In 1931, Lansky helped organize the murders of Mafia bosses Salvatore Maranzano and Joe Masseria. They also launched an enforcement business for other bootleggers, exerting punishments that included murder. The trio poured their profits into more than 100 legitimate and illegal businesses. Lansky organized the entire operation with his calculator-like brain and perfect memory. Lansky would later admit that in this period his crew was " running the most-efficient international shipping business in the world." There was no paper trail. Technically they started a vehicle rental business which was a front company for them to transport alcohol from Canada and off cargo ships sitting in international waters. Recognizing an opportunity, Lansky and Siegel partnered with a new friend named Charles "Lucky" Luciano to form their own bootlegging business. Around this time Meyer was working as an auto mechanic and noticed that a number of the cars he was servicing were stolen cars being used by bootleggers. In 1920, the US passed the Volstead Act which outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol. For extra money on the side, he ran a neighborhood dice game. Criminal CareerĪfter leaving school, Meyer took a job at a tool and die maker. They would go on to be lifelong best friends. One of Meyer's closest childhood friends was Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Meyer had perfect "A" grades in school, but did not go beyond the eighth grade. They joined his father, who had moved two years earlier, in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Lansky immigrated to the United States in 1911 with his mother and brother. When he was brought to the United States, his parents could not remember his birthday, so an immigration officer listed it as July 4, 1902. Meyer Lansy was born Meier Suchowlański was born in Grodno (formerly in Russian Empire).
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