Final_Judgment

[88] Final Judgment 149
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