As I previously stated in one of my old posts, by the 1960's the Chicago Outfit managed to spread their illegal and legal operations all around the world including in Costa Rica and Guatemala, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador , Mexico and also across the Atlantic ocean in England, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and even further on the Middle East in Lebanon and Iran.

Some still unconfirmed sources say that Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana made contacts to one of the leading Corsican criminal clans at the time, and they allegedly had gambling interests in newly opened casinos and hotels in Lebanon and Iran and since previously the Turkish smugglers almost cut off the Lebanese production of opium, this became quite lucrative situation for both sides meaning the US and Lebanon together with Iran.

First here's few of Giancana's alleged statements from the Double Cross book, again allegedly made towards his younger brother Chuck, and also statements made by Chuck himself and later we will try to find some evidence about it:

- "There’s oil in the Middle East; I got a piece myself. There’re gambling opportunities in Iran. In Beirut. Well, he’s got a string of contacts lined up for all kinds of shit . . . opium, for one. New York is probably gonna go in on it. Hell, they got more dope-usin’ shines up there than we do in Chicago."

- "Right now we’re workin’ on Asia, Iran, and Latin America. Someday, Chuck, we’ll be partners on everything. I got a shrimp business in Cuba, oil wells in Texas, and gas in Louisiana. Besides that, there’s so much shit, you have to be a Hebe accountant to keep track of it."

- "In the years immediately following 1969, Mooney continued to reside at his Mexican estate, San Cristobal. He traveled extensively, visiting not just European and Latin American cities but also the Middle Eastern cities of Tehran, Iran, and Beirut, Lebanon. In Beirut, Mooney had obtained membership in an exclusive country club, Chuck was told, and while based there had met with many of the world’s most influential power brokers, including Mooney’s “friend,” the Shah of Iran.

Interestingly, U.S./CIA relations with these countries were in their heyday during this same period. Mooney had once told Chuck that the Shah had been placed on the throne by the CIA. To accomplish that, Mooney said U.S. intelligence had utilized massive bribes and financed a coup to overthrow the Shah’s predecessor, Mossadegh, in 1953.

For their efforts, the CIA remained fast friends with the corrupt Iranian government until the Shah’s forced exile in 1979. Chuck thought it probable that Mooney’s relationships in the Middle East also flourished during this period, given the inordinate amount of time he spent in the area."


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Now, I'll try to place some evidences regarding the previous statements.

1. Regarding the oil...according to the Kefauver hearings and later by the McClellan hearings and also the FBI, by the early 1950's Outfit associate Hyman "Red" Larner had interest in four oil wells in Texas, while on July 8, 1953, North Side capo Ross Prio was questioned by the “investigation elite” in the Central Police building including the deputy commissioner Philip Breitzke, the head of the Scotland Yard secret investigation unit Captain William Balswick, Chief of detectives John O’Malley, and John Golden, the head of the homicide section. During the questioning Prio only gave his name, age and the address and gave evidence that he had legitimate job as an oil dealer, who had been drilling some wells in southern Illinois. This means that since the 1950's the Outfit was involved in investing huge amounts of their illegal cash in oil wells around the country, which confirms one of Giancana's statements and so it doesnt sound unbelievable if they also invested in oil wells from around the Middle East.

2. Louis Lederer was a former Chicago bookie who later became one of the Outfit's main gambling overseers in Las Vegas and other areas, and two of his close associates were the boss Sam Giancana and John Roselli. In fact, Lederer was Chicago's gambling expert who by the late 1950's was also associated with other families and organized crime leaders such as the Genoveses and Frank Costello. Besides Costello, Giancana and Roselli, by 1960 Lederer was also associated with other top Mob leaders such as Murray Humphreys. In 1961 Giancana had a meeting with Lederer on which the boss stated that they have to tighten up their Las Vegas connections and interests. In 1963, Lederer accompanied Outfit leader Les Kruse to the Dominican Republic as one of the main negotiators regarding their casino and other gambling interests. In fact, Lederer became one of the Outfit's main overseers regarding their interests in foreign countries.















3. During the late 1960's, Giancana was already out of the country and established himself in Mexico but constantly travelled the world, thus finding new business opportunities and profitable connections. For example Giancana allegedly made a connection with the sister of the Shah of Iran and allegedly influenced her to persuade her brother to allow the Chicago Outfit and Giancana in opening their gambling operation. Reports say that the Shah didnt allow any foreigners to operate in his country, except for Giancana and his associates.

So in 1970, Lederer purchased one hundred slot machines in London, England; which later were transferred to their casino in Tehran, Iran; and was placed in charge of the establishment. That same year, on November 30th the Outfit opened up the Ab-Ali Country Club & Casino in the plush Ab-Ali Hotel in Ab- Ali, a suburb of Tehran. The Mob allegedly invested around one million dollars for renovating the hotel which was built years ago by the late father of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of all Iran. By 1971, The U.S. State Department confirmed Giancana's and Lederer's presence in Tehran Iran, and also their gambling activities.








4. Regarding Giancana's connections in Beirut, Lebanon ; it seems that by 1971 Giancana also owned an apartment in that same city and often travelled with one of his girlfriends known as Carolyn Morris. In 1973, investigators suspected that Giancana allegedly had interests in some local casino and hotel in Beirut, and was also allegedly a member of a local golf club. The next year, investigators received confirmation that Giancana was allegedly using the alias "Sam Ginco" and was a member of The Golf Club of Lebanon, and also allegedly had interests in the Casino Du Liban in Beirut. The U.S. office made a request to Lebanon authorities to conduct investigation on organized crime in the casino and golf club. Just one month before his murder, in May 1975 Giancana met in Houston Texas, with some unknown Arab who he allegedly met in Beirut Lebanon.












Cheers

It's almost unreal to see how far the reach of the American Mafia was at that time. I doubt any other kind of criminal organization will ever play on that level again.

No I don't think so the USA was/is a superpower. Maybe the Chinese though.

One of Giancanas daughters (i think it was Antoniette and i personally dont have much respect for her) once stated that her father wanted to "control" the whole world, literally, and thats just the one and only of her statements which I personally believe in.

Can we make a list or number of countries in which the Chicago Outfit and US Mob in general had their ops in, so we can compare them with the number of countries which the Chinese operated in? Im talking about the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

In addition, im currently still trying to find some evidences about the alleged "myth" or alleged connection between Giancana and Chinese leader Chaing Kai-shek, but still I will post one of Giancanas alleged statements which was again made towards his brother and confirms some of the previous situations regarding the countries in which the Outfit had interests at the time....and I also think that same statement might fit with what really went down during the Hoover days, and even on whats really going on even today and on how the tactics or propaganda changed during the following decades...during Giancanas days Communism was the "biggest threat" lol...

"Chuck, nothin's ever what it seems. Chaing Kai-shek? He's mob. Goes back to General MacArthur. See, these guys up top know that, in the name of patriotism, Americans will do anything, go anywhere...they just gotta have that enemy. Shit, the guys up top'll make one up if they have to. So now the enemy is communism....the politicians know what's goin' on...mostly because half of 'em have some investment, just like we do, in countries with names you've never even heard of. You watch, this Commie crap will get people up in arms...If anything threatens business as usual over there...well, our great and powerful President will do somethin' about it. All he's gotta do is yell "Commie" and every red-blooded American will lay down their lives...and for what? So a few fat-cat politicians and businessmen...and a few guys like me can make a killing."

What a fascinating read!! Great writing as always Too. My perception of Giancana has certainly changed after reading your last few write ups. I had always considered him kind of a patsy put in place, while the other big shots were behind the scenes and really pulling all the strings. If you ever start an all things Chicago/Midwest blog or substack you'd certainly have me as a subscriber.

Thanks again bud and I really appreciate your comment. I dont have the time or maybe im too lazy to create a blog lol, so if you want to handle it ill be glad to work with you lol

Ricca and Accardo were somehow "old school", while Giancana was obviously before his time. Yes, the two old men had the last word on important decisions but still Giancana was the boss or "chief executive" on all day to day activities and I think that he was the first of his kind in Chicago at the time. Also, dont forget that Giancana wasnt the only Outfit guy at the time who saw the future but instead he was followed by an "army" of members and associates who wanted the same thing. These guys were labelled as the "Combine" with Giancana at the top.

Toodoped, what did you think of Michael Corbitt's book?

Good book...Of course everything is coming second hand, but Giancanna, obviously was very ambitious, and got to the top by himself...Interesting that he looked up to Frank Costello more then his own guys !!

As DiLorenzo said, its a good book although the last time I read it was years ago. I think it falls in the same category with the Giancana book, meaning you can see the general picture on what really went down and almost has the same writting style, after all Corbitts book was published with the help of Mooney Gianacans nephiew Sam G. Jr. the author of the Giancana book called “Double Cross”, while Corbitt’s book has a similar name which is called “Double Deal”

From my own memory Corbitt was a bagman and messanger between the Bastone bros and their old mentor Hyman Larner. Corbitt was also involved in one murder after which he became informant. But I had a feeling that Larners story was a little bit exaggerated by Corbitt, I mean you might get the feeling that Larner controlled the whole Outfit from the shadows lol. Yes Larner was powerful but obviously not that powerful lol. A low level associate is often known for exaggerating stuff, because of their "outsider" point of view.

Interesting to note is that when Corbitt became witness for the government, in 1997 the FBI wanted to make a move on Larner but suddenly the State Department had intervened and quashed the FBI’s investigation. There were rumors that Larner's immunity stemmed from his alleged high level connections to the US intelligence community.

When Corbitt decided to publish his own book and was ready to go to the press, the Miami Herald announced that Larner suddenly died of natural causes on October 12, 2002, and was going to be buried in Skokie, Ill.Funny thing was when Corbitt’s book came out The Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA immediately assaulted the book, "The allegations about the CIA are a potpourri of yarns that don't bear any resemblance to reality," said Mark Mansfield, a spokesman for the CIA. Who knows, maybe Corbitt’s book did reveal something that made the CIA a little bit nervous?!

Larner was a "member" of the Combine which was a "special unit" for the Chicago Outfit regarding activities mainly in foreign countries, and thats why some of them had CIA connections. The main guys who controlled this unit were Giancana, Eddie Vogel and Gus Alex, followed by Les Kruse, Larner, the Bastones, Richard Cain, Tommy Russo, James Tortoriello, Louis Lederer, John Drew, Marcell Harrick (Larners relative), Allan Rothman, Guy Sparta etc.

The question I have is how and why did these “PARTNERSHIPS” with these foreign goby’s end?
It wasn’t due to RICO,

I forget where I read it a long time ago that I think it was Meyer and Trafficante were still on paper as owners of Casino’s in Cuba, they were taken over by Castro obviously, but there names were still on some documents.

They went into foriegn countries and approached the leader(s) offered to build the hotel/casinos’s and split the profits 50/50 I think.

Thats right.

Same as the Cuban situation in which the whole US mob and also many US legitimate companies had their interests over there, went down the toilet because of the internal conflicts (revolution) and the change of the country's leadership, and so the same thing occurred regarding the Mob's operation in the Dominican Republic, meaning they established their gamblings ops over there but everything failed when a local revolution occurred. The Philippine connection ended when President Nixon ordered troop withdrawals from Vietnam etc.

So my point is that most or 90% of those operations failed because of some local problems, not because of US indictments.

Also, some "trans-atlantic" or "out of country" operations failed because some of the guys who led those same ops were killed regarding other and completely different schemes or reasons, which had nothing to do with the "invasion" or problems in those countries.

But as you already said, even after all problems still some or few lucrative operations from around Central America or other areas around the world, remained as the Outfit's "out of country" ops until the late 80s and possibly early 90s, i think.

Anything still exist today?
Through the Outfit, to me there is sooo much that still was never known and not known about the outfit.

They had one low level member flip, to me again he was way out of the loop, Nick Calabrese he was a little more than his brothers “Crash-Dummy”

He certainly was a higher level guy that knew of all the inner workings of Outfit.

The outfit has been in America for 100 years and they had 1 made member flip.
That’s CRAZY, and they say OMERTÀ IS DEAD.

Even high level prosecutions with murders, 1?

For their level of power it truly is amazing.

No family comes close they only family that does in my opinion, and I believe Detroit, is the most successful LCN, family in American history.

To me what’s really funny there are people on here and off of here that think that we know every piece of history and all the inner workings, and we know the name of every member that was ever made.

From a logical perspective that seems laughable.

I personally think there is still way more unknown than known about the “OUTFIT”

Thanks for your response Toodoped! I read the book about 15 years ago and yes he thought Larner was at the same level as Lansky.
I wonder if the two Jews ever met.

@BensonHURST I completely agree with your statement that "there is still way more unknown than known about the “OUTFIT”". Most of todays new mainstream researchers are still looking at all of the old families through the traditional Sicilian "lens" which is wrong, especially regarding the Chicago organization which in fact was a "modern" syndicate, not completely traditional.

@Hollander...I dont know if Larner and Lansky ever met but I know that Larner was also allegedly involved in the operation in which weapons were "donated" and shipped to Israel during the 1940s and allegedly everything was headed by Lansky.