The overthrow of the Battista regime in Cuba. Fidel Castro coming to power. The closing of mafia owned casinos, and Castro's expulsion of American racketeers. The Apalachin Meeting of 1957. The Bay of Pigs invasion. The assassination of JFK. The assassination of Bobby Kennedy. The collaboration of the CIA and Cosa Nostra to assassinate Castro...and the killings later on by the United States Government to try and coverup the whole sordid affair!

Santo Trafficante was at the center of it all.

And now...The Trafficante Family of Tampa, Florida.

https://thenewyorkmafia.com/2021/03/28/the-trafficante-family-of-tampa-fl

Good job!

Thank you ScottD. As one of the more knowledgable researchers and posters on the forum about the Tampa Mob, I really appreciate your vote of confidence and the compliment.

Down the road I have also Marcello's New Orleans crew planned for an expose as well.

The two of them tied in tightly with one another over their careers.

Very well written. Good stuff!!!! @Nymafia. My only gripe when it comes to a lot of the Tampa stuff is how the significance of Ybor gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. @scottd does a great job in his book highlighting the importance of Ybor. Hoping to join you on the tour soon @scottd!!

Thank you. I used to drive by the hotel (now a Ho-tel), Tahitian Resort,where Trafficante and Sonny Black met, everyday on my way to work. I'd like to know about his time being groomed by Tommy Luchese prior to becoming the boss. What kind of tour does Scott D have? I'm a forty minute drive to Ybor.

He does the Tampa mafia tour in Ybor. Supposed to be great. Google it.

Thanks Jshov31, I actually mention Ybor City several times in my story. That was the borgata's base.

Although I had indeed read about it years ago, I was intrigued about Trafficante's possible involvement in the JFK assassination, and the attempts on Castro. The fact that he survived the later carnage that took both Giancana and Rosselli also speaks volumes I think about Santo's understanding of the ying and yang of their involvement with the CIA and U.S. Government.

The sensitive nature and deadly consequences of interacting with the G at that level.

I've been doing a lot of my own research on Trafficante. Amazing stuff, thanks!

I read the book ''Little Man'' by Meyer Lansky's brother...The book was terrible but he said that Meyer told him that of all the gangsters in Cuba, Trafficante was the only one he respected, and was impressed how he got such a big piece of Cuba at a young age

Was it Trafficante or his son that FBI agent Joe Pistone was introduced to as Donnie Brasco? I'm guessing the son due to the age factor

The son

Thanks. That may have been Piostone's greatest moment as an FBI agent, and the Mafia's biggest embarrassment. If I remember correctly from the book, there was a surveillance photo of him, Sonny Black, and Trafficante together on the boat. I wonder if the father would have let anyone he was not sure of get that close to him.

Trafficante was pretty slick/paranoid, look what happened to Johnny Roselli. It could just be a Sicilian thing lol, pretty sure that’s what Scarfo meant when he would say ‘you gotta be careful around the siggies” lol

Or something along those lines

What an amazing read and a great contribution to this forum!

Thank you for that ringing endorsement T2T. I'm glad you enjoyed the Trafficante story. Marcello Family of NO should be up shortly as well.
Its in design stages now. We're adding pics. hopefully it'll be up by tomorrow or Saturday. we'll see