Description:

Lansky Meyer



Meyer Lansky Asks His Daughter if She Has Gotten His Dividend Check and About Christmas Presents!


Autograph Letter Signed “Love /Dad,” one page, 8.5” x 10.75”. [Herzlia/Tel-Aviv, Israel], December 31, 1970. On lightweight lined paper. To Meyer Lansky’s daughter Sandra and her husband, Vince Lombardo. Fine condition.



In part, “This is my last letter to you for 1970. You needn’t apologize for not answering promptly … I thought you would take of Christmas presents for all of you including Buddy [Sandra eldest brother]. I was thinking of you this morning. Thinking what a wonderful secretary you make and here you fell down on me. You take care of the Christmas presents and enjoy it. (tell me what you got for every one. Did Garfield mail the checks for the Watson Wells if not have Jack [Meyer’s brother] get after him and keep after him also suggest to him that I want to be paid direct from the Oil Line … Sandra check my deposit slips & statement to see if Teddy [wife Thelma] forgot to enter Bay refining check … ”



Robert Lacey in “Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life” (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1991) writes, “In 1964, Meyer Lansky finally laid hands on a legitimate investment that made some money. He bought himself an oil well … Under the tutelage of [old friend Sam] Garfield, Meyer expanded his oil and gas holdings. The two men bought more Michigan leases together, and they extended into Ohio … He was scarcely an oil tycoon – and never an oil millionaire. But thanks to Sam Garfield, he was successful. His energy concessions brought him revenues in the $25,000-$30,000-a-year range … confirming the impression that he sought to convey, of a retired businessman, living on his investment … In 1964, Meyer’s old friend Doc Stacher had avoided the worst consequences of a conviction for tax evasion by consenting to deportation and going to Israel to live. In July 1970, Meyer Lansky decided not to wait for the conviction – or anything else … Lansky landed in Israel on July 27, 1970 … He wanted to stay in Israel – and he wanted to live there not as a visitor, but as an Israeli citizen.”



Three weeks before he wrote this letter, on December 7, 1970, Lansky requested Israeli citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return which gives any Jew the right to be granted Israeli citizenship. However, it denies citizenship to a Jew “with a criminal past, likely to endanger the public welfare.” A week later, in an affidavit, Lansky stated that he retired from active business in 1959 and was living exclusively on dividends from his real estate and oil investments, and that his annual income was “roughly $60,000 (before taxes).”



In March 1971, Lansky was charged with being involved in a conspiracy to skim from the Flamingo Hotel, his old Las Vegas venture with Bugsy Siegel. In May, Lansky’s U.S. passport was revoked and in September, his application for Israeli citizenship was denied. “Meyer Lansky v. the State of Israel” was heard before the Israeli Supreme Court and on September 11, 1972, the court ruled unanimously against Lansky. After trying to find refuge outside the United States, on November 7, 1972, Meyer Lansky returned to Miami and was promptly arrested by FBI agents aboard the plane.



In a 1988 interview with Robert Lacey, Anna Strasberg revealed that Meyer Lansky had phoned her husband, Lee Strasberg who was nominated for the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role of Hyman Roth in “The Godfather, Part II.” With her husband’s knowledge, Anna listened in on the extension. Lansky said, “You did good.” Lee replied, “Thank you. I tried.” Lansky added, almost with a sense of humor according to Anna, “Now, why couldn’t you have made me more sympathetic? After all, I am a grandfather.”



Victor Riesel, in his December 10, 1970, nationally syndicated column, “Inside Labor,” reported that “in the past month there have been two mass indictments … on various charges. One … is a 72-count securities fraud indictment and brings in some new names such as Vincent Lombardo, son-in-law of the shadowy financial wizard, Meyer Lansky … ”


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