Luellen Smiley, the daughter of mobster Allen Smiley, has shared a chilling deathbed revelation from her father that offers new insight into one of America's most notorious unsolved murders: the 1947 assassination of Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel.
The Deathbed Confession
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Luellen recounted the 1983 conversation she had with her father as he lay dying of liver failure. 'He said, "There's going to be a lot of talk about me after I pass. And you'll read things in the newspaper about me. Just remember that [Bugsy] was my best friend, and he would take a bullet for me."' Luellen said she was certain her father knew who killed Bugsy but never told her, police, or the FBI.
A Life of Secrecy
Luellen described her father as 'tyrannical' yet 'devoted,' 'secretive' and 'very funny.' He was a member of the National Crime Syndicate, a loose alliance of Italian and Jewish mafias. Allen Smiley was Bugsy's confidant and was sitting next to him when he was shot through a window of his mistress's Beverly Hills mansion. Luellen believes the Italian mob ordered the hit, driven by jealousy over Bugsy's Hollywood connections and control of the illegal race wire, which earned $25,000 a month in 1946.
Growing Up in the Mob
Luellen's childhood was marked by secrecy. Her father's criminal activities were hidden from her for years. She would call friends from phone booths to avoid his eavesdropping, and he would follow her everywhere. 'He was terrified that they would get to me,' she said. Her mother, Lucille Casey, a model and actress, divorced her father to shield the children from mob life. Luellen only came to terms with her father's identity in her 30s after seeing a documentary implicating him.
Theories About the Murder
Luellen dismissed the theory that her father set up Bugsy, noting that Smiley narrowly avoided death by diving under a coffee table. She believes he was also a target because mob leaders feared he might become an informant. Bugsy's daughter, Millicent Siegel, corroborated Luellen's view, blaming 'the Italian mob.' Luellen also defended Meyer Lansky, a syndicate leader, who she said tried to warn Bugsy before the hit.
Luellen spent decades researching her family and published a book, Cradle of Crime: Confessions of a Mob Daughter, in 2016. She now understands her father's choices, noting that many immigrants turned to crime out of necessity. 'They didn't come over here as criminals,' she said. 'They didn't have any other choices at that time.'
