Flamingo Las Vegas and Bugsy Siegel's 1946 opening

The Flamingo Hotel, which opened in December 1946 on the Las Vegas Strip, is widely recognized as one of the earliest luxury resort-style casinos in Las Vegas and is historically associated with developer Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel. Contemporary and later accounts link Siegel and organized-crime figures to the Flamingo's financing and construction; aspects of that history have been documented and debated by historians. The Flamingo's opening helped shift Las Vegas toward larger, entertainment-focused resort development on the Strip.