John Roselli

There is also a professional wrestler named John Roselli

John "Handsome Johnny" Rosselli (July 4, 1905 - August 9, 1976) had been an very influential Mafia soldier, one who had helped to control Hollywood and Las Vegas for the Chicago Mafia and who had been deeply involved with the CIA plots to kill Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the early 1960s.

Born Filippo Sacco in Esperia, Italy on July 4, 1905, he had been best known by his mob nickname of "Handsome Johnny." Sacco had immigrated with his family from Italy to the USA in 1911, settling in Boston, Massachusetts. Fleeing to Chicago in 1922 after committing a murder, Sacco had shortly afterward changed his name to "John Rosselli" (in honor of Italian Renaissance sculptor Domenico Rosselli) and became a Mafia member, working for Al Capone. In 1925, an asthmatic Rosselli had been ordered by Capone to relocate from Chicago to Los Angeles after jumping bail on a federal narcotics arrest. Rosselli began his California criminal career working with Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna. By the late 1930s, the shrewd and charismatic Rosselli had overtaken the ineffective Dragna in power and influence, leading the Chicago mob's multimillion-dollar extortion of the motion-picture industry after his close friend, film producer Bryan Foy, brought him into the movie business as a producer with Foy's small production company, Eagle Lion Studios.

In 1941, Rosselli had been indicted on federal labor racketeering charges along with George Browne, former president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, and Willie Bioff, labor racketeer and former pimp. After a yearlong trial, Rosselli had been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but had served only three, being paroled in 1945 and immediately returning to his highly-profitable Hollywood extortion operations. The extensive influence the Chicago Mafia had over Hollywood is best illustrated in 1948 when Chicago Mafia boss Tony Accardo had told Rosselli to force powerful Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn into signing then-unknown actress Marilyn Monroe to a lucrative multi-year contract. The usually highly combative Cohn quickly complied without opposition, mainly because Cohn had obtained control of Columbia through mob funds and influence provided by both Accardo and Rosselli.

In the early 1950s, Rosselli had gradually shifted his focus away from Hollywood and toward the nearby fast-growing and highly profitable wagering mecca, Las Vegas. By 1954, Rosselli had become the Chicago and Los Angeles mob's chief and most powerful representative Las Vegas, ensuring the mob bosses of of each city received their share of the burgeoning casino revenues.

In the wake of Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba in January 1959, Rosselli and other powerful mobsters like Sam Giancana and Carlos Marcello had worked closely with senior CIA officer William Harvey and others in the notorious CIA plot called Operation Mongoose, targeting Castro for assassination, which despite millions of dollars and several years spent, had ultimately failed. Rosselli (who had specialized in spreading rumors and disinformation to divert suspicion away from the Mafia) is believed by some researchers to have been the chief source of the falsehood that Castro had been behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In 1963, singer Frank Sinatra had sponsored Rosselli for membership in the exclusive Los Angeles Friars' Club. Soon after his acceptance, Rosselli had organized and overseen a major card-cheating operation, one that had lasted four years and bilked scores of wealthy men (including millionaire Harry Karl, the husband of actress Debbie Reynolds) out of millions of dollars. In 1968, Rosselli had been tried and convicted of illegal residence in the United States (he'd never acquired lawful US residence or citizenship) and had been ordered deported to Italy by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Italy refused to accept him, so Rosselli remained in the United States.

In June 1975, Rosselli had appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence led by Idaho Senator Frank Church to testify about his knowledge of and connections with the CIA's ill-fated Operation Mongoose. Shortly after Rosselli had testified, the by-then disgraced former Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana had been shot and killed by an unknown assailant in the basement of his Oak Park, Illinois home days before he was to testify before that same committee, prompting Rosselli (whose weakening power base had finally disappeared with Giancana's death) to permanently leave Los Angeles and Las Vegas for Miami. Fourteen months later, on August 9, 1976, Rosselli's decomposing body had been found in a 55-gallon steel fuel drum floating in Dumfounding Bay, Florida. He'd been strangled and stabbed; his legs had been sawed off and stuffed into an empty oil drum along with the rest of his body. Many believe Rosselli had been ordered killed by Tampa, Florida mob boss Santos Trafficante because Trafficante had believed the aging Rosselli had talked too much about the Kennedy assassination and Castro murder plots during his Senate testimony, violating the strict Mafia code of omerta (silence.)

1990 - There are persistent rumors Rosselli and a pair of widely feared Chicago mob hitmen, Charles Nicoletti and Felix Alderisio, had actually fired the fatal shots killing President John F. Kennedy at Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

John Roselli

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