Moe Sedway

NYPD mugshot of Moe Sedway

Moe Sedway (1894–1952) was the faithful lieutenant of organized crime czar Meyer Lansky. 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, Sedway ran the El Cortez Hotel with great success. Sedway was also instrumental in the financing and construction of the Flamingo Hotel when William R. Wilkerson 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 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.^[1] 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.^[2] His name was merged with Gus Greenbaum's to inspire the name for the character "Moe Greene" in The Godfather.

Death

Sedway died in 1952. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

References

1. ^ Wilkerson III, W.R. (2000). The Man Who Invented Las Vegas. Ciro's Books. pp. 111, 115. 
2. ^ Wilkerson III, W.R. (2000). The Man Who Invented Las Vegas. Ciro's Books. pp. 52–59. 

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