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_ Claim "Bugsy’ As : -Actor for Loan Of $100,000 | _ The name of George Raft, slick- +haired portrayer of screen gang- &ter roles, cropped up again todey in the investigation of the tangled financial] affairs of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, slain ganglord. Close on the heels of a disclosure] by state investigators that Siegel) | Tay have paid a staggering 31,500,000 debt with his life, Dis-| | trict Attorney William E. Simp-| ! zon sald he had learned that,’ “Bugsy” had recently approache Raft and other Hollywood film fig- ures for loans of $100,000 or more. Fhe actor, however, promptly denied that Siegel had atternpted te borrow money from him, and]! Fo waid he had jast seen the gambiing f i a ezar March 6 at the opening of Siegel's Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. NEEDED $1,500,000 Simpson said he had reports that “Bugsy” had declared: “I feel Hike burying my head im the Sand. My pride fs badly hurt, 1 got my friends and my- ; self into this Flamingo thing |: for $4,506,000 and ii’s driving me nuta. “F need $1,500,000 and I need ; Hewithin 30 days.” | ‘ he district attorney also said that Investigators were checking n all phone calls to and from the ingo between June 18 ang: une 21 in an effort to loca oever Siegel might have: i ed to from Las Vegas befor. jhe came to Beverly Hills June_20 and met his death. }- : ae ie as ei ee RATED 7/2 //7 | ‘The theory that Siegel may have been rubbed out because of bad debts was based on revelation that two of hig ch ‘or a total of $150,000 “bounced ‘Bust before his murder. ; ‘| “We believe these are not the only checks on which Biegel stopped payment,” declared Walter H. Lentz, chief special investigator for ‘the attorney general’s office, “We think his ~ primary purpose in coming to Los Angeles on the day of his j slaying was to raise money to | eover his bad checks.” Investigators also learned that “Bugsy” had confided to a friend a week before his death: ; “T need $1,500,000 within days, The bank won't lend to me and my friends hav helped al] they can, Hf I don’ get it, Pll bave to hide out.” ; CHECHS STOPPED The two checks, for $100,000 and $50,000, were made out to the Del E. Webb Construction Co., the firm which completed Siegel's gaudy $5,000,000 Flaminge gam- bling casino in Las Vegas, Nev. | Both were signed “Ben Giegel” \ and were drawn against the | operating account of the Fils Mingo on the Las Vegas office of the Bank of Nevada. The han. ' dred grand check, dated May 6, was returned marked “payment stopped.” The other ch dated June 16, was returned f “insufficient funds.” Investigators declared t while no suspicion was attached to Web » wealthy Phoenix con re ee a ea “As far as I know the com | Aocan’t have the checks,” “he sald, “I ld not receive ‘them and I know ancthins ‘dhont ” Since the drafts were not cut to Webb personally, he ma net have seen them, investiga pointed aut, : However, & close associate Webb told newsmen that the con- tractor’s investment was pro- tected by liens on the Flamingo. One of the theories about Siegel's rubout was thai the underworld czar tried ta raise dmoney by boosting the rates f racing news service. Bonki ay have found it easier to. fm than to pay off. The bad check find, a. “t secret” in the attorney general's tices, leaked out through the Francisco Police Departme an) -8- ten had wana theangoh y City clearing house, whi wook photostetic conles before re turning them. ; At a meeting with District At- torney William E. Slmpson, Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz and, other law enforcement officers, Lentz said the Siegel slaying shows that Los Angeles is rated ap 2 “soft spot? =" UL SS DEPARTS ERT OT awe tee 1G 1 : oe “SUL a Tle