New Mob Museum display sheds light on Flamingo hotel history

The Mob Museum will display through mid-January two artifacts that it says shed light on the beginnings of the Flamingo hotel and the mob’s place in the development of Las Vegas.

One is a legal document signed by Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and dated March 19, 1947, that removes William R. “Billy” Wilkerson, the Flamingo’s original developer, from any involvement with the hotel. According to the museum, the document emphasizes the reality that Wilkerson — not, as popular culture mistakenly would have it, Siegel — conceived of and started building the Flamingo.

The museum adds that Siegel became involved in the Flamingo only after Wilkerson ran short of money during its construction and enlisted members of organized crime to invest in it.

The two-page document was signed three months before Siegel’s killing in Beverly Hills, Calif. According to the museum, the mob continued to control the Flamingo after Siegel’s death.

The second item that will be displayed is the original check Wilkerson wrote as a down payment for the land on which the Flamingo was built. The $9,500 check is dated March 5, 1945, and made out to local businesswoman Margaret Folsom. Wilkerson eventually paid $84,000 for the 33-acre parcel, the museum said.

Before being acquired by the museum, both artifacts had been in the possession of Wilkerson’s son, Willie Wilkerson. They are to be displayed from Thursday through Jan. 10 on the second floor of the museum and then will be placed on permanent display later in 2021.

Contact John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.