Hotel.
- [Part 20](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2020/view). October 1946 transmittals, including photostats of the exhibits introduced at the CPA hearing, and surveillance of Siegel's travel to New York.
- [Part 21](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2021/view). Narcotics-related inquiries and newspaper clippings. The narcotics statements are agency listings and allegations, not findings.
- [Part 22](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2022/view). Early 1947 investigative assignments and clippings.
- [Part 23](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2023/view). Clippings and memoranda after June 20, 1947, including, as far as the OCR can be read, a July 1947 Bureau letter that it had no jurisdiction because no federal violation was involved.
- [Part 24](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2024/view). Clippings and memoranda of June and July 1947 on the killing, the investigation and the opening of safe-deposit boxes.
- [Part 25](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2025/view). Further clippings on the estate and the investigation of the killing, and a Bureau letter to other field offices.
- [Part 26](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2026/view). Mixed later material through 1965, including magazine and book excerpts and a record of bulky exhibits.
- [Part 27](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2027/view). Miami and Salt Lake City correspondence about Florida gambling places and their reported owners.
- [Part 28](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2028/view). June 1947 Los Angeles reports on the killing, including preliminary telephone accounts.
- [Part 29](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2029/view). Clippings on funeral arrangements and on theories about the killing, and an informant's account that it was planned.
- [Part 30](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2030/view). A Los Angeles letter of July 1, 1947 summarizing the killing, with press theories of motive, and reports on the funeral. Filed here: [filed page](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p30-los-angeles-letter-killing-1947-07-01/).
- [Part 31](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2031/view). A later summary, and 1949 to 1951 correspondence about informants who claimed knowledge of the killing, with notes on the Bureau's jurisdiction.
- [Part 32 (Final)](https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2032%20%28Final%29/view). Final part. Mostly September 1946 San Francisco CPA-hearing surveillance, and a later letter from a magazine publisher.

## Sources

- FBI Records: The Vault: https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/