The FBI believed Meyer Lansky had $300 million hidden; he died in Miami with less than $35,000 in the bank

Meyer Lansky, born in Grodno in 1902, was called the Mob's accountant. He worked with Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, helped build the Mob's casinos in Las Vegas and Havana, and controlled casinos in the Bahamas and London. The Mob Museum says he reportedly controlled a Swiss-based bank through which he laundered profits. The Cuban revolution cost him his Havana casinos. In 1970 he was indicted for federal tax evasion and fled with his family to Herzliya Pituah, Israel. Israel did not then extradite its citizens, and the Law of Return let any Jew settle there, but the government kept the right to exclude Jews with a criminal past. Two years after he arrived, Israel refused him and he left. He was arrested at Miami International Airport. He was acquitted or had the charges dropped, partly because of his health. He died of lung cancer in Miami on 15 January 1983. Federal authorities said he still had $300 million hidden. Lansky said he was nearly broke, and at his death he had less than $35,000 in his bank account. No hidden fortune has been found. In 2018 his grandson and namesake, Meyer Lansky II, told the Jewish Chronicle that his grandfather opposed giving him the name and would not be photographed with him, fearing the name would harm him.