The latest listing on Beverly Hills’ Linden Drive looks innocuous enough. Offered at $17 million, the Spanish-style showplace boasts three stories of luxurious living space across more than 7,000 square feet.
But the home holds a dark secret: It’s the site where famous mobster Bugsy Siegel was gunned down in 1947.
Siegel’s death at the mansion marked the end of a notorious gangster saga that saw him rise through the ranks of mob organizations on both coasts.
Siegel was born in New York City, where he helped found the crime group known as Murder Inc., before eventually heading west to lead criminal operations in Hollywood and Las Vegas.
In Vegas, he helped finance and open the Flamingo Hotel in December 1946 — but not without accusations of steering some of the budget into his own pocket. Six months later, he was shot to death through the window of the Beverly Hills home. His killer is still a mystery.
Records show Siegel didn’t own the place; he was renting it for his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who was active in the organized crime world as well. Today it’s owned by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Joel Aronowitz, who picked it up for $3.85 million in 2003.
Claiming half an acre in the Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood, the estate holds a main house, guesthouse and lush backyard with tall hedges overlooking a swimming pool.
The house is over the top with wrought-iron accents surrounding a grand rotunda entry complete with a stone statue, curved staircase and stained-glass windows. Archways navigate the floor plan, leading to a chef’s kitchen and formal dining room with hand-carved ceilings. In total, there are seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
Myra Nourmand of Nourmand & Associates holds the listing.