50 Photos of Real-Life Gangster Homes and Hideouts

Bugsy Siegel’s LA bolthole

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel had a fearsome reputation and was one of the founders of Murder, Inc., which acted as the enforcement arm of the Jewish mob and Italian-American Mafia during the 1930s and 1940s. Like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, Siegel was a bootlegger during the Prohibition era. He then got into gambling, moving to California in the late 1930s where he built a large mansion.

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Bugsy Siegel’s LA bolthole

Siegel’s LA bolthole in the city’s Holmby Hills was constructed in 1938 with the proceeds of his many crimes. Sitting on a total of 1.8 acres, the house has five bedrooms, an enormous living room, oak-paneled library, imposing dining room, and a spacious home cinema.

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Bugsy Siegel’s LA bolthole

Siegel resided at the property with his wife and children. No expense was spared and the house was decked out with every mod con and luxury imaginable. The principal lounge room had 18-foot carved divan sofas and an ornate bar stocked with the most exquisite champagnes, cognacs and whiskeys.

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Bugsy Siegel’s LA bolthole

A rarity at a time when even the most extravagant homes had only one or two bathrooms at most, the house wowed with six vanity rooms. The dining room was outfitted with a vast wood table that seated a whopping 30 – significantly bigger than the polished wooden table shown here.

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Bugsy Siegel’s LA bolthole

The grounds are equally lavish, featuring a pool and manicured gardens. The wardrobe in the master bedroom contained a secret trap door to the attic, which Siegel escaped through in 1940 to evade the cops, who saw through the ruse and arrested him for murder. Siegel was acquitted for the crime, but met his end in 1947 when he was shot dead at his girlfriend’s home in Beverly Hills.

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Albert Anastasia’s New Jersey base

The “Lord High Executioner” of the terrifying Murder, Inc., and the boss of what would become the Gambino crime family, Albert Anastasia was as ruthless as they come. The psychopathic Mafia leader is thought to have masterminded the murders of hundreds of people, making him one of the most notorious criminals in history. He bought this Spanish-style New Jersey property in 1947.

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