The common perception about Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is that he had numerous associations with gangsters and organized crime in the early days of Las Vegas’ gambling industry.

Eventually, his Flamingo Hotel became a successful property in the center of the Las Vegas Strip and it’s now owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, one of the most respected brands in the industry.

In a parallel universe half a world away, octogenarian Stanley Ho has built a casino empire that critics say has had ties to the Triad, a shady gang of Asian gangsters. Ho denies that he’s ever had any associations with loan sharks, prostitution or illegal gambling. But Ho’s estranged sister says he has.

The burning question that representatives of the state Gaming Control Board will be asking in a hearing to be conducted soon in Las Vegas is: Does Stanley Ho exercise control over or influence on daughter Pansy Ho’s casino partnership?

The question has incredible implications for MGM Mirage, which is partnering with Pansy Ho on two projects in Macau.

MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni and Pansy Ho are the key members of MGM Grand Paradise, the company that is building the MGM Grand Macau next door to Steve Wynn’s Wynn Macau property that opened in September.

Right across the street from Wynn is Stanley Ho’s Lisboa casino, the Macanese version of Las Vegas’ Flamingo – it’s got a notorious history to it, but face-lifts, including an expansion that opened last week, have made it a favorite hangout for locals even as the new American companies moved in.

When Pansy Ho faces Nevada gaming regulators, Control Board members undoubtedly will ask questions about whether Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong stock exchange company, has a close working relationship with Stanley Ho’s Sociedade de Jogos de Macau – known in the region as SJM – and its numerous subsidiaries.

Shun Tak, which isn’t associated with the MGM Mirage deal, is an umbrella company for several tourism enterprises, including ferry transportation, the city’s dominant convention center, the municipal airport, a golf course and the Macau Tower tourist attraction, which bears a striking resemblance to the Stratosphere Tower.

In numerous public appearances, Lanni has stated that he is confident that Pansy Ho will be found to be a suitable business partner by U.S. regulators (she’s also being queried in New Jersey).

The MGM Grand Macau is scheduled to open by the end of this year, and the price tag has gone from $975 million when first announced to $1.1 billion. It will have 600 rooms, villas and suites, several restaurants and a casino with 345 table games and 1,035 slot machines.

Now, Pansy Ho and MGM Mirage are looking to the Cotai Strip, a 10-minute drive over a bridge from Macau, to build a resort near the Venetian Macau, which will open in a few months.

The Cotai Strip will have a look and feel much more like the Las Vegas Strip with a mile of hotel-casinos on both sides of a broad boulevard, a sight most Asian residents have never seen. That came about because the Strip sits atop a landfill reclaimed from the sea and developers had a blank canvas on which to work instead a hodge-podge of tall buildings on roads the width of an alley.

While MGM Mirage officials are confident Pansy Ho will be deemed suitable by the Gaming Control Board and, eventually, the Nevada Gaming Commission, some critics aren’t so sure. It will be interesting to see what, if any, testimony the board receives when it convenes a hearing, tentatively set for Feb. 27.

Bill Weidner, whose company is building the rival Venetian Macau and already operates the Sands Macau less than a mile from MGM Mirage’s soon-to-open property, told a reporter in 2005 that his company wouldn’t partner with Stanley or Pansy Ho and that he thinks the elder Ho runs his daughter’s businesses.

MGM officials are likely to talk about Pansy’s work with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Beijing, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Guangdong Chamber of Foreign Investors, the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research and the Better Hong Kong Foundation.

And it didn’t hurt that in January, Lanni and his executive team rolled out its independent compliance committee officers for both the Control Board and the Gaming Commission. The committee is responsible for examining the company’s business relationships before they reach regulators. Having a compliance committee that is completely independent of company management like MGM Mirage has is unprecedented.

The Control Board and its investigators have said nothing publicly about the status of the report on Pansy Ho so when the hearing begins, it should be the first indication of how MGM Mirage’s foray into Macau will go,