Richard Cain
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Richard Cain (October 5, 1931-December 20, 1973) was a Chicago police officer and an associate of Sam Giancana. He has also been suspected by several conspiracy theorists of his involvement in the JFK assassination. According to Charles and Sam Giancana in their 1992 book Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America, one popular theory is that it was he and Charlie Nicoletti, not Lee Harvey Oswald, who were in the Texas Book Depository during the assassination.
Born in Chicago, Cain was raised in Owosso, Michigan and became involved with the Chicago Outfit using his position as head of security to arraigning the hijacking of UPS trucks. Despite his grandfather being a prominent crusader against organized crime in "The Patch" during the turn of the century, Cain would later become a member of the syndicate eventually becoming a close associate of Sam Giancana. He later joined the Chicago Police Department during the 1950s and, during his time as a Cook County sheriff's investigator, served as a bagman between the police officials and the Outfit. He also served as an enforcer while working in vice districts and occasionally participated in staged police raids on syndicate gambling operations.
Taking a leave of absence in 1960, he was assigned as Chief Investigator of the Office of the Cook County State Attorney who was to work with Assistant US District Attorney Richard Gioie in his prosecution of syndicate leader Tony Accardo. Although credited by Richard Ogilvie as an aggressive officer whose knowledge of syndicate operations played a part in Accardo's conviction, his conviction was later overturned. After spending time in Mexico, he returned to Chicago to support Ogilvie in his campaign to run for Sheriff of Cook County and served as a top official in the Cook County's sheriff's department during the early 1960s.
He would also become involved in Operation Mongoose (possibly as a contract agent for the Central Intelligence Agency), and traveled to Miami and began training Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion with Chuckie Nicoletti and Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio.
Remaining a chief aide of Sam Giancana, he enjoyed a high ranking status within the syndicate until 1967 when he was fired for staging a drug raid and for stealing drugs which had been previously recovered from a narcotics bust by the Chicago Police Department.
Convicted by a grand jury, he served a four years prison term before rejoining Giancana then exiled in Mexico and continued his position as his right hand man. During this time, conspiring to control of the city's illegal gambling operations, used his position as an FBI informant for William Roemer by muscling out his rivals by revealing their operations federal authorities.
He also became involved in a burglary ring Marshall Caifano during the early 1970s. However, shortly after meeting with Caifano, he was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen armed with shotguns at Rose's Sandwich Shop on December 20, 1973. It has been speculated that Cafano had suspected Cain may have been responsible for the arrest of several burglars and had ordered his death.
Since his death, researchers including as Larry Hancock and Cain's younger brother Michael Cain have investigated his supposed tied to the JFK assassination however did not find any conclusive evidence to support Richard Cain's involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
In 1996, based on information obtained from Brazilian journalist Claudia Furiati, author Eric Hamburg claimed that Cain had been involved with Dave Yarras and Lenny Patrick during the assassination. This was also supported by author Peter Dale Scott in his 1996 book Bringing It All Together who pointed out Cain's links to Johnny Roselli and John Martino.
[edit] Further reading
- Ashman, Charles. The CIA-Mafia Link. New York: Manor Books, 1975.
- Giancana, Sam and Chuck. Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America. New York: Warner Books, 1992. ISBN 0-446-51624-4
- Furiati, Claudia. ZR Rifle: The Plot to Kill Kennedy and Castro. Melbourne, Australia: Ocean Press, 1994. ISBN 1-875284-84-2
- Hinckle, Warren and Turner, William W. The Fish is Red: The Story of the Secret War Against Castro. New York: Harper & Row, 1981. ISBN 0-06-038003-9
