[39][40] A week before his death, Giancana had gall bladder surgery in Houston. OConnor discusses how Charlie Weber, the Democratic alderman of the 45th ward, openly opposed the Kennedys, having been influenced by his friend Murray Humphreys to take a dim view of Kennedys candidacy. Giancana soon developed a reputation as an excellent getaway driver, a high earner, and a vicious killer. She professes to not only have witnessed Humphreys coordinating this effort, but to have worked alongside him as he directed Teamsters leaders from around the country Russo also alleges that the Outfit, through Murray Humphreys, made sure that union members nationally voted Democratic. There is no evidence that union members around the country or in states where the Outfit at least partially controlled organized crime activities, such as labor racketeering, voted unusually heavily Democratic in the 1960 presidential election. At the time the Outfit controlled the Democratic Party apparatus in only five of Chicagos 50 wards and in a few, if any, of the suburbs. A greatly amplified version of the story appears in the book Double Cross by Sam and Chuck Giancana, the half-nephew and half-brother, respectively, of the Outfit boss, Sam Giancana. Giancana was born Gilormo Giangana[nb 1] on May 24, 1908,[nb 2] in The Patch neighborhood of Chicago to Antonio Giangana and Antonia DeSimmona,[nb 3] Italian immigrants from Castelvetrano, Sicily, Italy. More importantly, Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa hated the Kennedys and publicly endorsed Richard Nixon, which eliminates the possibility this union influenced its members nationally to vote for Kennedy. His wifes early death hit him hard, and the film will reveal what made Giancana who he was, from boy to man, mobster to father. Giancana played a major role in the 1965 movie Peep Show. He was also depicted in several movies and TV series. "He was killed the night before federal agents were to take him to Washington to testify.". Illegal as some of this might be, that is what political machines do come hell or high water they deliver votes for their partys candidates. At around 11 p.m., Joseph DiPersio, Giancana's caretaker, found his body on the floor of the basement kitchen where he was said to be frying sausage and peppers. To effectively intimidate voters at a polling place, it would have taken at least four or five hoods. He offered $150,000 to have Castro killed, but Roselli refused any pay. Giancana clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. The U.S. The Outfits efforts for Kennedy were nothing like what they were capable of, as demonstrated by the unusually heavy pluralities for Dan Ward than for John Kennedy. Usually, it takes me at least a couple of weeks to read a book, but I read this one in a week. With its melange of Mafia history and conspiratorial politics, "Double Cross" has raced up the national bestseller lists, propelled in good . "A car registered to him or to his family returned there that evening after everyone else had gone home. Not surprisingly, former CIA Director William Colby said, "We had nothing to do with it. [16][17], Hyman Larner was an associate of Giancana's who helped expand the Outfit's gambling and smuggling operations to Panama and Iran,[18] moving the Miami operation's headquarters to Panama where money laundering was more easily facilitated by local banks. Did the Chicago Outfit elect John F. Kennedy president? They never told me anything. Certainly, union leaders would have refused to conduct business with Humphreys if a woman or non-Outfit member were present. If McDonnells presence was not required at the meeting itself, why was it necessary that he be there at all? Seymour Hersh, in a chapter of his book The Dark Side of Camelot titled The Stolen Election, also maintains the Kennedys struck a deal with the Outfit. Sam Giancana is the nephew of the late crime boss Sam "Momo" Giancana and son of Chuck Giancana, who passed away in 2001. Copyright 2023 WLS-TV. In statistical tests, I have examined voting by four groups of wards and suburbs where the Outfit would have been most able to deliver votes for Kennedy if it so desired: the five Outfit-controlled wards mentioned above, those five wards and the 45th ward (mentioned by OConnor), the five Outfit wards and the two premier Outfit-controlled suburbs, Chicago Heights and Cicero, and all six of these Chicago wards and the two suburbs. Nicknamed 'Momo' from the slang term 'Mooney', meaning crazy, Sam Giancana was the boss of the infamous Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Female relatives of gangsters have, in fact, made remarks to this author such as, Im a girl. He is also a member of The Mob Museums Advisory Council and a consultant to the Chicago History Museum. Geraldo Rivera interviews Sam Giancana, the nephew, godson and namesake of legendary Mob boss of Chicago, Sam "Momo" Giancana. Second, McDonnell claims Tuohy wanted him present at the actual meeting. [11], After his release from prison in 1942, Giancana made a name for himself by convincing Accardo, then the Outfit's underboss, to stage a takeover of Chicago's African-American "policy" (lottery) payout system for the Outfit. When the lottery money started rolling in for the Outfit after this gambling war, the amount this game produced for the Outfit was in the millions of dollars a year and brought Giancana further notice. She died at home last week at age 89. "There's been some claims that the CIA hit Sam Giancana because either they were mad at him or to cover up that he had quote, 'helped them in the plot against Castro,'" Binder said. The table that follows reports the Democratic percentages in the 1956 and 1960 presidential elections for three groups of political districts: the five Outfit-controlled wards in Chicago, the other 45 wards in the city, and the two premier Outfit-controlled suburbs. Giancanas mother died when he was young. The Machine may well have gotten living and dead humans and a variety of fictitious individuals (by making up identities for fraudulent voters) to vote for JFK. . [42][43] Hitman Nicholas Calabrese told the FBI during the 2000s that he knew that Tony Accardo was part of the killing and Angelo LaPietra got rid of the gun which used a suppressor made by Frank Calabrese Sr. and Ronnie Jarret. [24] CIA documents released during 2007 confirmed that during September 1960, CIA recruited ex-FBI agent Robert Maheu to meet with the West Coast representative of the Chicago mob, Johnny Roselli. His father, Antonino Giangana, had a pushcart and later owned a shop selling Italian ice. Did you know that after Marshall Caifano got out of Vegas, it was Sam who wanted Tony Spilotro out there? This weak result may be due to chance that is, it is caused by other random factors that affected voting from one election to the next. To put bluntly, Chuck simply believed everything his big brother told him, and he put it down on this book. When the Mexican marines burst into El Chapo's apartment, the biggest drug dealer on earth was making breakfast for his beauty queen wife and their two-year-old twin girls, who had joined daddy and. Even more important, someone apparently forgot to tell the voters. Seasoned politicians such as the Kennedys would have recognized that, if anything, Outfit-influenced labor unions voted against John Kennedy, and that the Mobs behavior locally (in defeating Adamowski) was self-serving. Similar statistical tests show that the Outfit wards strongly delivered votes for Richard Daley, because the Mob greatly feared his Republican opponent Robert Merriam in the 1955 mayoral election because Merriam campaigned vigorously against crime and corruption. A greatly amplified version of the story appears in the book Double Cross by Sam and Chuck Giancana, the half-nephew and half-brother, respectively, of the Outfit boss, Sam Giancana. Courtesy of Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive. The Kennedys, however, double crossed Giancana and the Outfit, despite Giancana supposedly meeting with John Kennedy at the White House to remonstrate with him. He had an army of thugs to call on but for two days in. Additionally, it must be noted that sensationalism sells books, and that Jeanne Humphreys and Robert McDonnell were each writing a book on the heels of their public claims about the Kennedys, the Mob and the 1960 presidential election books that would have received considerable attention because of those claims. I'm sure there are some stories that were stretched to some degree, but nonetheless I think there's a lot of teeth behind many of the conspiracies. It has become conventional wisdom that Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana put his criminal resources to work to get John Kennedy elected president in 1960, but a close examination of the election results does not support the claim. The average soldier (lowest rung, full member) of the Outfit would not have known the information the Giancanas claim to have known, much less Chuck Giancana, who was at best a lowly Mob associate. Quote Of The Day | Top 100 Quotes Sam Giancana's nephew, Andrew Giancana was on the board for the IATSE. "Sam Gold" was Giancana; "Joe" was Santo Trafficante Jr., the Tampa syndicate boss and one of the most powerful mobsters in prerevolution Cuba. During this period, he was replaced as the Outfits boss. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Such is the world we live in in which readers need to examine the latest (or the most frequently repeated) sensational claims before giving them any credibility. : By Sam and Chuck Giancana. Therefore, they would have owed the Outfit nothing, even if there had been a pre-election agreement. This caused immense displeasure in the Outfit.. "He knew how to get into Sam's house without people seeing him, only a few people knew how to do that and he was one of them. But the Kennedy brothers double-crossed him, waging full-scale war on organized crime throughout the United States, and Giancana found himself going after the Kennedys. Chicago Film Society double-features "Tangerine," and "All About My Mother." . 357 pp. A book on his life, 'Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America,' was published by his half-brother and nephew. [10] In 1929, Giancana was convicted of burglary and larceny, and sentenced to one to five years in the Joliet Correctional Center. [2] Antonia died in 1910 and his father married Mary Leonardi. Corbitt said that he became involved with the mob as a teenager and that mob boss Sam Giancana helped him get his job as a police officer in Willow Springs. NY woman driven to wrong address fatally shot by homeowner, Boy dies from injuries following fight at trampoline park, Witness recalls moments of E-40's ejection from Kings-Warriors game. Kennedys 1960 presidential campaign, which he did successfully. Giancana played a major role in the 1965 movie 'Peep Show.' He was also depicted in several movies and TV series. Elect John F. 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