My previous article on Harry Truman and Mob reminded me of another of Giancana's alleged statements for example the one regarding the Philippines, which is an area filled with a collection of numerous Asian islands that are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south.

This was allegedly Giancana's statement regarding the Philippines, again made towards his own brother Chuck who in turn at the time was a small time Outfit associate:

"...you can buy a girl there and do anything you want with her...kill her if you want...Nobody cares in those fuckin' hellholes. Life is cheap. And where life is cheap, politicians are cheap."

So this statement tells us that Giancana probably visited the Philippines, obviously for both business and pleasure, and so lets try to find some evidences about it.

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The following information comes from the FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics), FBI and also CIA reports which was simplified by me, mainly because the report is too extensive and its spread out on numerous and different pages from three different agencies, and I need to make at least ten different screenshots:

So, the whole operation allegedly started in September 1968, when one of Giancana’s main liaisons Hyman Larner previously fled the city of Chicago and the US, and stationed himself in Panama but travelled the world together with his boss Sam Giancana who by that same time period, also already fled the country and stationed himself in Mexico but same as Larner, he also constantly travelled around the world not only for his own pleasure but instead, to spread all Chicago Outfit interests around the world.

With Larner’s help, the Outfit managed to make close contacts with opium smugglers from the Philippines, since he previously smuggled tobacco and prostitutes from that same area to the U.S. According to some reports, the connection was established with the help of several underworld Chinese syndicates from the Macao and Hong Kong areas which operated independently from the Chinese Triads.

According to some old CIA reports, most of the smaller Oriental syndicates were waiting for the right moment to establish their own U.S. connections, and some sources say that it was for Tampa boss Santo Trafficante who allegedly introduced the Chicago Outfit to this new connection.

One CIA report states that their personnel was working with officers who travelled to and from the United States. Sometimes the CIA referred to "outsiders" like Giancana and Larner as "officers" and wherever these guys went, they allegedly had stops in certain countries for a legitimate mailing where mail could be collected under different aliases and covertly forwarded to reach the "true name" individual. This was in fact confidential information previously collected by CIA "officers" and later delivered to central station.

Previously I posted two wiretapped convos between Giancana and Roselli regarding the difference between CIA and FBI bugging systems and gadgets, which means these guys were previously trained on how to use those stuff and even developed knowledge on which gadgets were better or worse. Those same conversations confirm my statement regarding these guys or mobsters being used by the CIA for certain jobs, obviously for the right price. Story goes that some mobsters who were also connected to the CIA never delivered anything to the agency but instead they only collected the cash, but I personally believe that guys like Giancana, Roselli, Larner and Cain were different. Although according to CIA agent Robert Maheu, during one period Giancana and Roselli allegedly stayed in some hotel and ordered shrimps, lobsters and champagne every single day on the expense of the CIA or the government.

The Chicago Outfit had their operations all the way to the Middle East and Japan, which means the CIA also had officers who worked overseas on various operations and tasks. For example two of those same CIA "mail backstops" which involved having mail or information sent through an American Postal Office were located in the Philippines and the island of Guam, which was the home for many American citizens since the late 19th century.

During the late 1950's some associates like Larner of the Chicago Outfit were caught on wiretapped convos giving orders regarding Christmas gifts (mainly cars) for leaders and public officials from all around the world (in Larner's case it was about Mexico, Panama and Brazil) but my point is that these was all government money given by the CIA to the mobsters so they can accomplish their "dirty work". With the help of these transatlantic connections, many stolen cars from the U.S. had been transported all around the world mainly because many states or countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East all had a high demand for imported cars and once the cars reached their destination, it was extremely difficult for any law enforcement agencies to track them down.

The stolen car racket wasnt the most profitable "world wide" operation for the Chicago Outfit at the time, but instead it was the gambling, coin machines and narcotics rackets.

The narcotics racket was operated by smugglers from the Philippines who shipped raw opium to the previously mentioned small island on the Pacific Ocean known as Guam. As I already stated that this was an island on U.S. territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific. Allegedly tons of opium arrived on the island which later was processed into heroin with the help of freshly opened laboratories which were financed directly by the American Mafia, especially the Chicago Outfit and Tampa.

According to one Chicago Tribune news report, during this period a band of Chicago mobsters, with previous overseas interests in Australia, were reported zeroing in on this largest land mass between the Philippines and the U.S., while expecting "riches the likes of which the Spaniard Magellan never dreamed of".

I personally don't have any information if this was CIA/government money or Mob money, but still huge amounts of heroin flew through the island and the so-called tempting flow of dollars easily led to a massive corruption among Guam’s police and public officials and on top of that, a huge heroin epidemic occurred among the local citizens,

So by the late 1960's the transportation process to the U.S. was allegedly carried out mainly by individuals who were paid by the Asian crime syndicates, who in turn brought it to Mexico, where it was usually welcomed by local gangs who were on Giancana’s payroll. Giancana was already out of the country at the time and his main “voices” in the Mexico area were Richard Cain and also Giancana's main attorney know as Jorge Castillo who in turn also worked as his front man and contact with local Mexican authorities and also local criminal gangs. This means that the most important thing for the U.S. mob was for the shipment to arrive safely in Mexico.

From that point on the main smuggling route extended along the Arizona-Mexico border and was mainly controlled by members of Cosa Nostra in alliance with some of the Mexican criminal factions. Even though there were thousands of unaffiliated smugglers in the dope trade, still according to the FBI, there were actually 23 major smuggling rings which operated through the corridor and five of those were wholly or partially controlled by Cosa Nostra crime families from New York City, such as the Gambinos and Bonannos, and also Tampa, Detroit and Chicago.

During that period these Mob-connected dope rings smuggled Oriental heroin from the Philippines mainly because the Asian heroin (known as "China White") allegedly possessed higher quality rather than the Mexican brown product, meaning the problem was that the Mexican type of heroin was not as pure or desirable as the one from Asia's Golden Triangle.

Cheers

Thanks T, this is my cup of tea.

Im quite glad about it and you're welcome.

Fantastic write up. I love hearing these stories about Chicago's trans-national rackets

Thanks man. I have more than few similar stories and so ill post them during the following days.

In addition, the main dope smuggling contact across the Mexico-Arizona border was (believe it or not) one Chinese born criminal known as Hector Mar Wong. In fact, Wong was the main contact for the Guam, Macao and Hong Kong groups which smuggled the product to Mexico, and at the same time, he was the main contact between the Asian, American and Mexican gangs. Wong also had a son who owned a small Chinese restaurant in one overcrowded Mexican border town known as Nogales, and from there he oversaw his father’s drug shipments. Since the Oriental product went through Mexican territory, some of the local crime bosses such as the Savela brothers, Jorge and Victor, who came from the Culiacan area.

Hollander's statements about President Nixon reminded me that when he ordered troop withdrawals from Vietnam, the operation slowly destroyed the Philippine connection and smuggling route, which became the main reason for the search of new suppliers and drug routes around Central America and also southwest Europe.