Meyer Lansky & The Fall of Havana | Series 12 - Full Documentary

Step into the heart of one of organized crime’s most dramatic chapters—The Fall of Havana. In this gripping installment of Series 12, we explore the rise and collapse of the Mafia’s Cuban empire as Fidel Castro’s revolution changed the world forever.

📖 What You’ll Discover:
The Glory Days of Havana: How Meyer Lansky built a gambling empire that rivaled Las Vegas.
The End of Batista: How U.S. pressure forced the dictator to flee on New Year’s Eve, 1958.
Mob Power Plays: Secret deals involving Albert Anastasia, Santo Trafficante, and Jake Lansky—and how their plans unraveled.
The Revolution Hits Hard: Batista’s last loyalists battled Castro’s rebels in the streets of Havana.
The Mafia’s Last Stand: The final days of Havana’s casino empire, a desperate wealth grab, and organized crime’s scramble to escape.
Castro’s Crackdown: His war on the mob, the arrests of Trafficante and Lansky’s associates, and the mafia’s shattered dreams.

🔍 Behind the Scenes:

We uncover never-before-told stories of last-minute escapes, secret CIA plots, and the rise of a dictator determined to crush organized crime. This is more than history—it’s the final act of the Mafia’s tropical paradise.
The focus will then shift to Havana’s golden age—its casinos, luxury, and the mob’s stranglehold on the island’s wealth. We’ll uncover the roles of Santo Trafficante, Jake Lansky, and even figures like George Raft, tracing their final days of influence in Cuba as the revolution closed in. The chaos that ensued—gunfights between Batista’s loyalists and Castro’s rebels, the panic-stricken mob scrambling to salvage their fortunes, and the mafia’s last stand in Havana—paints a vivid picture of a world unraveling. Figures like "Joe Hoboken Joe" will come into focus as we explore the frenzied divide of Havana’s wealth before Castro’s forces claimed victory.

As Castro declared war on the mob, with threats to execute gangsters and casino operators, we’ll examine how this was reported in the press, detailing the reactions of Meyer Lansky, Santo Trafficante, and others. Headlines proclaimed their flight from Havana, but the truth was more complex. Trafficante, for instance, was arrested, alongside several CIA and organized crime associates, throwing the mafia’s plans into disarray. Lansky, his brother Jake, Russell Bufalino, and Jimmy Blue Eyes were among those forced to flee Cuba under chaotic and perilous circumstances.

The series will explore Jake Lansky and Trafficante’s imprisonments in the same Cuban facility where Luciano was once held in 1946. We’ll recount Meyer Lansky’s desperate, final visit to Havana as the dream he built slipped away, followed by his involvement in plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion—a desperate, CIA-backed attempt to reclaim what had been lost.
The narrative will also touch on broader mafia dynamics in 1959, including the imprisonment of Vito Genovese and the controversy surrounding a book he reportedly helped write from prison. As the series concludes, we’ll reflect on what the fall of Havana meant for organized crime and where the story will go from here.

💥 From backroom deals to violent uprisings, experience the ultimate showdown between the mob and revolution.

📢 Subscribe for More True Crime History & Mafia Documentaries!
#MeyerLansky #CubaRevolution #MobHistory #TrueCrime

#MafiaDocumentary #HavanaFell #OrganizedCrime #FidelCastro #Batista #MobWar


#organizedcrime #meyerlansky #KefauverHearings #mafiahistory #TrueCrime #MeyerLansky, #carlogambino , #vitogenovese , #frankcostello , #JoeAdonis, #longiezwillman , #williemoretti , #redlevine, #johnnythefoxtorrio , #alcapone, #ProhibitionEra, #carlogambino, #truecrime, #mobhistory, #history, #newyork, #newyorkmafiastory, #luckyluciano, #fyp, #historyandorganisedcrime , #1919, #chicagooutfit , #casino1995 , #carlosmarcello , #joebatters , #tonyaccardo , #samgiancana ,