The grandson of legendary mobster Meyer Lansky wants Cuba to pay compensation for seizing his grandfather’s casino nearly six decades ago.

Lansky helped establish Cuba as a regional gambling haven before the Fidel Castro-led revolutionaries overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista on New Year’s Day, 1959.

Lansky was the driving force behind the Habana Riviera hotel-casino, which cost $8m to build back in the day and was considered the finest in the Caribbean when it opened in December 1957. It was the last major Havana gambling resort to open before the Communists seized power, after which they outlawed gambling and nationalized the property.

The US government broke off all ties with Cuba following the Communist takeover, a stance the US resolutely maintained until last year, when President Barack Obama announced that the two countries would begin normalizing relations.