Guest Matt Allison Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Just curious. Lone nut? cuz It'll be hilarious to see someone try and explain how he was working for Castro... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Just curious. Lone nut? cuz It'll be hilarious to see someone try and explain how he was working for Castro... Matt, I believe Tim links him though Trafficante. If I am in error, no doubt Tim will correct me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 (edited) Stephen, you are absolutely correct. If indeed Trafficante was working on Castro's behalf, he is the nexus between Castro and Ruby. "Ultimate Sacrifice" demonstrates that the federal heat was on Trafficante through the Valachi hearings in the fall of 1963. I also consider it significant that Trafficante knew Cubela (Escalante said in 1995 that Cubela helped negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia) and yet Trafficante, under oath, denied knowing Cubela. (If I recall correctly trafficante pleaded the fifth before the Church Committee but he did testify before the HSCA. It was before the HSCA that he denied knowing Cubela. It may also be significant that the brother of trafficante's attorney was a high muckety-muck in the Castro regime. Now "Rendezvous with Death" claims that there was a connection between Cubela and Oswald. It will be interesting to see how well documented that assertion is. I think that if the scenario of "Rendezvous with Death" is that Castro (or pro-Castro Cubans) alone assassinated JFK, the scenario is deficient in not explaining the Ruby involvement. The fact that the Cubela gambit, if you want to call it that, was being played out just as the Kennedy assassination was being plotted and carried out, has always seemed significant to me. Then add in the Cubela-Trafficante association and the plot really thickens. Note that (per Ragano) Hoffa had asked Marcello and Trafficante to kill Kennedy on his behalf and you have the possibility that, through Trafficante, there were several sponsors of the assassination, who may not have been aware of each other. The Kennedys had certainly made enemies of Castro, Hoffa, Trafficante and Marcello. It is not unreasonable to postulate that his enemies converged to effectuate his murder. This is the theory of Michael Kurtz (and it was my own theory even before I read Kurtz's book). But re Matt's comment that it would be "hilarious" to see how Ruby was working for Castro, it is not hilarious at all. "Ultimate Sacrifice" argues quite persuasively that in the late fifties Ruby was "gun-running" for Castro, and that Ruby may have used his influence with the Castro regime to negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia. (In "Mob Lawyer" Ragano states that Trafficante told him that he (Trafficante, that is, had negotiated a deal with Raul Castro to secure his release.) Edited January 13, 2006 by Tim Gratz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stephen Turner Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 I also consider it significant that Trafficante knew Cubela (Escalante said in 1995 that Cubela helped negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia) Tim, is this the Escalante quote your refering to? quote on " Santo's trafficante lawyer was a Cuban, Garcia Bango, he was very closely related to Cubela. he worked in Cuba until 1963, in 64, he was involved in the Cubela Artime plot against Castro. This is significant, because in 1959 Bango worked to obtain Trafficante's brief exit from the camp, Cubela helped in this,demonstrating his (Cubela's) links to organised crime since 1959."End Quote. Also can you confirm that this "brief exit" was to allow Trafficante to attend his daughters wedding. Regards, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 (edited) Yes, I believe the brief exit was to allow Trafficante to attend his daughter's wedding. He was under heavy surveillance, it has been reported. Nice of Castro to let him out, though. I believe Bango's brother was the Minister of Sports in the Castro government which I understand was a very important Cabinet position. But I think there is a different Escalante quote also linking Trafficante to Cubela. I'll try to check. Regards to you, too, Stephen. Edited January 13, 2006 by Tim Gratz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Hemming Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Stephen, you are absolutely correct. If indeed Trafficante was working on Castro's behalf, he is the nexus between Castro and Ruby. "Ultimate Sacrifice" demonstrates that the federal heat was on Trafficante through the Valachi hearings in the fall of 1963. I also consider it significant that Trafficante knew Cubela (Escalante said in 1995 that Cubela helped negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia) and yet Trafficante, under oath, denied knowing Cubela. (If I recall correctly trafficante pleaded the fifth before the Church Committee but he did testify before the HSCA. It was before the HSCA that he denied knowing Cubela. It may also be significant that the brother of trafficante's attorney was a high muckety-muck in the Castro regime. Now "Rendezvous with Death" claims that there was a connection between Cubela and Oswald. It will be interesting to see how well documented that assertion is. I think that if the scenario of "Rendezvous with Death" is that Castro (or pro-Castro Cubans) alone assassinated JFK, the scenario is deficient in not explaining the Ruby involvement. The fact that the Cubela gambit, if you want to call it that, was being played out just as the Kennedy assassination was being plotted and carried out, has always seemed significant to me. Then add in the Cubela-Trafficante association and the plot really thickens. Note that (per Ragano) Hoffa had asked Marcello and Trafficante to kill Kennedy on his behalf and you have the possibility that, through Trafficante, there were several sponsors of the assassination, who may not have been aware of each other. The Kennedys had certainly made enemies of Castro, Hoffa, Trafficante and Marcello. It is not unreasonable to postulate that his enemies converged to effectuate his murder. This is the theory of Michael Kurtz (and it was my own theory even before I read Kurtz's book). But re Matt's comment that it would be "hilarious" to see how Ruby was working for Castro, it is not hilarious at all. "Ultimate Sacrifice" argues quite persuasively that in the late fifties Ruby was "gun-running" for Castro, and that Ruby may have used his influence with the Castro regime to negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia. (In "Mob Lawyer" Ragano states that Trafficante told him that he (Trafficante, that is, had negotiated a deal with Raul Castro to secure his release.) --------------------------------- Memory problems again Gratz. First, the "Quarantine Station" across the harbor in East Havana is spelled T-R-I-S-C-O-R-N-I-A !! Trafficante was NOT a prisoner there !! This was his "safe haven", and he repeatedly left that locale to conduct business. The commanding officer at T-R-I-S-C-O-R-N-I-A during ALL of 1959, was Cuban Rebel Army Capitan Enrique Molina Rivera. Molina had been a guerrilla platoon leader with Raul Castro [and "Bayo"] in the "2nd National Front-Frank Pais" in the Sierra Cristal, northern Oriente Province after April, 1958. Molina had taken one small weapons delivery from a Jack Ruby source at Nicaro Mines, but this was late in 1958 -- when it was quite obvious that Batista was losing the war. Molina took his orders from the National Police Chief, Cmdte. Efigenio Almejeiras, but socialized with Cubela, Sotolongo, Amaury Fraginals, and other ex-FEU students/professors and labor leaders who had been part of Manolo Ray's underground apparatus. Molina was landed by a Castro trawler near North Key Largo right after the Missile Crisis, and was never issued a "Refugee Parole ID numbered card", nor a Dept. of Agriculture card for foodstuffs. Molina, along with Luis Balbuena ["El Gordo" from GITMO] were scheduled to be killed by Bayo's crew during February, 1963 -- until I intervened against it. Molina joined with his old Trafficante buddy Loran E. Skip Hall the same week we arrived in Miami [1963], and traveled with hall to visit Santo in Tampa during mid-February, 1963. They were accompanied by Santo's brother, who owned [and lived in] the building where Sanchez Arango had his "AAA" headquarters. Molina later joined with Sturgis, Rorke, and Sullivan during May, 1963. I warned Sturgis, Rorke, and Sullivan that Molina was a Castro agent, and that he was lucky to be alive. Moreover, I suggested that if they insisted on associating with him, stay out of the line of fire !! Molina "disappeared?" with Rorke and Sullivan during the flight wherein they were to transport LHO to Cuba from CONUS [september, 1962]. ______________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ecker Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Tim, If Castro did it, then Fabian Escalante is a first-class xxxx, so why would you take his word on Trafficante, Cubela, or anything else? Interesting to see you quoting him. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stapleton Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Stephen, you are absolutely correct. If indeed Trafficante was working on Castro's behalf, he is the nexus between Castro and Ruby. "Ultimate Sacrifice" demonstrates that the federal heat was on Trafficante through the Valachi hearings in the fall of 1963. I also consider it significant that Trafficante knew Cubela (Escalante said in 1995 that Cubela helped negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia) and yet Trafficante, under oath, denied knowing Cubela. (If I recall correctly trafficante pleaded the fifth before the Church Committee but he did testify before the HSCA. It was before the HSCA that he denied knowing Cubela. It may also be significant that the brother of trafficante's attorney was a high muckety-muck in the Castro regime. Now "Rendezvous with Death" claims that there was a connection between Cubela and Oswald. It will be interesting to see how well documented that assertion is. I think that if the scenario of "Rendezvous with Death" is that Castro (or pro-Castro Cubans) alone assassinated JFK, the scenario is deficient in not explaining the Ruby involvement. The fact that the Cubela gambit, if you want to call it that, was being played out just as the Kennedy assassination was being plotted and carried out, has always seemed significant to me. Then add in the Cubela-Trafficante association and the plot really thickens. Note that (per Ragano) Hoffa had asked Marcello and Trafficante to kill Kennedy on his behalf and you have the possibility that, through Trafficante, there were several sponsors of the assassination, who may not have been aware of each other. The Kennedys had certainly made enemies of Castro, Hoffa, Trafficante and Marcello. It is not unreasonable to postulate that his enemies converged to effectuate his murder. This is the theory of Michael Kurtz (and it was my own theory even before I read Kurtz's book). But re Matt's comment that it would be "hilarious" to see how Ruby was working for Castro, it is not hilarious at all. "Ultimate Sacrifice" argues quite persuasively that in the late fifties Ruby was "gun-running" for Castro, and that Ruby may have used his influence with the Castro regime to negotiate Trafficante's release from Trescornia. (In "Mob Lawyer" Ragano states that Trafficante told him that he (Trafficante, that is, had negotiated a deal with Raul Castro to secure his release.) Tim, Interesting stuff (and from Gerry about Molina). I still don't think your theory is plausible, though. You've asserted that Trafficante had suspicious links but he's a gangster--all his links are suspicious. And the claim that Ruby worked for Trafficante is one I dispute. There's evidence his real boss was Meyer Lansky, ie, Ruby was Jewish, like Lansky. The way I see it the Mafia, whether Sicilian or Jewish, wanted to see the end of Castro--they wouldn't be assassinating Presidents for him. If they did, then why have the media continued to cover it up all these long years later when all the reasons LBJ cited for the coverup are long redundant? The media covering up for the mafia and Castro--42 years later? Finally we agree on something--the ethics of the mainstream media. You're becoming a bit of a left winger, Tim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dolva Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 (edited) There are indications that command recognised the 'communists did it' and any threats thereof as bogus very early on and that the so called LBJ justifications are just as bogus. a recollection from a force member in germany 24'th at the time: "My period was an interesting time and encompassed the Berlin Wall Crisis, the Cuban Missle Crisis, and Kennedy's assasanation. The Kennedy matter initially prompted a full blown alert, but quickly cooled down. The Berlin Wall was by and large "a fait accomplie" at the inception of my stay with major "breaks" having been quickly repaired. The Cuban crisis from beginning to end was a "wooley bugger". Everything was locked and loaded, work hours were dramatically extended, dummy heads were schucked for the real McCoys, and dependents together with knowledgeable local cognoscenti hooked it as far away from the "Fulda Gap" with all the gas they could get their hands on, including milk cartons and snap caps. I suppose semi "witch hunts" prompted in no small part by the misbehavior of some of our British cousins should be mentioned." Edited January 13, 2006 by John Dolva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Gerry, great post. But the HSCA spelled the detention center as I did: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/jfkinfo2/jfk5/traff.htm Mark wrote: You're becoming a bit of a left winger, Tim. Must be the company I keep! That's company with a small "c"!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Gratz Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 Gerry was right about the spelling of Triscornia. He informs me it was named after a famous Italian artist, Paolo Triscornia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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