Richard Cain

[John Simkin]

Richard Cain was born in Chicago on 5th October, 1931. Cain became involved in criminal activity and eventually began working for Mafia boss, Sam Giancana. In their book, Double Cross (1992), Charles and Sam Giancana (Sam's half-brother and nephew) claim that Cain, along with Charlie Nicoletti, were the two gunman who killed President John F. Kennedy. The authors claim that it was Cain, rather than Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired from the 6th Floor of the Texas Book Depository.

In 1996 Eric Hamburg claimed that Cain worked with Dave Yarras and Lenny Patrick in the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas. This statement was based on information obtained from Claudia Furiati, a Brazilian journalist. Later that year Peter Dale Scott suggested that Cain was implicated in the assassination as a result of his links with Johnny Roselli and John Martino.

Richard Cain was shot dead on 20th December, 1973, at Rose's Sandwich Shop in Chicago. Since then researchers such as Larry Hancock and Michael Cain (Richard's younger brother), have investigated the case and have been unable to find any evidence that shows Richard Cain was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Michael Cain has provided me with the last known photograph taken of Richard Cain.

[Gary Buell]

Richard Cain was born in Chicago on 5th October, 1931. Cain became involved in criminal activity and eventually began working for Mafia boss, Sam Giancana. In their book, Double Cross (1992), Charles and Sam Giancana (Sam's half-brother and nephew) claim that Cain, along with Charlie Nicoletti, were the two gunman who killed President John F. Kennedy. The authors claim that it was Cain, rather than Lee Harvey Oswald, who fired from the 6th Floor of the Texas Book Depository.

In 1996 Eric Hamburg claimed that Cain worked with Dave Yarras and Lenny Patrick in the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas. This statement was based on information obtained from Claudia Furiati, a Brazilian journalist. Later that year Peter Dale Scott suggested that Cain was implicated in the assassination as a result of his links with Johnny Roselli and John Martino.

Richard Cain was shot dead on 20th December, 1973, at Rose's Sandwich Shop in Chicago. Since then researchers such as Larry Hancock and Michael Cain (Richard's younger brother), have investigated the case and have been unable to find any evidence that shows Richard Cain was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Michael Cain has provided me with the last known photograph taken of Richard Cain.

He may or may not have been involved in the assassination but he was involved in spreading stories about Oswald after it. His brother did not cover this very well in his book.

[John Simkin]

Here are some more images of Cain. This time not from his brother.

[MichaelJCain]

Gary,

It's true that I didn't say much about Richard spreading the word about Oswald. I wasn't trying to hide it or deny it, I simply couldn't find any evidence of it, save one newspaper article which stated it was so.

Do you have any information that would back up that claim?

Michael

[Steve Thomas]

Michael,

Do you know if your brother had any information about the planned assassination attempt in Chicago in early November of 1963?

Steve Thomas

[Gary Buell]

Gary,

It's true that I didn't say much about Richard spreading the word about Oswald. I wasn't trying to hide it or deny it, I simply couldn't find any evidence of it, save one newspaper article which stated it was so.

Do you have any information that would back up that claim?

Michael

I would suggest looking on the Mary Ferrell site. Here are a few links:

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...sPageId=1201321

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=116

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=145

[William Kelly]

The thing about Richard Cain is that he was a Right Copper - as they say, right being the one who would take a bride when the fix was in and let them slide - while the Wrong Copper was the straight, legit cop on the beat who took a free cup of coffee and maybe an envelop at Christmas, but didn't take the outright bribe.

In order to protect a racket - booze, gambling, prostitution, drugs, whatever, you had to know who the Right Copper was to make the pay off to protect your racket.

Richard Cain was a Right Copper, who became a bodyguard and then right hand man to Sam "Gold" Giancana, one of the decendents of Al Capone and a member of the board of directors of the Syndicate representing Chicago, Vegas and California.

Giancana was involved in the CIA plots to kill Castro that never came off, and retired to Mexico where he lived on a ranch and played golf with Cain, before returning to Chicago to be killed at home, in his basement, by a friend/associate with a .22 behind the ear, while he was cooking sausage.

The Cubans had a lot on Cain, and in their early reports, spelled his name wrong, ie. Kane or Kaine, so they must have got it from word of mouth rather than documents.

Richard Cain was a player.

BK

[John Simkin]

Richard Cain's mother was Lydia Scully, the daughter of Ole Scully, who had been murdered on the orders of Angelo Petiti on 17th December, 1928, to stop him testifying in a kidnapping case.

As Michael J. Cain points out: "Their marriage, already a stormy one, was laced with frequent and sometimes violent fights that became intolerable to them both... Finally, after seven years of mutual agony, they separated - and divorced six months later, in 1938."

Lydia Cain did not want to look after her son and in 1939 he was sent to live with his father's parents on their farm in Owosso, Michigan. He attended St. Paul's Catholic School and only spent short-periods of time with his mother in Chicago. The author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain(2008) argues: "In Chicago, Richard learned about the streets and about being being tough. Lydia gave him neither love nor direction. He had no curfew and no restrictions of any kind. He learned to shoot pool, wield a knife, and fight as fiercely as someone twice his size."

Lydia was friendly with Mafia mobster, Sam Giancana. It was during his numerous stays in Chicago that Richard Cain got to know Giancana. In July 1947, when he was sixteen years old, he got into trouble with the law. Cain decided to join the United States Army.

After basic training at Fort Knox, and training as a radioman at Fort Hood, Texas, Cain was sent to Japan. Later he was posted to the Virgin Islands where he worked as a supply clerk and a part-time MP. In January 1949 he married his first-wife, who already had a child. He wrote to his mother: "I love the child as much as my wife! True, she made a mistake. Lots of people do. Would it be correct for me to shun her because her husband was a louse?"

Richard Cain was discharged the army on 23rd June, 1950. He took his family to Miami where a Chicago friend introduced him to a private detective named John Buenz, who had been in Burma with the OSS during the Second World War. Buenz had originally lived in Cuba and was a close friend of Fulgencio Batista, who was living in exile in Fort Lauderdale. Batista was one of Buenz's most important clients. In 1952 Cain was sent into Cuba to monitor government activity for various clients in the Miami area. Is it possible that his Chicago friend was Sam Giancana and that he was already working for the mobster?

[William Kelly]

Richard Cain's mother was Lydia Scully, the daughter of Ole Scully, who had been murdered on the orders of Angelo Petiti on 17th December, 1928, to stop him testifying in a kidnapping case.

As Michael J. Cain points out: "Their marriage, already a stormy one, was laced with frequent and sometimes violent fights that became intolerable to them both... Finally, after seven years of mutual agony, they separated - and divorced six months later, in 1938."

Lydia Cain did not want to look after her son and in 1939 he was sent to live with his father's parents on their farm in Owosso, Michigan. He attended St. Paul's Catholic School and only spent short-periods of time with his mother in Chicago. The author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain(2008) argues: "In Chicago, Richard learned about the streets and about being being tough. Lydia gave him neither love nor direction. He had no curfew and no restrictions of any kind. He learned to shoot pool, wield a knife, and fight as fiercely as someone twice his size."

Lydia was friendly with Mafia mobster, Sam Giancana. It was during his numerous stays in Chicago that Richard Cain got to know Giancana. In July 1947, when he was sixteen years old, he got into trouble with the law. Cain decided to join the United States Army.

After basic training at Fort Knox, and training as a radioman at Fort Hood, Texas, Cain was sent to Japan. Later he was posted to the Virgin Islands where he worked as a supply clerk and a part-time MP. In January 1949 he married his first-wife, who already had a child. He wrote to his mother: "I love the child as much as my wife! True, she made a mistake. Lots of people do. Would it be correct for me to shun her because her husband was a louse?"

Richard Cain was discharged the army on 23rd June, 1950. He took his family to Miami where a Chicago friend introduced him to a private detective named John Buenz, who had been in Burma with the OSS during the Second World War. Buenz had originally lived in Cuba and was a close friend of Fulgencio Batista, who was living in exile in Fort Lauderdale. Batista was one of Buenz's most important clients. In 1952 Cain was sent into Cuba to monitor government activity for various clients in the Miami area. Is it possible that his Chicago friend was Sam Giancana and that he was already working for the mobster?

John,

Cain is archtypical of the type of cop, law enforcement official, who was placed in a position of official authority and worked for or was controlled by the mob, or the local racketteers.

Other good examples of this can be found in Florida when Lansky set up his gambling dens in mob controlled counties, where the sheriff was one and the same with the syndicate.

Another example is in Atlantic City, where Herman "Stumpy" Orman ran things in the same tradition as Enoch "Knucky" Johson and Hap Farley.

In this FBI document, released under the JFK Act as a record on Mike McLaney, I don't know what it has to do with McLaney, but it does give an accurate picture of mob control of the Atlantic City police department in 1964, around the time of the Democratic National Convention.

The FBI informant, tight with Orman, learned that Orman wanted to clear the official record of a women who had been arrested for shop lifting. They obtained the records at the ACPD and NJ State Police, and didn't think it had gotten as far as the FBI. The Atlantic City police chief, Sullivan, had injured his leg and wanted to retire, but Orman convinced him to stay on and hide his injury until he could decide who to replace him with.

This is in the McLaney file probably because McLaney had sold part of his interest in the Hotel National in Havana to Atlantic City (Margate) NJ gambler Carroll Rossenbloom, who owned the Baltimore Colts NFL football team, and at whose home LBJ stayed during the convention.

This one document however, shows how the mob controlled the local police departments, not only in Atlantic City, where gambling had always been prevelant, but how they operated on a simliar basis in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Flordia, Havana and where ever there is gambling (or drugs) that requires local official support.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=1

Gus Russo wrote a book about the Chicago mob. What does he have to say about Cain?

After JFK was killed, Giancana and Cain retreated to Mexico in order to stay out of the line of fire, but eventually returned to Chicago and their fate.

BK

[John Simkin]

Cain is archtypical of the type of cop, law enforcement official, who was placed in a position of official authority and worked for or was controlled by the mob, or the local racketteers.

In 1953 Richard Cain and his family moved to Bay City, Michigan, where his father lived with his new family. Cain got a job as a bartender. The two men argued and six months later he moved to Chicago where he was employed as a security officer with United Parcel Service (UPS). His work involved credit card fraud, burglaries and hijackings.

Cain made contact with old family friend, Sam Giancana. According to Michael J. Cain it was during this time he became a "made" member of the Chicago mob. Cain argues that "he participated in arranging numerous burglaries in UPS warehouses and the hijacking of UPS trucks." Despite this criminal behaviour he was promoted to Chief of Security. "As long as he delivered by solving cases, and no one was able to analyze the cases he didn't solve, he could pull it off. UPS became the proving ground for the Dick Cain style of police work."

In 1955 took a six-week course at the Keeler Institute of Polygraph to learn how to operate a polygraph machine, a lie detector. Later that year, Cain applied to join the Chicago Police Department. It had been Giancana's idea as he needed "an inside guy, a bagman to make the payments he regularly gave to the department."

Initially, he was rejected as being too short, at five feet seven inches, with eyesight that tested at 20/200. However, Sam Giancana arranged for the right people to be paid and he managed to grow a full inch and improve his eyesight to the required standard. Cain was accepted into the CPD in May 1956. Soon afterwards he married Rosemary Frazier, a part-time model he met while conducting a vice investigation.

Cain started off as a patrolman but with the help of Giancana, Cain was promoted to the detective bureau. According to the author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain (2008): "Giancana matched Dick's $9,000-a-year city salary, plus bonuses...Once he was assigned to the detective bureau, Dick was Giancana's bagman the first week or so of each month, delivering envelopes up and down the chain of command. Captains and above would generally get a personal visit with a very subtle pass of the envelope. Patrolmen, Sergeants and Lieutenants generally had to come and fetch their share, perhaps at a neighborhood bar."

Cain developed a reputation as being a good cop when he was dealing with non-mob-related activities. He often invited the press along to raid on brothels and gambling dens. This resulted in him getting his name and photograph in the newspapers. This usually involved him holding a Thompson sub-machine gun. He also worked closely with Jack Mabley of the Chicago American, who was a crusading columnist who was investigating corruption. This included information that resulted in a crooked judge being sent to prison.

In February 1959, Cain and his partner, Gerry Shallow, arrested a 68 year-old prostitute named Grace Van Scoyk. They confiscated more than $100,000 in cash from the premises. Scoyk eventually got this money back but she claimed that $60,000 had disappeared from her safe deposit box and that Cain had taken her key. Cain denied the charge and he escaped prosecution for this offence.

The following month Harry Figel resisted arrest and was shot dead by Cain and Shallow. According to the report written by the Chief of Detectives, Cain posed as a homosexual but when he realised he had been caught in a trap "he quickly stepped back, drew a pistol from his pocket and fired twice at both Cain and Shallow... after this overt display of viciousness, the Detectives then withdrew their pistols from their holsters and returned the fire." The report added that "the actions of the two investigators truly displays exemplary action and bravery".

Cain later told a different story. He claimed he shot Figel three times in the body and then Shallow shot him in the head when he was defenceless on the ground. The family claimed that Figel had been murdered and during a FBI investigation into the case, they discovered a witness to the killing, Thomas Francis O'Donnell. He claimed that Figel had not opened fire on the police officers. In fact, several friends said he did never carried a gun. Further investigation showed that the gun at the scene of the crime had been stolen from a house in Chicago, one week before Figel was killed. Another investigation by Figel's lawyer, Edward L. Kelly, traced the gun back to Richard Cain.

In a letter sent to United States Attorney Robert Tieken, Kelly pointed out that Cain's expenses greatly exceeded his income: "Cain supports his present wife, his former wife, and children, rents at a hotel and maintains two apartments... Cain appears to be engaged in various activities of prostitution and extortion." The letter was sent to the FBI but it was decided that the matter should be dropped.

Cain left the Sex Bureau and was assigned to help Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard B. Ogilvie with an income tax case against Mafia boss, Anthony Accardo. Ogilvie was impressed with the amount of information he obtained. What he did not know was that this had come from Sam Giancana. As the author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain pointed out: "From Giancana's perspective, Dick's job was to provide enough information to convince Ogilvie that he was a crack investigator and along the way to introduce a couple of flaws in the case to ensure that it would be over-turned." This is in fact what happened. Accordo was convicted for income tax evasion but it was overturned on appeal.

In January 1960, Richard Cain and Gerry Shallow were recruited by the Illinois State's Attorney Ben Adamowski via Paul Newey to spy on Irwin Cohen, who worked for Richard Daley as his commissioner of investigations. Cohen was paid a salary of $20,000 per year, plus an operating budget of $100,000. Adamowski was a Republican and he feared Cohen was looking for examples of corruption against fellow members of his party.

Cain was caught installing a camera aimed at the door to Cohen's office, to photograph everyone who came and went. Following an investigation that lasted four months, Cain was forced to resign from the Chicago Police Department. Paul Newey paid Cain $1500 and was told to leave Chicago in order to let things "cool down".

[John Simkin]

Interestig newspaper account of the death of Richard Cain:

Michael Sneed and Thomas Powers, The Chicago Tribune (21st December, 1973)

Richard Cain, the hoodlum who once was chief investigator for the Cook County sheriff’s office, was shot to death yesterday in gangland style. Cain, 49, was killed by two gunmen wearing ski masks as he stood against a wall in a sandwich shop at 1117 W. Grand Av. Witnesses said that only 15 minutes earlier Cain had been seen conferring with four other men in the restaurant. Investigators speculated that Cain may have been lured to his death in the sandwich shop.

When the masked gunmen arrived, the four men with whom Cain had been talking had left. Tho the gunmen ordered Cain and others in the sandwich shop against the wall, only Cain was hit by two shotgun blasts fired from close range. The blasts tore away his face. Frightened witnesses said no words were exchanged between the killers and Cain. The shotgun blast struck Cain in the lower jaw and so disfigured his face that it was several hours before he was identified.

In recent years, Cain had been a driver and lackey for Sam Giancana, a former Chicago crime syndicate leader. Cain was taken to the county morgue from the sandwich shop, Rose’s Poor Boy Sandwiches, as an unidentified murder victim.

Cain was a former Chicago policeman in 1962 when Richard Ogilvie was elected sheriff as a reform candidate. Ogilvie named him chief investigator. During two years as chief investigator, Cain forced suspected mob informers to take lie tests at the public’s expense to determine if they were giving away underworld secrets. Cain’s efforts to work both sides of the street, serving as both a policeman and a mobster, came to an end in 1964 when Ogilvie forced his resignation. Cain had been implicated in a $240,000 burglary of the Louis Zahn Drug Co., warehouse in Melrose Park and later was convicted with other mobsters for his part in a 1963 Franklin Park bank robbery. Cain served three years in prison for the bank job and for lying to a grand jury about the warehouse burglary. After his parole in 1971, Cain fled to Mexico and joined Giancana.

[John Simkin]

In May 1960 Cain was appointed to assist in the investigation of police corruption in the city of Springfield, Missouri. His main role was to administer polygraph tests to members of the police department. His report to the city council resulted in the firing of thirteen police officers, including the chief of police.

On his return to Chicago he established Accurate Laboratories. According to his business card he specialized in "investigations, guard services, undercover operatives and polygraph examination". Unofficially, he also provided a wiretap service.

In 1960 Richard Bissell and Allen W. Dulles decided to work with the Mafia in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. The advantage of employing the Mafia for this work is that it provided CIA with a credible cover story. The Mafia were known to be angry with Castro for closing down their profitable brothels and casinos in Cuba. If the assassins were killed or captured the media would accept that the Mafia were working on their own.

In August 1960, Colonel Sheffield Edwards contacted Robert Maheu. As Maheu explained in 1995: "In the winter of 1959-60, however, the CIA still thought it could pull off the invasion (of Cuba). But it thought the odds might be better if the plan went one step further - the murder of Fidel Castro. All the Company needed was someone to do the dirty work for it. Professional killers. A gangland-style hit."

Maheu offered the contract to Johnny Rosell. He in turn arranged for a meeting on 11th October, 1960, between Maheu and two leading mobsters, Santo Trafficante and Sam Giancana. As Maheu pointed out, "both were among the ten most powerful Mafia members" in America. Maheu told the mobsters that the CIA was willing to pay $150,000 to have Castro killed.

On 12th March, 1961, Maheu arranged for CIA operative, Jim O'Connell, to meet Roselli, Trafficante and Giancana at the Fontainebleau Hotel. During the meeting O'Connell gave poison pills and $10,000 to Rosselli to be used against Fidel Castro.

Sam Giancana employed Richard Cain to assassinate Castro. He was fluent in Spanish and had worked in Cuba in 1952. Michael J. Cain argues that his brother saw it as a golden opportunity as "it had all the elements of an activity that could hold his interest: it was dangerous, it involved espionage, and it was potentially lucrative."

In October 1960 Cain was in Miami interviewing Cuban refugees and preparing reports he shared with CIA station chief William Lohmann back in Chicago. Cain had been introduced to Lohmann by Paul Newey. Lohmann passed this information to the Cuba desk at CIA Headquarters. Cain also told Lohmann that he was on a assignment for Life Magazine and that he expected to be making several trips inside Cuba. In one report Cain told the CIA that: "The Cuban Rebel Air Force of san Antonio de los Banos is now comprised exclusively of Czech (or Russian masquerading as Czech) pilots."

In December 1960 Cain contacted his father to wish him well for the Christmas holidays. According to Mary Ellyn, John Cain's daughter, who overheard the conversation on an extension phone, Richard told his father that he had been to Cuba on a secret mission for the government to assassinate Fidel Castro and that, while he had not succeeded, he had got as far as entering Castro's office, but was unable to find a way to use the botulin tablets. While leaving the grounds his female colleague in the assassination attempt was captured. Cain claimed that she was later executed.

[John Simkin]

The FBI observed Cain attending a meeting of the Freedom of the Press Committee in Chicago on 28th January, 1961. This was a known communist front organization and it has been suggested that he was on a spying mission for Tony Varona who had "been disillusioned by Castro's turn toward communism."

In July 1961, Cain moved to Mexico City to set up a base of operations for an investigative agency. His first customer was Sears-Roebuck who used his expertise in conducting investigations. During this period he was in regular contact with Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard B. Ogilvie.

Cain also did work for Pierre Kroupensky, a public relations expert. In September 1961 Kroupensky sent him to infiltrate local communist organizations in and around Panama City. On his return to Mexico he became friendly with the head of police in Mexico City. In a letter to his mother, Cain claims that he had been appointed as "technical advisor to the Policia Judicial del Procuradoria". He added that he was only working "on cases involving Americans".

Later in the letter he told his mother he was "doing the same old thing for the Cubanos here". According to his half-brother Michael J. Cain, this meant he was "training Cuban expats in the use of weapons for what they all believed would be the second invasion of Cuba". It is assumed that this training was taking place on behalf of Tony Varona and the Cuban Revolutionary Council.

In a letter sent to his mother in May 1962 Cain was "working steadily with his teaching and private polygraph work, investigations, and wiretaps." The following month Cain was arrested and "charged with carrying a loaded revolver, possession of brass knuckes, possessing Mexican treasury department credentials and violating his visa by working as a private investigator and for the Mexican government." According to the FBI Cain had also been working on tapping the phones at the Czechoslovakian embassy.

Cain was deported from Mexico. On his arrival in the United States he made his way to Houston where he found work administrating polygraph tests and training company personnel in how to use these machines. In September, 1962, he returned to Chicago. On his first day back in the city he had lunch with Sam Giancana and dinner with Richard B. Ogilvie. Soon afterwards, Ogilvie, was elected as sheriff of Cook County. Robert Cooley, a mobster lawyer, claimed in his book, When Corruption Was King (2004), that the Mafia approved Ogilvie's election.

Richard B. Ogilvie appointed Cain as head of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). According to Michael J. Cain, his brother was paid $5,000 a month, several times his SIU salary, by Sam Giancana, the boss of organized crime in Chicago. Anthony Accardo also made a regular contribution and this insured that the Mafia was left alone by the SIU.

Cain arranged for bookmakers who were in competition with the mob in Chicago to be raided. He always checked with Pat Marcy, an important figure in the Chicago Outfit, before arresting bookmakers, in case they were being protected by the mob.

The author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain argues that: "The Special Investigations Unit frequently targeted abortionists, not so much as criminals but as lucrative targets who would pay a lot of money, in cash... This was never about upholding the law; it was all about the money, and the SIU became a crime wave of official larceny."

Cain did investigate Sam DeStefano, who had tortured to death, his friend, William Jackson. It seems that DeStefano thought that Jackson was a FBI informant and so he took him to a meat-packing plant and suspended him from a meat hook for three days while he questioned and tortured him. Although mobsters like Sam Giancana had invested in DeStefano's loan business, he was never a Made Man because he was considered mentally unstable.

On 19th August, 1963, Richard Cain had dinner at Adolph's on Rush Street with CIA station chief William Lohmann and an associate from the Chicago office. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss activities of Cuban Counter-revolutionary groups. According to Michael J. Cain: "Dick had developed a network of informants and had even attended a number of their meetings himself. He was actively working with the Cubans, training them for what they hoped would be the next invasion."

Lohmann wrote in his CIA report: "Subject (Cain)... is married to a Mexican girl, speaks good Spanish and has considerable contact with the Cuban community in Chicago. Subject is, through his position in the Cook Country Sheriff's Office, also in contact with the less legal adventures of the Cubans in Chicago. Subject was told generally of our requirements and agreed to help us wherever he could; particularly in noting ant rumours of CIA contact in Chicago, providing information on the undercover activities of the Cubans, particularly Paulino Sierra and his contacts; and providing the names of any Cubans who might be useful to us." (page 118)

During this period Richard B. Ogilvie introduced Cain to Barry Goldwater. He told Cain that when he was elected president of the United States he wanted him to "come to Washington and be his guy at the Secret Service." Cain said he would be interested in taking the job and at the Democratic Convention held in San Francisco in July 1964, he arranged for two members of his team to cut the telephone lines that serviced the Democratic offices in the city.

In December 1963 thieves stole $250,000 worth of prescription drugs from Zahn Drug Company in Melrose Park, Illinois. The following month Richard Cain led a raid on the Caravelle Motel in Melrose Park where they recovered $42,000 worth of the missing drugs. The press were invited to attend the raid. One of the journalists made further investigations and discovered that the room had been rented by Sergeant John Chaconas of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) who reported directly to Cain.

Daniel Ward, the Cook County state's attorney, discovered that just before the raid, Cain had contacted Zahn's insurance and offered to sell them the drugs found at the Caravelle Motel. Ward opened an investigation and subpoenaed grand jury testimony from all members of the SIU who participated in the raid. The grand jury was unable to determine who actually stole the drugs, but they were convinced, that Richard Cain, John Chaconas, Bill Witsman and James Donnelly were lying and had them indicted for perjury. In December, 1964, the four men were convicted of this charge and were all dismissed from the SIU.

In 1965 Cain's great protector, Sam Giancana, was brought before the grand jury. When he refused to answer questions he was jailed for contempt of court. He was released in May 1966 and the following month Cain took him to Mexico City. Soon afterwards the two men relocated to Cuernavaca. Cain would frequently travel back to Chicago to meet with Butch blasi, who was looking after Giancana's business interests in the city. It was on one of these trips, in December 1967, Cain was arrested by William F. Roemer. Apparently, Joseph D'Argento, who had been convicted of the robbery of the Franklin Park Bank, had told the FBI that he was willing to give evidence against Cain and William Daddano.

On 3rd October, 1968, Cain was convicted of misprison (a failure to notify a law enforcement official that he had knowledge of a felony by others) of felony, aiding and abetting criminals, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was sentenced to two concurrent four-year terms and fined a total of $13,000.

[Christopher Hall]

The FBI observed Cain attending a meeting of the Freedom of the Press Committee in Chicago on 28th January, 1961. This was a known communist front organization and it has been suggested that he was on a spying mission for Tony Varona who had "been disillusioned by Castro's turn toward communism."

In July 1961, Cain moved to Mexico City to set up a base of operations for an investigative agency. His first customer was Sears-Roebuck who used his expertise in conducting investigations. During this period he was in regular contact with Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard B. Ogilvie.

Cain also did work for Pierre Kroupensky, a public relations expert. In September 1961 Kroupensky sent him to infiltrate local communist organizations in and around Panama City. On his return to Mexico he became friendly with the head of police in Mexico City. In a letter to his mother, Cain claims that he had been appointed as "technical advisor to the Policia Judicial del Procuradoria". He added that he was only working "on cases involving Americans".

Later in the letter he told his mother he was "doing the same old thing for the Cubanos here". According to his half-brother Michael J. Cain, this meant he was "training Cuban expats in the use of weapons for what they all believed would be the second invasion of Cuba". It is assumed that this training was taking place on behalf of Tony Varona and the Cuban Revolutionary Council.

In a letter sent to his mother in May 1962 Cain was "working steadily with his teaching and private polygraph work, investigations, and wiretaps." The following month Cain was arrested and "charged with carrying a loaded revolver, possession of brass knuckes, possessing Mexican treasury department credentials and violating his visa by working as a private investigator and for the Mexican government." According to the FBI Cain had also been working on tapping the phones at the Czechoslovakian embassy.

Cain was deported from Mexico. On his arrival in the United States he made his way to Houston where he found work administrating polygraph tests and training company personnel in how to use these machines. In September, 1962, he returned to Chicago. On his first day back in the city he had lunch with Sam Giancana and dinner with Richard B. Ogilvie. Soon afterwards, Ogilvie, was elected as sheriff of Cook County. Robert Cooley, a mobster lawyer, claimed in his book, When Corruption Was King (2004), that the Mafia approved Ogilvie's election.

Richard B. Ogilvie appointed Cain as head of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). According to Michael J. Cain, his brother was paid $5,000 a month, several times his SIU salary, by Sam Giancana, the boss of organized crime in Chicago. Anthony Accardo also made a regular contribution and this insured that the Mafia was left alone by the SIU.

Cain arranged for bookmakers who were in competition with the mob in Chicago to be raided. He always checked with Pat Marcy, an important figure in the Chicago Outfit, before arresting bookmakers, in case they were being protected by the mob.

The author of The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain argues that: "The Special Investigations Unit frequently targeted abortionists, not so much as criminals but as lucrative targets who would pay a lot of money, in cash... This was never about upholding the law; it was all about the money, and the SIU became a crime wave of official larceny."

Cain did investigate Sam DeStefano, who had tortured to death, his friend, William Jackson. It seems that DeStefano thought that Jackson was a FBI informant and so he took him to a meat-packing plant and suspended him from a meat hook for three days while he questioned and tortured him. Although mobsters like Sam Giancana had invested in DeStefano's loan business, he was never a Made Man because he was considered mentally unstable.

On 19th August, 1963, Richard Cain had dinner at Adolph's on Rush Street with CIA station chief William Lohmann and an associate from the Chicago office. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss activities of Cuban Counter-revolutionary groups. According to Michael J. Cain: "Dick had developed a network of informants and had even attended a number of their meetings himself. He was actively working with the Cubans, training them for what they hoped would be the next invasion."

Lohmann wrote in his CIA report: "Subject (Cain)... is married to a Mexican girl, speaks good Spanish and has considerable contact with the Cuban community in Chicago. Subject is, through his position in the Cook Country Sheriff's Office, also in contact with the less legal adventures of the Cubans in Chicago. Subject was told generally of our requirements and agreed to help us wherever he could; particularly in noting ant rumours of CIA contact in Chicago, providing information on the undercover activities of the Cubans, particularly Paulino Sierra and his contacts; and providing the names of any Cubans who might be useful to us." (page 118)

During this period Richard B. Ogilvie introduced Cain to Barry Goldwater. He told Cain that when he was elected president of the United States he wanted him to "come to Washington and be his guy at the Secret Service." Cain said he would be interested in taking the job and at the Democratic Convention held in San Francisco in July 1964, he arranged for two members of his team to cut the telephone lines that serviced the Democratic offices in the city.

In December 1963 thieves stole $250,000 worth of prescription drugs from Zahn Drug Company in Melrose Park, Illinois. The following month Richard Cain led a raid on the Caravelle Motel in Melrose Park where they recovered $42,000 worth of the missing drugs. The press were invited to attend the raid. One of the journalists made further investigations and discovered that the room had been rented by Sergeant John Chaconas of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) who reported directly to Cain.

Daniel Ward, the Cook County state's attorney, discovered that just before the raid, Cain had contacted Zahn's insurance and offered to sell them the drugs found at the Caravelle Motel. Ward opened an investigation and subpoenaed grand jury testimony from all members of the SIU who participated in the raid. The grand jury was unable to determine who actually stole the drugs, but they were convinced, that Richard Cain, John Chaconas, Bill Witsman and James Donnelly were lying and had them indicted for perjury. In December, 1964, the four men were convicted of this charge and were all dismissed from the SIU.

In 1965 Cain's great protector, Sam Giancana, was brought before the grand jury. When he refused to answer questions he was jailed for contempt of court. He was released in May 1966 and the following month Cain took him to Mexico City. Soon afterwards the two men relocated to Cuernavaca. Cain would frequently travel back to Chicago to meet with Butch blasi, who was looking after Giancana's business interests in the city. It was on one of these trips, in December 1967, Cain was arrested by William F. Roemer. Apparently, Joseph D'Argento, who had been convicted of the robbery of the Franklin Park Bank, had told the FBI that he was willing to give evidence against Cain and William Daddano.

On 3rd October, 1968, Cain was convicted of misprison (a failure to notify a law enforcement official that he had knowledge of a felony by others) of felony, aiding and abetting criminals, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was sentenced to two concurrent four-year terms and fined a total of $13,000.

John-

This is all very interesting info.

I always thought that Cain was more of a low-level crooked cop/detective and not the peripatetic character that he apparently was.

I believe that the 3rd to last paragraph of your January 31 post erroneously refers to Cain as "Robert" and not "Richard".

I wonder what, if anything, Cain was doing for Giancana in 1973, the year of his death.

It would also be interesting to learn more about the hit on Cain, such as the 3 or 4 people with whom he dined before he was hit.

I did a double take when I saw the reference to CIA operative Willie Lohmann, and then I remembered the protaganist in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman".

I wonder whether there is any connection between Lohmann and Miller.

Chris

[Christopher Hall]

Does anyone know anything else about William Lohmann?

I did a quick Google search and noted that there was a R.P.B. Lohmann with the CIA who was part of the CIA's task force on evaluating (or suppressing) UFO sightings in the 1950s.

I don't know whether this is the same person.

It appears that I misread "William" to be "Willie" - my apologies.

Nonetheless, Lohmann is an odd name, and William Lohmann of the CIA had lunch with Cain 3 months before the JFK assassination.

I may check a few of my CIA books at home tonight or over the weekend to get info on this CIA Station Chief.