JFK Assassination: Other Suspects
Santo Trafficante, Jr. (November 15, 1914 – March 17, 1987) was one of the last of the old-time Mafia bosses in the United States. He allegedly controlled organized criminal operations in Florida, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante, Sr. Reputedly the most powerful mafioso in Batista-era Cuba, he never served time in a United States prison.
Trafficante maintained links to the Bonanno family, in New York City, but was more closely allied with Salvatore “Sam,” “Mooney” Giancana, in Chicago. Subsequently, while generally recognized as the most powerful organized crime figure in Florida, throughout much of the 20th century, Trafficante was not believed to have total control over Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, Florida. The east coast of Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with obvious links to Meyer Lansky, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Calogero “Carlos Marcello” Minacore, Leo Stein and Frank Ragano. To this day, control of Florida by organized crime is likely divided between Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and international organized crime interests.
During the rule of Cuba’s ex-dictator Batista he openly operated the Sans Souci and the Casino International gambling establishments in Havana. As a leading member of the syndicate, it was suspected that he also had behind-the-scenes interests in other syndicate owned Cuban gambling casinos namely, The Hotel Habana Riviera, The Tropicana Club, The Sevilla-Biltmore, The Capri Hotel Casino, The Commodoro, The Deauville and the Havana Hilton. Nightly, Batista’s “bagman” would collect 10 percent of the profits at Trafficante’s casinos.
Trafficante was arrested in 1957, along with 56 other mobsters, at an apparent underworld convention, the Apalachin Meeting in New York. Charges were later dropped, though authorities believe the meeting was set up, among other things, to fill the power vacuum created by the recent assassination of Murder, Inc. head Albert Anastasia. Trafficante later denied knowledge of the circumstances of Anastasia’s death.
In January 1958 Trafficante was questioned by the Cuban National police regarding the Apalachin meeting. A full report was made by the Cuban police dated January 23, 1958 that includes transcripts of long distance telephone calls made from the Sans Souci during the period August-December 1957. This report was given to the District Attorneys office. In addition, on January 23, 1958 the Cuban Department of Investigation, Havana, Cuba notified the Bureau of Narcotics that Santo Trafficante was registered in their Alien Office under No. 93461.
After Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government seized the assets of Trafficante’s Cuban businesses and expelled him from the country as an “undesirable alien”, Trafficante came into contact with various U.S. intelligence operatives, and was involved in several unsuccessful plans to assassinate Castro. Allusions to these historic connections were confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency’s 2007 declassification of the “Family Jewels” documents.
Suspicions that Trafficante, along with Marcello, mob boss of New Orleans in the 1950s and ’60s, Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, and Chicago boss Sam Giancana, were involved in some way with the John F. Kennedy assassination have been alleged repeatedly but have not been proven.
Trafficante was summoned to court in 1986 and questioned about his involvement with the King’s Court nightclub operated by members of the Bonanno family from New York, including undercover FBI agent Joseph D. “Joe” Pistone, alias, “Donnie Brasco”. Trafficante again escaped conviction.
Trafficante’s health had declined in his older years, and he died in Houston, Texas, where he had gone for heart surgery, in 1987.
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