Bugsy cut was released on DVD, containing an additional 13 minutes not seen in the theatrical version. Gangster Bugsy Siegel, who works for Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, goes to Los Angeles and instantly falls in love with Virginia Hill, a tough-talking Hollywood starlet. The two meet for the first time when Bugsy visits actor George Raft on the set of "Manpower". He buys a house in Beverly Hills, planning to stay there while his wife and two daughters remain in Scarsdale. Bugsy is in California to wrestle control of betting parlors away from gangster Jack Dragna. Mickey Cohen robs Dragna's
The Bugs and Meyer Mob the New York City Police Department recalled the gang being "vicious". One veteran New York detective described Siegel as "seem[ing] to like to do the job himself. [...] He got his kicks out of seeing his victims suffering, groaning, and dying". During the Castellammarese War, Lansky and Siegel helped Luciano eliminate the "Mustache Petes" and organize the modern American Mafia. Bugsy Siegel (along with Joe Adonis, Albert Anastasia, and Vito Genovese) was reputedly one of the hitmen that shot and killed Joe Masseria on April 15, 1931. Lansky also assisted Luciano with the murder of Salvatore Maranzano by recruiting Jewish