PART 4:FINAL JUDGMENT: ISRAEL'S GODFATHER, THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE,CIA,FBI AND MOSSAD

by Michael Collins Piper
Chapter Seven 

Israel's Godfather: 

The Man in the Middle 

Meyer Lansky, the CIA, 

the FBI & the Israeli Mossad 

If it had not been for international crime boss Meyer Lansky there might not be a state of Israel today. This is something that Israel would rather be forgotten. 

Israel was established as a state, in major part, through the political, financial and moral support of Meyer Lansky and his associates and henchmen in Organized Crime. Lansky's interests and Israel's interests were almost incestuous. In fact, Lansky's chief European money laundering bank was an operation run under the auspices of a high-ranking, longtime officer of Israel's Mossad.
Lansky's intimate ties with not only American intelligence (including both the CIA and the FBI) made the Jewish mobster the "untouchable" leader of the global organized crime syndicate. 

During John F. Kennedy's short-lived presidency, he was not only at odds with Israel and its powerful lobby in America. Kennedy, as we saw in Chapter 4, had also double-crossed his secret allies in the criminal underworld who had helped him achieve the presidency. The president's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was waging a relentless war against organized crime. 

In the years prior to Kennedy's ascendancy to the presidency, a little known, but immensely powerful underworld figure by the name of Meyer Lansky had schemed and shot his way to the top of the crime syndicate. 

That syndicate was not just national—it was international—and the uncrowned king of crime was Meyer Lansky—the so-called "chairman of the board" of that incredible criminal empire which spanned the globe. 

It was Meyer Lansky, early in his criminal career, who had emerged as one of the leading sponsors of the state of Israel and whose most intimate associates were among the chief financial patrons of the influential Israeli lobby in America. 

What's more, as we shall see, Lansky had also forged close ties with Israel's allies in the American CIA—an agency that, in itself, had entered into a bitter war with John F. Kennedy. 

Thus, when JFK came to blows with not only Israel and its allies in the Lansky Organized Crime empire, but also with the CIA, the American president had unwittingly forged a deadly alliance among his fiercest foes.

It is the Meyer Lansky connection which explains how Israel's Mossad was able to utilize and manipulate, among other elements, the anti-Castro Cuban community—itself working with not only the CIA but also the Lansky Organized Crime Syndicate—in the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. 

To begin our investigation of the shadowy crevices of the underworld where Israel's Mossad, Organized Crime and the CIA came together in the Kennedy murder, it is most appropriate to begin with Lansky. 

It is Lansky (individually) and his crime syndicate which tie all of these diverse strands together, pointing the finger toward the until-now undisclosed role of Israel in the JFK assassination. 

A spokesman for the Bahamas Commission of Inquiry which was investigating organized crime in the islands, once said, "At one stage, we began to wonder whether the name of Meyer Lansky was not some vast journalistic piece of fiction, so ghostly and mythical a figure did he appear." 196 But exist he did. 

Meyer Lansky, in fact, is a pivotal player in the international conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of John F. Kennedy—all of the literature propagating the theory that "The Mafia Killed JFK" notwithstanding. 

WHO WAS MEYER LANSKY? 

The most concise summary of the origins and rise to power of Meyer Lansky appeared in a lengthy profile of Lansky that appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in 1969. It reads, in pertinent part: 

"Born Maier Suchowjansky in Grodno, Russia, Lansky arrived in the U.S. at age nine. His family settled in New York's immigrant slums. By the time he was 27, young Maier had five arrests on his record, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to suspicion of murder, but he was never convicted. He had begun his painstaking climb up the underworld ladder. 

"It was during the 1920’s that Lansky became a pal and partner of Bugsy Siegel. The two became a formidable pair, first as hired gunmen for Legs Diamond, soon as leaders of their own gang, called the 'Bugs and Meyer Mob.' 

A MEMBER OF THE BOARD 

"Their specialty was protecting liquor in transit from hijackers to East Coast gangs. They were good at it, and when an alliance called the Eastern Syndicate was formed to coordinate rum-running Lansky and Siegel were named to the board. Lansky was put in charge of handling the syndicate's finances. 

"By the early 1930’s, the Eastern syndicate began to form a loose alliance with other regional mobs. Thus was the national syndicate born. Each gang retained its own identity and pursued its own activities, with the federation coming together occasionally to discuss matters of common interest. Final decisions rested with individual gang leaders, with one acting as federation chairman. The first chairman was Lucky Luciano, head of the Mafia in the East. 

TIES TO U.S. INTELLIGENCE 

"During World War II, Lansky played a part in an incredible alliance between the underworld and the U.S. Navy . . . Apparently, the Navy decided East Coast piers could be protected from sabotage only with the aid of the Mafia. 

"Lucky Luciano was by then in prison, but he still held power and the loyalty of Mafia members. Luciano's attorney and Meyer Lansky were recruited to persuade Luciano to give the arrangement his blessing. After several months of prison visits, Luciano agreed . . . After the war, Lucky was paroled and sent home to Italy on promise he would never again enter the U.S.

 CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD 

"With Luciano gone, a triumvirate of Lansky, Joe Adonis and Frank Costello took over leadership of the syndicate. By the late 1950's, Costello had been ousted from power by his colleagues and Adonis had been deported. Lansky sat alone at the top." 197 

In the meantime, Lansky had already cemented his ties with the Washington establishment. In fact, those ties were long-standing. 

LANSKY & CUBA 

(In Chapter 10, we shall discuss Lansky's critical role in helping win President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932.) 

Roosevelt himself sent Lansky as a personal emissary to Cuba to meet with Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista. FDR believed that Batista's authoritarian rule was stirring popular discontent which could be exploited by a growing communist movement in Cuba. Through Lansky FDR hoped to influence Batista to institute reforms that would quell the communist threat. It was during this period that Lansky had begun establishing his lucrative gambling empire in the tropical paradise and a long and profitable personal and business relationship with Batista and other Cuban leaders who made millions in kickbacks from Lansky's casino operations. 

Carlos Prio Soccaras,

(Among those on the receiving end of Lansky's pay-offs was Carlos Prio Soccaras, whom, we shall see in Chapter 14, ultimately became a business partner in gunrunning activities with Dallas nightclub operator and Lansky Syndicate henchman, Jack Ruby.) 198 

(In Chapter 11, we shall examine Lansky's Cuban gambling activities and his Israeli Mossad-linked European money laundering operations. In Chapter 12 we shall examine Lansky's international narcotics trafficking, and his consequent connections with the CIA, in detail.) 

Although Batista was in and out of office several times during the next two decades, the Cuban strongman remained the de facto leader of the island through successive puppet regimes until the advent of Fidel Castro on New Years Day, 1960. 

However, Lansky also had extensive contacts much farther away from American shores. Lansky—as we shall see here—was a key force in establishing the State of Israel. 

ALLIANCE & RIVALRY 

To understand Lansky's preeminent leadership position in organized crime, however, we must first look at the strange and complex alliance—and rivalry—between the Italian and Jewish elements in the organized crime world. 

The Wall Street Journal's account of Lansky's rise to power hints at these contradictions, but doesn't explore them in the fashion needed. Two interesting things left out of the Journal summary of Lansky's career should be mentioned. 

It is generally known that Lansky launched his criminal career working in conjunction with the famed Mafia figure Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Their alliance is noted in the Journal account and a recent Hollywood extravaganza entitled Mobsters highlighted the youthful exploits of Lansky, Luciano, Benjamin Siegel and Frank Costello. 

LUCIANO GETS FRAMED 

However, it may have been Lansky, through his political contacts, who arranged the criminal indictment and subsequent imprisonment of Luciano. It was Luciano's imprisonment—and ultimate deportation—that smoothed Lansky's further advancement in organized crime. 

In his own memoirs Luciano provides a detailed account of how he was, in fact, framed on the white slavery and prostitution charges that resulted in his imprisonment. Luciano does not blame Lansky, by any means, although, as we shall see, he may have had his suspicions. 

Luciano doesn't ask the reader to believe that he (Luciano) wasn't engaged in extensive criminal activity. He does present a very cogent case, however, that he was not guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted. Indeed, Luciano was never brought to trial for any of the crimes in which he was engaged with Lansky. 

In any case, it is quite possible that Lansky, in fact, did have some role in framing Luciano on the prostitution charges. Tom Dewey's war against Lucky Luciano, the Mafia chieftain's imprisonment, and his subsequent deportation smoothed the way for Lansky's rise to the top.

It was upon Luciano's deportation, that Luciano actually named Lansky as his official spokesman. According to Luciano, "I worked it all out with Lansky, and that's the point where Meyer became the real treasurer of the outfit. I put him in charge of my money and later on he started to take care of the finances of quite a few guys." 199 

Lansky was—despite his Jewish origins—the capo di tuti capi ("boss of all bosses") in Luciano's absence. Theoretically, Lansky could never be a "member" of the Mafia, but he certainly ranked higher than even "made" members who had been inducted into the so-called "honored society." 

LANSKY, DEWEY & THE CIA 

Both Dewey and Lansky did, of course, stand to benefit from Luciano's imprisonment. The case of Dewey and his Lansky connection is most interesting. 

As a consequence of his prosecution of Luciano, Dewey won widespread political fame and in 1938 ran, unsuccessfully, for governor of New York. In fact, at that time, Lansky reportedly donated fully $250,000 (in 1938 dollars) to Dewey's campaign. 

Dewey did not win that race, but during the remaining period of his service as New York's "racket-busting" prosecutor he did obtain a conviction of one of Lansky's Jewish rivals in organized crime, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, who eventually died in the electric chair. 

Then, in 1942 when Dewey once again—this time, successfully—sought the governorship, Lansky provided additional financial support and political muscle. Dewey, as governor, commuted Luciano's sentence. In return for his freedom, Luciano agreed to go into exile to his homeland of Italy. Thus, Lansky's influence widened in Luciano's absence abroad. 

This would not be, however, the end of the Dewey-Lansky relationship. Dewey later became a major stockholder in the Mary Carter Paint Company in the late 1950's. 

According to former CIA contract agent Robert Morrow, "Carter Paint was originally an active corporation set up by Thomas Dewey and CIA director Allen Dulles to use as a CIA front. In 1958, Dewey and some friends had bought controlling interest in the Crosby Miller Corporation, with two million dollars in CIA money—authorized by Allen Dulles. Then, in 1959, the Crosby Miller Corporation was merged with the CIA-owned paint company. As an example of one of its early activities, it provided laundered CIA money for the Bay of Pigs army. In 1963, Mary Carter Paint spun off its paint division, after a Florida land scandal, and became Resorts International.” 200 

Resorts International, Inc. controlled virtually all of the resorts in the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean where Lansky reorganized his gambling operations after being forced out of Cuba in 1960.

Resorts International ultimately set up a subsidiary known as International Intelligence, Inc. (Intertel) ostensibly designed to curtail organized crime involvement in the casino industry. However, in reality, this was a myth. 

There are those who suspect that Intertel—like Resorts International and Mary Carter Paint before it—was not simply a CIA operation, but a joint CIA/Lansky operation—an intelligence network interacting with Israel's Mossad. 201 

Perhaps not surprisingly, Dewey's admiring biographer, Richard Norton Smith, writing in Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, never mentions Dewey's Mary Carter Paint Company—or Lansky's support for Dewey's political endeavors. Another Lansky connection gone unmentioned. All of this illustrates the depth of Lansky's political influence and his wide range of connections. 

FRANK COSTELLO 'RETIRES' 

There is also the question as to whether Lansky may have had a hand in the unsuccessful assassination attempt against his other boyhood friend, the aforementioned Frank Costello, who was often called "the Prime Minister of the Mafia." Whatever the truth, the attempt on Costello forced the "prime minister" into early retirement and gave Lansky further influence in organized crime. 

LUCIANO REMEMBERS 

. . . "Lucky" Luciano, who had initially smoothed Meyer Lansky's way to the top, later rued the day that he had placed so much trust in his early gangland associate. In 1961, well after his influence in the international crime syndicate had begun to dwindle, Luciano reflected upon his relationship with Lansky. "In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, you remember a guy by the name of Cassius? He was a pain in the ass. It seems like everybody's got a Cassius in his life." 

According to Luciano, his Mafia associate Vito Genovese was his own Cassius. However, upon further thought he added, "Come to think of it, I even had two Cassiuses in my life, the other one being a guy by the name of Meyer Lansky. But I didn't get on to him for a long time." 202 

In his waning days Luciano considered offers from Hollywood producers who wanted to film his life story. However, Luciano—in exile in Italy—got word from home that there were "orders" that he not participate in any such venture. It was then that Luciano saw the whole picture—the whole truth about what "the Mafia" had really become. 

'THE BOSS OF EVERYTHING' 

"When I realized that Meyer Lansky was right in the middle of this, that's when I knew he had us all by a string. Why should Lansky, being a Jew, give a shit whether or not some fucking movie had a bunch of Italian names in it? Because he was pulling the wires and everybody was dancing to his tune on the other end, like a bunch of puppets. 

"Lansky held the purse strings, too; he was the treasurer and he was really trying to be the boss of everything. He was so hungry for power behind the scenes he'd kiss anybody's ass and do anything he had to do so that in the end, he—Meyer Lansky, my old partner and a Jew—would wind up the real boss of bosses of all the Italians and the Jews—and without a single fucking vote on the organized crime syndicate council. 

"I never really knew what it meant when we was kids and I used to call him the Genius. But at the age of sixty-four, I finally got wise." 203 

THE GUIDING HAND 

So it was that Meyer Lansky—though not an Italian—did, indeed, become, as he was to be called, "the chairman of the board" of the organized crime syndicate, even more powerful than the "Mafia" itself. 

If, as some claim, "The Mafia Killed JFK," it couldn't have been done without the foreknowledge—and guiding hand—of Meyer Lansky. 

And as we shall see in this chapter—and further throughout the pages of this work—Lansky's connections with Israel and its Mossad (as well as Israel's allies in the CIA), demonstrates that Israeli loyalist Meyer Lansky is an integral player who bound together the diverse elements which came together in the JFK assassination conspiracy. 

HIDING BEHIND 'THE MAFIA' 

In Little Man, his recent friendly biography of Meyer Lansky, Robert Lacey dismissed rumors of Lansky's role in the JFK assassination when he wrote that: "Meyer was mentioned most frequently of all in that happiest of hunting grounds for conspiracy theorists, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” 204 

This is the only reference in Lacey's book to even the most tenuous link between Lansky and the JFK murder. However, as we shall see, the connections are very deep indeed. Yet, contrary to what Lacey contends, Lansky's name seldom appears in any significant fashion in most standard accounts which contend that organized crime played a role in the assassination. 

The fact is that Lansky's name has been continuously and conveniently buried behind a host of Italian Organized Crime ("Mafia") figures. In Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 we review, extensively, Lansky's connections with the more famous—perhaps infamous—Italian-surnamed underworld figures linked to the Kennedy assassination. 

As we shall see, in fact, those individuals in question were, practically to a man, Lansky's underlings. However, Lansky's name is hardly mentioned at all in standard accounts which suggest that organized crime— particularly "the Mafia"—played a part in the president's murder.

`THE REAL LEADERS OF CRIME' 

Lansky's most authoritative biographer, organized crime writer Hank Messick pinpoints the tendency of the media—and the law enforcement community—to overlook the broad and penetrating reach of the Meyer Lansky Organized Crime Syndicate, focusing instead on the media's hype of "the Mafia"—the Italian wing of the criminal underworld. 

Says Messick: "The real leaders of crime have remained hidden while the nation's law enforcement agencies have chased minor punks. And naive is he who believes this development is accidental. Research reveals that non Mafia leaders of crime have been hiding behind the vendetta-ridden society [the Italian Mafia] for decades. . . Attempts to frame me have been made, and I've been smeared as anti-Semitic from coast to coast by gangsters who used religion as a cloak." 205 

In his own memoirs, Lansky's crony, Charles "Lucky" Luciano revealed one rather interesting fact. According to Luciano, it was Lansky himself who suggested that the newly-assembled national crime syndicate dub itself "the Union Siciliano"—a sobriquet which gave the criminal underworld a decidedly "Sicilian" imagery. 206 

`KOSHER NOSTRA' 

According to veteran JFK assassination researcher Peter Dale Scott, "It is relevant that [then-Senate rackets committee counsel Robert F.] Kennedy did not use the word 'Mafia' when presenting, in his 1960 book The Enemy Within, his model of organized crime as an endemic, multi-ethnic, partially institutionalized syndicate."207 

According to Scott: "What Robert Kennedy had meant by the `syndicate' was very different from what [Mafia experts meant by the term] La Cosa Nostra." 208 According to Scott, "anyone speaking about organized crime . . . does so under conditions of great political restraint." 209 

To put it bluntly: the term "Mafia" does not account for the substantial— and indeed predominant—role of Meyer Lansky and his Jewish associates in the national crime syndicate. 

Because of political constraints and fear of being accused of "antisemitism," many have been afraid to point out the important role of Jewish criminals in the world of crime. 

One Jewish gangster, Lansky's West Coast henchman, Mickey Cohen, discussed the Italian-Jewish conflict in organized crime in his memoirs. He said, frankly: "See, I don't want to pull any wool over anybody's eyes because I'm writing a true autobiography, right? And I certainly don't want to mince any words, but I really don't consider the Mafia or anything of that type the only strength [in organized crime].” 210

Cohen differentiated between the Italian elements in organized crime, popularly known as "the Mafia" and "La Cosa Nostra" and the Jewish forces sometimes satirically called, "the Kosher Nostra." 

"It's an organization. It's more what I would refer to as a syndicate.. . So it was an organization, but it wasn't the Mafia. Being Jews, Benny and me and even Meyer couldn't be a real part and parcel of that [the Mafia]."211 

(The "Benny" to whom Cohen referred was the aforementioned Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, the lifelong friend and crime partner of Lansky's. It was Lansky who ultimately ordered Siegel's assassination. 

We will learn much more about the Lansky-Siegel-Cohen connection in Chapter 13 where we uncover Cohen's own pivotal role in the JFK assassination conspiracy.) 

It was not, in fact, until the infamous Mafia conclave at Appalachian, New York, in 1957 when the media began hyping "the Mafia" as a major force in organized crime. 

Americans had long been aware of legendary mobsters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, but general awareness that a national crime syndicate did indeed exist was not commonplace. 

Following a police raid of the Appalachian conference—attended exclusively by top Italian-surnamed Mafia figures from around the country— public attention began focusing on "the Mafia"—thanks to the media. 

MAFIA IN TURMOIL/LANSKY ON TOP 

The official story has always been that a local policeman just happened to stumble upon the Mafia conclave at the home of Mafia figure Joseph Barbara. He called in reinforcements and a major "bust" took place. However, according to Hank Messick, the police had been tipped off by a Lansky associate that the meeting was about to take place. Messick described the consequences of the Appalachian raid: 

"The delegates were scattered before any alliance could be reached. And the publicity caused the greatest heat since the 1930's. It focused not only on the men who attended the session but on the entire Mafia. What's more, it continued for well over a year as state and federal officials tried to find some charge to stick against the delegates they had captured or identified. 

"Not only were Mafia leaders immobilized by the continuing publicity, but also they were demoralized. Almost instinctively they rallied to Lansky and other non-Mafia syndicate leaders for advice and assistance." 212 

Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the young attorneys who played a key role in the Appalachian raid was one Justin Finger. It was Finger who later went on to become chief of the "civil rights division" of the AntiDefamation League of B'nai B'rith, the primary intelligence and propaganda arm of Israel's Mossad in the United States. 213 In subsequent chapters, Chapter 17 in particular, we will examine the role of the A.D.L in the JFK assassination cover-up in more explicit detail.

Obviously, the Appalachian raid was a critical event in Lansky's continuing rise to power. It solidified Lansky's hold over the crime syndicate. 

Michael Milan, a low-level Jewish organized crime figure who grew up in Lansky's sphere of influence claims to have, in fact, been ritually inducted into the Mafia—by Lansky himself. It was to Lansky that Milan swore his allegiance. Writing in his memoirs, Milan remembers the event fondly: “`Omerta' whispered Meyer Lansky, only half believing in the ritual itself, but not wanting to show the slightest sign of disrespect to . . . [Mafia] traditions." 214 

In any case, as we have seen, Meyer Lansky's predominant role in the criminal underworld was already well in place. 

THE HOOVER-LANSKY CONNECTION 

Lansky's role in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)-Naval Intelligence operations during World War II and his work on behalf of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in handling Batista may account for the fact that Lansky seldom faced harassment from the federal authorities. 

Writing in Secret File, Hank Messick comments: "Was Lansky rewarded? No final answer is possible, but he has been strangely immune to prosecution on the Federal level. Twice the IRS Intelligence Division has recommended prosecution, and twice the Justice Department has declined. Lansky remains the only top man in the national crime syndicate to escape untouched. Because of his brains and the troubles of his colleagues, he rules as undisputed chairman of the board."215 

Lansky himself acknowledged his role in the so-called "Operation Underworld." "Sure, I'm the one who put Lucky and Naval Intelligence together," he told his Israeli friend, Israeli newsman Uri Dan. Lansky's reasons were interesting: "The reason I cooperated was because of strong personal feelings. I wanted the Nazis beaten. I was a Jew and I felt for those Jews in Europe who were suffering. They were my brothers."216 

Former Lansky associate (and covert FBI operative) Michael Milan also points toward another critical Lansky connection that may have accounted for his immunity from federal harassMENT. 

"I also knew that J. Edgar Hoover and Meyer Lansky sometimes broke bread together. Mr. L. was never rousted, was rarely served with federal subpoenas, and was generally left alone to conduct his business. Mr. L., on the other hand, didn't go around shooting anybody like people in some of the other Mafia Families, and making life embarrassing for the cops and the feds. 

"So in this way everybody got along. Mr. H. could worry about his fifth column [the communists]. Mr. [Costello] could worry about keeping peace among the different Families and looking forward to retirement, and Mr. L. could worry about the cash flow in his Las Vegas casinos. “ 217

J. Edgar Hoover's own connections to the Lansky Crime Syndicate and to the pro-Israel lobby have been the subject of rumors and controversy for many years. 

It was the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League (A.D.L) of B'nai B'rith that was largely responsible for the establishment of the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation in 1947. (Top Lansky associates have long been generous financial backers of the A.D.L.) The Hoover Foundation's first president was Rabbi Paul Richman, Washington director of the A.D.L. 

Hoover's longtime associate, Louis B. Nichols, the FBI's Assistant Director in charge of the Records and Communications Division of the Bureau, was the FBI's key contact with the A.D.L when the A.D.L helped orchestrate mass sedition trials against key critics of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policy. 

Lewis R. Rosenstiel

Nichols went on to serve as president of the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation, but only after he left the FBI. Upon retirement from the bureau he signed on as Executive Vice President of Schenley Industries, a major liquor firm run by ex-bootlegger and Lansky associate Lewis R. Rosenstiel.218 Rosenstiel himself was a very close friend of the FBI director in spite of, or perhaps precisely because of, his ties to Lansky. 

THE ADL AND ORGANIZED CRIME 

The liquor industry, largely controlled by Jewish families such as the Bronfman family, and others, have been major contributors to the A.D.L, financing a large portion of its budget over the years. 219 These same liquor interests—obviously, as we have seen—had longtime contacts with Lansky from his earliest years in the bootlegging and rum-running rackets. 

The origins of Hoover's sponsor—the A.D.L—is quite interesting. The organization's initial impetus came not so much out of a desire to defend members of the Jewish faith, but, more so, in particular, Jewish mobsters. 

In the early part of this century New York City Police Commissioner Thomas Bingham had begun a dedicated investigation of organized crime in his city. By 1908 Bingham was under fire and being accused of being "antisemitic" for pointing out the role of certain Jewish gangsters in organized crime. 

Arnold Rothstein

Ultimately, Bingham was forced out of office and organized crime took hold in New York City. One of the immediate beneficiaries of Bingham's departure was mobster Arnold Rothstein, Lansky's mentor and the undisputed Jewish underworld leader prior to the younger Lansky's rise to power. 

The source of the attacks on Bingham was a public relations committee formed by a corporate attorney by the name of Sigmund Livingston. By 1913 Livingston's committee had formally incorporated as the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. 220

So it was that "crime buster" J. Edgar Hoover was himself a beneficiary of A.D.L largesse (a large portion of which, as we have seen, came from the coffers of Lansky and his criminal syndicate.) 

LOOKING THE OTHER WAY 

Critical J. Edgar Hoover biographer Curt Gentry notes that Hoover's FBI was never strongly concerned with Lansky's activities. According to Gentry, "The Dallas and Miami field offices of the FBI had blind spots. As a result, there were no taps or bugs on Lansky's protégé, New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello, Lansky's Tampa Mafia underling Santo Trafficante, and, except for a brief period, Meyer Lansky."221 

(In Chapter 10, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 we will explore Lansky's relationships with Marcello, Trafficante and other "Mafia" figures further.) Gentry adds: "There was a rumor, often heard in the underworld, that Meyer Lansky had his own man very high up in the FBI. William Sullivan had his own suspect, someone close to both the director and [Hoover's close friend and second in command, Clyde] Tolson, who was reputedly living far above his means. This was one case the FBI never solved." 222 

This same Sullivan happened to be the number three man at the FBI behind Hoover and Tolson. As head of the Bureau's highly secretive Division Five, Sullivan was in charge of domestic counterintelligence. Also in charge of the FBI's participation in the Warren Commission investigation, Sullivan was not only a close friend of James Angleton, head of the Mossad desk at the CIA, but also—incredibly enough—a CIA conduit within the FBI itself.223 (We will examine Angleton's role in the JFK assassination in much further detail in Chapter 8 and in Chapter 16). 

As head of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence, Sullivan was in charge of the infamous COINTELPRO operations against, among others, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a bevy of left-wing (and right-wing) political groups.224 COINTELPRO relied heavily on the Israeli lobby's AntiDefamation League for continuing and ongoing intelligence reports as it had since at least before World War II. 

A DEAD WITNESS 

Clearly a man with much inside knowledge, Sullivan was shot to death in a strange hunting accident on November 9, 1977 just prior to the time that he was to be called to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations. 

Sullivan, who had resigned from the FBI, having broken with Hoover, had told investigators that he had become disenchanted when Hoover told him personally, "I am most concerned about having something issued so we can convince the public that Lee Harvey Oswald is the real assassin." 225 

Whatever Sullivan did know about Hoover—and perhaps Hoover's relationship with Meyer Lansky—will never be known.

HOOVER'S DEAL 

According to Sam and Chuck Giancana, in their biography of Chicago Mafia boss, Sam Giancana, "Hoover himself had been on the organized crime pad for years." 226 

The Giancanas say that Hoover had worked out a deal with Lansky's boyhood friend and criminal associate Frank Costello. The New York mobster would pass horse race betting tips to columnist Walter Winchell, a Hoover intimate. Winchell, in turn, would pass the information on fixed races to Hoover. Hoover would arrange his real bets through his associates while making minimal bets on his own ticket at the horse races. According to the Giancanas, "Hoover won every time." 227 

That Hoover was well versed in Lansky's criminal activities there is no question. His intelligence sources were legendary. 

WHAT HOOVER KNEW 

Gentry sums it up well, noting that Hoover, although an inveterate gambler, knew all about what was happening in Lansky's Las Vegas casinos even though he, Hoover, avoided Las Vegas like the plague: 

"Hoover knew who was skimming from the casino profits—and how much they were taking in. He knew where the money went and how it made its way to the top bosses. 

"He also knew that some people, well connected with this place, were very unhappy with the Kennedy's, John and Robert, unhappy to the point they were talking about killing them." 

"Eventually the FBI discovered that most of the `skim’ loot went to Meyer Lansky in Miami. In a typical month in 1963, the skim from one casino amounted to $123,500, of which Lansky kept $71,000, then transmitted the rest to the New Jersey mobster Gerald Catena. Catena distributed in the north and Lansky in Florida. Each recipient would have a small percentage of his share deducted for casino employees who kept mum about the operation. There were also couriers, $300,000 to a Swiss bank, $100,000 to the Bahamas."228 

(Later in this chapter and in Chapter 11, Chapter 12 and Chapter 15 we shall discuss Lansky's Swiss bank connections. They are central to the joint Lansky-CIA-Israeli Mossad operation that resulted in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.) 

Even in the late 1960's, according to Gentry , "Hoover still had a blind spot so far as Lansky was concerned."229 

THE ANGLETON CONNECTION

 

However, in 1993 author Anthony Summers provided what may be a critical missing piece of the puzzle. Summers created a media sensation when he alleged in his new biography of Hoover, Official and Confidential, and on the PBS series "Frontline," that Lansky blackmailed Hoover with supposed photos of Hoover engaged in homosexual activity. Although such rumors about Hoover had been commonplace for years, no well-known author had affixed his own name to the charge. 

Citing numerous sources—some suspect and virtually all of them unsavory—Summers claimed that not only Lansky, but also several others had access to similar photos (which Summers is apparently unable to produce). Summers reports that former O.S.S man and later longtime CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton also had control of the Hoover photos, as did former O.S.S chief William Donovan. 

The question, though, is whether Angleton, Donovan and company gave the photos to Lansky—or vice-versa--either option being possible in light of Lansky's own longtime association with American intelligence. 230 

That both Lansky and Angleton were in possession of such evidence is quite interesting in light of their joint interest in the welfare of the state of Israel, a subject we will be examining shortly. Angleton, as we shall see in Chapter 8 and Chapter 12, had been directly involved with the Lansky crime syndicate through the CIA's dealings with Lansky's drug-smuggling allies in the Corsican and Sicilian Mafias. He was also Israel's chief CIA patron. 

THE GODFATHER 

Clearly, Meyer Lansky was very much a "godfather" in organized crime, far more influential than even the most powerful Mafia boss in any city in America. All of this, then, accounts for Lansky's preeminent role in the underworld. It is for this reason, then, that when we refer to the "Meyer Lansky Organized Crime Syndicate" we are referring to not only the "Mafia" but also to the powerful Jewish interests that are inter-connected here. It was the Lansky Syndicate that played a pivotal role in the establishment of Israel. Lansky, you see, was Israel's modern-day "Godfather." Lansky was with Israel from the beginning. 

GUN-RUNNING FOR ISRAEL 

According to Hank Messick, "Certainly Jewish gangsters have long and openly supported Jewish causes and the State of Israel. On the night Lansky's ex-partner, Bugsy Siegel, was executed, the Flamingo was taken over by Moe Sedway [a Lansky henchman]. When asked how he so conveniently happened to be in Las Vegas, Sedway explained that he was there to arrange a United Jewish Appeal fund drive." 231 

Robert Lacey points out in his biography of Lansky that Israeli agents were introduced to Lansky in the summer of 1948, the year that Israel became a state. Lansky permitted the Haganah (Jewish terrorist underground) fund-raiser, Joseph Baum, to hold a $10,000 benefit at (Lansky's gambling house), the Colonial Inn. He gave a donation himself. Lansky told them: "I'm at your service."232 (As we noted in Chapter 4, one of the smaller shareholders in the Colonial Inn—at least at one point—was a Dallas nightclub keeper named Jack Ruby.)

Lansky also provided other "technical assistance" to the Israeli gunrunning operations in the United States. In one instance, a Pittsburgh arms dealer's shipment of weapons to the Arabs who were fighting the Jews in Palestine was tossed overboard after Lansky talked to his friends at the New York docks. On other occasions, arms intended for the Arabs were, instead, hijacked by Lansky's henchman and shipped to Israel. 

Lansky also wasn't above putting the squeeze on rackets buddies—Jewish and non-Jewish alike—to buy Israel bonds. "Hey, these are a great investment," he would say.233 In fact, according to journalist Robert Friedman, Lansky was later a major contributor to radical New York-born Rabbi Meir Kahane who founded the militant Jewish Defense League. Kahane, who was ultimately assassinated, actually served, at one point, in the Israeli parliament. 234 And, as we shall see in Chapter 8, Kahane himself had unusual connections to American intelligence that bring his Lansky connection full circle. 

OPERATION UNDERWORLD 

It was Lansky's connection with the OSS-Naval Intelligence enterprise known as "Operation Underworld" that brought him into a strange global network that ultimately paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel. Operation Underworld was stationed at Rockefeller Center in New York and supervised by a British intelligence operative named William Stephenson (who was said to be Ian Fleming's inspiration for the fictional character, James Bond.) It was Stephenson who worked closely with the AntiDefamation League (A.D.L) of B'nai B'rith as well as the FBI in coordinating anti-Nazi intelligence operations in the United States.235 

(In later years, following the establishment of Israel, the Lansky Organized Crime Syndicate-financed A.D.L emerged as an unregistered foreign agent for Israel, handling intelligence and propaganda operations for the Jewish State, in collaboration with the F.B.I and the C.I.A. In Chapter 17 we will examine the A.D.L's role more fully, particularly in regard to its manipulation of the media. ) 

William Stephenson

In any case, as we shall see in Chapter 15, it was Operation Underworld's William Stephenson who became a critical player in the establishment of Israel's Mossad. Stephenson's top aide was Louis Bloomfield, later an attorney for the Lansky-linked Bronfman bootlegging family and himself a key player in the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. (We shall examine Bloomfield in detail in Chapter 15.) 

There is little question but that Stephenson and Bloomfield were in close contact with Lansky and his henchmen during this period. Lansky himself, as we have seen, acknowledged his own role in Operation Underworld.236 Following World War II, the activities of Operation Underworld and many of the key players shifted to a new front: the establishment of Israel.

Both Stephenson and Bloomfield were integral to gunrunning operations on behalf of the Jewish terrorist underground that later emerged as the government of the new Jewish State in 1948. 

It was in 1947 that ^Rudolph Sonneborn (husband of New York publisher Dorothy Schiff) set up an entity known as the Sonneborn Institute. It was this institute that provided the Jewish Haganah, and later the Irgun, in Palestine with arms and money. The Institute's coordinator for arms smuggling to the Jewish underground was Louis Bloomfield. Working with Bloomfield were liquor baron Samuel Bronfman, one Hank Greenspun (about whom we shall see much more later in Chapter 17) and Lansky himself. 237 

It was during the 1947-1948 period that Teddy Kollek, later mayor of Jerusalem, was in charge of the Haganah station in Lansky's then-base of operations, New York City. He was said to be the formal liaison with American organized crime. 238 Kollek worked with the Lansky Syndicate and ultimately had contact with yet another key player in our story, one James Jesus Angleton—a controversial figure indeed. 239 

It was Angleton, an O.S.S man, who later became a top-ranking figure in the American C.I.A and Israel's chief contact—some would say co-opted agent and loyalist—within C.I.A ranks. Angleton worked closely with Jewish underground activities both in London and in Italy and was instrumental in orchestrating U.S. intelligence collaboration with the Corsican Mafia and the Sicilian Mafia in intelligence operations during these same years and thereafter. 

(In Chapter 8 and Chapter 16 we shall examine Angleton's C.I.A activities, working closely with Israel and of his pivotal role in the J.F.K assassination and cover-up conspiracy in detail.) 

Clearly, during the period of the establishment of Israel, Meyer Lansky was directly and intimately involved with all of the major players. Many of these same people would later be involved with Lansky in what some call "the crime of the century." The Russian-born Jewish immigrant had come a long way from the slums of Brooklyn to a singular and pre-eminent role in global power politics. Indeed, Lansky was emerging as the "godfather" of a newly born nation: Israel. 

ISRAEL: A BASE OF OPERATIONS 

The real key to the Lansky connection with Israel is money. The newly-established State of Israel not only needed money to exist, but the organization of a new government was an ideal opportunity for Lansky and his confederates to establish their own worldwide financial—and criminal— network. In its early years Israel was "untouchable." The emotional memories of the experiences of the Jewish people during World War II— indeed throughout history—were the foundations upon which Israel had been established. Criticism of Israel was verboten. The new Jewish State was an ideal cover under which Lansky and his criminal syndicate could operate unfettered. 

MONEY LAUNDERING 

Lansky's status as organized crime's chief financier and grand wizard of money laundering put Lansky in a particularly central position. Organized crime writer Ed Reid's description of Lansky pinpoints Lansky's role precisely: "With his brother Jake, Lansky rules the gambling roost of the crime syndicate and may be the direct link between unknown moneyed nabobs who stash away mob dollars in foreign banks and the cash vaults of the U.S. criminal cartel."  240

It was Lansky's foreign banking connection that draws him into the web of Israel's international intrigue to the utmost. 

RABBI TIBOR ROSENBAUM 

Lansky's primary link with Israeli intelligence and financial operations came through the entity of the Banque de Credit International in Geneva Switzerland. This bank emerged as Lansky's primary European moneylaundering operation.241 This bank was the brainchild of one Tibor Rosenbaum. 

An Orthodox rabbi, Rosenbaum served for a period as international vice president of the World Jewish Congress (of which Lansky-connected Bronfman family member Edgar Bronfman has served as president). Rosenbaum also was a co-founder of the World Zionist Congress and a director of the Jewish Agency in Geneva, Switzerland. 242 

However, and most importantly, Rosenbaum had served as Director General for Finance and Supply for Israel's secret intelligence agency, the Mossad. Rosenbaum was, very clearly, a key figure in Israel's international intrigue and a critical player in the world of organized crime syndicate boss Meyer Lansky. 

Rosenbaum, among other things, also served on the board of the Swiss/Israel Trade Bank, established by Pinchas Sapir, Israel's Finance Minister and a Mossad officer. 243 It was during the time he served on the Swiss/Israel Trade Bank that Rosenbaum created the Banque de Credit International (BCI). 

THE BANQUE DE CREDIT 

INTERNATIONAL BCI

Meyer Lansky's European money laundering bank—was very much an Israeli government/Mossad operation, critical to the survival of the Jewish State. 

Indeed, one of the board members of BCI was Zwi Recheter, director of the Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel's largest banks and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Israel's Histadrut, the national labor confederation. 244 What's more, BCI held the bulk of funds for the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish Agency, no minor deposits by any means. 

BCI was to become Meyer Lansky's primary overseas money laundering bank—sharing those money laundering services that the bank provided to Israel's Mossad. In fact, during its heyday, BCI included among its board of directors two longtime Lansky associates, Edward Levinson and John Pullman. 245 

As we noted in Chapter 6, Levinson was one of the operators of the Fremont Casino in Las Vegas, a front man for Lansky's close friend, Joseph "Doc" Stacher, and a frequent business partner of Bobby Baker, reputed "bagman" for Lyndon Johnson. John Pullman, about whom we shall learn more later in this chapter and in Chapter 12 and Chapter 15, was Lansky's key international money handler. 

The extent of Lansky's Israeli connection—through Rosenbaum's BCI— first became part of the public record in 1970 during the criminal trial of Alvin Malnik, one of Lansky's lieutenants. 

Testimony in the trial revealed that one of the main money laundering channels for the illegal proceeds of the Lansky Crime Syndicate's narcotics, vice and gambling rackets in the United States was Tibor Rosenbaum's BCI. Rosenbaum's bank received its Lansky Crime Syndicate cash flow mainly through the Lansky-dominated Bank of World Commerce in Nassau, Bahamas. 

The middleman was a Swiss national, Sylvain Ferdmann, a courier for Lansky. Ferdmann was an official of Rosenbaum's bank, an associate of the Bank of World Commerce (controlled by Lansky's longtime crony, John Pullman) and a legman for Investors Overseas Services (IOS), the fiefdom of financier Bernard Cornfeld. 

Cornfeld, in fact, was sponsored by Rosenbaum, and had emerged as a major money launderer for Lansky's global drug trafficking. Millions in small bills were transferred from Lansky's casinos, often masked as Israeli Bond sales and contributions to Jewish philanthropies.246 This, of course, an outrageous betrayal of honest supporters of the Zionist cause. 

(In Chapter 12 we shall examine in detail how as a result of active U.S. involvement in the region, the Lansky Syndicate used the cover of C.I.A covert activities in Southeast Asia to carry out multi-billion dollar drug smuggling operations.) 

Investigative reporter Jim Hougan focused on the Lansky-Rosenbaum connection and its central link to Israel's international operations—particularly those of the Mossad: 

"During the Second World War [Rosenbaum had become] a hero of the resistance through his underground activities on behalf of the Jews. 

"After the war he became a delegate to the World Zionist Congress in Basel, where plans were made for the creation of Israel, and worked in various European capitals for the Palestine Liberation office (forerunner of the Jewish Agency). This was at the height of Zionist terrorist attacks in Palestine. A superb clandestine operator, Rosenbaum is said to have been instrumental in providing weapons to the Haganah and Stern Gang. That would tend to explain why the International Credit Bank [i.e. Banque de Credit International or BCI], `Rosenbaum's Baby," became gambling czar Meyer Lansky's Number One conduit abroad. 

"Rosenbaum was more than a friend to the Jews, however. When his bank was rocked with scandal after the collapse of [Bernard Cornfeld's] IOS, the newspaper Ha'aretz solemnly declared, 'Tibor Rosenbaum is Israel.' And the paper wasn't far from wrong. While Rosenbaum's bank facilitated the flight-capital schemes worked by IOS, it also served as a source of secret funds for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, and as one of the country's primary weapons brokers. At one point 'as much as ninety percent of the Israeli Defense Ministry's external budget flowed . . . through Rosenbaum's bank on the Rue de Conseil General.' 

"In economic matters he was equally important, founding the Israel Corporation with the help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, a French aristocrat committed to the Zionist cause. The raison d'etre of the Israel Corporation was to raise money among the world's Jews, money to be invested in a variety of public and semi-public Israeli enterprises. 

By finding money abroad to fund development projects in "the homeland," Rosenbaum and Rothschild freed Israeli tax monies to be spent on the country's critical military needs. Accordingly, [Rosenbaum] became the "Mr. Fixit" of Israeli finance, cementing friendships with the country's most important military and political leaders. 

"The mix of Mob, Mossad, IOS, and Rothschild monies was an intoxicating one in which the common denominator appears to have been a love of Israel. Certainly Rosenbaum and Cornfeld shared that affection with Lansky and the French baron."247 

THE ISRAEL CORPORATION 

There is yet another interesting Lansky-BCI-Israel link in the aforementioned Israel Corporation. It was Rosenbaum's BCI that held the bulk of funds for the Israel Corporation, a $200 million investment trust. The founders of the Israel Corporation included a host of longtime figures who moved in Lansky's sphere of influence. 

Prominent among them was Sam Rothberg of the National Distilleries. Rothberg, in fact, was one of the initial investors in Lansky's first Las Vegas casino, established by Benjamin Siegel, the Flamingo Hotel. Rothberg was one of the leading lights in the American Jewish community and the U.S. director of the Israeli Bonds drive. Rothberg later came to Lansky's aid and fought against Lansky's forced return to the United States to face criminal charges following Lansky's flight to Israel (more about which later in this chapter.) 

Others included two interesting figures in particular: 
.Shaul Eisenberg, Israel's wealthiest industrialist and longtime Mossad operative—a key figure in Israel's nuclear bomb project; and 

.Philip M. Klutznick, a top-ranking figure in the Anti-Defamation League (A.D.L) of B’nai B’rith. 248

The A.D.L connection here is interesting in that it further backtracks to Lansky's B.C.I-Rosenbaum linkage. Klutznick, who had been associated with the Lansky-linked Sonneborn Institute gunrunning operations coordinated by Louis M. Bloomfield (mentioned earlier), had become chairman of the board of the American Bank and Trust Company. 

American Bank and Trust was a subsidiary of the Swiss-Israel Trade Bank, a Mossad financial operation of which Rosenbaum and his long-time associate, Shaul Eisenberg, had been directors. By coincidence—maybe not—Swiss-Israel Trade Bank assumed management of American Bank and Trust on a very memorable day: November 22, 1963.249 

Installed as one of the new directors of the company was New York businessman Abe Feinberg. It was Feinberg, whom we first met in Chapter 4, who was instrumental in arranging highly critical American Jewish financial support for the 1960 presidential campaign of then-Senator John F. Kennedy. 

American Bank and Trust had an unhappy ending. The company was looted in 1975-76 by financier David Gravier who subsequently was supposed to have died in an airplane crash in Mexico. Tibor Rosenbaum's BCI also, incidentally, had a similarly unhappy ending. The bank collapsed in 1974 resulting in a scandal that shook Israel to its core. In his book, Jews and Money: The Myths and the Reality, author Gerald Krefetz details the collapse of the Lansky-Mossad banking operation. 

THE ADL BANKS 

The Bank of Miami Beach and the City National Bank of Miami were Lansky's chief money laundering banks in the United States and both included several Lansky associates, most notably one Max Orovitz, as directors. In 1963, in fact Lansky began planning the installation of his gambling casinos in the Bahamas in Orovitz' office. Finally, when Lansky himself ultimately settled in Israel, he initially took up residence in the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, owned by Lansky's Miami banker friend, Orovitz. 

Lansky's Miami banks were central to Lansky's gambling operations in the Caribbean. According to former C.I.A contract agent Robert Morrow, the Bank of Miami Beach "was originally set up to service Cuban casinos operated by organized crime and continued to perform laundering services through the 1960's—and was still considered mob-connected. It was considered a sister bank of the Miami National Bank in the 1960's, sharing many of the same directors and performing many of the same services." 250 

These Miami banks, additionally, have close ties to the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, Israel's intelligence and propaganda arm in this country. For example, Leonard Abess was chairman and founder of City National Bank of Miami. His bank managed A.D.L Foundation funds and Abess himself served as A.D.L national vice chairman. 251 

City National's chairman, beginning in 1982, was Donald Beazley, who was a former director of the mysterious Australian Nugan Hand Bank.252 The Nugan Hand Bank, the subject of an interesting study by Jonathan Kwitny entitled The Crimes of Patriots, has been repeatedly linked to international drug money trafficking out of Southeast Asia conducted through the conduit of CIA operations in the region. 

(And as we shall see in Chapter 12, Lansky utilized the CIA's activities in Southeast Asia as a cover for his drug-running operations which were, in fact, carried out hand-in-hand with the CIA. In Chapter 15, however, we shall see the Lansky-Rosenbaum connection once again, and in further detail. Their linkage is critical to recognizing the important role that Israel played in the JFK assassination conspiracy. 

THE GODFATHER GOES HOME 

It was in 1970, finally, that Meyer Lansky pulled up stakes and settled in Israel. Under Israel's unique "Law of Return" any Jew from anywhere in the world could claim Israeli citizenship. That is what Lansky did. 

At home in the United States, Lansky was under criminal investigation. Exile in Israel seemed a likely way of escaping the trouble. Israel was an ideal location for Lansky to relocate his operations and he set about plans for setting up the Jewish State as the new, formal headquarters for his global crime syndicate. As Hank Messick put it: "As chairman of the board of the Syndicate International, [Lansky] could operate just as easily—perhaps more easily—from Tel Aviv as Miami Beach." 253 Lansky's longtime associate Joseph (Doc) Stacher had already gone to Israel to live. So had a wide-ranging assortment of other American Jewish mobsters, including Lansky's good friend Phil "The Stick" Kovolick. 

The Mossad-dominated government of Israel seemed to welcome these criminals as new countryman. Israel, according to Newsweek, "appeared to be motivated by self-interest. Each year, Lansky and his underworld associates pour vast sums into Israeli bonds and Israeli philanthropies. 

MOB MONEY IN ISRAEL 

"As the daily Ha'aretz saw it, the government seemed afraid of losing the millions of dollars in illicit money first 'laundered' in mob-controlled institutions and then funneled into Israeli business and industry"254 

Lansky's initial entree to Israel was quietly orchestrated. Word leaked out that a wealthy "Miami philanthropist” had taken up residence in the Jewish State. However, circumstances beyond Lansky's control made matters difficult for the grand wizard of the underworld. 

During his stay in Israel, two American grand juries (in March of 1971 and in June of 1972) handed down indictments against Lansky and several of his associates. The first indictment charged—correctly, of course—that Lansky had been skimming millions from the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The second indictment charged Lansky with income tax evasion. 

There were more than a few honest, law-abiding Israelis who objected to the "chairman of the board" staking his future in Israel, and the political pressure was such that there was widespread clamor for his deportation. It didn't help matters that fearless crime reporter Hank Messick's biography of Lansky appeared during that same period and portions of it appeared in the Israeli press. Lansky himself made his own loyalties clear, however. In a friendly series of interviews with Ma'ariv, an Israeli daily, Lansky said, "I don't care what they wrote and write about me in America. I care what they think of me in Israel."255 

Between the public outcry in Israel and pressure from American authorities, the Israel government buckled and agreed to expel Lansky. However, the "boss of all bosses" appealed his expulsion all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. The emotional issue of a Jew who had made "aliyah" and settled in Israel under the Law of Return—and who was then being expelled to face possible punishment in a criminal court in another country—played heavily in Lansky's favor. However, despite Lansky's best efforts—including an offer of $10,000,000 if he was permitted to remain—he was forced to return to the United States. 

LANSKY IN DECLINE 

By this time, Lansky was in ill health and even underwent open-heart surgery. However, as the Wall Street Journal noted: "Whenever the heat [was] on—an investigation made public, a grand jury inquiry, a new task force of federal crime fighters on his trail—stories suddenly abound that Meyer Lansky is dying of cancer or some other terminal illness. In the files of the New York State Police, there exists a report made out in the 1920's that says Meyer Lansky is a bad guy, all right, but there's no need to worry because he's a sickly man who won't live out the year."256 

But Lansky's traditional magical powers over the American criminal justice system were still with him. First of all, a jury in his home base of Miami acquitted him on the income tax evasion charges. Then, in mob controlled Nevada, the criminal charges against Lansky were thrown out of court on the basis that Lansky was in ill health. And in Washington, U.S. Solicitor General Robert Bork decided that going after Lansky—the ruling boss of international organized crime—was not in the nation's best interests. Bork decided that the Justice Department just didn't have a case against Lansky. The case was dropped.257 Lansky had once again prevailed—to nobody's surprise. 

(Bork later suffered an ignominious rejection by the Senate when nominated for the Supreme Court. However, it was not Bork's pandering to Lansky that weighed against him—although it probably should have.) 

Lansky's remaining years were quiet ones spent with his wife and dog and an assortment of other aging racketeers. He still maintained some oversight over his business operations but increasing health problems continued to plague him. The mastermind behind the global crime syndicate finally died on January 15, 1983.

In his final years—and posthumously—Lansky (with the willing help of Hollywood and the rest of the media) became a folk hero of sorts. Gangsterism was being made fashionable—even as the glory days of John F. Kennedy and Camelot were being trashed by that same media. Lansky's days with Benjamin Siegel were glamorized in films such as The Gangster Chronicles, The Neon Empire, and in Mobsters, where a host of teen idols played Lansky, Siegel, Costello and Luciano in their early years. 

Author Robert Lacey—who had previously written a glowing profile of the British royal family—turned his attention to the royal family of the international crime syndicate and produced—with the help of the Lansky family—a Lansky biography, Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life. Lacey's epic tells much—but ignores a lot. He would have us believe that Lansky was, more than anything, a devoted family man, and not the ruthless thug that he truly was. Even as Lacey's Lansky biography was hitting the bookstores, yet another Hollywood production brought Lansky to the screen. This film, Bugsy, starring heart-throb Warren Beatty as Benjamin Siegel, cast the highly-regarded actor Ben Kingsley (who had even played Mahatma Gandhi) as a wise and all-knowing Meyer Lansky. 

However, the Hollywood versions of the life and times of Meyer Lansky were far from the truth, no matter how colorful a story they told about the evil genius they portrayed. 

Thus, even in death, Meyer Lansky prevailed. Lansky's central role As a virtual middleman between the high-level forces that conspired in the assassination of John F. Kennedy has been cleverly buried by a willing media. "Israel's Godfather" was lionized almost as a misunderstood statesman. Meyer Lansky, however, was not that. 

Instead, Lansky was a cynical, cold-blooded killer who had ordered the death of his closest friend—Benjamin Siegel—and who certainly had no qualms about helping orchestrate the murder of an American president who threatened not only his own survival, but that of his beloved State of Israel.

to be continued....


footnotes
Chapter Seven Israel's Godfather 
196 Marvin Miller. The Breaking of a President: The Nixon Connection. (Covina, California: Classic Publications, 1975), p. 336. 
197 The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 1969, p. 1. 
198 Miller, p. 327. 
199 Martin Gosch & Richard Hammer. The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. (Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1974), p. 229. 
200 Robert D. Morrow. The Senator Must Die: The Murder of Robert F. Kennedy. (Santa Monica, California: Roundtable Publishing, Inc., 1988), p. 238. 
201 The Spotlight, September 25, 1978. 
202 Gosch & Hammer, p. 381. 
203 Ibid., p. 431. 
204 Robert Lacey. Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life. (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1991), p. 386. 
205 Hank Messick. Lansky. (New York: Berkley Medallion Books, 1971), pp. 8-10. 
206 Gosch & Hammer, p. 146. 
207 Peter Dale Scott. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993), p. 192. 
208 Peter Dale Scott. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993), p. 187. 
209 Ibid. 
210 Mickey Cohen with John Peer Nugent. Mickey Cohen: In My Own Words. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1975), p. 35. 
211 Ibid. 
212 Messick, p. 215. 
213 Executive Intelligence Review. Dope, Inc. (New York: New Benjamin Franklin House, 1986), p. 587. 
214 Michael Milan. The Squad: The U.S. Government's Secret Alliance With Organized Crime. (New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1989), p. 194. 
215 Hank Messick. Secret File. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969), p. 185. 
216 Interview with Ma'ariv, July 5, 1971. 
217 Milan, p. 206. 
218 Washington Observer, May 15, 1969. 219 Twin Circle , September 29, 1968. 
220 Executive Intelligence Review. (Dope, Inc.), pp. 578-579. 
221 Curt Gentry. J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991), p. 530. 
222 Ibid., p. 531. 
223 Tom Mangold. Cold Warrior. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 235. 
224 Peter Dale Scott. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993), p. 64. 
225 Morrow, p. 98. 
226 Sam Giancana and Chuck Giancana. Double Cross: The Explosive Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America. (New York: Warner Books, 1992), p. 255. 
227 Ibid., p. 256. 
228 Gentry, p. 495. 
229 Ibid., p. 628. 
230 Antony Summers. Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1993), pp. 244-245. 
231 Messick, p. 276. 
232 Lacey, p. 163. 
233 Ibid., p. 164. 
234 Robert I. Friedman. The False Prophet: Rabbi Meir Kahane: From FBI Informant to Knesset Member. (New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1990), p. 144. 
235 Intelligence Review. Moscow's Secret Weapon: Ariel Sharon and the Israeli Mafia. (Washington, D.C.: Executive Intelligence Review, March 1, 1986), p. 14. 
236 Ibid 237 Ibid., pp. 14-15. 
238 Ibid 
239 Andrew Cockburn and Leslie Cockburn. Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship. (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991), pp. 41-42. 240 Ed Reid. The Grim Reapers: The Anatomy of Organized Crime in America, City by City. (New York: Pocket Books edition, 1964), p. 293. 
241 Messick, pp. 248-249. 
242 Executive Intelligence Review (Moscow), p. 17 
243 Ibid, p. 16. 
244 Ibid., p. 18. 245 Life, September 16, 1967. 
246 Messick, Ibid. 247 Jim Hougan. Spooks: The Haunting of America—The Private Use of Secret Agents. (New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1985), p. 172. 
248 Executive Intelligence Review (Moscow,), p. 13. 
249 Ibid., p. 16. 
250 Morrow, p . 152 . 
251 Executive Intelligence Review. Project Democracy: The 'Parallel Government' Behind the Iran-Contra Affair. (Washington, D.C.: Executive Intelligence Review, April 1987), pp. 271-272. 
252 Ibid., p. 272. 
253 Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt. The Mobs and the Mafia. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972), p. 204. 
254 Newsweek, November 29, 1971. 
255 Lacey, p. 333. [466]  
256 Wall Street Journal, Ibid. 
257 Lacey, pp. 383-384. 

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