American-Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky to be portrayed by Harvey Keitel

New film 'Lansky' explores the life of the well-known organised crime figure who was known as the “Mob’s Accountant”

Harvey Keitel is set to portray American-Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky in a biographical drama about his life from writer and director Eytan Rockaway.

Lansky, which is due for release in the US next month, explores the life of the well-known organised crime figure, who was known as the “Mob’s Accountant” and was a contemporary of Bugsy Siegel and Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

The narrative is based in part by interviews conducted with Lansky by the director’s father, Robert Rockaway, a history professor at Tel Aviv University and specialist researcher in American crime figures.

At the film’s opening, an ageing Lansky (Keitel) has been living quietly in Miami Beach after being pursued by the FBI for decades. When he enlists a young journalist named David Stone (Sam Worthington) to tell his story, the Feds use him as a pawn to track down the missing hundreds of millions of dollars the mobster has been suspected of stashing.

The cast also features Emory Cohen, Austin Stowell, Alexandra Daddario and Tony Danza.