Giancana, Sam and Chuck. Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the
Mobster Who Controlled America. New York: Warner Books, 1992. 366 pages.
The dust jacket of this bestseller claims that this is "the first book
to solve -- finally -- the sensational, hitherto unsolved mysteries behind
the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe." Yes,
the book is sensational. Yes, Chuck Giancana, the younger brother of "Mooney"
Sam, spent his career at Mooney's side and was privy to his secrets. But no,
there's nothing to work with apart from Chuck's recollections of Mooney's
occasional blustering -- over a span of five decades -- about how he had
ex-bootlegger Joseph P. Kennedy in his pocket, had worked with the CIA on
secret missions in Cuba, the Vatican, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia,
and had helped arrange the deaths of MM, JFK, and RFK.
The authors note that "too many important political revelations have
gone unnoticed by the U.S. reader due to tedious journalistic research,
which results, unfortunately, in tedious reading. Instead, the subject of
Sam Giancana's life has been approached with every attempt to engage the
reader -- to tell a good story -- while maintaining historical accuracy."
But while it's true that neither Mafia bravado nor CIA subversion lend
themselves to the footnoting that scholars and mainstream journalists
demand, what this means, ultimately, is that we're still left looking for
the corroboration that might help us rewrite our history.
ISBN 0-446-51624-4
Extract the names from this source
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