Does any respected historian believe the mob killed JFK?
It’s fascinating to think that and would make perfect sense but doesn’t seem like there’s any evidence to support it
shareDiscuss
shareWhy would it make perfect sense?
shareBecause they helped get him elected then he turned around and betrayed them?
shareBecause they helped get him elected then he turned around and betrayed them?
Like you said in your OP, there isn't any evidence to support it. That's the problem with most conspiracy theories: lack of supporting evidence. share
I thought there was ample evidence to support them helping him win Chicago
shareThat happened. Well documented.
shareI thought there was ample evidence to support them helping him win Chicago
That there was massive voter fraud in Chicago in 1960, that cost Nixon the election, I don't doubt. But there is little, if any, compelling evidence that the Mafia or any other organized crime groups were involved in the assassination of JFK. share
In general, though, it has to be said that the Cosa Nostra has a tendency to whack or off guys, though they very rarely whack them off. So the idea they'd have someone killed, whomever, is not ludicrous in itself.
shareIn general, though, it has to be said that the Cosa Nostra has a tendency to whack or off guys, though they very rarely whack them off. So the idea they'd have someone killed, whomever, is not ludicrous in itself.
Agreed in that the mafia has had people murdered is not a ludicrous idea, but they almost always confine their killling to each other and certain people are off-limits.
Remember Dutch Schultz? He was killed after he wanted to kill Thomas Dewey. When he put this idea to the other gangsters, they said 'no', but he was a hothead and decided to kill Dewey anyway. They put a contract on him and he was killed in New Jersey.
My point is if Schultz was hit when he wanted to go after a mere prosecutor, it stands to reason that JFK was also out of bounds as well. share
That's a fair point well made. Going after the POTUS for whatever reason would be a massive undertaking in just getting the other heads to agree.
I'm not even a supporter of the larger conspiracy by the mafia -theory myself, in fact I mostly just wanted to make the whack off joke, which was worthy of posting just by itself :)
So many probably wouldn't be theorizing about the assassination if it weren't for the fact that the 1976-1979 Congressional committee on JFK and MLK murders concluded, as all interested parties already know, that
on the basis of the evidence available to it, that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy.
However, as far as the mafia goes, there's also
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved.
which might mean individual families or groups or affiliates had something to do with it? Hoffa was an active collaborator, shall we say, and very anti-JFK, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that he had something to do with it, and was then punished.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Assassinations share
Just for the record, I'm not a believer in any of the conspiracy theories concerning JFK. The reason is simple: there is no compelling evidence to support such theories.
Others disagree and that's fne.
I'd be inclined to disbelieve those as well, if it weren't for the Congressional Committee conclusions. It could be as simple as LHO having a few back up gunmen, but we'll never know for sure barring time travel or such.
shareThere's strong evidence that Joe Kennedy, JFK's father, was a mobster himself, and was one of the higher-ups in the Irish mob that ran Boston. There's even stronger evidence that after he "went straight," he collaborated with the Italian mob to get JFK elected, most famously by having them arrange for dead people to vote in Illinois, which tipped a close election in Kennedy's favor. Once elected, JFK did some things, most notably his handling of Cuba andd appointing his brother Robert as Attorney General, that flew in the face of what he'd allegedly promised to do if elected.
The above is the super-short, Cliff Notes, tl;dr version, but the idea is that the Mafia had clear reasons for wanting Kennedy dead, and they had the means to pull it off. That doesn't mean they did, but someone did, for some reason, and "the Mafia did it" is one of the more likely theories.
I thought most historians refuted it as a rumor that Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger?
shareTake it for what it's worth, but my family came to America from Castellammare, and my relatives were involved in illegal activities in Boston before, during, and after Prohibition. Even into the '60s, when certain members of our family would visit us, the FBI would show up at our door later with questions. Among our family, it was discussed as fact that Joe Kennedy was the head of a rival gang and was deeply enmeshed in criminal activity. He had the sense/good fortune to buy his way into respectability through politics and his association with FDR. Again, I'm just a "person on the internet," so take it as you will.
shareIt obviously wouldn’t surprise me, if it’s widely KNOWN he was shady and corrupt I’m sure there’s plenty we don’t know. An Irish Catholic in 1920s Boston doesn’t get as far as he did as quickly as he did without slitting a few throats.
I’d love to believe it’s true, makes for a fucking awesome story.
The most novel theory I've heard is that Joe DiMaggio used his connections with the mob, specifically with Sam Giancana, to kill JFK in retaliation for killing Marilyn Monroe, whom DiMaggio still loved even after they divorced.
shareThis is all super interesting. I didn't realize there was such bad blood between DiMaggio and the Kennedy's. I'm not convinced DiMaggio had anything to do with the murder, but it does look like he suspected the Kennedy's of knocking off Marilyn Monroe. So the motive was there at least. https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/joe-dimaggio-died-convinced-jfk-had-monroe-killed-1-545640
share100 Bullets dedicated an issue to the conspiracy, when Agent Graves visits an aging Joe DiMaggio and offers him one of his "magic" guns. That's actually the first place I encountered this rather offbeat theory.
https://chasemagnett.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/12th-level-intellect-100-bullets-27-wheels-within-wheels/
As an aside, 100 Bullets is my favorite comic book of all time. If you've not read it, give it a try. It built slowly and majestically over its 100 issue run, and a new issue was one of the highlights of the month for me back when it was still around.
Looks very interesting. Thanks for the info. I'm not a big comic book reader but I may have to dig in.
shareJoe was morally twisted for sure. He liked to sexually seduce off-the-boat Irish servants. Then torment them by repeatedly telling them they were going to hell for their sin.
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That 'arrange for dead people to vote' peaked my interest because the right used that excuse in the 2016 election. So it is possible to get supposedly 'dead people' votes in somehow...
shareIt's widely believed that voter fraud, including votes cast by dead people, flipped Texas and Illinois in favor of JFK. Had Nixon won those two states, he'd have won the election. I'm convinced that was the case based on what I've read, but there's no definitive proof.
The Great McGinty, which is one of my favorite films, made by my favorite director in 1940, starts with a hobo being offered $2 to vote in the mayoral election using the name of a recently deceased voter, so clearly the idea of such fraud long predates the 1960 election.
>>using the name of a recently deceased voter, so clearly the idea of such fraud long predates the 1960 election.
Oh, way before. Read up on the presumed fate of Edgar Allan Poe.
Joe Kernnedy was a financer of movies, a great way to money launder back then.
shareDorothy Kilgallen, whom Heminway called the greatest woman journalist, investigated and claimed she had the facts on JFK's assassination. Then she was mysteriously killed and her files disappeared.. She was a client/friend of my aunt's. So was Jacquie Kennedy. Jacquie had he own theory of who was behind the assassination, she had good reason to believe what she did.
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