February 28, 1906 - Bugsy Siegel
One of the architects of Murder, Inc., he operated at the intersection of organized crime's most powerful factions during the mid-twentieth century, bridging Jewish and Italian criminal networks at a national scale. His capacity for personal violence — he worked extensively as a hitman — coexisted with a talent for large-scale enterprise, most visibly in his role shaping what would become Las Vegas. That combination of brutality and vision made him one of the more consequential figures in American organized crime history.
From Wikipedia
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (; February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, Siegel was influential within the Jewish-American mob, the Italian-American Mafia, and the largely Italian-Jewish coalition known as the National Crime Syndicate. Described as "handsome" and "charismatic," Siegel became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters.
Siegel was one of the founders and leaders of Murder, Inc. and became a bootlegger during American Prohibition. After the Twenty-first Amendment was passed in 1933 repealing Prohibition, he turned to illegal gambling. In 1936, Siegel left New York and moved to California. His time as a mobster during this period was mainly as a hitman and muscle, as he was noted for his prowess with guns and violence.
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