Editing Meyer Lansky (section)

===World War II involvement, 1938–1945===
In the 1930s, Lansky and his gang stepped outside their usual criminal activities to break up rallies held by the pro-[[Nazi]] [[German-American Bund]]. He recalled a particular rally in [[Yorkville, Manhattan|Yorkville]], a German neighborhood in [[Manhattan]], that he and 14 associates disrupted:

{{blockquote|The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Adolf Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We threw some of them out the windows. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up. We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Jewish Gangsters Fought the Nazis |url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/but-they-were-good-to-their-people/2/|quote=Lansky recalled breaking up a Brown Shirt rally in the Yorkville section of Manhattan: "The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We ... threw some of them out the windows ... Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up…We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults."|publisher=[[American Jewish Historical Society]] |first=Michael |last=Feldberg <!-- no date on piece --> |access-date=2007-09-25}}</ref>}}
When Judge [[Nathan D. Perlman]] offered to pay Lansky for his services, he declined:<blockquote>I am a Jew, and I feel for the Jews in Europe who are suffering. They are my brothers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lovy |first=Howard |date=2022-06-06 |title=Before WWII, Jewish mobsters kept Nazis at bay in the US — with their fists |url=https://www.jta.org/2022/06/06/culture/before-wwii-jewish-mobsters-kept-nazis-at-bay-in-the-us-with-their-fists |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref></blockquote>During [[World War II]], Lansky was instrumental in helping the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] (ONI)'s [[Operation Underworld]], in which the government recruited criminals to watch out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs. Lansky helped arrange a deal with the government via a high-ranking [[United States Navy]] official that secured Luciano's release from prison; in exchange, the Mafia provided security for the warships being built along the docks in [[New York Harbor]]. German submarines were sinking [[Allied Powers of World War II|Allied]] ships in great numbers along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean coast, and there was great fear of attack or sabotage by Nazi sympathizers. Lansky connected the ONI with Luciano, who reportedly instructed [[Joseph Lanza]] to prevent sabotage on the New York waterfront.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usmm.org/shipsunkdamaged.html |title=U.S. Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II |publisher=Usmm.org |date=1945-06-13 |access-date=2014-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/project-underworld-the-u-s-navys-secret-pact-with-the-mafia/ |title=Project Underworld: The U.S. Navy's Secret Pact with the Mafia |publisher=warfarehistorynetwork.com |date=2017-01-13 |access-date=2017-02-23 |archive-date=2016-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008003820/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/project-underworld-the-u-s-navys-secret-pact-with-the-mafia/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>