Moe Sedway (July 7, 1894 – January 3, 1952) was an American businessman and mobster. He was an associate of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and a faithful lieutenant of organized crime czar

Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...

. He and

Gus Greenbaum Gus Greenbaum (February 26, 1893 – 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 ...

made the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

very successful after Siegel's murder.

Biography

Moe Sedway was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family as Morris Sidwirtz in 1894 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. At an early age, he began his criminal career in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in street gangs with Bugsy Siegel. He had a police record dating as far back as the early 1920s in New York. Later in his criminal career, he began making trips to Las Vegas on

's behalf in the early 1930s to franchise the syndicate's Trans-America race wire service. By 1945, along with Gus Greenbaum, he was running the El Cortez Hotel with great success. Sedway was also instrumental in the financing and construction of the Flamingo Hotel when William R. Wilkerson ran into financial difficulties. Sedway saw the Flamingo as unique opportunity for their group to expand operations in Las Vegas. Minutes after Bugsy Siegel's murder, Sedway and Greenbaum took possession of the Flamingo. No one questioned or disputed their authority. Under Sedway and Greenbaum's partnership, the Flamingo became a non-exclusive facility affordable to almost anyone. They made the enterprise extremely successful. In the first year alone, Sedway and Greenbaum turned a $4 million profit. He accurately predicted that the post-war demand for "entertainment" would be enormous. According to his calculations, hordes of gamblers from every state in the union would soon be flooding to Las Vegas. Sedway served as a Clark County alderman, and was head of the United Jewish Appeal in Las Vegas. He was also on the board of directors of the Clark County Library. Sedway was married to Beatrice "Bea" Sedway. He died from natural causes in 1952. He is buried in

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a full-service cemetery, funeral home, crematory, and cultural events center which regularly hosts community events such as live music and summer movie screenings. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angel ...

. Sedway was a confidential federal informant.

In popular culture

His name was merged with Gus Greenbaum's to inspire the name for the character "

Moe Greene Morris "Moe" Greene is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' and the 1972 film of the same name. Both Greene's character and personality are based on Bugsy Siegel: his affiliation with the mob in Los Ang ...

" in the American crime drama film ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

''.

References

External links

AmericanMafia.com – Muscling In
by John William Tuohy

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sedway, Moe 1894 births 1952 deaths Polish emigrants to the United States American people of Polish-Jewish descent People from Manhattan Businesspeople from Las Vegas 20th-century American businesspeople Jewish American gangsters 20th-century American Jews

Biography

In popular culture

References

Further reading

External links