Santo Trafficante, Jr.

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Santo Trafficante Jr.

Born November 15, 1914(1914-11-15)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Died March 17, 1987 (aged 72)
Houston, Texas, U.S.

Santo Trafficante, Jr. (November 15, 1914 - March 17, 1987) was one of the last of the old-time Mafia bosses in the United States. He controlled organized criminal operations in Florida, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante, Sr. He was also reputedly the most powerful mafioso in Batista-era Cuba.

Trafficante maintained links to the Bonanno family, in New York City, but was more closely allied with Salvatore "Sam," "Mooney" Giancana, in Chicago. Subsequently, while generally recognized as the most powerful organized crime figure in Florida, throughout much of the 20th century, Trafficante was not believed to have total control over Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, Florida. The east coast of Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with obvious links to Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Calogero "Carlos Marcello" Minacore, Leo Stein and Frank Ragano. To this day, control of Florida by organized crime is likely divided between Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and international organized crime interests. The Trafficante family was also credited for creating the language known in the old mafia days as "Tampan." Tampan was a language of an Italian/Spanish dialect. It was spoken by the Mob mainly because the police could not understand the language.

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[edit] Life

Trafficante was born in Tampa, Florida to Sicilian parents Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his wife Maria Giuseppa Cacciatore in 1914. He maintained several houses in Tampa and Miami, and also frequented Havana, Cuba (while Batista was in power), and New York City.

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 the Columbia Restaurant and several other restaurants and bars in Tampa. He was rumored to be part of a Mafia syndicate which owned many other Cuban hotels and casinos. As one of the most powerful mobsters in the U.S., Trafficante was invited to the Havana Conference in December, 1946.

Trafficante at what was dubbed "Little Apalachin." Carlos Marcello is seated to the right of Trafficante
Trafficante at what was dubbed "Little Apalachin." Carlos Marcello is seated to the right of Trafficante

Trafficante was arrested frequently throughout the 1950s on various charges of bribery and of running illegal bolita lotteries in Tampa's Ybor City district. He escaped conviction all but once, receiving a five-year sentence, in 1954, for bribery, but his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court before he entered prison.

Trafficante was arrested in 1957, along with 56 other mobsters, at an apparent underworld convention, the Apalachin Meeting in New York. Charges were later dropped, though authorities believe the meeting was set up, among other things, to fill the power vacuum created by the recent assassination of Murder, Inc. head Albert Anastasia. Trafficante later denied knowledge of the circumstances of Anastasia's death.

After Fidel Castro's revolutionary government seized the assets of Trafficante's Cuban businesses and expelled him from the country as an "undesirable alien", Trafficante came into contact with various U.S. intelligence operatives, and was involved in several unsuccessful plans to assassinate Castro. Allusions to these historic connections were confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency's 2007 declassification of the "Family Jewels" documents[1]

Suspicions that Trafficante, along with Marcello, mob boss of New Orleans in the 1950s and '60s, Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, and Chicago boss Sam Giancana, were involved in some way with the John F. Kennedy assassination have been alleged repeatedly but have not been proven.

Trafficante was summoned to court in 1986 and questioned about his involvement with the King's Court nightclub operated by members of the Bonanno family from New York, including undercover FBI agent Joseph D. "Joe" Pistone, alias, "Donnie Brasco". Trafficante again escaped conviction.

A big fan of greyhound racing, Santo Trafficante would have his driver stop right in front of the now defunct newsstand in Britton Plaza, (Tampa) where Mr. Trafficante would emerge from the rear car door, enter, pick up his reserved copy of the racing form, drop $2 on the counter, then nod his thanks to the clerk and climb in the backseat into his car.[citation needed]

Trafficante's health had declined in his older years, and he died in Houston, Texas, where he had gone for heart surgery, in 1987.

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