There's an amusing backstory connected with this interview:
Lansky applied for Israeli citizenship, and should have gotten it. But the Justice Dept. had a real hardon for him, and they convinced the Israeli government to turn him down. He appealed to their Supreme Court. To bolster his case, Lansky agreed to help the interviewer shown here, Uri Dan, to write his "authorized biography." Dan didn't know anything about US organized crime, and he was so gaga over The Great Meyer that Lansky crapped him up to a fare-thee-well.
For example: Lansky said that Abner "Longy" Zwillman, the boss of Newark, NJ's Prohibition rackets, "ran with my gang when we were teenagers." Uh, Meyer...neither the Lincoln nor Holland Tunnels, nor the Washington Bridge, were open between NJ and NY when you and Longy were teenagers. In order for Longy to "run with your gang," he'd have had to take several buses, a ferry and a commuter train to get to the Lower East Side of Manhattan--probably two hours each way. Crime-commuting, anyone?
Lansky also told Dan that he and Bugsy Siegel were "great pals" of Al Capone because Bugsy "sheltered Capone in his house on 14th Street" and helped Capone to make escape to Chicago. Yeah, Meyer. Right, Meyer. Sure, Meyer...Bugsy Siegel was all of 13 years old when Capone split for Chicago in 1919. Ever know a 13-year-old who owned his own home? And with what did he pay for Capone's train ticket to Chicago? Leftover gifts from his Bar Mitzvah?
Lansky was right about that incriminating newspaper article. Hank Messick, a tabloid journalist, wrote a sensationalist article claiming Lansky was the "czar" of organized crime, and was worth "300 million." That article set the Justice Dept. on his case. But Lansky's biographer, Robert Lacey, said he was worth no more than $5 - 6 million in his peak years (the Twenties and Thirties). Lansky was "the accountant, not the boss," Lacey wrote, which was why he lived to 81 and died peacefully--he was never rich or powerful enough to attract the kind of jealousy and resentment that proved fatal to real Mob bosses.
