The Making of the Mob: New York | New Frontiers (S01-E7)

Episode 7: On February 28, 1946, after ten years in prison, Lucky Luciano is finally a free man. But he's been exiled to Italy, never to return to America. Living in Rome, he's forced to leave the mafia's future in his crew's hands. 4,000 miles away, Costello is acting boss, keeping the peace between the Five Families. Genovese is released from prison only to find himself demoted while Lansky is overseas in Havana, to expand the empire outside the U.S. He's spent years paying off Cuban politician Fulgencio Batista transforming seedy hotels into five-star casinos. After all these years setting up a mob stronghold in Los Angeles, Siegel has nothing to show for it. He sees his opportunity 300 miles east in a stretch of Nevada desert town Las Vegas to set up a legalized gambling mecca. His vision is a European-style mega hotel and casino that will attract celebrities, high rollers, and tourists willing to cough up thousands of dollars a night. He names it after his long-legged girlfriend Virginia Hill's nickname, The Flamingo. Lucky gives Siegel money to fund his desert dream, but he'll need a bigger venture to maintain his place in the mafia. He seizes Genovese's heroin ring and converts candy factories into underground labs. He secretly leaves Italy to join Lansky, seeing Cuba as a way to smuggle drugs into America and has a mob meeting (Havana Summit), having well-known singer, Frank Sinatra perform. Everyone is on board, expect Genovese, who feels he deserves a larger cut of the profit for the heroin operation since he was the first to get it going. He contacts Mangano Family underboss Carlo Gambino who helps him plot against Lucky. While in Cuba, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics has Lucky under surveillance, soon learning of his drug ring, he's arrested and brought back to Italy.

Siegel's project goes over-budget and borrows more money to complete his luxury hotel. On opening night (December 26, 1946), a storm hits town and with many of the hotel rooms unfinished, costs are overrun and he's forced to close. Later, he finishes guest rooms, pays publicists and calls in favors from his famous friends. Bugsy's big gamble pays off on May 1, 1947, when The Flamingo has a successful re-opening. However, his investors lose patience with him skimming money and he's gunned down in his Beverly Hills home on June 20, 1947; 20 minutes after his murder, Lansky takes control of the hotel. In 1950, U.S. senator Estes Kefauver forms a committee to investigate the mafia and holds a series of televised hearings. Costello is called to trial and thinks he can outwit them, leaving an opportunity for Genovese to take him out.