The Native Juice
Notable Old-School Vegas Families That Shaped Las Vegas
By Candice Wiener
The Meyer Lansky Legacy and the Mob
It’s not every day you get to sit down with the grandson of one of the key figures of the mob and a real American gangster but let me tell you what a treat it was. Meyer Lansky II and I met for a nice dinner at Bugsy and Meyer’s Steakhouse in the Flamingo hotel and shared stories of our grandfathers and their mutual connection to the mob. Meyer Lansky II’s grandfather Meyer Lansky was known as ‘the Mob’s Mathematical Wizard’ and was the Mob’s accountant for many years. My grandfather Louis Wiener, Jr. was the longest-tenured attorney to this day in all of Southern Nevada and represented mobsters like Lansky’s partner, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and many other notable people at that time here in Las Vegas. Meyer Lansky II and I share a mutual fascination for the good ol’ Vegas days when the Mob ran our city. Sort of self-cleansing if you will. We thoroughly enjoyed exchanging stories and reminiscing; not just about memories we both shared with our grandfathers and their involvement in helping shape Las Vegas into the mega destination that it is today, but also just in general about the nostalgia of old Vegas and what it still means to us both individually over a delicious meal at the incredible Bugsy & Meyer’s steakhouse inside the Flamingo. And if you haven’t been yet, be sure to book a reservation and check it out. The food is fantastic, an upscale steakhouse with a speakeasy theme and great ambiance.
For more than 90 years popular culture has told the story of the early 20th-Century American Mafia, and it’s true there’s a connection between New York City and Las Vegas. Meyer Lansky and his lifelong friend Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel discovered Las Vegas in the early 1940s after Siegel moved to Los Angeles to join his childhood friend, the actor George Raft, who had grown up with the Mob in New York. “While Siegel sought to follow Raft to fame in Hollywood, he instead would land the casino project of a lifetime, with my grandfather and his partners financing The Flamingo in 1946. The resort, with its New York-style opulence and luxury, swimming pool, shopping, and world-class entertainment, was also a place where you could hob-knob with The Rat Pack and would ultimately become the flagship to the future of Las Vegas,” says Meyer Lansky II. He continues, “After cleaning up Cuba’s casino resorts at the request of President Fulgencio Batista in the 1930s, my grandfather operated 31 casinos in Southern Florida in the 1940s, including the Colonial Inn which he purchased from Lou Walters, the father of Barbara Walters. In the mid-1940s when Meyer first visited Las Vegas with Ben, my grandfather knew he had found the perfect casino playground, first purchasing the El Cortez with his partners. After the previous owners got the downtown property back, the Nevada Project Corporation bought The Flamingo and Siegel went to work.” Adds Meyer.
Meyer Lansky II continues: “The new casino resort was flamboyant and stylish and went well over budget immediately following World War II when labor and materials were scarce. While Meyer and his partners provided financing, Ben had the ambition and leadership to see The Flamingo open on Dec. 26, 1946, complete with complimentary meals and cocktails, an opening show featuring comedian Jimmy Durante, Cuban bandleader Xavier Cougat, and actress Rose Marie, and guests George Raft, George Sanders, Sonny Tufts, George Jessel, Bruce Cabot, and Benny Binion. The resort’s reputation was solid as players everywhere knew my grandfather ran a clean and fair casino, and the Mob made Las Vegas even more attractive by comping all amenities as long as you gambled. The Flamingo would become the standard for Las Vegas for years to come, well after the mysterious death of Ben Siegel in Beverly Hills on June 20, 1947. The New York Mafia up through the Chicago Outfit dominated Las Vegas for the better part of 35 years, which attracted new industry leaders to make Las Vegas even more exciting and glamorous. Morris “Moe” Dalitz was essential to building a better destination, with the creation of the Desert Inn Country Club, Sunrise Hospital, the Boulevard Mall, and the Nevada Community Foundation through his philanthropy. Dalitz envisioned our growing town as a place where he could raise his family.”
Meyer Lansky II says he was fortunate to have 26 close years with his grandfather, “and today I keep up with my father, Paul Lansky (USMA, ’54). In 2017 I returned to Las Vegas to live and keep an eye on Meyer’s legacy as his grandson and namesake, representing what he and his partners created from New York’s Lower East Side to Central Park, Miami, Saratoga, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and beyond.”
Today Meyer Lansky II works with Caesars Entertainment to promote The Flamingo’s Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse, which is a $10 million homage to the casino’s founding fathers. Bugsy & Meyer’s comes with The Count Room, the Speakeasy with periodical entertainment and events as well as branded merchandise. Meyer is also a wedding officiant and partners with Joe & Heidi Marino, owners of Vegas Mob Weddings (vegasmobweddings.com), so visitors to Las Vegas can be authentically married by the Mob. Meyer has a book in the works with Kensington in New York with a working title of “The Lansky Legacy: The Life and Letters of Meyer Lansky.” For details, please visit his website, meyerlanskytm.com, launching March 2023.
A special thank you to Meyer for taking the time to share some stories and new exciting things that he’s working on. Be sure to follow him on social media and stay in touch as he continues to share his grandfather’s legacy.
(Facebook icon): @meyer.lansky2
(Instagram icon): @meyerlanskylegacy
After you go to Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse at the Flamingo to eat, be sure to stop by the gift shop and ask for the Meyer Lansky branded merchandise. I know we’ll be back for dinner, and I personally will be back for the t-shirt of Meyer Lansky walking his dog down the street with the saying “We all have business to do”, in which the photo was taken by the FBI while they were surveilling Meyer Lansky.
