4. Mobster Bugsy Siegel Has a Memorial Plaque Inside Bialystoker Synagogue
One of the most renowned and infamous Jewish mobsters was Bugsy Siegel, founder of Murder, Inc. and a major player in the creation of the Vegas. Something you might easily miss is a memorial plaque to Siegel, who was a member of the Bialystoker Synagogue, under his birth name Benjamin Siegel. The day he died, on June 20, 1947 in a shooting at his home in Beverly Hills, is on the plaque. As writer Laurie Gwen Shapiro noted on the tour, “Notice Bugsy’s light is ON.”
Bugsy’s plaque sits just below the plaque of his father. Our tour guide Lori Weisman from the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy explains, “That’s honor among thieves,” allowing Bugsy enough time to mourn the death of his father before his own murder.
