BILLY WILKERSON, THE FLAMINGO AND BUGSY SIEGEL

Hello Dear Readers, 

You might be familiar with the story of Billy Siegel’s grisly demise but what you don’t know is that Billy Wilkerson, invented Las Vegas as we know it.

From my previous post you may recall that Billy Wilkerson, was a gambling man, so much so that he thought he should build a casino so he could overcome his gambling addition – or at least if he lost to the house – he would be the house. Billy reasoned that if he would suffer the extreme heat of the desert and the rustic accommodations  to just partake of Nevada’s legal gaming, others would too.

On in January 1945 on a trip back to the small Las Vegas airport in 1946 he he noticed a for sale sign on a big piece of property, thirty three acres. It was way out of town and not near the existing casinos downtown. You guessed it, it was the Strip, before the Strip was there. He promptly dispatched his lawyer, the equally famous Greg Bautzer to negotiate the deal, while remaining anonymous so as to not drive up the price. 

Billy proceeded to develop his idea for a luxury casino and hotel that would attract the Hollywood elite and high rollers from all over the country. His casino would boast the first 9 hole golf course, Spa and heath club, gym, tennis courts, racket ball courts, fine dining and elegant retail shops like Chanel from Paris in Nevada. Billy decided his hotel would be the first hotel in America to offer modern air-conditioning technology – the desert would at long last become inhabitable!

Billy’s plans were proceeding. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to buy such a large lot in town and the remote location would further distinguish his casino from the less impressive businesses in town. It would also help him avoid direct conflict with the other casino owners, several of whom had become good friends of his, and none of whom welcomed the competition. Billy hired George Vernon Russell and Tom Douglas, the same team that designed his famous restaurants, Ciro’s ,The Trocadero and Vendome.

The layout he envisioned was radical at the time. It would place the casino at the hub of the hotel, ensuring that the guests would have to pass through the casino whether they were going to the restaurant, the night club, the elevator or the exit. Billy also instructed his architect to omit windows from the design. “Never let them see the light” he told Russell and Douglas. There would be no wall clocks and the lighting would be permanently dimmed. In the gamblers’s mind it would always be night and time would pass unnoticed. 

Billy often drew inspiration from his travels when naming his projects. Thinking of one of his favorite nightclubs in New York, The Stork Club, he recalled another exotic species of bird from a trip to Florida. The Flamingo inspired beauty, grace and elegance and he could import the birds to galavant across his man made lake on the hotel grounds.

In 1945 Billy approached Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway to run the Casino operation. Both men had a reputation for success in the desert. Initially skeptical of a venture being so far out of town, they became entranced by Billy’s enthusiasm and accepted his offer. For a slice of the profits and a silent partnership they agreed to manage and operate the entire Casino and accept total responsibility for the games.

As the plans grew, so did the budget. Completion estimate totaled just under 1.2 million. Although Billy accepted this figure he did not have the ready cash to invest. With a 600, 000 loan from Bank of America and 200, 000 from Howard Hughes in advance payment for Hollywood Reporter ads, he was still short. He asked Russell and Douglas to scale down the plans fro the Casino making the hotel a phase two project.

The foundations were laid for the kitchen, bar and dining room, a basement was excavated and the piping was laid. Soon all the girders for the buildings shell had been erected. Nearly a third of the construction was completed when Wilkerson ran into difficulties.

By the end of 1945, World War II was over, which meant that labor was plentiful but building materials were scarce and astronomically expensive. Just as Billy was reaching his financial limit, Moe Sedway brought the project to the attention of his boss, Meyer Lansky. Lansky was initially skeptical about the future of gaming in the Nevada desert. He hated the heat and feared it would keep visitors away. When Sedway told Lansky of Billy Wilkerson’s original plans for a grand hotel and casino, Lansky began to change his mind.

The building site stood still for well over a month as Billy teetered on the brink of abandoning his dream. Then in February 1946, an expensively dressed man drove up and introduced himself as G. Harry Rothberg, a businessman from the East Coast. In truth, Rothberg and his brother Sam had made money trading liquor during Prohibition, when they had been the largest and most powerful distributor of black market liquor in the state of Illinois.

Rothberg told Billy Wilkerson that he represented a firm in New York that wished to invest in the Flamingo. He and his associates knew that he was broke and were willing to help him complete his Las Vegas venture – including the hotel. In exchange for funding, Billy would retain one third share in the project and the contractural promise that he would call all the creative shots. When the hotel and casino opened on March 1 1947, Billy would be its sole operator and manager and all others would be silent partners. Rothberg was charming and flattered Billy by telling him he was the only man suited to complete this task. Billy said he would take the offer under consideration but he hesitated. The deal meant he would be handing over two thirds ownership in his latest venture to unknown parties, a big price to pay. He was wary of meddling partners who might interfere with his business and negatively effect his balance sheets.

But Rothberg’s deal, giving him creative and managerial control and a substantial cut of the action, seem to promise acceptably silent partners. Ultimately Billy Wilkerson was amenable to all of Rothberg’s demands except for one. He wanted to retain complete ownership of the land. Rothberg consented to the modified agreement.

On February 26, 1946 Rothberg and Billy Wilkerson signed a contract. Rothberg vanished and would not be seen for a year. Billy had been right to question the motives of his new mystery investors. Harry Rothberg had organized them under the direction of Meyer Lansky and they consisted of both polished businessmen and career criminals. The Flamingo was the group’s first major investment in Las Vegas, and with a million dollars at stake, it was by far their boldest and riskiest adventure.

Billy happily resumed construction. A month after the ink was dry, Moe Sedway and Yes Geenbaum visited the site bringing with them a loudly dressed character who enthusiastically presented himself to the publisher as his new partner. Billy Wilkerson was already acquainted with him and his notorious temper. It was Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.

Unlike Billy Wilkerson, Seigel had never built anything before so in the beginning he differed to Billy on everything. Billy worked hard to get the inexperienced Siegel up to speed and sent him over to the architect George Vernon Russell and decorator Tom Douglass, who patiently schooled the gangster.

From the start however the partnership was colored by Siegel’s Jekyll and Hyde personality. As time went on, the gangster’s respectful admiration of Billy Wilkerson began to dissolve into jealousy. This is hardly surprising; Siegel rarely allowed himself to be outdone by anything or anyone’s being the subordinate in a teacher-student relationship quickly wore thin. Siegel began to feel intimidated and paranoid, increasingly resentful of Billy’s talent and vision. Siegel did not want to be like Billy, he literally wanted to be Billy Wilkerson.

Siegel began making decisions without consulting Billy, informing work crews that Billy Wilkerson had put him in charge and ordering changes that conflicted with the blueprinted plans.

Billy was understandably furious. When he confronted the gangster he sheepishly apologized but as soon as his back was turned he resumed the same behavior. Siegel progressed from subverting Billy’s authority to outright denying it. As Siegel’s behind the scenes interference began to slow the construction Billy agreed to a compromise. He let Siegel supervise the hotel while he retained control of the casino and everything else. Siegel became drunk with power and within a month had spent all of the money allocated for the hotel.

Billy’s only hope was to alert the powers behind Siegel to the situation. He reasoned if they could remove Siegel in time, he could ensure the venture would be a success. But by May 1946, Siegel had begun to gain support of the wary syndicate members, persuading them to let him take the helm with assurances that there would be no changes and that Billy Wilkerson would not be eliminated from the creative process.

Her husband “A good man” had been paroled and contracted to kill him. She didn’t want him mixed up in any more trouble. Within 48 hours Wilkerson was back in Paris.

No one knows who orchestrated Bugsy Siegel’s murder or why. Most believe his own partners killed him. Investigation into Siegel’s finances confirmed he was wildly out of control. There were many theories and he had other enemies. Interestingly, Virginia Hill was out of town when it happed, in Paris, coincidentally.