Meyer Lansky was an American financial manipulator and kingpin of U.S. organized crime. Lansky applied his financial and organizational acumen to bootlegging in the Prohibition era, to gambling in Cuba, the Bahamas, and the United States, and to underworld penetration of legitimate businesses.
Background
Maier Suchowljansky was born in 1902 in Grodno, a Polish city that was annexed by Russia (currently - the Republic of Belarus). His family immigrated to the United States in 1911, and, after his parents allegedly couldn’t recall Suchowljansky’s birth date, he was assigned the birthday of July 4 for his immigration records. Suchowljansky’s name was eventually Americanized to Meyer Lansky, and he became a naturalized citizen in the late 1920s.
Education
Growing up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Lansky had a hardscrabble life, facing horrible violence as a child, yet he was also renowned for his prodigious mathematical abilities and self-assured demeanor. He left school after graduating from the eighth grade and took on tool and die work, later becoming an auto mechanic.
Career
In school, Meyer met a boy named Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who tried to shake Meyer down for protection money. When Meyer refused to pay Luciano any money, a brawl started and he put up a good fight. Afterward, Luciano was very impressed with Meyer's fighting abilities and the two ended up becoming good friends.
In 1920, Meyer met Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, who joined with Meyer and Luciano to form the Five Points Gang.
In 1931, Meyer helped Luciano to kill his boss, Joe Masseria, allowing him to seize the top position in the Masseria Crime Family. A short while later, he learned of a plot by Salvatore Maranzano to kill Luciano and the two took preemptive action, killing Maranzano first. After these obstacles were out of the way, Luciano went on to form the National Crime Syndicate, with a board of directors that included Meyer.
Although Luciano held the top position in the organization, Meyer was not jealous. He preferred to maintain a lower profile and realized that assuming the top position would attract a lot of negative attention from rival criminals and the government. It was also necessary to make alliances with Italian gangs who could not tolerate a Jewish leader.
Throughout the 1930s, Meyer set up many gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans, and Cuba. Although many other criminals tried to muscle in on his territory, Meyer was always able to crush their attempts using his strong connections all over the United States.
When Bugsy Siegel came to him seeking money to build a casino in Las Vegas, Meyer invested large amounts of money and managed to convince other wealthy criminals to do the same. When the casino went over budget, several meetings were called to debate killing Siegel, but Meyer managed to hold them off for several years. Unfortunately, he was eventually forced to step back and allow the murder of Siegel in 1947, although his projects ended up being a huge success over the rest of the twentieth century.
Over the 50s and 60s, Meyer was heavily involved in drug smuggling and prostitution, although he also invested money in legitimate enterprises like golf courses and hotels. In 1970, the government finally began to catch up with him and prepared tax evasion charges. When Meyer learned that he would be prosecuted, he fled to Israel, where he attempted to gain public support to stay in Israel. He dumped millions of dollars into the Israeli economy, but was eventually forced to return to the United States in 1972, after a long battle in court.
In 1973, he underwent open heart surgery just before being put on trial for tax evasion. The government-appointed prosecution failed miserably and Meyer was acquitted of all charges. After Meyer walked free, the government turned its attention elsewhere. Over the next decade, he continued his leading role in the mafia, amassing a fortune of approximately four hundred million dollars.
Religion
Meyer Lansky came from a family of religious Jews who regularly celebrated all important religious holidays taken in Judaism. Since childhood, Meyer was brought up in an atmosphere of patriotism and love for his people.
Personality
Lansky always called himself a gambler, but to law, enforcement officials he was a major leader of organized crime in the United States. An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation once said of Lansky with grudging respect and admiration, “He would have been chairman of the board of General Motors if he’d gone into legitimate business.” And in a moment of triumph, Lansky once boasted to an underworld associate that “we’re bigger than U.S. Steel.”
Interests
Gambling
Connections
Lansky married Anna Citron in 1929, with the couple going on to have three children. Their youngest, Sandra, published a tell-all memoir—Daughter of the King: Growing Up in Gangland (2014). Lansky’s union with Anna was not a happy one, and the couple divorced in 1947. In 1948 Lansky married Thelma Schwarz, with whom he remained until his death. Grandson Meyer Lansky II has gone on to work in the casino industry and is featured in a 2015 AMC docudrama on the formation of the mob.