Word: mafia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...well known that when the CIA had dirty work to do in Cuba, it turned to an organization that had long tentacles around that country: the Mafia. In 1961 the CIA, according to reliable sources, put out a contract to Mafia Leaders Sam Giancana and John Roselli for the assassination of Fidel Castro (TIME, March 17). In a separate and equally futile action, TIME has learned, the CIA enlisted other Mafia figures to do some spying in Cuba in preparation for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion...
...three men controlled a race track and a huge gambling casino near Havana. When Castro took power, he banished the three. The trio left behind $450,000, which they asked friends to hold for them. The money, the take from the casino's last days, belonged to Mafia clans in New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh...
...reckoned that Bufalino, Plumeri and Granello would be anxious to get even with Castro. The agency asked the three to use their contacts in Cuba to assess the chances that an invasion would set off a popular uprising against Castro. The CIA also assigned the Mafia to pinpoint the roads that Castro might use to deploy troops and tanks in meeting attacking forces. Bufalino, Plumeri and Granello ordered their old contacts on the island to set up a small network of spies and authorized part of the $450,000 to be used for paying them...
...power by any means the agency could devise. Two obvious possibilities: fomenting political upheaval or plotting an assassination. Similarly, the State Department and possibly the FBI and the Pentagon were told that ways should be found to get rid of Castro. The CIA did work with two U.S. Mafia leaders, Sam Giancana and John Roselli, in unsuccessful attempts to kill the Cuban leader...
...also gets information from O'Neill's office that has not appeared elsewhere in print. When Jeb Magruder went to prison in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he had a special chore set out for him. One of Allenwood's better-known prisoners is Cornelius Gallagher, a former New Jersey congressman with Mafia connections. Gallagher and Magruder became tennis partners (Allenwood has tennis courts) until Gallagher discovered that Magruder's task was to find out from him whether Rodino had any skeletons in his closet. Gallagher remained silent, although he realized subsequently that he was going to do maximum time unless he would...