Meyer Lansky & Fulgencio Batista, Seen Portrayed in "The Godfather" Type 1 PSA 

A vintage black and white photograph showing mobster Meyer Lansky (1902-1983) seated at a dinner table with his friend and close business associate Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), the former and future Cuban president. Seated between the pair is Lansky's second wife Thelma "Teddy" Scheer Lansky (1907-1997), whom Lansky had married in 1948. N.d. but ca. 1948, n.p. but attributed to being Havana, Cuba, although Batista lived in the United States during this period. "Genuine Apollo Product" is discretely embossed (backward) along the upper left edge. Encapsulated and PSA/DNA certified authentic. Expected wear commensurate with age. Two sets of staple holes do not detract from the image. Blank verso. The photograph measures 8.125" x 5.125" while the slab measures 13.25" x 9.75." Also included is a small price tag that reads in Spanish: "Souvenir Photograph / $1.50." The relationship between Hyman Roth, Lansky's avatar, and Batista is well portrayed in "The Godfather". The exact photo exists nowhere else as online one can be found from the same sitting but slightly different. Provenance the Mob Experience Museum.

The photograph suggests how crime and corruption ensured access to creature comforts: the trio is well-dressed, with Teddy sporting jewelry and a fur wrap. The party is seated in an elegantly appointed dining room, with the detritus of the first of many courses on the table. What had they been discussing when interrupted by the photographer? Business or pleasure, concerning Cuba?

Fulgencio Batista had served as Cuban president from 1940-1944, and he would retake public office--after Lansky's intervention--in 1952 for another seven-year term. Batista and Lansky first developed their extremely lucrative business arrangement in the late 1940s. In return for kickbacks, Batista permitted Lansky and his mafia associates to monopolize the entertainment, hospitality, and transportation sectors of the Cuban economy (including but not limited to casinos, racetracks, prostitution, cabaret shows, hotels, drugs, taxis, planes, etc.) Details were hammered out between American mobsters from New York, Chicago, Louisiana, and Florida at Havana's Hotel Nacional on December 22, 1946. After 1952, Lansky served as Batista's unofficial "gambling minister." Batista and Lansky's mutually beneficial arrangement continued for a decade.

Meyer Lansky was one of the most influential figures of the twentieth-century American criminal underworld. He was particularly well-connected through friendships and close partnerships with contemporaries Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel. Lansky revolutionized the illegal gambling industry by working smarter; the so-called "Mob's Accountant" applied a scientific method of risk-reward, and mitigated loss through payoffs and international money laundering.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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