1959 in organized crime

Events
  • January 1 - Syndicate casinos are seized by Fidel Castro government after Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the country following the Cuban Revolution. Suffering a major financial setback, Meyer Lansky returns to Miami, Florida and begins looking into the possible relocation of syndicate casinos in the Bahamas and Caribbean.
  • February 26 - New Jersey mobster Abner Zwillman is found dead in his home after apparently hanging himself with a plastic clothesline. An investigated ruled suicide as the cause of death as Zwillman was facing federal investigation into his coin-operated machine business and tax evasion.
  • April 17 - Vito Genovese, boss of the Genovese crime family is convicted of drug trafficking and is sentenced to 15 years. Vincent Gigante, Genovese's driver and bodyguard to 7 years and Bonanno Crime Family lieutenant Natale Joseph Evola is also imprisoned. Thomas Eboli, Jerry Catena, Michele Miranda, Anthony Strollo and Phil Lombardo are placed on a "committee" to run the Genovese crime family operations following Genovese's imprisonment.
  • June 9 - During his appearance for questioning before the McClellan Committee, Chicago mobster Sam Giancana refuses to answer the questions while repeatedly citing the Fifth Amendment, often punctuating his responses with a terse chuckle, to which a clearly frustrated chief counsel Robert F. Kennedy retorts, "I thought only little girls giggled, Mr. Giancana."[1]
  • September 25 - After being called away from a Lexington Avenue restaurant, Anthony Carfano and his companion, Janice Drake are found dead in an abandoned car in Queens. A police investigation ruled both had been shot in the back of the head, possibly by a gunman hidden in the back seat.
  • December 18 - Paul Castellano is convicted of obstructing a government investigation and sentenced to five years imprisonment, although he is released after seven months.

Births

Deaths

References
  1. "Sam Giancana Quizzed on Vice Payoffs" by William Moore, the Chicago Daily Tribune, June 10, 1959.
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