Meyer Lansky, Mob Mogul Meyer Lansky grew up in a family of poor Jewish immigrants. Each week the family scrimped and saved to eat the Sabbath meal, known as cholent. Every Friday evening, young Lansky brought the meal to the bakery with a nickel to pay for the privilege of cooking the cholent. Every Friday evening, Lansky would also walk past crappy games on the corners. One week, Lansky, fascinated by the amount of money people were spending, bet his nickel. Lansky was sure that he would earn and bring much more money to his family. “I handed the money to the banker, sure I would win – and to my dismay, I lost it!” Lansky later remembered this. Lansky promised himself that he would never let his family down again and that he would be a winner and beat them all. Lansky began to study games and search for the secret to winning. Eventually he figured it out and started winning. He played these games for weeks all over the Lower East Side, amassing a small fortune that he kept under his mattress. Over the course of a few years, Lansky became a “shtarke,” or someone who will commit violence for a price. It was thanks to this work that Lansky's name first appeared in the criminal record. At sixteen he was charged with felony assault, but the charges were dropped. He was later arrested for trying to become a pimp. He pleaded guilty and was fined two dollars. One day, Lansky was walking home when he was approached by a group of Sicilian boys, led by Salvatore Luciano, later known as Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Luciano asked Lansky to pay tribute to his gang. Lansky refused and proved himself to be a dangerous force. It was then that Luciano and Lansky reached an understanding that never left them. Between 1914 and 1920, Lansky formed his gang. Five boys joined Meyer Lansky in trying to fight Irish and Italian gangs. Later, Benny Siegel, aka Bugsy, joined the group and he and Lansky became closer than brothers. The gang was known as "Bugs and Meyer gangsters" and were "equal opportunity thugs". No one was safe from the mobsters. They harassed all immigrants, Jews, Irish and Italians. The men opened a truck rental garage to accommodate their operations, which also gave them access to a warehouse..