Billy Wilkerson had big ideas. He was one of the founders of the "Hollywood Reporter," and he owned nightclubs in Hollywood, but he wanted to build something bigger. He started to build a large hotel on Highway 91, about a mile south of the Last Frontier. Unfortunately for Billy he ran out of money long before the hotel was completed.

In the late 1930's and early 1940's mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegal spent time in and around Las Vegas. Illegal gambling was a cash cow for the mob; there was no reason they shouldn't be involved in Nevada's legal gambling, too. At various times, Bugsy and his associates owned shares of the Northern Club, the Las Vegas Club, the Golden Nugget, the Last Frontier and the El Cortez. They also owned many of the race wires that were used in the casinos.

Bugsy started thinking he might like to own his own resort, and he envisioned an elegant casino-hotel unlike anything in Las Vegas. He knew Billy, and when he learned about Billy's financial problems, Bugsy discussed it with his "business associates," who agreed to finance the desert dream. Billy would retain one-third ownership and operational control. Bugsy would take over the building of the hotel.

Bugsy started out with a bankroll of $1 million, but that was quickly depleted. Construction materials were hard to find and expensive in the post-war era. It was rumored that truckloads of construction materials that were delivered by day would disappear over the desert by night...only to be delivered again (and paid for again) the next day! Hey...it was better to collect 2 or 3 times for the same materials than to face the wrath of Bugsy if you didn't have materials to deliver!

Bugsy was eccentric and extravagant. The hotel's thick concrete walls were reinforced with steel. Bugsy's suite, the top floor of the four-story hotel, boasted trap doors and escape hatches, one of which led to a getaway car in his private garage. There were gun portals and halls leading to nowhere, to confuse any unwelcome visitors.

Bugsy was extravagant on the rest of the hotel too, spending a fortune on the luxurious carpeting, elegant fixtures, a lavish swimming pool with scalloped edges, tennis courts, and riding stables. Some say Bugsy wanted to be a movie star. At the least he enjoyed hanging around with the Hollywood set, including his friend, actor George Raft. In building the Flamingo, that was the group Bugsy hoped to attract. With expenses running high, Bugsy had to go to his associates more than once for additional funding. The final cost of the Flamingo would be over $6 million...a huge investment in 1946.

It was rumored that part of the cash was going to Bugsy and his flamboyant girlfriend, Virginia Hill. Virginia was a long-legged redhead, and Bugsy's nickname for her was Flamingo. Many say he named the resort after her. During the building of the Flamingo, Virginia made several trips to Europe and several cash deposits, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, into numbered Swiss bank accounts.

On December 21, 1946, the 40 acres of desert that surrounded the Flamingo were completely barren, except for a few scattered mesquite bushes, or the occasional tumble weed blowing across the construction site. Then...overnight truckloads of rich topsoil were brought in to complete a planned terracing of the gardens. Acres of lush green lawn arrived and were laid out, yard by yard to complete a lush green carpet. Date palms from the Orient were lowered into the ground, exotic flowers and shrubs were added. Fifteen varieties of fully-grown trees, including rare cork trees from Spain, completed the spectacular landscaping.

Bugsy opened the Flamingo Casino on December 26, 1946. It was a dismal failure. Bugsy had chartered 2 planes to bring in the Hollywood guests, but the planes were grounded due to severe weather in Los Angeles. The dealers wore tuxedos, which fit perfectly with the elegant casino, but the Las Vegas locals were used to the "come as you are" atmosphere of the El Rancho Vegas and the Last Frontier. The gamblers were winning, and since the hotel rooms weren't finished, they took their winnings and left. In the first two weeks the Flamingo lost $300,000. Shortly after that they closed.

Just weeks later, on March 1, 1947, with the hotel completed, the resort re-opened under the name The Fabulous Flamingo, and the second time around was much better for the casino, they were finally turning a profit. For Bugsy, though, it was too little, too late. His associates had heard about his skimming, and Virginia Hill's deposits in Swiss bank accounts. Nobody steals from the mob and gets away with it...not even one of their own...Bugsy's execution was ordered.

On June 20, 1947, while he was relaxing with a newspaper in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home, Bugsy Siegal was the victim of a mob hit. Shortly thereafter, Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaum walked into the Flamingo and announced they were the new bosses.

In the early 1950's the Flamingo was remodeled at a cost that exceeded $1 million. The 10 story "Champagne Tower" was added, giving a spectacular view to motorists on Highway 91. The tower flashed circles of neon, and could be seen for miles over the desert land, a friendly beacon to attract travelers. The tower was demolished in 1968 after Kirk Kerkovian bought the property.

Over the years, the Flamingo underwent many ownership changes. Regardless of who owned her, the Flamingo continued to represent comfort and luxury to the guests. In 1955, it was announced that Albert Parvin was the new president of the Flamingo. In an interview, Parvin stated that the Flamingo had over 500 trained and courteous employees on hand to cater to the guests every whim. That meant there was approximately one employee for every guest.

Some of the amenities in the rooms were full-length bathroom make-up mirrors, generously built closets, and purified soft water.

In 1957, while performing at the Flamingo, Judy Garland introduced her 11 year-old daughter, Liza Minelli. The mother and daughter performed a duet for the audience. Other stars who graced the Flamingo's showroom through the years reads like a "Who's Who" of entertainment: Steve Allen, Paul Anka, Pearl Bailey, Wayne Newton, Juliet Prowse, Tom Jones, Peggy Lee, Joe E. Lewis, The Supremes, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Pat Boone, Bill Cosby, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Jimmy Durante, and hundreds more.

In 1970 the Hilton Corporation bought the Flamingo, and soon after they began an ambitious expansion program. Through the 1970's and 1980's they added four new towers with 500 rooms each. In 1990, preparing to add a 728-room tower , they tore up the rose garden that was part of the original Flamingo-rumored to have been personally planted by Bugsy Siegal. Another expansion, in 1993, required the destruction of the two-story garden room bungalows that had been built in the 1940's. Also destroyed in the 1993 expansion was the Oregon Building, which was the original Flamingo Hotel, including Bugsy's fourth floor private suite.

While the Flamingo is "still" open today, on the original property, everything that was part of the original Flamingo is gone. In 2003, my husband and I went to the Nevada State Museum, on Twin Lakes Drive, in Lorenzi Park. They had a door on display, with a sign that it had been removed from Bugsy's suite before the Oregon Building was torn down. The number plate on the door said the suite was number 4400. A club member who specializes in the Flamingo was lucky enough to get a tour of Bugsy's suite shortly before the building was destroyed. He sent me photos that he had taken of the suite, and the door...which said the suite was 44000. Sooooo...if that was the original door, where did the original number plate go?

Today there are over 3500 rooms on the Flamingo property, including a time-share tower. The property offers a health spa, wedding chapel, shops, and a car rental agency, two Olympic size swimming pools, four night-lighted tennis courts, and more.

The 70,000 square foot casino has a race and sports book, and well over 2000 slot machines. The usual table games are offered, as well as progressive keno, Caribbean Stud Poker and Let it Ride.

I think Bugsy would be pleased!

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First published in the Casino Chip and Token News Magazine, Volume 20, Summer 2007 issue.

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