Given his early years as a bookish Jewish boy from the Russian Empire, very few people would guess that Meyer Lansky would become a giant of the American underworld. This podcast examines Meyer Lansky's childhood and examines how a studious, well behaved kid became a ruthless young gang leader. I relied heavily on Robert Lacey's excellent biography of Meyer Lansky, "Meyer Lansky, The Thinking Man's Gangster" for most of the material. I also used "The Five Families" by Selwyn Raab for background.