Legendary organized crime leader (1902-1983) who headed the notorious ‘enforcement’ syndicate Murder, Inc., which emerged in the early 1930s as successor to the warring Prohibition gangs and the old-line Mafia, and continued to operate into the 1950s. ALS signed “Shalom, Meyer,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, September 11, 1974. Handwritten letter to his Israeli confidante, Joseph "Yushki" Sheiner, a member of the Israeli Security Agency and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion’s security director in the 1960s. In this interesting letter, Lansky makes reference to his own federal tax evasion charges, as well as the Watergate scandal and President Ford's pardon of Nixon, which came on September 8, 1974. In part: "You now know that I'm cleared of all my matters, soon I will be able to travel. As of now I haven't asked for my passport but I will in a few months. I would like to know what comments if any on me?…Your premier received a warm welcome from our President (Mr. Clean) who doesn't look clean to us anymore. We thought we were through with Watergate. Again it is first in our daily life." In fine condition, with two file holes to the right edge. Lansky fled to Israel in 1970 to evade charges of federal tax evasion but was deported by the Israeli government in 1972. It was Sheiner who accompanied Lansky on his infamous flight from Israel to Switzerland and South America. Unable to secure asylum, Lansky ultimately returned to Miami, where he was promptly arrested by the FBI on an outstanding warrant. He was acquitted in 1974, though he was never allowed to return to his beloved Israel. Lansky passed away in Miami in 1983.
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