ive read many times that old joe was involved with frank Costello, and others in bootlegging. now, the kennedy family will never admit this. they continue to hold him in a saintly glow. however ive read that there is evidence proving that he was deeply involved with mobsters and bootlegging. the book I read was "sins of the father" by Ronald Kessler.
was old joe a bootlegger? what do you think?

Of course he was a bootlegger.

I still say the Bush dynasty left more collateral damage.

you will get no argument out of me on that post.

I think he was not only a bootlegger, but also a gangster.

I agree. It's just that being Irish, which lacks the traditional structure of LCN, coupled with the fact that he paid for his "legitimacy" at a relatively young age, it just wasn't as obvious. But Joe Kennedy had bodies under his belt. No doubt in my mind.

That's really the catch. The same structure (Cosa Nostra) that allowed Italians to dominate the multi ethnic organized crime world...also chained them to it. The Jews and Irish got out and assimilated far earlier in many cases. Just an observation.

And we're on the same page about Joe Kennedy.

Without a doubt a bootlegger.

Some people deny his bootleging ventures just because in the early 1930's,when Prohibition was repealed, Kennedy formed a partnership with high profile figures and opened a firm for importing legal whiskey and other kind of booze.I really dont see the point of that buecause there were also mobsters who opened legal firms after prohibition and sold legal booze...in other words they just stayed in the business and that was that.

They also deny Kennedy being a stock manipulator because at the time he was too busy with other problems lol

I belive that he was a bootlegger and had mob ties because there were several contracts put on his head by rival bootleggers and mobsters.

I also used to read somewhere about reports that he had a full support for the nazis as well and that made big problems with one of his campaigns or something

Well if anyone believes in Karma here, then he got it 2 fold watching both his kids getting clipped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy,_Sr.

In the 1920s Kennedy made huge profits from reorganizing and refinancing several Hollywood studios, ultimately merging several acquisitions into Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) studios.[2]

After Prohibition of alcohol ended in 1933, Kennedy consolidated an even larger fortune when he traveled to Scotland with FDR's son, James Roosevelt, to buy distribution rights for Scotch whisky. His company,× Importers, became the exclusive× American agent for Gordon's Gin and Dewar's Scotch. In addition,× Kennedy purchased spirits-importation rights from Schenley Industries, a firm in Canada.[2] He owned the largest office building in the country, Chicago's Merchandise Mart, giving his family an important base in that city and an alliance with the Irish-American political leadership there.

There is no evidence that Kennedy Sr. was a bootlegger

Rather he used his friendship with Roosevelt and his political connections to do business after Prohibition, flooding the usa with quality liquor, in the 20s became rich thanks to the stock market.

Scalish about his sons, Kennedy Sr. had ties with the Patriarcas, and in any case don't think to the karma, if you do business with certain people and you promise certain things, it's normal that if you don't keep your promises, it's normal that you should expect a reaction.

John and Bobby knew that his father had made certain promises to the Mafia?
if yes,they thought to be safe and untouchable? they didn't know that had been killed three presidents before JFK?
John, Bobby and their father have sinned omnipotent thinking they are invincible and we know what happened.

He didn't have full support the Nazi's, he identified with Hitler and his views on Democracy.

And Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger/racketeer. There's numerous circumstantial proofs of this such as testimony from other Bootleggers at the time. Majority of his fortune came through prohibition and profiting off the illegal transport and distribution of alcohol. There was a special on the History channel called Rumrunners...About guys who were in the trade during prohibition, a lot of them were still alive when the documentary was filmed and many of them, say Kennedy was a bootlegger, a handful claimed to have even been runners for him. This has become one of the worst kept secrets in history, in regards of the Kennedy's. That much is clear, as far as him being a killer and a straight up gangster, I've never heard of that.

vanity fair magazine, had a story about his dealings in Hollywood and they made no bones about the fact that he was a stock swindler when he was the holder of movie studio stock.

the book " sins of the father" by Ronald Kessler. debunks all the kennedy family myths about this guy. if jfk ran today in the information age, the kennedys could not cover up his criminal activities. as they did in 1960.

furio from naples. there certainly is evidence he was a bootlegger. you are wrong.

What I noticed about wikipedia is that many times, controversial information about people is omitted. It could be conspiracy. It could be simply fear of lawsuits.

alfa, yes, and I think that is " yellow journalism"
they do the same thing with hoover, the people are dead now.

tell the truth!! they cant' be sued if it's true.

In the Five Families Selwyn Raab says that Joe Kennedy also set up liquor deals through Frank Costello.

Wikipedia is yellow journalism? .

Hint: It's not journalism AT ALL when anyone can sign on and alter the page .

I read that book also, and Selwyn raab is as good of a source that you can find, this man was just as big a bootlegger as any of them.

and he never had the honor that Italians had, he proved that during the second world war.

Raab is tops in that field.

Also, the nature of Irish OC and the nature of political machines in northern cities at the time (1860s-1920s) married Irish OC to "legitimate politics". Joeseph P. Kennedy's father was almost archetypal in this, he went from Saloon-keeper/grocer and nieghborhood "fixer" who held-sway over the neighboerhood toughs to politician millionire.

It's rare you see actual cosa nostra members engaging in politics, they prefeered working with arms-lengh associaties whom they owned. I can only think of one, Pat Marcy, and that's if you beleive Bill Roemer that he was actually made into the Outfit. Maybe some more knowledgable Chicago people know more than I do.

I think the book is still out on Kennedy's bootlegging. A few rumors and tales told by career criminals doesn't amount to much evidence. Joseph P. Kennedy was definately a dirty guy who manipulated the stock market among other things. But I find it hard to beleive that even during prohibition that a man who was already a millionaire and harvard grad with political asperations and apirations of "respectability" would risk it all to do some bootlegging and being associated with some super-violent mob people. Stranger things have happened but it doesn't make much sense.

Though I do concede that his winning an exclusive contract Dewars and the whisky importing right after prohibition is suspicious, suspician isn't direct evidence of fact.

There's no debate, he WAS a bootlegger.

Well, when you try to look into Joe Kennedy's past, you get the distinct impression that he used his political influence to whitewash his history.

There really isn't that much you can find on the man.

After reading over this thread, I went and dug up my old dusty copy of Five Families. Joe Kennedy is implicated as a mob associate or mob connected individual on page 126.

Does being mob connected make him a bootlegger from the old days? Not necessarily.

Are you serious? telling that you use FIVE FAMILIES as your research source?? And then wonder why there isn't much in it?

I do not wanna live on this planet anymore.

Haha. I think what a lot of people, esp on this thread, would like, is definitive final proof that Joe Kennedy the patriarch of the Kennedy dynasties, was an old time bootlegger.

The standard of proof might be much lower here too. Even a quote from a gangster might suffice for some.

I think he was a bootlegger. I said so earlier on. But the key word is think, not know.

Well, either way, Joe Kennedy was a scumbag. When you give your daughter a lobotomy just because you're afraid that she'll embarrass you, you forfeit your right to call yourself a member of the human race. No matter how many of your scumbag descendants con their way into government office. It's a shame, though. If there was any justice in this world, Old Joe would have caught a bullet in the head back in the '40s. Then maybe the so-called "Kennedy Curse" would have ended with him.

Were Robert and John really that bad? I mean, were they scumbags? I admittedly know very little about 'em.

different times then. iam quite sure that joe kennedy wasn't 100% playing to the laws. But nearly nobody was back then, right? It was all about making money

Of course. I don't care if he ran booze or not. I just don't like the Kennedy-Camelot myth, and I don't like what Joe Kennedy did to his daughter. It was inhuman.

they dont ask where it came from. they ask do you have it.