SAM GIANCANA
Giancana and Roemer were involved in a war of words at the airport which left the agent in no doubt that Giancana was now feeling the pressure. Giancana decided it was now time to call in a few markers with the Kennedy`s, Old Man Kennedy in particular, he was being hounded constantly by the feds and didn't like it. He was also losing face with the outfit all he had promised if they had got Kennedy elected had not come to fruition, in fact the president had elected his own brother attorney general who in turn quickly pushed through congress a number of anti racketeering laws. Sam Giancana was undeterred, his pact with Old Joe Kennedy could still swing things in his favour, he enlisted his old friend Sinatra to help out on his behalf. Sinatra visited the Kennedy`s at their home
in Hyannis Port, while alone in a room with the attorney general Robert Kennedy he passed him a piece of paper with the name Giancana scribbled on it. "This is my buddy. This is what i wanted you to know Bob." Robert Kennedy said nothing, and from that silence Sinatra knew he had his answer.....and it didn't look good for his friend Giancana. Frank soon after fell out of the Kennedy's circle of friends.
Giancana was not well pleased with Sinatra either, as Frank had stalled in giving Kennedy`s reply to Sam, fearing it might be a case of shoot the messenger...literally. Johnny Formosa a mobster friend of Giancana`s had wanted to hit Sinatra for `jerking us around` Giancana said no. J Edgar Hoover, who`s dislike of the Kennedy`s had become no less intent after they had threatened to sack him from his post as director of the FBI sent a carefully worded note to Bobby Kennedy in February of 1962. The note gave details of what Hoover knew about The President, Judith Cambell and Sam Giancana. Roughly a month later Hoover and the President met for lunch, the details of Hoover`s note to Bobby Kennedy a month earlier was the main focus of conversation. Later the same afternoon The President phoned Judith Cambell, it was their last ever conversation. He was also scheduled to stay at Frank Sinatra`s estate.....the stay was cancelled. The Kennedy`s had doubled-crossed Sam Giancana, and Robert the Attorney General was hell bent on nailing Sams head to the wall.
Robert Kennedy sent a team of more then 50 agents to Chicago with the orders to get results and get them fast. They targeted 40 mobsters with Sam Giancana considered number one priority. Phil Alderisio leg-breaker in-chief of the Chicago mob led a charmed life for more than 30 years he had been arrested 20 times but never convicted. He was first to fall, he was arrested, convicted and jailed. Rocco Pranno was convicted of extortion. The mob was starting to get a little shaky, was Sam Giancana losing his grip? A meeting was called between Tony Accardo, and Paul Ricca, Murray Humphrey advised them both that in his opinion Sam Giancana was shirking his responsibilities and neglecting his position by running around with Phyllis McGuire and Keely Smith. Johnny Roselli was also missing in action when it mattered in Las-Vegas, spending his time working alongside the CIA on the Cuban thing. Accardo and Ricca had been thinking along the same lines as Murrey Humphrey, Giancana was slipping. Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli were both beginning to fall foul of the `old guard` of Accardo and Ricca.
By the summer of 1963 Giancana was being hounded day and night by the FBI every where he turned the agents were there, purposely allowing themselves to be seen thus pressurising Giancana more with each passing day. Giancana went to court with a harassment charge aimed at the FBI, he won his case, but in doing so he brought even more attention on the outfit, Ricca and Accardo were furious, Murray Humphrey`s claims that Giancana was losing it, and panicking seemed to be coming true. November 22nd 1963 saw the assassination of John F Kennedy, Brother Bobby resigned his position as Attorney General a year later, some good news at least for the outfit. However the absence of the Kennedy`s from the picture brought no respite for Sam Giancana, the Chicago branch of the FBI increased their already considerable effort to get Giancana, and they had a new strategy to use this time around.
Giancana was summoned to a federal grand jury in Chicago. Giancana appeared for the trial smartly dressed, smiling and unconcerned, he was brought before Judge William J Cambell and was granted immunity from any prosecution that could result from his testimony. This shock tactic completely shook Giancana, being granted immunity meant that he could no longer use his fifth amendment defence, he could not incriminate himself if he could not be prosecuted, and he couldn't be prosecuted because the judge had just granted him immunity! Giancana would not speak to the grand jury, the judge ordered him to be held for the duration of the grand jury sitting. He was placed in the cells at Chicago`s Cook County jail. Three weeks later Murray `The Camel` Humphrey's was subpoenaed, Humphrey's was a top associate of the Chicago mob and held a lot of sway within the mob, a survivor of the Capone era. Labour racketeering and political fixing was the criminal forte of Murray Humphrey`s his expertise in these fields had been invaluable to the mob for years. Humphrey`s thought wrongly that he would be granted immunity like Giancana had, in a desperate act totally out of character he took to his heels and fled. He was arrested the very next morning attempting to buy a ticket at a train station in Oklahoma. He was put in leg-irons taken to court and questioned with no grant of immunity. Humphrey's gave testimony but lied in answer to every question, on the 23rd November 1965 he was indicted for perjury and duly arrested by the feds, some six hours later he was dead from a massive heart attack.
Giancana never spoke to the jury and after a year in jail was freed when the grand jury was ended. He fled to Mexico in June of 1966, he bought a luxurious villa in the town of Cuernavaca which acted as a base, from their he toured all over the world, looking after mob investments. He lived a grand lifestyle, visiting the French Riviera, Switzerland the Bahamas, and Beirut, he had his suits hand made by Mexican tailors costing around $400 a time. Meanwhile back in the Windy City Tony `the Big Tuna` Accardo had reclaimed his position as head honcho in the Chicago mob, he calmed things down after the bloodshed years of Giancana`s leadership, he kept a lower profile, much lower, and told the troops in the front lines to do likewise, his aim was to keep the mob out of all newspaper headlines. Giancana stayed in Mexico for ten years before being forcefully taken to the airport and put on a US bound flight. His exile in Mexico was assured by the bribes he had been paying Mexican-government officials for the privilege of living in their country free from the worry of expulsion, but somewhere along the line he had upset one of these guys and now his bribes were no good.
`Doves` Aiuppa was street-boss but still Accardo was in the shadows never far from the decision making and always watching ready to initiate any actions necessary to keep the wheels of the Chicago mob turning smoothly and with minimum interruption.
He returned to his home in Oak Park. By the time of his return Joey
Giancana was ordered to attend another grand jury and like before he was granted immunity from prosecution, he took it, but gave little away on the stand. Investigators from the Senate Committee had been probing the Kennedy administrations plan to murder Fidel Castro and wanted Johnny Roselli and Giancana to testify. Roselli volunteered to give evidence, if Giancana testified also, this would make for huge headlines, something Accardo did`nt want, headlines brought attention, and attention brought trouble. He was due to make an appearance before the grand jury acted on a perjury indictment, he supposedly told those closest to him that he would do anything to keep from "rotting in a stinking jail." He was appearing to crack, so it seemed to those who knew him. In May of 75 Sam Giancana took ill while on a trip to Houston where he was visiting a girlfriend, he had emergancy gall-bladder surgery. he returned home to Oak Park still a very sick man. On the evening of June 18th 1975, he was given a party by his two daughters, a `welcome home` party his two sons-in-law along with Butch Blasi and Chuckie English two long time friends also attended. the last of the guests left around 10:00pm. It was reported later that one of Giancana`s daughters had returned to pick up her handbag which she had forgotten. She mentioned that as she left her fathers for the second time that evening having retrieved her bag she spotted Butch Blasi heading back toward the house but thought nothing of it.
Giancana sometime later decided to cook himself a snack, sausages and greens had always been a favourite, he went down to his basement Kitchen and began cooking, before he had finished cooking he was shot in the back of the head, as he lay on the floor, the pistol was placed in his mouth and another shot fired, then placed under his chin, and once more the killer pulled the trigger. The hitman had used seven bullets in all and was gone, unseen and unheard into the night. Sam Giancana was found around midnight by his old friend and neighbour Joe Di Persio lying on his back, a pool of blood surrounding his head by the amount of blood it was obvious that Sam Giancana was dead.
Few if any mob figures attended Giancana`s funeral, no Accardo and no Auippa a final indignity and show of disrespect by his mob friends. Butch Blasi was in attendance though and helped carry the coffin. The main source of enquiry at the police investigations in to the death of Giancana focused on Butch Blasi, it was he who Francine, Giancana`s daughter had saw return to the house that night Blasi was a close friend of Sam`s and he would have felt safe around him, safe enough to turn his back on him to cook a meal. The murder weapon was a gun with around 40 holes drilled in it`s barrel making the silencer much more effective it was found on the driveway of a nearby suburb on a route that Blasi would have used to get back to his home on night of the party and Giancana's murder.
Few if any mob figures attended Giancana`s funeral, no Accardo and no Auippa a final indignity and show of disrespect by his mob friends. Butch Blasi was in attendance though and helped carry the coffin. The main source of enquiry at the police investigations in to the death of Giancana focused on Butch Blasi, it was he who Francine, Giancana`s daughter had saw return to the house that night Blasi was a close friend of Sam`s and he would have felt safe around him, safe enough to turn his back on him to cook a meal. The murder weapon was a gun with around 40 holes drilled in it`s barrel making the silencer much more effective it was found on the driveway of a nearby suburb on a route that Blasi would have used to get back to his home on night of the party and Giancana's murder.
Part Three
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