Kefauver Part 7: testimony of Virginia Hill Hauser (15 March 1951)

Sworn testimony in New York of Mrs. Virginia Hill Hauser of Spokane, Washington. She gave her birth year as 1916, said Joe Epstein had held her money for years, said her spending came from gifts from Mexican friends she would not name, and said Benjamin Siegel gave her money and paid the down payment on a house in Florida. Pp. 1144-1170.

Date

1951-03-15

Kind

hearing

Source

U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, via Internet Archive

Retrieved

2026-10-12

Rights

A hearing print of the United States Senate, published by the Government Printing Office. A work of the United States Congress, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The Internet Archive item marks it not in copyright.

The contents of Part 7 list “Hauser, Virginia Hill, Spokane, Wash. 1144-1170.” She testified on Thursday, 15 March 1951, in room 318 of the U.S. Courthouse at Foley Square, New York, before Senators Kefauver and Tobey, questioned by committee counsel Rudolph Halley, with her attorney, Mr. Wolf, present. The text here was read from the Internet Archive’s OCR of the volume, not from the page images.

On printed page 1145 counsel asked, “Mrs. Hauser, you were born in 1917?” and she answered “1916.” She agreed she was born in Alabama and said: “I left home when I was 17, and I went to Chicago,” about 1934. She agreed that Joe Epstein had “controlled a lot of your money” from time to time, and said, “I don’t think Mr. Epstein is a gangster.” Asked about spending at Sun Valley in early 1950, about $12,000 by the hotel record, she said the money came from men who gave her gifts; asked who they were, she said, “No, I can’t tell them who the men were,” and “They are Mexicans” (pages 1146 and 1147).

On printed page 1154 Halley asked whether she ever got money from Benjamin Siegel. She answered: “Ben is his name. Yes; I got money from him,” and said “he paid the down payment on the house in Florida.” She was also questioned about income-tax returns that listed “wagers on various sporting events” and were signed by N. Joseph Ross (pages 1152 and 1153). Her answers are her testimony and counsel’s figures are questions; neither is a finding. Characterizations of her by other witnesses in Part 10 are not used here.