Record
Court opinion
1974-06-28
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, via CourtListener
United States v. Meyer Lansky, 496 F.2d 1063 (5th Cir. 1974)
The Fifth Circuit reverses a criminal contempt conviction arising from a 1971 Miami federal grand jury subpoena served on Lansky in Israel in an investigation of concealed Flamingo Hotel casino income in 1960-1967.
- Date
- 1974-06-28
- Kind
- court-opinion
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Docket
- 73-2536
- Rights
- A federal court opinion. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The text was read on CourtListener; no publisher headnote is used.
The opinion in No. 73-2536 (panel Brown, Ainsworth and Morgan; opinion by Judge Ainsworth; decided 28 June 1974, rehearing denied 8 October 1974) is an appeal from a criminal contempt conviction under 18 U.S.C. section 401. It states that a federal grand jury in Miami was investigating in 1970-71 the concealment of casino income of the Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas, during 1960-1967. The government subpoenaed Lansky, then residing in Israel, under the Walsh Act, and he did not appear. He was convicted by a jury on 28 February 1973 and sentenced to a year and a day.
The Fifth Circuit reversed, holding the evidence insufficient to show willful contempt and that the government’s choice of a return date had made compliance virtually impossible. The court described but did not decide Lansky’s other ground, that 28 U.S.C. section 1784 was the exclusive procedure. The opinion’s summary of the government’s investigation is drawn from the government’s affidavit, not a finding. The subpoena order in footnote 3 names the Grand Jury Room, United States Courthouse, Miami, with no street address.
