Bugsy Siegel Was Never Convicted of Major Crime

1. Siegel became a gangster as a teenager.
Siegel was born into a family of Austro-Hungarian Jews who immigrated to the United States in 1903 and settled in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In an effort to escape his impoverished upbringing, he drifted to the streets as a boy and took part in crimes such as burglary and organizing protection rackets for street peddlers. Siegel later met and befriended future crime boss Meyer Lansky during his teen years, and together the two formed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, a gang that dabbled in robbery, gambling and murder. With Prohibition in full effect, the group also joined with mobster Arnold Rothstein in establishing a lucrative business running bootleg liquor along the East Coast. The young Siegel flaunted his newfound wealth by wearing expensive clothes and frequenting high-class nightclubs. By 1931, he was rich enough to buy an apartment in Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria Towers.