Hyman "Hy" Lamer (fl. 1959-1974) was a Jewish mobster and a close associate of Sam Giancana. In the newspapers he was known as the "The Ivy League Mobster".[1]
Lamer was the head of the Chicago Outfit's slot machine racket.[1] After Eddie Vogel retired from the gambling machine business Lamer became the power behind the scenes.[2]
When he testified in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management in 1959, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights fifty times.[1]
Lamer expanded the Outfit's gambling and smuggling operations to Latin America, moving the organization's Miami operation to Latin America headquartering in Panama where money laundering was more easily facilitated by local banks. These operations were conducted as a partnership between the Mafia and the CIA. By 1966 this partnership had developed into arms smuggling to the Middle East for the Israeli Mossad, all via Panama.[3]
Hy Lamer had friends among world leaders and key players in the CIA and the U.S. military, and he was also well connected with the Las Vegas bosses like the Teamsters' Allen Dorfman and media mogul Hank Greenspun. One of Lamer's closest friends was Meyer Lansky and the two shared in their passionate Zionism and defense for the Jews' divine right to the land of Israel.[3]
Giancana, Sam; Corbitt, Michael; Giancana, Bettina (2004), Double Deal: The Inside Story of Murder, Unbridled Corruption, and the Cop Who Was a Mobster, Avon Publications, ISBN 978-0061030482
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