Word: giancana
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...began to discover new potentials in the granting of immunity. Instead of being used as a dispensation to petty hoodlums in the hope of getting them to testify against their leaders, it could be used against the leaders themselves. Immunity was forced, for example, on Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana, against whom it had been impossible to get any criminal conviction. When Giancana still refused to talk to a grand jury, he had to spend a year in prison for contempt until the grand jury expired...
Then there was the curious case in 1960 of the gangster's girl friend. Under a deal that was never fully explained, the CIA got information about Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba from Sam ("Momo") Giancana, then boss of the Chicago Mafia. Memo's girl friend was Phyllis McGuire of the singing sisters, and he wanted to chase off a rival, a well-known comedian. Sam's strategy was to convince Phyllis that the rival was a philanderer. The co median returned to his Las Vegas hotel suite one night to discover two private detectives...
Doghouse. More than ten years ago Sinatra devoted time and talent to the Jack Kennedy campaign, and he was a guest at Kennedy's Inauguration. But in October 1961, Sinatra's name turned up on an FBI tape of a conversation between Chicago Mafioso Salvatore Giancana and a friend. Giancana indicated that he was trying to use Sinatra as a link to Attorney General Robert Kennedy. It was a doomed effort. Sinatra went to the Kennedy doghouse...
...cultivated unrivaled sources on both sides of the law. Smith also became known for the unorthodox tactics he used in his dogged pursuit of the Mob, which included crashing gangland soirees. When Smith showed up uninvited at a $20,000 wedding reception for the daughter of Sam ("Mooney") Giancana, the reputed Mafia chieftain pleaded for privacy. "Look at that kid," said Giancana, pointing to his new son-in-law. "Now everybody is going to hook him up with me. No one will hire him. I'll have to give him a .45 and put him to work...
...likely to employ the sadistic methods that Cosa Nostra still finds useful. Despite the more businesslike image of the younger gang leaders, many mobsters are still animals in fedoras. If Sam Giancana moves, as he has, with Frank Sinatra on one level, his henchmen move on another. One of the most chilling conversations that the FBI has overheard involved two of Giancana's hoods telling a third, "Jackie," about the murder of one of their colleagues, a 350-pounder by the name of William Jackson...