Meyer Lansky “Mob’s Accountant”, Original signed letter sent to his Israeli friend,

farkash — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 13:15:29 +0000

Meyer Lansky, the “Mob’s Accountant” Re: His Flight To Israel

Single-page autographed Handwritten letter dated “July 6, 1980”, and signed by Meyer Lansky as “Meyer” to his Israeli confidante, Joseph “Yushki” Sheiner, a member of the Israeli Security Agency and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion’s security director in the 1960s.

“It is very thoughtful for you to call me to wish me a Happy Birthday. Thank you for your kind thoughts. Yoram Sheffi Sheftel is the young lawyer who raised a petition in 1971 of law students, Law teacher,s and Law Professors on my behalf.

He asked my permission to intercede with Burg (Yosef Burg then the Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs) to permit me to visit Israel, permission is granted if it isn’t recalled and health permits I intend to visit Israel at the end of October.

You made mention of publicity pertaining to me, I would appreciate to hear something more definite about my visa. I would hate to find myself travelling to Israel and then not being permitted to enter. It was good to hear that you are well and your family are well.

What was become of that fellow who was to get me permission to come to Israel. He was from Australia.

If you cell never charges. all the best to all of you.

Shalom

Meyer”

This letter from Lansky to Yosef Sheiner, a respected figure in the Israeli Mossad and his close friend, is steeped in fascinating history. It offers a rare, personal glimpse into Lansky’s attempts to visit Israel, his interactions with Yoram Sheftel, and his profound, lasting connection to the Israeli state. This letter serves as a window into the complex identity and hidden motives of the most famous Jewish gangster of all time. To this day he continues to resonate in popular culture, evident in the numerous fictional characters inspired by him.

Meyer Lansky, known as the “Mob’s Accountant”, was an American major organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles “Lucky” Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States. An intriguing letter by Lansky which although written in 1980, discusses his attempted flight to Israel, where he first tried to escape charges of tax evasion back in 1970/1971.

Lansky rise first had his start after Prohibition ended in 1933, Lansky successfully parlayed his fortune into gambling interests around the United States (and ultimately internationally). He encouraged other mobsters to invest in Cuba, where eventually he owned or had a financial interest in at least three casinos: the Habana Riviera, the Hotel Nacional, and the Montmartre Club. In the 1940s, Lansky also began investing in Las Vegas casinos and assigned his friend Siegel to oversee the construction of the Flamingo Hotel.

That project did not go well, at least initially. Cost overruns ballooned the budget from $1.2 million to $6 million, and some of Lansky’s fellow Mob investors were unhappy. Some believed that Siegel, who also tightly controlled income from the telephone “race wire” providing sports results to bookie parlors and casinos, was stealing a portion of their investment.

Several chroniclers claim that Lansky, at a Havana meeting of leading organized crime figures from across the United States, approved of Siegel’s assassination, which occurred on June 20, 1947. Although he never openly admitted to approving the hit, Lansky said that if it had been up to him, Siegel never would have been killed – as close to an expression of remorse as you would find from any of the Mob. Other theories surrounding Siegel’s murder suggest Lansky had nothing to do with it. Either way, Lansky’s associates immediately took over the Flamingo upon Siegel’s death, and the property generated income for Lansky and others for decades.

It was around the time of these Syndicate meetings that Lansky allegedly made the famous comment that the American Mafia was “bigger than United States Steel,” at one time the world’s largest corporation. The quote was also used by the fictional character Hyman Roth in the film The Godfather, Part II. Lansky is widely viewed as the inspiration for the Roth character.

Lansky’s gambling operations ran into a multimillion-dollar disaster with the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Rebel leader Fidel Castro nationalized all of Lansky’s casino interests on the island. Lansky also suffered from crackdowns on illegal gambling in the United States, including casinos in Florida.

Despite his efforts to conceal income, in 1970 Lansky was indicted on federal tax evasion charges. He and his family fled to Israel under the Jewish nation’s “right of return,” but that right did not extend to criminals. Lansky returned to the United States and was arrested at the Miami International Airport.

Lansky was ultimately acquitted or had charges dropped against him, in part because no direct connection or evidence linked him to a major crime. He was convicted of contempt charges, but by that time he was in poor health due to lung cancer, and the decision was overturned. He had suffered his first heart attack more than a decade earlier.

Lansky lived in Miami until his death of lung cancer in 1983. Federal authorities claimed the mobster still had hidden wealth to the tune of $300 million, but Lansky himself, the man who built and sold casinos like chess pieces, said he was nearly broke.

The post Meyer Lansky “Mob’s Accountant”, Original signed letter sent to his Israeli friend, first appeared on VINTAGE ISRAELI POSTERS.

Meyer Lansky “Mob’s Accountant”, Original signed letter sent to his Israeli friend, 1975

farkash — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 11:58:23 +0000

Rare autograph letter signed by Meyer Lansky from the 2nd of April 1975, written to his friend Joseph Sheiner, a member of the Israeli Security Agency, expressing his thoughts of Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and the federal prosecutor that set out to frame him – in his words.

Meyer Lansky (1902-1983) known as the “Mob’s Accountant”, was a major organized crime figure who was instrumental in the development of the “National Crime Syndicate” in the United States

Lansky, Meyer. Autograph letter signed (“Meyer”), 1.5 pages (8 x 10 in.; 203 x 254 mm.), separate sheets, [Miami], 2 April 1975, written “To Yushki”, his friend Joseph Sheiner, a member of the Israeli Security Agency. Two loose-leaf holes at right edge; staple holes in upper right corners; verso of second page is toned.

Meyer Lansky writes a friend that he is pleased that the federal prosecutor “that set out to frame me” has been “fired … He may have violated the law in his zealous attempt to prosecute people…”

Lansky writes in part: No doubt the big talk in Israel as in U.S. is Kissinger. His failure in the negotiations doesn’t bring any of us joy but peace at his price hadn’t anything to offer for the future. We know Mr. Kissinger much better now. I could never understand what he and Nixon called peace in Vietnam; it was as plain as the nose on your face, that N.V. was going to take over. Why we still want to back this load of grafters in the S.V. I will never understand. I wish the attack on S.V. didn’t occur right now it would be better for us if this didn’t exist…This article should interest you. This is the District Attorney that set out to frame me. He is the one who had my picture over his desk. I asked Dave to ask McMillan for a picture of him, I have a good place to put it. He is fired but he will be given a chance to resign although he may have violated the law in his zealous attempt to prosecute people…Shalom Meyer

Meyer Lansky went to Israel in 1970 to avoid federal prosecution on charges of tax evasion. In December, he requested Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return which gives any Jew the right to be granted Israeli citizenship. However, it denies citizenship to a Jew “with a criminal past, likely to endanger the public welfare.” In March 1971, Lansky was charged with being involved in a conspiracy to skim from the Flamingo Hotel, his old Las Vegas venture with Bugsy Siegel, and was ordered to appear before a grand jury in Miami. He stayed in Israel. In May, Lansky’s U.S. passport was revoked and in September, his application for Israeli citizenship was denied. “Meyer Lansky v. the State of Israel” was heard before the Israeli Supreme Court and on 11 September 1972, the court ruled unanimously against Lansky. After trying to find refuge outside the United States with Sheiner’s help – he was with Lansky on his 36-hour flight seeking asylum – on 7 November 1972, Meyer Lansky returned to Miami and was promptly arrested by FBI agents aboard the plane. The 28 March 1975 article Meyer Lansky sent Yushki about McMillan is present. The banner headline right under “The Miami Herald” masthead: “Dade Crime Strike Chief Shifted.” Dougald McMillan had headed the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Miami since 1969. Because of recent disclosures about tactics McMillan had used in his intelligence-gathering effort aimed at Miami public officials suspected of corruption, McMillan was being transferred to Washington. The article mentions Lansky: “It was McMillan who in 1973 obtained a contempt conviction against Lansky for the aging mobster’s refusal to appear before a grand jury – only to have the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reverse it…”

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Meyer Lansky – VINTAGE ISRAELI POSTERS

Meyer Lansky “Mob’s Accountant”, Original signed letter sent to his Israeli friend,

Meyer Lansky “Mob’s Accountant”, Original signed letter sent to his Israeli friend, 1975