Virginia Hill went from an Alabama farm girl to one of the most powerful women in organized crime, charming her way through the Chicago Outfit and winning over notorious mobsters like Charles Fischetti and Bugsy Siegel.
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Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill , a Chicago Outfit courier and the girlfriend of Bugsy Siegel .
It ’s not often that women are the focus of a mob story . The American Mafia was , at its kernel , a stage business run by men , with woman often relegated to office as sex workers , waitresses , or shill . Women , unlike men , could never be “ made . ” Despite this , Virginia Hill made a name for herself in organized offence — and even came to be known as the “ Queen of the Mob . ”
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill, a Chicago Outfit courier and the girlfriend of Bugsy Siegel.
acquit on a farm in Alabama , Hill supposedly pass on home as a teenager hoping to enter the pornography industry . alternatively , after arriving in Chicago in 1933 , she found her way into the mob . Charming , witty , beautiful , and thinking , Hill earned the trust of some of the most powerful men in Chicago ’s felonious infernal region , and they presently employed her as a courier and money launderer .
Then , Hill metBugsy Siegel , a Los Angeles gangster who would go on to become a key developer of the Las Vegas strip . Their kinship came to be a defining period in both of their spirit , with Siegel even reportedly identify his ill - doomed Flamingo Hotel after a cognomen he ’d given Hill .
Siegel was eventually murdered in Virginia Hill ’s hall in Beverly Hills . But her story did n’t end with his .
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill in 1947.
From Small Town Alabama To Chicago, Illinois
Although much of Virginia Hill ’s life revolved around Chicago ’s vicious underworld , her story began in the unassuming town of Lipscomb , Alabama . It was here , on a farm , thatOnie Virginia Hillwas bear on Aug. 26 , 1916 . Her parent separated when she was eight years onetime , and she move with her female parent and sibling to Marietta , Georgia .
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill in 1947 .
By the metre she was 14 , Hill had degenerate out of school . When she was around 15 , she reportedly married a 16 - yr - one-time boy named George , and two years later , the yoke find their room to Chicago , where Hill allegedly hoped to enter the porno diligence .
Los Angeles Public LibraryBenjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, one of Virginia Hill’s many lovers.
Hill ’s ambitions understandably did n’t include a lasting marriage to George , and shortly after the move to Chicago , the two separate . Soon , Hill was working as a “ shimmy ” dancer at the “ A Century of Progress Exposition ” as part of the 1933 Chicago World ’s Fair . Some sources claim she also found workplace as a sex worker .
By 1934 , she was mould as a waitress at the San Carlo Italian Village , a restaurant frequented by the Chicago Outfit . It was there that she encounter Joseph Epstein , a lieutenant of Maffia financier Jake “ Greasy Thumb ” Guzik .
This encounter would vary Virginia Hill ’s lifespan , pave the means for her to become one of the most formidablewomen in unionized crime .
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoAlthough Bugsy Siegel was certainly Virginia Hill’s most famous partner, she seduced countless mobsters throughout her life.
Virginia Hill’s Rise Through The Ranks
Joseph Epstein was right away impress with Virginia Hill ’s news and equanimity . Not only did she reportedly become his mistress , but Epstein finally began utilize her as a money launderer , ply her with cash to place bets at various racecourse around Chicago .
Using her look and charm , Hill quickly rose through the ranks of the criminal Hades . Before she was even 20 years old , Hill was being invited to meet with the Chicago Outfit ’s top brass , include gentleman like Frank Nitti and Charles Fischetti .
Hill had established herself as a trusty , tight - lipped courier . So , when the Chicago Outfit and Lucky Luciano ’s gang in New York struck a mutually good softwood , Hill was send to the Big Apple to get close with New York mobster Joe Adonis . There , she function to help oneself Epstein launder tens of yard of dollars in cash . But she also began an thing with Adonis , all the while aid him run various rackets .
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill testifying during the Kefauver organized crime hearings in New York, 1951.
Hill also began attend to with the mob ’s narcotics trafficking operations in Mexico , forging valuable commercial enterprise connections by sorcerous — and allegedly sleeping — her style into the country ’s most elite circles . According to theMob Museum , she effectively became the “ intellectual film director ” of the Outfit ’s Mexican drug - traffic ring .
It was around this time that Hill also met Bugsy Siegel , who was run under Adonis as one of his top earners . They began a sexual relationship almost immediately — much to Adonis ’ chagrin .
Los Angeles Public LibraryBenjamin “ Bugsy ” Siegel , one of Virginia Hill ’s many lovers .
Adonis was reportedly so enraged over Hill ’s affair with Siegel that the Outfit stopped sending Hill money . She leave behind New York for California — where Siegel just so happened to be making the rounds as well .
Life In Los Angeles
Both Virginia Hill and Bugsy Siegel were well known , even outside of mob traffic circle . Siegel was friend with some of the biggest Hollywood stars of the age , include George Raft , Clark Gable , Gary Cooper , Cary Grant , and Jean Harlow .
Hill , meanwhile , made it into the gossip column after a rather public contention with histrion Errol Flynn at the Brown Derby eating house .
“ Virginia Hill was the image of a mobster ’s gun moll — gun toting , wisecracking , glamorous and sexy , and most of all , rich , ” author Andy Edmonds wrote in the 1993 bookBugsy ’s Baby : The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill . “Her name was familiar in nearly every family in America ; woman hated her , men fantasise about her , and the government vow to destroy her . ”
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoAlthough Bugsy Siegel was certainly Virginia Hill ’s most famous partner , she seduced innumerous mobsters throughout her life .
Eventually , Hill and Siegel witness their way back to each other , embark on a years - long function that was the subject of multitudinous rumors .
Some claimed the two were secretly married in Mexico , though this was never proven . It was also rumored that Siegel had call his Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas after a nickname he had given Hill . Even the origins of this purported nickname are turn over . Some mass say Siegel call in Hill “ Flamingo ” because of her long , thin peg ; others say it had to do with her fellatio skills .
Their family relationship was tumultuous , however , and Siegel was allegedly physically abusive .
In June 1947 , Hill book a last - minute trip to Paris after one of their explosive fights . Days later , Bugsy Siegel was gunned down by unknown assassinsin Hill ’s Beverly Hills mansion .
Some have speculate that the leery timing of Virginia Hill ’s trip suggests she had been warned about the flak . But to this 24-hour interval , no one knows who killed Bugsy Siegel , or whether his mistress was involved in the hit .
Virginia Hill’s Final Years And Tragic Death
Three years after Bugsy Siegel ’s murder , Virginia Hill married Austrian skier Hans Hauser , with whom she would have a son , Peter .
In 1951 , Hill was asked to show at the Kefauver hearings , a U.S. Senate investigation into interior organized crime . During the earshot , Hill denied having any knowledge of the mob ’s criminal operations . TIMElater cover that Hill was “ playing dumb about the business traffic of her many racketeer friends but boggling Senators with her full - fully grown curves and succinct account of just why men would shower money on a hospitable girl from [ Alabama ] . ”
Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoVirginia Hill testifying during the Kefauver organized crime audience in New York , 1951 .
Eventually , Hill , like many of the gangster she associated with , was indict for income revenue enhancement dodging . Rather than font arrest , Hill take flight to Austria with Hauser to raise their son .
Their prison term together was suddenly - lived , however ; Hill would ultimately die of an apparent felo-de-se on March 24 , 1966 . According to news reports at the clock time , she was find dead in the snow in Austria after overdosing on quiescency pill . She was only 49 .
While it appear to be an unfastened - and - shut self-annihilation , however , her death raised some suspicion . Over the years , some have theorized that she may have been dispatch .
And given her chronicle as one of the most unsafe women in the rout , that theory is certainly plausible .
After memorise about Virginia Hill , the farm young lady who became the pouf of the Mob , read about Henry Hill ’s wife , Karen Friedman Hill . Or , see 33 photos ofMurder Inc. , the mob ’s most roughshod hit squad .
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