Moe Sedway was the faithful lieutenant of organized crime czar Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...

. Sedway had his own police record dating as far back as the early 1920s in New York. He began making trips to Las Vegas on Lansky's behalf in the early 1930s to franchise the syndicate's Trans-America race wire service. By 1945, along with Gus Greenbaum

Gus Greenbaum

Gus Greenbaum was a member of the Chicago Outfit and syndicate accountant for Las Vegas casino operations.An associate of Meyer Lansky, Greenbaum joined his organization on New York's Lower East Side in the mid or late 1910s...

, Sedway ran the El Cortez Hotel

El Cortez

The El Cortez, a hotel and casino is a relatively small downtown Las Vegas gaming venue a block from the Fremont Street Experience and Las Vegas Boulevard. The official marketing slogan has been "Where locals come to play" since the El Cortez has traditionally attracted Las Vegas residents weary of...

 with great success. Sedway was also instrumental in the financing and construction of the Flamingo Hotel when William R. Wilkerson

William Wilkerson

William Richard Wilkerson was the founder of the Hollywood Reporter, Flamingo Hotel and owner of such nightclubs as Ciro's. He was also responsible for discovering actress Lana Turner across the street from Hollywood High School.-Early life:Born in Nashville, Tennessee on September 29, 1890...

 ran into financial difficulties. Sedway saw the Flamingo as unique opportunity for their group to expand operations in Las Vegas. Minutes after Bugsy Siegel's

Bugsy Siegel

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...

 death, Sedway and Greenbaum took possession of the Flamingo. No one questioned or disputed their authority. Under Sedway's and Greenbaum's partnership, the Flamingo became a non-exclusive facility with prices affordable to almost anyone. They made the enterprise extremely successful. In the first year alone, Sedway and Greenbaum turned a $4 million profit.
He accurately predicted that the post-war demand for "entertainment" would be enormous. According to his calculations hordes of gamblers from every state in the union would soon be flooding to Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. His name was merged with Gus Greenbaum

Gus Greenbaum

Gus Greenbaum was a member of the Chicago Outfit and syndicate accountant for Las Vegas casino operations.An associate of Meyer Lansky, Greenbaum joined his organization on New York's Lower East Side in the mid or late 1910s...

's to inspire the name for the character "Moe Greene

Moe Greene

Moe Greene is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and the first installment of the The Godfather trilogy of films, in which he was portrayed by actor Alex Rocco...

" in The Godfather

The Godfather

The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

.

Further reading

• Denton, sally russel and morris, Roger. The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947-2000. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. ISBN 0-375-40130-X
• Lacey, Robert. Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life. London: Century, 1991. ISBN 0-7126-2426-0
• Messick, Hank. Lansky. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. ISBN 0-7091-3966-7
• Reid, Ed and Demaris, Ovid. The Green Felt Jungle. Montreal: Pocket Books, 1964.

External links

• AmericanMafia.com - Muscling In by John William Tuohy
• Kefauver Committee - Testimony of Moe Sedway (1950)
• Moe Sedway at Find A Grave
  Find A Grave
  Find a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...