Post by Rob Caprio on Nov 17, 2018 17:40:12 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) looked into the major Mafia mob bosses of the time when President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated, allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO). The mob boss in this post had ties to another man deeply involved in this subject—Jack Ruby.
The HSCA Says…Santos Trafficante.
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The tie between Jack Ruby and Santos Trafficante was Lewis McWillie. McWillie also counted Pat Kirkwood, the owner of the “The Cellar”, as a close friend and this was the bar that many of the Secret Service (SS) agents would spend hours drinking in the night before the assassination until the early morning hours. Kirkwood’s background is equally interesting as he spent many years as a soldier of fortune, and like David Ferrie, he was a licensed pilot, and he would fly to Mexico just hours after the assassination. Did he fly alone, or did he take people with him? Supposedly, like McWillie, Kirkwood counted top organized crime figure Meyer Lansky as an associate along with oilmen like H.L. Hunt and Clint Murchinson and politicians like Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) and John B. Connally (JBC). He is certainly a man who should have gotten much more attention than he has in this case with connections like this.
McWillie had worked in Cuban casinos until 1960 when Castro took over and closed them all down. He had invited Ruby to visit him in 1959 and Ruby did come to Havana then. According to the HSCA there was documentation showing Ruby went back a second time in the Warren Commission’s (WC) files, but despite this fact the WC concluded that Ruby only traveled to Cuba that one time. Both Ruby and McWillie would claim Ruby’s visit was only for a week in 1959, but the HSCA would find out this was incorrect when they searched the tourists' cards from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
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Ruby traveled to Cuba on at least one occasion to visit McWillie. McWillie testified to the committee that Ruby visited him only once in Cuba, and that it was a social visit. The Warren Commission concluded this was the only trip Ruby took to Cuba, despite documentation in the Commission's own files indicating Ruby made a second trip.
Both Ruby and McWillie claimed that Ruby's visit to Cuba was at McWillie's invitation and lasted about a week in the late summer or early fall of 1959. The committee, however, obtained tourist cards from the Cuban Government that show Ruby entered Cuba on August 8, 1959, left on September 11, reentered on September 12 and left again on September 13, 1959. These documents supplement records the committee obtained from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) indicating that Ruby left Cuba on September 11, 1959, traveling to Miami, returned to Cuba on September 12, and traveled on to New Orleans on September 13, 1959. The Cuban Government could not state with certainty that the commercial airline flights indicated by the INS records were the only ones Ruby took during the period. (HSCA Report, p. 151)
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Study of the records left the HSCA to claim that if correct Ruby made three trips to Cuba, not one as the WC claimed. The HSCA would not state for sure though that he did make a third trip due to the incomplete nature of the records. The point though is that Jack Ruby traveled to Cuba at least two times, and perhaps as many as three times or more as the incomplete records did not preclude the possibility that he went more than three times. The HSCA concluded that Ruby was acting as a courier of some kind for the gambling interests in Miami in all likelihood, but they even mentioned that he may have been there to visit some crime figures as well.
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It has been charged that Ruby met with Santos Trafficante in Cuba sometime in 1959. Trafficante, regarded as one of the nation's most powerful organized crime figures, was to become a key participant in Castro assassination attempts by the Mafia and the CIA from 1960 to 1963. The committee developed circumstantial evidence that makes a meeting between Ruby and Trafficante a distinct possibility, but the evidence was not sufficient to form a final conclusion as to whether or not such a meeting took place.
While allegations of a Ruby link to Trafficante had previously been raised, mainly due to McWillie's alleged close connections to the Mafia leader, it was not until recent years that they received serious attention. Trafficante had long been recognized by law enforcement officials as a leading member of the La Cosa Nostro, but he did not become the object of significant public attention in connection with the assassination of the President until his participation in the assassination plots against Castro was disclosed in 1975.
In 1976, in response to a freedom of information suit, the CIA declassified a State Department cablegram received from London on November 28, 1963. It read:
On 26 November 1963, a British Journalist named John Wilson, and also known as Wilson-Hudson, gave information to the American Embassy in London which indicated that an "American gangster-type named Ruby" visited Cuba around 1959. Wilson himself was working in Cuba at that time and was jailed by Castro before he was deported.
In prison in Cuba, Wilson says he met an American gangster-gambler named Santos who could not return to the U.S.A. Instead he preferred to live in relative luxury in a Cuban prison. While Santos was in prison, Wilson says, Santos was visited frequently by an American gangster type named Ruby.
Several days after the CIA had received the information, the Agency noted that there were reports that Wilson-Hudson was a "psychopath" and unreliable. The Agency did not conduct an investigation of the information, and the Warren Commission was apparently not informed of the cablegram. The former staff counsel who directed the Commission's somewhat limited investigation of organized crime told the committee that since the Commission was never told of the CIA's use of the Mafia to try to assassinate Castro from 1960 to 1963, he was not familiar with the name Santos Trafficante in 1964.
The committee was unable to locate John Wilson-Hudson. (According to reports, he had died.) Nor was the committee able to obtain independent confirmation of the Wilson-Hudson allegation. The committee was able, however, to develop corroborative information to the effect that Wilson-Hudson was incarcerated at the same detention camp in Cuba as Trafficante.
On June 6, 1959, Trafficante and others who controlled extensive gambling interests in Cuba were detained as part of a Castro government policy that would subsequently lead to the confiscation of all underworlds holding in Cuba.
They were held in Trescornia, a minimum-security detention camp. According to documentation supplied by the Cuban Government, Trafficante was released from Trescornia on August 18, 1959. Tourist card documentation, also obtained by the committee, as well as various Warren Commission documents, indicate Ruby's first trip to Cuba began on August 1959. Thus, Ruby was in Cuba during part of the final days of Trafficante's detention at Trescornia. (Ibid, pp. 152-153)
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So there is some corroboration for the claim that Ruby had met with Santos Trafficante while he was imprisoned in Cuba in 1959. We also see again that the CIA when informed of this did nothing with it and instead again attacked the source, John Wilson-Hudson, calling him a “psychopath” when they had no way of knowing this to be true. Why did the CIA continuously ignore leads like this IF LHO had killed JFK as claimed? What were they afraid of?
McWillie would say he saw Trafficante in Trescornia prison too but did no more than say “hello” to him. He said perhaps Ruby accompanied him to Trescornia, but he couldn’t remember for sure. Trafficante told the HSCA during his testimony that Ruby did not visit him since there was no reason for him to do so since he had never “been to Dallas.” As if that is the only reason Ruby would have been visiting him if he was a courier as thought. He did remember a journalist that fit Wilson-Hudson’s description, thus, that part of the story could be confirmed. As the HSCA correctly says this meeting is not an indication of any planning for JFK’s murder since he was not even president in 1959, but what the HSCA does not say is this could show an association of the two men, and/or the groups they represented, that could have had a partnership in the murder of JFK in 1963.
Another tie between Ruby and Trafficante can be found possibly in the person of James Dolan (see “The HSCA Says…James Dolan” for more details) who was the Dallas American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) representative who worked with Ruby and was reportedly an associate of both Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante.
The HSCA acknowledged that Trafficante was the leader of the “La Cosa Nostra” (i.e. Mafia) in Florida. Here is what they wrote about him in their report.
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(7) Santos Trafficante.--The committee also concentrated its attention on Santos Trafficante, the La Cosa Nostra leader in Florida. The committee found that Trafficante, like Marcello, had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.
Trafficante was a key subject of the Justice Department crackdown on organized crime during the Kennedy administration, with his name being added to alist of the top 10 syndicate leaders targeted for investigation. Ironically, attorney General Kennedy's strong interest in having Trafficante prosecuted occurred during the same period in which CIA officials, unbeknownst to the Attorney General, were using Trafficante's services in assassination plots against the Cuban chief of state, Fidel Castro.
The committee found that Santos Trafficante's stature in the national syndicate of organized crime, notably the violent narcotics trade, and his role as the mob's chief liaison to criminal figures within the Cuban exile community, provided him with the capability of formulating an assassination conspiracy against President Kennedy. Trafficante had recruited Cuban nationals to help plan and execute the CIA's assignment to assassinate Castro. (The CIA gave the assignment to former FBI Agent Robert Maheu, who passed the contract along to Mafia figures Sam Giancana and John Roselli. They, in turn, enlisted Trafficante to have the intended assassination carried out.)
In his testimony before the committee, Trafficante admitted participating in the unsuccessful CIA conspiracy to assassinate Castro, an admission indicating his willingness to participate in political murder. Trafficante testified that he worked with the CIA out of a patriotic feeling for his country, an explanation the committee did not accept, at least not as his sole motivation. Ibid, pp. 172-173)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0101b.htm
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The HSCA did not pull punches as they said along with Carlos Marcello he had the “motive, means and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.” Obviously elements of the Mafia were involved in this assassination in my opinion, but they could not pull off the cover-up that still goes on in 2022 all alone. It is interesting too that to get his testimony the HSCA had to give him full immunity from prosecution so even if he admitted that he was involved in JFK’s murder, which he didn’t, there wasn't anything the HSCA could have done about it. This is from his HSCA testimony.
Chairman STOKES. Will you tell us when and where you were born?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. At this time I want to exercise my privilege and my constitutional right to take the Fifth amendment.
Chairman STOKES. Mr. Chairman, I request that you have the clerk show the witness JFK exhibit No. F-411, an order of Judge Gasch conferring immunity upon the witness and compelling his testimony.
Mr. PREYER. Yes; Mr. Trafficante the committee has determined earlier that it desires to immunize your testimony, and the clerk is directed at this time to show the witness a certified copy of the immunity order of Judge Gasch, and it is ordered inserted into the record at this point, JFK F-411.
[The Immunity Order, JFK F-411 follows:]
JFK F-411:
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol5/pages/HSCA_Vol5_0176a.gif
This is important as it shows Trafficante would not have said anything to them otherwise, and for the reason I said before, if he said anything or admitted anything of value there was nothing anyone could do to him. The only danger Trafficante faced was not complying with the order or perjury (lying under oath).
As we have seen in a previous post in this series, Trafficante was allegedly heard making a comment about JFK being “hit” by Jose Aleman (see “The HSCA Says…Jose Aleman” for more details), thus, there is some evidence showing he either had foreknowledge of the assassination or he had a gift for predictions. During his testimony however Trafficante denied having anything to do with the assassination of JFK or having any knowledge that it was going to happen. What do you really expect him to say though?
Chairman STOKES. Mr. Trafficante, I want to ask you a question that is very important to this committee, and that is, did you have any foreknowledge of the assassination of President Kennedy?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Absolutely not; no way.
Chairman STOKES. You were upset about it. Are you aware of any threats made by Mr. Marcello against either president Kennedy or Attorney General Kennedy?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. No, sir; no, no chance, no way.
The HSCA would say this about Trafficante's denial in their report.
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Appearing before the committee in public session on September 28, 1978, Trafficante categorically denied ever having discussed any plan to assassinate President Kennedy.
Trafficante denied any foreknowledge of or participation in the President's murder. While stating that he did in fact know Aleman and that he had met with him on more than one occasion in 1962, Trafficante denied Aleman's account of their alleged conversation about President Kennedy, and he denied ever having made a threatening remark against the President. (Ibid., p. 174)
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Even under protection of immunity there would be no reason for Trafficante to admit that he was involved as that would bring down the full weight of the government onto the organized crime network so it is not unexpected that he would deny any involvement in this assassination. The HSCA did not believe him when it came to the Jose Aleman allegation as he categorically denied ever saying JFK was going to be hit to Aleman. Here is what the HSCA wrote about that.
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The committee found it difficult to understand how Aleman could have misunderstood Trafficante during such a conversation, or why he would have fabricated such an account. Aleman appeared to be a reputable person, who did not seek to publicize his allegations, and he was well aware of the potential danger of making such allegations against a leader of La Costa Nostra.The committee noted, however, that Aleman's prior allegations and testimony before the committee had made him understandably fearful for his life. (Ibid)
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So this shows to me that in all likelihood Trafficante at least has some knowledge of what was going to happen to JFK. This could have come via Johnny Roselli who he said he had known for 15-16 years and was working with the CIA on the Castro assassination plots. We won’t ever know for sure, but it is a viable source to consider.
Chairman STOKES. Did you know Mr. Roselli before that date?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Yes, I had met him.
Chairman STOKES. And how long had you known him?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. I would say about 15 years, 15-16 years.
Chairman STOKES. Can you tell us the substance of the conversation you had with him?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Well, he told me that CIA and the United States Government was involved in eliminating Castro. And if I would happen, and if Mr. Gener, if Mr. Macho Gener, if I knew about him, knew what kind of man he was. I told him I think he was a good man, he was against Castro anyhow, and that is about it. Then he introduced me to Mr. Maheu, and then Mr. Giancana came into the picture.
So we see it is possible that Roselli had heard through his sources that JFK was going to be hit, especially so if you believe elements of the CIA were involved in it. The bottom line is that the HSCA found Trafficante, like Marcello, to be a viable candidate for participation in the murder of JFK. Here are some examples of them saying this.
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The committee also found that it was possible, based on an analysis of motive, means and opportunity, that an individual organized crime leader, or a small combination of leaders, might have participated in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. The committee's extensive investigation led it to conclude that the most likely family bosses of organized crime to have participated in such a unilateral assassination plan were Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante. While other family bosses on the commission were subjected to considerable coverage in the electronic surveillance program, such coverage was never applied to Marcello and almost never to Trafficante. (Ibid., p. 169)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0100a.htm
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And:
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The committee found, in the context of its duty to be cautious in its evaluation of the evidence, that it is unlikely that Trafficante plotted to kill the President, although it could not rule out the possibility of such participation on the basis of available evidence. (Ibid., p. 175)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0103a.htm
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Whether he was part of the plotting phase or not will not be known, but undoubtedly his connections in the anti-Castro Cuban community and his ability to speak Spanish were things that could have been of help to the planners. Thus, as the HSCA said, he cannot be ruled out as a participant and we can’t forget that his territory of Florida contained the largest CIA station in the U.S. on the University of Miami campus (JM/WAVE).
What do you think Santos Trafficante’s involvement was in this assassination? Planner? Plotter? No involvement?
Clearly he had some knowledge of what was going to happen and this should have been explored more, but as usual the WC did nothing with it and by the time of the HSCA there was no desire to pursue the supposedly ill Trafficante (he would live until 1987), and therefore, they granted him immunity from prosecution. This should have elicited more cooperation from him, but the ingrained nature of not “ratting out” your compatriots was very strong in a man like Trafficante. Also, the desire to avoid a full attack by the U.S. government may have been another reason why he kept silent. Finally, the deaths of Roselli and Sam Giancana before they could be called by the HSCA probably did not escape him either and he received the message loud and clear—keep your mouth shut.
Therefore, a person who may have had some knowledge of what happened on November 22, 1963, was not made to tell us what he knew. It was another lost chance to learn more of the truth of that day.
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The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) looked into the major Mafia mob bosses of the time when President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated, allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO). The mob boss in this post had ties to another man deeply involved in this subject—Jack Ruby.
The HSCA Says…Santos Trafficante.
***********************************
The tie between Jack Ruby and Santos Trafficante was Lewis McWillie. McWillie also counted Pat Kirkwood, the owner of the “The Cellar”, as a close friend and this was the bar that many of the Secret Service (SS) agents would spend hours drinking in the night before the assassination until the early morning hours. Kirkwood’s background is equally interesting as he spent many years as a soldier of fortune, and like David Ferrie, he was a licensed pilot, and he would fly to Mexico just hours after the assassination. Did he fly alone, or did he take people with him? Supposedly, like McWillie, Kirkwood counted top organized crime figure Meyer Lansky as an associate along with oilmen like H.L. Hunt and Clint Murchinson and politicians like Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) and John B. Connally (JBC). He is certainly a man who should have gotten much more attention than he has in this case with connections like this.
McWillie had worked in Cuban casinos until 1960 when Castro took over and closed them all down. He had invited Ruby to visit him in 1959 and Ruby did come to Havana then. According to the HSCA there was documentation showing Ruby went back a second time in the Warren Commission’s (WC) files, but despite this fact the WC concluded that Ruby only traveled to Cuba that one time. Both Ruby and McWillie would claim Ruby’s visit was only for a week in 1959, but the HSCA would find out this was incorrect when they searched the tourists' cards from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
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Ruby traveled to Cuba on at least one occasion to visit McWillie. McWillie testified to the committee that Ruby visited him only once in Cuba, and that it was a social visit. The Warren Commission concluded this was the only trip Ruby took to Cuba, despite documentation in the Commission's own files indicating Ruby made a second trip.
Both Ruby and McWillie claimed that Ruby's visit to Cuba was at McWillie's invitation and lasted about a week in the late summer or early fall of 1959. The committee, however, obtained tourist cards from the Cuban Government that show Ruby entered Cuba on August 8, 1959, left on September 11, reentered on September 12 and left again on September 13, 1959. These documents supplement records the committee obtained from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) indicating that Ruby left Cuba on September 11, 1959, traveling to Miami, returned to Cuba on September 12, and traveled on to New Orleans on September 13, 1959. The Cuban Government could not state with certainty that the commercial airline flights indicated by the INS records were the only ones Ruby took during the period. (HSCA Report, p. 151)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0091a.htm
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Study of the records left the HSCA to claim that if correct Ruby made three trips to Cuba, not one as the WC claimed. The HSCA would not state for sure though that he did make a third trip due to the incomplete nature of the records. The point though is that Jack Ruby traveled to Cuba at least two times, and perhaps as many as three times or more as the incomplete records did not preclude the possibility that he went more than three times. The HSCA concluded that Ruby was acting as a courier of some kind for the gambling interests in Miami in all likelihood, but they even mentioned that he may have been there to visit some crime figures as well.
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www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0091b.gif
It has been charged that Ruby met with Santos Trafficante in Cuba sometime in 1959. Trafficante, regarded as one of the nation's most powerful organized crime figures, was to become a key participant in Castro assassination attempts by the Mafia and the CIA from 1960 to 1963. The committee developed circumstantial evidence that makes a meeting between Ruby and Trafficante a distinct possibility, but the evidence was not sufficient to form a final conclusion as to whether or not such a meeting took place.
While allegations of a Ruby link to Trafficante had previously been raised, mainly due to McWillie's alleged close connections to the Mafia leader, it was not until recent years that they received serious attention. Trafficante had long been recognized by law enforcement officials as a leading member of the La Cosa Nostro, but he did not become the object of significant public attention in connection with the assassination of the President until his participation in the assassination plots against Castro was disclosed in 1975.
In 1976, in response to a freedom of information suit, the CIA declassified a State Department cablegram received from London on November 28, 1963. It read:
On 26 November 1963, a British Journalist named John Wilson, and also known as Wilson-Hudson, gave information to the American Embassy in London which indicated that an "American gangster-type named Ruby" visited Cuba around 1959. Wilson himself was working in Cuba at that time and was jailed by Castro before he was deported.
In prison in Cuba, Wilson says he met an American gangster-gambler named Santos who could not return to the U.S.A. Instead he preferred to live in relative luxury in a Cuban prison. While Santos was in prison, Wilson says, Santos was visited frequently by an American gangster type named Ruby.
Several days after the CIA had received the information, the Agency noted that there were reports that Wilson-Hudson was a "psychopath" and unreliable. The Agency did not conduct an investigation of the information, and the Warren Commission was apparently not informed of the cablegram. The former staff counsel who directed the Commission's somewhat limited investigation of organized crime told the committee that since the Commission was never told of the CIA's use of the Mafia to try to assassinate Castro from 1960 to 1963, he was not familiar with the name Santos Trafficante in 1964.
The committee was unable to locate John Wilson-Hudson. (According to reports, he had died.) Nor was the committee able to obtain independent confirmation of the Wilson-Hudson allegation. The committee was able, however, to develop corroborative information to the effect that Wilson-Hudson was incarcerated at the same detention camp in Cuba as Trafficante.
On June 6, 1959, Trafficante and others who controlled extensive gambling interests in Cuba were detained as part of a Castro government policy that would subsequently lead to the confiscation of all underworlds holding in Cuba.
They were held in Trescornia, a minimum-security detention camp. According to documentation supplied by the Cuban Government, Trafficante was released from Trescornia on August 18, 1959. Tourist card documentation, also obtained by the committee, as well as various Warren Commission documents, indicate Ruby's first trip to Cuba began on August 1959. Thus, Ruby was in Cuba during part of the final days of Trafficante's detention at Trescornia. (Ibid, pp. 152-153)
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So there is some corroboration for the claim that Ruby had met with Santos Trafficante while he was imprisoned in Cuba in 1959. We also see again that the CIA when informed of this did nothing with it and instead again attacked the source, John Wilson-Hudson, calling him a “psychopath” when they had no way of knowing this to be true. Why did the CIA continuously ignore leads like this IF LHO had killed JFK as claimed? What were they afraid of?
McWillie would say he saw Trafficante in Trescornia prison too but did no more than say “hello” to him. He said perhaps Ruby accompanied him to Trescornia, but he couldn’t remember for sure. Trafficante told the HSCA during his testimony that Ruby did not visit him since there was no reason for him to do so since he had never “been to Dallas.” As if that is the only reason Ruby would have been visiting him if he was a courier as thought. He did remember a journalist that fit Wilson-Hudson’s description, thus, that part of the story could be confirmed. As the HSCA correctly says this meeting is not an indication of any planning for JFK’s murder since he was not even president in 1959, but what the HSCA does not say is this could show an association of the two men, and/or the groups they represented, that could have had a partnership in the murder of JFK in 1963.
Another tie between Ruby and Trafficante can be found possibly in the person of James Dolan (see “The HSCA Says…James Dolan” for more details) who was the Dallas American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) representative who worked with Ruby and was reportedly an associate of both Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante.
The HSCA acknowledged that Trafficante was the leader of the “La Cosa Nostra” (i.e. Mafia) in Florida. Here is what they wrote about him in their report.
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(7) Santos Trafficante.--The committee also concentrated its attention on Santos Trafficante, the La Cosa Nostra leader in Florida. The committee found that Trafficante, like Marcello, had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.
Trafficante was a key subject of the Justice Department crackdown on organized crime during the Kennedy administration, with his name being added to alist of the top 10 syndicate leaders targeted for investigation. Ironically, attorney General Kennedy's strong interest in having Trafficante prosecuted occurred during the same period in which CIA officials, unbeknownst to the Attorney General, were using Trafficante's services in assassination plots against the Cuban chief of state, Fidel Castro.
The committee found that Santos Trafficante's stature in the national syndicate of organized crime, notably the violent narcotics trade, and his role as the mob's chief liaison to criminal figures within the Cuban exile community, provided him with the capability of formulating an assassination conspiracy against President Kennedy. Trafficante had recruited Cuban nationals to help plan and execute the CIA's assignment to assassinate Castro. (The CIA gave the assignment to former FBI Agent Robert Maheu, who passed the contract along to Mafia figures Sam Giancana and John Roselli. They, in turn, enlisted Trafficante to have the intended assassination carried out.)
In his testimony before the committee, Trafficante admitted participating in the unsuccessful CIA conspiracy to assassinate Castro, an admission indicating his willingness to participate in political murder. Trafficante testified that he worked with the CIA out of a patriotic feeling for his country, an explanation the committee did not accept, at least not as his sole motivation. Ibid, pp. 172-173)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0101b.htm
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The HSCA did not pull punches as they said along with Carlos Marcello he had the “motive, means and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy.” Obviously elements of the Mafia were involved in this assassination in my opinion, but they could not pull off the cover-up that still goes on in 2022 all alone. It is interesting too that to get his testimony the HSCA had to give him full immunity from prosecution so even if he admitted that he was involved in JFK’s murder, which he didn’t, there wasn't anything the HSCA could have done about it. This is from his HSCA testimony.
Chairman STOKES. Will you tell us when and where you were born?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. At this time I want to exercise my privilege and my constitutional right to take the Fifth amendment.
Chairman STOKES. Mr. Chairman, I request that you have the clerk show the witness JFK exhibit No. F-411, an order of Judge Gasch conferring immunity upon the witness and compelling his testimony.
Mr. PREYER. Yes; Mr. Trafficante the committee has determined earlier that it desires to immunize your testimony, and the clerk is directed at this time to show the witness a certified copy of the immunity order of Judge Gasch, and it is ordered inserted into the record at this point, JFK F-411.
[The Immunity Order, JFK F-411 follows:]
JFK F-411:
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol5/pages/HSCA_Vol5_0176a.gif
This is important as it shows Trafficante would not have said anything to them otherwise, and for the reason I said before, if he said anything or admitted anything of value there was nothing anyone could do to him. The only danger Trafficante faced was not complying with the order or perjury (lying under oath).
As we have seen in a previous post in this series, Trafficante was allegedly heard making a comment about JFK being “hit” by Jose Aleman (see “The HSCA Says…Jose Aleman” for more details), thus, there is some evidence showing he either had foreknowledge of the assassination or he had a gift for predictions. During his testimony however Trafficante denied having anything to do with the assassination of JFK or having any knowledge that it was going to happen. What do you really expect him to say though?
Chairman STOKES. Mr. Trafficante, I want to ask you a question that is very important to this committee, and that is, did you have any foreknowledge of the assassination of President Kennedy?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Absolutely not; no way.
Chairman STOKES. You were upset about it. Are you aware of any threats made by Mr. Marcello against either president Kennedy or Attorney General Kennedy?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. No, sir; no, no chance, no way.
The HSCA would say this about Trafficante's denial in their report.
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www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0102b.gif
Appearing before the committee in public session on September 28, 1978, Trafficante categorically denied ever having discussed any plan to assassinate President Kennedy.
Trafficante denied any foreknowledge of or participation in the President's murder. While stating that he did in fact know Aleman and that he had met with him on more than one occasion in 1962, Trafficante denied Aleman's account of their alleged conversation about President Kennedy, and he denied ever having made a threatening remark against the President. (Ibid., p. 174)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0102b.htm
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Even under protection of immunity there would be no reason for Trafficante to admit that he was involved as that would bring down the full weight of the government onto the organized crime network so it is not unexpected that he would deny any involvement in this assassination. The HSCA did not believe him when it came to the Jose Aleman allegation as he categorically denied ever saying JFK was going to be hit to Aleman. Here is what the HSCA wrote about that.
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The committee found it difficult to understand how Aleman could have misunderstood Trafficante during such a conversation, or why he would have fabricated such an account. Aleman appeared to be a reputable person, who did not seek to publicize his allegations, and he was well aware of the potential danger of making such allegations against a leader of La Costa Nostra.The committee noted, however, that Aleman's prior allegations and testimony before the committee had made him understandably fearful for his life. (Ibid)
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So this shows to me that in all likelihood Trafficante at least has some knowledge of what was going to happen to JFK. This could have come via Johnny Roselli who he said he had known for 15-16 years and was working with the CIA on the Castro assassination plots. We won’t ever know for sure, but it is a viable source to consider.
Chairman STOKES. Did you know Mr. Roselli before that date?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Yes, I had met him.
Chairman STOKES. And how long had you known him?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. I would say about 15 years, 15-16 years.
Chairman STOKES. Can you tell us the substance of the conversation you had with him?
Mr. TRAFFICANTE. Well, he told me that CIA and the United States Government was involved in eliminating Castro. And if I would happen, and if Mr. Gener, if Mr. Macho Gener, if I knew about him, knew what kind of man he was. I told him I think he was a good man, he was against Castro anyhow, and that is about it. Then he introduced me to Mr. Maheu, and then Mr. Giancana came into the picture.
So we see it is possible that Roselli had heard through his sources that JFK was going to be hit, especially so if you believe elements of the CIA were involved in it. The bottom line is that the HSCA found Trafficante, like Marcello, to be a viable candidate for participation in the murder of JFK. Here are some examples of them saying this.
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www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0100a.gif
The committee also found that it was possible, based on an analysis of motive, means and opportunity, that an individual organized crime leader, or a small combination of leaders, might have participated in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. The committee's extensive investigation led it to conclude that the most likely family bosses of organized crime to have participated in such a unilateral assassination plan were Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante. While other family bosses on the commission were subjected to considerable coverage in the electronic surveillance program, such coverage was never applied to Marcello and almost never to Trafficante. (Ibid., p. 169)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0100a.htm
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And:
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www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0103a.gif
The committee found, in the context of its duty to be cautious in its evaluation of the evidence, that it is unlikely that Trafficante plotted to kill the President, although it could not rule out the possibility of such participation on the basis of available evidence. (Ibid., p. 175)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0103a.htm
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Whether he was part of the plotting phase or not will not be known, but undoubtedly his connections in the anti-Castro Cuban community and his ability to speak Spanish were things that could have been of help to the planners. Thus, as the HSCA said, he cannot be ruled out as a participant and we can’t forget that his territory of Florida contained the largest CIA station in the U.S. on the University of Miami campus (JM/WAVE).
What do you think Santos Trafficante’s involvement was in this assassination? Planner? Plotter? No involvement?
Clearly he had some knowledge of what was going to happen and this should have been explored more, but as usual the WC did nothing with it and by the time of the HSCA there was no desire to pursue the supposedly ill Trafficante (he would live until 1987), and therefore, they granted him immunity from prosecution. This should have elicited more cooperation from him, but the ingrained nature of not “ratting out” your compatriots was very strong in a man like Trafficante. Also, the desire to avoid a full attack by the U.S. government may have been another reason why he kept silent. Finally, the deaths of Roselli and Sam Giancana before they could be called by the HSCA probably did not escape him either and he received the message loud and clear—keep your mouth shut.
Therefore, a person who may have had some knowledge of what happened on November 22, 1963, was not made to tell us what he knew. It was another lost chance to learn more of the truth of that day.