In the penultimate scene of Godfather II, Michael Corleone, the patriarch of the Corleone family, who had just evaded persecution at the senate hearings investigation into organized crime, hastily calls upon his top advisors within the family. The meeting, at Michael Corleone’s behest, is circumvented with an assassination plot on Hyman Roth: the legendary Miami-based gangster who, earlier, swindled Michael Corleone into a business venture with the intent of killing him. Tom Hagen, the consigliere and stepbrother of Michael Corleone, advices against the murder plot, insisting that Michael was at the height of his power, opposed to Hyman Roth, who had been evading his own arrest for years of tax evasion, but was ultimately detained back to the United States to face trial. Roth was bound to fall, Hagen argued, and an attempt on his life would be unnecessary, as well as improbable, for Roth would be surrounded by secret service agents and police upon his arrival. Michael, the chilling, sinister mastermind of the organization, calmly rebukes Hagen’s analysis of the situation, claiming that “if anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that anyone could be killed,” a subtle, yet carefully calculated statement included in the dialogue of the film to display the lack for humanity that Michael Corleone possesses. However, the statement made by Michael Corleone showcased an instance where art-imitates-life, one that suggests the real-world shadow government of organized crime can easily get to their targets, and, quite possibly, orchestrated the most recognized assassination in American history.
Never in American history has a specific moment evoked such a wide range of suspicion, skepticism, and conspiracy-thought than the assassination of John F. Kennedy. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy, while campaigning in Texas to attract voters, was shot in the head at precisely 12:30 in the afternoon and pronounced dead a mere half hour later, all while the collective nation was stricken in a solitary moment of shock, disbelief, and grief for the slain leader of Camelot. The gunmen was later revealed to be Lee Harvey Oswald, an ex-mercenary and staunch supporter of the Communist movement, who nestled into the 6th floor of the book depository he was employed at, operating an army-issued sniper rifle, and delivered the shot that would be heard around the world. Upon arrest, Oswald began to decry his role in the assassination attempt on the president, uttering aloud “I’m a pasty!” continuously while he was being detained. Oswald’s claim that he was simply a pawn in a far grander conspiracy aroused intrigue, as the statement set forth what could be an fascinating interrogation at his pending trial. However, Oswald would never get his opportunity to speak in court. On November 24, 1963, two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Oswald was being led out of the Dallas Police Department. At which point, Jack Ruby, a Jewish and patriotic nightclub owner who adored the President’s support of the United State's Jewish population, approached Oswald and fired multiple rounds at point-blank range, killing Oswald in his act of aggression and ultimately silencing the one man who could provide any semblance of clarity on the assassination attempt of the President. The series of events mentioned above are all factual, yet the mystery surrounding Kennedy’s assassination persists to the present day, with several topics of discussion that insist Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone gunman, rather Oswald was the top layer of a far deeper conspiracy theory.
During the period that Kennedy was appointed commander-and-chief of our great nation, the President maintained an innate ability to harbor resentments from a variance of political enemies, including the CIA, the FBI, the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro, Cuban Exiles, and even his own Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson. However, amongst Kennedy’s most notable enemies was the American Mafia, the leaders of the organized criminal underworld that, surprisingly, had deep roots in the Kennedy family dating as far back as the 1920’s, when John Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy, was an alleged bootlegger working in conjunction with some of prohibitions most notorious gangsters. Before John, Robert, and Ted, Joseph Kennedy was the family namesake that consolidated the families likeness into the mainstream of public, working as a Wall Street investor and Hollywood producer, later being elected the U.S, Ambassador for the United Kingdom and serving as a chairman for the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, Joseph Kennedy’s career, like his sons after him, was surrounded by controversy and hearsay, with rumors surfacing that Joseph Kennedy dabbled in the illicit business of bootlegging. The accusations of Joseph Kennedy’s involvement in the bootlegging business has never been resolute, but multiple sources of the era suggest Kennedy played a significant role in the illegal distribution of alcohol, including Al Capone’s piano tuner, who claims to have witnessed several phone conversations between the Kennedy Patriarch and Chicago Outfit Mob Boss. Decades later, when John F. Kennedy was elected as the primary candidate to represent the Democratic party in the 1960 election, JFK leaned on his father and good friend Frank Sinatra to lobby votes in Illinois from Sam Giancana, the head boss of the Mafia’s Chicago Outfit, whose criminal syndicate had considerable leverage in dictating the electoral results in Illinois, through the Chicago Outfit’s control of the Chicago Labor Unions. Following Kennedy’s victory against the Republican Candidate, Richard Nixon, it was believed within mob circles that Kennedy was indebted to the Mafia due to the organization's generous political “donation,” thereby assuring four more years of political backers.
Furthermore, at the time of Kennedy’s election, the developments of the Cold War continued to escalate, for Cuba was now politically aligned with the Soviet Union under the leadership of Fidel Castro, which, in turn, posed a serious threat to the national security of the United States. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba played out in displays of exponential humiliation on behalf of the United States, with countless failed assassination attempts on Castro and, most notably, the Bay of Pigs invasion, an organized coup by Cuban exiles with U.S. support to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro, which resulted in the death of 114 and political imprisonment of 1,100 Cuban Exiles. However, beneath the headlines of the U.S.-Cuban standoff, the C.I.A. banded forces with an unlikely ally: The Mafia. Essentially, the C.I.A. had the support of the previous Eisenhower administration and the current Kennedy administration to orchestrate an assassination attempt against Castro, after the Communist leader organized a coup, overthrowing U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista on January 1st, 1959. The C.I.A, under orders to keeps their mission to assassinate Castro top-secret, organized a clandestine negotiation between C.I.A. middleman Robert Matheu and two of the most recognizable Mafia dons of the 60’s: Sam Giancana, as mentioned before, and Johnny Roselli, the close friend of Giancana who oversaw the illicit business operations in Hollywood and Las Vegas. Initially, the C.I.A. offered $150,000 to the mobster tandem for their help, but Giancana and Roselli refused the money, offering their support without compensation, citing instead their patriotic duty and belief in democracy. Of course, that was not entirely the motivation behind the Mafia’s involvement. Prior to Castro’s Communist regime, the Mafia had organized business ventures in Cuba, such as Miami Mob boss Santo Trafficante’s highly profitable San Souci hotel, under the political support of Batista. However, once Castro took command of the country, the Communist dictator exiled all foreign businesses, including the Mafia’s moneymaking chain of hotels and casinos, which dissatisfied the leaders of the underworld. Furthermore, like Sam Giancana’s favor in getting Kennedy the electoral in Illinois, the mobsters were under the impression that their association with the C.I.A. in the secret operation to eliminate Castro granted them further immunity from the government for their illicit activities. In summary, it was a win-win situation for the Mafia to retain their outsourced business endeavors and garner political support. However, the Mafia was gravely mistaken, for although they continued to help train Cuban exiles and orchestrate plots to assassinate Castro, the protection they believed to have at the behest of the government was quickly displaced, for Robert Kennedy, JFK’s brother and acting Attorney General, took it upon himself to dedicate his service to expose the criminality of the American Mafia.
Between 1961 to 1963, Robert Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother, led a judiciary assault on the organized crime syndicate that he believed tore the moral fibers of society to a state of criminal acceptance. Prior to Robert Kennedy’s investigation into the Mafia, various political officials from the past, such as New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey and Tennessee State Senator Estes Kefauver, were at the helm of unraveling the morose nature of organized crime. However, Robert Kennedy set a precedent on January 30th, 1957, when the young statesmen took part of the recently established Racket Committee, a bipartisan panel the Senate unanimously voted on, where Kennedy led a tactical approach to exposing corrupt labor unions, gambling rings, and Mafia chieftains. For the next two years, the Rackets Committee targeted amongst the most storied leaders of various Mafia organizations scattered across the country, including the riveting reveal of the Appalachian Summit on November 14th,1957, when police arrested 60 high-ranking members of the Mafia at their annual “commission” meeting. On June 10, 1959, in an ironic twist of events, Robert Kennedy interrogated Sam Giancana, the Chicago Mob boss who would later work in cooperation with the CIA to assassinate Castro and persuade Chicago Labor Unions to elect John Kennedy. Giancana, who had attended the Appalachian Summit, continually mocked the committees hearing and pleaded the fifth on questions regarding his illicit activity in illegal gambling, prostitution, and various homicides. In turn, an unimpressed Kennedy attacked Giancana’s masculinity, expressing confusion at the laughing Mafia boss by stating “I thought only little girls giggled, Mr. Giancana,” an egregious form of disrespect that would plant a deep-seeded resentment throughout Mafia circle. Later, after John Kennedy was elected President and Robert Kennedy was inaugurated into the Attorney General position, the younger Kennedy continued his attack on organized crime. According to the Wall Street Journal, Robert Kennedy led “the most sweeping campaign against gangsters, labor racketeers, and vice overlords that the country has seen.” Under the supervision of Robert Kennedy, the convictions of organized criminals grew by 350%, various government security agencies obtained information on 1,100 racketeers spread across the nation, and successfully introduced the moniker “Cosa Nostra” into the lexicon of the American people, when Joseph Valachi, a lower-tier mob affiliate, broke the sacred code of silence and revealed the extent of power the American Mafia had garnered.
However, it was Robert Kennedy’s pursuit of New Orleans’s Mafia don, Carlos Marcello, that is most significant in the Mafia assassination conspiracy. Marcello, who had been interrogated by Kennedy’s Racket Committee in 1959, was one of the most wealthy, powerful, and feared chieftains of organized crime, possessing a network of political adversaries and an assortment of business endeavors throughout the South, including Dallas, Texas, where Jack Ruby owned a strip club. Kennedy held a personal vendetta to indict Carlos Marcello, who consistently avoided arrest, despite the considerable amount of evidence depicting his role in the criminal underworld. In turn, while serving as Attorney General, Robert Kennedy arranged a plot to illegally deport Marcello, in cooperation with the same C.I.A. who was secretly in cahoots with high-ranking Mafia members. In March 1961, the C.I.A. successfully abducted Marcello and relocated him in Guatemala. However, Marcello found his way back to the United States, yet the C.I.A, in a truly bizarre secret mission, abducted Marcello once more and again relocated him too Guatemala, until Marcello, as expected, travelled back to the United States for a second time. Marcello was utterly appalled, taking the multiple illegal deportations rather personally, and vowed revenge against the Kennedy’s. Not alone in his vehement hatred towards the Kennedy’s, it is rumored that Marcello plotted with his closest associates in the Mafia, Chicago Boss Sam Giancana and Miami Boss Santo Trafficante, who were both livid at John Kennedy’s failure to exile Castro in order to regain their control of the San Souci Hotel and other hotel/casinos, while also feeling increasingly aggravated at the constant harassment from Robert Kennedy and his agenda to abolish their illicit business. In the end, Robert Kennedy led a courageous crusade an undermining the organized crime that ruled America, but his attempts to dismantle the operations of the Mafia would falter, for the leaders of the Mafia, including Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, and Sam Giancana compartmentalized their anger against the Kennedy family and conceivably plotted the most prolific assassination in American history.
The logic, according to conspiracy theorists who reason that the Mafia plotted the assassination attempt on John Kennedy, is simple: the top Mafia dons were dissatisfied with John F. Kennedy’s inability to oust Fidel Castro in Cuba, thereby allowing for the Mafia to reemerge in Cuba and profit off the financially flourishing hotels and casinos they once boasted. Furthermore, Robert Kennedy’s ongoing investigation into organized crime casted an unsavory spotlight on the illicit business ventures of various Mafia families and his exile of New Orleans Mob boss Carlos Marcello, ultimately led to the decision by the “commission” to arrange the assassination of John Kennedy, and hopefully, intimidating Robert Kennedy’s to stop his investigation into the organized crime syndicate. Likewise, the assassination of John F. Kennedy was in retaliation by Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli, Carlos Marcello, and Santo Trafficante Jr., who believed the acting President muddled the bylines of their silent agreement to help overthrow Castro and provide much-needed muscle against the encroachment of Communism, in return for government protection. Other historical tidbits have since been rumored in support of the Mafia conspiracy, such as Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby’s links to Carlos Marcelo. Allegedly, Lee Harvey Oswald’s uncle, Charlie “Dutz” Murret, was know to frequent the events hosted by the Marcello Family and by association with his Uncle, Oswald was manipulated by the trifecta of Giancana, Marcello, and Trafficante to serve the role of a “patsy”, whereas Jack Ruby, also linked to the Marcello organization, was rumored to have owed a considerable amount of back payment to the Marcello family, at which point the Mafia ordered Ruby to “silence” Oswald as an informal settlement. Ruby would later testify he wish he could reveal the full details of his motive to kill Oswald, but feared for his safety, only offering his personal account if he was granted public isolation through the witness protection program. Furthermore, while talking to private investigator Edwin Nicholas Becker in September of 1962, Marcello claimed an sinister, albeit incriminating, analogy in reference to the Kennedy brother’s, stating “A dog will continue to bite you if cut off its tail (Robert Kennedy), whereas if you cut off the dog’s head (John Kennedy), it would cease to cause trouble.” Nearly twenty years later, in the memoir of Frank Ragano, the attorney who represented Jimmy Hoffa, the corrupt union leader who also despised the Kennedy's, recalls the corrupt union presidents request for Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello to arrange the assassination of Kennedy, including an excerpt where, while on his death bed, Trafficante confessed to his role in the murder of the President, regretfully believing they killed the wrong Kennedy. Even Robert Kennedy, the purveyor of justice appointed to defeat the immoral crime organization, cited his own pursuit of dismantling the reign of the Mafia resulted in his brother’s death, a truly haunting realization, to say the least.
That said, the tragedy of JFK’s assassination has grasped the imagination of skeptics globally and the abundance of documents, historical analyzation, and documentary footage provide evidence to argue for any number of conspiracy theories, whether it be the C.I.A., the F.B.I., or the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the majority of information relayed through this article is not hearsay nor speculation, for the series of events from Joseph Kennedy approaching Sam Giancana to secure the Illinois Electorate, to the C.I.A. joining forces with top-brass Mafia dons, to the investigation of criminal activity under the guidance of Robert Kennedy, and the overall hatred of the Kennedy’s by the Mafia, who maintained the means to successfully complete an assassination of such epic magnitude, suggests that the American Mafia, the underground criminal syndicate immersed in the 20th century political realm of the United States, may have successfully executed the most prolific assassination in American history.
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