Editing Fulgencio Batista (section)

===Relationship with organized crime===
{{blockquote|Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that 11,500 of them worked their trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the poorest, and most beautiful countries in the Western world.|David Detzer, American journalist, after visiting Havana in the 1950s <ref>''The Brink: Cuban Missile Crisis 1962'', by David Detzer, Crowell, 1979, {{ISBN|0690016824}}, p. 17.</ref>}}

Throughout the 1950s, Havana served as "a hedonistic playground for the world's elite", producing sizable gambling, prostitution and drug profits for the [[American mafia]], corrupt law-enforcement officials, and their politically elected [[Cronyism|cronies]].<ref name = "CubanH">[http://www.thecubanhistory.com/2012/05/william-morgan-a-rebel-americano-in-cuba/ William Morgan: A Rebel "Americano" in Cuba] at ''The Cuban History'', May 16, 2012.</ref> In the assessment of the Cuban-American historian Louis Perez, "Havana was then what [[Las Vegas]] has become."<ref name="Smithson"/> Relatedly, it is estimated that by the end of the 1950s the city of Havana had 270 brothels.<ref name="CubaBefore">[http://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/cuban-revolution-fidel-castro-casinos-batista/ Cuba Before the Revolution] by [[Samuel Farber]], [[Jacobin (magazine)|''Jacobin Magazine'']], September 6, 2015.</ref> In addition, drugs, be it marijuana or cocaine, were so plentiful at the time that one American magazine in 1950 proclaimed "Narcotics are hardly more difficult to obtain in Cuba than a shot of rum. And only slightly more expensive."<ref name = "CubanH" /> As a result, the playwright [[Arthur Miller]] described Batista's Cuba in ''The Nation'' as "hopelessly corrupt, a Mafia playground, (and) a bordello for Americans and other foreigners."<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/visit-castro/ 'A Visit With Castro'] by [[Arthur Miller]], The Nation, 2003</ref>

In a bid to profit from such an environment, Batista established lasting relationships with [[organized crime]], notably with American mobsters [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Lucky Luciano]], and under his rule Havana became known as "the Latin [[Las Vegas history#1947–1963: postwar boom and organized crime|Las Vegas]]".<ref name="HistCuba">[http://historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/batist.htm Fulgencio Batista] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514164321/http://historyofcuba.com/history/funfacts/batist.htm |date=May 14, 2013 }} fun facts by ''History of Cuba''.</ref> Batista and Lansky formed a friendship and business relationship that flourished for a decade. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed that, in return for kickbacks, Batista would give Lansky and the [[American Mafia|Mafia]] control of Havana's racetracks and casinos.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, pp. 15, 16, 20</ref> After World War II, Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily. Luciano secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American Mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Batista, though the American government eventually succeeded in pressuring the Batista government to deport him.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, pp. 46–47.</ref>

Batista encouraged large-scale gambling in Havana. In 1955, he announced that Cuba would grant a gaming license to anyone who invested US$1&nbsp;million in a hotel or $200,000 in a new nightclub—and that the government would provide matching public funds for construction, a 10-year tax exemption, and waive duties on imported equipment and furnishings for new hotels. Each casino would pay the government $250,000 for the license, plus a percentage of the profits. The policy omitted background checks, as required for casino operations in the United States, which opened the door for casino investors with illegally obtained funds. Cuban contractors with the right connections made windfalls by importing, duty-free, more materials than needed for new hotels and selling the surplus to others. It was rumored that, besides the $250,000 to obtain a license, an additional "under the table" fee was sometimes required.<ref>''Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution'', by [[T.J. English]], William Morrow, 2008, {{ISBN|0-06-114771-0}}, p. 132.</ref>

Lansky became a prominent figure in Cuba's gambling operations,<ref name="PBSBatista"/> and exerted influence over Batista's casino policies. The Mafia's [[Havana Conference]] was held on December 22, 1946, at the [[Hotel Nacional de Cuba]]; this was the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932. Lansky set about cleaning up the games at the Montmartre Club, which soon became the "place to be" in Havana. He also wanted to open a casino in the Hotel Nacional, the most elegant hotel in Havana. Batista endorsed Lansky's idea over the objections of American expatriates such as [[Ernest Hemingway]], and the renovated casino wing opened for business in 1955 with a show by [[Eartha Kitt]]. The casino was an immediate success.<ref>[http://www.cubaheritage.org/articles.asp?lID=1&artID=222 Cuban History, Architecture & Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720132310/http://www.cubaheritage.org/articles.asp?lID=1&artID=222 |date=July 20, 2011 }}.</ref>

As the new hotels, nightclubs, and casinos opened, Batista collected his share of the profits. Nightly, the "bagman" for his wife collected 10% of the profits at [[Santo Trafficante, Jr.|Santo Trafficante's]] casinos, the Sans Souci cabaret, and the casinos in the hotels Sevilla-Biltmore, Commodoro, Deauville, and Capri (partly owned by the actor [[George Raft]]). His take from the Lansky casinos—his prized [[Hotel Habana Riviera|Habana Riviera]], the Hotel Nacional, the Montmartre Club, and others—was said to be 30%.<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1768.html Fulgencio Batista: Cuban Dictator, 1901–1973] at U-S History.</ref> Lansky was said to have personally contributed millions of dollars per year to Batista's Swiss bank accounts.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Díaz-Briquets, Sergio |author2=Pérez-López, Jorge F. |title=Corruption in Cuba: Castro and beyond|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-292-71482-3|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fiquofr8LSoC&pg=PA77}}</ref>