Luellen Smiley shares chilling deathbed memories of her father, Allen Smiley, and provides new insights into the 1947 assassination of notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel.
The unsolved murder of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel remains one of the most enduring mysteries in American criminal history. Siegel, the flamboyant mogul responsible for the creation of the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas, was shot dead in 1947 in a lavish Beverly Hills mansion belonging to his mistress, Virginia Hill.
At the moment of the assassination, Siegel was sitting on a sofa, only to be struck by two bullets to the head fired through a window. Sitting right beside him during this cold-blooded execution was Allen Smiley, a key figure in the National Crime Syndicate and a man who served as Siegel's most trusted confidant and best friend. For decades, the identity of the shooter has remained a secret, leaving historians and law enforcement in a state of perpetual curiosity.
Luellen Smiley, the daughter of Allen Smiley, has now provided haunting new details regarding her father's final days and his relationship with the fallen mobster. In an exclusive account, she recalled a poignant and revealing conversation they shared in 1983 while Allen was dying of liver failure in a hospital. According to Luellen, her father acknowledged that the public record of his life would likely be skewed and filled with accusations.
However, he emphasized a deep, personal bond with Siegel, stating that Bugsy was his closest friend and someone who would have been willing to take a bullet for him. This revelation adds a layer of tragedy and complexity to the event, as it suggests that Allen Smiley possessed knowledge about the killer but chose to carry that secret to his grave, despite the intense pressure from the FBI and local police to cooperate.
The motivations behind the hit on Siegel are often debated, but Luellen believes the answer lies with the Italian mafia. She suggests that the assassination was born out of a toxic mix of professional jealousy and a desire for financial control. Specifically, the Italian mob sought to dominate the national race wire, an illicit bookmaking network that allowed for off-track betting across the United States.
During the mid-1940s, this operation was immensely lucrative, bringing in sums that would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in modern currency. Beyond the money, Luellen points to Siegel's unique social standing as a catalyst for the crime. Unlike other gangsters of the era, Bugsy had successfully integrated himself into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, associating with icons like Clark Gable. This level of celebrity access was an anomaly in the underworld and sparked resentment among his peers.
Luellen noted that Bugsy's own daughter, Millicent Siegel, shared this view, explicitly blaming the Italian mob, which she referred to as the spaghetti mob. Growing up as the daughter of a notorious gangster was a surreal experience for Luellen, as her father managed to keep his professional life entirely separate from his domestic existence. She describes Allen as a contradictory figure: a man who was tyrannical and secretive, yet also devoted, charismatic, and genuinely funny.
Her mother, Lucille Casey, provided a serene and poised counterbalance to Allen's volatility. For many years, the dark realities of her father's career were hidden from her, a tactic Luellen compares to the compartmentalization seen in cinematic portrayals of the mafia, such as 'The Godfather' or 'The Sopranos'. It was not until her thirties, upon seeing a documentary that explicitly linked her father to the events surrounding Bugsy's death, that the pieces of her childhood began to fit together.
The unexplained absences, the paranoia, and the mysterious uncles who visited their Bel Air home without surnames suddenly made sense. This journey of discovery led her to write 'Cradle of Crime: A Daughter's Tribute', a book published in 2016 that explores her family's legacy and her eventual path toward understanding the complex man her father was
Bugsy Siegel Allen Smiley National Crime Syndicate Mafia Unsolved Murder
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