Meyer Lansky was a Russian-born American organized crime figure associated with gambling operations and illicit finance in the United States, Cuba, and the Caribbean during the mid-20th century. He was closely linked to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and is frequently described by historians and law-enforcement sources as a key figure in the formation of interethnic criminal cooperation in the United States, including the network later referred to as the National Crime Syndicate.
Lansky emerged from New York City’s Jewish underworld in the 1910s and 1920s and became primarily associated with gambling enterprises rather than narcotics trafficking. Contemporary investigations and later historical studies describe him as a financial organizer and intermediary who facilitated cooperation between Jewish and Italian-American crime figures, particularly in gambling and casino operations in Florida, Cuba, and Las Vegas.