[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Sinatra introduced Kennedy to Judith Campbell Exner, who became the president’s
mistress even as she had ties to shady underworld characters, including two key players
in the CIA-mafia plots to kill Castro, Johnny Roselli and Chicago mob boss Sam
Giancana. The last White House telephone contact between Kennedy and Campbell
came a few hours after a luncheon between the president and FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover on March 22, 1963. Blakey said it is not known what the two men discussed, but
since Hoover had uncovered Campbell telephone calls to the White House and her
connections to the mob, it is implied that they talked about the issue. In any case, the
mob would have felt betrayed by Kennedy for his administration’s crackdown on
organized crime while accepting its help in other matters. As Blakey wrote, “prosecutors
and police” understand that “there is a line that must not be crossed” in relations with the
mob: “do not ‘sleep with them’” by taking favors, “either money or sex.” 449
Blakey credited investigative journalist Jack Anderson for uncovering how the
plot may have unfolded with information supplied by John Roselli. “The details that
Roselli supplied in their face-to-face meetings, according to Anderson, linked the Mafia
directly to the assassination.” 450 The disclosures in Anderson’s columns about the CIA-
Mafia plots and the Kennedy assassination helped build support for the establishment of a
congressional investigation. However, Blakey and the House Committee rejected the
notion that Castro was ultimately behind the plot to kill Kennedy because he had so much
449 Blakey and Billings, 375.
450 Blakey and Billings, 386.
200