Cosa Nostra News

Meyer Lansky had a dream that rivaled the one widely ( and inaccurately ) attributed to Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel regarding transforming a sizeable stretch of the Nevada desert into a gambling mecca. Lansky wanted to create an empire of Mafia-owned casinos that stretched across the Caribbean. He'd use Havana, Cuba, as his base of operations, where he and childhood friend/chief criminal cohort  Charlie (Lucky) Luciano could work together. Charlie Luciano in Rome after he was kicked out of Cuba.... Fate in the form of Fidel Castro didn't allow things to develop the way Lansky and Luciano hoped. Lansky lost out on a major opportunity to build another fortune.  Luciano, however, had it worse.  He was returned to Italy, a country he despised. The  Sicilian Mafia was robbing him blind.

"I’m going to run all those fascist mobsters, all those American gangsters out of Cuba." Meyer Lansky supposedly was the first to realize the possibilities Cuba afforded the mob. Santo Trafficante Junior  was close behind him. The offshore tropical island was the perfect platform for smuggling, among other things. Cuba also made an excellent vacation destination, where a gambling industry to match Las Vegas could thrive -- minus the attention U.S. operators tended to attract from certain federal agencies, like the FBI. Unlike in Vegas, the mob could invest its gambling proceeds into entities like corporations and financial institutions, thus laundering it and profiteering from what wouldn't be classified as illicit earnings.

In 1986, at the age of 71, Santo Trafficante faced the most formidable indictment of his life. The reason was Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano , a onetime Bonanno capo Sonny Black leads Santo Trafficante out of a motel room. The Feds wanted Santo Trafficante on a platter. Operation Coldwater ran from 1979 to 1981 and was the FBI's attempt to infiltrate the Mafia then infesting Florida's Gulf Coast. However, from its inception, the op's true goal was much more targeted in nature. Santo Trafficante was considered nothing less than The Godfather of most of Florida, who'd deemed it "open territory" for the Northern-based Mafia families, with provisos, of course. He first had to give his approval, then, of course, he got a piece of their action. Or at least so said the Feds. (Mafia cases are generally easy to "build" -- as there's never a lack of motive with which prosecutors can enchant the jury...) After all attempts to flip some of h...

Marilyn Monroe, icon of beauty... An old-time Cosa Nostra boss, one of America's more elusive, came to mind when we heard the recent news about there being in private hands an alleged home movie of Marilyn Monroe banging John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy. We thought of this mob boss because he once expressed regret for not seizing a blackmail opportunity; namely he failed to film JFK getting down and dirty with a bunch of hookers. The news revealing the existence of the footage came to light when the Tulare County Sheriff's Department (in California) reported that it had seized the alleged MM/JFK/RFK film from William Castleberry over an outstanding debt Castleberry owed the county. The Sheriff's Department was planning to auction off this film on March 4, to make its money back. But then the debt was quickly repaid, and Castleberry's film was slated to be returned. Castleberry's attorneys told TMZ "they have no idea wh...

John LaRocca Did the Mafia commit the assassination of JFK ? If it did, which mobsters were involved? Pennsylvania's Trib Live noted an incident which for a time drew the spotlight on two little-known New Kensington gangsters: Gabriel “Kelly” Mannarino and his brother Sam — both of whom were part of the one-time rich and powerful Pittsburgh mob family of John LaRocca, who held power for some thirty years. The family has since nearly disappeared due to aggressive law enforcement tactics. Both LaRocca and Mannarino were partners with Tampa mob boss Santo Trafficante in owning the Sans Souci hotel and gambling casino in Havana, Cuba.