View source for Gus Greenbaum

{{short description|American gangster and manager of the Flamingo Hotel (1893–1958)}}
{{Infobox person 
| name = Gus Greenbaum
| image = 
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| birth_name = Gustave Greenbaum
| birth_date = February 26, 1893
| birth_place = [[Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date = December 3, 1958 (aged 65)
| death_place = [[Encanto, Phoenix]], [[Arizona]], U.S.
| death_cause = Murder
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| occupation = Businessman
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}}
'''Gus Greenbaum''' (February 26, 1893 &ndash; December 3, 1958) was an American gangster in the casino industry, best known for taking over management of the [[Flamingo Hotel]] in Las Vegas after the murder of co-founder [[Bugsy Siegel]].

==Early life==
Gustave''' "'''Gus'''" '''Greenbaum was born in Chicago to [[Jewish]] immigrant [[tailor]] parents Herman Greenbaum and Sarah Goldberger,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCJfAIOC2csC&pg=PA173|first=John P.|last=Marschall|title=Jews in Nevada: A History|page=173|publisher=University of Nevada Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0874177374}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> who initially lived between [[New York City]] and [[Nebraska]] before settling in [[Illinois]], according to the [[1900 United States Census|1900 census]].<ref name="Gustave Greenbaum">{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q239-XGK5 |title=Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871–1940 |website=[[FamilySearch]] |access-date=2019-03-18 |archive-url = https://www.familysearch.org |archive-date = 2019-03-18}}</ref><ref name="United States Census, 1900">{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS32-1G4 |title=United States Census, 1900 |website=[[FamilySearch]] |access-date=2019-03-18 |archive-url = https://www.familysearch.org |archive-date = 2019-03-18}}</ref> His parents originated from the [[Austro-Hungarian empire]], with Sarah's birthplace documented as "Poland" on her birth record.

==Career==
An associate of [[Meyer Lansky]], Greenbaum joined his organization on [[New York City|New York]]'s [[Lower East Side]] in the mid or late 1910s. During [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], Greenbaum began working with the [[Chicago Outfit]] managing the southwest division in Phoenix, Arizona of the Trans-America Race wire service in 1928. He set up in the [[Luhrs Tower]] and developed strong relationships with Phoenix leaders even, allegedly, future [[Barry Goldwater|Senator Barry Goldwater]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.roguecolumnist.com/rogue_columnist/2016/04/phoenix-confidential-2.html|title=Phoenix Confidential: the mob's master of the skim|website=Rogue Columnist|access-date=2019-09-03}}</ref> Sent to [[Las Vegas]] shortly after [[World War II]] began, Greenbaum gained control over syndicate gambling operations with [[Morris Rosen]] and [[Moe Sedway]]. Sedway and Greenbaum ran the [[El Cortez (Las Vegas)|El Cortez]] Casino in 1945, until Greenbaum was asked by [[William Wilkerson|William R. Wilkerson]] to manage casino operations for the [[Flamingo Hotel]]. In 1946, [[Bugsy Siegel]] took over construction and creative control of the Flamingo, until it was shut down in January 1947 due to mounting losses as a result of Siegel's [[skimming (fraud)|skimming]].

==Murder and legacy==
After Siegel's murder in June 1947, Greenbaum brought the struggling casino out of debt within several months, controlling several other syndicate casinos and bookmaking operations in [[Arizona]] within several years. He had been able to secure funding from Phoenix-based bank [[Valley National Bank of Arizona|Valley National Bank]], the first bank to lend money to the mob.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Politics of Murder: Organized Crime in Barry Goldwater's Arizona|last=Wagner|first=Dave|publisher=Gracenote Books LLC|year=2016|isbn=978-0692662656}}</ref> Greenbaum planned to retire to Arizona and rejected offers to run the [[Riviera (hotel and casino)|Riviera]] for [[Tony Accardo]], though after Greenbaum's sister-in-law was murdered, he accepted the job. As a syndicate associate in Las Vegas, Greenbaum asked [[Tom Dragna]] of the L.A. Mob to order the deaths of [[Anthony Brancato]] and [[Tony Trombino]] for robbing the Sports and Racebook at the [[Flamingo Las Vegas]] Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Shortly after his close friend and Chicago-enemy union organizer [[Willie Bioff]]'s murder, Greenbaum's worsening gambling, womanizing, and drug habits eventually caused him to begin [[skimming (casinos)|skimming]] from casino operations. His embezzlement was discovered by the [[Chicago Outfit|Chicago syndicate]]. On December 3, 1958, Greenbaum and his wife Bess were found dead in their Phoenix home. Their throats had been cut with a [[butcher knife]]. Greenbaum was found in bed with a heating pad and his television turned on. He had nearly been decapitated. Bess sustained blunt trauma to her head before her throat was cut. Her head was padded with newspaper and a towel, seemingly to avoid blood stains on the furniture.<ref>{{cite news | title=Hotelman, Wife Murdered| page=1 | date=4 December 1953 | newspaper=The Arizona Republic | location = Phoenix }}
</ref>

[[File:GreenbaumMurderHouse.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Present-day photo of Phoenix house where Greenbaum and his wife were murdered; location info from [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1992-02-05/news/the-naked-desert/ "The Naked Desert" ] by Dewey Webb]]

Greenbaum's name was merged with [[Moe Sedway]]'s to inspire the name for the character "[[Moe Greene]]" in the crime drama film ''[[The Godfather]]''.

==See also==
*[[List of unsolved murders (20th century)|List of unsolved murders]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Fried, Albert. ''The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. {{ISBN|0-231-09683-6}}
*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-313-30653-2}}
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8160-5694-3}}
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. {{ISBN|0-8160-4040-0}}

{{American Mafia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenbaum, Gus}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:1958 murders in the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Chicago Outfit mobsters]]
[[Category:Deaths by edged and bladed weapons]]
[[Category:Murdered Jewish American gangsters]]
[[Category:Gangsters from Chicago]]
[[Category:People murdered in Arizona]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in the United States]]