Final_Judgment

94 No Love Lost [33]
whose administration had begun cracking down on the national crime
syndicate.
However, notes Fox, "For such an extraordinary murder—to kill a
president—they must have been extraordinarily provoked. In their terms, it
could only have involved a double cross. The Kennedys must have dealt
with the underworld in compromising ways. When the Kennedys then turned
around and nonetheless went after organized crime, they breached the code
and put a contract on the President." 54
Fox notes that while old Joe Kennedy was an inveterate gambler, with
many ties to the underworld, "given his vast wealth, no matter how much
he lost the underworld could never have 'owned' him." 55
Joe Kennedy himself was a regular visitor to Meyer Lansky's Colonial
Inn, which Lansky co-owned with New York Mafia boss Frank Costello and
an assortment of smaller shareholders including a little-known Dallas
nightclub keeper named Jack Ruby. Lansky himself used to brag that among
his clients included, "judges, senators, respectable businessmen. Joe
Kennedy used to come four or five times a week." 56
However, as the senior Kennedy's son Jack moved upward in the
political arena, his father tried to shut out his past relationship with Frank
Costello. According to one of Costello's friends, "The way [Costello]
talked about [Joe Kennedy], you had the sense that they were close during
Prohibition and then something happened. Frank said that he helped
Kennedy become wealthy. What happened between them I don't know." 57
KENNEDY AND CRIME
It took the family of Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana to fill in the
missing pieces of the puzzle. According to Sam Giancana (nephew of the
Windy City mobster) and Chuck Giancana (brother of the mobster), JFK—
and his father—had indeed double crossed organized crime.
According to the Giancanas, Detroit's "Jewish Mafia," the so-called
"Purple Gang" had put out a contract on Joe Kennedy's life for bringing
illegal liquor through their territory without their permission during the
Prohibition days. However, Kennedy Sr. had gone to Chicago to beg for his
life and the Chicago Mafia bosses intervened on his behalf, saving his life.
As the Giancana's put it: "Ever after, Kennedy was in Chicago's debt." 58
The relationship went much deeper, however. According to the
Giancanas: "Kennedy's ties to the underworld intersected at a hundred points.
Besides making a fortune in bootlegging, Kennedy had made a financial
killing in Hollywood in the twenties—with the help of persuasive behindthe-scenes
New York and Chicago muscle.
"When Prohibition came to a close, as part of a national agreement
between the various bootleggers, Kennedy held on to three of the most
lucrative booze distributorships in the country—Gordon's gin, Dewar's, and
Haig & Haig—through his company, Somerset Imports." 59