# FBI memorandum on the Civilian Production Administration hearing over the Flamingo Hotel (20 August 1946)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p02-cpa-hearing-memo-1946-08-20/

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.

This one-page memorandum is scan 107 of the FBI Vault's "Bugsy Siegel" file, Part 02. It is an "Office Memorandum, United States Government" to E. A. Tamm, from A. Rosen, dated August 20, 1946, with the subject "Benjamin 'Bugs' Siegel, Miscellaneous Information Concerning Crime Survey." Parts of the page are redacted. The text was read from the page image stored here, not from the Vault's OCR layer, which is scrambled for this part.

Under "Purpose" the memo advises "that a hearing was held at San Francisco on August 13 last concerning a 'stop order' issued by the C.P.A. in connection with the construction of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada." The name of the person appointed to hear the matter is redacted. The memo says that person "decided in favor of the respondents" but allowed the Civilian Production Administration until September 5th to produce further evidence, and that unless it did, "the case will then be closed."

The "Background" section says the Los Angeles Office reported that the stop order was issued against the Del Webb Construction Company, "which had been employed by Benjamin Siegel to construct the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada," and that Siegel and a representative of the Del Webb architects appeared as interested parties. It reports that the respondents showed a plan dated January 12th, that they had received a wire from the CPA on April 16, 1946 telling them to stop construction if it violated a freeze order, and that they produced testimony "that they had spent over $700,000 and committed themselves to about $500,000." This is the memo's account of the hearing as passed to the Bureau, not a finding by the FBI.

The earlier memo on the stop order itself is filed separately: [the August 8, 1946 memorandum](/items/fbi-vault-siegel-p01-flamingo-stop-order-1946/).

## Sources

- FBI Records: The Vault: https://vault.fbi.gov/Bugsy%20Siegel%20/Bugsy%20Siegel%20Part%2002/view