Havana’s mundo secreto: Author interview, José “Pepe” Rodríguez. Pepe, now seventy-six years old, lives with three dogs and five cats in a hovel in Vedado, where he is known by his neighbors as an “expert” on the subject of Havana in the 1950s. Pepe is also cited as a source in Lowinger and Fox, pp. 222, 295.
Lesbian show at Hotel Comodoro: Ragano and Raab, p. 46.
Sexual preference of Ofelia Fox: Lowinger and Fox, pp. 371–78.
Shanghai Theater: Author interviews: José “Pepe” Rodríguez; Ralph Rubio, September 16, 2006, and October 24, 2006; Bernard Frank; and Armando Jaime Casielles. See also Mallin, “The World’s Rawest Burlesque Show,” Cabaret, September 1956; “Havana Is a Man’s Town,” Eye, October 1956. The legend of the Shanghai Theater is touched upon in many novels about the era, including G. Cabrera Infante’s Three Trapped Tigers, Thomas Sanchez’s King Bongo, and, most notably, Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, in which Greene writes:
The Shanghai was in a narrow street off Zanja surrounded by deep bars. A board advertised Posiciones, and the tickets for some reason were sold on the pavement outside, perhaps because there was no room for the box office, as the foyer was occupied by a pornographic bookshop for the benefit of those who wanted entertainment during the entr’acte.
Exploits of Superman: Author interviews: José “Pepe” Rodríguez; Bernard Frank, Ralph Rubio, Chris Ragano, Tampa, July 16, 2006, and March 1, 2007.
“I know because he [Superman]”: Author interview, José “Pepe” Rodríguez.
“Nig Devine was a sexual degenerate”: Author interview, Ralph Rubio.
“Everything was geared towards sex”: Ibid.
“We identified so completely”: Szulc, Fidel: A Critical Portrait, p. 439.
“Batista was carrying on”: Ibid.
“The guerrilla and the peasant”: Guevara, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, p. 102.
The Story of Cuba’s Jungle Fighters (CBS documentary): The story behind this television documentary is detailed in Szulc; Geyer, Guerilla Prince; Thomas; and DePalma, The Man Who Invented Fidel. The documentary was viewed by the author at the Museum of Television and Radio, New York City.
“Sierra Manifesto”: Bonachea and Valdes, Revolutionary Struggle, pp. 343–48; Szulc, pp. 465–66, 480–81.
Cuban Navy mutiny at Cienfuegos: Thomas, pp. 640–42; Sweig, Inside the Cuban Revolution, pp. 53, 61, 111, 122.
July 1957 murder of four boys: Thomas, p. 625; Franqui, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, p. 198.
Assassination of Frank País: Thomas, pp. 637–38; Sweig, pp. 47–49.
Arrival of Albert Anastasia: Cirules, The Mafia in Havana, pp. 7–8, 14–15; Fuentes, “Mafia in Cuba,” Cuba International, August 1979; author interview, Ralph Rubio.
“We were warned about Anastasia”: Author interview, Ralph Rubio.
“Lansky once told me”: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles.
“The impression in my mind”: Ibid.
11. TROPICAL VENGEANCE
Trafficante trip to NYC: Ragano and Raab, Mob Lawyer, pp. 29–30; Deitche, The Silent Don (II), pp. 77–78; Wald, “Mafia Link in Death of Anastasia?” New York Herald Tribune, October 28, 1957; “Anastasia Case Holds ‘150 Angles,’” New York Herald Tribune, October 30, 1957; Meskill, “Yen for Cuba Cash Doomed Anastasia,” New York World-Telegram & Sun, January 9, 1958.
Trafficante letter to Anastasia: Deitche (II), pp. 77–78.
Meeting at Warwick Hotel: People Re: Umberto Anastasia, investigative memo (supplementary complaint reports), uncatalogued, NYC Municipal Archives; Ragano and Raab, pp. 29–30; Deitche (II), pp. 77–78; Lacey, Little Man, pp. 244–45; Wald, “Mafia Link”; “Anastasia Case Holds.”
Chiri Mendoza: Investigator Whiteside, investigative memo, meeting with Roberto “Chiri” Mendoza and others, January 18, 1958, NYC Municipal Archives; Lacey, pp. 239–40, 244–45; Deitche (II), pp. 78–79; González Echevarría, The Pride of Havana, p. 330.
Meeting at Chandler’s restaurant: Investigative memo, January 18, 1958; Lacey, p. 245; Deitche (II), pp. 78–79.
Joe Stassi arrival in NYC: Stratton, “The Man Who Killed Dutch Schultz,” GQ, September 2001; O.G.: Joe Stassi, Original Gangster, documentary; author interview, Richard Stratton, New York City, February 15 and 21, 2007. Stratton did time in prison with Joe Stassi and they struck up a friendship, which led to his writing a profile for GQ and doing a documentary on Stassi with filmmaker Marc Levin.
“The Jews made the Mafia”: O.G.: Joe Stassi.
Joe Stassi and Anastasia hit: In his interview in O.G.: Joe Stassi, Original Gangster, the retired mobster is coy about his involvement in the Anastasia murder. Stassi admits that he was staying at the Park Sheraton Hotel on the day of the murder but declines to say anything further. Director Richard Stratton, who came to know Stassi well before his death in 1999, believes that Stassi’s coyness on the subject was tantamount to a confession of involvement. Says Stratton: “If Joe didn’t have anything to do with the Anastasia hit, he would have told me so, period.”
There exist many theories on the hit, one being that Anastasia’s murder had nothing to do with Cuba. Some believe the Mad Hatter’s death stemmed from his rivalry with Vito Genovese. This theory was first put forth by Joe Valachi in his 1963 congressional testimony. Another theory fingers mafia boss Carlo Gambino. As recently as 2001, a prominent Mafia website named three hit men who allegedly carried out the murder on behalf of Gambino. In truth, as with many Mob rubouts, the facts have been obscured by decades of speculation. All these years later, Anastasia’s entanglements with the Havana Mob remain the most compelling explanation for his murder.
Anastasia murder: The Anastasia hit is one of the most famous Mafia killings in U.S. history and, as such, is covered in Fox, Blood and Power; Raab, Five Families; Sondern Jr., Brotherhood of Evil; Peterson, The Mob; Ragano and Raab, Mob Lawyer; Maas, The Valachi Papers. Also the newspaper accounts detailed above: Wald, “Mafia Link”; “Anastasia Case Holds”; “Yen for Cuba Cash.” In addition, details on events leading up to the murder, the murder itself, and the subsequent investigation are contained in Investigative Files Re: Umberto Anastasia, NYC Municipal Archives.
Trafficante and Rivers at Havana airport: Ragano and Raab, p. 35.
Ragano conversation with Trafficante at Columbia Restaurant, Ybor City: Ragano and Raab, pp. 33–37.
Anastasia problem disappears: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles, January 24 and 26, 2007.
Confidencial de Cuba: Issue dated January/February 1958. From the private collection of Rosa Lowinger.
Mafia meeting at Apalachin, NY: The bungled Mob gathering at Apalachin is another seminal event in organized crime history, covered at length in Fox, Raab, Sondern, Peterson, Maas, and others.
Trafficante at Apalachin: Deitche (II), pp. 80–83.
Lansky role in exposing meeting: Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, p. 248.
“Nobody to this day knows”: Ibid.
Sinatra–Ava Gardner honeymoon in Havana: Kelley, His Way, p. 173; Summers, Sinatra: The Life (I), p. 162. Ava Gardner is quoted regarding the honeymoon:
We went to Havana, in Cuba, and had a fight the first night. Who knows what we fought about? I remember standing up, pissed drunk, on the balcony of the [Nacional] hotel, on the edge. Standing there, balancing. Frank was afraid to go near me. He thought I was going to jump…God, I was crazy!…God almighty!
Sinatra friendly with Lansky, Trafficante: Summers (I), pp. 19, 21, 130, 135, 180; Lacey, pp. 146, 151; Ragano and Raab, pp. 20–21, 82, 115, 188, 214–17.
Marlon Brando in Havana: Marquez, “Marlon Brando: the Conga Man,” La Jornada, July 7, 2004; Lowinger and Fox, Tropicana Nights, pp. 221, 284, 342.
“Discovering Afro-Cuban music”: Brando, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me, photo caption.
Graham Greene in Havana: Bianchi Ross, “Graham Greene’s Cuban Time,” on www.CubaNow.net, undated; Greene, Our Man in Havana.
Err
ol Flynn in Havana: Cirules, The Mafia in Havana (1), p. 145; Szulc, Fidel, p. 504; Cuban Rebel Girls (1959): director Barry Mahon; screenwriter Errol Flynn. Using mostly outtake footage from Cuban Rebel Girls, Flynn also put together a documentary about the Cuban Revolution entitled Cuban Story. In this film—which wasn’t available to the public until thirty-five years after it was made—Flynn makes an appearance and again professes his admiration for Fidel Castro.
Hemingway in Cuba: Author interview, Delio Valdes, Miami, October 17, 2006; Norberto, Hemingway in Cuba, entire book. Also Millman, “Hemingway’s Ties to a Havana Bar Still Move the Mojitos,” Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2006. Virtually every contemporary guidebook on Cuba has an entry on Hemingway’s years on the island.
George Raft: Cirules (I), p. 146; Cirules, La vida secreta de Meyer Lansky en La Habana (II), pp. 124–25, 129; Lowinger and Fox, pp. 3, 292, 303, 329; Fuentes, “Mafia in Cuba,” Cuba International, August 1979; “George Raft estrella absoluta en la gran revista de Abril,” Show, April 1958; Yablonsky, George Raft, entire book.
Cuban music and American culture: Sublette, Cuba and Its Music, entire book. Also, Cruz, Celia: My Life; Orovio, Diccionario de la musica cubano.
Desi Arnaz background: Sublette, pp. 452–54, 534, 581–82.
Afro-Cuban jazz: Acosta, Cubano Be, Cubano Bop, entire book; Figueroa, “Israel Lopez ‘Cachao,’” http://www.picadillo.com/figueroa/cachao; Figueroa, “Mario Bauza,” http://www.cubanmusic.com. Also author interview, Helio Orovio, Havana, August 24, 2006. This interview with musicologist Orovio took place on the front porch of the UNEAC (Cuba writers’ union) building during a thunderous tropical downpour. For an explanation of the connection between Kansas City jazz and the corrupt political machine, see T. J. English, Paddy Whacked, pp. 213–24.
12. A HANDMADE WOMAN
Opening of Hotel Riviera: Author interview, Ralph Rubio, September 16, 2006, and October 24, 2006; Lacey, Little Man, pp. 233–37; Schwartz, Pleasure Island, pp. 156–59, 177–78, 199–200; “Ginger Rogers, en persona, super-estrella en su gran revista,” Show, December 1957.
“She can wiggle her ass”: Lacey, p. 235.
Steve Allen Show live at Riviera: The entire show was viewed by the author at the Museum of Television and Radio, New York City; Schwartz, p. 161; Lowinger and Fox, Tropicana Nights, pp. 304–5.
“Lansky reputation attracted high rollers”: Author interview, Ralph Rubio.
Lansky affair with Carmen: The details of Lansky’s relationship with Carmen are presented in Cirules, La vida secreta de Meyer Lansky en La Habana (II) and, to a lesser extent, in Cirules, The Mafia in Havana (I). Facts were verified and expounded upon in author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles, January 24 and 26, 2007.
“[She] was olive-skinned”: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles.
Jaime and Lansky at Carmen’s apartment: This anecdote is detailed in Cirules (II), pp. 108–11; additional quotes and details, author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles.
Rebels establish “liberated zone”: Szulc, Fidel, pp. 467–69, 490; Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom, pp. 620–25; Franqui, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, pp. 184–217; Bonachea and Valdes, Revolutionary Struggle, pp. 408–14; Guevara, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, pp. 196–227.
William Gálvez Rodríguez background: Gálvez, Otro jinete apocalíptico.
“Fidel was putting into words”: Author interview, William Gálvez Rodríguez, Havana, March 8, 2007.
“The fact that we were outnumbered”: Ibid.
“Why We Fight”: Castro, “Why We Fight,” Coronet, February 1958.
“I know revolution sounds like bitter medicine”: St. George, “Cuban Rebels (Interview with Fidel Castro),” Look, April 3, 1958.
Gran Premio and kidnapping of Juan Manuel Fangio: This incident has become part of the lore of the Cuban Revolution and is detailed in Sweig, Inside the Cuban Revolution, pp. 103–4; Szulc, p. 482; Thomas, p. 651; Franqui, pp. 285–86; Schwartz, pp. 187–89.
Burning of the sugar crop: Szulc, pp. 453, 687–90; Bonachea and Valdes, p. 367; Franqui, pp. 284, 292–99.
“I know well the heavy personal losses”: Castro, “Why We Fight.”
Action and Sabotage in Havana: The activities of the 26th of July Movement and the civic resistance are detailed at length in Sweig, and Oltuski, Vida Clandestina: My Life in the Cuban Revolution. Oltuski was an underground leader of the civic resistance while at the same time working as an engineer for Shell Oil in Cuba.
Burning of Belot oil refinery: Sweig, p. 104.
Creation of separate rebel columns: Szulc, pp. 489, 493–97; Franqui, pp. 279–94; Thomas, pp. 620–23, 627, 632; Guevara, pp. 138–39.
Raiding the National Bank of Cuba: Schwartz, p. 190; Sweig, pp. 105–6.
Attempted assassination of Raúl Menocal: Franqui, p. 296.
“Night of One Hundred Bombs”: Sweig, p. 112.
Announcement of general strike: Sweig, pp. 134–37; Franqui, p. 295; Bonachea and Valdez, p. 278. The strategy behind the strike is discussed at length in Oltuski.
Cynthia (Schwartz) Duncan (Lansky’s granddaughter): Author interview, Cynthia (Schwartz) Duncan, Miami, May 4, 2006. Additional information on Richard Schwartz: Lacey, pp. 214, 289, 363.
“I knew I was in Havana”: Author interview, Cynthia (Schwartz) Duncan.
“We were treated like royalty”: Ibid.
Lansky “pinched”: Lacey, pp. 241–46; Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, Meyer Lansky, pp. 284–88, 290; Messick, Lansky, p. 215.
Conversation with Detective Graff: Lacey, pp. 238–46.
Unwanted media attention for Lansky: Havermann, “Mobsters Move in on Troubled Havana,” Life, March 10, 1958.
Lansky banned from Cuba: Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, pp. 288–91.
“Batista played a little joke on me”: Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, p. 290.
Lansky-Batista relationship: Author interview, Ralph Rubio; author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles; Cirules (II), pp. 161–71; “Los encuentros de la mafia con el General Batista,” Juventude Rebelde, July 4, 2004.
Lansky-Batista meeting at Kuquine: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles; Cirules (II), pp. 165–67; “Los encuentros.”
“They were very, very close”: Lacey, p. 230.
Cash payments to Batista: Author interview, Ralph Rubio; author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles; Dorschner and Fabricio, The Winds of December, pp. 65–66.
13. THE SUN ALMOST RISES
Opening of Havana Hilton: Schwartz, Pleasure Island, pp. 154–56, 178; Lowinger and Fox, Tropicana Nights, pp. 183, 256, 281, 327–30; Cirules, The Mafia in Havana (I), pp. 148–55; Deitche, The Silent Don (II), pp. 87–89; Smith, The Fourth Floor, p. 90.
Nevada Gaming Commission decision: Schwartz, pp. 162–63; Lacey, Little Man, pp. 256–57; Reiss, “The Batista-Lansky Alliance,” in Cigar Aficionado, May/June 2001.
Ragano visits Trafficante: Ragano and Raab, Mob Lawyer, pp. 39–48.
“Bartenders don’t drink”: Ibid., p. 41.
“This is the most important room”: Ibid., p. 42.
“I became a different man in Cuba”: Ibid., pp. 43–44.
“I sometimes wondered”: Ibid., p. 44.
Ragano and Trafficante at una exhibición: Ibid., pp. 44–45.
Super-8-mm movie of Superman: Footage of the famous Havana sex performer—made by Frank Ragano in 1958—was viewed by the author on March 1, 2007, in Tampa, courtesy of Chris Ragano, Frank’s son.
Ragano offered opportunity to buy in: Ragano and Raab, pp. 47–48.
“I’m sure Fidel will never amount to anything”: Ibid., p. 48.
Failed general strike: Oltuski, Vida Clandestina, pp. 139–54; Sweig, Inside the Cuban Revolution, pp. 136–48; Szulc, Fidel, pp. 484–85; Franqui, Diary of the Cuban Revolution, pp. 296–315.
Operacíon Verano: Szulc, pp. 490–91; Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom, pp. 663–68.
Raúl Castro kidnapping of U.S. citizens: Thomas, p. 666;
Sweig, p. 171; Szulc, pp. 493–94; Smith, pp. 142–43.
Captain Gálvez in Las Villas: Author interview, William Gálvez Rodríguez, Havana, March 8, 2007; Dorschner and Fabricio, The Winds of December, pp. 259–60.
“We could smell victory”: Author interview, William Gálvez Rodríguez.
Lansky trips around Caribbean: Cirules, La vida secreta de Meyer Lansky en La Habana (II), pp. 143–45; author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles, January 24 and 26, 2007; author interview, Richard Stratton, New York, February 15 and 21, 2007. Stratton mentioned that Stassi, during their interviews in the late 1990s, detailed various trips around the Caribbean to expand casino operations for the Havana Mob.
International Hotels, Inc. looking toward expansion: Author interview, Joe Stassi Jr., telephone, March 22, 2007.
Lansky-Trafficante-Jaime trip to Dominican Republic: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles; Cirules (II), pp. 150–60.
“The first surprise I had”: Cirules (II), pp. 152–53.
“Santo gave me a .45 pistol”: Ibid., p. 155.
“It was the first time”: Ibid., pp. 155–56.
“I had the feeling”: Author interview, Armando Jaime Casielles.
Stassi Jr. sets up meeting for Pat Slots: Author interview, Joe Stassi Jr.
Stassi Jr. background and marriage: Ibid.
Trafficante hints to Ragano of assistance to rebels: Ragano and Raab, p. 48.
Norman Rothman meeting with José Aleman: Findings of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 5, Testimony of José Aleman, September 27, 1978.
Rothman gun smuggling with Mannarino brothers: Waldron with Hartmann, Ultimate Sacrifice, pp. 307, 329, 332, 347, 352. Authors Waldron and Hartmann suggest that a partner of Rothman’s in this plot was U.S.-born Frank Fiorini, later known as Frank Sturgis, at the time a gun supplier for the 26th of July Movement. Fiorini/Sturgis would later switch sides and become a key player in various Mob and CIA attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Havana Nocturne Page 39