Growing up in Boston, Massachusetts, to first generation Jewish-American immigrants from Lithuania, Sagansky sold newspapers while working his way through school and eventually graduating in dentistry from Tufts University in 1918.
Opening a practice at a pharmacy which doubled as a covert liquor store at Scollay Square, he would become involved in illegal gambling during Prohibition.
He was later charged with his role in the gambling syndicate and served a prison sentence[1] for attempting to bribe a city official for political protection for a "Beano game".
During the 1950s, his involvement in illegal gambling operations was investigated by the Kefauver hearings, where authorities would claim it was "the largest racket kingdom in existence in the city of Boston".
Throughout his life, Sagansky was a philanthropist, donating money to Beth Israel Hospital and to Tufts Dental School.