Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life by Robert Lacey
Meyer Lansky's death in America in 1983 was front-page news. He was regarded as the Mafia's banker, and credited with having a personal fortune of $300 million and as claiming, We're bigger than US Steel. Yet he died at liberty, and within months his crippled son was living on welfare. In this book about organized crime, the author of Majesty and The Kingdom attempts to disentangle Lansky's extraordinary life.