I never understood why the authorities had to take custody of Roth at the end before Rocco kills him. Along those same lines, why was he not allowed to live in Isreal even for a million dollars? What did he do?

He was wanted for alleged income tax evasion which the feds prbably wanted to use to pressure him to give up info on his associates.

As a notorious syndicate boss who was wanted for tax evasion it would have been bad PR for Israel to accept Roth, over the furious objections of its most important ally and patron.

The real life model for Roth , Lanksy, was able to stay in Israel for two years but was ultimately deported after the US turned up the pressure on the Golda Meir government.

How did you know this? Is it just from Lansky's history or did I miss something in the movie that alluded to it.



btw, thanks for the answer...

Lilo's right. But it was Israel's Supreme Court that ruled in the government's favor to refuse Lansky permanent residence.

No problem. It's from Lanksy's history. After he was forced to leave Israel he tried to seek asylum in a number of places but returned to Miami. There he was found guilty of contempt of court. But in his trial for tax evasion Lanksy was able to prove that the government's witness, Mafia turncoat Vinnie Teresa, was lying about having met Lanksy. So Lanksy was able to beat the charge and also had the first conviction overturned.

GFII really does Lansky a disservice, because the fact of the matter is he remained out of jail, out of harm's way, and he lived to a very ripe old age, spending time with his gradchildren, and going every morning for breakfast to a restaurant in Miami Beach called Wolfie's where he basically held court at the same table for friends and hangers on and even curiosity seekers, dispensing all kinds of wisdom about which teams to bet on, politics and other events of the day. He died peacefully in bed, having never spent a day in prison.

Since Roth is based so closely on Lansky, that scene was very authentic. If you get a chace to read Robert Lacey's outstanding bio of Lansky, "Little Man - Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life," you'll see a photo of that scene, and FFC recreated it perfectly (except for Rocco).
Though Lansky was arrested often as a young man, his sole conviction was for a minor gambling violation, for which he served 3 months in a county lockup in Saratoga Springs NY in '53. That conviction alone would not have been enough to make the Israeli government deny him citizenship. But the Justice Department had an, uh, erection for him. They had two trumped up charges--tax evasion and "drugs" (he had a prescription drug for a stomach ailment for which he didn't have a prescription). They leaned on the Israeli government to deport him. He returned to the US and was not convicted of either rap.

I believe Lansky was indicted, and they tried to put him on trial for the charges he beat, and as I recall he had about fifty "heart attacks" every time they empaneled a jury, and the case dragged on forever until the evidence and witnessed went stale, or died of natural causes ... or otherwise.

True. They finally gave up prosecuting him because they said his "health was so bad" that he'd never be able to stand trial. Clever fellow.

I bet a few "friendly judges" didn't hurt things either.