John Roselli

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John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (sometimes spelled Rosselli), aka John F. Stewart[1] and aka Colonel Rawlston (July 4, 1905 to sometime between July 28 and August 9, 1976) was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped them control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. Roselli was also involved with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plot to kill Cuban president Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. Some conspiracy theorists believe he was also involved with John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

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[edit] Formative years

Born Filippo Sacco (sometimes spelled Phillippo[2]) in Esperia, Italy ( in the Province of Frosinone) on July 4, 1905, he had been best known by his mob nickname of "Handsome Johnny." Sacco immigrated with his mother, Mariantonia Pascale Sacco and one Caterina Palazzo,[2] from Italy to the USA in 1911, settling in Somerville, Massachusetts near Boston. At the time, his father, Vincenzo Sacco, was already residing in the United States. Fleeing to Chicago in 1922 after committing a murder, Sacco changed his name to "John Roselli" (in honor of Italian Renaissance sculptor Cosimo Rosselli) and became a member of the Chicago Outfit working for Al Capone.

In 1925, after jumping bail on a federal narcotics arrest, an asthmatic Roselli was ordered by Capone to relocate to Los Angeles. Roselli began his California criminal career working with Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna. By the late 1930s, the shrewd and charismatic Roselli had overtaken the ineffective Dragna in power and influence. Roselli's close friend, film producer Bryan Foy, brought him into the movie business as a producer with Foy's small production company, Eagle Lion Studios, where Roselli is credited on a number of early gangster movies as a producer. Later on, Roselli was involved in the Outfit's multi-million dollar extortion campaign against the motion picture industry.

[edit] 1940's

In 1942, Roselli was indicted on federal labor racketeering charges along with George Browne, former president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, and Willie Bioff, labor racketeer and former pimp. On December 4, 1942 Roselli, a professed patriot, enlisted into the United States Army. He served as a private until he was arrested March 19, 1943.[1]

In 1943, after a year long trial on the racketeering charges, Roselli and several Chicago bosses were convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, in 1946 they were paroled after serving only three years. It was widely assumed that the Outfit's political fixer, Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, used his influence with President Harry Truman's Attorney General, Tom C. Clark, to spring Roselli and the other Outfit bosses from prison. After his release, Roselli returned to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a movie producer with Bryan Foy.

The extensive influence The Outfit had over Hollywood is best illustrated in 1948 when boss Tony Accardo told Roselli to force powerful Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn into signing then-unknown actress Marilyn Monroe to a lucrative multi-year contract. The usually combative Cohn quickly complied without opposition, mainly because Cohn had obtained control of Columbia through mob funds and influence provided by both Accardo and Roselli.

[edit] 1950's

In the early 1950s, Roselli gradually shifted his focus away from Hollywood and toward the fast-growing and highly profitable gambling mecca, Las Vegas, Nevada. By 1954, Roselli had become the Chicago and Los Angeles mob's chief representative in Las Vegas. His job was to ensure that the Chicago and Los Angeles mob bosses each received their fair share of the burgeoning casino revenues. However, according to the Los Angeles office of the FBI, Roselli was employed as a movie producer at Monogram Studios.[1]

[edit] 1960's

After the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, Castro closed down all the mob casinos in Cuba and drove out the mobsters. Given that experience, Roselli, Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana, and Tampa boss Santo Trafficante would be receptive to overtures on killing Castro.

In 1960, the CIA recruited ex-FBI agent Robert Maheu, then a top aide to billionaire Howard Hughes in Las Vegas, to approach Roselli. Maheu passed himself off as the representative of international corporations that wanted Castro killed because of their lost gambling operations. Roselli introduced Maheu to two men he referred to as "Sam Gold" and "Joe." "Sam Gold" was Giancana and "Joe was Santos Trafficante, the Tampa, Florida boss and one of the most powerful mobsters in pre-revolution Cuba. The agency gave the mobsters six poison pills to murder Castro. For several months, anti-Castro Cubans tied to the Mafia tried unsuccessfully to put the pills in Castro's food. In 1961, after the failed CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, these assassination attempts, which included hit teams of snipers, trained on Roselli's secret CIA base in the Florida Keys, continued with a vengeance, now with CIA legend "Wild Bill" Harvey taking charge of Roselli's efforts. Many researchers claim that because of the Kennedy's obsession with getting Castro, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, though angry about the CIA's use of one of his prime Mafia targets, chose to continue these efforts until the Cuban Missile Crisis in October, 1962.

These assassination attempts by Roselli were publicized in 1971 by Jack Anderson, a Washington Post reporter, and acknowledged by the CIA in 2007 when it declassified the Family jewels documents.

In 1963, singer Frank Sinatra sponsored Roselli for membership in the exclusive Los Angeles Friar's Club. Soon after his acceptance, Roselli discovered an elaborate card-cheating operation run by one of his Las Vegas friends, Maury Friedman, and asked for his cut. The cheating was finally discovered July 1967 by FBI agents tailing Roselli[1] Scores of wealthy men (including millionaire Harry Karl, the husband of actress Debbie Reynolds, and actor Zeppo Marx) were bilked out of millions of dollars. Grant B. Cooper represented some of the defendants in the case, including Roselli. Roselli was eventually convicted and fined $55,000. During the trial, secret grand jury transcripts were discovered on the defense attorney's table. Cooper eventually plead guilty to contempt for possessing the documents.[3]

In 1968, Roselli was tried and convicted of maintaining an illegal residence in the United States (he'd never acquired lawful US residence or citizenship) and was ordered deported to Italy by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. However, Italy refused to accept Roselli, so he remained in the United States.

[edit] 1970's

On June 24 and September 22 1975 Roselli testified before the 1975 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCIA) led by Idaho Senator Frank Church about the CIA plan to kill Castro, Operation Mongoose. Shortly before Roselli testified, an unknown gunman shot and killed the disgraced Giancana in the basement of his Oak Park, Illinois home. This happened just days before Giancana was to testify before the committee. Giancana's murder supposedly prompted Roselli (whose own power base disappeared with Giancana's death) to permanently leave Los Angeles and Las Vegas for Miami, Florida.

On April 23, 1976, Roselli was called before the committee to testify about a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy.[1] Three months after his first round of testimony on the Kennedy assassination, the Committee wanted to recall Roselli. However, at this point, he had been missing since July 28. On August 3, Senator Howard Baker, a member of the new SSCIA, requested the FBI investigate Roselli's disappearance.[1]

On August 9, Roselli's decomposing body was found in a 55-gallon steel fuel drum floating in Dumfounding Bay near Miami, Florida. Roselli had been strangled and shot, and his legs were sawed off. Some believed that boss Trafficante ordered Roselli's death. According to this theory, Trafficante believed that Roselli had revealed too much about the Kennedy assassination and Castro murder plots during his Senate testimony, violating the strict Mafia code of omerta (silence.)[4]

[edit] Aftermath

Former hitman James Files has claimed that he, Roselli and Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti fired the fatal shots killing Kennedy at Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. However, there is no proof to support this claim.

New York mob boss Bill Bonnano claimed in his autobiography that while he was imprisoned with Roselli, he spoke to him about the Kennedy assassination. Roselli allegedly told Bonanno that he had fired a shot from a storm drain located on Elm Street in Dallas.

Former CIA pilot "Tosh" Plumlee claims to have flown Roselli from Tampa to Dallas, arriving on the morning of November 22, 1963, on a mission to abort the assassination of President Kennedy.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f FBI FOIA filesJohn Roselli FBI Files
  2. ^ a b FBI FOIA filesJohn Roselli FBI Files
  3. ^ "Sirhan's Lawyer Pleads Guilty To Contempt in Cheating Trial", The New York Times, August 26, 1969. 
  4. ^ "Deep Six for Johnny", Time Magazine, August 23, 1976.