BBC2 Reputations Sam Giancana The Gangster Who Dreamed 25th April 1996

from setting [Music] [Music] Sam Giancana leader of the Chicago mafia clever most powerful mobster in America he was a ruthless killer that's why he rose up in the organization he did what others couldn't do arrested more than 70 times for assault larceny bombing and murder personally fortune some of his victims thought responsible for 200 killings he was magnetic I thought he was special [Music] Sam Giancana sent a couple of his henchmen over to a barbershop to get a couple barbers in mind these were men who were harmless wouldn't hurt anybody these men went in grabbed the two barbers took out rubber hoses baseball bat brass knuckles and proceeded to beat them beat them bloody break their fingers and leave them lying in pools of blood all at the wishes of Sam Jim cannon Sam Giancana was boss of the Chicago mafia and without doubt the most powerful gangster in America killing someone made him feel more alive but what made Giancana different was not his violence but his dreams he wanted to control the world did he want to control the president yeah true in the 1960 presidential election Giancana used the corrupt power of the Chicago mafia to swing votes for Jack Kennedy if it hadn't been for Giancana and his troops then next Roy turbine president 1960 figure we had the president in our pocket what else could you ask for I mean his big but instead of rewarding Giancana the Kennedy is declared war on organized crime and Giancana his nephew claims took his revenge three quick shots November 22nd 1963 Sam Giancana told my father that we took care of Kennedy together that elements of the CIA along with members of the mob joined together to assassinate the president United States certainly the Attorney General Robert Kennedy was haunted by private fears that his war on the Mafia had provoked his brother's death Giancana vanished into exile in Mexico taking with him some of the deepest secrets of government [Music] Sam Giancana jr. his uncle was his violent namesake Sam Mooney Giancana the gangster Giancana powerful and remote was proud of the small boy who bore his name his nephew and his godson my father was visiting Sam one afternoon and Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin any show of demise over a long day in a city he preferred kept secret Sam jr. talked about his uncle coin a criminal legend a gangster consumed by dreams it's the ultimate story of organized crime in America it begins in Chicago in 1915 under a tree aged ten the future gangster is led out of a family home and whipped Sam's father changed him to the tree in the backyard and would beat him with a strap beat him to the point where he cried for mercy would be exhausted and laying on the ground into the wee hours of the night before he was released by his father [Music] compared with his poor father who barely spoke English or dry old Italian priests gangster Al Capone was a much more potent role model he controls policemen judges and mayor and he had caught it in the old Lexington hotel Capone exude 'add dark majesty his annual revenue is reported at over 100 million with police and judges in his pocket Chicago was his captive City violence is the foundation of Capone's kingdom his gangland rifles are machine gunned in broad daylight the patch was where poor Italians lived in Chicago [Music] expelled from school gen kana was sent to a reformatory then joined a street gang the 42s barely more than children they possessed a strange intimacy with torture and death taking gang members rival gang members and we're talking rivals we're talking about other ethnic groups and they would literally torture them burn them break a leg break arms you know scar them and leave them to be an example to other people strutting around the patch they mimicked that gangster heroes in a running gun battle here he had seen with his body riddled with bullets the 42s included men like mad sam de Stefano who in later life would slide icepicks into the brains of his victims in such company Giancana had to try hard to impress explained he was Italian boy and Italian at Austin in Chicago the Irish and the Polish were the people he was a [ __ ] [ __ ] a Guinea they couldn't get any decent jobs as he said they were the low-grade white people and he said of course he had no money he had to do things like all the kids that they wanted you'd have a stealer they called him Mooney crazy [Music] prohibition provided the violent backdrop to Muniz rise he drove bootleg whiskey around Chicago does no question about her you talk about anybody to do Sam was a boy said he was a tough kid he was fearless [Music] I'm never faith in fact the profits from bootlegging were phenomenal [Music] there was open war between bootleggers and the law Giancana was like an animal force unleashed in the underworld brutal but subtle definitely electric cake public enemy number one of the world here is your throne for Giancana the electric chair held no fillers he became a gun for hire a freelance enforcer who killed to order from what I understand yes he put a few away whatever messy demise Chicago gangsters prescribed for their enemies Giancana would execute shadowmen had tortured a few you know the way it's usually done in the outfit didn't bother him not a bit barely out of his teens legend had it he'd killed 20 men he was a ruthless killer that's why he rose up in the organization he did what others couldn't do he told his brother he enjoyed killing killing someone made him feel more alive but Giancana also knew when to stop violence was just a means to an end the real prize was power to win a place in the Capone gang he betrayed his first boss a gangster called Diamond Joe Esposito Sam and several other individuals made sure that Diamond Joe wasn't going to see the light of day anymore yet according to the distorted code of the underworld Giancana was no traitor he obeyed the Mafia's laws he choocha Retton their head if you did anything wrong to him or wrong to anybody that he was aware of in life but when you were sitting with with with Giancana didn't you ever say to yourself this is a man he's got blood on his hands as long as it wasn't my blood I don't care - his brother Giancana claimed he'd taken part in the most spectacular killing in gangland history thus in Valentine's Day Massacre of Al Capone's enemies now at hotels not over old man bootlegging had made him rich the end of prohibition was a disaster for Giancana at a stroke than most profitable criminal activity in America had vanished briefly jailed for bootlegging he met a stylish black gangster called Eddie Jones Jones was king of the policy racket a street lottery that had always been controlled by blacks it brought in millions for the policy Kings Giancana did not feel black gangs deserved such profits he talked about something like a quarter of a million to half a million dollars a week which was a staggering amount of money worth it was absolutely Eddie Jones was a millionaire several times over by all accounts Jones had everything Giancana wanted a mansion in Mexico a home in Chicago filled with antiques and gold and clothes which made his own look dowdy any Negroes around like that until he met him in the jail [Music] out of jail Jen Connor cultivated his new black friend he opened a nightclub called the boogie-woogie which filled with black gangsters including Eddie Jones so Eddie Jones thought Sam Giancana was his best friend yeah one evening Jones was kidnapped flung in a car and driven to Giancana snoo home in the suburbs Jones took the next train to Mexico having agreed to turn over his entire gambling operation to Gymkhana evidently Giancana had introduced him to a few realities and of course from that point on I mean the word went out in an aprotic game became white as opposed to black became Italian yeah run by Sam Giancana yeah the present temperature is 45 degrees and the outlook for tomorrow is a nice sunshiny day so it should be a good day for everyone no matter where you may be his daughter's say Giancana dreamed a familiar dream the American dream to own to run a big business a big corporation except it was the dark side of the American dream that's true gambling prostitution the nickels and dimes of the poor were making him rich the spoils he lavished on his daughters wonderful suits by Christian Dior wonderful fur coats some nice jewelry [Music] dancing drinking they having a great time I mean it was almost like New Year's to New Year's Eve every day or every night ian conners daughter's were formed on by waiters and shop assistants [Music] the source of the endless money concerned them not at all why should I never saw it about rear the money - didn't make it a little bit sour no the money no that was there you spent it we did I did Giancana gave them armfuls of expensive clothes I mean he would pick it all out and bring it home he'd say okay this is for you but see they I think that was a way of him showing his his love which was material because he was unable to give you a hug or say I love you insulated inexpensive stores and restaurants the family never dared mentioned the brutal nighttime world of Sam Giancana never even brought it up I would never I would never confront him with that because I just never saw their part of him Giancana wrote Valentine's cards in a careful hand he expected from his family old-fashioned perfection prim proper you know always you know plate thank you we always had when we got up from the table you know we had asked to be excused it was a very proper upbringing in World War two Giancana was called before the draft board but he was declared a constitutional psychopath shortly afterwards he was made an underboss in the Chicago mafia [Music] he took his family to Hollywood there were limousines and hotel suites littered with roses we may see everything it was the Beverly Hills who cares one of the hotels they have their own villa and it was just great they were taken on private studio tours by famous producers they hit power that's all I knew he had power who questions power I mean I just enjoyed it well not everybody shows up with a Hollywood film studio yeah that's right that's true no this is great feeling I left [Music] from time the family got used to seeing Giancana with stars like Sammy Davis and especially with Frank Sinatra it was a cordial wonderful relationship I mean these two guys used to hug each other and kiss each other a pen you know my father entering the room not four years did they realize the source of their father's power in Hollywood Chicago controlled the film unions and could stop production terrorized producers and extort money from studios a mobster who spilled the beans on the Hollywood connection was blown to pieces in his car probably on Giancana orders his daughters had no idea why their father needed cemani holidays in Cuba then our lien our it's dictator Batista watched horror films in his palace and left the American Mafia to run his capital Havana I don't see counsel birthday people here Africa in Cuba was a mafia client state shining Li beautiful and venal a corrupt [Music] it truly was a gangster paradise but ISTA allowed the big American Mafia families to run casinos brothels and even abortion clinics everything that wasn't allowed in straight-laced fifties America it was in anything-goes place my little boy selling their older sisters 11 12 and it was one big whorehouse Sam Giancana was making a fortune in Havana and this was shared by many other families particularly in New York as washer cago but he was bringing millions of dollars out of that locale because it was really the jewel in the crown at that timing was wide open for them when 35 leaders of the American Mafia met secretly in Havana Giancana the new Chicago underboss was amongst them it was the first time he'd sat at the Mafia's high table mother of Albert Anastasia Anthony came before the committee in New York with some revealing answers to the investigators questions in America to mafia leaders were getting away with murder even when the crowned heads of the Mafia families were grilled by a Senate committee in the early 50s the FBI remained glacially indifferent J Edgar Hoover was more worried about communist spies than organized crime he said this is this is not our first job is to make sure that we're not infiltrated by the Communists commonism in reality is not a political party it is a way of life an evil and malignant way of life while Hoover was hunting communists the Mafia had poisoned American cities nowhere was more corrupt than Chicago and nobody was a better corruptor than Sam Giancana his legend was terrifying he intimidated and cajoled he thought that everything could be fixed and I believe it could in those days you could I believe that you could commit murder in this city and if you knew the right person and you had to fight amount of money you could get walk away from him Giancana had a connection squad whose job was to buy politicians at least one congressman openly attended parties at his home [Music] those who enforced the law were the cheapest to buy once she took the money he became one of them and then a few decided not to take the money was the fear of what you had done and what they could do to you that would entice you to play ball with and what could they do to you they could kill you when judges ran for election there was no more generous campaign contributor than Sam Giancana the circuit court was upstairs in the old city hall and I saw him walking down the stairs and they stood out in front of the police desk in the lobby and he had his arm around a judge which kind of led me to believe that they were and better than friendly terms - sam giancana the Great and the good were puppets he owned them so he despised them they were worse than criminals because they were hypocrites he understood or thought he did the nature of power it gave him a godlike feeling he knew what the public did not there were no white hats or black hats good man or bad men there were just men men you couldn't buy you killed Union official Joe Long Mayor was horribly injured by a car bomb the bomb he thinks was planted on the direct orders of Giancana the nuts and bolts were as familiar to him as a plate of spaghetti he really he thrived and hearing stories of people who were tortured and what their last words were in that kind of material yeah he loved it the Mafia threatened union leaders give us control or die straightforward no questions if you didn't get the message then what happens is the union officials body winds up in the trunk of his car and it only takes two or three of those examples and people take guys like Sam Giancana seriously transport unions were best for Giancana he could hold business to ransom by cutting supplies he could shut down pretty much shut down a city the size of Chicago unions with Jen Connors path to real national power the more local unions he controlled the tighter is grip on Jimmy Hoffa leader of the National Transport Union the Teamsters if you think of a pumpkin pie Jimmy Hoffa was the pumpkin pie that was cut into 8 or 10 pieces and Sam Giancana had one of those 8 or 10 pieces the Teamsters pension fund controlled by Hoffa became a piggy bank for Sam Giancana father did in fact authorize the Central States Teamsters pension fund to give representatives of Sam Giancana literally hundreds of millions of dollars to build casinos in Las Vegas you now under speed the Chicago mafia gin Kaunas Empire stretched hundreds of thousands of square miles to Las Vegas and the Pacific you wanted to control the world no.11 you literally yes Giancana reveled in his own legend he possessed an intoxicating combination of money and absolute fatal power he was magnetic I thought he was special his frail faithful Italian wife who'd never strayed and never dared question him had died alone in Las Vegas he fell in love [Music] Phyllis McGuire lead singer with the McGuire sisters was America's Sweetheart [Music] she dated Elvis Presley but Sam Giancana was the real thing he had a lot of charisma charismatic personality yeah and he wasn't flashy it was just direct and it was strength and his eyes were it's like they looked through you the press was fascinated she is pure as the driven snow he evil incarnate wherever the sisters went the gangster followed from Vegas to London to Rome when we were in Italy he didn't want to go to Sicily I don't know why but he didn't want to go to start with Maguire says she didn't know who Giancana really was stories of his mind-boggling violence haunted them I didn't believe it I never saw I've never seen him hurt a flea Las Vegas was the mobs domain and she and Connor was one of its princes Chicago like the other big Mafia families had bought casinos with money from the Teamsters pension fund the aging manager of one of them who drank and gambled ignored an order from Giancana to retire two guys walked in and cut his throat Oh was severed his head severed his head off of its marquee and then waited for his wife to come home when she walked in they hit her with a lamp on top of the hand put her on the self and cut her throat meanwhile I put plastic underneath her so they wouldn't bloody up the couch J Edgar Hoover could no longer pretend the Mafia didn't exist especially when police discovered its entire national leadership meeting secretly in upstate New York much too late Hoover acted he sent fleets of G men in suits and ties to fight the Mafia not trigger a man but prepared to shoot parachute agent bill Romer was sent to Chicago to deal with the legendary Sam Giancana the city seemed to him like occupied territory its police and judges controlled by the enemy Rama became obsessed by Giancana he volunteered to hide a microphone in a tailor shop Giancana used for meetings such methods were officially forbidden had he been caught the FBI would have disowned him there was what we call the case agent I had the ticket the assignment card and so I led the the entry into the into the headquarters of the Chicago mob that very first time mr. King the bug gave Roma x-ray vision into Giancana 'he's world he inhabited a strange parallel universe that mimicked the straight world it was highly organized with its own hierarchy and disciplines mad sam de stefano an associate of Giancana punished his own men by cutting off pieces of their flesh he would take him down his basement where he had a torture chamber in a very nice neighborhood of Chicago in a very expensive house on Seiler Avenue stripped their victims and then he would stick them in there in their private parts and their throat and so forth with his ice pick sometimes Giancana sounded efficient managerial other times almost insane in my opinion Sam Giancana breached the the limits of rationality I'm putting it forward then is there an original thesis that mr. Hoffa surrounding himself with in the late 1950s before he became president Senator Jack Kennedy and his brother Bobby interrogated mafia racketeers Sam Giancana however seemed unafraid he was used to owning politicians and the Kennedys he thought would be no different just bigger flies in his web Joe Kennedy the boy's father was a veteran like himself of bootlegging days he'd made part of his fortune smuggling whiskey bootleggers guided just had a different color than us that was involved with different type of people in us so Sam Giancana Joe Kennedy pees out of the same pot oh I would say so he is and the late 1950s Giancana claimed at this hotel in Chicago Joe Kennedy had asked for his help he wanted his son Jack to run for president could Giancana use his corrupt political power to swing the vote in Chicago and anywhere else he had influence at that meeting Joe Kennedy specifically told my uncle that if he does this for him and Jack Kennedy is elected if he helps him get Jack Kennedy elected that Sam Giancana will haven't the ear of the President that they would be able to have business the way they really wanted that they could have the government off their back did you pay Jack's brother Bobby Kennedy laid into mafia leaders and their union friends with messianic zeal track down in Las Vegas Giancana was subpoenaed and torn in two by Bobby Kennedy who would eventually become his mortal enemy you have opposition from anybody that you dispose of them by having them stuffed in a trunk is that what you do with the Giancana good client answer because I always believed my answer my attendant can you tell us anything about any of your operations or just like giggle every time I ask you a question the Klan dance because I believe my answer might tend to incriminate I thought only little girls giggled mr. Giancana Hey Giancana seemed oddly unruffled in Las Vegas underworld hints of a behind-the-scenes deal with the Kennedys didn't surprise businessman ed Becca because they were tied in Joe Kennedy was tied in with the mug James Kennedy had tied his sons into the world of Sam Giancana change why by osmosis yes Giancana really imagined he owned the Kennedys that's what we were led to believe who led you to believe it Sam we've got the kennedys girl in our packet we own him he thought he'd have his man in the White House what other guy could you rather have in your packet but the president me I thought it was a little ridiculous you know but then again hey if this is possible we got a hell of a thing on better than his sons Joe Kennedy understood the power of organized crime to mobilize votes and fix results in New York in election year 1960 he was reportedly seen lunching with a succession of top mobsters FBI files record similar meetings if he did seek the mobs help in the election of his son it made the most dangerous deal imaginable sure because you're dealing with with psychopathic people who believes that they are critical to your election absolutely there's no you know no free lunch in the mob in Chicago Giancana is daughter Annette had just got married her father was at the peak of his criminal career there were 700 guests many brought envelopes bulging with cash politicians but yes yes Lutz powerful crowd yes a very powerful crack and dad introduced me to every gentleman that shook his hand and you know there were envelopes that were piling up envelopes with money yes lots of money what about not all Giancana 'he's powerful friends were so willing to acknowledge him advertised as a heaven in the High Sierras the qaol neva lodge a casino and the state line between California and Nevada was a haven for gamblers and gangsters officially it was owned by Frank Sinatra and a couple of pals it was the in place at Lake time and in the in place of the gambling casinos because that's where the clan hung out that was Sinatra Dean Martin Sammy Davis Peter Lawford Joey Bishop all the top gamblers from all over the world amongst them Sam Giancana he's always dressed beautiful very high classical gentlemen Sinatra insisted the only time Giancana was caught at the cowl neva he was ejected I had a telephone call from Eddie King who was one of our employees and he said to me agent Connors here visiting his lady and that we just broke up a hell of a fight in the bungalow and that's at that point is when I said get him off the property however the FBI over her Giancana talking as if he owned the cal-neva or at least a share of it he said to have sent the money to pay for it from Chicago in a suitcase Sam Giancana had a very trusted fellow did a lot of his work with him and and he was designated to bring the money to County and that's other money was was sent the FBI even had fought aggressive Giancana at the kaliba the pictures they are they short which show a gent Cana and Sinatra embracing I never invited mr. Giancana to let cal-neva I never hosted for him and I never saw him at Cal neither [Music] Sinatra introduced an ex-girlfriend judy Exner to Jack Kennedy and she says to Sam Giancana the new frontier which I'd be ex no fell in love with Kennedy later she also had an affair with Giancana its arms up not what I intend to offer to the American people but what I intend to ask of them by the time Kennedy was nominated the gangster felt remarkably close to the candidate just before the election in the Chicago Awards he'd most thoroughly corrupted Giancana sent out his soldiers to rustle up votes for Kennedy we were told by Sam to go out there and get all the Italian people and the Irish and the BAL accent get their votes tell them what what the Kennedys could do for us that we needed this guy in the office I never let them know that it would help organized crime but I just let them not it would be good for them so we went out there and we push for votes we sent people out all the old grease balls and Paul locks we sent them all out there we talked to people and they all voted for Kennedy the election was incredibly close nationally Kennedy scraped in by 1/10 of 1% the narrowest margin this century he was ecstatic he says I get that man is vote the state of Illinois was critical and Kennedy won it by just 9,000 votes the next president of the United States [Applause] victory Giancana believed belonged to him that election was so close that every vote that was stolen is a sense the vote that made the difference and it's clear that the people in Chicago believed that they made a material they played a material role in the president's election and Giancana specifically believed that he put Jack Kennedy into the White House there's no doubt that that he's said that to two people including his mistress including FBI agents he told FBI agents he did know and it's all over the surveillance whether Giancana actually tipped Kennedy's election is one of the imponderables of history the point is he thought he did one thing blunted his ecstasy in Cuba the Mafia's clients State Fidel Castro had seized power closed the casinos and thrown out the Mafia II Encarna had lost millions What did he say to you about Castro you don't know anything about that man he's just a pig and he just ranted and raved about Castro Giancana had reason to be confident in his relationship with the United States government the CIA had invited him to take part in a bizarre plot to murder Fidel Castro the Mafia were the fool guys if the operation was discovered they not the government would take the blame the prize the return of their Cuban casinos the idea was put to Johnny Roselli Giancana z' man in Hollywood by a CIA contact he thought I was kidding at first then he became stupefied and after a few more drinks he knew I was telling the truth at a meeting in Miami Rosselli and his boss Sam Giancana agreed to kill Castro I became convinced very early on that both Rosalie and Giancana were doing this as good Americans as difficult as that may be to believe in certain circles I became convinced that that's what they wanted to do Giancana brought in his allies Santo Trafficante the mafia chief of Florida secretly trafficante thought the whole thing was crazy but hoped to squeeze money out of the CIA panicked by Castro's communist ties the CIA's health alteration committee came up with lethal viruses and poison so the Mafia could kill him without trace they had exploding cigars and chemicals to make his beard fall out they convinced me that we were involved in a just war it was imperative that Castro be eliminated Giancana and his CIA friends stayed at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach they had caviar flown in daily I was putting myself in a terrible position was the sole conduit between the underworld and the United States government the government betrayed two Giancana some of its deepest secrets Miami sieved with intrigue the CIA was planning to invade Cuba with an army of Cuban exiles it persuaded Castro's former mistress to go back to Cuba and slip poison pills into his drink in Miami she says she was taken to see Giancana I got the impression that he was proud to be part of us and so that didn't make him seem like a bad guy you know it made him seem like okay you're in you're in with operation 40 the super secret assassination team and he had to be big to be a part of that but once in Cuba she lost her nerve the CIA's invasion of Cuba failed to fearing exposure of America's involvement at the last minute President Kennedy called off the u.s. air cover the invaders had been promised [Music] they were arrested or shot mafia chiefs like the defeated Cuban invaders were infuriated by Kennedy's empty promises after the fiasco I can assure you the pitch flag they'll be recurred to dis Brigade Kennedy blamed the CIA for the failure the CIA and the Mafia blamed him Sam Giancana was bitterest of all in his worst nightmares he'd never expected Bobby Kennedy to be made Attorney General instead of thanking him kennedy was furious the CIA had used a gangster in a secret operation far from going easy on organized crime he set out to destroy it this kid went crazy calling everybody in and causing a lot of problems later they reneged their ring a renege then whole situation the downfall of Sam Giancana had begun with deepening gloom he followed his lover Phyllis McGuire to London [Music] ladies and gentlemen the my glass is dead the Queen Mother was in the Royal Box sam giancana in the stores of course we were followed by the Interpol Scotland Yard and CIA how did that make you feel often it didn't feel right at all at the airport in Chicago frustrated because he couldn't pin a crime on Giancana the FBI's bill Roma finally snapped I said take a look at this guy this scum this piece of slime this is Sam Giancana the boss of the Chicago mob the successor to Al Capone just look at this jerk you people are so lucky you just are traveling through Chicago we have to live with this slide well nobody had ever talked to Sam Giancana like that and as a result he just blew his stack and he said Romer he said you lit a fire tonight that's never gonna go out we're gonna get you if it's the last thing we ever do Giancana had suffered the most extraordinary of us [Music] he'd been involved in a deep government secret he thought he had the Kennedys in his pocket in fact he was running from them like a rat the desecrated body of a lowly Mafia soldier action Jackson was found stuffed in the boot of a car he was suspected of betraying Giancana to the FBI they took him to a meet rendering plant on the south side of Chicago where they've wasted him up through his rectum on a meat hook and then stuck him with her ice picks hammered him went on his knees kept him on the meat hook for three days until finally with all the pain and suffering that was involved he expired Giancana was furious because Frank Sinatra had lost his Inn at the White House the FBI heard him and a crony talking about killing Sinatra they decided against it many racketeers now smoldered with hatred for the Kennedys Giancana himself his corrupt Union friend Jimmy Hoffa his co-conspirator and the Castro plot Santo Trafficante all had been targeted by Bobby Kennedy for prosecution [Music] stayed November 22nd 1963 sam giancana told my father that we took care of Kennedy together that elements of the CIA along with members of the mob joined together to assassinate the president United States that they each had equal reason to make sure that Kennedy did no longer remain in office specifically that Kennedy was upset at the CIA and obviously the nob was very excited Kennedy wishful thinking maybe except that the most recent official inquiry the House Select Committee on assassinations concluded the probably was a conspiracy perhaps headed by a powerful ally of Giancana the mafia boss of New Orleans Carlos Marcello if there was a plot and I think there was the most plausible explanation of the evidence is that organized crime in particular Marcelo in New Orleans had a hand in the assassination the evidence connecting the Mafia to the assassination was circumstantial but intriguing two days before Kennedy was shot a New Orleans bar girl was admitted to hospital where she made startling claims to doctors she said it was very common knowledge in the underworld figures in New Orleans that there was a contract out on John F Kennedy and then he would be assassinated she gave no specifics but she made it very clear and she told a number of the staff in the hospital there that this was going to happen before it happened she worked in a bar in New Orleans owned by the family of Carlos Marcello the city's mafia chief and a longtime associate of Sam Giancana in mid 1963 on his huge private estate and the swamps outside New Orleans Marcelo tailed several witnesses the mob intended to kill the president I'm thinking well here's a vendetta where he is like saying he's gonna kill somebody and so I'm saying you're not.you know you how you gonna do that you know you can't do a thing like this he says here you get a nut to do it for you he said that yeah yeah yeah just get a nut to do it there's nobody bothers you you just get enough to do it was Lee Harvey Oswald the Mafia is not its Patsy the House Select Committee heard that the man who raised Lee Harvey Oswald his uncle worked for Marcelo they also heard that mobster Santo Trafficante had told an associate the president will be hit the background of Jack Ruby who shot Oswald was never properly investigated by the Warren Commission they thought in fact he was linked with the Chicago mafia I think that Jack Ruby is the rosetta stone for the assassination and once you connect Ruby immediately to organized crime do you then turn back and say can i connect Oswald organized crime and the answer is yes just before the assassination Ruby furn mobsters all over the country including men close to Giancana all Giancana was heard to say by an FBI bug was that Lee Harvey Oswald had been a very good shot he got what he deserved far as he was concerned everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface the world will never know the true facts what occurred my motive from jail in Dallas Ruby appealed over and over again to be moved to Washington he had something important to say and didn't feel safe in Texas but the Warren Commission ignored his pleas many years later mobster Santo Trafficante learning he was dying apparently made a confession his lawyer they said Jimmy says Carlos really effed up I said we should have killed Bobby instead of Johnny meaning they should have killed Bobby Kennedy instead of John Kennedy Santa would was withhold information for me but in 27 years I represented him and he was a friend of mine I've never known him to lie to him he would never lie regardless Robert Kennedy was haunted by the fear his war and organized crime provoked his brother's murder if the mob was not involved in the assassination they were none of nevertheless the chief beneficiaries of it the organized crime program that had not up until that time even come close to what he put together basically collapsed [Music] the organized crime program died in Dallas on November the 22nd if he did flirt with the mob Joe Kennedy had unlocked the darkest forces imaginable the criminal career of Sam Giancana was faltering mobsters thought his affair with Phyllis McGuire attracted too much heat but he refused to relinquish her the Barb thought he was a weakling because it getting so much publicity I mean here he is with this is a star everywhere they went for you know photographers still waiting and along with the photographers were the FBI and the FBI would grab her and try to question her the mob had no no faith that they have no faith in women you know they figured they're gonna be tortured and scream but she stood up to it all but they were those yeah the mob and they were very upset with it jailed for contempt of court Giancana seemed suddenly old even vulnerable in 1966 he was released and slipped into exile in Mexico taking with him millions of dollars he chose a town in the mountains above Mexico City with blue skies and clouds of bougainvillea large payments were certainly made to powerful men in Mexico City to protect him to provide sanctuary he bought a 5 million dollar estate called San Cristobal and shut himself away at the top of the house he could sit there for hours in hours in hours and just look out and never budge he would have telescopes in his upper room and looking out and seeing the poverty and not only that he used the telescope to see if there were any government people looking in unto his home he'd often said the time a man has to watch out is when he becomes frail and lets his guard down the mob is an organism it's a growing organism and if you're not there to water the plants or take care of the plant somebody else is gonna do that and pretty soon they feel he's unstable [Music] they're watching all the time I mean I don't care where he was so somebody was watching Sam from Mexico he Criss crossed the world according to legend he had a casino deal with the Shah of Iran he'd seen profit in the Vietnam War and was smuggling drugs out of Asia with Santo Trafficante it was all conjecture perhaps he hadn't paid the Mexicans enough one morning in 1974 when he was tending his cactus garden Mexican police raided his estate and dragged him to the US border you can alleged you have to leave Mexico sir why I finally thought well you know he'll be he'll come back and we'll be a family in 1975 he was called before a Senate committee investigating the CIA plot to kill Castro the night of June the 19th two escorts had just arrived in Chicago to take him safely to Washington neither his caretaker nor police officers watching his house heard the six shots that killed Sam Giancana at midnight on June the 19th 1975 he'd been cooking some sausages and late that evening opened the door to a visitor a few minutes later he was dead shot in the head and the chin perhaps somebody believed he would blurt out the truth about the Castro operation at the hearings in Washington not long afterwards the dismembered body of Johnny Roselli Ian Conners partner in the Castro murder plot was found stuffed in an oil drum in the sea of Miami Chii encounter always said that if you want to find the murderer look for the one who survives the mob is only survivor from the plot to kill Castro with Santo Trafficante the Mafia chief of Florida they were afraid he was gonna talk this they was Rosella this Elly's go run shooting his mouth off and they would kill within months of each other I think was the traffic Ari people got the OK from Chicago like so many who live in the world of secrets Giancana perhaps in the end understood less about the world that he thought he did finally his darkest dreams a real political power came to nothing his funeral was an oddly muted affair the mobsters who once formed on Giancana had stayed away his family was bitter they really practically beat up on me get out of the press can't we mourn in peace without having the trash around but he was the biggest mobster the city has ever produced yeah and the smallest funeral that the mob has ever had because his great friends didn't show up that's right why they were probably the guilty ones he was buried in a marble mausoleum he built for his wife next to the father who beat him would you tell us the weather if you have opposition from anybody that you dispose of them by having them stuffed in the trunk was that what you deal with the Giancana the claim answer because I honestly believe my answer my attending from you tell if anything about any of your operations we just settle take Eagle every time I ask you a question the Klan dance because the auntie's believe my answer might tend to incriminate I thought only a little girls giggled mr. Giancana you tell us anything about your operations the Klan answer because rallies believe my answer

Channel: vhs archives

Views: 298,633

Rating: 4.5242667 out of 5

Keywords: chicago mob, al capone, chicago gangsters, sam giancana

Id: BxaGs4tv6_4

Length: 59min 37sec (3577 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020