Originally posted by Turnbull:
FH: Though Lansky was reputed to have been worth $300 million, his biographer, Robert Lacey, notes that the figure was erroniously stated by a journalist, Hank Greenspun, who subsequently admitted the mistake. Lacey believes Lansky was worth, at his peak, $5 million--not chopped liver, but not $300M, either. He died more or less broke, after using his last $50k for an operation on his neer-do-well son, Buddy. Lacey says the reason Lansky died peacefully at age 81 was that he was never rich enough or powerful enough to attract jealousy from other Mob bosses: "He was the accountant, not the boss."[/QB]