Final_Judgment

136 Israel’s Godfather [75]
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.