Lansky Meyer

Meyer Lansky Mobster Letter to Israeli Security Agency Officer While Awaiting Trial in Federal Court

“As always I take my matters in stride.”

In this revealing letter, the “Mob’s Accountant” writes to an Israeli friend eight months after his deportation from Israel and return to the United States and three months after open-heart surgery. In February 1973, a federal judge convicted him of contempt of court for failing to respond to a subpoena but had appealed that ruling and won a reversal in December. A month after writing this letter, Lansky was acquitted in a federal district court in Miami of income tax evasion. In August 1974, a federal judge refused to dismiss charges against Lansky related to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas but said the case would “lie dormant.”

Meyer Lansky, autograph letter signed, to Joseph “Yushki” Sheiner, June 22, 1973, [Miami Beach, Florida]. 1 p., 8.5" x 11". Two holes punched in right side, slightly affecting two words; very good.

Complete Transcript

"June 22, 1973.

Dear Yushki:

It was a pleasure to hear your voice again; you sounded well, that was a pleasure. All my efforts to stay in Israel would have been in vain. My heart were closing in on me, but all is well. How long it will last is anybodies guess. As always I take my matters in stride.

I was sorry to hear about Yorum not calling you. I hope that Raffi was in touch with you? do let me know.

If you want to settle with Azriels friend for half, do it but I know in my heart that the same thing would have happened there.

I received a letter from Shlomo. He hopes to come here for advance schooling.

I wish you luck in your new business. I hope that the family is in good health. Ted joins me in expressing our fondest wishes to you, Seppi and the children. Also my best wishes to Joe, Mushki and Shlomo and family.

All the best to all of you

Meyer".

In 1970, Lansky left the United States for Israel to avoid tax evasion charges. He tried to take advantage of Israel’s Law of Return to claim Israeli citizenship A legal battle lasting more than two years ended in Israel’s highest court, which ruled that Lansky was not entitled to Israeli citizenship because his “criminal past is a danger to public safety.”
In October 1972, Israel demanded that Lansky leave the country. With Joseph Sheiner accompanying him, Lansky first flew on November 5 to Switzerland, which denied him entry. They then flew to South America, where Lansky offered $1 million to any country that would grant him asylum. Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Panama all rejected his offer. When he landed in Miami, Florida, on November 7, after a 13,400-mile exodus, authorities promptly arrested him. He quickly posted bail and was released.
Lansky had open heart surgery in March 1973. When he was tried for tax evasion in July 1973, “Fat Vinnie” Teresa swore that he had made a payment to Lansky in Miami as part of his earnings from a London casino. Lansky’s wife Thelma “Teddy” Lansky took the stand and insisted that her husband had been in a Boston hotel recovering from a hernia operation and taking care of a sick dog on the date Teresa allegedly made the payment to Lansky. The jury ultimately acquitted Lansky of the charges. Court-appointed doctors also found that Lansky was suffering from heart trouble, chronic bronchitis, ulcers, bursitis, and arthritis.
Despite repeated efforts to visit Israel again after his deportation in 1972, Lansky never returned.
Meyer Lansky (1902-1983) was born Meier Suchowlanski in the Russian Empire (now Belarus) into a Polish-Jewish family. He emigrated to the United States in 1911 and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There he met Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906-1947) and Charles “Lucky” Luciano (1897-1962), with whom he became lifelong friends and business partners. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928. In 1929, Lansky married Anna Citron (d. 1984), and they had three children before divorcing in 1946. By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans, and Cuba, and developed a reputation for integrity in gambling, while still making a profit because of his understanding of the mathematical odds. During World War II, Lansky reached an agreement with the U.S. Navy by which the Italian-American Mafia would provide security for warships being built in New York harbor against German infiltrators and sympathizers in exchange for the release of Luciano from prison. Lansky also convinced the Italian-American Mafia to place Siegel in charge of Las Vegas and invested in Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel there, carefully sheltering his earnings in anonymous Swiss bank accounts. In 1946, Lansky attended a secret meeting in Havana to discuss Siegel’s poor management of the Flamingo Hotel, which cost the Mafia investors a great deal of money. A second meeting determined that Siegel would have to go, and Siegel was murdered in June 1947. In 1948, Lansky married Thelma “Teddy” Schwarz (1907-1997). In the 1950s, Lansky served as an unofficial gambling minister for Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The 1959 Cuban Revolution wiped out Lansky’s assets on the island, when Fidel Castro nationalized the hotels and outlawed gambling. With the crackdown on casinos in Miami, Lansky depended on the revenue he received from his Las Vegas investments. In 1970, he fled to Herzliya Pituah, Israel, to escape tax evasion charges. Despite Israel’s broad Law of Return allowing any Jews to settle in Israel, Israeli authorities could use discretion against those with a criminal background. After a 26-month legal battle that went to Israel’s highest court, authorities deported Lansky back to the United States, where he was tried and acquitted in 1974. He spent the remainder of his life in Miami Beach. Despite his years of involvement in organized crime, he spent only two months in prison, in 1953 for a New York gambling conviction.
Joseph Sheiner served as security director for Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in the 1960s. Sheiner was a member of the Israel Security Agency, who tried to secure Israeli citizenship for Meyer Lansky. When that effort failed, he accompanied Lansky on his thirty-six-hour flight seeking asylum.
This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.
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