According to Robert Lacey, author of "Little Man - Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life" (the absolute best and most thoroughly researched Mob bio, IMO), Lansky never was worth more than $5-6 million at his peak. Hank Messick, a Miami-based reporter, erroneously wrote that Lansky was "boss of the Eastern Syndicate" and was worth $300 million--both the wildest kind of exaggerations. But, like all Mob exaggerations, it stuck, resulting in the Justice Department harassing him for the rest of his life. He may have had money stashed away somewhere, but not even Jimmy Blue Eyes was able to find it; and it is credible that he died broke.

He had tons of pull in Havana because Fulgencio Batista, the once and future president of Cuba, liked and trusted him. When he returned to power in 1952, Batista immediately brought Lansky in to clean up gambling, which was so crooked that tourists were staying away in droves. Lansky got a $100,000/year retainer to operate the Nacional's casino, and he installed his brother, Jake, to oversee it. But, he didn't have an ownership interest in a Havana casino until he and other investors (including Batista) built the Riviera. Santos Trafficante was the biggest Mob owner in Havana. The Riviera opened in March '58; Castro confiscated it the following year. So much for the Mob's "genius."

One of the reasons he died peacefully at 80, according to Lacey, is that he was never as big as he was portrayed. "He was the accountant, not the boss."