1. Lansky, I am mostly into older mafia, seems every reading or doc I watch he is mentioned but I cannot find much on him himself. Any recommendations? Also what are your opinions on how much of a gangster this man was, was he truly bigger than Lucky?
I recommend "Meyer Lansky: The Thinking Man's Gangster" by Robert Lacey. I would say in the 1920s he was very much a gangster, but became more of an illegitimate businessman as time went on. Definitely not bigger than Lucky Luciano.
2. Did any Bosses do their own hits, not necessarily when they were soldiers but as bosses, did any boss pull the trigger themselves? I hear of the pre boss stories(Lucky in the bathroom, Gotti in his car, Carlo wherever when Anastasia got hit etc.)
My mind might be blanking but I can't think of any instance when a sitting boss was involved in a hit. Definitely not a normal occurrence.
3. Maybe a dumb question but did anyone pay proper taxes? I heard of a guy who had been put on a payroll as a regular avg earner, they found his mansion and realized he couldn't afford it inherited or not on his income, in true mafia fashion he had company's put him on payroll but again in true fashion he probably evaded taxes after anyways. I assume none but did anyone pay properly on their millions to the IRS, not tell them how they made it but at least paid on it?
There's plenty of cases where mobsters have held no-show jobs to show how they can afford their lifestyle and others who have laundered their illegal income, but I'm sure none have declared all the money they made.
Then again, Jimmy Fratianno mentioned that guys like Moe Dalitz who used to run gambling houses in Cleveland used to declare a lot of the money they made which enabled them to invest in Las Vegas.
