But he was also the most powerful crime boss in pre-Castro Cuba, with influence that extended into Florida and the rest of the United States. A native and lifelong resident of Tampa, Mr. Traffi-cante is survived by his loving family, wife, Geraldine "Gerry" L. Trafficante; sons, Dino Jose and Joseph Frank Trafficante; daughters,. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Florida Meet Santo Trafficante: The Silent Don Who Tried To Kill Fidel Castro And May Have Ordered JFKs Assassination. [20], In 2005, Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann's book Ultimate Sacrifice said that Trafficante was behind an aborted plot to kill Kennedy in Tampa on November 18, 1963. Our deepest condolences to the Trafficante family. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. The other guys are two doctors, who say they'll testify if they're summoned to court. Most mornings Trafficante spends a few hours at his modest wholesale automobile lot at the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and W Broad Street. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to advance the public understanding of organized crime's history and impact on American society. Verify and try again. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Seven people were murdered. According to the account of Judith Exner, however, one of JFKs many mistresses, it was she who introduced Kennedy to Chicago boss Giancana. Join us for this one-of-a-kind walking tour of Tampa's most storied neighborhood. U.S. Treasury Department documents indicate that law enforcement believed Trafficante's legitimate business interests to include several legal casinos in Cuba; a Havana drive-in movie theater; and shares in several restaurants and bars in Trafficante's hometown of Tampa, Florida. However, LoScalzo was nonetheless able to expand the families criminal reach into new locations across Florida, and took advantage of alliances with other Mafia families to ensure the mob maintained its hold on criminal activities. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.. Share to let others add their own memories and condolences. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. One small gang, led by Italian immigrant Santo Trafficante Senior, profited from the illegal lottery-style games they ran across Tampa. Santo Jr.'s daughters still owns 3610, where Santo spent time when he wasn't in Tampa or Miami. [5] Passing before her were her parents Antonino and Sarafina Marchese; her beloved husband Santo Trafficante Jr.; her son-in-laws Augie Paniello and Richard Valdes; and her brothers, Bennie Marchese, Tommy Marchese, and Peter Marchese. [15], Ragano also claimed that Trafficante, four days prior to his death, delivered a deathbed confession which suggested that Marcello was meant to assassinate Robert F. Kennedy instead of his brother, the President. When you start talking about organized crime, things can get dicey. But before Trafficante testified, someone conveniently killed Roselli. He died of natural causes, at the age of 72, in Houston, Texas. Fifteen years following the assassination, Trafficante testified in front of the United States House Select Committee on the murder of JFK in exchange for immunity. "If my uncle knew I was talking to the press, Christ, he'd shoot me," Trafficante says, half-laughing. His business ventures have not always been successful. In the meantime, the allegation that he is a mobster has dogged him and his family. Chronicles of Events and Biographies Related to the American Mafia. Shop eBooks and audiobooks at Rakuten Kobo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Santo Trafficante grew up in the Florida underworld, working his father's gambling rackets and getting experience in the business. Peter Moruzzi/Wikimedia Commons The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. She touched all who knew her, and upon meeting her, she would embrace you, and you would instantly become part of the family. But the mobster tag has outlasted the case itself. Now he owns a 210-acre orange grove in southern Hillsborough. He owned and operated some of the most lavish casinos in pre-Castro Cuba. "I still don't think I did anything wrong," Trafficante says. I hold such fond memories of Santo & Gerry when I was growing up. The wiretap evidence has been thrown out of court. She lived an exciting life dividing her time between her multiple family members and friends in Tampa, Miami and Havana. In the 1950s, Tampas reputation for corruption and vice was so bad it prompted one national magazine to label the area the Hell Hole of the Gulf Coast. Given such negativity, who can blame people for just wanting to forget? THE HIT THAT EXPOSED SOME OF TAMPAS ELITE. Trafficante scrambled out the passenger-side door. He worked to expand the crime familys business holding and territory he was particularly interested in Cuba as a location for gambling, hotels and night clubs and worked to cement good ties with his fellow mobsters in. "My kids suffered a lot by it," he says. Love and peace to you all. Santo Trafficante Sr. was a Florida mobster who survived a series of vicious gang wars to become the leader of a powerful Mafia crime family based in Tampa. Help tell the story of your loved ones unique life. Please try again later. His son, Santo Trafficante Jr., took over the crime family and became tangled in a web of conspiracies to kill the leader of revolutionary Cuba and, it is rumored, President John F. Kennedy. The beachfront properties were the site of many parties and barbecues. ". "Sam Gold" was Sam Giancana; "Joe" was Trafficante. The "Family Jewels" confirmed that in September 1960, the CIA recruited ex-FBI agent Robert Maheu to approach the West Coast representative of the Chicago mob, Johnny Roselli. When his father died in 1954 he took control of these establishments. After a violent mob war left several of Trafficantes rivals dead or weakened, his gang rapidly rose to prominence in Tampa. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Plant a tree to honor the memory of your loved one. The people of Tampa, especially the ones still around to remember those days still feel a duty of sorts to keep quite of these things, as if these people are still amongst us and can hear our chatter. Forget everything you think you know about Tampa mafia wives and girlfriends in the 1950s. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Send a note, share a story or upload a photo. I will never forget him as a fellow stroke survivor. Fine food, and lots of it. But the news was not good on the Key Bank front. In the early 20th Century, Tampa was a small but growing city, and the organized crime it faced was modest. However, while the Latin American drug trade has figured prominently in the sunshine states less savory history, so has the Mafia. wills o' nats last of the summer wine. Upon his return to the United States, he became determined to bring down the man who ended his empire. Zeng8r/Wikimedia Common A set of bolita balls. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. [22], sfn error: no target: CITEREFDouglass2010 (, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 15:02, United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, "With Santo Trafficante, an era is ending", "SANTO TRAFFICANTE, REPUTED MAFIA CHIEF, DIES AT 72", "Why mob bigs who met to crown a king had to run like roaches", "For Sale, a House WithAcreage.Connections Extra;Site of 1957 Gangland Raid Is Part of Auction on Saturday", "20 Apalachin Convictions Ruled Invalid On Appeal", "Narcotic Traffic Called Topic In Apalachin Talks", Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, Subject: Roselli, Johnny, "Witness denies assassination, Cuba tied", "Mafia Linked In JFK Probe; By Cuban Exile", "Hoffa Lawyer: Jimmy Recruited Mob for JFK Hit", "Lawyer Says Hoffa Told 2 Mob Bosses to Have President Kennedy Killed", "Frank Ragano, 75, Lawyer for Mob and Hoffa", "The Sins of the Godfather? The report was given to the District Attorney's office. Drag images here or select from your computer for Santo Trafficante Jr. memorial. James Anthony Traficant Jr. (May 8, 1941 - September 27, 2014) was an American politician who served as a Democrat, and later independent, member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio.He represented the 17th Congressional District, which centered on his hometown of Youngstown and included parts of three counties in northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley. Our heartfelt condolences go out to your family. Authorities also said he urged former bank vice president Michael Pupello to impersonate him in calls to federal bank regulators. Santo Trafficante Jr Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 - March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. That horse won $161,080 for its new owners, according to the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders Association. At 76,. based on information from your browser. The investigators were looking for proof of drug-money laundering. Trafficante was a ruthless mob boss, and quickly consolidated control over the criminal networks in Tampa. While shouldering the legacy of his father and. love gloria "owens" hill. The Trafficante Family Under Santo Junior . Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. He walked outside and got into a 1951 Mercury sedan driven by one of his associates. He will always be remembered with fondness. I have thought of you and Santo many times over the past 50 years. And despite relatively small time beginnings, Trafficante proved to be a shrewd mobster. Mrs. Gerry, Gina, Dino, Joe and Marisa - they broke the mold with Traff. The seeds for Trafficantes most interesting historical chapter were planted, as the mobster would go on to have a well-established relationship with the CIA in an ongoing effort to assassinate Castro. While the plot never came to fruition, Trafficante later testified that he did help the CIA recruit other mobsters for the surreal plot. Please reset your password. Pupello determined that his diabetic patient's arteries were healthy. More troubling for Trafficante was a court document that listed him for the first time as "a member of the Trafficante crime family.". He headed the Trafficante crime family from 1954 to 1987 and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante Sr. He is hardly the "Dapper Don." Born in Tampa, Florida to Sicilian parents Mafia don Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his wife Maria Giuseppa Cacciatore. After his father died in 1954, he became the head in Tampa and took over his fathers interests in Cuba. By December 1953, one more rival was dead and another was too scared to even venture out of his home. Santo Trafficante Senior died in 1954. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current, U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1823-1982, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. [14], After a grant of immunity from prosecution, Trafficante testified before the HSCA the following day, September 28, and denied the allegation that he told Aleman that "Kennedy was going to be hit. TAMPA The daughter sits on the front porch of a little bungalow in Seminole Heights, her new home since her husband died a few months ago down south. cemeteries found in Ybor City, Hillsborough County, Florida, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. He grimaces at the thought that the rumor has persisted so long. He was known as an organized crimes figure. Trafficante tried to win Castro over to his side, but that didnt work. She was predeceased in death, by other loving family members. Dr. Dennis Pupello was looking for heart disease, brought on by his overweight and diabetic patient's "voracious eating.". That arrest also led Cuban authorities to become warier of the mobster, especially as the political tides seemed to be turning there. His abiding passion is food. As a leading member of the syndicate, he also was suspected of having behind-the-scenes interests in other syndicate-owned Cuban casinos: the Hotel Habana Riviera, the Tropicana Club, the Sevilla-Biltmore, the Capri Hotel Casino, the Commodoro, the Deauville, and the Havana Hilton. [1] Trafficante maintained several residences in New York City and Florida. F. Kennedy not only failed to deliver on his promise to the mob but also actually put the Mafia under increasing pressure. He escaped conviction all but once, receiving a five-year sentence for bribery in 1954, but his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court before he entered prison. "Banks are my greatest enemy. Trafficante was born in Tampa, Florida, to Sicilian parents Santo Trafficante Sr. and his wife Maria Giuseppa Cacciatore in 1914. In addition, "on January 23, 1958 the Cuban Department of Investigation, Havana, Cuba notified the Bureau of Narcotics that Santo Trafficante was registered in their Alien Office under No. Robert F. Kennedy even taunted those mobsters he brought into court, telling Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana that I thought only little girls giggled, Mr. Giancana.. Organized Crime Figure. In 1950, the aging Trafficante Sr. began to slow down. The idea behind the assassination wasnt just to punish JFK but also to get his brother off the Mobs back. After a violent mob war left several of Trafficantes rivals dead or weakened, his gang rapidly rose to prominence in Tampa. Trafficante had now not only lost an ally but a significant portion of his income as his casinos were closed by the Marxist revolutionary. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. The glamorous casino in the Hotel Nacional De Cuba in Havana in 1958. Please check your email for further instructions. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. "My wife's got money. His son was turned away from a date's house and his daughter has been refused jobs. [5][6] Cuba was one of the Apalachin topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on the island. Try again. Learn more about managing a memorial . [3] His wife, Josephine, died in 2015 at the age of 95; he is survived by two of his daughters. Husband of Private [21], Trafficante was summoned to court in 1986 and questioned about his involvement with the King's Court Bottle Club operated by members of the Bonanno crime family, including undercover FBI agent Joseph D. "Joe" Pistone, a.k.a. Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "I was going to ask him to come over and try our beignets to see how they compare to the Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans," Alessi says. He convicted infamous criminal labor union head, Jimmy Hoffa. He was married to his wife for 49 years. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. He will be sorely missed and his heart of gold will be remembered by all who new him. Trafficantes father was the lucky survivor of what was called the Era of Blood, when rival gangs based in Tampa fought for control of Prohibition-era nightclubs and, crucially, the local numbers rackets called bolitas. Battling Mob rivals in South Florida essentially weakened each other financially and, through murder, the number of available soldiers. By Santo III's own estimation, this was a wise move. Welcome to Boxer Cycle Works. Please check your entries and try again. [18] According to Ragano, he met Hoffa at the Teamsters' headquarters in Washington, DC, then delivered the message to Trafficante and Marcello in a meeting at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans. A A. At Boxer Cycle Works. She was a wonderful cook, and she loved to crochet and travel with her husband, but she lived her life for her family. Santo Trafficante Jr. was a reserved, modest man married to the same woman for 49 years. One bank filed suit in November against him and a business partner, alleging that they defaulted on an $85,000 loan for a piece of property. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. He was the lynchpin in Tampa Charlie Wall The Kefauver hearings arrived in Tampa in December of 1950. RIP Santo. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. The Trafficante Family Under Santo Junior. In 1946, Santo Sr. sent his son, already a family underboss, to Cuba to invest in the growing number of nightclubs and casinos in the island nation. From bolitaan illegal version of the now-legal Florida lotteryto narcotics, Tampas experience with organized crime is as notable as Chicagos or New Yorks. Batista let Trafficante and other mobsters build as many casinos and hotels as they wanted in exchange for a cash kickback. 0 cemeteries found in Ybor City, Hillsborough County, Florida, USA. At 7:25 p.m. on January 3, 1953, Florida Mafia boss Santo Trafficante Jr. had just finished dinner with his wife and children at his father-in-laws house in the Ybor City section of Tampa, Florida. Santo Trafficante Jr, was born on November 15, 1914 in Tampa, Florida and followed in the footsteps of his father, Santo Trafficante Sr, into a life of organized crime. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53540265/santo-trafficante. When Fidel Castro began his ascent to power in the 1950s, Santo Trafficante feared the radical Marxist revolutionary wouldnt cooperate with him. She was an amazing daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and friend. However, by the late 1920s, facing little pressure, Sicilian gangsters began setting up lucrative gambling and narcotics rackets. While he had several close calls with law enforcement including the famed FBI Donnie Brasco investigation he never spent a single day of his life in jail. He was right, and when Castro took power in 1959, Trafficantes burgeoning gambling-and-drugs empire went under siege. She misses him, but she's making do. "They wouldn't even let me go to the track. "I thought all this would end when my uncle died. Trafficante was jailed and deported when Fidel Castro rose to power, leading him to spend a good portion of his adult life hatching a plan of revenge. He headed the . He offered to pay $150,000 to have Castro killed, but Roselli declined any pay and introduced Maheu to two men he referred to as "Sam Gold" and "Joe." "The Mob? His uncle, the late Santo Trafficante Jr., was reputed to have been the boss of the local Mafia. The mobster would later testify: I got news that Cuban officials were looking for to put me in jail because one of the things was that I was a Batista collaborator. Anthony Accardo & Santo Trafficante Jr - Labor Union Kickbacks (1977- 1981)https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/05/us/16-indicted-over-union-fund-use.htmlCredit:. But then came Key Bank, a massive drug-money-laundering investigation. He was rumored to be part of a Mafia syndicate which owned many Cuban hotels and casinos. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. I am sorry I am unable to attend the services due to a illness. Your entry has exceeded the maximum character limit. The Shore Acres home is 2,350-square-feet with 10 rooms that Capone reputedly built in 1925 for his mother. "I think it's all bull----," says Trafficante's former horse trainer, Arthur Pedregal Jr. "It's only because his name is Trafficante. Getting in bed with Trafficante and other leading members of Americas organized crime seems like a strange thing to do for the CIA. As such, Trafficante Sr. controlled gambling rackets for bolita, a lottery game popular in Florida and Cuba, until 1940 when the murder of Tampa boss Ignacio Antinori pushed the Trafficantes to assume ultimate power in the Florida underworld. Nicknames: The Silent Don My ex-wife Erline Lazzara was a childhood friend you might remember. The Internal Revenue Service tried to collect $400,000 in back taxes owed on the business, saying it had not been run as business eligible for tax write-offs, but a hobby. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Trafficantes partnership with Batista was profitable for both parties and so the mobsters fate became inextricably tied to that of Cubas political climate. I laughed _ until I realized it was a total f------ disaster," Trafficante says. But according to declassified documents released in 1992, Santo Trafficante Jr. made a deathbed confession of his involvement in the Presidents murder. However the meeting came to be, the mob nonetheless brought influential states like Illinois into the Kennedy fold in exchange for the White House going easy on organized crime. After months of wiretapped phone conversations, investigators seized boxloads of documents, some with Trafficante's name on them. Josephine Marchese Trafficante He is currently working on his seventh book, The Jersey Mob., Feedback or questions? Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. My aim is to provide you with the best Service experience for you and your motorcycle. He maintained all of the lucrative casinos in Cuba, further cemented, After Cuban revolution, the Mafia saw Castro as a threat to their business. "Now when I walk in a bank," Trafficante says, "the president runs out the back door.". [2] Trafficante Jr. would frequently meet with Lucchese in New York City for dinner.[2]. The other case was a RICO indictment for insurance fraud. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Gerry and your family. "[19] In his book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Vincent Bugliosi has claimed there to be many flaws in Ragano's claims, including his own claim that Trafficante was most likely not in Tampa on the day in question, but was rather in North Miami Beach, Florida, receiving dialysis treatments. prosecution, fled temporarily to Cuba. THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF TAMPA'S UNDERWORLD IS OFTEN INTERTWINED WITH SOME OF Something went wrong. A car registered to former state attorney and current state appellate judge E.J. This site is provided as a service of SCI Shared Resources, LLC. It was all on the up and up. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. All Rights Reserved. He drove standard cars, lived in regular houses in quiet places, was married to the same woman, and generally described as a quiet man. Interestingly, Trafficante who was worth about $25 billion at his height in the 80s lived a fairly reserved, modest lifestyle. Santos married Josephine Marchese in 1938, they would have two daughters. He has thought about it. Trafficante's appetite and his legal woes seem linked like the strands of a cruller. You'll learn about bolita, the rumored tunnels of Ybor, and the Era of Blood.Join us for this one-of-a-kind walking tour of Tampa's most storied neighborhood. Learn more about merges. When the CIA decided to recruit the Mob in their efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro, they went to see Trafficante. Finally, after the infamous failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the CIA gave up on their attempts to kill the Cuban dictator and thus Trafficantes attempts at revenge never materialized. In the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy family patriarch Joe Kennedy Sr. used his ties to organized crime to secure votes for his son, John F. Kennedy. They never returned. To add further credence to this theory of JFKs assassination, famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (who also wrote the infamous true crime novel on the Manson Family, Helter Skelter), who penned Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, quoted a witness who said that New Orleans boss Marcello had quipped: The dog [JFK] will keep biting you if you only cut off its tail [RFK]., The final piece of evidence for the theory that Santo Trafficante was involved in JFKs assassination was a witness who reported that the mobster had once said himself that JFK not going to make it to the [1964] election.

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