Even when he went to prison he still held enough influence to be asked to help out in any possible waterfront espionage.
Yes! In fact, the incident didn't involve sabotage, but thanks to Luciano's reputation, the government sought his help anyway:
The French liner Normandie was interned by the US government in the Port of New York after France fell in WWII. Following America's entry into the war, the government decided to convert the Normandie to a troop carrier. A worker who was careless with a torch set a bunch of burlap sacks on fire, and it eventually involved the entire ship, causing it to capsize. But the military commander of the port suspected sabotage by dockworkers of German and Italian descent.
This suspicion reached Joseph (Socks) Lanza, Mafia boss of the waterfront. He brought it to Meyer Lansky. Lansky approached Murray Gurfein, a NYC judge who had been Thomas Dewey's top assistant when Dewey was the special prosecutor who put Luciano in prison. The offer: Transfer Luciano to a better prison, and mitigate his sentence, and all "sabotage" will cease. Dewey went along with it. "Sabotage" was never an issue, but the Mob figured, hey, if they wanna believe it, and if they believe Charlie can "stop the sabotage," the least we can do is go along with them.
