Polish-American organized crime and Hymie Weiss (Wojciechowski) both having a Polish heritage. Fred Goetz was involved in carrying out the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In New Jersey, the organization led by Mickey Cusick, was the prominent boss of bootlegging in Southern Jersey. The infamous gangster Meyer Lansky, one of the leaders of the National Crime Syndicate and associate of Lucky Luciano, was actually a Polish Jew. Joseph Filkowski led a mostly Polish bootlegging ring in Cleveland, Ohio, along with gangster Joseph Stazek. In Pittsburgh, Paul Jarwarski was also a prominent figure, carrying out the first armored car robbery. In Buffalo, New York John
Meyer Lansky for a decade. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed upon that, in exchange for kickbacks, Batista would offer Lansky and the Mafia control of Havana's racetracks and casinos. Batista would open Havana to large scale gambling, and his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over $1 million, which would include a casino license. Lansky would place himself at the center of Cuba's gambling operations. He immediately called on his associates to hold a summit in Havana. The Havana Conference was held on December 22, 1946,