Havana Conference
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The Havana Conference of 1946 was a historic meeting of
Background
The conference took place at the
After the war ended, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey agreed to Luciano's pardon on the condition that he never be allowed back into the U.S. In February 1946, after a lavish farewell party on the ocean liner, Luciano sailed back to Italy. He first settled in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, then moved to Palermo, Naples, and Rome. After being forced out of Rome by Italian police, he finally settled in Naples and immediately started planning a return to the United States.
In early fall 1946, Luciano received a sealed envelope from a recently deported U.S. mafioso, which contained three words, "December-Hotel Nacional." In late September, Luciano obtained two Italian
In late October, Luciano traveled from Italy to Caracas, Venezuela, Mexico City, and finally Havana. Lansky greeted his old friend on his arrival in Cuba. Following Luciano's orders, Lansky had organized a conference in Havana the week of December 22 of crime bosses from all over the United States. Lansky quickly suggested that Luciano purchase a $150,000 interest in the Hotel Nacional, a plush casino and hotel owned by Lansky and his silent partner, Cuban president Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar. Luciano agreed and the Havana Conference was set.
In December 1946, the Havana Conference started as planned. To welcome Luciano back from exile and acknowledge his continued authority within the mob, all the conference invitees brought Luciano cash envelopes. These "Christmas Presents" totalled more than $200,000. At the first night dinner hosted by Lansky, Frank Costello, and Joe Adonis, Luciano was presented with the money. The official cover story for the Havana Conference was that the mobsters were attending a gala party with Frank Sinatra as the entertainment. Sinatra flew to Havana with Al Capone cousins, Charlie, Rocco, and Joseph Fischetti from Chicago. Joseph "Joe Fish" Fischetti, an old Sinatra acquaintance, acted as Sinatra's chaperone and bodyguard. Charlie and Rocco Fischetti delivered a suitcase containing $2 million to Luciano, his share of the U.S. rackets he still controlled.
The most pressing items on the conference agenda were the leadership and authority within the New York mafia, the mob-controlled Havana casino interests, the narcotics operations, and the West Coast operations of
The conference begins
The Havana Conference convened on December 20, 1946.
Luciano opened the Havana Conference by discussing a topic that would greatly affect his authority within the American Mafia; the position of
Luciano could easily have declared himself as Maranzano's heir in 1932; instead, he decided to exercise control behind the scenes. This arrangement had worked until Vito Genovese's return from Italy. Officially, Genovese was now just a
At the conference, Luciano allegedly presented the motion to retain his position as the top boss in La Cosa Nostra. Then Luciano ally, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia seconded the motion. Anastasia voted with Luciano because he felt threatened by Genovese's attempts to muscle in on his waterfront rackets. Checkmated by the Luciano-Costello-Anastasia alliance, Genovese was forced to swallow his ambitions and plan for the future. To further embarrass Genovese, Luciano encouraged Anastasia and Genovese to settle their differences and shake hands in front of the other bosses. This symbolic gesture was meant to prevent another bloody gang war such as the Castellammarese War of 1930–1931. With Luciano solidifying his personal position and squashing Genovese's ambition for now, Luciano brought up discussion of the mob's narcotics operations in the United States.
Narcotics trade
One of the key topics at the Havana Convention was the global narcotics trade and the mob's operations in the United States. A longstanding myth has been the supposed refusal of Luciano and Cosa Nostra to deal in narcotics. In reality, only a few bosses such as Frank Costello and the other bosses who controlled lucrative gambling empires opposed narcotics. The anti-drug faction believed that Cosa Nostra did not need narcotics profits, that narcotics brought unwanted law enforcement and media attention, and that the general public considered it to be a very harmful activity (unlike gambling). The pro-drug faction said that narcotics were far more profitable than any other illegal activity. Furthermore, if Cosa Nostra ignored the drug trade, other criminal organizations would jump in and eventually diminish Cosa Nostra's power and influence.
Luciano himself had a long involvement in the drug trade, starting as a small time street dealer in the late 1910s. In 1928, after the murder of
With Luciano's deportation to Italy, he now had the opportunity to import heroin from North Africa via Italy and Cuba into the US and Canada. Luciano made connections with Sicily's biggest bosses such as Don Calogero "Calo" Vizzini of Villalba who assisted the Allies' invasion of Sicily and had the greatest political connections of all the Sicilian bosses. Also, Don Pasquale Ania, a powerful boss in Palermo who had connections to legitimate pharmaceutical companies because large-scale heroin manufacturing in Italy was legal at the time.
During the Havana Conference, Luciano detailed the proposed drugs network to the bosses. After arriving in Cuba from North Africa, the mob would ship the narcotics to US ports that it controlled, primarily New York City, New Orleans, and Tampa. The narcotics shipped to the New York docks would be overseen by the
Luciano built a massive drug organization spanning Italy and America. One of Luciano's narcotics lieutenants in
Long time Luciano ally
Other Luciano lieutenants working mainland Italy included American deportees, Frank Barone and Giuseppe Arena in Rome, Frank Pirico, Frank Saverino and Giovanni Maugeri in
.At first the Mafia's operation was one of many individual operations connected or affiliated to the French-Corsican Mob or Unione Corse's famous "French Connection" heroin distribution ring. By the late 1950s the Sicilians and Americans organized a joint U.S. and Sicilian La Cosa Nostra narcotics operation that would eventually grow into one of the largest global narcotics operations ever. This famous joint U.S.-Sicilian operation came to be known as the Pizza Connection and was cemented between the two mafia organizations at the famous mafia summit held at the Grand Hotel des Palmes in Palermo, Sicily in October, 1957.
Salvatore and Ugo Caneba assisted Luciano and were the overseers of the famous heroin operation they controlled from mainland Italy to the United States, the Caneba Network which supplied high grade pharmaceutical quality heroin. Luciano's narcotics network was big and complex and he had many of his old, deported former U.S. allies to help him run his empire throughout the late 1940s. The main drug imported by Luciano's network at the time was heroin and the main sources were French underworld clans that made up the core of the Unione Corse Syndicate, or French Mob. The Corsican Clan was headed by powerful bosses Antoine D'Agostino, Jean Baptiste Croce, and Paul Mondolini, while the Marseilles Clan was made up of four groups. These four powerful groups included brothers Antoine and Barthelemy "Meme" Guerini, brothers Dominique and Jean Venturi, brothers Marcel, Xavier and Jean Francisci, and Joseph Orsini. Auguste Joseph Ricord was another boss that became part of the Unione Corse in the 1960s-70s. These two clans ruled the French underworld from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, supplying Luciano and his mafia allies with large amounts of heroin until the heroin ring known as the French Connection started to crumble in 1972 with the arrest of one of its biggest bosses, Auguste Joseph Ricord.
The Luciano narcotics empire continued to grow and prosper with the help of his U.S. associates. Many of Luciano's partners in the narcotics empire were Havana Conference delegates such as
The Siegel Situation
The next item on the agenda at the Havana Conference was what Lansky called the "Siegel Situation". In the mid-1930s, the New York and Chicago crime families had been sent west to establish and oversee a race wire service, gambling activities in Los Angeles and
The Flamingo Hotel was the creation of
The Flamingo project immediately ran into problems. Siegel appointed his girlfriend Virginia Hill as a project overseer. As a result, contractors were stealing from Siegel. They would sell him materials one day, then steal them from the building site at night, then resell them to him the next day.[citation needed] The Flamingo project was also impacted by the rising cost of materials and labor from the post World War II building boom. The bottom line was that a project projected to cost $1.5 million would eventually reach $6 million.
To make matters worse, the bosses suspected Siegel and Hill of stealing project money. Lansky and the bosses had discovered that Hill was taking frequent trips to Zürich, Switzerland and depositing money in a bank account. They suspected that Siegel was skimming money and might flee the country if the Flamingo failed.
Following a discussion, the delegates voted to execute Siegel. The delegates assigned Chicago Outfit consigliere, Charles "Trigger Happy" Fischetti to oversee the contract. The actual hit would be given to Jack Dragna, the Los Angeles crime family boss. Dragna, who despised Siegel, then gave the contract to Mob hitman, John "Frankie" Carbo, a Lucchese crime family soldier.
At the last moment Siegel got a reprieve. The partly completed Flamingo was scheduled to open December 26. Longtime Siegel friend Lansky convinced the delegates to see how the hotel did in its opening. The delegates agreed, and then took a break for Christmas Day. The delegates soon learned that the Flamingo opening night was a flop. The enraged mobsters demanded Siegel's head. Lansky again convinced them to wait. He argued that Siegel could still save the casino and make money.
After two weeks, the Flamingo closed to resume construction. The completed hotel opened a few months later. The Flamingo started making a small profit, but the Mafia investors had finally lost patience with Siegel. On June 20, 1947, Siegel was home alone at Hill's mansion in Los Angeles reading a newspaper by a living room window. A gunman with a military M-1 carbine rose up from the bushes and fired four shots into the room. Siegel was hit twice in the head and twice in the torso and died instantly.
Lucky and Don Vito
At the end of the Havana Conference, the tension between Luciano and Genovese allegedly reached a boiling point, according to "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano", by Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer.
Meeting with Luciano in his room at the Hotel Nacional, Genovese told him that the U.S. government knew that Luciano was in Cuba and was pressuring the Cuban Government to expel him. Since Luciano was going to have to return to Italy, he should turn over leadership of the Luciano Family to Genovese and retire.
Positive that Genovese had tipped off the US government to his presence in Cuba, Luciano finally snapped. He proceeded to beat Genovese and eventually broke three of his ribs; it was three days before Vito could travel again. When Genovese felt better, Luciano and Anastasia put him on a plane to the States. Luciano also threatened to kill Genovese if he ever mentioned this incident to anyone.
In February 1947, the New York City papers got wind of the fact that Luciano was in Cuba. U.S. drug agent
Lucky Luciano died on January 26, 1962, of a heart attack at the Naples, Italy airport while picking up movie producer Martin Gosch.
Martin Gosch had helped Luciano write an autobiographical screenplay, but the Mafia Commission wouldn't allow the film to be made. Gosch along with Richard Hammer used the screenplay to write the book "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano" in 1975.
Luciano's longtime associate and eventual nemesis, Vito Genovese, died a natural death in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1969. Luciano and Genovese are buried 100 feet from each other in the same cemetery in New York.
Havana Conference attendees
List of the organized crime figures who attended the Havana Conference on December 20, 1946 at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba.
Hosts
- Charlie "Lucky" Luciano,[1] former Luciano family boss, former chairman, founder and member of the Commission. Luciano was living in Naples, Italy. After the meeting he was named United States’ boss of bosses.
- Meyer "The Little Man" Lansky,[1] Jewish Syndicate boss, a top financial and gambling operations advisor for the Italian mafia in America and casino operations front man (Las Vegas, Cuba, Bahamas).
New York-New Jersey delegation
- Frank "The Prime Minister" Costello, Luciano family boss, Commission member.
- Gaurino "Willie Moore" Moretti, Luciano family underboss.
- Salvatore “The Pope” Pellegrino, Luciano family consigliere and future front boss.
- Vito "Don Vito" Genovese, Luciano family caporegime and future boss.
- Giuseppe "Joe Adonis" Doto, Luciano family caporegime.
- Anthony "Little Augie Pisano" Carfano, Luciano family caporegime.
- Michele "Big Mike" Miranda, Luciano family caporegime and future consigliere.
- Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Mangano family underboss and future boss.
- Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Bonanno family boss, charter Commission member.
- Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese, Gagliano family underboss and future boss.
- Giuseppe "The Old Man" Profaci, Profaci family boss, charter Commission member.
- Giuseppe "Fat Joe" Magliocco, Profaci family underboss.
Chicago delegation
- Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Chicago Outfit boss, Commission member.
- Charles "Trigger Happy" Fischetti, Chicago Outfit consigliere.
- Sam Giancana, Chicago Outfit front boss.
Buffalo delegation
- Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, Buffalo family boss, charter Commission member.
New Orleans delegation
- Carlos "Little Man" Marcello, New Orleans family boss (some mob historians[who?] dispute his position at this time).
Tampa delegation
- Santo "Louie Santos" Trafficante Jr., Tampa family caporegime, moved to Havana in 1946 to oversee La Cosa Nostra and Tampa family casino and business interests, future Tampa family boss.
Jewish Syndicate delegation
- Abner "Longy" Zwillman, New Jersey Jewish Syndicate boss, National Syndicate Commission member.
- Morris "Moe" Dalitz, Cleveland Jewish Syndicate boss, casino front man (Desert Inn, Las Vegas)
- Joseph "Doc" Stacher, New Jersey Jewish Syndicate boss, casino front man (Sands Hotel, Las Vegas)
- Philip "Dandy Phil" Kastel, Jewish Syndicate boss, Frank Costello's Louisiana slots operations and Tropicana Casino, Las Vegas partner.
Entertainment
Sidenote
While Luciano knew that Vito Genovese had tipped off the U.S. government to his whereabouts in Cuba, he did not live to learn that it was "Joe Bananas" Bonanno who revealed to New York City newspapers as to Luciano's whereabouts in Cuba in February 1947. Joseph Bonanno was a respected and feared Don, who was ruthless, ambitious and had aspired to being crowned
In popular culture
The film The Godfather Part II has an homage to the Havana Conference when Michael Corleone travels to Havana to have a meeting with several other mob bosses. Bugsy also has the climatic debate and decision on whether to and when to execute Bugsy Siegel set at the Hotel Nacional.
References
- ^ a b c d "HAVANA CONFERENCE: DECEMBER 20, 1946". Mob Museum. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
- Cook, Fred. Mafia. Fawcett Gold Medal, 1973.
- Gage, Nicholas. Mafia U.S.A. Dell Publishing Company, 1972.
- Gosch, Martin. & Hammer, Richard. The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. Dell Publishing Company, 1974.
- Hammer, Richard. Playboy's Illustrated History of Organized Crime. Playboy Press, 1975.
- Maclean, Don. Pictorial History of the Mafia. Pyramid Books, 1974.
- Reid, Ed. Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Syndicate. Random House, 1954.
- Repetto, Thomas. The American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. Henry Holt & Company, 2004.
- Roemer, William. War of the Godfathers. Ivy Books, 1990.
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia (2nd edition). Checkmark Books, 1999.
- Sondern Jr., Frederic. Brotherhood of Evil: The Mafia. Manor Books, 1972.
External links
- CrimeMagazine: Havana Conference – 1946 by Allan May