Your Daily Hood: Santo Trafficante

​Santo Trafficante, Jr. (1914 – 1987) was one of the last of the old school crime bosses. A key player in the gambling business in Florida and Cuba, Trafficante lost big when Castro’s revolutionaries seized power on the Caribbean island. He maintained links to the Bonanno crime family, in New York City, but was more closely allied with Sam Giancana in Chicago. Trafficante was involved in several unsuccessful plans to assassinate Castro. In 1978, both Trafficante testified before of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations investigating links between Lee Harvey Oswald and anti-Castro Cubans. Caught in the “Donnie Brasco” sting in 1986, Trafficante escaped conviction. He died at age 72.