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Meyer Lansky (born Majer Suchowliński, July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983) was an American gangster who, with Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the so-called "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. He was the intellectual impetus behind the Commission and the so-called "Mogul of the Mob." Interestingly, while nearly all Lansky's contemporary criminal associates were either arrested or murdered, Lansky himself served only a short sentence and died a natural death.

Emigration and childhood

Meyer Lanski was born in Grodno, a part of the Russian Empire (now Hrodna, Belarus) to Polish Jewish parents. In 1911, his family emigrated to the United States in 1911 and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. While Lansky was in school, he met a young Lucky Luciano who tried to shake him down. When Lansky refused to pay, Luciano was impressed with the younger boy's bravery and the two boys became friends for life.

Lansky met Bugsy Siegel when he was a teenager. They also became lifelong friends and, together with Luciano, formed a lasting partnership. Lansky was instrumental in Luciano's rise to power by organizing the 1931 murder of mafia powerhouse, Salvatore Maranzano. As a youngster, Siegal save Lansky's life, a fact Lansky always appreciated. The two of them adroitly managed the Bug and Meyer Mob despite its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition mobs.

Gambling operations

By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans and Cuba. This was the same year that Luciano sent to prison. As Alfred McCoy records,

"During the 1930s, Meyer Lansky "discovered" the Caribbean for northeastern syndicate bosses and invested their illegal profits in an assortment of lucrative gambling ventures... He was also reportedly responsible for organized crime's decision to declare Miami a "free city" (i.e., not subject to the usual rules of territorial monopoly)." ^{[citation needed]}

Lansky also became a big investor in Siegel's Las Vegas project. After Al Capone's 1931 conviction for tax evasion, Lansky transferred illegal funds from his casinos to Europe, where he opened up a numbered bank account following the 1934 Swiss Banking Act.^{[citation needed]} Later, according to Lucy Komisar, Lansky would even buy an offshore bank in Switzerland, which he used for money laundering through a network of shell and holding companies. ("Offshore Banking: The Secret Threat to America," Dissent, Spring 2003)

War work

During World War II, Lansky would be instrumental in the Office of Naval Intelligence's efforts to recruit the criminal underworld into keeping an eye out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs, in Operation Underworld.

In the 1930s, Lansky and his gang stepped outside their usual activities to break rallies held in sympathy of Nazi Germany. Lansky himself recollected that at a rally in Yorkville (a neighborhood in Manhattan dominated by German immigrants) he and about 14 others:

The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We threw some of them out the windows. . . . Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up... We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.^[1]

Gambling is abolished in Cuba

After World War II, Luciano was paroled on the condition that he return to Sicily and never leave there. However, Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, from where he began to resume his control over the American mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos with the sanction of Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista (who naturally received a percentage of the profits). As Luciano's Cuban revenues grew and the tourism and gambling business blossomed, Lansky started investing heavily in a hotel project.

However, the 1959 [Cuban revolution]] and the rise of Fidel Castrochanged everthing. That same year, the new Cuban president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó closed the casinos and appropriated all the casinos and hotel properties. This action essentially wiped out Lansky's asset base and revenue streams. Lansky left Cuba for the Bahamasand other Carribean destinations. With the additional crackdown on casinos in Miami, Lansky was forced to depend on his Las Vegas revenues.

The Flamingo Problem

During the 1940's, Bugsy Siegel's premiere Las Vegas project, the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, was losing money. To discuss the Flamingo problem, Lansky and all the other mafia bosses attended a secret meeting in Havana, Cuba. While the other bosses wanted to kill Siegel, Lansky begged them to give his friend a second chance. Despite this reprieve, Siegel continued to lose mafia money on the Flamingo Hotel). A second family meeting was then called. However, by the time this meeting took place, the the casino turned a small profit. Lansky again, with Luciano's support, convinced the family to give Siegel some more time.

Unfortunately for Siegel, the Flamingo soon went back into the red. At a third meeting, the family decided that Siegel was finished. He had humiliated the organized crime bosses and never had a chance. It is widely believed that Meyer Lansky himself was compelled to give the final okay on eliminating Siegel due to his long relationship with Siegel and his stature in the family.

On June 20th, 1947, Bugsy Siegel was shot and killed in Beverly Hills. Twenty minutes after the Siegel hit, Lansky's associates (including Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway) walked into the Flamingo Hotel and took control of the property. According to the FBI, Lansky was to retain a substantial financial interest in the Flamingo for the next twenty years.

Later years

In his later years, Meyer Lansky lived a low-profile, routine existence in Miami Beach, making life difficult for FBI agents watching him. Lanski's associates usually met him in malls and other crowded locations. Lansky's chauffeur drove him around town to look for payphones for his calls. Lansky was so elusive that the FBI essentially gave up monitoring him by the mid-1970s.

Lanski kept very little property in his name and appeared to be just another struggling old man. However, the truth was that Lansky never owned property himself; he owned people who owned property. Among Lansky's frontmen were Sam Cohen, Alvin Malnik and Benjamin Sigelbaum. Malnik had originally started working for Lansky associate Al Mones in the late 1950s. Malnik's rise in the Lansky organization was fast and by 1970, he had seemingly become the most valuable player. After Lansky's death in 1983, Alvin Malnik's power became more visible than ever. Law enforcement officials have long suspected him to be Lansky's sole "heir".

During the 1970s, Lansky fled to Israel to escape tax evasion charges. Two years later, Israel deported Lansky backed to the U.S. U.S. However, the government's best shot at convicting Lansky was with the testimony of loan shark Vincent Teresa, an informant with little or no credibilty. The jury was unreceptive, and Lansky was acquitted in 1974.

Lansky's last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach. On January 15, 1983, he succumbed to lung cancer, at 81 years of age, leaving behind a wife and three children. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over $300 million in hidden bank accounts, but they never found any money. On paper, Meyer Lansky was a pauper when he died.

Popular culture

The character Hyman Roth, portrayed by Lee Strasberg, in the film The Godfather Part II (1974) is based on Lansky. In fact, shortly after the premiere in 1974, Lansky phoned Strasberg and congratulated him on a good performance, but added "You could've made me more sympathetic".
The 1981 NBC mini series, The Gangster Chronicles, the character of Michael Lasker, played by Brian Benben, was based on Lansky. The reason for the name "Michael Lasker" was that Lansky was still living at the time.
The film Bugsy (1991), a biography of Bugsy Siegel, included him as a major character, played by Ben Kingsley.
In the 1991 film Mobsters, he is played by the actor Patrick Dempsey.
In the 1996 novel The Plan, by Stephen J. Cannell, Lansky and fellow mobster Joseph Alo are involved in putting an anti-RICO presidential candidate into office.
A 1999 made-for-TV movie called Lansky was released starring Richard Dreyfuss as Lansky, Eric Roberts as Bugsy Siegel, and Anthony LaPaglia as Lucky Luciano.
Meyer Lansky is portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the 2005 film The Lost City.
Lansky was rumored to have photographic proof that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual; conspiracy theorists believed this was the reason Hoover wasn't aggressive in pursuing organized crime. There is no known direct evidence that Hoover was in fact gay, but there is strong circumstantial evidence suggesting so.
Manny Wiesbord, the mob chieftan played by Joseph Wiseman on Crime Story, was based on Lansky.
David 'Noodles' Aaronson, the gangster played by Robert De Niro in Sergio Leone's opus Once Upon A Time In America was based on Meyer Lansky.
A member of the rap group Wu-Syndicate uses Myalansky as his stage name, referring to Meyer Lansky.

References

Piper, Michael Collins. Final Judgement: the Missing Link in the Kennedy Conspiracy. Washington, D.C.: Wolfe Press, 1994.

External links

^ American Jewish Historical Society article

[1] American Jewish Historical Society article

[1]

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 ==Later years==
-Meyer Lansky kept a very low profile and his days in Miami Beach were filled with routine. The FBI had a tough time pursuing him. His associates usually met him in malls and crowded locations. Lansky's chauffeur was known to drive him around town to look for payphones. So elusive was Lansky, the FBI pretty much gave up on him by the mid-1970s. He kept very little in his name and seemed to be just another struggling old man. The truth was that he never owned property. He owned people who owned property. Among Lansky's fronts were Sam Cohen, Alvin Malnik and Benjamin Sigelbaum. Malnik had originally started working for Lansky associate Al Mones in the late 1950s. Malnik's rise in the Lansky organization was fast and by 1970, he had seemingly become the most valuable player. After Lansky's death in 1983, Alvin Malnik's power became more visible than ever. Law enforcement officials have long suspected him to be Lansky's sole "heir".
+In his later years, Meyer Lansky lived a low-profile, routine existence in Miami Beach, making life difficult for FBI agents watching him. Lanski's associates usually met him in malls and other crowded locations. Lansky's chauffeur drove him around town to look for payphones for his calls. Lansky was so elusive that the FBI essentially gave up monitoring him by the mid-1970s.
+Lanski kept very little property in his name and appeared to be just another struggling old man. However, the truth was that Lansky never owned property himself; he owned people who owned property. Among Lansky's frontmen were Sam Cohen, Alvin Malnik and Benjamin Sigelbaum. Malnik had originally started working for Lansky associate Al Mones in the late 1950s. Malnik's rise in the Lansky organization was fast and by 1970, he had seemingly become the most valuable player. After Lansky's death in 1983, Alvin Malnik's power became more visible than ever. Law enforcement officials have long suspected him to be Lansky's sole "heir".
-During the 1970s, Lansky faced tax evasion charges and fled to [[Israel]], where he lived for two years before being expelled from the country and was forced to return to the U.S. The government's best shot was a loan shark named Vincent Teresa, an informant with little or no credibilty. The jury was unreceptive, and Lansky was acquitted in 1974. Lansky's last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach. On January 15, 1983, he succumbed to lung cancer, at 81 years of age, and left behind a wife and three children. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over $ 300M in hidden bank accounts, but the money never turned up. On paper, Lansky was worth almost nothing.
+During the 1970s, Lansky fled to [[Israel]] to escape tax evasion charges.  Two years later, Israel deported Lansky backed to the U.S.  U.S. However, the government's best shot at convicting Lansky was with the testimony of loan shark Vincent Teresa, an informant with little or no credibilty. The jury was unreceptive, and Lansky was acquitted in 1974.
+Lansky's last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach. On January 15, 1983, he succumbed to lung cancer, at 81 years of age, leaving behind a wife and three children. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over $300 million in hidden bank accounts, but they never found any money. On paper, Meyer Lansky was a pauper when he died.
 ==Popular culture==