12 Things You Didn't Know About Fallout: New Vegas

6. Benny Is Based On A Real Person

Benny Thumb
Bethesda Softworks

Benny is one of video games' greatest slippery s***s. Him shooting you in the head and leaving you for dead is already all the justification you need to track him down, but Obsidian made him a character you absolutely love to chase across the Mojave wasteland.

The characterisation feels so truthful partly because Benny was based on a real life person, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Despite both having a love of checkered black-and-white suits, the two also built their legacy around the Vegas Strip. Bugsy in real life is considered one of the architects of modern Vegas, financing casinos and overseeing the construction of certain landmarks.

He was also a lifelong mobster, dipping his toes into everything from alcohol smuggling (during the Prohibition era) to assassinations before settling on gambling as his crime major.

The similarities between the two are striking, and Benny is just one of many characters with real-world inspirations.

Advertisement
Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.