Verify and try again. Except for Variety, the national media had ignored Bioffs testimony about him. Back in California, Bioff and Browne were headed for trouble. But he remembered that ole buttermilk sky. Called to criminal court to testify before the grand jury on May 13, 1940, Korshak said that he had been paid $8,750 by the union in March: $3,750 for drawing up new bylaws, and five grand for surrendering a contract that retained him at $15,000 a year to act as counsel for the union. Sorry! 92-789. As for the call that straightened out both MGM and The Godfather: Korshaks friend Kirk Kerkorian, the former used-car salesman who had taken over MGM, has been involved in Vegas since the days of Bugsy Siegel. According to one report, Police who searched the brothers later at the detective bureau said they found a gun in Sidneys pocket. Booked on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct, he was released, pending arraignment, on a bond of $2,400. Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, Italian: [frantesko raffale nitto]; January 27, 1886 - March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago.The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge of all money flowing through the operation.Nitti later succeeded Capone as acting boss of the Chicago Outfit. He was 73. By 1918, Nitti had settled there at 914 South Halsted Street. Barnett and E.H. Moran were riding in the caboose, backing their train slowly southward over an ungated Cermak Road. Brother of Giovannina Nitti However, the mix of brandy and his failing mental capacity provided us with some strange last words: John Nardi was an associate of the Cleveland crime family who would end up turning against them in a bloody gang war. Francesco Raffaele Nittoni, AKA Frank Nitto, AKA Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti" (January 27, 1881 - March 19, 1943) was an Italian American gangster. (Bluhdorns own death, during an international flight in 1983, would be regarded by many as mysterious as well.) Bautzer was the lawyer who had worked for Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, setting up the corporation from which the Flamingo was born. He was invaluable. All his life, I said, all around him, they went down in their own blood. Indeed, it has long been believed that the character of the consigliere played by Robert Duvall in The Godfatherthe lawyer who had that horses head put in the producers bedwas based on Korshak. He was a robust, tall good dresser. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Anyway, Jewish people are subject to high blood pressure and diabetes., By way of self-explanation, he reflected, I was just an uncouth person, a low-type sort of man. But the compound was also a stronghold with a secret walk-in vault and a sophisticated and elaborate security system. He was a Dodger fan, so was I. Real name Francesco Raffaele Nitto, Alias Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti. Touhy "The Terrible" was a Chicago based bootlegger who spent 26 years in prison after having been framed for a fake kidnapping. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Not the usual Teamster crowdthey are attorneys gathered for the 10th annual meeting of the Teamster lawyers conference. He was often called "Baby Face" because he was short and looked young. Best Answer. If you didnt know who he was, youd think he was a pants manufacturer or something., Irv Kupcinet, whose first column appeared in 1943, told me last summer over lunch in Chicago that he knew Korshak for about 50 years. As a friend, the attorney was a man who could turn more tricks with a telephone call than anyone I knew. Professionally, he was not beyond using his labor negotiations to strike up deals. . They called themselves the connection guys. They were the ties between those in the shadows and those in the light. Or no excuse mehe told Korshaks secretary that it was Mr. Lincoln who was calling., There was an F.B.I. Your real name will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more! Bioff and Browne were released from prison early, too, freed by an appreciative government late in 1944, soon after Rosselli and the others had begun serving their time. Especially in Hollywood. I think he had a genuine interest in young people and was glad to be in that crowd here. SIDNEY KORSHAK, 88, DIES; FABLED FIXER FOR THE CHICAGO MOB. The third bullet fired through his skull from behind his right ear. I think they met surreptitiously., There were, however, veiled references to Korshak, as well as equally cryptic telephone messages left at his office by callers from Celanos. As it was in Vegas, so it was in Hollywood. The public generally had a positive view of him because when he robbed banks, he would destroy mortage documents, freeing many people from their debts. Korshak negotiated more as the lawyer and Wasserman negotiated as the party to the negotiations. Ad Choices, One of the great hidden figures of 20th-century organized crime, attorney Sidney Korshak was thought by many to be the most powerful man in Hollywood for the last half-century. Nitti walked off the tracks staggering towards the fence. A coroner's jury ruled the following day that Nitti "committed suicide while temporarily insane and in a despondent frame of mind.". In her Chicago suit against him, which she entered fresh from a Maine drunken-driving bust, she sought a quarter of a million, claiming that he had promised to marry her aboard the le de France. GREAT NEWS! Born in Fitchburg, Mass., on Feb. 1, 1916, he was a member of the original Broadway cast of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941. By 1950 Ziffren and his friends were all in L.A., as were guys like Rosselli. He still had plenty of clout with the people that succeeded Hoffa., F. C. Duke Zeller, the author of the recent Devils Pact: Inside the World of the Teamsters Union, told me that Korshak continued to work closely with Frank Fitzsimmons, who took over the Teamsters in 1971, while Hoffa was imprisoned. He admitted openly that he had personally collected more than a million dollars from movie officials, but he denied that it was extortion money. Korshak, Rothman said, was at the Bistro almost every day. He owned a piece of it and was known to conduct much of his business there, at a corner table equipped with two telephones. Wasserman was perhaps the most powerful and revered figure in Hollywood, and Sidney Korshak was perhaps his closest friend. His main job was to make sure the graf was spread fairly. Zito dropped his gun, collapsed and died. In fact, he bought me my first good suit from Puccis.. In the life of Sidney Korshak, these are mere moments, which offer a glimpse into the specter, shadow, and power of him. A Wikipedia entry says Gordon's last known film role was in 1989 in Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain, in which he played himself. He was killed a month after he was let out of jail in 1959. We all looked the same. I found that out when I did a (beer) commercial with him in New York. Nitti in the hospital after he was shot by police. When his wife left for church, Nitti told her he planned to take a walk, then began to drink heavily. Thats when I first became aware of Korshak, Bacon said. Sidney was there, and I remember Natalie Wood was there. As he left the grand-jury room, Korshak told reporters that he had never met and did not know Scalise. . There was also a summer home in Paris and a villa at the Ocotillo Lodge in Palm Springs. Organized crime in America was democracy in action. For some reason, which I never understood, he was always nice to me. Dunne found himself invited to the Korshak home, at 10624 Chaln Road, in Bel Air, where Sidney and his wife, Bernice, usually called Bee, hosted an exclusive party every Christmas Eve. Every move, every moment, is a nexus of further intricacies, each ultimately unravelinginfinitely, it seemsinto darkness. Harlow was the lover of Abner Longie Zwillman, an East Coast gangster tied to both Moe Dalitz and the Chicago outfit. I have never met anyone who had anything bad to say about him or that they didn't like the way he worked.". The faces of some gain character with age, but his has not. I spent most of my time in the powder room, she told me. He has been known to stalk out of a joint at the drumroll of a striptease and is now convinced that the government is using women to fleece his men of the unions secrets. The investigation that ensued was a charade: halfhearted, short-lived, and inconclusive. Father of Private As Corinne speaks, her three poodles yap incessantly. The deal would be mediated, in the fall of 1973, by their mutual friend Sidney Korshak. We had a box together. Roemer suggested that, if this were true, perhaps he should be talking to Korshaks wife, Bernice. Upon his discharge, his address would no longer be that of his mother, 5050 Sheridan Road. At the time, Korshak was out of town, serving in the army as a military instructor at Camp Lee, Virginia. One was brought by the stage and film starlet Dorothy Appleby against the Chicago furniture heir Sidney M. Spiegel Jr. Appleby, 29, was described in a New York Review profile of 1930 as one of our most prominent flappers. In 1925 she had appeared to be married to Teddy Weinstein, a Broadway character who also went by the name of Teddy Hayes and who told people that he was Jack Dempseys trainer. A one-time secretary and wife to Frank Nitti, who died in 1943, inspires legends of her own. Willie, he said, meet Sidney Korshak. He died of lung cancer in Leavenworth prison in 1957. She was 38 years old. He arrives in New York city as an impoverished youngster. Frank Nitti. Though the press made no note of it, the states attorney questioning Korshak was Tom Courtney, the West Side power broker who had sponsored him in his political candidacy the year before. There were those whisperings about him. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. His 15-year-old sister married a 24-year-old man and his mother gave birth to his half-brother Raphael in 1894, and another child, Gennaro, in 1896. I never went for a walk with the dog that I didnt have two guys either watching or following me., It was in Vegas, before her marriage, that Corinne had met Korshak. As Roemer knew, Lawfords wife was Patricia Kennedy, one of Jack and Bobby Kennedys sisters. The 1930s was a period of famous gangsters such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, and Ma Barker. Before hitting Cleveland, Dalitzborn in Boston on Christmas Eve 1899had been a member of Detroits Purple Gang. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? Connect to the World Family Tree to find out, to the many relatives and friends for their kindness, flc-al tributes and other expressions of, Coffee Theft Accused by police of stealing 25 pounds of coffee from Walter Reed, PRICE OF SILVERWARE only Then every one went nway. A severeclaustrophobeas a result of his first prison term, Nitti dreaded the idea of another prison confinement. Our first public glimpse of Sidney Korshak, in May of 1931, is in a report of his arrest, with his brother Ted, following an early-morning brawl at a nightclub called the Show Boat, at Clark and Lake Streets in the Loop. Frank Nitti | American gangster | Britannica The studios had cooperated with The Outfit to avoiduniontrouble (unrest itself stirred up by the mob). My life changed. Though, like the forces of the government for so many years, the series could not conclusively indict him on anything, it did have its effect. He played Officer Klein opposite Boris Karloff. Built Miami-style with Miami money, the hotel is the first Strip high-rise, nine stories of coral-colored concrete that went up six years before, in 1955, the year that James R. Hoffa, vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, consolidated scores of small pension funds in 22 states into the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund. A year previous to this control of the family was given to Frank Nitti in 1931. At the same time, Scalise and Anselmi stepped either side and fired two bullets into OBanions chest and two into his throat. He was extraordinarythats all I can say., Then she told me what I knew, and what I was coming to know better every day. Sidney Korshak sounds no high notes. Amid safety concerns, and anxiety over the fate of a $200 million movie, Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. She was gagged and tied to a chair; gasoline was poured over her, an ice pick was plunged into her vagina, a match was lit, and she was left to die aflame. Frank Nitti died on March 19, 1943, at the age of 57. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Capone was sentenced to 11 years on October 24, 1931, five days after Korshaks first known clients were sentenced. The pineapple, nicknamed Little Al, worked for nearly six years, including the summer of 1965. Frank Nitti - Biography - IMDb Pretty Boy Floyd was a bank robber during the Great Depression and very popular with the media at the time. He acted as "muscle" for mobsters Fifi Buccieri and Ralph Pierce and rubbed elbows with bosses Frank Nitti and Paul Ricca. We wore sable and chinchilla. Nitti, circa 1930. Weckesser said he cast Gordon in at least two plays after someone, possibly the late Greer Garson, pointed out that Gordon was living on Tano Road. The Chairman and Founding Father of the mob left an incredible legacy behind him. Known as the Camel, more often as the Hump, this British-born hood, who died in 1965, was regarded as an elder statesman of the Chicago Mobs ruling elite. Among them were Barbara Sinatra, Robert Evans, Dani Janssen, Niki Bautzer, Tony Martin and Cyd Charisse, Angie Dickinson, Suzanne Pleshette, Rona Barrett, and Sidneys longtime physician and friend, Rex Kennamer. . But he had grown up, according to Richard Lindberg, in a Jewish neighborhood right along Roosevelt Road, just a little bit west of Maxwell Street. Irving Cutler, the author of The Jews of Chicago, told me of Guziks storming into the office of the Jewish Daily Forward one day, raising hell about a piece implying that he was a gangster. Jack was a member of the rackets committee, Bobby was its chief counsel. The Risks of Buying Hookah Accessories from Unreliable Sources: Why You Should Stick to Trusted Online Stores? Giancana in June of 1975, Hoffa in July. She asked me why I was writing about Sidney Korshak. Choose wisely! He was one of the founders of the famous Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and was focused mostly on running gambling operations. Mean. . We all had the same hairdresser. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Within six months, the blackmailing was refined: the major studios would each contribute 50 grand a year to IATSE in return for labor peace. Alex Greenberg was hit in 1956. In America, Unterwelt and Mafia were one, and it was in organized crime that the myth of the great American melting pot became reality. Gordon, who had lived on Tano Road since the 1970s, died Thursday, 12 days before he would have turned 95. The Mob Wife Stands for high-quality home decor and accessories such as sculptures, umbrellas, and backpacks in the medium price range. . And he was over in the corner, and he was in a wheelchair, like thishead down, off to the side, strickenand I said, Sidney, Im just so thrilled you remembered me, and I took his hand, and he said to me, Ill never forget, he said, I just wanted to tell ya Im really proud of what youve done with your life. Because of Nitti's Sicilian ancestry, he was able to help Capone penetrate the Sicilian underworld in a way Capone alone never could (Capone was not Sicilian). "He took his work seriously, but not too seriously," he said. Harry Korshaka Jewish immigrant from Kiev, Russiacame to the West Side of Chicago late in the last century. People of my caliber dont do nice things.. Ife ssm Death by suicide riss ended j, Angri, Campania, Repubblica Italiana (Italy), Illinois Central railroad branch line, North Riverside, IL, United States, Mt Carmel Cemetery, 1400 S Wolf Rd, Hillside, IL, United States, American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, 1791-1963, Spartenburg Weekly Herald and Herald-Journal - Mar 20 1943. She will be at the Mocambo on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles having dinner with Peter Lawford and his wife.. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Bye bye, Tucker: Now turn down the outrage, Former N.M. governor opened doors for minorities, Hernndez murder suspect escapes after police chase, Santa Fe County weighs tougher nuisance ordinance to address problem properties, Judge rejects man's suit to get unemployment benefits, Santa Fe police report eight crashes in late April snowfall. John Dillinger was a gangster and bank robber during the Great Depression. Soon that hollow jack-olantern of a smile would be blown to hell, and Korshak would know something about that too. Dean OBanion owned a flower shop in Chicago opposite the Holy Name Cathederal, called Schofields. Still alive, he fired another bullet which went behind his ear into the top of his skull. They wouldnt touch that with a 10-foot pole., Although Korshak moved secretly in the world of shadows, he moved openly in the world of dreams. You look like a fucking organ grinder just off the boat.'. It is marked "Nitto". In 1981, Jimmy the Weasel Fratianno ratted him out while testifying before a pension-fraud committee in Washington, telling that a Chicago crime boss had once warned him to keep away from Korshak lest his ties to the Mob be revealed. Upon leaving Lucky collapsed and died from a heart-attack. His main claim to fame was his association with John Dillinger. He was alleged to be a narcotic addict and somewhat of a confidence man. With Korshak, Hoffa well knew, the flesh played second to the fable, fantasy, and formidable fact of the man. What's left of Bioff is in the lower left under the blanket. Glaser worked briefly as an MCA agent in the early 30s, and when he later incorporated his own agency, the Associated Booking Corporation, in 1940, it was with a loan from Jules Stein. At Sidneys arraignment, charges were dropped. Thus the headline of his New York Times obituary. Failed to delete memorial. DOROTHY TO WED HER LAWYER, proclaimed a Chicago headline of September 19, 1935. But the young attorney had problems of his own. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. When I reached him at his home in Tucson, he explained that he had the strength to talk only in the mornings, but he wanted to help me. When the police asked who had shot him, he stayed true to the code of silence and uttered the following words before passing away: Anthony Strollo or Tony Bender as he was also known, served as a high-ranking capo of the Genovese crime family for several decades up until the early 1960s. However, Barbaros desperate pleas were heard by neighbors as he tried to get out of the line of fire by screaming: Public Enemy Number #1, Baby Face Nelson had a short but violent gun battle with FBI agents in 1934 which resulted in his own death but also the deaths of two FBI agents. Besides Bee and the kids and Stuarts wife and daughter, there were about 150 others. In November, when the verdict was delivered, after less than two hours of deliberation, Browne and Bioff were both found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Korshak lost the case. A dark breeze in Chicago becomes an evening chill in L.A., a shimmering in the desert becomes a hearse beneath the winter sky, and the uroboros of a tale with no beginning and no end, a tale never meant to be told. Then again, it may be true, as has been asserted, that the real purpose of Korshaks meeting was blackmail. John Rooney. You had to know Sidney to see all these great qualities. He was a meticulous dresser. The prefix, 92, Roemer explained, designated racketeering; the number 789 was an identifying number assigned sequentially. Al Capone, also called Scarface, was a major gangster during the Prohibition era in Chicago. He shaved it off after a friend handed him some money and jokingly told him to 'Go buy a monkey. He pointed a semi-automatic at his son-in-law Domenico Scopelliti. He was never threatening or anything of that kind. He died from a stroke in 1947. In other words, after we established the Chicago program in 1957, Korshak was the 789th file that we opened under that program. In Hollywood, the man who kept an eye on her for Zwillman was Johnny Rosselli, a Capone man before he joined forces with Jack Dragna, L.A.s pre-eminent criminal presence. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Somewhat handsome in youth, he is big-eared and jowly now: a near-featureless head of wan clay. Nitti had a substantial illicit income, but his wife, said the story, "was spending it almost as fast on dice, cards, roulette and horse racing." Doubly motivated, Nitti brought skills honed in . Stay informed of the latest local news by receiving emails as soon as news is posted online. He was not a drinking man, and he didnt smoke. Following New Yorks precedent, breach-of-promise suits involving broken betrothals were outlawed in Illinois in June of 1935. It had the look of a terrific marriage. A friend of Bees saw a union that was not so terrific. Frank Nitto makes his appearance in Chicago after World War 1. Across the road, to the left, the Hacienda, the Strips southernmost joint, can barely be glimpsed. Geni requires JavaScript! I think he was smart enough to know that sooner or later Celanos was going to be identified as the Mob headquarters, Roemer said. Throughout the trial Bioff did exactly as Korshak had advised him. Did he join the outfit and step into his fathers past life? This was the meeting place, mornings and afternoons, of the Chicago Mob., The device that Roemer and his men installed was an old World War IIvintage microphone. Hollywood was largely the invention of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and their sons. Joe Glaser eventually moved west as well, establishing the Beverly Hills office of Associated Booking three blocks from that of MCA. There was a shot and the man fell back against the fence. Lucky Luciano: Died On This Day in 1962, Aged 64 - The NCS He was an attorney who never tired of telling his tale of deflowering Lana Turner. Abel Fernandez, a retired actor in Whittier, Calif., said he first got to know Gordon when he played a young American Indian and Gordon played his father in an episode of the TV western Bonanza. Frank Nitti died on March 19, 1943, at the age of 57. The Man Who Kept The Secrets | Vanity Fair Roemer remembered the exact date the bug was planted: July 29, 1959. This picture would cause some to incorrectly infer that Paul Ricca was the new boss of the Chicago mob. (Dalitz, who once listed his religion as preferably Jewish, was a founding member of the latter.) Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. We wonder if he referred to the friend of Stevensons friend whom he had met professionally. On July 14, 1958, Roemer called on Korshak, whom he found to be a refined, finesse-type guy who dressed very, very well and had himself under control. Korshak patiently told Roemer that, although he knew Gussie, it was only because their wives were friends. He died in a shootout with Federal agents in Chicago in 1934 after he was identified by his escort, who wore a red dress and became kown as the woman in red. He was like a little baby. Hollywood's latest view of the mob as seen in the hit film, "The Untouchables," takes some dramatic license, especially in showing the death of Al Capone's "Enforcer," Frank Nitti, as if it were . Anna Nitto died on Nov. 19, 1940 in Mercy Hospital, Chicago, from an unspecified internal ailment. Son of Luigi Nitti and Rosina Nitti Luckys final words to Gosch as they parted company were: A more recent death that captured the news was Australian mobster Pasquale Barbaro who was shot dead at the age of 35. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Perhaps the decisive connection was that of neighborhood, that of Magen David. A real-life competitor to Prohibition-era Chicago crime boss Al Capone, Nitti was pursued by the TV series' hero, special agent Eliot Ness, played by Robert Stack. About Frank Nitti. The story that followed mentioned what was likely Korshaks first trip to Los Angeles: Korshak was on his way home yesterday with Miss Applebys promise after visiting her in Hollywood. Beneath a photo of Korshak, dapper and somewhat louche, was the italicized phrase Wins Clients Hand. Who plays Michael Sullivan, Jr.? Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. The suit, handled by Korshak, was settled out of court in September. Under Torrio's successor Al Capone, Nitti's reputation soared. Try again later. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. Bioff would eventually co-operate with the feds and that resulted in indictments against several high-ranking members of the Chicago Outfit. He was also considered to be extremely violent and short tempered. Like Leverkhn in Manns Doctor Faustus, he seemed merely to fade away to stillness. According to Nitti biographer Mars Eghigian, Nitti's age, brilliance, and reputation in the underworld made him Capone's personal choice for successor, rather than younger, less experienced mobsters such as Ricca orMurray Humphreys. Alex, born in 1916 and now imprisoned, has been described as the political fixer and power behind First Ward politicians and as a ruthless, vicious killer whom Chicago police acknowledged as one of the wiliest and slickest crooks in the city. They would arrest these guys on vagrancy. Please reset your password. What happened to frank nitti's son Joe? - Answers At a 1934 Chicago meeting (Browne and Bioff were not invited), Rosselli explained the profit structure of the movie industry, and a plan was laid for a wholesale extortion operation of the major studios through IATSE. The guys from Chicago spoke for themselves and their friends at home. An autopsy by Dr. William McNalley, coroner's toxicologist, showed that Nitti's blood alcohol Level was 0.23. Silence on the subject of Sidney Korshak among those who knew him is pervasive. Even though Gordon was typecast as a tough guy, Fernandez said, he made a joke out of it in comedies like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart and Piranha. He is reported to have stolen a large sum of money from Nounes and fellow mobsterDutch Voight, after which Nitti fled to Chicago. harassment and the failure of her career.) Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Today they are all dead except for Wasserman, who is now in his 85th year and has declined my request for an interview regarding Sidney Korshak. Nitti was born Francesco Raffaele Nittoni in the town of Angri, province of Salerno, Campania, Italy, on Jan. 27, 1881. In August 1943, when Korshak was on leave, they had been married at the Ambassador Hotel in Manhattan by a city magistrate. In old stories of Chicago mobsters, the famous names are almost all men. Ivana Marie Zelnkov escaped from behind the Iron Curtain to storm New York City and help create the twisted miracle of Donald Trump. There was a problem getting your location. Nitti ran Capone's liquor smuggling and distribution operation, importingwhiskyfromCanadaand selling it through a network ofspeakeasiesaround Chicago. He died in 1976. Colosimos partner in crime was his wife, a slovenly madam named Victoria Moresco. His language was perfect. It was an era, if you can imagine, when, in Vegas, we dressed up. They might have 20 grand on them, but they would be arrested for vagrancy. John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli, above, and Phil DAndrea at right. FRANK NITTO. Within a year he went from just another shipping clerk, said McDougal, to what he later described as the national director of publicity., MCA, according to McDougal, was involved with the Chicago Mob up to their eyeballs, working closely not only with Chez Paree, the outfits premier club, but also with Ralph Capones places on the South Side. He became not only the most potent but also the most invisible of powers. Are you kidding, Roemer? 1 as Bugsy readied the Flamingo that December. Thirteen days later, a directive from Hoover declared war against the gangsters.