Meyer Lanksy’s son appointed to Westpoint.
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a major organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, instrumental in the development of the " Syndicate" in the United States.
Lansky developed a gambling empire around the globe. He owned points (percentages) in casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, The Bahamas and London. Although a Jew, Lansky undoubtedly had strong influence with the Italian Mafia and the Teamsters. He played a major role in the consolidation of the criminal underworld.
However after fifty years as a member-participant in organized crime,[3]Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling.[4] He has a legacy of being one of the most successful (in terms of finance) gangsters in American history.
During the investigation of Irwin Sherman, a New York City dress manufacturer, about his association with Mayor William O’Dwyer, denied a 1942 meeting between the Mayor and Frank Costello, in the racketeer’s Central Park home. Sherman was also asked if he knew New York Congressman Arthur Klein. Sherman said that he knew him as a boyhood friend and revealed that he tried to get an appointment to Westpoint for Meyer Lansky’s son, Paul. Representative Klein promptly confirmed it. He said that Paul Lansky got the appointment in 1949, and he had seen no reason to think it was not a wise appointment, since he had excellent grades.
“He is a very fine boy,” Mr. Klein said. “I checked on it. His father came in to see me and told me he saw no reason why his son should suffer for what he did.”
In the 1930s, Meyer Lansky and his gang claimed to have stepped outside their usual criminal activities to break up rallies held by the pro-Nazi German-American Bund. Lansky recalled a particular rally in Yorkville, a German neighborhood in Manhattan, that he claimed he and 14 other associates disrupted:
The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Adolf Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We threw some of them out the windows. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up. We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.[10]
During World War II, Lansky was also instrumental in helping the Office of Naval Intelligence's Operation Underworld, in which the government recruited criminals to watch out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs.
According to Lucky Luciano's authorized biography, during this time, Lansky helped arrange a deal with the U.S. Government via a high-ranking U.S. Navy official. This deal would secure the release of Luciano from prison; in exchange, the Italian Mafia would provide security for the war ships that were being built along the docks in New York Harbor. German submarines were sinking Allied shipping in great numbers along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean coast,[11] and there was great fear of attack or sabotage by Nazi sympathizers.