by Sam Giancana
Under Trafficante’s reign, Florida became known as the nation’s major entry point for illicit drugs. Interestingly and inexplicably, Trafficante’s involvement in the assassination of the President was never thoroughly investigated. Given his documented involvement with the CIA around the globe, this lack of scrutiny was compelling.
Applying Mooney’s own method of deduction, Santo Trafficante appeared the most likely Outfit suspect in the orchestration of Mooney’s murder.
That is not to say Trafficante was unaware of the code of omertà to which Mooney adhered or that the Tampa mobster for a moment believed that his compatriot would actually talk to a Senate committee. Nor is it suggested that Chicago had somehow become part of Trafficante’s territory or that Mooney was murdered without the support of the Chicago Outfit, but rather that Trafficante was simply given a job to do—just as Mooney himself had been so many times in the past—by the CIA. And to oversee that job, Chuck believed Trafficante solicited a Chicago representative of the Outfit and a fellow CIA coconspirator: Johnny Roselli.
Mooney’s biographers, family, and friends would later insist that Mooney’s killer was someone known and trusted. A hometown boy himself, Roselli could have assured that the proper individual was dispatched. Significantly, perhaps, the gun used in Mooney’s murder—a .22 caliber weapon—was traced to Miami, Florida.
There also remained a persistent rumor that Mooney, sometime before his death, had begun questioning whether Roselli and Trafficante were “too close,” and that Mooney had actually begun to mistrust his Floridian crony.
If Mooney’s suspicions were well founded, and Roselli had indeed assisted Trafficante in a CIA contract on the Chicago boss, it could explain Johnny Roselli’s own gruesome murder. Roselli’s chopped-up remains were found floating in a sealed oil drum in Trafficante’s home state of Florida in 1976, following Roselli’s well-publicized interviews with reporters Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson and his top secret testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Roselli’s disclosures, involving the Mafia-CIA efforts in the Bay of Pigs and the Castro assassination attempt, demonstrated that he was a man who certainly knew too much. Perhaps he was also the one man who could implicate Trafficante and the CIA in the murder of Mooney Giancana, and, even more damning, in the assassination of the President of the United States and his presidential-hopeful brother.
Roselli’s testimony and murder soon after prompted the formation of the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations and the reopening of investigations into the death of the President.
Curiously, Trafficante did appear before both Senate committees but, quite unlike Mooney and Roselli, experienced no ill aftereffects.
More deaths were to follow Mooney’s and Roselli’s—some more suspicious than others.
Chuckie Nicoletti was murdered in 1977, immediately after the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations determined he would be called for questioning. His demise was chalked up as just one more Mob hit, although some committee members evidently suspected differently.
George De Morhenchildt was also scheduled to testify before the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1977 and died on the very day he was to be questioned regarding the President’s murder. Despite the coincidental nature of his death, it was ruled a suicide.
The list went on. Filled with names familiar—Jack Ruby, David Ferrie, Guy Banister—and not so familiar.
For a serious student of history, there is good reason to pause at Mooney’s saga of corruption. There is also good reason to question whether such immorality continues to exist in this country, reaching into our nation’s highest office.
Sadly, it may very well be that this is, indeed, the case. To whit: the Pentagon Papers; Richard Nixon’s Watergate; the Vatican bank scandal; the Iran-Contra affair; the graft and CIA involvement in the case of the Philippines’s Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos; the Manuel Noriega-CIA connection in Panama, and BCCI. All bits and pieces perhaps of a much larger and more sinister puzzle. But all bearing the stamp of the CIA’s entanglement with organized crime.
Most of those who were involved in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy have been murdered. Some have committed “suicide” or spent their final days in prison, while others still linger behind bars.
There are some men, however, if we are to believe Mooney’s tales of Mafia-CIA counterintelligence activities, who’ve prospered and remained free. Amassing incredible power from careers deeply rooted in the CIA, these men have reached America’s loftiest positions of authority, from which they continue to influence world events.
INDEX
Accardo, Tony
Adducci, Jimmy
Adonis, Joe
Agoglia, Sylvester
Aiuppa, Joey
Akins, Andy
Alderisio, “Milwaukee Phil,”
Alex, Gus
Amalgamated Clothing Workers
Amato, Joseph
Ambassador East (Chicago)
Anastasia, Albert
Anderson, Jack
Annenberg, Moe
Anselmi, Alberto
Apalachin (New York)
Archer Club (Chicago)
Arizona
Armory Lounge (Chicago)
Arvey, Jake
Banister, Guy
Barbara, Joseph
Barrie, Wendy
Batista, Fulgencio
Battaglia, Teets
Bay of Pigs
Beck, Dave
Bella Napoli (Chicago)
Bioff, Willie
Bismark Hotel (Chicago)
Bissell, Richard
Black Hand
Blasi, Butch
Block, Willie
Bonanno, Joe
Bonfiglio’s Pool Hall (Chicago)
Boogie Woogie (Chicago)
Boyle, John
Breeze, Lou
Bronfman, Harry
Bronfman, Sam
Browne, George
Buccieri, Fiore “Fifi,”
Burba, Alex
Bureau of Narcotics
Burke, Fred
Cabell, Charles
Caesar’s Palace (Las Vegas)
Caifano, “Fat Leonard,”
Caifano, Marshall
Cain, Richard
Cal-Neva Lodge (Lake Tahoe)
Camorra
Campagna, Louis
Campbell, Judy
Campo, Tony
Cantellops, Nelson
Capezio, “Tough Tony,”
CAPGA
Capone, Al
Carey, Archibald
Carousel Club (Dallas)
Caruso, Dominic
Caruso, Enrico
Caruso, Frank
Castillio, Jorge
Castro, Fidel
Catholic Church see Roman Catholic Church
Celano, Jimmy
Celano’s tailor shop (Chicago)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
and Marilyn Monroe
and murder of Sam Giancana
plot against Castro
and plot to kill Kennedy
Cermak, Anton
Champagne, Tony
Chez Paree (Chicago)
Chez Paree Adorables
Chiang Kai-shek
Chicago Daily Tribune
Chicago Southmoor Bank
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
Church, Frank
CIA see Central Intelligence Agency
Civil Air Patrol
Clark, Tom
Claudio’s Bakery (Chicago)
Cody, Cardinal
Cohan, George M.
Cohn, Harry
Colaro, Joey
Colosimo, Big Jim
Commission, The
Continental Illinois
Continental Press
Coolidge, Calvin
Cooper, Cary
Cosa Nostra, La
Cosmo theater
Costello,
Eddie
Costello, Frank
Cuba
Daddano, “Willie Potatoes,”
Dago Frank
Daley, Mayor
Dalitz, Moe
Dallas (Texas)
Dallas Book Depository
D’Amato, Skinny
D’Andrea, Phil
Danoff, John
D’Arco, John
Davies, Marion
Davis, Mike
Davis, Sammy, Jr.
DeLucia, Paul see Ricca, Paul
DeMohrenschildt, George
Deneen, Charles
Denemark, Emil
Desert Inn (Las Vegas)
DeStefano, Sam “Mad Dog,”
DeTolve, Francescantonio
Dewey, Thomas
Dickinson, Angie
DiVarco, Joey
Dominican Republic
Dorfman, Allen
Dorfman, Red
Dragna, Jack
Drew, John
Drucci, Vincent “the Schemer,”
Druggan, Terry
Ducket, Harry
Dulles, Allen
Dunes (Las Vegas)
Durant, William Crapo
Durante, Jimmy
Echeverria, Luis
Edwards, Sheffield
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Eller, Morris
English, Butch
English, Chuck
English, Laura
English, Mary
Envelope Factory (Chicago)
Erikson, Frank
Esposito, Carmello
Esposito, Diamond Joe
murder of
takeover of unions
Esposito, Joe
Eulo, Sharkey
Exner, Judith Campbell see Campbell, Judy
Fanelli, Marie
Farouk, King
Father Cash
Fat Leonard see Caifano, “Fat Leonard”
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Ferraro, Strongy
Ferrie, David
Fifi, see Buccieri, Fiore “Fifi”
Finibank
Fiorini, Frank
Fischetti, Charles
Five Points gang (New York)
Flamingo (Las Vegas)
Flood, Rose
Foreign Relations Committee
Formosa, Johnny
42s (gang)
430 Club (Chicago)
Fresh Meadows Golf Club (Chicago)
Friar’s Club (Los Angeles)
Fusco, Joe
Gable, Clark
Gagliano, Joe “Gags,”
Gambino, Carlo
Genna, Angelo
Genna brothers
Genna, Mike
Genna, Tony
Genovese, Vito
Gentile, Guido
Giancana, Angeline DeTolve
Giancana, Anne Marie Torsiello
Giancana, Annette
Giancana, Antoinette
Giancana, Antonia
Giancana, Antonio
Giancana, Bonnie
Giancana, Catherine
Giancana, Charles “Chuck”
beating by Sam Giancana
birth of second son
construction business
in Cuba
FBI pressure on
and Frank Pape
job as movie operator
lookout at book joint
marriage
and McIntosh Developers
and Mendolia
name change
need for a job
problems with publicity
reaction to Mooney’s death
running the Boogie Woogie
and Thunderbolt Motel
Giancana, Charles Joseph “Chuckie”
Giancana, Francine
Giancana, Josephine
Giancana, Joseph “Pepe”
Giancana, Lena
Giancana, Mary
Giancana, Mary Leonardi
Giancana, Sam “Mooney” passim
attitude toward children
and brother-in-law
and Catholic Church
childhood
confrontation with father
and Costello
and Cuba
and death of Angeline
description of plot to kill John F. Kennedy
first arrest
with 42s gang
funeral of
gambling indictment
and Genovese
and Greenbaum
and Hoover
influence with Commission
and Joe Kennedy
and Kennedys
in Kentucky
kidnapping of Jake Guzik
lawsuit against Justice Department
and Joe E. Lewis
liquor business
marriage
McClellan committee subpoena
and Phyllis McGuire
and Johnny Mendolia
method of conducting business
in Mexico
murder of
murder of pool hall owner
and Night of Stars
and Frank Pape
and plot against Castro
and policy racket
and politics
in prison
reaction to disobedience
and sports industry
stolen ration coupons
and Teddy Roe
temper
treatment of family
as underboss to Accardo
and unions
vending machine operation
and Villa Venice
wire service takeover
Giancana, Samuel Mooney
Giancana, Vicki
Gianola, Leonard “Needles,”
Gillichio, Mibs
Gioe, Charlie
Glimco, Joey
Goldstein’s Delicatessen (Chicago)
Goldwater, Barry
Granady, Octavius
Grant, Cary
Graziano, Rocky
Greco, Joe
Greenbaum, Gus
Greenberg, Louis
Greene, Art
Guatemala
Guthrie, Steve
Guzik, Jake
Hale, David
Halper, Dave
Hanrahan (U.S. Attorney)
Harlow, Jean
Havana (Cuba)
Hillman, Sidney
Hill, Ralph
Hoffa, Jimmy
Hollywood (California)
Hoover, J. Edgar
Hope, Bob
Hotel Nacionale (Havana)
House Select Committee on Assassinations
Hughes, Howard
Humphreys, Murray
Hunt, H.L.
Hunt, Sam ‘Golfbag,’
Ingolia, Joe
Internal Revenue service (IRS)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Motion Picture Operators
Ioli, Vincent
Iran, Shah of
Irish Market Street gang
IRS see Internal Revenue Service
Italian Welfare Council
Jackson, William “Action,”
Jacobs, Louie
James, Jimmy
James Street gang (New York)
Jimmy New York
John Paul I
Johnson, Lyndon
Joliet State Penitentiary
Jolson, Al
Jones, Eddie
Jones, George
Jones, Lydia
Jones, Paul
Jordan, Georgianna
Justice Department
Kastel, Phil
Kefauver, Estes
Kennedy, Bobby
assassination of
as attorney general
McClellan committee
and Marilyn Monroe
Kennedy, Joe
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald
assassination of
Bay of Pigs
and FBI memos
and
Sam Giancana
and Marilyn Monroe
marriage annulment
and women
Kennelly, Mayor
King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Korshak, Sidney
Lake, Frankie
Lansdale, Edward
Lansky, Meyer
Las Vegas (Nevada)
Lawford, Peter
Leavenworth (Kansas)
Lewis, Jerry
Lewis, Joe E.
Libonati, Roland
Lilac Lodge (Chicago)
Little Hellions
Little Wheel (Chicago)
Long, Huey
Los Angeles (California)
Louie’s gas station (Chicago)
Louisville (Kentucky)
Luciano, Lucky
MacArthur Douglas
Maheu, Bob
Mangano, Vincent
Manno, Pat
Manno, Tom
Marcello, Carlos
Marcello, Sam
Marciano, Rocky
Marcinkus, Paul
Marcos, Ferdinand
Marcus, Leon
Marcy, Pat
Maritote, Frank
Martin, Dean
Marx Brothers
Mary’s Restaurant (Chicago)
Matessa, Johnny
Mayer, Louis B.
McCarthy, Joe
McClellan committee
McClellan, John
McDonald, Marie
McGuire, Phyllis
McGurn, “Machine Gun” Jack
McIntosh Developers
McWillie, Lewis
Mendolia, Johnny
Merchandise Mart (Chicago)
Meyer, Mary
Midwest News Service
Milwaukee Phil see Alderisio, “Milwaukee Phil”
Monroe, Marilyn
Montclair Chapel (Chicago)
Montrose Association
Moran, George “Bugs,”
Morello gang (New York)
Moretti, Sal
Moretti, Willie
Mossadegh
Murchison, Clint
Murder, Inc.
Mysterious Hand
Nappi, Jack
Nation-Wide
Needles see Gianola, Leonard “Needles”
Nelson, William see Bioff, Willie
Nerone, Giuseppe
Ness, Eliot
Nevada Gaming Commission
Newberry, Teddy
New York State Parole Board
New York State Police
