Johnny Roselli was a gangster cut in the same mold as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. He was handsome and smart with a strong presence in Las Vegas and the Hollywood film business. Unlike Siegel, Roselli had a secret and longstanding relationship with the CIA.
Fidel Castro
After Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution in 1960, the CIA launched Operation Mongoose, a program that included the assassination of Castro with the help of American organized crime.
Robert Maheu and Howard Hughes
The matchmaker of this unholy alliance between the CIA and the Mob was none other than Robert Maheu, billionaire Howard Hughes’ most trusted aide in Las Vegas. Maheu was not only linked to the shadowy world of Las Vegas, he was also an ex-FBI agent with many government ties. This made him a perfect recruit to act as an intermediary.
When Maheu first approached mobster Johnny Roselli, he portrayed himself as a representative of a group of businessmen who had their once powerful financial interests in Havana confiscated by the Castro regime. Maheu offered Roselli $150,000 to help plot and carry out the assassination of Fidel Castro.
Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante
Roselli, in turn, introduced Maheu to two of the nation’s top Mafia bosses, Chicago’s Sam Giancana and New Orleans’ Santo Trafficante. At this Miami Beach meeting, Maheu gave the mobsters special toxin-laced pills that had been created in a CIA laboratory. Roselli and the others agreed that poisoning would be preferable to a gang-style hit.
After passing the deadly pills to a Cuban confederate who was part of Castro’s entourage, at the last minute, the confederate got cold feet and backed out of the plot.
The CIA
In subsequent meetings with Roselli, Maheu revealed the true nature of his alliances and introduced the gangster to CIA officers Colonel Sheffield Edwards and William Harvey. They appealed to Roselli’s patriotism and encouraged his continued cooperation. As a result, additional plots were hatched, including a three-man assassination team.
The FBI
During Roselli’s relationship with the CIA, he asked Maheu for a favor on behalf of Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, who believed that his girlfriend was having an affair in Las Vegas. Maheu hired a private detective to wire-tap Giancana’s girlfriend’s Vegas hotel room telephone. When the “bug” was discovered by a hotel maid, the private detective was arrested by the police who turned him over to the FBI. It was at this point that the FBI uncovered the larger plot between the CIA, Maheu, and the Mob. This incident wound up negatively affecting the CIA’s relationship with Roselli and the others.
In 1961, after the spectacular failure of the Bay of Pigs attack, the CIA cut off what was left of their association with Roselli and the other gangsters. But then again, throughout the years, there have still been nagging, yet unsubstantiated, allegations that mob bosses Giancana and Santo Trafficante were involved along with the FBI and/or CIA in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Congress
In 1975, Johnny Roselli was called before the U.S. Senate’s Intelligence Committee about the CIA plot to kill Castro. Shortly after his testimony, Roselli associate Sam Giancana was murdered. This spurred Roselli himself to flee Las Vegas and Los Angeles for Miami.
In 1976, Roselli was called before another congressional committee, this one on the assassination of JFK. A few months later, 71-year-old John Roselli’s body was found inside a metal drum floating in a Miami bay. Some say that mob boss Santo Trafficante was behind the murder because he was afraid that Roselli (and Giancana) would reveal his participation in the assassination. It was also speculated that Trafficante himself had sabotaged the CIA’s assassination plots against Castro because he had struck a secret deal with the Dictator that protected his drug-running operations.
The Family Jewels
In June 2007, hundreds of pages of secret CIA documents nicknamed “The Family Jewels” were released. These pages revealed the various CIA plots to assassinate Castro, including the CIA’s relationship with Johnny Roselli.
Sources:
“Inside the Department of Dirty Tricks”, Thomas Powers, [August, 1979, The Atlantic]
“Deep Six for Johnny”, [August 23, 1976, Time]
“CIA Acknowledges Castro Plot went to the Top”, Alex Johnson, [June 26, 2007, MSNBC]
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