SENATOR ESTES KEFAUVER DRIVES THE MOB TO CUBA

In 1950 the Flamingo Hotel and the Colonial Inn, along with the names Meyer and Jake Lansky recurred with regularity throughout the Kefauver Hearings. Meyer Lansky admitted having known Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Frank Erickson, the Fishetti Brothers, Vincent Alo, Anthony Accardo, Jack Dragna, Johnny Rosselli, Doc Stacher and "Trigger-Mike" Coppola. In February 1951 Meyer Lansky was questioned again. Joe Adonis was deported, and Frank Erickson was jailed. [Testimony of Meyer Lansky - Kefauver Hearings] The televised hearings brought so much "heat" on the mob Meyer Lansky could no longer operate with immunity within the United States. The syndicate returned to Cuba where the Authentico Party of Carlos Prio Soccarras was in power. Meyer Lansky wanted to see Carlos Prio Soccarras overthrown and Batista reinstalled. Meyer Lansky had worked with Fulgencio Batista in the early 1930's. He encouraged Fulgencio Batista to run in absentia for the Cuban Senate. [Tad Szulc, The Cuban Invasion, Ballantine Books 1962] As stated in, Batista overthrew Prio on March 10, 1952. Meyer Lansky, however, could not take immediate advantage of the coup. He was in prison for one year. When he was released in 1953 Meyer Lansky invested heavily in Cuba. In 1954, Meyer Lansky moved to Havana, where he became the top syndicate figure. SANTOS TRAFFICANTE Jr. became second in command. It was easy for Meyer Lansky to persuade Fulgencio Batista to legalize gambling. In 1955 Fulgencio Batista changed the gambling laws to permit a legal casino in any nightclub or hotel worth one million dollars or more. The Cuban Minister of Labor ruled that all pit bosses, stickmen, and dealers, in casinos were skilled technicians who qualified for admission under two year visas. The Cuban Government offered in one way or another to put up a good part of the construction costs for any new casinos. For the $17 million Riviera government-controlled banks loaned $6 million. Meyer Lansky supervised the construction of the Riviera. Within four years the syndicate constructed $50 million worth of gambling casinos; the Riviera - worth $17 million; the Cleveland-mob controlled Hotel Nacional - worth $7 million; the Tropicana - worth $6 million; Capri - a property of the mafia group headed by Charlie "the Blade" Tourine - estimated worth - $5 million; Seville Biltmore - worth $4 million, Deauville - worth $2.5 million and the San Souci - worth $1 million. [Life 3.10.58; NYT 1.12.59]

Meyer Lansky and Fulgencio Batista turned Cuba into the center of gambling, narcotics and vice in the Western Hemisphere. The take was so high that Albert Anastasia, who was the "Chairman of the Board" of Murder Incorporated, tried to take-over Meyer Lansky's empire. TRAFFICANTE hit Albert Anastasia's under-boss, Frank Costello, then hit Albert Anastasia, as he lay in a barber-chair, getting a shave. New York District Attorney Frank S. Hogan named TRAFFICANTE as a suspect in the killing and announced that he wanted to question Meyer Lansky. [NY World Telegram, 1.9.59, "An Anastasia Grab at Cuba Dice Triggered Fate," Paul Meskil; Time 3.2.59]

Meyer Lansky and SANTOS TRAFFICANTE Jr., out of reach of New York District Attorney Frank S. Hogan in Cuba, prospered. The mob's major problem was that Cuba was a banana republic. This meant constant, periodic, changes of government. In order to hedge its bets some elements of the syndicate supported Fidel Castro.

RUBY AND THE COLONIAL INN

According to Mack Blaney Johnson JACK RUBY owned points in Lansky's Colonial Inn. Mack Blaney Johnson (born 1900) informed the FBI of this connection on November 29, 1963: "Blaney Mack Johnson (protect identity), interviewed by S.A. Daniel D. Doyle, claims to have owned interest in Playbrook Club, Miami, Florida, in early 1950's, during which time JACK RUBY held an interest in the Colonial Inn..." The Miami City Directory for 1949 listed a Playbrook Club. It was not listed for any other year.

ANALYSIS

The Colonial Inn shut down on February 12, 1948, by an injunction by the Broward Court. Miami Office FBI files did not reflect that it ever reopened. Johnson was mistaken about the time he ran the Playbrook Club so he might have been mistaken about the year that Ruby owned points in the Colonial Inn.