Maier - Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro

ADVANCE PRAISE

Just when you think youve read and heard everything there is to know about the CIA, JFK, and the mob, along comes Thomas Maier with this meticulously researched and nuanced report that sets the record straight in some areas and breaks new ground in others. Mafia Spies reads like a thriller but its all true. I found it gripping from page one. And important. The events reported on here changed history and give us better understanding of current times.

Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and creator of the critically-acclaimed series Bosch

Mafia Spies is one of those stories that is truly more amazing than fiction, about an unlikely alliance between Americas best and worst. The tale is told at a relentless pace and makes great reading.

Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed Innocent,
The Burden of Proof, Identical, Innocent and more

Mafia Spies brings history to life in epic, page-turning fashion. The depth of Thomas Maiers research is astounding, as are the famous characters and fantastical events that quietly changed US history.

Martin Dugard, New York Times bestselling co-author of
Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, and others written
with television personality Bill OReilly

From CIA secret labs creating assassination tools first dreamed up by Ian Fleming in his James Bond novels, to poisoned cigars, exploding cats, Frank Sinatra, and two of the most well-connected mafioso in gangland history, Thomas Maiers Mafia Spies is a revealing look into one of the most outrageous spy tales of the twentieth century. If you are unfamiliar with Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, and their connection to everyone from low-life mob hucksters to JFK, this is a book that will open your eyes to a world of political intrigue that reaches into the depths and heights of mid-twentieth century American culture. Maiers knowledge of politics and of gangland lore is impressive, and he uses it here to great effect in Mafia Spies, a work that reads like a novel but is, amazingly, a nonfiction tale of mobsters working for the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro. If Mario Puzo were more interested in journalism than fiction, this unrelenting page turner is the book he would have written instead of The Godfather.

Ed Falco, New York Times bestselling author of The Family Corleone

The United States doesnt order foreign leaders killed. Unless it does. And it did in 1960 when the CIA took the unthinkable step of recruiting two MafiosiSam Giancana and John Handsome Johnny Rosellito murder Cuban Premiere Fidel Castro. The existence of this misbegotten plot was exposed in the 1970s during Senate hearings after the assassination of JFK, but weve been denied a full accounting until now. Drawing upon documents recently released by the National Archives, Thomas Maier spins a vigorously picaresque tale of the hoodlums and their handlers as they make run after failed run at the Cuban premiere with such lunatic ploys as exploding cigars and contaminated scuba gear. Castros crack intelligence network in Miami allowed him to dodge every bullet. The strength of Maiers account is that he delivers such richly detailed profiles of the players that they seem to unfold in three dimensions. Often frightening, at times hilarious, this is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking it might be a good idea to outsource intelligence operations. Mafia Spies is a bracing read and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Teresa Carpenter, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of four books,
including Mob Girl: A Womans Life in the Underworld

This story exposes a dark chapter in Americas history, when the CIA teamed up with murderous Mafia hitmen in an ill-fated assassination plot. Thoroughly reported and masterfully written, Maier delves deep into a world of political intrigue and underworld brutality. Its a riveting, must-read.

Shelley Murphy, co-author of the New York Times bestseller
Whitey Bulger: Americas Most Wanted Gangster
and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice

Meticulously researched and sourced, Mafia Spies, the compelling history of the pact between the CIA and Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro, reads like a bestselling thriller. Thomas Maiers swashbuckling story-telling takes you into a clandestine, paradoxical world where gangsters were patriots, spies were hapless bureaucrats, and political deception and murder were the prevailing currencies. For those who study US foreign and domestic intelligence practices during the second half of the last century, this is a must-read.

Libby Fischer Hellmann, author of High Crimes and Havana Lost

Mafia Spies shows how the CIA and the Mafia colluded in a wild 1960s scheme to kill Fidel Castro, covered it up for years, and eventually paid an awful price. Investigative reporter Thomas Maier reveals many new aspects of Americas most extensive and shocking spy scandal. As a real-life drama, this non-fiction book blends the mob violence and intrigue of The Godfather with the CIA thriller-like quality of TVs Homeland.

Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists, 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner,
The Panama Papers

This is Thomas Maiers epic story of the CIA and the mobsters recruited to assassinate Fidel Castro in the 1960s. Maiers spotlight sweeps across America, casting its sharp focus from Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack to the lesser stars and starlets of Hollywood to Havana and finally to the White House itself. Maiers prodigious story-telling ability recreates a shocking moment in US history with unprecedented detail and drama, from the bungled attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro to the real possibility that John Kennedy himself was caught in the same seedy web.

Peter Eisner, author of MacArthurs Spies,
former Washington Post deputy foreign editor,
and co-author of The Shadow President

TO JOYCE AND HER SONS,
THE BEST GANG OF ALL.

Copyright 2019 by Thomas Maier

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Paul Qualcom

Cover photo of Johnny Roselli: John Rosselli after being released from jail, 1948, Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives (Collection 1429). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Cover photos of Sam Giancana, JFK, and Fidel Castro: Wikimedia Commons

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4171-3