On March 24, 1966, Virginia Hill died far from the life that made her famous. Sixty years later, she has become a legend in organized crime lore. But the distance between that legend and the historical record demands a reconsideration of the stories built around her. Hill has long existed more as a symbol than as a person. In midcentury newspapers, she was alternately portrayed as a glamorous accomplice, a Mob insider or a dangerous beauty orbiting powerful men. The reality appears narrower and more human. Her influence came largely from her proximity to mobsters rather than any kind of authority—a ...