Bugsy Siegel’s Hidden Flamingo Escape Path Is Indeed Real, Not Just a Vegas Legend |

Published on: November 6, 2025, 07:21h.

Updated on: November 5, 2025, 10:09h.

While we’re usually thrilled to share breaking news, this time, the revelation is that we misled you.

Secret escape ladder — An early shot from February 26, 1993, captures a concealed escape ladder leading to a boarded-up trap door in Bugsy Siegel’s suite at the Flamingo Las Vegas. (Image: Darrin Bush/Las Vegas News Bureau Collection, LVCVA Archive)

Bugsy's garage — The back garage of the Oregon Building, where a chauffeur-driven getaway car was always on standby whenever Siegel was present. (Image: Darrin Bush/Las Vegas News Bureau Collection, LVCVA Archive)

The Historical Hit Job

We firmly believed we had solid evidence to unveil the secret escape route that mobster Bugsy Siegel supposedly constructed in his Flamingo penthouse—a myth we so confidently debunked in our “Vegas Myths Busted” piece on Monday, November 3.

Many Bugsy historians supported our theory.

Legend had it that a hidden trap door in Room 44000 of the Oregon Building hid a ladder leading to a tunnel that opened into a secret garage equipped with a getaway car, always ready when Siegel was in residence. This myth was later commemorated with a plaque by Hilton Hotels after the building’s demolition in 1993.

So, why did none of Bugsy’s associates ever bring up this elusive exit? How did this narrative not surface in any literature until 1992, a year post the release of the movie “Bugsy,” when Hilton was actively marketing the Bugsy story to visitors?

And where were the photos of the trap door, ladder, tunnel, or garage in any online archives? We scoured for an entire year and came up with nothing.

Illuminating the Truth

But it turns out the entire story is indeed accurate.

Bugsy's secret tunnel — This hidden tunnel connected to the garage at the bottom of the ladder. (Image: Darrin Bush/Las Vegas News Bureau Collection, LVCVA Archive)

Shortly after our article was published, we received a message from the former curator of the Las Vegas News Bureau.

Paco Alvarez revealed that evidence—including photographs—does exist. He had seen them prior to the Oregon Building’s demolition in 1993, long before the internet became available to the general public.

And here you see those images for the first time ever online.

Our mission to combat misinformation sparked the inception of “Vegas Myths Busted” over 170 columns ago.

This time, however, we inadvertently contributed to the spread of falsehoods, and we have no justification.

We promptly retracted this week’s article, but not before it reached 500 viewers. We genuinely hope those same viewers are reading this correction now.

We extend our heartfelt apologies. No one can hold us more accountable than ourselves in this instance.

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