Flamingos Shorts
Description: The Miami Beach Flamingos were a professional minor league baseball team based in Miami Beach, Florida periodically from 1940 until 1954. The team played its home games at Flamingo Field and was a member of the Class D Florida East Coast League as the Miami Beach Tigers in 1940. The following season they changed their nickname to the Flamingos and won the league's championship. The FECL the then folded in May 1942 due to World War II. After the War, the Flamingos joined the new Class C Florida International League in 1946. The league became Class-B in 1949. The Flamingos played the 1952 season, sat-out 1953, and rejoined in 1954 only to move across Biscayne Bay and relocate to Miami as the Miami Beach Flamingos/Greater Miami Flamingos.
Description: 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.
