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Sam Giancana (1908–1975) led the Chicago Outfit during much of the Kennedy era. Alongside Johnny Roselli and Santo Trafficante Jr., Giancana was one of the three Mafia figures the CIA recruited through intermediary Robert Maheu in the 1960–1963 plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. The Church Committee confirmed the broad outlines of this relationship in its 1975 Interim Report on Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders. Giancana was scheduled to testify before the Church Committee and was shot to death in the basement of his Oak Park, Illinois home on June 19, 1975, five days before Roselli's scheduled testimony. His killing remains unsolved. Because Giancana was also linked — through Judith Campbell Exner — to President Kennedy during 1961, his name features in several theories connecting the Mafia, the CIA-Castro plots, and the Dallas assassination; the HSCA examined these links and declined to find direct mob involvement in the assassination.
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At the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Santo Trafficante Jr., Johnny Roselli, and Sam Giancana meet with CIA operatives Robert Maheu and James O'Connell. Poison pills and $10,000 are transferred for use against Fidel Castro. The meeting is a cornerstone of the Church Committee's 1975 Interim Report.
Chicago organized-crime figure Sam Giancana is shot and killed in his Oak Park, Illinois, home shortly before he is scheduled to testify before the Church Committee on CIA-Mafia Castro plots. The killing remains officially unsolved.
Johnny Roselli testifies in closed session on the CIA-Mafia Castro plots, five days after Sam Giancana's murder.
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“ARRB · JFK-M-18 : F2 : 2000.02.15.11:24:03:513044 : UNIT INDEX · Release: Redact”
“CIA · JFK-M-17 : F8 : 2000.02.14.15:12:41:437044 : UNIT INDEX: 54 PAGES ARE DIFS · Release: Redact”
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Giancana's role in the CIA-Mafia Castro plots, pre-murder.
Allowlisted FBI Vault release covering the Chicago Outfit leadership period.
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“CIA · JFK-M-01 : F6 : 1998.09.19.12:57:53:763031 : ARRB REQUEST.CIA - 7. · Release: Redact”
“MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF POLICE · Tabbed FBI 295-1. File 6-32. Box 295. · Release: Redact”
“SSCIA · CCBOX 349 · Release: Redact”
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“SSCIA · From: HALLEY · Box 2 · Release: Redact”
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“ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION · Selected pages from deposition. Full document is number 1781000210091. · Release: Redact”