Virginia Hill
| Virginia Hill | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 26, 1916 Lipscomb, Alabama |
| Died | March 24, 1966 (aged 49) Koppel, Austria |
| Nationality | American |
Virginia Hill (August 26, 1916 – March 24, 1966) was a Chicago Outfit courier who was famous for being the girlfriend of Genovese crime family mobster Bugsy Siegel, following the breakdown of his marriage.[1]
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[edit] The Kefauver hearings
In 1951, Hill was subpoenaed to testify before the Kefauver hearings and denied having any knowledge of organized crime.[2] Described by Time magazine as the "queen of the gangsters' molls", she told investigators that her income came from gifts her boyfriends gave her because of her sexual prowess.[3][4]
[edit] Later life and death
Hill spent her remaining years in Europe because she was accused by the IRS of failing to pay $161,000 in income tax and indicted on 23 June, 1954.[2] In her last years, when she was separated from her husband, she was supported by their only child, Peter Hauser, who worked as a waiter. She died of an overdose of sleeping pills,[5] an apparent suicide, in Koppl, near Salzburg, Austria on March 24, 1966 at the age of 49.[2] Her body was found in a lone area by a bridge crossing the "Alterbach," a small stream. Hill is buried in Aigen Cemetery in Salzburg, Austria.[6]
According to Andy Edmonds' biography Bugsy's Baby: The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill, Hill's death was suspicious, since her body was found outdoors, near a brook, two days after she met with a former lover, former Genovese family boss Joe Adonis, who reportedly had her escorted home with two of his bodyguards. The Austrian media, which were well informed about her former relationship with Siegel, speculated that she tried to get money by using her knowledge of the Italian-American Mafia and the Mexican drug cartels.[7][clarification needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Murder in Beverly Hills, Time magazine, June 30, 1947
- ^ a b c "Virginia Hill, 49, Dead in Austria". New York Times: 57. 25 March 1966. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F1091FFA355D127588DDAC0A94DB405B868AF1D3.
- ^ Investigations: Crime Hunt in Foley Square, Time magazine, March 26, 1951
- ^ Time magazine reported in its obituary of Hill on April 1, 1966, that Hill spent her time on the witness stand "boggling Senators with her full-grown curves and succinct explanation of just why men would lavish money on a hospitable girl from Bessemer, Ala."
- ^ Newton, Michael (2009). Mr. Mob: The Life and Crimes of Moe Dalitz. McFarland. p. 125. ISBN 978-0786435166. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=KZCUIxhP7ikC&pg=PA125&dq=sleeping+pills+virginia+hill#v=onepage&q=sleeping%20pills%20virginia%20hill&f=false. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
- ^ "Virginia Hill". findagrave.com. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11213. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
- ^ Compare the Salzburger Nachrichten, Salzburger Volksblatt (defunct since 1979) and the illustrated newspaper Bunte made by Burda – Offenburg in Germany from spring 1966.
[edit] Further reading
- Edmonds, Andy. Bugsy's Baby : The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill. Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, 1993. ISBN 1559721642
[edit] External links
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