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More or less banned in the USA, which is one more reason to read it

a book review by Eric Jackson

La vida secreta de Meyer Lansky en La Habana

by Enrique Cirules

Editorial de Ciencias Sociales (La Habana 2006)

247 pp., $5 in paperback

This reviewer doesn't read as quickly in Spanish as in English, so it took awhile to finish this book, which was obtained from the Cuban booksellers' corner at the International Book Fair in ATLAPA earlier this year.

So let's cut to the chase: who gets whacked?

Actually, some legendary Cuban gangsters who had nothing to do with Lansky, in the part where the main character describes the events of his upbringing, and the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. This is the tale of a man who grew up in Havana and came to be a casino dealer for the Lansky organization in Las Vegas, then a teacher of other dealers, then in the last couple of years in pre-revolutionary Havana was Meyer Lansky's main aide.

Alas, no appearances by Louis Lepke or Pittsburgh Phil. No guys wearing double breasted, wide lapeled, pin striped suits and carrying violin cases. Nobody doing drive-bys with a Thompson.

However, there are tales of tensions with the New York families and a retreat into an underground existence when Albert Anastasia gets whacked in a barber's chair in the Big Apple. There are hints that when the heat moved in on the Appalachin gangland summit it was on a tip from Lansky or someone in Lansky's organization.

And if we don't get to meet Murder Incorporated, we do become acquainted with folks like Santo Trafficante and Joe Stasi, some of the previous Cuban dictatorship's more prominent thugs, and smooth mob front men including a cameo appearance by George Raft.

This is the tale of a ruthless but cautious man, the Jewish financier who turned the Prohibition-era Mafia into a much more lucrative corporate operation. The book is worthwhile as a glimpse into an unglamorous world in which big-time crime and Latin American political corruption crossed paths. That Lansky comes across as an astute and talented business and political analyst rather than a stereotypical monster, a diminutive man with good taste rather than a crude strongarm thug, a Jew who may not have kept kosher but nevertheless remembered his roots, puts a human face on the business of public corruption. If you sympathize with the guy there's something wrong with your emotions or your morals, but if you understand him you will be better prepared to do your civic duty when the time comes.

You may, when reading this book, find a striking similarity between today's corporate lobbying and Lansky's strategy to get the casinos reopened after Batista's fall. One would imagine that those who censor the Cuban press and book publishing industry would want the message that little distinguishes organized crime from corporate capitalism to get through. You do need to keep the fact of censorship and the censors' biases in mind when reading this or anything else coming out of Cuba.

Because this reviewer is a dual US-Panamanian citizen and because this book is published in Cuba, it was arguably a violation of the US trade embargo to plunk down five bucks for its purchase. There won't be any apology forthcoming.

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