A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

most literal sense, human butchers. Reles also described how, when Lepke was hiding from the
police in 1939, he ordered Reles to kill eleven witnesses who meant to testify against him; Reles
succeeded in killing seven before Lepke went on trial.
As Reles continued to ‘sing’, an increasing number of gangsters became nervous. Then, on the
morning of 12 November 1941, Kid Twist mysteriously fell from his sixth-floor window in the
Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island. Six policemen were guarding him, but all alleged they were out
of the room or looking the other way. The body was so far from the wall of the hotel that it seemed
reasonably certain that Reles had been given a vigorous push. But no one was ever indicted, and the
death remains a mystery.
During all this time, Luciano was making strenuous and unsuccessful efforts to get himself paroled.
Then, on 9 November 1942, the French liner Nonnandie was burned down to the waterline at a
Hudson River pier; it was about to be converted to a troopship, and it was obviously an act of
sabotage. The waterfront was still controlled by the Syndicate - in fact, by Luciano, from his prison
cell. Naval Intelligence decided to approach Luciano and ask for his co-operation; Meyer Lansky -
now the Syndicate’s banker and chief accountant - agreed to act as intermediary. The full story has
still not been told; Luciano himself later claimed that he and Dewey arrived at an agreement: he
would contribute $90,000 to Dewey’s campaign fund (Dewey was intending to run for President),
and would help Naval Intelligence keep the waterfront free of sabotage; in exchange, he would be
paroled at the end of the war and sent back to Italy. Meanwhile, he would be transferred to the
relative comfort of Great Meadow Prison, in Comstock, New York State. Luciano even suggested
arranging for Hitler to be assassinated by the gangster Vito Genovese, who was at present in Italy.
This ambitious plan came to nothing, but for the remainder of the war the New York waterfront
remained free of sabotage. At the end of the war, Dewey kept his part of the bargain; Luciano was
paroled and deported to Italy (although he was an American citizen). Dewey ran as Republican
candidate twice (in 1944 and 1948) but lost both times. But he became governor of New York state.
Ironically, the American occupation of Italy had restored power to the Mafia, who had been
crushed by Mussolini. As a result of a message from Luciano to the ‘godfather’ in Sicily - Don
Calogero Vizzini - the Mafia had given American forces full co-operation when they landed. It was
only natural that these ‘patriotic’ Italians should then be allowed a leading role in restoring the
country to normality - for example, in nominating leading ‘anti-fascists’ for key posts in cities like
Naples. The Americans handed Italy back to the godfathers.
Luciano was deported in February 1946. Precisely one year later he was in Havana, Cuba - a city
whose crime was controlled by Meyer Lansky, ‘the Little Man’. There, in the best hotel, Luciano
sent for his aides from all over America - Frank Costello, Willie Moretti, Bugsy Siegel - the man
who had founded the gambling industry in Las Vegas - and the Fischetti brothers from Chicago.
When Siegel was asked to repay some of the vast sum of money he had borrowed to build the Las
Vegas gambling casino and the Flamingo Hotel, he lost his temper and stormed out of the room.
His friend Meyer Lansky was deputed to talk sense into him, but failed. On 20 June 1947, Siegel
was shot to death in the Beverly Hills apartment of his mistress, Virginia Hill. Lansky is reported as
saying: ‘I had no choice.’ Lansky himself denied being behind the killing, and attributed it to
Luciano.
When an enterprising newsman revealed Luciano’s presence in Havana, the Batista government felt
obliged to order him out of Cuba. Luciano returned to Italy. Banned by the government from Rome
- where he had established various rackets - he settled in Naples. He gave many interviews,