Final_Judgment

[74] Final Judgment 135
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.
(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