It had been called by Meyer Lansky, the leader of the mob’s exploitation of Cuba in the 1950s, and it kicked off the era of entertainment and licentiousness Havana became known for. It’s a powerful symbolic image, but the actual gathering of mob bosses from around the United States at the Hotel Nacional in Havana in 1946 was even more grandiose. They bring a cake out depicting the island of Cuba and cut it into pieces. The rooftop scene shows Roth’s birthday party.
The movie is fictionalized but uses a lot of accurate historical detail. In one of the most famous scenes in The Godfather, Part II, the mob meets on a rooftop in Havana under the aegis of Hyman Roth, played by Lee Strasberg, who is supposed to represent mobster Meyer Lansky. Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution
