published 15/06/1993 at 21:45 by New York Times News Service
NEW YORK — Moses Polakoff, a lawyer who represented notorious underworld figures such as Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, has
died. He was 97.
Mr. Polakoff died Saturday in his Manhattan apartment.
After a brief stint prosecuting offenders as an assistant U.S. attorney in the 1920s, Mr. Polakoff established
a private practice defending them.
Mr. Polakoff's service to Charles
"Lucky" Luciano couldn't keep the crime boss out of prison. In 1937 Luciano was imprisoned for running a
prostitution ring. But in 1946 Mr. Polakoff obtained clemency for his client from Gov. Thomas Dewey in exchange for Luciano's secret assistance to the government during World War II.
Although known mostly for his criminal cases, Mr. Polakoff also represented a variety of clients on other
matters. In the early 1940s, he was the lawyer when the heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey and his actress wife, Hannah Williams, were divorced.
In 1957, he won a libel case against New York World-Telegram Corp. after accusing the newspaper of falsely linking his name with unsavory characters.
↧
Lawyer Moses Polakoff, Represented Mob Figures
↧