Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky: The Controversial Mobsters Who Worked with Lucky Luciano to Form the National Crime Syndicate

*Includes pictures *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading In the last 70 years, a countless number of people have come across the grisly and morbidly fascinating crime scene photographs of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's murder. The photographs are as disconcerting as they are iconic, for they show a gritty glimpse into the haunting reality of a life too often glamorized by pop culture. The less-publicized photograph of Bugsy in the morgue is, in a way, a more chilling reminder of the barbarity and callous irony behind the term "organized crime." With the blood on his face rinsed off and his hair slicked back, it almost seems as if the photographer had caught Bugsy mid-slumber, but the balls of cotton plugging the gaping bullet holes in his face suggest otherwise. One minute, the fearless Bugsy was stalking the streets of Sin City, his mere presence enough to make even the most hardened thugs break out in a cold sweat, and the next minute, Bugsy was reduced to