About Benny Segal
Benny Segal was behind many of the early large scale developments in Las Vegas. He was born in Brooklyn, NY. He formed a gang and was responsible for many petty crimes in his early days.
In 1937 he moved to Los Angeles to develop gambling rackets. Throughout his time in California he had many extra affairs with Hollywood actresses. This granted him access to the inner circle of the Hollywood elite. On a trip to the Eastcoast, Benny drove through Las Vegas and had a dream of turning it into a “mecca” for mobsters.
Segal went back to Las Vegas backed by Al Capone to establish a foothold for the mob. Segal also had a lavish dream to build a grand hotel in Vegas. He knew very little about construction and the project went over budget ($6 million). The mob bosses who backed Segal where so upset, that they had a meeting in Cuba and discussed if they should order a hit on Segal.
Benny Segal eventually failed with the grand opening of his hotel and was also accused of stealing money from the mob bosses. June 20, 1947 a mob hit-man, went to Beverly Hills and shot Segal with a M1 Carbine as he was reading the Los Angeles Times. Several months after his death, his casino reported to net over $5 million dollars in profits.