All language subtitles for Mafia.Spies.S01E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[dramatic music]

- I believe that an operation
should never be undertaken

unless it can be done so
in the deepest,

most permanently
impenetrable secrecy.

- It's all right
if it isn't disclosed?

- Ever.

- The same ethos exists for
both the CIA and the Mafia.

You have to keep secrets.

- With the Mob, the code is,

you don't talk
to the authorities.

- I refuse to answer
on the grounds

it might tend
to incriminate me.

- I respectfully decline
to answer the question

upon the ground that the answer
may tend to incriminate me.

- I will claim the privilege
of the Fifth Amendment

and decline to answer.

- There's nothing worse
than someone who flips

and becomes
a government witness.

- There's this famous thing
that Tony Accardo,

the head of the Chicago Mob,
said.

A fish doesn't get caught
if he keeps his mouth shut.

* *

- But Johnny Roselli
has problems with the feds.

The feds now have
this dark secret

of what his real name
and background was.

- His big secret is out.

- The authorities
leaned on Roselli

kind of like, you feel
like getting deported?

You feel like going to prison?

- Johnny is considering
all the different ways

that he could avoid
both results.

One of the possibilities is,

he reveals the big secret

that the CIA was involved
with the Mafia

to try to kill Castro.

And as part of it,
he was helping

the federal government.

- To even think about
talking about this

was dangerous and puts
his life at great risk.

- The worst thing
that could happen

is to have
your secrets spilled.

The Mafia understood this.

CIA understood this.

- If you talk, you die.

It's that simple.

- But with pressure mounting,

someone is going to cave,

and it will be a filthy mess
from which

the United States government
never recovers.

* *

[suppressed gunshot]

* *

- There's one weekend
at Cal Neva

that leads
to Sam Giancana's downfall.

Giancana starts a fistfight

with his girlfriend
Phyllis McGuire's manager.

Giancana wasn't even
supposed to be there.

- Giancana is banned
from being in

any casino
in the state of Nevada.

- It becomes a big tabloid
display in "Life" magazine

and newspapers
all around the country.

[jazz music]

* *

So Tony Accardo
reclaims the leadership

of the Chicago Mob.

[indistinct dialogue over TV]

- Giancana's removed
as the operating boss.

He becomes just
another Outfit member.

He's not in any sort
of major leadership role.

* *

- After the fiasco
at Cal Neva,

the feds start checking out
the finances of this place.

- Course, you're not gonna see
Sam Giancana's name

on any of the paperwork,

but he was partners with
Frank Sinatra in the Cal Neva.

Not legally, of course.

[reporters clamoring]

- The FBI said,
we will

give you immunity

if you talked about the Mob.

- Roemer later explains,
"If he lied,

"we can get him for perjury.

"If he told the truth,

his associates would get him."

- If you talk, you end up dead.

[dramatic music]

- He would not talk.

He would not.

* *

- Sam spends the next year
behind bars.

* *

- Meanwhile Johnny Roselli

has his own problems
with the feds.

They're building
a case against him

based upon what they found out

about his illegal
immigration status.

But then things get
even worse for Johnny

when his name comes up

in yet another scandal.

- The Friars Club
is a show business

fraternity-sorority
in Beverly Hills.

It's a bunch of these
alta cocker comedians

kind of sitting around,
talking to each other.

- At the Friars Club,
they had a card room.

- Gin rummy
was particularly popular.

- That's where the money was.

If you played in that game,
then you could do well,

or you could do really bad.

- You're not supposed
to gamble

at these games for money.

It's illegal in California.

But of course, people did.

- You couldn't have money
on the tables,

so it was all done with
little white scraps of paper.

I mean, I'm talking, like,
hundreds of thousands

of dollars changing hands
over gin rummy.

- You had to be a member
or you had to be sponsored

by a member to get in.

Now, Roselli was not a member.

Frank Sinatra
was the club abbot.

He had vouched for Roselli.

And that was Roselli's in

to get behind
those closed doors

and take part in those
high-stakes gin rummy games.

- Eventually
one of the friars thought,

we can cheat,
and nobody's gonna know it.

It's gonna be flawless.

[drill whirring]

[indistinct chatter]

They would have a device
hooked up

to one of the guys
at the table,

and there would be
a little code.

The guy in the attic
is basically saying

who's got what cards.

- They ended up making
a lot of money with the scam,

and word kind of
got out around

that there was a fix in.

And then that's when
Roselli's ears got piqued,

and he kind of muscled in,
and he said, I want a 1/5 cut.

- If Johnny Roselli wants
to be in on this scam,

he's gonna be in
on the scam.

It's the bully
in the schoolyard.

Nobody is gonna say,
no, we don't want him.

The FBI had been tailing
Johnny Roselli.

They were parked
outside the Friars Club,

so they saw a guy climbing out
of the skylight onto the roof.

* *

- And that's how they find out,

hey, there's this whole scam
going on,

and they've been ripping off
celebrities

and members
for five years already.

- Johnny's cut was
$400,000 by that point.

People lost a ton of money.

- Harry Karl
was a shoe magnate who was,

my mother, Debbie Reynolds'
second husband.

He's one
of the wealthiest guys.

He loved playing cards,
and he loved,

more than anything else,
gambling.

- Debbie Reynolds told me
about Harry Karl

and how he lost so much money.

Debbie Reynolds lost a fortune
because of that man.

And you had Phil Silvers,
Zeppo Marx,

a couple other biggies
lost a lot of money

in that scandal.

- The FBI ended up
indicting Johnny Roselli

with some other people.

[tense music]

* *

- He's already got
the immigration battle

that comes to a head when he's
convicted on that charge.

And now, at the same time,
he's got the Friars Club

investigation in which
he's eventually convicted

and facing sentencing.

- So he decides, maybe if
the judge knows I'm a patriot,

he'll give me some leniency.

He tells his lawyer
he's been doing

a lot of work for the CIA.

- He puts his life
at great risk.

- His lawyer thinks
it's a good idea

to bring in Robert Maheu
to testify.

They put him on the stand,
and they ask him to verify

that Johnny Roselli
was working for the CIA

and that he was doing
his patriotic duty

by trying to kill
Fidel Castro.

- Maheu testifies,

"I don't know
what you're talking about"...

* *

Betraying Roselli.

* *

Even if Roselli's claim
was true,

the judge decides,

"I don't think Mr. Roselli
is entitled to brownie points.

"I am not going to concede
that a court

"should give credit
to a person

who attempts the assassination
of anybody."

* *

- Johnny's in deep trouble.

If he doesn't
do something fast,

he's going to jail.

[upbeat music]

* *

- By the mid-'60s,
there are still

anti-Castro operations
going on

by people like Tony Varona
and Manuel Artime.

- The Cuban exile community

never stopped trying
to retake Cuba,

even after the Bay of Pigs.

- But LBJ has decided
to get out

of the assassination business

and also stop
the boom-and-bang operations.

- I think the Kennedy
administration came to an end,

and the operations that
continued under Lyndon Johnson

quickly unraveled.

It was clear
that Operation Mongoose

had completely failed.

- They closed down
Operation Mongoose.

Places like Zenith,
the phony front

that's being run by the CIA,
that's closed down.

- The CIA, I think, had
suffered from exile fatigue.

The exile leaders were all
fighting among themselves.

It just was not
a professional group.

- You're not backed by CIA
or any organization, are you?

- Well, I might--I've heard
rumors to that effect,

but nobody can prove it.

- The CIA's proposal
was that they would

set up a new base
in Central America

for the Cuban exiles.

They would give the exiles
some guns and some Jeeps,

and that's it.

They would not direct them,

and they would be autonomous.

And the United States
could claim a distance.

[thunder booming,
rain pattering]

[dramatic music]

[telegraph beeping]

- [speaking Spanish]

- These autonomous
exile militants

mistook a Spanish freighter
for a Cuban boat.

- They sank the ship
with CIA-supplied equipment,

causing a huge
international scandal.

* *

And it basically led
to a significant retreat

of the U.S. support
for the exile movement.

- Another die-hard
CIA official in Miami

concluded that "the bearded
devil had won the war."

* *

- Dad was in jail for a year

because of the Fifth Amendment
that he had taken,

and then as soon
as he got out,

he did leave for Mexico.

He figured there was
a lot of trouble brewing

around Chicago.

[airplane engine roaring]

[upbeat music]

* *

- Giancana lived
at this castle.

It was in the mountainside
of Mexico City.

I forget what it was called.

It had, like,
a saint's name, right,

the villa that he lived in?

- While Sam was away
from everything,

he just calmed down.

He was very wonderful.

He would go into the garden
and start gardening.

I mean, this is
the temperament

he was getting into.

I remember going to all
of these restaurants,

and he'd just sit
and enjoy himself.

[light piano music]

- You're in your 60s or 70s.

You're saying, hey, I could
have romantic relationships.

I could have food.
I could have music.

I could do whatever.

You know, at some point,

you want to just live
your life.

- He lived like a king,
but he was also invisible.

Nobody knew what Sam was up to.

- He was doing a lot
of international business.

He was working
with the shah of Iran

and put a casino in Tehran.

He was doing this on his own.

- Roselli later
explained about Sam:

"This guy's having a ball.

"As far as he's concerned,

"he never wants
to go back to Chicago.

"'My investments are sound,'
he told me.

"'I'm enjoying this new life.

"'Let the cocksuckers
back there

"'knock each other off
all they want.

Who cares?'"

* *

[soft music]

- Meanwhile, for Roselli,
things are not going well.

He's broke and facing
five years in jail.

* *

- Johnny still has
a wild card up his sleeve.

Hoping to get leniency
from the court,

he's gonna tell
his story to the press.

Roselli promised never
to reveal his life as a spy,

but this situation now
has left him desperate.

[sly music]

He sets up a meeting
with his lawyer

and the columnist
Jack Anderson.

- Jack Anderson
was an investigative reporter.

He was the Woodward
and Bernstein

of the pre-Watergate era.

- Johnny wants to make sure
that he never is caught

specifically speaking
to the press,

so he tells the whole story
to his lawyer.

Anderson sits
listening to this.

- Roselli's sending out
a message

that this isn't me doing this,

that this is me
passing it to someone

who chooses to pass it
to someone else

who chooses to publish it.

This is a lot different
than me being, oh, I'm a baby,

and I'm gonna fold
for the government.

Anderson
is writing it all down,

and he puts it all
in his newspaper column.

- "The full story
reads like the script

"of a James Bond movie,
complete with secret trysts

at glittering
Miami Beach hotels."

- The Anderson column
is a sensation.

And while it doesn't
get Johnny out of jail...

It causes problems
in many different places,

and suddenly there are ripples
all about this scandal.

- The floodgates started
opening in the early '70s.

All sorts
of intelligence abuses

start coming out in the media,
in "The New York Times,"

"Ramparts" magazine, CBS News.

- Authorizing CIA excursions
into everything

from simple propaganda

to the overthrow
of unfriendly governments.

- They were reporting
on CIA and FBI covert actions

that were sometimes criminal,
sometimes completely unethical.

They included things like
spying on Martin Luther King,

infiltrating domestic
political groups,

student groups
around the world.

The CIA was involved
in assassination efforts.

That's when Congress

started digging into this.

- In 1973, just as Congress
begins to examine the CIA,

Roselli is released
from prison

more than two years early

for, of all things,
good behavior.

- Sam lived in Mexico
for eight years.

By that point,
he's an old man.

He has some health problems.

And then the Mexican government
in 1974

decides they don't
like him anymore.

- The president of Mexico
was trying to reach out

to Castro's government,

hoping that there would be
a visit between them.

But having Sam Giancana
in Mexico

with all of these rumors about
the attempts to kill Castro

made it impossible
for Mexico to allow

Giancana to remain there.

[tense music]

One day,
the Mexican authorities

suddenly arrive
at Giancana's mansion.

* *

- He was in his robe.

He was in his slippers.

He was in his socks.

I mean, my God,
they actually had people

pick him up physically
and put him on a plane

to bring him back to Chicago.

- They deport him
in that very--

in that very abrupt fashion.

[airplane engine roaring]

[tires screeching]

- In Chicago,
he comes into the airport,

and there to greet him
is his longtime nemesis,

the FBI agent Bill Roemer.

* *

- Giancana sighed,
"I should have known

"you were behind all this.

"I'm out of it, so please,
just leave me alone.

If it takes an apology,
then this is it."

Roemer later wrote,
"At that moment,

I realized that I had won."

* *

- Following
all the revelations

of the abuse
of law enforcement agencies,

like the CIA,

the Church Committee
was created.

- Frank Church was a young and
ambitious senator from Idaho

who became chairman
of an investigating committee

in the U.S. Senate
that was aimed at probing

the background
of CIA destabilization

and particularly
assassination plots.

- I find it reprehensible

that any agency
of the government

of the United States
should ever have engaged

in an assassination attempt
against any foreign leader

of any country
with which the United States

was in peaceful relations.

- Up to then,
the intelligence committees

were usually quite deferential
to the CIA and the FBI.

But after these revelations,
reform-minded members

of Congress said,
we got to get a better grip

on what the intelligence
community is doing.

So this was
a complete sea change.

- This was Colby's
third day of testimony

before the Senate committee
on a single subject,

covert operations,
including possible involvement

in assassination plots.

- It was through
the Church Committee

that most Americans
became aware

of these plots
for the first time.

There's a famous photograph
of Frank Church holding up

one of these gizmo,
James Bond super pistols

that was crafted for some kind
of assassination attempt.

- Does this pistol
fire the dart?

- Yes, it does, Mr. Chairman.

- Church was representing
a genuine desire

on the part of many Americans
to figure out

whether the CIA had gone wild.

Was it a rogue elephant?

- There were stories
that were broken

about the Castro assassination
attempts using the Mafia.

Now they wanted to hear from
the mouth of these mobsters.

So the Church Committee
in 1975 called Johnny Roselli

and Sam Giancana to testify.

- The idea
that Roselli and Giancana

could talk
to the Church Committee,

traditionally,
you've cast your vote to die

when you did that
in the Italian Mafia.

There was a commitment that you
were loyal to the organization

and you would never
sacrifice the organization

for your life.

- At this point,

Johnny Roselli
and Sam Giancana

have traveled
a long road together.

Johnny tells Sam
that he's broke

and that he needs help
with his legal fees.

Sam generously
offers him help.

Then the conversation
takes a much darker turn.

Sam gives Johnny a warning.

He's very concerned
about the closeness Johnny

still has with Trafficante.

Sam doesn't trust Trafficante.

But Johnny still has
that loyalty to Trafficante.

He feels
that he's still a friend.

In fact,
when Johnny went to jail,

Trafficante helped out
Johnny's family.

Roselli just has trouble
believing that his friend

could betray him.

* *

- In Chicago,
Giancana's still got his house

that he bought in 1945.

There's been a caretaker
family staying there

while he was down in Mexico.

He leaves the caretaker family
in the first floor.

He makes the basement
his living area,

and that's the area that he
uses when he meets with people.

[jazzy music]

[wolf howls]

- * I'm lucky *

* So lucky the arrow
missed my heart *

- Late one night, Sam decided
to cook himself a meal.

- Most Italian friends
of mine,

if it comes around 10:00
at night,

they want a snack.

And that snack is gonna be
pasta, sausage, and peppers.

- * I know that love's
a lark *

[knock at door]

- Somebody came to the door.

- It would have been
someone that he trusted.

- * It's just a tragic
picture show *

- * Hey, Cupid,
don't be stupid *

* She's lovely as can be *

* I'm beggin' you,
don't point that thing at me *

* *

- The assassin put six
bullets into Sam's mouth

to send a message.

- * Hey, Cupid,
really off your mark *

- If you talk, squeal,
give up our secrets,

you're gonna wind up
just like he did.

[dramatic music]

- You can't escape from that
area in which he was killed.

You'd have to run
from the front to the back

to get out of the house.

- Sam Giancana, the Chicago
crime syndicate chieftain

recently named
in a reported CIA-Mafia plot

to assassinate Fidel Castro,
has been shot to death.

- Giancana's execution,
police said,

was so big it, had to come
from the syndicate dons

in New York, Chicago,
and Los Angeles.

- Tony Accardo doesn't like
Giancana, hasn't for years.

And, mm, maybe Sam will go,
show up at that committee,

and not say anything
that'll hurt us.

That's one probability.
Other probability?

Maybe he will go and say
something that'll hurt us.

- Even though it seems unlikely
that Giancana would have

spoken, that he would have
betrayed his brethren,

there was enough
concern about it

that it looks to me like
the Chicago Outfit wanted

to put him out of commission.

- Johnny bitterly blamed
the Chicago Outfit

for sanctioning
such treachery

against one of its own:

"They fucking
killed a dead man.

Sam could barely climb
a short flight of stairs."

* *

- After Giancana's killed,
the Senate investigators

now suspect
that Trafficante

or some of his well-armed
Cuban exile friends

carried out the murder.

- The gun, which was thrown
out a couple of blocks away

from the murder scene,
is traceable to a gun place

down in Florida.

- But it's pretty much accepted
that he's killed

because of internal
Outfit politics

and he's killed
by someone he knows

that's in the house
with him that night.

- By far, the likeliest
suspect was Butch Blasi.

Blasi had been inside
the Outfit for years--

Giancana's driver-bodyguard.

And he's the sort of guy
Giancana knew forever

who'd--trusts him so much,
he turns his back on him.

Sometimes in organized crime,

that's exactly the guy
they send to kill you.

* *

- Butch Blasi was a very dear
friend of my father's.

In fact, they were
almost like brothers.

You know, my father
did a lot for Butch.

Butch lived very well
because of my father.

So I don't believe
Butch Blasi would

do anything to my father.

- * I know that love's
a lark *

- I believe the CIA
killed my father that night.

That door to the basement
was open almost 24 hours a day.

[suspenseful music]

They might have been able
to sneak in.

They could have been
hiding down there.

* *

[suppressed gunshot]
[body thuds]

Who has more to lose,
the CIA or the Mob?

CIA.

* *

They were afraid that he
would squeal on them.

- If, in fact, there's any
truth to the CIA involvement,

perhaps his own peers
are afraid that he

might be subpoenaed before
a congressional committee.

And they would not want him
to appear there

for reasons of their own,

principally, not to engender
any more publicity.

- Although friends
and relatives

of the slain gangster

were on hand
to pay their last respects,

Outfit bigwigs were
conspicuous by their absence

at the services.

Apparently,
syndicate majordomos

had passed the word to
their soldiers to stay away.

- Roselli is not there.

Maheu's not there.

Trafficante's not there.

Sinatra is not there.

Accardo's not there.

None of the people
that have been in Sam's life

in the last few years
are there except one person.

* *

- Phyllis McGuire was on
an airplane to go to Europe,

and she heard
of my father's wake.

So they turned
the plane around.

Phyllis came into Chicago
to come to the wake,

and she stayed with us,
which was very, very nice.

You know, you can't
condemn everybody

all the time
for certain things.

You've got to find
the goodness in some of them.

- Certainly, I think,
by the time of his death,

they had moved on
from each other.

- Roemer wrote,
"I give her credit.

She had the guts to be seen
at his funeral."

- Giancana was to be buried
next to his wife, Angeline,

in the family mausoleum
in Mount Carmel Cemetery.

Ironically,
the cemetery contains

the remains of Giancana's
one-time boss Al Capone.

* *

- Following Giancana's murder,
the Senate committee

is concerned
about Roselli's safety.

Investigators decided

to take a statement
from Roselli immediately

and to move up
his scheduled appearance

before the full committee
by a few days.

- Roselli doesn't flinch
about testifying:

"They're not gonna
do anything to me.

"If they want to kill me,
they're gonna kill me.

But they're not
going to scare me."

But this isn't
what he tells the FBI.

In a memo,
an FBI agent recounts,

"It is my recollection
that on at least one occasion,

"in the presence
of Senator Howard Baker, Jr.,

"Roselli told the senator
that he was concerned

"for his safety and his life

"and that he was risking
his well-being

by testifying
before the committee."

- Johnny Roselli's
not an idiot.

If he wasn't scared, there's
something wrong with him.

[dramatic music]

* *

- Roselli appears before
the Senate investigators.

There is a lot
of security all around.

During his testimony, Johnny
acknowledges what he knows

about the Castro
assassination plot,

but he doesn't go beyond
what he already

has told Jack Anderson.

The senators are very anxious
to find out more.

In fact,
Senator Barry Goldwater

starts quizzing Johnny
on specifics

about the Castro plot,

and Johnny sits back
and says...

- "Senator, in my business,
we don't take notes."

- When Senator Walter Mondale
asked who in higher office

wants Castro dead, Johnny
wraps himself in the flag.

- "I don't ask
any questions how high.

"I was satisfied that I was
doing a duty for my country.

I did it for honor
and dedication."

- He's very careful not to
name who's working with him.

He takes a lot of effort
not to implicate

former CIA agent Bill Harvey.

He really does consider
Harvey a friend.

He feels that Harvey
really was down there

to try to do a job.

* *

During his testimony,
Johnny is also asked

about Judy Campbell,
and he tries his best

to protect her
by taking the high road.

- "I do not know
what Judith Campbell

"has to do with this thing.

"You know, it's a little
disgusting to me,

"because I really
don't like to talk

"about these things, women.

"You are talking
about the White House

"and Judith Campbell
and all this.

"If it was so,
I was not present,

so it would be hearsay
on my part if I did hear it."

- Johnny denies using Judy
as a courier

to send messages
to Sam Giancana.

- Roselli jokes,
"I would not give my mother

a message to give to Sam."

- The relationship between
Roselli and Judy Campbell

almost parallels
the relationship

with the Cuban exiles.

I think he had the same
sort of sense of loyalty

that he had
with the other people

that he saw were in trouble.

I think his heart goes to her
because she had walked

into a dangerous game,
and he understood

that she was really naive.

[indistinct chatter]

- Today the Senate
CIA investigators

heard testimony from underworld
figure John Roselli

about an alleged
CIA-Mafia plot

to assassinate Fidel Castro.

- Camera shy
and heavily guarded,

as might be expected
after Sam Giancana's death,

Roselli slipped up and down
back stairs at the Capitol,

trying to avoid the press.

Before the Senate committee
waiving immunity,

Roselli was fully cooperative.

For 2 1/2 hours, he told
of plotting with the CIA,

starting in 1960,
to try to kill Castro

by poison, by rifle,
trying to land hit teams

by powerboat--

one of the boats sunk
by a Cuban patrol vessel.

Chairman Frank Church found
Roselli's firsthand account

vivid but not complete.

- He did fill out
the chronology

and gave us
a great deal of detail.

- What Roselli didn't know was
who gave the CIA its orders.

And it's because of this
vagueness of command channels

that the Senate Committee is
fighting with the White House

over National Security Council
and other documents.

* *

- Even though publicly,
Johnny Roselli

was saying he wasn't scared,

the Mob knows
about your appearances

before the grand jury.

Sam Giancana
has already been killed.

You have to be nervous.

- Someone asks if he worries
for his safety.

Roselli replies, "Who'd want
to kill an old man like me?"

* *

- Johnny doesn't have
much money at this time.

And eventually, he can't
afford his legal bills.

He's forced to give up
his posh lifestyle

in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas

to live with his sister
down in Florida.

* *

He can live
a more relaxed life

and not have to worry
whether or not

there's assassins
in the hedgerow there.

* *

I think what happens
in Roselli's later life

is that he says,
I'm gonna live my life

in a certain kind
of peace and equanimity.

Johnny's found out that
his good friend Bill Harvey

has dropped dead
of a heart attack.

Johnny calls Harvey's widow.

[line ringing]

- Roselli assures her
over a landline,

"Any help you need, anything,
you just tell me."

- A sense
of mortality and dread

now hangs over Johnny's life.

- He starts ruminating
on what his life amounted to.

He thinks of all the sins
he committed as a wiseguy

and how he tried
to make amends for those sins

by being a soldier
in a war against communism,

only to be thwarted by someone
he thought was a friend.

* *

- One night, Johnny gets
together with Jimmy Fratianno,

his old mobster pal.

- Roselli says
to his friend Fratianno,

"Remember when Santo
was jailed

"and they grabbed his money
when Castro came into power,

then suddenly he was released
with all his money?"

"Shimon thinks
he's a Castro agent

"spying on Cubans in Florida.

"Sam shared that suspicion.

"That's why Santo
sat on his ass

and did nothing with all
that shit we gave him."

"He was probably
reporting everything

to Castro's agents."

* *

[gunshot]

* *

According to an FBI memo,
Roselli tells an acquaintance

that he would like
to go back to the church

and would like to make
his peace with God.

- At the end of his life,

he returns to something

that meant a great deal
to him early on,

which is Catholicism.

[choir singing in Latin]

Don't forget,
he takes his name

from a Renaissance painter

that did religious figures
in the Sistine Chapel.

[match strikes, fizzes]

* *

- [blows sharply]

- I think he was at peace
about what probably

was gonna happen to him.

* *

[engine grinding]

[engine turning over]

[dramatic music]

* *

- I remember very well.

His sister called me,

and she said,
have you seen Johnny Roselli?

And I went, no.

* *

He went to the golf course,
and he played golf

and disappeared.

- His brother-in-law
goes out looking for him.

And then he remembers
a joke that Johnny made--

if I'm ever missing,
check the airports.

* *

And there is the car.

* *

- Two weeks after they find
Johnny Roselli's car,

fishermen find
a barrel floating

in Dumfoundling Bay in Miami.

- When they open it up,
they see a corpse in there.

It's been strangled,
chopped up,

and all of the limbs
have been sawed off.

* *

- John Roselli,
the second and last known

key underworld figure
in an alleged CIA plot

to kill Cuba's Fidel Castro,
has been murdered.

A year ago,
mobster Sam Giancana

was gunned down
just before he was supposed

to testify about the plot.

Roselli's body
has now been found

in a bay off Miami Beach.

Fishermen discovered it
wrapped in chains

and stuffed in an oil drum.

Florida authorities say it was
obviously a gang-style killing

and the body was not meant
to be found.

But gases from decomposition
caused the barrel to float.

- At first, it seemed clear

that the Mob
had killed Roselli.

It had all the trappings
of a classic Mob hit.

But very quickly,
people started

to question that assumption.

They wondered if the CIA
might have been involved.

- Attorney General Edward Levi
has asked the FBI now

to investigate the murder
of mobster John Roselli.

- At first, officials assumed

that the one-time
organized crime figure

had been the victim
of a gangland assassination.

However, some people
questioned whether it was

just a gangland murder.

- Is there any connection
between the murder

of Roselli and Giancana

and the assassination plots
against Castro?

- Well, that's the kind of
thing that people think about.

But I--

when you find out,
let me know.

- Moreover, Roselli's lawyer
has thrown doubt on the theory

that the murder was
a simple underworld killing,

insisting that Roselli,
who was 70 years old,

had retired from the rackets
and would not have been

a likely target
for a gangland murder.

One thing that is clear
is that the murder

was a very professional job,

and no one concerned
holds out much hope

that they'll ever figure out
who did it and why.

* *

- The way they killed Johnny
was to choke him quick.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

But who's to say
that the CIA

couldn't emulate
a Mob killing?

So in the end,
no one knows whether it was

the Mob or the CIA
that killed Johnny Roselli.

- Rudy Maxa
in "The Washington Post":

"The day after Roselli's
body was scooped

"from its crude coffin,

"his brother-in-law
in New Jersey, Peter Cardillo,

"told me,
'Down deep, in a way,

"'I probably hope
it was connected

"'with the Castro affair.

At least then, Johnny, he
would have died for a cause.'"

* *

- Johnny Roselli
is a center point

in so many amazing stories,
from Las Vegas

to the plots
to kill Castro.

He's almost the image
of what you expect to see

if you start to watch "Casino"
or some movie.

He is the smooth,
suave operator,

good-looking, flashy suit.

When he gets involved
not just with the Mob

but then later with the CIA,

he finds a new calling.

- I would say that
John Roselli loved America.

I think that John Roselli
loved the idea

of coming from nothing

and making something
of yourself, right?

That's the American dream.

- Roselli, I think he had
a deeper character

than a lot
of the other people,

and I really do think
it has to do

with an honor code.

And, you know,
in some ways, arguably,

he kind of dies for it.

[engine grinding]

* *

For the Mob, the great victory
for these people

is to not die in jail
or to not be whacked.

And the only two
that didn't end up

either whacked or in jail

were Accardo and Trafficante.

- The fact that Tony Accardo
had a long career

in organized crime
and still died peacefully

shows just how successful
he was

at his, shall we say,
chosen profession.

- As for Santo Trafficante,
here we are 60 years later,

and we can't
answer definitively

whether he was a double agent.

- It would be almost
inconceivable to me

that Trafficante
was spying for Castro.

Of all the mobsters
who were involved in Cuba,

Trafficante was the one
that had the most to lose

by the Revolution.

But anything's possible.

The underworld is a universe
based on deception.

And maybe we'll never know
what's true

about Santo Trafficante.

* *

- If you were really
conducting an affair

with President Kennedy,

how could it have been
kept a secret for so long?

- Well, I think
a tremendous amount

is being revealed right now

that many journalists
turned their heads against.

They had no intention
of writing anything

about Jack Kennedy
and his private life.

They did nothing
but write about, really,

the myth of Camelot.

I was supposed to be on a show
this afternoon,

and Bill Boggs,
I believe his name is,

he would not interview me.

* *

- So she was booked
on the show,

and the book came through.

Over the weekend,
I'm reading the book,

and, Jesus.

She's introduced to JFK
by Sinatra.

Sinatra's hanging out
with Sam Giancana,

the head of the Chicago Mob.

All manner of salacious things
are happening.

And, you know, Kennedy's dead.

Who is gonna refute these?

These are all allegations.

* *

And I announced
to the producer,

no, I'm not interviewing.

Why?

I said, look, we had Sinatra
on this show.

- To the birthday party.

- This book
makes Frank look bad.

I did it out of loyalty
to Frank

and, on a second level,

Jacqueline Onassis.

Three days later, a letter
comes from Frank Sinatra.

"Dear Bill,
my sincere thanks to you

"for your refusing to talk
to the hustler with the agent.

"I think you showed great
class and marvelous taste.

"Good luck and take care,

Francis Albert."

Oh, boy.

At that time, in 1977,
the FBI and the Secret Service

were denying Kennedy had
any affairs,

even though it turns out,
a lot of it was true.

But I had no reason
to know it was true.

- Judith had been used
by all these powerful men

but then was not believed when
she wanted to tell her story.

The expense of believing in
the myth of these powerful men

is that she was discredited

when at least a lot
of her story was true.

In America, we can be
so susceptible to the mythology

and trying to preserve that.

- The Americans
had this self-view,

and I think still do,
that everything we do is good.

- This was the mindset.

You know, we were
a grand superpower.

We could play the game
of risk and win.

But the secret war against
Castro and Cuba failed,

and Castro survived
for decades.

- You have to tip your hat,

either admiringly
or grudgingly,

to him
and his security services.

They probably survived
more serious attempts

by a more coherent and powerful
foreign intelligence agency

than anybody in human history.

- [speaking Spanish]

[crowd cheering]

- He was inflated
by all these other people

trying to neutralize him.

Left to his own devices,
he might have been forgotten.

But paranoia inflates things.

And then it becomes part
of government policy.

- [speaking Spanish]

[crowd cheering]

- [speaking Spanish]

- The true last man standing
is Castro.

* *

- Today the last
historic political figure

of the Cold War is gone.

[horns honking,
crowd cheering]

- The front cover
of the "Miami Herald,"

one word, very simple:
"Dead."

People here are not protesting.
They are celebrating.

- The literacy campaign
was an incredible achievement.

You know, he created
world-class public medicine,

creating
a social welfare state.

So the Cuban Revolution
benefited

the lives of many, many Cubans
over generations.

That said, after the collapse
of the Soviet Union,

the Cuban economy
went into a tailspin.

- The tragedy for Cuba
is that they have the machines

but no petrol to run them.

- And there were
immense food shortages.

- Castro's Cuba is a land
of contradictions.

It has free medical care,
but political opposition

is suppressed,
and the economy is a disaster.

- Some good things
can be said about him.

Some very bad things
can be said about his regime.

- [speaking Spanish]

- But Fidel Castro,
for better or for worse,

was the longest
significant dictator

in Latin American history.

He put a little
Caribbean island nation

on the world map,

and Cuba has played,
since 1959, 1960,

a world role
that is far greater

than its physical size.

- I always like to say
my hero is Fidel Castro.

He wore fatigues,
never had a shave,

had the best cigars
in the world,

and owned a Caribbean island.

I mean, how good does it get?

That's Fidel Castro.

[crowd cheering]

* *

- The moral of the story is...

that it's probably
a lot harder to change

the world than you think.

* *

A superpower that had
all these advantages

believed it could implement
its will, and it couldn't.

- They felt,
with Castro's grandiose ego,

that to humiliate him
would be worse than death.

The irony of that is,
that had a boomerang effect,

and it humiliated them.

It became a permanent state
of humiliation

for the forces of power that
were trying to kill Castro.

* *

- We should not have involved
ourselves with the Mafia.

An organization that does so
is losing control

of the security
of its information.

- If I read you correctly,
you're saying

it's the involvement
with the Mafia

that disturbed you
and not the decision

to assassinate
a foreign leader?

- Correct.

- What ended up contouring
a lot of these things

was an individual's
personal demons.

What were their ego demons?

What were their
self-storytelling demons?

What were their
family dynamic demons?

What were their sexual demons?

Whatever that is,
there was an awful lot of that

at the center of this.

When the demons
are in the driver's seat

and they're given power...

* *

Time and time again,

we see that the country
isn't able to really

pull ourselves back
from the brink...

* *

Of a handful of people.

And to me,
that is what undergirds

a lot of this story.

* *

- And so the plot goes forward.

* *

* *