the
city once and for all. Though their names stayed out of the investiga-
tion, Trafficante and Marcello had suffered a rare setback and would not
repeat the same mistake.
The error was corrected when the president of Guatemala, Castillo
Armas, was assassinated in 1957, at a time when Johnny Rosselli was
very active in the country and Marcello was developing his extensive
ties to Guatemala and to Rosselli. Guatemala’s president was assas-
sinated just four days after trying to close a casino owned by one of
Rosselli’s criminal associates. A seemingly lone, apparently communist
patsy was quickly blamed and soon killed. Like Oswald, the patsy was
ex-military, and supposedly an ardent communist who had never both-
ered to join the Communist Party. The investigation essentially ended
with the death of the patsy, who was accepted as the sole assassin by the
world press and much of the public.3 Both Marcello and Rosselli would
remember the importance of having a patsy to quickly take the blame
and divert investigators.
Marcello’s fellow mobsters continued to target government officials
into 1963. Chicago Alderman Benjamin F. Lewis was assassinated on
February 28, 1963, “the back of his head . . . shot off by three bullets,”
according to Hoffa expert Dan Moldea. He wrote that the hit man was “a
close friend of [Jack] Ruby,” in addition to being an associate of Johnny
Rosselli.4 The 1961 Mafia assassination of UAW-AFL President John
Kilpatrick in Chicago was an important turning point, even though he
wasn’t a government official: It was the first Mafia murder solved in
the city since 1934, and the first Chicago mob hit the FBI investigated,
46
LEGACY OF SECRECY
all because of new Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Guy Banister, the
FBI’s Chicago chief before his drinking and erratic behavior sent him
on a downward spiral that eventually found him working for Marcello,
once noted in a speech that more than one thousand gangland slay-
ings in Chicago remained unsolved. Banister was exaggerating only
slightly, since Moldea asserted that the assassination of Alderman Lewis
was “the 977th unsolved underworld hit in Chicago since the early
1900s.”5
Marcello’s associates were even willing to target Bobby Kennedy. As
mentioned earlier, Marcello’s relationship with Hoffa went back to at
least September 1960, when Marcello personally gave Hoffa $500,000 for
Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign against John F. Kennedy. That
meeting was witnessed by Louisiana Teamster official Ed Partin, and
shortly after receiving the money, the Eisenhower-Nixon administra-
tion dropped criminal charges against Hoffa.6 By late 1962, Partin had
begun helping the government and had agreed to testify against Hoffa
for Bobby Kennedy’s Get Hoffa Squad, headed by Walter Sheridan.
Partin told Bobby’s men that in the summer of 1962, Hoffa had talked
about having Bobby assassinated by using “a gunman equipped with
a rifle with a telescopic sight [while Bobby was] in the South . . . riding
in a convertible.” Hoffa had talked to the informant because “Hoffa
believed him to be close to various figures in Carlos Marcello’s syndicate
organization.”7
However, nothing happened to Bobby at that time, and Marcello may
have had something to do with it. About a month after Hoffa talked about
his plans to kill Bobby, two of Marcello’s trusted associates introduced
him to Ed Becker, an FBI informant. While at the immense Churchill
Farms property, Marcello told Becker that if Bobby were assassinated,
JFK would simply send in “the Army” to get whoever was responsible.
Marcello later told another companion the same thing, saying that if
Bobby were shot, then JFK “calls out the National Guard.” Clearly, Mar-
cello wanted to avoid another disaster like the National Guard’s take-
over of Phenix City. Marcello explained that the best way to effectively
end Bobby’s war against
city once and for all. Though their names stayed out of the investiga-
tion, Trafficante and Marcello had suffered a rare setback and would not
repeat the same mistake.
The error was corrected when the president of Guatemala, Castillo
Armas, was assassinated in 1957, at a time when Johnny Rosselli was
very active in the country and Marcello was developing his extensive
ties to Guatemala and to Rosselli. Guatemala’s president was assas-
sinated just four days after trying to close a casino owned by one of
Rosselli’s criminal associates. A seemingly lone, apparently communist
patsy was quickly blamed and soon killed. Like Oswald, the patsy was
ex-military, and supposedly an ardent communist who had never both-
ered to join the Communist Party. The investigation essentially ended
with the death of the patsy, who was accepted as the sole assassin by the
world press and much of the public.3 Both Marcello and Rosselli would
remember the importance of having a patsy to quickly take the blame
and divert investigators.
Marcello’s fellow mobsters continued to target government officials
into 1963. Chicago Alderman Benjamin F. Lewis was assassinated on
February 28, 1963, “the back of his head . . . shot off by three bullets,”
according to Hoffa expert Dan Moldea. He wrote that the hit man was “a
close friend of [Jack] Ruby,” in addition to being an associate of Johnny
Rosselli.4 The 1961 Mafia assassination of UAW-AFL President John
Kilpatrick in Chicago was an important turning point, even though he
wasn’t a government official: It was the first Mafia murder solved in
the city since 1934, and the first Chicago mob hit the FBI investigated,
46
LEGACY OF SECRECY
all because of new Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Guy Banister, the
FBI’s Chicago chief before his drinking and erratic behavior sent him
on a downward spiral that eventually found him working for Marcello,
once noted in a speech that more than one thousand gangland slay-
ings in Chicago remained unsolved. Banister was exaggerating only
slightly, since Moldea asserted that the assassination of Alderman Lewis
was “the 977th unsolved underworld hit in Chicago since the early
1900s.”5
Marcello’s associates were even willing to target Bobby Kennedy. As
mentioned earlier, Marcello’s relationship with Hoffa went back to at
least September 1960, when Marcello personally gave Hoffa $500,000 for
Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign against John F. Kennedy. That
meeting was witnessed by Louisiana Teamster official Ed Partin, and
shortly after receiving the money, the Eisenhower-Nixon administra-
tion dropped criminal charges against Hoffa.6 By late 1962, Partin had
begun helping the government and had agreed to testify against Hoffa
for Bobby Kennedy’s Get Hoffa Squad, headed by Walter Sheridan.
Partin told Bobby’s men that in the summer of 1962, Hoffa had talked
about having Bobby assassinated by using “a gunman equipped with
a rifle with a telescopic sight [while Bobby was] in the South . . . riding
in a convertible.” Hoffa had talked to the informant because “Hoffa
believed him to be close to various figures in Carlos Marcello’s syndicate
organization.”7
However, nothing happened to Bobby at that time, and Marcello may
have had something to do with it. About a month after Hoffa talked about
his plans to kill Bobby, two of Marcello’s trusted associates introduced
him to Ed Becker, an FBI informant. While at the immense Churchill
Farms property, Marcello told Becker that if Bobby were assassinated,
JFK would simply send in “the Army” to get whoever was responsible.
Marcello later told another companion the same thing, saying that if
Bobby were shot, then JFK “calls out the National Guard.” Clearly, Mar-
cello wanted to avoid another disaster like the National Guard’s take-
over of Phenix City. Marcello explained that the best way to effectively
end Bobby’s war against
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