Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky, also known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, played a key role in the formation of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States. His family came to the United States in 1911 as a result of pogroms, and he was born to Jewish parents (anti-Jewish mobs). They made their home on the Lower East Side of New York City, and by 1918 Lansky was heading a juvenile gang with Bugsy Siegel, a Jewish kid who would later rise to prominence in the mafia. The Bugs-Meyer Gang began their criminal enterprise with thievery before moving on to gambling and booze production.

He began gambling in New Orleans, Florida, and Cuba in 1936, and eventually provided funding for Siegel to build the Flamingo in Las Vegas. The Bahamas became the location of Lansky's Cuban business when Castro took over in 1959. He had a $300 million empire of enterprises, both legitimate and illicit. He eluded a grand jury and tax evasion allegations in 1970 by emigrating to Israel, but Israel evicted him. He was found guilty of grand jury contempt back home, but the decision was reversed on appeal. Other charges against him were dropped in part due to his poor health. He was fictionalized as Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) in The Godfather Part II (1974). In 1983, he passed away in Miami Beach from lung cancer.