36 DAILY EXPRESS Thursday February 20 1992 CONFESSIONS OF A GODFATIIERI Kennedys suffer the Mob's final revenge Ai CHICAGO Godfather Sam Mooney Giancana may only rate a footnote in history. But he helped change the course of world affairs because of his part In the plot to kill President John F Kennedy in 1963. His Mob were influential in securing JFK's 1960 victory In Illinois, but to DEATH Mooney's fury the Kennedys recognised DEALING: The no obligation. Both JFK and Bobby were gun used to to pay a heavy price. kill Senator Before his death Giancana confided Robert MI his secrets to his younger brother Kennedy Chuck, who wrote this chilling acccount with his son Sam Jr. T WAS Sam Mooney Giancana's chilling boast that the assassination of President Kennedy. which the Mafia had helped organise, was lit- tle different from the plot to kill Cas- Itro — or any of the dozens of other military/CIA-sponsored coups through- out the world. "The government of this country was overthrown by a handful of guys who did their job so damned well... not one STOOGE: Sirhan took the rap American ever knew it happened. But I know. I've guaranteed the Out- fit's (Chicago name for Mafia) future. It's time for Giancana orders me to move on to greener pastures. Spreadin' the Outfit's power and makin' death sentences a fortune in deals over- THE BOSS Sam Giancana and wife Ange seas are two of the best reasons I can think of to contacts, new avenues for phoned Chuck and said ing me financially. But he The Mafia code of silence. leave the country." he told diverting their own dirty they were calling in his hadn't done a damn thing his brother Chuck in 1966. money funds. $200,000 loan. From Mexico Mooney for me in years." . wielded his power like a' Mooney had spent a . For Chuck that year saw for con- So Chuck sent a mes- The publicity exacted a sword. He never lost his year in jail one disaster follow sage to Mooney in Mex- terrible toll on Chuck and hold over his Chicago tempt when he refused another. He had now ico. He needed his his family. His elder son to testify before a empire. Chuck stayed in branched out on his own brother's help. Back came Chuckle, 17, dropped out touch with his brother's grand jury and left into property develop- the . reply: "No way. of school, and even 12- shortly after his goings-on through Moo- ment with a bank loan. Unload the joint." year-old Sam Jr was ney's henchman and Out- release for Mexico. hounded into solitude. His shopping plaza at fit enforcer Chuckle Nico- With his interpreter letti. Richard Cain. a Chicago Rosemount was progress- WO days before Chuck went to work cop turned gangster, ing well when one morn- oreclosure Chuck as a film projectionist. In April 1969 Chuck met Mooney set up gambling ing helicopters loaded sold his shopping As he watched the Nicoletti by chance. What junkets in Latin American with cameramen circled plaza. Years later he movies, he saw more he had to say about Moo- coastal countries, and above it. Chuck learned would pass the clearly how Mooney ney captured Chuck's pursued highly lucrative later that the FBI had sug- Tshopping centre and point had left his lasting, attention completely. narcotics and munitions gested to Chicago report- to it with disgust: "It's destructive mark on every aspect of his life. One more Kennedy out smuggling and money- ers that perhaps Sam worth three million today. of the way, huh?" said laundering schemes. Giancana might still be T lost it all because of the When he thought about Nicoletti smiling broadly. The CIA profited as investing in construction FBI. They wanted Mooney his brother's terrible "So Mooney did it again. well, discovering through through his brother. and nothing would stand political secrets the word Goddam. your brother's a Mooney's bribe-friendly The next day the bank in their way — even ruin- 'omerta' rang in his ears. genius. And settin' up that ELIMINATED ... Robert Kennedy shot down guy Sirhan to take the the CIA and the politi- rap, hell, didn't it work cians who would sell their like a charm. souls for power. He'd "You know," Nicoleni never be safe again. whispered, "Oswald didn't Chuck vowed to really fire a shot. At least renounce forever Mooney Sirhan did that much. But 'and the Outfit. On May 23 even if he couldn't hit a 1969 his family legally barn it didn't matter, cos changed their last name. Mooney had another guy Chuck didn't care to do the job on Bobby. whether he ever saw Moo- "Mooney must like to ney again, nail those Kennedy bas- What he didn't know tards in front of God and was that he never would. everybody." On June 19 1975 mem- NOTHER mobster bers of the Senate Select Tommy Payne Committee on Intelli- would later tell gence arrived in Chicago Chuck that the Chi- — where Mooney was Aago Outfit had sequestered since his deportation from Mexico controlled everything at — to arrange his safe the Los Angeles hotel transport to Washington where the hit on Bobby Kennedy had occurred DC for his testimony and that the other gun- before Senator Frank man, an Outfit man, was a Church. last-minute replacement Church was specifically for a security guard. interested in Ins connec- Chuck felt the chill of tion with the CIA's assas- another of his brother's sination plot on Castro. secrets. He knew too But Sam would not much. Too much about live to sit before the Mooney, too much about committee. Enforcing the code of silence ON THE very evening that Sen- as he'd met hearings before: by ate staffers went to Chicago, saying nothing of consequence. Mooney was killed. It was a Mooney would never have beautiful night for a murder. The revealed his vast knowledge of air was thick and hot and still. covert CIA operations, or any of The killer made his way along the thousands of skeletons bur- one side of the bungalow in the ied in the Outfit closet. The code quiet Oak Park suburb where of Omerta ran too strongly Mooney lived and went down through his Sicilian veins. It was the concrete steps to the base- his code of honour. ment below. He felt the .22 tar- But to those unaware of his get pistol against his waist, hid- ethic, the spectre of Giancana den beneath his belt. testifying was a threat of mon- strous proportions. But he had nothing to fear, nothing to hide. He and his Most of those involved in the intended victims were friends. 1963 assassination of President REVELATIONS ... Chuck and wife Anne-Marie The familiar smell of cigar Kennedy have been murdered. smoke mingled with sausage and ney, a man he'd known for 30 onlookers and cops attended, Some have committed suicide or garlic hit Elm as he opened the years and watched as he fought lending a carnival atmosphere to spent their final days in prison, others still linger behind bars. heavy steel door. Mooney for air, gurgling in his own an otherwise sombre affair. showed not the slightest inkling blood, And then he placed the "Where's the respect?" muttered There are some men, however, of fear as he fried some fat Ital- gun into the gaping, blue lipped Chuck angrily. If we are to believe Mooney's ian sausages. mouth and fired again. He Chuck took a deep breath, tales, who've prospered and The killer stepped up behind shoved the gun under Mooney's stepped up to the casket and remained free. Amassing power his friend. He pulled the gun — a chin and lodged five more bullets looked down at the waxen face from careers deeply rooted in the CIA, these men have reached six-inch silencer over its nose - into what was left of a brain. — heavily reconstructed. It from its hiding place. Pressing it His job accomplished, the hadn't been the Outfit that America's loftiest positions. 1992 by Sam Giancana and against Mooney s skull he pulled killer walked calmly out of the wanted his brother dead, but Chuck Giancana. Token from Dou. the trigger. door into the summer night air. some far more powerful ally that ble Cross: The Story Of The Man And vanished. A sharp crack rang out and his would have feared his testimony Who Controlled America, by Sam victim lurched forward, then Two days later Chuck before the Senate Committee. and Chuck Giancana, published by back again, falling face up on the attended his brother's wake. Chuck believed his brother Macdonald on March 2, at £16.99. floor. The killer stood over Moo- Hundreds of reporters, curious would have met this new inquiry Adopted by PETER GROSVENOR. .