Gangsterismo
The United States, Cuba and the Mafia, 1933 to 1966
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- 11,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
"Gangsterismo brilliantly unravels the bizarre tale of the Mafia army the Kennedy brothers recruited in their manic determination to rid Cuba of Castro." —Martin J. Sherwin, co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize (together with Kai Bird) for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
"Colhoun damningly documents the pathetic, incompetent and sometimes comic, but always inappropriate and anti-democratic, attempts by the CIA and/or its confederates, working in tandem with members of the mob, to assassinate Castro and overthrow the Cuban revolution." —Victor S. Navasky, publisher emeritus, The Nation; professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
"Invaluable . . . Colhoun has done his homework. This is a must-read." —Margaret Randall, author of To Change the World: My Years in Cuba
"A breakthrough: [Colhoun] casts light upon one of the darkest recesses of a dark history . . . and reveals in the process that film and fiction have actually only scratched the surface of a sordid story." —Louis A. Pérez, Jr., editor, Cuba Journal; professor of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Gangsterismo is an extraordinary accomplishment, the most comprehensive history yet of the clash of epic forces over several decades in Cuba. It is a chronicle that touches upon deep and ongoing themes in the history of the Americas, and more specifically of the United States government, Cuba before and after the revolution, and the criminal networks known as the Mafia.
The result of 18 years’ research at national archives and presidential libraries in Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and Massachusetts, here is the story of the making and unmaking of a gangster state in Cuba. In the early 1930s, mobster Meyer Lansky sowed the seeds of gangsterismo when he won Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista’s support for a mutually beneficial arrangement: the North American Mafia were to share the profits from a future colony of casinos, hotels, and nightclubs with Batista, his inner circle, and senior Cuban Army and police officers. In return, Cuban authorities allowed the Mafia to operate its establishments without interference. Over the next twenty-five years, a gangster state took root in Cuba as Batista, other corrupt Cuban politicians, and senior Cuban army and police officers got rich. All was going swimmingly until a handful of revolutionaries upended the neat arrangement: and the CIA, Cuban counterrevolutionaries, and the Mafia joined forces to attempt the overthrow of Castro.
Gangsterismo is unique in the literature on Cuba, and establishes for the first time the integral, extensive role of mobsters in the Cuban exile movement. The narrative unfolds against a broader historical backdrop of which it was a part: the confrontation between the United States and the Cuban revolution, which turned Cuba into one of the most perilous battlegrounds of the Cold War.
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Radical journalist Colhoun's nearly 20 years of research reveal how Castro's rise to power made unlikely allies of the United States government and the Mafia casino owners he sought to expel from Cuba. He takes us through the CIA's covert methods of undermining Castro, notably organizing, arming, and funding Cuban counterrevolutionary groups in the United States which culminated in the Cuban missile crisis. Examples include the botched Bay of Pigs attack and Operation Mongoose, a failed attempt to "organize a popular uprising on the island as a pretext for U.S military intervention in Cuba." The CIA worked directly with the Mafia on several attempts to assassinate Castro, and Cuba-based gangsters like Meyer Lansky and Frank Fiorini provided the CIA and FBI with information from inside the country. Colhoun also follows the escalation of Cold War relations from negotiations in Vienna and the construction of the Berlin Wall, to the agreement to remove missiles from Cuba. The situation fizzled out after Kennedy's assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald, a supposed "pro-Castro Marxist", and Krushchev's removal from power. Interestingly, Jack Ruby, the man who shot Oswald, was a known associate of the Cuban Mafia. Colhoun's commendable research results in a detailed, nuanced picture of Cold War-era politics and personalities.
