Good Luck Dollar Gaming Token Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas Nevada 1982 Bugsy Siegel.
Features
Location United States
Type Miscellaneous tokens › Casino chip or token
Year 1982
Value 1 Dollar
Currency United States - Casino Tokens
Composition Copper-nickel
Diameter 37 mm
Thickness 3 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Coin alignment ↑↓
Number N# 175349
Obverse
Logo
Script: Latin
Lettering:
• ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN • ACCEPTABLE ONLY AT THE FLAMINGO HILTON, LAS VEGAS •
GOOD LUCK!
Flamingo Hilton
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Reverse
Building
Script: Latin
Lettering:
• ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN • FOR USE BY PLAYER ONLY • ONE DOLLAR GAMING TOKEN •
•1982•
Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
In late 1945, mobster Bugsy Siegel and his partners came to Las Vegas. Vegas reportedly piqued Siegel and his mob's interest because of its legalized gambling and off-track betting. At the time, Siegel held a large interest in Trans America Wire, a racing publication.
Siegel began by purchasing El Cortez on Fremont Street for $600,000. His expansion plans were hampered by unfriendly city officials aware of his criminal background, so Siegel began looking for a site outside the city limits. Hearing that Wilkerson was seeking extra funding, Siegel and his partners posed as businessmen and directly bought a two-thirds stake in the project.
Siegel took over the final phases of construction and convinced more of his underworld associates, such as Meyer Lansky, to invest in the project. Siegel reportedly lost patience with the project's rising costs, and he once mentioned to his builder, Del Webb, that he had personally killed 16 men. Reportedly, when Webb appeared scared upon hearing that, Siegel reassured him, "Don't worry—we only kill each other."
Siegel had also built a secret ladder in the "Presidential Suite" to escape if necessary. The ladder led down to an underground garage where a chauffeured limo was always waiting.
In popular culture
Film
The 1964 film Viva Las Vegas and the 1960 version of Ocean's 11 were filmed at the hotel, as was a flashback sequence from the 2001 version of the latter film. In the 1960 version, the Flamingo was one of the five Las Vegas casinos robbed by characters played by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr. and others.
The 1991 film Bugsy starring Warren Beatty depicted Bugsy Siegel's involvement in the construction of the Flamingo, though many of the details were altered for dramatic effect. For instance, in the film, Siegel originates the idea of the Flamingo, instead of buying ownership from Billy Wilkerson, and is killed after the first opening on December 26, 1946, rather than the second opening of the Flamingo in 1947.
Television
The Netflix original series Lilyhammer featuring E-Street Band guitarist and singer Steven Van Zandt features a nightclub in Lillehammer, Norway, named the Flamingo. During its construction, Van Zandt's character, Giovanni Henriksen (aka Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano), referenced the hotel and casino, as well as Benjamin Siegel, as his inspiration for the nightclub.
In the television series Vega$ (1978–1981), starring Robert Urich, and filmed entirely in Las Vegas, the Flamingo Hilton is featured prominently in the opening montage.
Literature
Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Zeta Acosta stayed at the Flamingo while attending a seminar by the National Conference of District Attorneys on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs held at the Dunes Hotel across the street. Several of their experiences in their room are depicted in Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream.
The Flamingo figures prominently in the Tim Powers novel Last Call. In the novel, the Flamingo is supposedly founded on Siegel's mythical/mystical paranoia of being pursued and killed for his archetypal position as the "King of the West", known mythologically as "Fisher King". Supposedly the Flamingo itself was meant to be a real-life personification of "The Tower" card of the tarot deck.