Meyer Lansky - Citizendia

Meyer Lansky
Lansky in 1958
Born	Majer Suchowliński July 4, 1902(1902-07-04) Grodno, Poland
Died	January 15, 1983 (aged 80)

Meyer Lansky (born Majer Suchowliński, July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983) was a gangster who, with Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of The Commission (and possibly the "National Crime Syndicate") in the United States. Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate. Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24 1897 – January 26 1962 was a Sicilian Mobster. The Commission is the governing body of the Mafia in the United States. The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a loosely-organized multi-ethnic Organized crime Syndicate, started in the 1930s by Charlie The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Lansky also headed up Murder, Inc. for The Commission and was largely responsible for the Mafia's development of Las Vegas and a financially beneficial relationship with the corrupt Cuban regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar. Murder Inc, Murder Incorporated or Brownsville Boys was the name given by the press for an Organized crime group in the 1920s to 1940s that carried The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century The Las Vegas Strip (also known as The Strip) is an approximately 4 mile (6 General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (fulˈxensjo βaˈtista i salˈdiβar January 16, 1901 &ndash August 6, 1973) was a Cuban Although Jewish, Lansky undoubtedly played a central role in the Italian Mafia's organization and consolidation of the criminal underworld (although the full extent of this role has come under some debate).

1 Emigration and childhood
2 Gambling operations
3 War work
4 The Flamingo
5 Lansky in Cuba
6 Later years
7 Death
8 Popular culture
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links

Emigration and childhood

Meyer Lansky was born in Grodno, Poland (now Hrodna, Belarus) to Max Suchowlijanski and his wife Yetta Lansky. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east In 1911 the family emigrated to the United States and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. The Lower East Side is a Neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous While Lansky was in school, he allegedly met young Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who tried to shake him down (extort money). Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24 1897 – January 26 1962 was a Sicilian Mobster. When Lansky refused to pay, Luciano was impressed with the younger boy's bravery and the two became friends for life.

Lansky met Bugsy Siegel when he was a teenager. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel 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. Salvatore Maranzano ( July 31, 1886 - September 10, 1931) was an Organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del As a youngster, Siegel saved Lansky's life several times, a fact Lansky always appreciated. The two adroitly managed the Bug and Meyer Mob despite its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition gangs. The Bugs (Bugsy and Meyer Mob was a Jewish-American street gang in New York's Lower East Side headed by mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky

Lansky was the brother of Jacob "Jake" Lansky, who in 1959 was the manager of the Nacional Hotel in Havana, Cuba. Havana ( IPA: aˈβana officially Ciudad de La Habana, is the Capital city, major port and leading

Gambling operations

By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans, and Cuba. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la This was the same year that his partner Luciano was 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). "

Later on, Lansky convinced the Mafia to place Siegel in charge of Las Vegas, and became a big investor in Siegel's Flamingo Hotel project (see below). The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century The Flamingo Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Paradise Nevada and is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment.

After Al Capone's 1931 conviction for tax evasion, Lansky realized his own vulnerability to tax evasion prosecution. Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17 1899 &ndash January 25 1947 commonly nicknamed Scarface, was an Italian American Gangster who Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the Tax regime to one's own advantage in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law In response, he transferred illegal funds from his growing casino empire to Europe, where he opened up a numbered bank account following the 1934 Swiss Banking Act. Numbered bank accounts are offered by Swiss banks to the majority of their clients and are also offered by banks in some other countries such as Andorra, Bank secrecy (or bank privacy) is a legal principle under which Banks are allowed to protect personal information about their customers through the use of Numbered 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. Lucy Komisar is a New York City -based Investigative journalist. An offshore bank is a Bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor typically in a low tax jurisdiction (or Tax haven) that provides financial Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial Transactions in order to conceal the Identity, source and/or destination of Money, A shell Corporation is defined in Barron's Finance & Investment Handbook as "a company that is incorporated but has no significant assets or operations ("Offshore Banking: The Secret Threat to America," Dissent, Spring 2003)

War work

In the 1930s, Meyer Lansky and his gang stepped outside their usual criminal activities to break up rallies held by Nazi sympathizers. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Lansky recalled a particular rally in Yorkville, a German neighborhood in Manhattan, that he and 14 other hoods disrupted:

The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Hitler. Yorkville is a neighborhood within the Upper East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately 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]

During World War II, Lansky was also instrumental in helping the Office of Naval Intelligence's Operation Underworld, in which the US government recruited criminals to watch out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Office of Naval Intelligence ( ONI) was established in the United States Navy in 1882 Operation Underworld was the United States government's code name for a series of Mafia operations intended to counter Nazi saboteurs along the U Infiltrator is a 1986 Video game published by US Gold / Mindscape Inc Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy oppressor or employer through subversion obstruction disruption and/or destruction

The Flamingo

During the 1940s, Lansky associate Bugsy Siegel persuaded the crime bosses (including Lansky) to invest in a lavish new casino hotel project in Las Vegas, the Flamingo. A casino is in the modern sense of the word a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of Gambling activities The Flamingo Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Paradise Nevada and is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. After long delays and large cost overruns, the Flamingo Hotel was still not open for business. To discuss the Flamingo problem, the mafia investors attended a secret meeting in Havana, Cuba in 1946. The Havana Conference of 1946 was a historic of meeting of American mafia and Cosa Nostra leaders in Havana, Cuba. Havana ( IPA: aˈβana officially Ciudad de La Habana, is the Capital city, major port and leading 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 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 20, 1947, Bugsy Siegel was shot and killed in Beverly Hills, California. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun. Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 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. Gus Greenbaum (1894&ndash December 3, 1958) was a member of the Chicago Outfit and syndicate accountant for Las Vegas casino operations Moe Sedway (1894 - 1952 was the faithful lieutenant of organized crime czar Meyer Lansky. According to the FBI, Lansky was to retain a substantial financial interest in the Flamingo for the next twenty years. Lansky said in several interviews later in his life that if it had been up to him, Ben Siegel would be alive today.

This also marked a power transfer in Vegas from the New York to the Chicago crime families. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Although his role was considerably more restrained than in previous years, Lansky is believed to have both advised and aided Chicago boss Tony Accardo in initially establishing his hold. Antonino "Joe Batters" Accardo aka "Big Tuna" (April 28 1905 - May 22 1992 rose from a small-time hoodlum to the position of day-to-day boss of the

Lansky in Cuba

After World War II, Lansky associate Lucky Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily. Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. However, Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista, though the American government succeeded in pressuring the Batista regime to deport Luciano. General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (fulˈxensjo βaˈtista i salˈdiβar January 16, 1901 &ndash August 6, 1973) was a Cuban As Luciano's Cuban revenues grew and the tourism and gambling business blossomed, with Batista taking his own cut, Lansky himself started investing heavily in a Cuban hotel project called the Havana Riviera.

However, the 1959 Cuban revolution and the rise of Fidel Castro changed the climate for mob investment in Cuba. The Cuban Revolution refers to the revolution that led to the overthrow of the United States proxy ruler General Fulgencio Batista 's regime on January 1, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13 1926 is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until The new Cuban president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó closed the casinos and nationalized all the casino and hotel properties. The President of Cuba (formally President of the Council of State of Cuba) is the Head of state of Cuba. Manuel Urrutia Lleó ( 8 December 1901 Yaguajay, Las Villas Province &ndash 5 July 1981 New York, Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government This action essentially wiped out Lansky's asset base and revenue streams. Lansky left Cuba for the Bahamas and other Caribbean destinations. The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and With the additional crackdown on casinos in Miami, Lansky was forced to depend on his Las Vegas revenues.

Later years

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

Lansky invariably kept very little property in his name throughout his career, concealing his equity through partnerships, and appeared to be just another struggling old man. Among Lansky's frontmen were men like Sam Cohen, Benjamin Sigelbaum and Alvin Ira Malnik. 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 Herzliya Pituah, Israel, to escape Federal tax evasion charges. Herzliya Pituah ( Hebrew: הרצליה פיתוח) is an affluent suburb west of Herzliya, Israel, located on the Mediterranean Sea coast For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Two years later, Israel deported Lansky back to the U. S. However, the government's best shot at convicting Lansky was with the testimony of loan shark Vincent "Fat Vinnie" Teresa, an informant with little or no credibility. Vincent "Fat Vinnie" Teresa (1930 &ndash 1990 was an American mobster in the Boston branch of the Patriarca crime family and since The jury was unreceptive, and Lansky was acquitted in 1974.

Death

Lansky's last years were spent quietly at his home in Miami Beach. On January 15, 1983, he succumbed to lung cancer, at 80 years of age, leaving behind a wife and three children. Lung cancer is a Disease of uncontrolled Cell growth in tissues of the Lung. ^[2] On paper, Meyer Lansky was worth almost nothing. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over $300 million in hidden bank accounts, but they never found any money.

However, his biographer Robert Lacey describes Lansky’s financially strained circumstances in the last two decades of his life, his inability to pay for health care for his relatives, and so on. For Lacey, there was no evidence “to sustain the notion of Lansky as king of all evil, the brains, the secret mover, the inspirer and controller of American organized crime. ” (Lacey, p. 558) He concludes from evidence including interviews with the surviving members of the family that Lansky’s wealth and influence had been grossly exaggerated, and that it would be more accurate to think of him as an accountant for gangsters rather than a gangster himself.

Popular culture

In the television show Gilmore Girls, one of Rory's fellow students refers to her as the Meyer Lansky behind this organization, in reference to Rory being the one to talk to about student government issues, even though she was the vice president of the student body government and therefore seemingly not the one in charge. Gilmore Girls was an Emmy Award -winning Golden Globe -nominated American Comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino
The character Hyman Roth from the film The Godfather Part II (1974), portrayed by Lee Strasberg, is based on Lansky. Hyman Roth (1891-1959 is a fictional character based heavily on real-life gangster Meyer Lansky, who plays a pivotal role in the film The Godfather Part II. The Godfather Part II is a 1974 Crime drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. Lee Strasberg ( November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an Academy Award -nominated Austro-Hungarian - American In fact, shortly after the premiere in 1974, Lansky phoned Strasberg and congratulated him on a good performance (Strasberg was nominated for an Oscar for his role), but added "You could've made me more sympathetic". Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Roth's statement to Michael Corleone that "We're bigger than U. S. Steel" was actually a direct quote from Lansky, who said the same thing to his wife while watching a news story on the Cosa Nostra. Additionally, the character Moe Greene, who was a friend of Roth's, is modeled upon Bugsy Siegel. Moe Greene is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo 's 1969 novel The Godfather and the first installment of the The Godfather
The 1981 NBC mini series, The Gangster Chronicles, the character of Michael Lasker, played by Brian Benben, was based on Lansky. Brian Benben (born June 18, 1956) is an American Actor. Biography Benben was born in Winchester Virginia, the 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. Bugsy is a 1991 film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born 31 December, 1943) is an English Actor.
In the 1991 film Mobsters, he is played by the actor Patrick Dempsey. The year 1991 in film involved some significant events Events April 28 - Bonnie Mobsters is a 1991 crime drama detailing the creation of the National Crime Syndicate / The Commission. Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is a Golden Globe Award -nominated American actor who first became prominent in
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. Stephen Joseph Cannell, (born February 5, 1941; ˈkænəl rhymes with "channel" is an American Television producer, Writer The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended
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. Lansky is a 1999 American Made-for-television crime drama film Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29 1947 is an Academy Award -winning American Actor, known for a number of film television and theater roles such Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18 1956 is an American actor Anthony M LaPaglia (ləˈpɑːljə born 31 January 1959 is an Australian actor best known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series
Meyer Lansky is portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the 2005 film The Lost City. Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8 1937 His brother Ronald is a lawyer and economist The Lost City is a 2005 Film directed by Andy García. Plot Fico Fellove ( Andy Garcia) is the owner of El Tropico
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. WikipediaManual of Style (biographies#Postnominal initials Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. There is no known direct evidence that Hoover was in fact gay, but there is strong circumstantial evidence suggesting so.
In his 2007 song "Party Life," Jay-Z raps, "So tall and Lanky / My suit, it should thank me / I make it look good to be this hood Meyer Lansky. Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4 1969 better known as Jay-Z, is an American Rapper and former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella "
Manny Wiesbord, the mob chieftain played by Joseph Wiseman on Crime Story, was based on Lansky. Joseph Wiseman (born May 15, 1918) is a Canadian Actor who portrayed the title character Doctor Julius No in the first James Crime Story was an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson.
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. Robert Mario De Niro Jr (born August 17 1943 is a two-time Academy Award -winning American Film Actor, director and producer Sergio Leone ( January 3, 1929 &ndash April 30, 1989) was an Italian Film director. Once Upon a Time in America (Italian title C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 Crime film directed by Sergio Leone
A member of the rap group Wu-Syndicate uses Myalansky as his stage name, referring to Meyer Lansky. Wu-Syndicate is a rap group from Virginia consisting of Joe Mafia Napolean and Myalansky (who has named himself after the real life gangster Meyer Lansky)
A 2006 film Little Man was based on a rumor that Lansky fathered an illegitimate child.

References

^ "But They Were Good to Their People.", American Jewish Historical Society. The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve Retrieved on 2007-09-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France "Lansky recalled breaking up a Brown Shirt rally in the Yorkville section of Manhattan: "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. ""
^ "Meyer Lansky is Dead at 81.", Associated Press in New York Times, January 16, 1983. The Associated Press ( AP) is an American News agency. The AP is a Cooperative owned by its contributing Newspapers radio Events 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Retrieved on 2007-09-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France "Meyer Lansky, the reputed financial genius of the underworld, died today of cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital here. He was 81 years old. Mr. Lansky was admitted to the hospital Dec. 31 suffering from dehydration, according to Joyce Clark, a spokesman for the hospital. Mr. Lansky lived in the Imperial House, a high-rise waterfront condominium in Miami Beach. . . . Mr. Lansky was married twice. His first marriage, in 1929 to the former Anna Citron, ended in divorce in 1946. The couple had two sons, Bernard and Paul, and a daughter, Sandra. In 1948 he married Thelma Schwarz, a manicurist at a midtown Manhattan hotel. She survives him. "

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