#meyer lansky

Lacey makes the point, one I haven't seen expressed in other books concerning organized crime, that the American perception of the Mob is fictious on many fronts. The most compelling point he makes asserts that it is the mindset of the people and agencies reporting on the Mob that give it its presumed corporate structure, as there is no hard evidence to suggest this is true of real organized crime (and there's even evidence to suggestion it isn't.)

The idea that the Mob is not a structured, pseudo-corporate entity spanning the nation, and is instead characterized as such by the semi-militaristic-bureaucratic cops and feds and police reporters who identify Mob activity is a point that I found very refreshing. In a genre of nonfiction that so often relies on fabulists, Lacey is a reprieve for focusing on provable fact. This is the primary reason I recommend the book, he takes the subject matter seriously enough to argue that the myth of Meyer Lansky and the Mob is a convenient bedtime story for a troubled nation.

Lacey stumbles where many scholars of organized crime do: Women are set dressing to him and the workings of economics and the requirements of a grifter's mindset evade him. He is interested in mobsters philosophizing with feds, instead of realizing a crook with his back against a wall and a Senate community in front of his nose will do whatever it takes to get out of the hot seat. Broadly, Lacey makes a 'crime doesn't pay!' case as he compares the evidence of Lansky's finances against the sales and salaries of straight businessmen, but he makes glaring omissions about the interplay of politics and economics. If a Mob owned casino was sold to a straight company in 1970 and the profits from that casino increased tenfold through the 1980s it may not be because the American public breathed a sigh of relief at not playing at a gangster's table. It might have something to do with Reaganomics.

Meyer Lansky's Medal of Freedom given to him by the United States government after corresponding with an exiled Luciano to ensure a safe landing for U.S. Naval Forces upon arrival to Sicily during WWII.

meyer lansky

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