Not many gangsters were able to keep an air of mystery around themselves like Meyer Lansky did. Sure, today we know stuff about him and his daughter Sandra Lansky recently released a book called “Daughter of the King: Growing Up in Gangland” which tells the story of her life as the daughter of one of the most powerful gangsters ever. While the book is full of entertaining little stories, mobsters are notorious for keeping their family completely in the dark when it comes to the business. Also, on the off chance that she did know anything really important and she was daddy’s little girl, which I don’t doubt, she would know to keep her mouth shut. Even mob experts don’t fully understand Meyer Lansky’s exact role in the Mafia. Obviously, being Jewish, he couldn’t technically hold any official position but for all intents and purposes he was clearly a boss. Some historians have said that Lansky was more of an accountant for the mob, a glorified bagman, which seems to be utterly ridiculous given the respect he was shown by some of the most dangerous men in the world. The truly funny part about when they question Lansky’s level of involvement in the mob they often note that he denied many of the allegations himself. Of course he denied the allegations. Should he have written them a manifesto about his criminal dealings? It’s a gangster’s job to deny allegations levied against him. Moving on, the rumors that surround Lansky are absolutely incredible and given the time in which they supposedly took place they are very feasible. There is the rumor that the reason J. Edgar Hoover denied the existence of the Mafia was because Meyer Lansky possessed photos of Hoover dressed as a woman and possibly engaged in sexual acts with a man, maybe even an underage boy. Given Lansky’s pull and the lack of any type of real surveillance I would say this is entirely possible. Lansky was also allegedly very involved in the formation of the American Cosa Nostra through his close relationship with Lucky Luciano. It is even believed by some that Lansky told Luciano that the only way the plan would work was for him to kill Joe “The Boss” Masseria. Along with the killing of Masseria, Lansky is believed to have provided Luciano with the idea for breaking up the mob into families and creating a commission. This is not to say Luciano was simply a puppet for Lansky as Luciano knew that the “Mustache Pete” way of doing things had to stop but Lansky was almost surely there every step of the way. There are also many rumors involving Lansky and the United States government such as the CIA recruiting him to assassinate Fidel Castro. And speaking of assassinations, it is believed that Lansky and Luciano had a plan set in motion to have Vito Genovese assassinate Mussolini and Adolph Hitler. These rumors sound unbelievable but Lansky did negotiate a deal for Lucky Luciano with high ranking Navy officials in which he would guard the docks in New York during WWII in exchange for Luciano receiving special privileges while he was in prison such as having a telephone right in his cell. With this kind of reach anything is possible. The rumors of Lansky’s involvement with the United States government go all the way to the top as it is believed that he denied President Richard Nixon a percentage in a gambling venture. The most interesting mystery that still has everybody scratching their heads is how much money Meyer Lansky left behind. The belief of some is that he died with $300,000. I don’t see how this is even close to being possible. Lansky owned 100 gambling related businesses, was instrumental in the formation of Las Vegas as a gambling hub and vacation destination, and basically owned every hotel, casino, and nightclub in Cuba. He assisted other gangsters with investing their money. His lifestyle while I’m sure it was expensive was far from ultra-lavish a la Al Capone and even if it were it wouldn’t matter. The man was the progenitor for the American Mafia. He was one of the most powerful men in the organization at a time when their income was mind boggling. There are postmen who retire with $300,000. There are a few historians however who do dispute this fact saying that it is absolutely impossible and estimate he died with as much as $500,000,000 which would be well over a billion dollars in 2014. Sandra Lansky claims that he did in fact leave them about a half a million dollars and if I were her I would say the same exact thing.
Article By: Jon DaBove
