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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter 5 Lucky Luciano in Cuba I n 1936, Salvatore Lucania, better known as Lucky Luciano, was convicted on charges of running a prostitution ring in New York City and sentenced to between thirty and fifty years in prison. Luciano had been born in Sicily but in 1906 moved with his family to the United States, where he climbed through the ranks of organized crime to become the head of the New York syndicate. The man who prosecuted the case against Luciano and fifteen of his mobster associates was Thomas E. Dewey, then serving as New York City’s district attorney, and the long sentences the men received were intended to cripple the mob by removing some of its top overlords. In early 1946, however, Dewey, now the governor of the state of New York, agreed to commute Luciano’s sentence on the condition that he be deported immediately to Italy. According to two members of the U.S. armed forces, Murray I. Gurfein and Charles R. Haffenden, Luciano had in effect bargained for his freedom by lending support to the American war effort against Germany and Italy. Though imprisoned, the mafia boss still controlled the New York city waterfront, and he had used his influence and underworld contacts to obtain and share with U.S. officials information about potential American collaborators in the German campaign to sink ships crossing the Atlantic. Luciano also used his contacts in Italy to obtain information that would help the U.S. Navy coordinate the logistics of landing Allied troops in Sicily. Dewey maintained, however, that the commutation of Luciano’s sentence was purely a routine matter, in keeping with the state’s established policy of deporting foreignborn prisoners as a way to save money. The governor, in fact, had done nothing more than follow the recommendation of the state parole board.1 After Luciano’s deportation, rumors began to circulate that he wanted to leave Italy and return to the Western Hemisphere to coordinate and maintain control over his U.S. business interests. Cuba and Mexico were among the 66 :: Lucky Luciano countries reported as possibilities, while another story stated that Luciano had obtained an Argentine passport and moved to Buenos Aires.2 Although U.S. authorities warned their Cuban counterparts about Luciano ’s intentions, the gangster nonetheless entered Cuba quietly and uneventfully , arriving by air in Camagüey on 29 October 1946.3 His passport was stamped with visas for Cuba, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela.4 Prior to his incarceration, Luciano had lived a life of glittering opulence in New York. He spent his winter vacations in Miami and summered in Saratoga , rubbing shoulders with personalities from the entertainment world and members of the social and political elite.5 In Havana, Luciano resumed his grand lifestyle, living openly with a young New York heiress at his side and frequenting racetracks and the Casino Nacional. As in New York and Miami, he not only fraternized with American celebrities such as Frank Sinatra who vacationed on the island but also mingled with Cuban political figures.6 Indalecio Pertierra, a representative in the Cuban legislature and the manager of Havana’s Jockey Club, used his influence to help Luciano obtain legal residency in Cuba. He was also on close terms with two members of the Cuban Senate, Francisco Prío Socarrás (brother of Prime Minister Carlos Prío Socarr ás) and Eduardo Suárez Rivas (president of the Senate in 1944 and 1945), and with Paulina Alsina, the widow of President Ramón Grau San Martín’s brother, Francisco. Luciano rented and had an option to buy a house in Havana ’s Miramar district, an area of expensive and luxurious homes. According to a U.S. antinarcotics agent, the house belonged to General Genovevo Pérez Dámera, chief of the Cuban general staff. Luciano collaborated with a group of men including Pertierra and Suárez Rivas to set up a new airline, Aerovías Q, that operated flights between Havana and Key West, Florida, and Pérez Dámera saw to it that its planes were allowed to land on the military runway in Camp Columbia, on the outskirts of Havana, thereby bypassing immigration and customs controls. In addition, the government granted the airline special tax exemptions. Luciano’s privileges did not end there, however. After a failed attempt on his life at the end of December 1946, Pertierra arranged to have two members of the Presidential Palace Police assigned to...

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