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The Mafia Did It


Tim Gratz

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Lee,

Here is one of the relative documents.

Here's the other:

Steve Thomas

post-669-1184680275_thumb.jpg

Thanks very much Steve. Neither were what I had expected to see. The Sansone document seems to imply that a phone tap was used. Odd that anyone would bother reporting on something said to one's wife.

Tim - hard to follow, agreed. Was implying that Phillips could use it as a ruse - Oswald as CIA agent = communist propaganda.

One item I found interesting in Judyth Baker's book was the concept of Oswald's being 'on loan' to CIA. Given Harry Dean's remarks, and some of what is known with respect to this time period - sounds possible that Oswald could have been led to believe he was being run by CIA.

- lee

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Pat,

Do you by chance have three things:

(1) Quotes to the effect that Zangara was off his rocker by those who knew him?

(2) A quote that sums up the fact that Gus Russo believes he was a mob hit man?

(3) The evidence of any ties, however loose, Zangara has to the mob?

I ask because it would be fascinating to confront someone like Gus with the double standards applied to Ruby and Oswald. It is similar to what you expressed but it worse: these guys love to claim that no one would ever make use of someone as crazy as Oswald. Russo is one of the people who makes that claim. Well, it stands to reason that unless Zangara had much more obvious mob connections than Ruby (#3) that Russo believes a nutty guy was used to go after a political official in a mob-inspired event.

-Stu

Wilson Hudson (Brit under journalistic cover Chile) did give FBI lead and FBI did follow it up to extent that they knew to back off IMHO. Like others (perhaps justifyably) Wilson soundly discredited and the story of Ruby Santo Cuba etc went away like it was supposed to.

Another Mob did it book? Yawn and stamp it "JFK."

I've read a lot about the Cermak killing, and I'm still undecided. Those who came in contact with Zangara swear he was completely off his rocker. I also found a book published right before the killing that insists that Cermak was himself completely corrupt, and in bed with gangsters. If so, his death might make more sense as the rub-out of a competitor than as the rub-out of an upright politician out to clean up the town.

The strangest aspect of the Zangara as mob assassin scenario is that Gus Russo, Tim's hero, subscribes to it. Even better, he claims that Dave Yaras--JACK RUBY'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND--was the brains behind it. Seeing as he believes this, is it possible he honestly believes Ruby's involvement in the Kennedy assassination, where another "lone-nut" just went haywire and killed a prominent politician, was a coincidence? I think not. I think Russo changed the premise of his book at the last second, either on a whim, or under pressure from his publisher, and now he's stuck with it.

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Lee wrote:

"Given Harry Dean's remarks, and some of what is known with respect to this time period - sounds possible that Oswald could have been led to believe he was being run by CIA."

Lee, obviously speculation, but I do think Oswald could have been brought in (innocently on his part) on an assassination plot by being duped into believing it was a CIA-sanctioned operation-by whoever was the "mastermind", be it DGI, mafia, rogue CIA agents, etc. etc.

What if LHO was told there were still Russian nukes in Cuba and the only way to force JFK to invade and take care of the problem one way or the other was through a failed attempt on his life to be blamed on Castro? This scenario "works" if the mob did it and the only motivation was to get RFK off their backs; if it was someone who really wanted the assassination to provoke an invasion or Cuba; or even if it was the DGI who knew that LHO was actually a US intelligence operative. LHO could have been told by whomever recruited him for the job that it was so secret he could not even tell his "handler". Or--what if it really was a sanctioned CIA failed assassination attempt and it was "hijacked" by the real killers?

This could also fit into the Waldron scenario of a planned invasion of Cuba in early December.

Clearly had there been a CIA sanctioned failed assassination scheme that went awry there would have been great pressure to cover it up.

Admittedly speculation but it could work as a scenario for getting LHO innocently into the operation.

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  • 3 years later...
Guest Tom Scully

Was the Zangara "affair" an unanticipated "dress rehearsal" for the "Jack Ruby Affair" exactly thirty years later?

The historic record indicates that Henry Crown "ran the Chicago mob" and that he ran Zangara's victim, Anton Cermak, as well:

http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks%3A1&tbo=1&q=%22zangara+was+an+experienced+marksman%2C%22&btnG=Search+Books

Contract on America: the Mafia murder of President John F. Kennedy - Page 8

David E. Scheim - 1988 - 480 pages - Preview

... it is difficult to explain how, firing from close range and ostensibly aiming at Roosevelt, he managed to hit a cluster of people near Cermak, several feet from Roosevelt.24 For Zangara was an experienced marksman,25 and he told his ..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=zangara+hammerless+five+shot&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CdIDhhjm9TJejLYeazATJu8H6CQAAAKoEBU_Qt0ZI

Murder in the tropics - Google Books Result

Stuart B. McIver - 1995 - History - 220 pages

Zangara walked across the street to a pawnshop run by Gordon Davis, an acquaintance of his. Davis sold him a hammerless .32- caliber, five-shot revolver and...

http://books.google.com/books?id=g2gaAQAAIAAJ&q=he+had+known+Zangara+%22for+a+long+time.%22&dq=he+had+known+Zangara+%22for+a+long+time.%22&hl=en&ei=yTu9TO6iF4X6lwfYvsXXAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA

The five weeks of Giuseppe Zangara: the man who would assassinate FDR

Blaise Picchi

Academy Chicago Publishers, 1998

...(Tony?) Gordon Davis The Miami Pawn Broker Who Sold Zangara His Gun Along With Ten Bullets Admitted That He Had A Criminal Record In Chicago...told police he had Known the shooter "for a long time."

http://www.jstor.org/pss/30145621

Zangara's Attempted Assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt

- 10:23pm

by ND Shappee - 1958 - Cited by 1 - Related articles

ice agent, were wounded by four bullets which Zangara sprayed into the crowd after Mayor Cermak had been shot. The sixth bullet hit the ground. ...

http://www.newcriminologist.com/oc/home.asp?nid=201

...In 1957, Roger Touhy told the Illinois Parole Board what really happened in Miami that night. When Zangara started shooting there was mass confusion. People were screaming and running, ducking and falling. Everything was happening just the way it was supposed to. Two syndicate killers, Three Fingers Jack White and Frankie Rio, both wearing badges from the Cicero Police Department, waited until Cermak fell wounded, and then stepped out from the crowd, with their .45s ready.

Shortly, uniformed police, Secret Service, plain-clothes detectives and Cermak's private detectives would all have their weapons drawn, so White and Rio didn't stand out. They fired at Zangara in an attempt to silence him, but the shots missed and nicked several bystanders instead. Then they slipped into the crowd of 10,000 confused and frightened people and disappeared. All eyes were on Zangara anyway, as the angry crowd leaped on him. Before police could pull him to safety, the rabble had torn off most of the little man's clothes and beaten him badly.

Yet Zangara never released his grip on the pistol despite the attack. When police were finally able to reach him they disarmed him, handcuffed him and tossed him into the trunk of a nearby truck, while three enormous Miami policemen sat on him all the way to the jail. The Chicago police department was certain that the shooting was a Mob hit, and asked the Miami police to round up eighteen Chicagoans, all known to be in Miami, twelve of whom were known syndicate associates, and hold them for questioning.

However, the arrests were never made. When Chicago reporters followed this up, it turned out that the request had been cancelled by the syndicate's favorite State's Attorney, Thomas Courtney. From his cell, Zangara told a Miami police detective that he "had to kill," but he wasn't specific on whom he had to kill, because if he didn't keep quiet, "my friends will kill me tomorrow." In sharp contrast to his past behavior, after his arrest Zangara was voluble and excited, shooting defiant looks into press cameras. At times, he was almost giddy with joy....

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=cermak+chicago+gang&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

To Jail 18 Chicagoans .Detective Chief Says Gang May...

Milwaukee Sentinel - Feb 16, 1933

the Cook county board, tonight said if the Miami shooting was directed at Mayor Cermak that it possibly was prompted by Chicago enemies . ...

Asks Hi Si In Miami .‎ - Palm Beach Post

Chicago Asks Arrest Of 18 Capone Pals‎ - Hartford Courant (Pay-Per-View)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JF4hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CYYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=951,2530001&dq=because+of+his+anti-criminal+activities+and+had+chosen+louis+little&hl=en

Cermak Was Marked For Death, Claim .

Schenectady Gazette - Sep 26, 1933

the underworld had marked the late Mayor Anton Cermak for execution because of his anti-criminal activities and . had chosen Louis little Nev York" Campagna...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=cermak+chicago+gang&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

CERMAK 'MARKED' BY CHICAGO GANG; Late Mayor's Bodyguard...

‎ - New York Times - Sep 27, 1933

Testimony that the underworld had marked the late Mayor Ahton J. Cermak for execution because of his anti-criminal activities and had chosen Louis (Little ...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=warden%20viva%20zangara&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp

The five weeks of Giuseppe Zangara: the man who would assassinate FDR

Blaise Picchi - 1998 - 273 pages - Snippet view

Chapman says that he gave Zangara an unusual amount of attention. Indeed, in his twenty-five years as warden at Raiford, ... last words at the execution — words that the warden believed the reporters missed: "Viva Camorra! .

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22*Elmer+Williams+Wrote+that+Zangara+had+been+employed+in+a+Syndicate%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Captive city

Ovid Demaris - 1969 - 366 pages - Snippet view

The Rev. Elmer Williams Wrote that Zangara had been employed in a Syndicate "cutting plant" in Florida "convenient to a canal where the whisky was run in from the islands." Williams then theorized that Zangara got into trouble with his...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=msc%27s+stock+cermak+met&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Captive city

Ovid Demaris - 1969 - 366 pages - Snippet view

When Sol died of tuberculosis in 1921, Henry became president of MSC, then the smallest of the eighty-odd firms in the ...the prize: "In 1922, Crown and a friend casually met on the street a man introduced to him as Anton Cermak.

The name meant nothing to him then, although Cermak had just been named president of the County Board [of Commissioners]. A few days later, Cermak phoned Crown and asked about the price of stone. Crown thought it was a gag.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=bks%3A1&q=material+service+cermak+competitors&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The art of success

Fortune - 1956 - 302 pages - Snippet view

Cermak never owned a share of stock of Material Service. After Cermak had thrown the bids open again and Material Service first ... And there were no prospective purchasers in the industry, for his competitors were also in difficulties.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22Crown+had+confronted+Cermak+at+a+secret%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The art of success

Fortune - 1956 - 302 pages - Snippet view

Later on some specifics were introduced : a few suspicious competitors of Crown had confronted Cermak at a secret meeting; Cermak, one of them said, told them reassuringly that there was no money deal, but merely an understanding that MSC would help Cermak build his organization by giving a few jobs — or some other business assistance — to deserving Cermak designates; Cermak, for his part, would help Crown. The rumor of a tie-up grew and grew, and became so insistent in the late Twenties and early Thirties that special attention was given the matter when MSC's books were being examined for other purposes. The first instance was in 1928 when the company made its initial stock offering to the public; the second in 1931 after First National took over Crown's account from Foreman. First National's auditors turned Crown's office "upside down" in their search. Like their predecessors in 1928, they found nothing. The rumor, however, continued to smolder. Fuel was added by Cermak 's backing MSC's attorney, John Gutknecht, for a municipal judgeship and by the supposed sweetening of Crown's bank, the Foreman-State, through large deposits of public funds.* Today Crown looks back on that...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=bks%3A1&q=foreman+million+no+collateral&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The art of success

Fortune - 1956 - 302 pages - Snippet view

Other loans followed until, in 1931, when an overextended Foreman was suddenly absorbed by First National, Crown owed $1 million without a dollar of collateral. Was Crown's Foreman debt unusually large to be unsecured? It certainly was. A friend was so convinced of this that after the Foreman absorption by the First National, he gave Crown a piece of advice : "They will be asking for collateral...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22*When+Cermak+withdrew+the+funds+in+1931%2C+the+Foreman+bank+folded%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Captive city

Ovid Demaris - 1969 - 366 pages - Snippet view

Although MSC grossed $9 million in 1928, the company's credit expansion was moving at an even faster clip. By 1931, at the nadir of the Depression, Crown owed his bank, the Foreman-State, nearly $2 million without a .

dollar of collateral. Meanwhile, Cermak had sweetened Harold Foreman's disposition with large deposits of public funds. When Cermak withdrew the funds in 1931, the Foreman bank folded and was absorbed by First National. Melvin A. Traylor, president of First National, happened to be a devoted Cermak booster. The first thing Traylor knew, he was Cermak's choice for favorite son in the 1932 national presidential convention — Mike Igoe had the honor of nominating Traylor. "Mr. Cermak made a shrewd political play," Williams noted in in Lightniri. "He groomed . . .

Traylor for President of the United States. Mr. Crown still owes his bankers a very large sum."

The move was not too shrewd as far as Roosevelt was concerned — it precipitated the Florida meeting. Building was at a standstill and Crown could not even raise the $10000 monthly payment on $500000 worth of MSC debentures exercised by the Consumers Company, its collusive competitor. Traylor's first act was to get Consumers to halve MSC's monthly payment.

Then, believing in Crown's "ability . . . integrity . . . imagination," Traylor began advancing the additional millions protege would need in his climb to fame and fortune. In 1939, Williams noted that "the big graft in the state is the material business, $86000000 appropriated for roads, etc. Henry Crown has extended his control of the material business in city and county since the days of Cermak by ways that make Bret Harte's Chinee a simpleton."

MSC's sales had climbed to $10.8 million. The next year, Crown began broadening the base of his operation by acquiring (with a First National loan) the Freeman Coal Mining Corporation for $1.5 million. Nine years later, Crown bought an...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22not+Crown%27s%2C+resulted+in+the+heavy+deposits.+*%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The art of success

Fortune - 1956 - 302 pages - Snippet view

... *Ex-president Harold Foreman himself takes credit for this, asserting that his own relationship with Cermak, not Crown's, resulted in the heavy deposits.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=%22A+rumor+soon+arose+of+a+Crown-Cermak+tie-up.+Despite+Crown%27s+persistent+denials+%E2%80%94+sometimes+angry%2C*%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The art of success

Fortune - 1956 - 302 pages - Snippet view

deal. Something queer, they suspected, must lie behind Crown's appearance in the cozy circle of county bidders, and the collapse of their own agreeable setup of identical bids and rotated awards.

A rumor soon arose of a Crown-Cermak tie-up. Despite Crown's persistent denials — sometimes angry, sometimes pleading, sometimes contemptuous — this rumor was to plague him for many years ; and more than any other episode in his career, it accounts for his almost obsessional sensitivity to the word "politics.

http://www.google.com/search?q=melvin+traylor&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=lnt&sa=X&ei=OzC9TIyqAcWqlAfKoOjIAg&ved=0CBQQpwU

DENY EFFORT TO HAVE TRAYLOR WITHDRAW; Roosevelt Leaders...

- New York Times - Jun 30, 1932

A prompt disavowal came from Roosevelt head-quarters today of any connection with an effort Frank Schofield, manager for Melvin Traylor, said had been made ...

Roosevelt Camp Denies Bribe Charge .‎ - Spokane Daily Chronicle

Roosevelt Faction Deis .Move .To Get...‎ - Owosso Argus-Press

Bribery Offer Is Given Denial .‎ - Prescott Evening Courier

The Sun - Hartford Courant

all 10 news articles »

40 Illinois Votes Claimed For Traylor .

‎Berkeley Daily Gazette - Jun 27, 1932

... pledged to Melvin Traylor-as the party's presidential candidate. impetus ... to Cermak and supporters of Traylor de clared they were hopeful of swinging ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=melvin+traylor&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=lnt&sa=X&ei=OzC9TIyqAcWqlAfKoOjIAg&ved=0CBQQpwU

Melvin Traylor, Banker., Is Dead; Was Pioneer Boy .

San Jose News - Feb 15, 1934

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 MelvinA. Traylor, who rose from a back woods log cabin boyhood to Inter national prominence as president of the First National Bank of ...

Death Closes Career Of Melvin Traylor,...‎ - Reading Eagle

Traylor Survives His Sixth Relapse .‎ - Pittsburgh Press

MELVIN TRAYLOR BETTER.; Recovery From...‎ - New York Times

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=hugo+anderson+He+helped+to+finance+Swedish+contractor+Gust+Newberg&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

The Swedish pioneer historical quarterly: Volumes 31-32

Swedish Pioneer Historical Society - 1980 - Snippet view

He helped to finance Swedish contractor Gust Newberg over a long period and saw Henry Crown through the Depression. His relationship with Crown included a half-million dollar loan for a quarry that became the largest centrally located waste pit in Chicago and a $3 million loan for control by Crown of the Empire State Building in New York. Hugo Anderson, now ninety-three and still visiting his office at First National each week, takes great pride in his...

With the sudden death of First Chicago's Melvin Traylor in Feruary, 1934, Hugo Anderson, V.P. at First Chicago, and the father or Robert O. Anderson, then became Crown's and MSC's new, long-term bank loan officer.:

http://www.google.com/search?q=robert+o+anderson&hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&ei=Cji9TIOqM4K0lQeVuaDSDQ&ved=0CBMQpwU&source=lnt&tbs=nws%3A1%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A2007%2Ccd_max%3A2007

New York Times - Dec 6, 2007

By DOUGLAS MARTIN Robert O. Anderson, an oilman whose Stetson-size accomplishments included building Atlantic Richfield into an industry giant; ..

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I had previously and will do so again commend John for changing his perspective re Mafia sponsorship of the assassination.

I understand that one reason why John had been resistant to this theory is because of the oft repeated theorem that the Mafia did not ordinarily kill politicians.

In that regard a recent post by Gerry Hemming in the "Ultimate Sacrifice" thread is interesting. It states that when the mayor of Chicago was shot and killed it was really a Mafia "hit" because of Cermak's intention to rid Chicago of the Mafia, and the Mafia tried to disguise its involvement by making it look like an attempted assassination of FDR.

In the Kennedy case, the "cover" was not who the target was but the patsy and his supposed ties to Cuba. The problem the Mafia had was in employing Ruby to kill Oswald.

Of course one thing I think we can all agree on is that there was never a serious attempt to solve the case. Since "The Ultimate Sacriifice" argues the heavy involvement of Santo Trafficante, Jr., a theory to which I have long subscribed, it makes one wonder what would have happened had the FBI investigated the early report that Ruby had visited Trafficante in Cuba.

I think Giancana and Rosselli paid the ultimate price for their involvement in the assassination, but their "justice" was most likely administered by their colleagues. It is unfortunate indeed that Trafficante never had to stand before the bar of justice. Christian that I am, however, I believe that Trafficante will forever suffer for all of the crimes and murders he sanctioned.

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It was in Dallas, Texas. The folks who got the best advantages by the killing were in Texas. The new President was from Texas...Occam's Razor.

And in the north:

The Federal Reserve

General Dynamics

Big Oil

Bell Helicopter

The heroin trade

CIA

The Joint Chiefs

It was Murder on the Orient Express - They all dunnit, and covered up for each other.

Edited by David Andrews
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