A&E - The Real Godfathers (2007) Part 6 Meyer Lansky Mob Tycoon

A sweeping saga of bloodshed, betrayal and big business, this collection of documentaries from A&E and HISTORY offers a cold-blooded examination of organized crime, from prohibition and WWII to the hitmen and women who are currently administering the brutal judgments of the mob. An investigation into the origins - and present-day activities - of the ethnic gangs that turned criminal activities into family enterprises, The Real Godfathers exposes an underworld of danger, money, glamour and murder, covering such notorious figures as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Carlo Gambino and John Gotti, as well as topics including the bloody mob wars , the ordinary, privileged, and at times remarkable women who gained stature in a male-dominated world, and the gangster-turned-informants who make it possible to prosecute the Mafia.

Part 6: Meyer Lansky : 'Mob Tycoon'

The life of the corrupt genius who was known as the Mob's financial leader. He was called little man and Lucky Luciano's advice to his followers was always listen to him. Meyer Lansky was the man who created crime in its syndicate form and remained the most shadowy of the organised crime leaders. Meyer Lansky creates an intricate and lucrative web of casinos and businesses that make the Mafia more profitable than some major corporations. From the pogroms of Eastern Europe to the heyday of the Vegas Mob, rare footage and interviews reveal the double life of the man known as the Mob's financial leader. Meyer Lansky will forever be identified with the statement “we're bigger than U.S. Steel”. The boast made for good headlines and helped politicians like Estes Kefauver and Bobby Kennedy build their reputations and later achiheved near-factual status when Hyman Roth, the Meyer Lansky inspired character in the Godfather II repeated it to Michael Corleone. Whether or not Lansky ever really said it, it was probably true. Organized crime in America from the 1930s to the 1980s was big business and Meyer Lansky had helped make it that way.