Friday, June 19, 2009

AS SEEN ON TV: BENJAMIN "BUGSY" SIEGEL

AS SEEN IN:
"The Gangster Chronicles"

AS PLAYED BY:
Joe Penny

On the night of June 20, 1947, as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel sat with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home, reading the Los Angeles Times, an unknown assailant fired at him through the window with a .30-caliber military M1 carbine, hitting him many times, including twice in the head. No one was charged with the murder, and the crime remains officially unsolved.

Though descriptions held that Siegel was shot in the eye, an autopsy revealed the bullet entered the back of his skull, and exited through an eye; investigators found the eye across the room. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.
According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand piano, and then lodged in the far wall".
[from Wikipedia]

In the 1981 NBC mini-series, 'The Gangster Chronicles', Joe Penny played Siegel.

In the 1999 TV movie "Lansky", the adult Siegel was played by Eric Roberts.

In the 'Angel' episode "The House Always Wins," Angel mentioned knowing Siegel.
BCnU!

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