The full line-up from Chicago, 1932.

Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Salvatore Agoglia, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, John Senna, and Harry Brown.

Meyer II’s father, Paul Lansky, was named after the Chicago Outfit’s Paul Ricca.

The National Crime Syndicate, also known as the Mafia, was established in 1929 in Atlantic City, where Meyer and Anna Lansky were honeymooning. Charles “Charlie Lucky” Luciano organized the Sicilian, Italian, and Jewish groups into the five families, to end the bootlegging gang wars and put all efforts into making money. To keep the Syndicate operational and successful, an internal enforcement arm was established so agreements and rules were followed, and Murder, Inc. was created in 1929, then retired, by the late 1940’s.

“At the height of his notoriety, Meyer Lansky was reckoned to be, and was targeted by the U.S. Justice Department, as the biggest gangster in the United States – a dangerous lawbreaker of extraordinary power. He was identified as the Mafia’s banker, the boss of the National Crime Syndicate, the head of the Combination – the Chairman of the Board.” – Robert Lacey, Little Man

We’re bigger than U.S. Steel

Lansky’s telephone was bugged by the FBI in late spring 1962 at New York’s Volney Hotel, room 8E, when he said this infamous quote, made legendary by Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth in the movie The Godfather II.