The Flamingo is a staple on the Las Vegas Strip. Its erection played a vital role in the development of Las Vegas as we know it today, thanks to the ingenious financial ventures of one Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, whose ghost is said to haunt the Flamingo’s Presidential Suite to this day.
In the early 1940’s, Bugsy Siegel, an infamous mobster with a great business mind, albeit an illegitimate one, saw enormous opportunity in the small desert town of Las Vegas. The budding casino industry was just getting underway, but at that time was located in what we now call Downtown Las Vegas, along Fremont Street. The Flamingo was, for all intents and purposes, the birthplace of the current Las Vegas Strip.
It started in 1945 when Billy Wilkerson, founder of the Hollywood Reporter, had a vision to open a casino hotel in Las Vegas. Rumor has it he had a vicious gambling problem and his wife one day commented that he should open his own casino so that he could lose to himself. True or not, Wilkerson had a grand concept to design his own casino and purchased 33 acres on route 91 to do it. He did not anticipate the extreme price of building materials, being right near the end of World War II, and was forced to seek out investors for his project.
Bugsy Siegel just happened to be looking to invest in Vegas at the time, and having faced complications in the downtown area where business was booming (thanks to his notorious criminal background), he turned his attentions to Wilkerson’s project. Siegel invested, taking 2/3 shares of the property, and by having it in Wilkerson’s name there were no issues with applying for a license. However, being a high ranking member of organized crime, Wilkerson lost all control of the property to be.
Siegel took over, designing what would be the most lavish hotel and casino of that time period, even though it was home to only about 100 guest rooms. He named it The Flamingo after his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who he had nicknamed such due to her long, skinny legs.
Bugsy delved head first into the project and was extremely proud of what he had created. The Presidential Suite was his own little home away from home, designed by him personally, right down to the toilets that were installed and the bullet proof glass in the windows.
The Flamingo opened its doors in December of 1946, but for Bugsy, it would be all for naught. He was gunned down in his girlfriend’s Beverly Hills home the following year; his murder never officially solved. However, it is widely believed that Siegel’s girlfriend was an informant for his boss and exposed Siegel for skimming off the top. A hit was ordered and that was the end of Siegel’s reign in Vegas.
Bugsy’s love for his new-found hobby is likely what drew his spirit back to the Flamingo after his death. Reports of his ghostly apparition being seen walking the grounds come in year after year. The original Flamingo Hotel has since undergone intense renovations, now standing 28 stories high, yet Bugsy is still reputed to roam the new Presidential Suite on the top floor as well as the lavishly manicure gardens and waterfalls surrounding the property where a memorial to Bugsy now stands.
According to the Haunted Las Vegas Tour, the golden faucets in the Presidential Suite are the very same that used to adorn the bathroom of Siegel’s personal suite. The Wedding Chapel at the Flamingo is now located atop the same soil that used to be his apartment, and Siegel’s ghost is said to appear here as well. A former maid at the hotel also reported seeing his ghost on the 5th floor, after which she immediately submitted her resignation.