CIA-Mafia Link
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M. Mafia boss who was con- victed just before his hiring by the CIA of conspiring to obstruct justice in lying about a 1957 Mafia summit meet at Apalachin, N.Y.
The newspaper said the other living informant is George Levin, also known as George Levy, who was described as "governor and manager" of a Mafia gambling interest in pre-Castro Cuba. The Bee said he is reportedly living in Coral Gables, Fla.
The other two were James Plumeri, identified as a "Mafia hijacker, labor racketeer and garment district strongman," and Salvatore Granello, identified as a "Mafia soldier, gambler, extortionist and gang- ster."
Plumeri and Granello were identified several years ago of unrelated gangland execu- tions. The newspaper said the Bee's Mafia sources - "ex- CIA-Mafia" links - come from its "CIA sources."
During the pre-1959 re- gime of the former Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista, a Mafia gambling flourished in Havana, under the direc- tion and control of the U.S.- granted crime overlords.
When a Castro revolution ousted the mob along with Batista, and the Cuban gov- ernment's Communist pre- sence became involved, the U.S. has never allowed the resumption of mob activities there.
The four former casino bosses "made periodic re- ports to the CIA until just before the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion."
Fees were $5,000 and $6,000 was paid by the four gangsters to informants in Cuba for the information.
The money came, at least in part, from a $750,000 cash wrapped in oilcloth and bur- ied in the ground by Trafficante and Levin just before their hasty departure from Cuba during the takeover by Castro.
It was the rest of this money that Granello, Levin, Trafficante and Plumeri were assured they would be able to recover unhindered if the Cas- tro government was toppled.
"They managed to get word to hoodlums inside Cuba who knew the whereabouts of the money to start buying stra- tegic information about Cas- tro and associates. The four gangsters were dispatched to the island from Florida for intelligence-gathering sorties."
Earlier published reports have said that in preparation for the Bay of Pigs invasion, CIA Director Allen Dulles re- lied heavily on reports that stressed the unpopularity of the Castro regime and the expectation there realized a massive rebellion at the time of a strike.