Meyer Lansky was born in Russia on 1902, and died of lung cancer in Miami on 1983. Growing up Lansky was a bright young man in school, but formed relationships with other gangsters such as Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel and Charles (Lucky) Luciano. Lansky and Lucky formed a partnership that was referred to as “the syndicate” which later became known as Murder, Inc. This was an organized crime that split Mafia territories into franchises and offered assassins for hire. Lansky was involved with many crimes throughout his lifetime, but was considered to be the “Mob’s Accountant” and one of the most powerful people in his lifetime. Criminal activities included, money laundering, skimming Las Vegas casinos, murder, racketeering, bootlegging, and many other crimes as well. Lansky was known to be most involved with gambling, and even established his own casino sites in places like Cuba before the communist revolution occurred. Once Cuba’s leadership changed Meyer lost his investment in Cuba, which did not help his existing health conditions. Lansky was also consider to be the financial advisor for the New York mob and gambling reforms. He had other casino locations he was involved in such as New Orleans and Miami. From all of Meyer’s illegal and legal activities he was estimated to have hundreds of millions of dollars. Towards the end of Lansky’s life he was charged for tax evasion, but found not guilty by the jury. He also was charged for skimming of Las Vegas casino profits, but the judge dismissed this case since Meyer was in such poor health conditions. He died about six years later after these incidences.

Resources: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761937.html http://www.laborers.org/Lansky.html http://www.organized-crime.de/revlac01.htm http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/meyer-lansky-3