@ JC

I mostly agree with everything, just a couple questions...


Did Gambino really have equal or better clout on the docks? I thought he got rich first off bootleg liquor, ( I'm talking AFTER repeal) then with the ration stamp racket, giving him capital to invest in more business both legal and illegal. Especially drugs.

That's why I posted the thing showing these guys were all stepping on each other's toes, grabbing with both hands.

(I also read somewhere, that Gambino was the one giving Anastasia the advice to move into Cuba, to create a reason for the other Commision members to want him dead.. Don't know how true it is, it would be some serious cunning if it was...)


The other question is about Trafficante. Another kinda misunderstood guy I think. In the book Silent Don, also in that Luciano book, ( it said something like, Trafficante was the only guy Meyer never really tried to fuck with..) it says Santo was the most powerful guy in the Caribbean. Like Lansky was close to BATTISTA, but once he was outta the picture, all his influence in Cuba went with him. Trafficante on the other hand, inherited a network from his father going back a couple decades. He was fluent in Spanish. He had a relationship with the new power Castro, right? And In the book, Silent Don, it said Trafficante could also call on, like Cuban guerilla groups for muscle. He controlled the Caribbean smuggling routes, which to this day, can still make or break a cartel arrangement.


That was my only question there, was Lansky actually more powerful on the Cuban island? Also, with the Cuba thing, you can't forget, Trafficante woulda most likely had backing from Chicago AND New Orleans. And Chicago and the Genovese, (backed up by the MaryFerrel documents) voted together, MOST of the time.



Irregardless of ethnicity or whatever, Ive found if you control a dock, especially a dock near busy shipping routes, you have a LOT OF POWER. Anastasia, Marcello, Trafficante, shit Montreal and Toronto today, the Piromallis with the Calabrian docks......

I do think Lansky ( with Genovese backing) ruled Miami, well, gambling anyway. In his book John Roberts was kinda awed by Lansky, even in the 80s...