|
History |
| This syndicate of crime in only a ten year span, has risen
at a pace unparalleled by any other group and it is still gaining
momentum. The Cuban criminal element in Dade County is a well organized, politically powerful, crime confederation. Ironically this has not been achieved in the traditional way, that is poor immigrants struggling through a visa quota to enter the United States; once here using force and violence to reassert themselves as other groups before them have done like the Irish, Jews, and Italians. On the contrary Cubans were indiscriminately welcomed with open arms as political refugees. Unfortunately mingled with the bulk of honest citizens, come the professional criminal. Men who in Cuba had lived outside of the law arrived in America seeking to continue, covered by the protective mantle of a democratic government, their illicit trade. The criminal element which arrived after Castro took over was not the ghetto material in the classical sense. It was a well trained, crime-wise, sophisticated element, with established connections throughout Latin America and the American underworld. Connections with the American mob were cemented in the latter part of the 1950's when in 1956 Meyer Lansky moved the bulk of his casino operations to Cuba. There he formed a partnership with Santos Trafficante which controlled all the major gambling casinos on the island. The corruption and complete mob control which flourished in Cuba from 1956 to 1959 is paralleled only by what occurred in Chicago during the Capone era. The Central Intelligence Agency played a big part in the rapid growth of the Cuban syndicate by providing it with expert training in the use of firearms, explosives and clandestine methods of operation. In 1960 in an attempt to overthrow the Castro regime, thousands of Cubans were recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and trained in clandestine warfare. Prior criminal experience combined with the new found techniques resulted in a highly polished criminal which in some instances makes a Cosa Nostra member look like a cub scout. On December, 1970 Dennis Dule, then an agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, stated before a hearing of the Greater Miami Crime Commission that there was such a thing as a Cuban Mafia. Mr. Dale was nor far from the truth and he can be accredited with being the first person to publicly recognize that such a thing as a Cuban criminal organization existed. Enough intelligence has been gathered by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies which indicates the existence of a Cuban crime confederation. A confederation made up of small, organized groups, loosely connected, with no strong central government and complete local autonomy, which control large gambling operations and practically all of the drug importation into south Florida. The term Cuban Mafia denotes an organization having the same structural make up as, or at least connected with the Italian Cosa Nostra. While this may have been the case at one time, it is certainly not so now. There are no Capodecinas, Consiglieres, or Commissions in the Cuban groups. Moreover, the Cubans are regarded as unpredictable, and too violent by the now public relations conscious Cosa Nostra. They have been left alone to do their own thing, and are doing it quite successfully. In 1959 after being chased out of Cuba by Castro, Trafficante did attempt to cash in on the potential profits of a well organized lottery operation, in the rapidly expanding Cuban colony in Miami. He did it by helping old friends from Cuba like Domingo Echemendia,* and Evaristo Garcia Sr. and taking a cut from their operations. There were other Cubans working for Trafficante in Miami at that time, including Evaristo Garcia. Garcia took over Echemendia's operation after the latter died, and extended it to include shylocking. On December 3, 1967 at a meeting of the Cuban gambling combine of Miami, Santo Trafficante proposed Evaristo Garcia Sr. as lay-off man and senior banker for this area. With Trafficante's backing he was considered the "Number One Man" for Cuban gambling interests. His handle on bolita operations based on the Puerto Rican lottery was estimated at $40,000 per week. That's a yearly operation of over $2,000,000 which did not include shylocking activity. In June 1969 Garcia, his son Jr. and Lazaro Milian were indicted by a federal Grand Jury and charged with obstruction of justice. Later that same year the elder Garcia jumped his $100,000 bond and fled to Costa Rica where he still lives in order to avoid prosecution. Garcia Jr., Lazaro Milian and Oscar Alvarez, continued with Trafficante's rapidly decaying Cuban operation. It did not last very long. Milian and Alvarez had themselves been arrested on October 1968 by Dade County deputies for conducting a lottery operation. At the time of the arrest Milian and Alvarez assumed that the arrest was nothing more than a shake down by the deputies for more money. They attempted to bribe the deputies, consequently, additional charges were placed on the two subjects. Surprised and angered by the detectives' actions, they complained that they had been making regular payments to another deputy in order to operate free from police harassment. This outburst led to the infamous Celona confessions. Milian and Alvarez were convicted, and after serving 8 months in minimum security confinement, were given 5 years probation. On January 1971 Garcia Jr. and Lazaro Milian fled to Costa Rica to join the elder Garcia. The subjects are not expected to return to the United States. Since the break up of the Garcia operation no evidence of any king has turned up indicating that Trafficante has any control over Cuban gambling activities in Dade County. The real problem, as was the case with the Cosa Nostra, is the failure to recognize that there is a Cuban confederation of crime; that a criminal conspiracy to beat the system does exist in the Cuban community. |
|
Structure |
| Cubans who upon arrival in the United States were relocated
in other cities throughout the nation making for valuable connections on a
national level. Internationally, connections have been made with
Cubans who migrated to other countries directly from Cuba, in addition to
those who have fled the United States fearing prosecution for crimes
committed. One such country is Spain, which had been to the Cubans
what Italy is to the Italian American mobsters. No other group has
enjoyed the mobility, ready made connections, and freedom of operations as
the Cubans have. A factor which has made difficult for law enforcement to view the Cuban groups in perspective is the lack of organizational structure. Unlike the Cosa Nostra, there are no families or members with formal ranks. A Cuban group may consist of a group of men, working for a financial backer rather than a boss. Each having different levels of responsibility, but no defined rank position. They are held together by the profit motive, not any family or group loyalty. If the particular illicit activity becomes unprofitable or risky due to police concentration, the backer may discontinue its' financing and disband the group. The members may then look for other going groups which may need their services. The backer himself may change the type of activity and continue operating, or may lay low until the pressure subsides, then continue with his activities. Publicity and new laws given to law enforcement agencies to fight organized crime have made it too risky to be the boss. In addition, the respect and prestige that rank and formal membership once brought to the old timers is not much sought after by their college educated descendants. |
|
Operations |
| There is a confederation of Cuban hoodlums who make
up a triangle of associates in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the
United States. The triangle referred to is made up of Cubans
who reside in the United States, South America and Spain. This
confederation has become strong to the point of dealing direct in major
drug transaction thereby eliminating the middle man. In some
instances it has played the role of middle man for other groups dealing in
narcotics. Cubans dealing in Spain and South America are dealing directly with conversion laboratories operating in Marseilles, France and various countries in South America. The Cuban confederation has set up its own smuggling routes into the United States involving shipments values in millions of dollars. Cubans are the major importers of heroin and cocaine into the United States today. "They're moving tremendous amounts of heroin and cocaine to the point where they rival, if not surpass, the traditional organized crime elements in the United States." One can easily measure the rate of growth of the Cuban confederation by observing that the illicit drug trade in America is being rapidly monopolized by an organization which has been in existence for less than 15 years. The large sums of money which are required for high level deals come from the same source which usually finances all other types of illicit ventures, illegal gambling. Aside from the few who started by dealing in small quantities of drugs and later bank rolled themselves into the big time, profits from illegal gambling operations have been the starting point for most. Cuban owned business chains have been established in the hub of Dade County by profits from illegal gambling. Most of those businesses today are being used to front all types of illicit activities, from liquor and meat high-jacking, to cocaine shipments. The most prevalent being gambling. The gambling situation in the Cuban community is somewhat unique. Generations of Cubans have grown up with gambling as a way of life for Cuba had its own national lottery. All forms of gambling were legal from cock-fighting to casino operation. The common numbers operation was illegal. However a policeman betting a quarter on a number with the local writer was a common sight. Gambling in the Cuban community is extremely widespread, it permeates social life; yet gambling arrests are relatively few compared to other sections of the city. A great number of old honest, law abiding citizens, proud of having worked all their lives, view writing numbers and selling lottery as an opportunity to earn extra income which would keep them out of the welfare rolls. The advantages of hiring these people are twofold. First, no one wants to arrest a 65 old woman for writing numbers. If they are arrested, chances of a jail sentence are almost nil. Second, by giving the old folks a chance to make some extra money the operation Robin Hood image is enhanced thus perpetuating the operation. The biggest lottery and numbers operation in Dade County is financed and operated by a Cuban banker. |
| Underworld Index | AfroLineal | Colombians | Cubans |
| Dominicans | Italian Mafia | Jamaican Posse | Mexican Mafia |
| Outlaw Bikers | Piracy | Russian Mafia | Street Gangs |
| Terrorists | Triads and Tong | Vietnamese | Yakuza |