L'histoire Complete de la Mafia - Les Trafficante
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00:00 Florida
00:02 Tampa was the worst place in the Gulf Coast
00:04 Traficante was the quintessence of the Mafioso
00:08 The father
00:10 He had the cold look of an assassin
00:14 And if you looked in his eyes, he could stop your heart from beating for a few minutes
00:18 The Federals are their trump cards
00:21 We are only interested in organized crime on a large scale
00:25 But some families are ready to do anything to protect theirs
00:29 He was found with a cut throat and a completely smashed head
00:34 These people don't have a conscience, they are ruthless
00:38 They are murderers, they are murderers, they make fun of everything
00:41 [Music]
01:08 April 18th, 1955
01:12 Charlie Wall, a resident of Tampa, wanders in the streets of the city and goes around the bars in the neighborhood
01:19 At first sight, he looks like a drunkard
01:26 However, this 73-year-old gangster once led the Empire of Crime in Tampa
01:33 He controlled all illegal gambling and corrupted the local politicians
01:38 Charlie Wall was a real pivot in the underworld in Tampa
01:42 He was even nicknamed the "Doyen de la Pègre"
01:45 But Santo Traficante Jr. and his father, Santo Sr., took over Wall's territory
01:51 Wall was bitterly angry with the Traficantes and wished to see them dead
02:02 All night long, he proclaimed his hatred of this family in the streets of the city
02:07 Some people say that he was insulting the Traficantes quite frequently
02:13 Two days later, the wife of Charlie Wall comes home from vacation
02:18 The welcome she received was not what she had expected
02:23 Her husband bathed in a pool of blood, brutally murdered, and still in his pajamas
02:31 He was found with a cut throat and a head completely smashed
02:34 Santo Jr. sent his message
02:39 "We do not speak ill of the Traficantes"
02:42 1901, 13 years before the birth of Santo Jr.
02:57 Santo Traficante, first name, made the long trip from Italy to the United States to live the American dream
03:04 The 14-year-old boy and his family settled in Tampa, a city still very recent
03:13 Tampa was really a swampy, mosquito infested town
03:18 It was very underdeveloped, even when the first cigar factories were set up
03:26 In the Italian community of the city, and thanks to his connections with the peggers
03:31 He began to date a young girl from the neighborhood, Maria Giuseppe Cacciatore
03:36 She is the sister of Jojo Cacciatore, a famous drug dealer
03:43 Their relationship evolved, and in April 1909, Santo and Maria got married
03:52 The world of organized crime in Florida is very different from that of New York
03:57 Gangsters from all walks of life can set up their business there, regardless of their origins or their families
04:04 Illegal trafficking is therefore controlled by various sponsors, including the Southern gangster, Charlie Wall
04:11 And the sponsor of the drug, Ignacio Antinori
04:17 Tampa was a very violent city at the time, an article even called it the hell hole of the Gulf Coast
04:24 Santo is attracted by the world of the peggers, and launches his own version of the illegal Spanish lottery called "Bolita"
04:44 The game was as follows, you had a hundred-dollar number between 1 and 100
04:48 Then you put 100 dollars in a bag, shake it a little, and you randomly draw the winning number
04:54 Ignacio Antinori, the most powerful Italian gangster in Tampa, heard about the growing success of the young drug dealer's lottery
05:05 Santo joined the gang of Antinori, and spread his money games business all over the Gulf Coast
05:13 The young drug dealer makes a lot of money
05:19 Santo takes his job very seriously, and quickly builds a ruthless reputation
05:27 My aunt Rose was a victim of domestic violence, her husband beat her up so fiercely
05:35 Santo the drug dealer broke his arm, and he never touched a single hair on my aunt again
05:41 Meanwhile, Santo and his wife Maria start their own family
05:47 In 1914, Luigi Santo Trafficante was born
05:52 The second son of the five brothers, he is nicknamed "Santo Junior"
05:57 We often see Santo Junior with his father in restaurants such as "Colombia" or "La Tropicana"
06:09 It's clear he saw something when he was a kid
06:12 There was a quickness about Santo Junior
06:15 There was a determination about what was happening in the other sons
06:21 And so when Santo Junior expressed interest in his father's business endeavors
06:30 The father was in a hurry to ask him to join the fold
06:36 While Santo Junior raises his children and runs his business in Tampa
06:41 Young New Yorkers overthrow the old patrons and innovate a new way of operating
06:47 Gangsters such as Luque Luciano and Tommy Luqueze consider that the gang members are damaging their business
06:58 Unlike the old patrons, Luqueze and Luciano agree to associate with anyone as long as there is money to be made
07:06 With Santo Trafficante Senior for example
07:09 May 1929
07:14 The gangster full of future is invited to represent Tampa to a mob meeting in Atlantic City at the President Hotel
07:26 Santo Trafficante Senior went to New York to support Luque Luciano and some of the most powerful New York gangster families
07:33 About the organization of the peggers in the Northeast
07:36 Even in the rest of the country
07:39 The mafia wants to have a contact for all of Florida and above all for Cuba
07:53 The gangsters invest a lot in the Cuban thugs but are unable to communicate in Spanish
07:59 Santo Trafficante Senior can fulfill this role
08:04 He was born in Italy but spent most of his childhood in Florida
08:09 Even if Italian is his mother tongue, he learned English very quickly
08:13 And unlike New York gangsters, he speaks Spanish fluently
08:18 Most of the guys from New York at the time spoke barely English and none of them could speak Spanish
08:24 So Trafficante had the advantage there
08:27 Trafficante is particularly well integrated
08:31 For New Yorkers, he is the ideal intermediary
08:35 Santo has more and more influence but he still has to deal with his main opponent in Tampa, the gangster Charlie Wall
08:46 Charlie Wall was just a real gangster
08:49 But because his family was very much tied to the elite that ruled Tampa at the time
08:53 He was able to maintain a lot of contacts with the judges, the politicians and the police
08:58 Wall closely monitors Santo but does not consider him a threat
09:04 He is more concerned with the boss of Trafficante, Ignacio Antinori
09:12 In 1930, while the tension between Wall and Antinori was rising
09:16 Santo Junior, aged 15, left high school
09:20 His father told him that he would not learn anything more from high school
09:24 That he would learn more by staying with him, by going to meetings, by getting involved in money games
09:30 And of course, by learning to know the big names in the business
09:33 From there, his path was clear
09:38 He was very smart, he was determined, he was ambitious
09:42 And he did not let himself be walked on the feet
09:47 As part of his education, his father took him on long trips to New York
09:55 Trafficante Senior is close to several major leaders of the New York mafia
10:01 And wishes that his son learns directly their way of proceeding
10:06 He also has another reason to send his son to New York
10:10 Tampa is in full conflict
10:13 Two rival gangs, led by Wall and Antinori
10:19 Are fighting to take control of the money games in Florida
10:23 Santo Senior remains at a distance from the conflict
10:27 He hopes to rise in power by content to survive this bloody quarrel
10:33 Once the storm has passed, Ignacio Antinori is dead
10:37 While Charlie Wall has lost the majority of his team
10:40 Santo Trafficante is more powerful than ever
10:44 Charlie Wall was eventually rejected
10:48 He could not compete with the Trafficante
10:51 Santo Senior is about to take control of Wall's territory
10:56 But he is in the line of sight of the authorities
11:01 The new boss of Tampa is in the limelight
11:05 In the 30's, a gang war broke out in Tampa
11:14 During what we will later call the "Blood Age"
11:22 Gangsters Ignacio Antinori and Charlie Wall
11:25 Fight for 10 long years
11:29 Until the day a rifle has to shoot
11:32 The fate of Antinori
11:35 This war divides the two gangs
11:39 And leaves the field free to a new one
11:42 With his rivals gone
11:46 The gangster with a bright future, Santo Trafficante Senior
11:50 Takes control of all the main money games
11:54 Santo Senior has become the boss of Tampa
11:57 He really has solidified his hold
12:00 For 10 years, Trafficante has been ruling his territory
12:05 But his domination is threatened
12:08 Federal authorities start hunting the gangsters
12:15 The gangsters are the ones who are in control
12:20 And the police starts hunting the gangsters
12:23 In 1950, the Senator of Tennessee, Estes Keefover
12:37 Attacks organized crime in America
12:40 Organized crime has taken an even bigger place than we thought it was
12:49 During his investigation for the Senate
12:52 Keefover is scouring the country and investigating the mafia
12:55 Through television audiences
12:58 Estes Keefover was a young ambitious senator from Tennessee
13:04 Like many politicians, he wanted to stand out
13:08 By attacking organized crime
13:11 In December, Keefover stops in Tampa
13:16 To deliver a series of quotes to the members of the PEGRA
13:20 The main goal of the Keefover hearings
13:26 Was to fight corruption in Tampa
13:29 It was a key moment because it was the first time
13:32 That Americans could see these gangsters on TV
13:35 The commission is interested in Trafficante
13:42 According to these estimates, the family earns 15 million dollars a year
13:46 Thanks to illegal gambling
13:49 The Senator of Tennessee summons Santo Senior and Santo Junior
13:54 To testify in front of the commission
13:57 Keefover still raises the pressure
14:04 By summoning one of the oldest rivals of Trafficante
14:07 Charlie Wall, aged 71
14:11 Keefover does not have any after this failed trial
14:14 But he wants to get information on the Trafficante
14:17 Charlie Wall testified to one of his audiences
14:21 He exposed a good part of the operation of organized crime in Tampa
14:24 For the first time, federal authorities understand
14:30 The nature of the Trafficante family's business
14:36 It is enough for Santo Senior and his son
14:39 The Trafficante make their suitcases
14:42 They skipped town
14:47 They could go to Cuba when it was too hot in the United States
14:50 There they could make money legally
14:53 And they had many options at their disposal
14:56 The Trafficante settle in the island
15:03 Where they find everything they need
15:06 For Santo, it was a dream island
15:09 He could rule freely not only on the casinos
15:12 But on everything he wanted, everything he wanted
15:15 People like Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe went there
15:19 We could compare Cuba to Las Vegas today
15:23 With all these celebrities
15:26 Havana had become this kind of place
15:31 For years, the Trafficante have been giving
15:34 Part of the profits of the American Mafia
15:37 To the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
15:40 In return, the Cuban leader prevents local authorities
15:44 From getting involved in their traffic of stupid people
15:47 The relationship between the Mafia and Batista
15:53 Was the most corrupt
15:55 Batista made a fortune thanks to their presence in Havana
15:58 He took advantage of all this
16:01 Santo Sr. complains about Cuba
16:06 But at 64, his health starts to give him problems
16:09 He is diagnosed with a stomach cancer
16:15 He knows that his time is now counted
16:19 And he starts to transmit the reins of the operations to his son
16:27 He prepared himself for it
16:30 He knew from his conversations with his father
16:33 That he was going to take over
16:36 Don't wait, the Commission must leave the city
16:39 The Trafficante can enter Florida
16:45 But they will have to face a ruthless gang war
16:48 The stakes are high
16:53 The Trafficante can eliminate all competition
16:56 Or on the contrary, lose everything he has
16:59 Tampa prepares for war
17:03 The beginning of the 50's
17:16 Santo Trafficante Sr. and his son
17:19 Have the opportunity to consolidate their domination
17:22 On the criminal activities of the state of Florida
17:26 One of their opponents, the Mafia Red Italiano
17:29 Was also involved in the money games
17:32 But he left the city during the audience of Kifo Ver
17:35 And never came back
17:38 In the absence of Red, his gang obeys
17:41 His inexperienced right arm, Jimmy Lumia
17:44 The Trafficante think they can take advantage of his lack of fists
17:48 And take over his Bolita business
17:53 The Trafficante never had a lot of soldiers
17:56 They never had the strength to dominate the south of Florida
17:59 Even if many landsters pay tribute to them
18:02 Or ask permission to deal with them
18:05 They had a foot everywhere in the middle
18:08 But they still had the control of Miami and the south of Florida
18:11 It's time for Santo Jr. to act
18:17 And get rid of his rivals once and for all
18:21 The Mafia
18:24 The days before the war against Lumia
18:32 Santo Jr. prepares the family for the confrontation
18:35 The young man seems calm and respectable
18:41 It's hard to believe he's a gangster
18:44 He was not the typical Mafia boss
18:47 He was a well-dressed man
18:50 He wore glasses with scales and tailor-made suits
18:53 He was not the type of bad guy you see in the streets of the north of the United States
18:56 He was a totally different kind of breed
18:59 All the people who knew Santo Jr. described him as a nice, quiet, and respectful person
19:05 The other Mafia members respected him
19:08 As well as his partners in the legal business
19:11 He always remained discreet
19:14 But he also had a hidden side
19:17 Unlike his father, who liked to act discreetly and secretly
19:21 Santo Jr. is more direct
19:24 Sometimes even violent
19:27 The war against Jimmy Lumia
19:32 Will bring out the darkest side of Santo Jr.
19:35 If he manages to eliminate Lumia
19:41 He will be in trouble
19:44 On June 5th, 1950
19:49 The murderers take care of Jimmy Lumia
19:52 He stopped his car to talk to some employees
19:55 Another car arrived and his brain was blown
19:58 The police suspect Santo Jr. to be the contractor
20:03 But they have no evidence to accuse him
20:08 With Jimmy Lumia eliminated, Santo Jr. continues the carnage
20:11 And attacks the gang of Italiano
20:14 Leaving behind many corpses
20:17 He eliminates the rival families one by one
20:23 Without leaving any compromising evidence
20:26 1952
20:34 Even if Lumia is dead and Italiano left the city
20:37 Their respective gangs remain loyal
20:40 And continue the war against Trafficante
20:43 But these accounting regulations disturb the general public
20:48 There was a real uproar in the public opinion
20:52 Who demanded the intervention of the police
20:55 The authorities then concentrated all their efforts on these investigations
20:58 But no murder has ever been resolved
21:01 And the blood did not stop flowing
21:04 January 3rd, 1953
21:07 At 7.25pm, one of Santo's drivers
21:11 Passes him by after a dinner at a family member's house
21:14 While the gang of Mafioso is moving away
21:19 Another car rushes at him
21:22 A shooter empties the magazine of his rifle in Santo's car
21:31 Trafficante is hit in the arm
21:34 He opens the door and collapses on the sidewalk
21:37 The unknown shooter runs away and leaves him for dead
21:41 Trafficante was hit in the arm
21:47 He went to the hospital but refused to tell the investigators anything
21:50 No one claims this attempt
21:53 But rumors circulate that it would be a revenge
21:56 Of one of the family's former rivals, Charlie Wall
22:00 Wall, the former owner of the Pegre
22:03 Was later found murdered at his home
22:06 Charlie Wall's murder has never been resolved
22:11 No one has been accused, we still don't know the culprit
22:14 While Trafficante is fighting in the streets of Tampa
22:18 His father, Santo Senior, aged 68
22:21 Succumbs to stomach cancer
22:27 His death certificate indicates that he was a simple cigar maker
22:30 His death was pretty much unnoticed
22:36 There was a small article in the newspaper
22:39 But his funerals were very discreet
22:42 Because he was running the mafia in a very low-key way
22:45 In fact, there are very few public documents available on him today
22:48 Now, Santo Junior is ready to take his father's place
22:55 You can see him already delaying a lot of his operations at the time
22:58 When he died in 1954, his son had officially passed to Santo Junior
23:01 Junior has become the leader of the mafia in Florida and in the south of the United States
23:07 It was the logical continuation of things
23:10 Santo was not the kind to mourn his father for centuries
23:14 It was business, he had to go forward, make his place, and he did
23:17 The other sponsors of the mafia in New York and elsewhere
23:23 knew that he was the presumptive heir
23:26 Traficante was very well seen by other mafia families around the country
23:31 And he immediately found his place
23:34 I think it was a pretty smooth transition
23:38 There did not seem to be a lot of dissension in the ranks of the local families as well
23:41 Santo Traficante Junior perfectly assumes the role of his father
23:47 He is now the godfather of the Tampa peggers
23:50 He seems almost untouchable
23:53 At least until his name is associated with a murder that makes a lot of noise
23:56 In 1954, Santo Traficante Senior succumbed after a fierce struggle against his stomach cancer
24:09 His son, Santo Junior, takes over as the head of the Tampa peggers
24:16 He is now the head of the Tampa peggers
24:19 He takes over at the age of 39
24:22 With a name like his, Santo does not need to be known
24:27 In the 1950s, Santo played a crucial role in drug trafficking and in money games in Havana, Cuba
24:47 Traficante is the perfect emissary for the mafia
24:50 He subdued the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
24:53 So that no one would come to put his nose in the casino accounts run by the Havana mafia
24:56 Then, on October 24, 1957, the New York-born Albert Anastasia meets Santo Junior in New York
25:04 The executor of the "high works" as he was nicknamed
25:15 Would like Traficante to give him some of his business in Cuba
25:18 Traficante was reluctant to see Anastasia land
25:23 He found him a little too rough and did not want any more competition
25:26 He wanted to make his hole in Havana
25:32 But Santo's business was doing well there and he did not want him to come and ruin everything
25:35 The next day, Anastasia will have her hair cut at a barber in a large hotel in downtown Manhattan
25:41 What is interesting is that Traficante lived in this large hotel under the pseudonym of "B. Hill"
25:44 The day he left the hotel, a few hours later Anastasia was going to get his weekly shave
25:55 While he was sitting in his chair with a towel on his face, gunmen entered and took him down
26:04 New York families are suspected of being the cause of this murder
26:07 But Santo Junior is also suspected
26:17 They tried to make him wear the hat but they never found anything against him
26:21 There was no tangible evidence that could link it to the murder
26:24 By the way, Santo was on the plane two hours before the murder, heading to Havana
26:27 He was in a very bad condition, he was in a very bad condition
26:30 He was in a very bad condition, he was in a very bad condition
26:33 Two years later, in 1959, Santo Traficante Junior goes to Cuba
26:42 Two years later, in 1959, Santo Traficante Junior goes to Cuba
26:45 And finds a country very different from the one he remembers
26:48 Cuba is in the middle of a revolution
26:59 Fidel Castro is about to take power
27:02 Before the Cuban revolution, the country was corrupt
27:09 Batista was a dictator and he was under the mob
27:15 The mob had all the casinos in Havana
27:19 And all the things that could be linked to it, including prostitution
27:28 Traficante and his associates fear that Castro is not so easy to corrupt
27:33 The mob earns 100 million dollars a year thanks to the casinos
27:40 Santo Junior will have to keep his business in Cuba despite the revolution
27:47 He decides to bet on both sides
27:54 He chose to support both Batista and Fidel Castro
27:58 He never thought that anything would ever end
28:01 Traficante provides Castro with weapons and money
28:05 Provided that he keeps the control of the casinos in Cuba
28:08 But in the spring of 1959, Castro took full control of the country and chases Batista
28:22 Once the dictator is gone, the mob will test Castro
28:25 Hoping that he will accept the wine pots as Batista did for years
28:30 But the sponsors will be disappointed
28:34 Castro becomes a communist dictator
28:41 And he expels some of the mob that he had supported when he took power
28:46 Fidel Castro took power in January 1959
28:52 He clearly moved Cuba's policy to the left
28:54 Which worried the United States a lot
28:57 He also took measures against the casinos in Havana managed by the mafia
29:02 Which made the mob very unhappy
29:05 The mob realized that they would not get what they hoped for
29:11 By giving him money, weapons and cars
29:14 He closed all the casinos and chased many gangsters out
29:19 On June 9, 1959, two weeks before the wedding of the daughter of Santo Junior in Havana
29:24 Cuban authorities arrested the mobster
29:27 Fidel's police came to his door one evening
29:34 She ransacked his apartment and took him to jail
29:38 Under vague charges, the police put him in detention
29:47 The news made a lot of noise in the middle
29:50 They incarcerated Santo, they didn't want to let him go
29:54 He was even on the list for the execution platoon
29:57 The new regime of Castro orders hundreds of executions
30:02 The days of trafficking seem to count
30:08 The end of the revolution
30:11 In 1959, Fidel Castro launched a revolution against the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista
30:26 Once in power, Castro turned his back on the American gangsters who had supported him during his fight
30:36 Without warning, he threw Santo Traficante Junior in jail
30:40 It was never very clear, the police had no valid reason to detain him
30:48 Josephine, Santo's wife, wanted her husband to attend the wedding of their daughter in Havana
30:55 But he was incarcerated
30:57 Trying everything, she contacted the Cuban authorities
31:03 Josephine came from a family with important political and economic contacts in Florida
31:08 Josephine managed to contact the Ministry of Justice
31:12 And she was convinced to grant him permission to attend his daughter's wedding
31:16 In fact, they let him attend the ceremony
31:19 But once it was over, they immediately took him to the detention center
31:23 For the moment, Traficante remains in prison
31:31 The next day
31:33 Traficante's lawyer contacted Castro's government, hoping to free Santo Junior
31:42 Cuba eventually expelled the mafia man
31:49 He returned home, in Tampa, regretting having to leave his casinos
31:57 Traficante lost his casinos in Cuba, he managed to get a lot of money out of them, but he also lost a lot
32:03 After losing Havana, the gangsters need a new place to rebuild their game empire
32:19 They choose Las Vegas, in Nevada
32:25 Santo Junior was very happy with his Cuban casinos, but he hesitated to invest in this kind of business in the United States
32:32 I think really Traficante understood that he should invest in Las Vegas, he risked being too late
32:40 At the time, he thought it was wise to build a new game empire somewhere in the Caribbean
32:51 Over the next few years, especially in the mid-60s, he sent emissaries to Ecuador, Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Venezuela, Central America, the South, and the Caribbean, to open up casino operations there
33:06 But none of them worked out the way he had hoped
33:11 While Traficante is trying to rebuild his business, America is embarking on the Cold War
33:21 [Cold War]
33:24 The CIA considers Castro a threat
33:29 The presence of a communist country 150 km from the Florida coast appears to be a real threat to the United States
33:37 An agent of the CIA, Robert Mayhew, organizes a meeting with Traficante
33:47 He tells Tampa's gangsters that he wants to use his contacts in Cuba to have Castro assassinated
33:53 He was recruited by Bob Mayhew to deal with the Cubans because he knew them well
34:00 Traficante was a key figure because he had lived and worked in Havana
34:05 He knew all the Cuban politicians who could help them
34:09 Santo had his entrances and could place one of his close ones near Castro if he decided to try something against him
34:17 Traficante tells the CIA that he agrees to participate in the plot
34:21 But in reality, he never had the intention to act
34:25 It's funny because Santo saw it as a way to make money
34:32 He told the CIA and his agents what he wanted to hear
34:36 They gave him the hidden information that could have killed Castro if they had put them in his glass
34:43 But Santo got rid of it in the toilets
34:46 The CIA thought that a mobster would be in charge of the murder
34:52 Which proved that they had no idea what the mob was
34:57 They are not hired killers
35:00 You can't go to Carlos Marcello and tell him "I want to kill my wife, here is $10,000" and ask him to take care of it
35:06 The murders that take place in the mafia are accounting regulations
35:12 Nobody is paid, it's part of the job to do this kind of thing
35:15 However, Traficante plays the CIA game
35:20 It's a quick way to make money
35:24 He was just taking a lot of money from the agency
35:29 And it made him laugh
35:32 Traficante has no reason to scare the American government
35:36 Some even think that he works as a double agent for Castro
35:42 There have been many rumors that he worked for both sides
35:46 And you can assume that he had some information that had some value
35:52 In the following months, Traficante will feel the weight of the suspicions of a much more serious nature
36:02 When the whole nation will be shaken by a tragic event
36:08 November 22, 1963
36:11 The sun shines in Dallas, Texas
36:15 An isolated shooter named Lee Harvey Oswald opens fire
36:20 And kills the president John Fitzgerald Kennedy, aged 46
36:25 The next day, the president is killed by a gunshot
36:30 The shooting is a suicide
36:35 Lee Harvey Oswald, 26 years old
36:38 Only the last bullets are fired from Oswald's gun
36:44 And all kinds of conspiracy theories are surfacing
36:48 According to one of the most persistent, although never proven
36:55 Traficante Jr. would have played a key role
36:59 This theory is based on facts dating back to two years ago
37:04 The American government
37:07 1961
37:10 In Washington, the Justice Minister, Robert Kennedy
37:14 Is on a mission to get rid of America from organized crime
37:19 There are a number of measures that must be taken in many areas
37:23 The organized crime is a very serious threat to the country today
37:29 Robert Kennedy had a priority
37:33 To arrest and incarcerate the most members of the mafia
37:36 By any possible means
37:40 He did this in his own personal crusade
37:44 Kennedy is attacking the corruption of the mafia
37:49 Jimmy Hoffa, the president of the truckers' union
37:53 Doesn't like to be watched by Kennedy
37:58 The same is true of Santa Traficante Jr.
38:02 Traficante started to complain about Kennedy
38:06 He said, "This man is looking for trouble, he will get what he deserves"
38:10 Frank Ragano, the lawyer, represents Hoffa, Traficante
38:15 And the mafia's sponsor, Carlos Marcello
38:19 Hoffa, Marcello and Traficante
38:23 All want to get rid of the Kennedy threat
38:27 But getting rid of the Attorney General won't solve their problem
38:31 At this point, they are advised to focus on the president
38:36 You had to kill the president
38:40 If you chopped the head off, the brain would still be alive
38:44 But if you chopped the head off, everything is gone
38:49 According to this theory, Hoffa had Marcello and Traficante
38:55 killed by Ragano
38:58 Hoffa called Ragano and told him
39:02 It was time to kill John F. Kennedy
39:07 He sent them a message and to his surprise
39:11 Instead of laughing, Marcello and Traficante
39:15 looked at each other with a long, cold look
39:20 [TRAFICANTE]
39:23 1963
39:30 According to this theory, Traficante meets a man
39:34 he met in the Havana prison
39:38 Loren Hall, who in turn contacts Lee Harvey Oswald
39:42 Dallas' shooter
39:47 Something happened in the procession
39:50 I repeat, something happened in the procession
39:54 On the evening of November 22, while the whole country is mourning
40:05 Santo, Traficante Jr. and Frank Ragano meet in Tampa
40:13 The two men raise their glasses and drink to the death of President Kennedy
40:18 Frank Ragano never forgot this moment
40:22 It was the drop of water that made the vase overflow
40:26 the moment I crossed the line
40:30 I thought about it and I saw myself celebrating the death of the president
40:34 and I realized that I had gone too far
40:38 My mother witnessed this
40:42 She left because she did not believe her eyes
40:45 The whole country was mourning
40:49 and these two men were drinking to the death of the president of the United States
40:53 Chris Ragano says that on the same day
40:57 his father received a call from his other client, Jimmy Hoffa
41:01 All the employees were crying at my father's office
41:05 One of the secretaries told him that he had a call from Mr. Hoffa
41:10 He said to him, "Did you hear the good news? They killed that son of a bitch"
41:14 The former cellmate of Traficante, Lauren Hall
41:19 later received a call from a journalist of the National Enquirer
41:23 Apparently, Hall was drunk
41:27 He was very aggressive and refused to declare anything to the journalist
41:31 Then suddenly he said, "Listen, the only two people still alive who know something are Santo Traficante and me"
41:39 "I want to stay alive, so I'm not going to say shit"
41:43 In the end, the Warren Commission failed to establish a link
41:49 between Kennedy's murder and Traficante or anyone else
41:53 except Lee Harvey Oswald
41:56 It therefore concludes that Oswald acted alone
42:00 Traficante will never be blamed for this murder
42:06 [Music]
42:10 But even today, rumors persist about the role that Traficante and the Mafia played in the events of November 22
42:18 I definitely think that Traficante was deeply involved in the assassination
42:26 He was the go-ahead for the assassination
42:29 If there is any part of truth in these rumors
42:34 it is in the grave with Traficante
42:36 Tens of years later, in 1981
42:42 the federal government finally found an accused leader against Tampa's godfather
42:48 Raquette
42:50 The authorities considered that they had enough evidence against him to inculpate him
42:56 Santo Junior needs to be well defended
43:02 In the long-term case, Frank Ragano has been trying for years to break his ties with the world of the pilgrim
43:08 But Santo Junior keeps proving himself very convincing
43:12 Santo came to my father's office and said to him
43:15 "If you don't defend me, say goodbye to your son"
43:18 He was referring to me
43:20 Ragano accepts the case
43:25 But because of Santo Junior's health problems, the trial is still being postponed
43:31 His health deteriorated, he had kidney problems, he had an intestinal intervention
43:35 His heart was weakened, the list is long, he was on the decline
43:39 In March 1987, Santo is admitted to Houston Hospital for a cardiac transplant
43:47 The 72-year-old man will not survive the operation
43:53 The operation went well, but he never woke up after the anesthesia
43:58 He died after being sewn back up again
44:02 Santo Traficante Junior and his father will remain the most unremarkable duo in the history of the Mafia
44:11 Although they are involved in trafficking and murder cases
44:17 They managed to never spend a single night in an American prison
44:22 It's the most beautiful gift Santo Senior could give his son
44:27 He knew how to get through the net, unlike the bad guys in the north of the country
44:32 He wasn't like Gotti, for example, who was eating his cannolis in the middle of the street
44:37 He wasn't one of those guys
44:39 He was really the silent god
44:43 The Silent God
44:45 (dramatic music)
44:47 [Music]