Did the Mafia do it?

Marcello ran the New Orleans family. In April 1961 the Justice Department deported him to Guatemala; he said he had been kidnapped. He came back. [1]

An informant said that in September 1962 at Churchill Farms, Marcello’s estate, Marcello shouted an old Sicilian curse, “Livarsi na petra di la scarpa!” — “Take the stone out of my shoe!” — and said a “nut” would be used to do it. The committee found the FBI had known of the claim and had tried to discredit the informant instead of investigating it. [1][2]

Oswald’s uncle Charles “Dutz” Murret was a bookmaker linked to Marcello’s organization. David Ferrie worked for Marcello’s lawyer and was with Marcello in court on the morning of 22 November. The committee wrote: “Association is the first step in conspiracy; it is not identical to it.” [1]

It judged Marcello’s involvement unlikely but could not rule it out. [1][2]

Trafficante, the Tampa boss, had been in the CIA’s plots to kill Castro. [2] A Cuban exile, José Aleman, told the Washington Post in 1976 that in September 1962 Trafficante had told him Kennedy was “going to be hit.” Before the committee, Aleman said he thought Trafficante meant Kennedy would be hit by a lot of Republican votes. [1]

Ruby went to Havana in 1959 and may have visited Trafficante while he was held at the Trescornia camp. The committee judged Trafficante’s involvement unlikely but not impossible. [1]

Edward Partin, a Teamster official, told the government in September 1962 that Hoffa had discussed killing Robert Kennedy that summer, with a rifle and scope, perhaps while he rode in a convertible somewhere in the South. Partin passed an FBI polygraph. [1]

In the weeks before Dallas, Ruby phoned several men with Teamster links, including Hoffa lieutenant Barney Baker. The committee concluded Hoffa had “the motive, means and opportunity” but stressed it had found no direct evidence that he was involved. Hoffa denied ever discussing a plan to kill Robert Kennedy. [1]

The committee found Ruby was not a member of organized crime but had “a significant number of associations and direct and indirect contacts with underworld figures.” It was not satisfied with his explanations for calls in October and November 1963, including one on 30 October to the trailer-park office of Nofio Pecora, a long-time Marcello lieutenant. Pecora said he never spoke to Ruby. The Warren Commission had found no significant links. [1][2]

The committee also concluded that Ruby’s shooting of Oswald was not spontaneous, and that it was less likely he got into the police basement without help, though any help may have been given without knowing what he meant to do. See the Ruby file. [1]

The committee concluded that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not involved, but that the evidence did not preclude the involvement of individual members. Burt Griffin, the Commission lawyer who had run the Ruby investigation, told it that the mob angle had “not seriously” been explored in 1964. [1]

The FBI’s own bugs caught Giancana and a lieutenant, Charles English, discussing the investigation on 3 December 1963. English predicted that “in another 2 months from now, the FBI will be like it was 5 years ago.” The committee found the FBI’s inquiry into organized crime angles “severely limited.” [1]