thetimboslice:

Happy 106th Birthday to Benjamin “Benny” Siegel. More famously known by the nickname “Bugsy” (which he hated) Siegel was an associate of the Genovese crime family and is considered the father (or Godfather, if you will) of modern Las Vegas. After being acquitted of the murder of Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg, Siegel moved to Vegas and took over operations of the still under construction Flamingo. Siegel was shot and killed on in Beverly Hills on June 20, 1947, and contray to popular myth, he was not shot through the eye, but rather the the cheek bone and the bridge of his nose. The shot through the eye stems from the death of Moe Greene, a character based on Siegel, and his untimely demise by a gunshot to his right eye (which to this day is still refered to as a “Moe Greene Special”).