American tabloid

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/4/59. Hush-Hush stringer report: Le

Pete,

It’s strange, but every home in captivity seems to want to bite my tush these days, which Is unusual because I’ve been playing some pretty square rooms. As you know, I’ve been working my wop gig with Sal D’Onofrio. We’ve been playing Reno, Vegas, Tahoe, Gardena and some Lake Michigan cruise boats that feature gambling. I’ve been ru

Cheers,

Le

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/12/59. Personal memorandum: Kemper Boyd to John Stanton. Marked: CONFIDENTIAL/HAND POUCH DELIVER.

John:

Some further thoughts on Pete Bondurant, the Tiger Kab stand and our elite Cadre.

The more I think about it, the more I see Tiger Kab as the potential hub for our Miami activities. I broached this thought to Fulo Machado (a former Castroite now bristlingly anti-Castro), the cabstand co-dispatcher and a close friend of contract agent Chuck Rogers. Machado shared my enthusiasm. He agreed to let Rogers take over as permanent cabstand dispatcher-boss. Fulo got approval from Jimmy Hoffa, who frankly prefers white men in supervisory positions. Fulo is now recruiting for us, on the cabstand payroll. Hoffa knows that cooperating with the Agency is smart business. He sees Cuba as our common cause, far-sighted for such a brutal and single-minded man.

I would like to propose Fulo Machado as the fifth member of our cadre. I would also like you to allow Rogers to hire Tomas Obregon, Wilfredo Olmos Delsol, Teofilio Paez and Ramon Gutierrez as full-time drivers. Although construction of the Blessington campsite is almost complete, we do not have exile recruits to train there. Until more deportees arrive, I think our men can be best utilized recruiting In Miami’s Cuban community.

Per Bondurant. Yes, he (and I) screwed up on the Thomas Gordean matter. But, Bondurant is already employed as Jimmy Haifa’s ad hoc cabstand enforcer. He also secured a note from Santo Trafficante personally requesting that no Mafia reprisals be launched against Castro for nationalizing the Havana casinos. Bondurant forwarded this note to S. Giancana, C. Marcello and J. Rosselli. All three agree with Trafficante’s reasoning. Again, brutal, short-sighted men are cooperating with the Agency out of a sense of common cause.

Bondurant is also the de-facto editor of a scandal magazine we can use as a counterintelligence organ. And, finally, I think he’s the best man alive to run the campsite. They don’t come any tougher, as I think any local rednecks who toy with him will discover.

What do you think of my proposals?

Kemper Boyd

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/19/59. Personal memo: John Stanton to Kemper Boyd.

Kemper,

You batted 1000%. Yes, Machado can join the Cadre. Yes, Rogers can hire Delsol, Obregon, Paez and Gutierrez as drivers. Yes, have them recruit in Miami. Yes, hire Pete Bondurant to run Blessington, but have him retain his job with Howard Hughes as well. Hughes is a potentially valuable ally, and we don’t want him estranged from the Agency.

Good work, Kemper.

John

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/21/59. Teletype report: Intelligence Division, Los Angeles Police Department, to SA Ward J. Littell, Chicago FBI. Sent “Private Mail Closure” to BA Littell’s home address.

Mr. Littell,

Per your: telephone query on Salvatore D’Onofrio’s recent Los Angeles activities. Be advised that:

The subject was spot-surveilled as a known underworld figure.

He was seen borrowing money from Independent shylocks. Subsequent questioning of said shylocks revealed that the subject told them he would give them “big kickbacks” for referring “highticket” loan-seekers to him. The subject was also seen betting heavily at Santa Anita Racetrack. Surveilling officers heard the subject tell a just-met acquaintance: “I’ve blown half the wad my sugar daddy-o gave me already.”

The subject was observed behaving in an erratic fashion during his gambling junket engagement at the Lucky Nugget Casino in Gardena. His junket companion, Leonard Joseph Seidelwitz (AKA Le

Should you require further information, please let me know.

James E. Hamilton

Captain, Intelligence Division,

Los Angeles Police Department

26

The amp made small talk boom. Littell picked up mobster amenities.

He wire-linked Mad Sal’s parlor to his back bedroom closet. He overmiked the walls and got excessive voice vibrato.

The closet was hot and cramped. Littell sweated up his headset.

Talking: Mad Sal and “movie producer” Sid Kabikoff.

Sal went on a gambling binge. Littell confronted him with an LAPD teletype describing his actions. Sal said he blew the fiftyodd grand Littell gave him.

The train-locker heist stood unsolved-Sal didn’t know where the cash came from. The tailor-shop bug blasted scuttlebutt on the topic-but Malvaso and the Duck remained clueless.

Then Jack Ruby called him.

And said, “I finally got a guy for Sal D. to goose up to the Pension Fund.”

His informants were in sync-except for Le

Littell wiped off his headset. Kabikoff spoke, overamp loud: “…and Heshie says his blow-job tally’s closing in on twenty thousand.”

Mad Sal: “Sid, Sid the Yid. You didn’t fly up from bumfuck Texas to schmooze the grapevine with me.”

Kabikoff: “You’re right, Sal. I was passing through Dallas and had a schmooze with Jack Ruby. Jack said, ‘See Sal D. In Chicago. Sal’s the man to see for a big vigorish loan from the Pension Fund.’ Jack said, ‘Sal’s the middleman. He can fix you up with Momo and above. Sal’s the man with access to the money.’”