Final_Judgment

Final Judgment 195
federal authorities gave up their interest in Louisiana and its murky political
underworld.
The evidence now indicates that Long's death could have been prevented.
Hank Messick told the story: at a meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the
Arlington Hotel, shortly after Long's death, Frank Costello filled Lansky in
on the truth about Long's departure. "We could have saved him," Costello
told Lansky, "but I didn't see much use in it. The doctors had their orders
to let him die." 361
This apparently was Meyer Lansky's first major involvement in the
assassination of an American political figure with whom Organized Crime
had collaborated. It would not be the last time, however.
That Lansky's lieutenant, Carlos Marcello had his own reasons for
wanting John F. Kennedy out of the way cannot be doubted. The Justice
Department under Robert F. Kennedy had targeted Marcello repeatedly.
John Davis's interesting biography of Marcello provides a detailed
analysis of the Kennedy campaign against Marcello. No wonder Marcello
made his famous oft-told exclamation, "Livarsi na petra di la scarpa" (Take
the stone from my shoe.") Yet, such an emotional outburst does not an
assassination order make.
In fact, there is no evidence anywhere whatsoever that Marcello took
any further affirmative action to have his order—if indeed one can call it an
order—fulfilled.
STALKING LANSKY THROUGH MARCELLO
It's worth noting, in this regard, that Robert Kennedy's systematic
prosecution and harassment of Marcello would have only been a logical first
step in the Justice Department's ultimate prosecution of Meyer Lansky.
This, of course, is a standard procedure in all similar organized crime
prosecutions: first the underlings are targeted—then the boss. In this case, of
course, it would have been the so-called "chairman of the board," Meyer
Lansky.
Seth Kantor, Jack Ruby's acquaintance and biographer, summarizes it
well: "As Attorney General, [Robert F. Kennedy] got more indictments on
members of America's criminal industry than had any previous prosecutor,
pursuing them relentlessly.
"Meyer Lansky, for instance, no longer was safe behind the bolted doors
of that industry's executive suite. The Attorney General put together what
was known inside the Justice Department as the OCD (Organized Crime
Division) and was stalking Lansky's secret operations in the Bahamas and
Las Vegas." 362
The assassination of John F. Kennedy and the demise of Robert
Kennedy's campaign against organized crime as a direct consequence
prevented this from happening. The end of the Kennedy war on organized
crime was a major consequence—a major victory—for the organized crime
fiefdom of Meyer Lansky.