Messick wrote in the Miami Herald that Lansky was "the boss of the Eastern Syndicate," and was "worth $300 million." Both were preposterous exaggerations. But, as everyone here knows, BS like that sticks. Messick's article was enough to set the Justice Dept. hounding him for the rest of his life--they even leaned on the Israeli government to expel him.
Robert Lacey, author of "Little Man - Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life," the most thoroughly researched and footnoted Mob biography, says Lansky was worth no more than $6 million at his peak--not peanuts then or now, but hardly the stuff of $300 million. The reason Lansky lived to age 81 and died peacefully in bed, says Lacey, was that "he was the accountant, he was never the boss." I think that conclusion vastly understates Lansky's pervasive, long-term influence. But, a big part of his influence was that he was never so rich and so powerful as to engender fear, resentment, jealousy and envy among Mob bosses that so often leads to murder.
I've always been a fan of Robert Lacey's writing style—it's just so captivating. It pulls you right in, convincing you that he's capturing the essence of a man everyone's been trying to unravel. Funny thing is, Lacey was not a crime reporter. In fact, the world of organized crime was like uncharted waters for him when he dove into Meyer Lansky's life and misdeeds.
While some of Messick's claims might make you raise an eyebrow, a good chunk holds up under scrutiny. But here's where Lacey's approach gets tricky. He nods at the FBI, the big-time informants, and those juicy wiretaps featuring the likes of Gyp DeCarlo and even Lansky himself. Then, he throws it all out the window, banking on just one guy's take: Lansky's estranged son, Buddy. Now, Buddy—never quite hit the mark in life, always at odds with his own kin—ends up as Lacey's main source. Why? It makes very little sense.
The truth lies somewhere in between, yet ironically, despite his imperfections, Messick may have been closer to the mark. I believe what's causing skepticism are terms like "Boss of the National Crime Syndicate" or the "$300 million figure." Sometimes, reading between the lines is necessary.
