Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
FOIA cover sheet of Part 01 of the FBI Vault's Bugsy Siegel file, with "Bugsy Siegel" and the part number handwritten under the Federal Bureau of Investigation heading
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FBI Vault file on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (32 parts)

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.

Date
1937/1965
Kind
finding-aid
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Newspaper clippings filed inside the file are not federal works and are not reproduced here.

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. 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.
  • Part 02. August 1946 memoranda on coverage of Siegel’s movements and on the CPA hearing at San Francisco. Filed here: the August 20 memo and the August 23 memo.
  • Part 03. 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.
  • Part 04. 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. 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. 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. 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. Bureau memoranda of September and October 1946 assessing whether the Flamingo construction amounted to fraud against the Government.
  • Part 09. 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. 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.
  • Part 11. Largely illegible. Readable surveillance logs follow Siegel’s party by car in Southern California.
  • Part 12. 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. September 1946 San Francisco and Los Angeles reports from the CPA hearing period.
  • Part 14. 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. 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.
  • Part 16. Crime-survey reports on Siegel’s associates in Los Angeles and the discontinuance of technical coverage.
  • Part 17. Mid-1946 Los Angeles memoranda and Bureau discussion of examining the Flamingo’s construction books and records under oath.
  • Part 18. 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.
  • Part 19. September 1946 San Francisco memoranda from the CPA hearing, including surveillance at the St. Francis Hotel.
  • Part 20. October 1946 transmittals, including photostats of the exhibits introduced at the CPA hearing, and surveillance of Siegel’s travel to New York.
  • Part 21. Narcotics-related inquiries and newspaper clippings. The narcotics statements are agency listings and allegations, not findings.
  • Part 22. Early 1947 investigative assignments and clippings.
  • Part 23. 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. Clippings and memoranda of June and July 1947 on the killing, the investigation and the opening of safe-deposit boxes.
  • Part 25. Further clippings on the estate and the investigation of the killing, and a Bureau letter to other field offices.
  • Part 26. Mixed later material through 1965, including magazine and book excerpts and a record of bulky exhibits.
  • Part 27. Miami and Salt Lake City correspondence about Florida gambling places and their reported owners.
  • Part 28. June 1947 Los Angeles reports on the killing, including preliminary telephone accounts.
  • Part 29. Clippings on funeral arrangements and on theories about the killing, and an informant’s account that it was planned.
  • Part 30. 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.
  • Part 31. 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). Final part. Mostly September 1946 San Francisco CPA-hearing surveillance, and a later letter from a magazine publisher.
itemFBI memorandum on a "stop order" against Siegel over the Flamingo Hotel (8 August 1946)An FBI office memorandum of August 8, 1946 recording the Los Angeles Division's report that the Civilian Production Administration had issued a "stop order" against Benjamin Siegel and his associates over construction of the Flamingo Hotel at Las Vegas.itemFBI memorandum on the Civilian Production Administration hearing over the Flamingo Hotel (20 August 1946)An FBI office memorandum of August 20, 1946 reporting that a hearing was held at San Francisco on August 13 on the Civilian Production Administration "stop order" over construction of the Flamingo Hotel, and that the hearing officer decided in favor of the respondents.itemFBI memorandum on pulling the technical surveillances at Las Vegas (23 August 1946)An FBI office memorandum of August 23, 1946 recording that all "technicals" in the Siegel case at Las Vegas were pulled on the evening of August 22 after trouble on the long-distance line at the Las Vegas Club.itemFBI Los Angeles report with informant accounts of Siegel, Sedway and Greenbaum (1946)Pages of an FBI Los Angeles report (file L.A. 62-2837) recording informant statements about Benjamin Siegel and the Las Vegas race-wire service in 1946. The statements are informant allegations recorded by the Bureau, not findings.itemFBI memorandum on a Justice Department request about the Flamingo Hotel (15 October 1946)An FBI office memorandum of October 15, 1946 recording a call from the Justice Department's Criminal Division: Civilian Production Administration officials were weighing civil or criminal action against the Flamingo Hotel and asked for any information the FBI held.itemFBI summary memorandum finding no evidence of violations within the Bureau's jurisdiction (14 January 1947)An FBI office memorandum of January 14, 1947 stating that the Siegel investigation had failed to disclose violations of federal laws within the Bureau's primary jurisdiction and recommending that the investigation be discontinued, with a concurrence of January 16 from Edw. A. Tamm.itemFBI memorandum summarizing the articles of incorporation of the Nevada Project Corporation (9 August 1946)An FBI office memorandum of August 9, 1946 summarizing a certified copy of the articles of incorporation of the Nevada Project Corporation, "owners of the Flamingo Hotel," filed with the Nevada Secretary of State on July 26, 1946.itemFBI Los Angeles letter to the Director on the killing of Benjamin Siegel (1 July 1947)A Los Angeles Division airmail letter of July 1, 1947 to the FBI Director summarizing what the office had learned about the shooting of Benjamin Siegel on June 20, 1947 at 810 North Linden Drive, Beverly Hills, with the press theories of motive.