Ash Shields's blog : Meyer Lansky Heirs Seek Compensation for Cuban Casino
HAVANA - The heirs of legendary U.S. organized crime figure Meyer Lansky are seeking compensation for their nationalized hotel, the Riviera, one of the last casinos built in swinging Havana in the 1950s.
The U.S. and Cuban governments began talks Tuesday on honoring legal claims against the two governments that have lain dormant for half a century.
Lansky's heirs have not yet filed a claim but have been looking into their rights since U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced normalization of diplomatic relations a year ago, said Gary Rapoport, Lansky's grandson.
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'Believe me, I have no intention of moving to Cuba to take over the business. I believe my family is entitled to something," Rapoport said from Tampa, Florida.
raised by Lansky after his mother's divorce and worked at his Miami Beach hotel, Singapore.
Nicknamed "The Mafia Accountant," Lansky was one of the great figures of Mafia lore and the inspiration for the character of Hyman Roth in The Godfather: He was the model for Hyman Roth in The Godfather: Part II and was the inspiration for HBO's "Board Walk Empire" series, which dramatized the story.
A series of Russian missile attacks against Ukraine on Sunday set off air raid sirens in Kiev.
Working with former Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, Lansky helped make Havana a gambling destination.
Although post-revolutionary Cuba has lost its mafia facade, Riviera advertises that it was built by "gangster Meyer Lansky" and that American actress Ginger Rogers performed a show in the hotel's Copa Room.
Its website states casino-gambling-network.com, "No other hotel in Havana has so well preserved the swing and taste of the 50s."
Despite Cuba's tourism boom, the Riviera has lost some of its luster, with half of the rooms usually barely lit at night.
Rapoport says he is hopeful that the communist government might take a favorable view of Lansky-related claims.
Rapoport said, "Much of my grandfather's business was legitimate, and he provided meals, shows, and airline tickets to gamblers who had lost all their money." I see him as a businessman."
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