Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel

As Irishgit mentions, Siegel is famous (or infamous) for "inventing" Las Vegas, but this is mythology. If there is such a person who can claim to have "invented" Vegas, it's probably Billy Wilkerson, the publisher and owner of the Hollywood Reporter. A degenerate gambler himself, he allegedly envisioned Vegas as the sort of gambling paradise/playground that it ultimately became. Apparently, people connected to Siegel heard about Wilkerson's plans, reported them to Siegel, and Bugsy muscled his way into the project. Reportedly, Vegas didn't really start to take off as a popular gambling resort until Siegel was assassinated in 1947. What always interested me about Siegel was the contrast between his reported charm and likeability and his brutality. He was known as a cold-blooded, fearless killer, and was an intimate of such men as Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Lepke Buchalter. Supposedly, he off-handedly admitted to a straight citizen he knew that he had killed 12 people during his cr... Read more

I kind of see the fasciantion with them but still have always felt these A list criminals received too much noteriety.  As these psychopaths go; he was at least one of the better looking ones anyway. Apparently, he didn't care for the nickname "Bugsy" but, it was probably more appealing than one he could have been christened with following his murder - Popeye. Of course, by that time it was a moot point.

High living, womanizing, erratic, and violent.  Was likely part of the group that clipped Sal Maranzano during the Castellamarese War and was one of the founders of Murder Inc.His primary claim to fame is "creating" Las Vegas, which is something of a myth.  Vegas existed before Siegel, and in fact his foray there was not an unqualified success.  The Flamingo actually lost money and closed about a month after Siegel opened it.  His syndicate sponsors, understandably perturbed that they had pissed six million dollars down a rat hole in the desert, had him clipped.