7 July 1951. According to the 7 July 1951 edition of the New York Times:
Virginia Hill, the friend of gangsters, struck an agent for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, and was detained briefly for questioning.
The slap here (in Denver) came as Miss Hill stepped from an airliner at the Stapleton Airport, where she was to pause only until her flight took off for Seattle. Miss Hill said she had made a mistake in hitting the Denver agent. She thought he was a news reporter. Miss Hill apologized to the agent after smacking him.
The questioning, as brief as it was, caused her to miss her plane for Seattle, where Treasury Department experts have been investigating her income tax returns.
A newspaper cutting affixed to the photo reads:
ESCORTED –– Virginia Hill Hauser (right) is escorted into automobile at Denver Airport Friday by Lawrence Stone, investigator for Denver district attorney, after ex-girl friend of late gangster Benjamim (Bugsy) Siegel was removed from plane. Woman at left is Frances Melrose, reporter for Rocky Mountain News. Mrs. Hauser who was later released by Denver authories, is believed headed for Seattle by plane.
At his point in her career, there was clearly no love lost between Virginia and journalists. She had already dished out punishment to reporters at El Paso Airport, her previous stop-over.
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