"The anti-communist hysteria generated by the Cold War frequently unhinged the policy judgments of US government officials in many areas, but nowhere so completely as in our relations with Cuba. This conclusion is inescapable asGangsterismobrilliantly unravels the bizarre tale of the Mafia army the Kennedy brothers recruited in their manic determination to rid Cuba of Castro, that vexing, seemingly indomitable Communist." -Martin J. Sherwin, co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize forAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer"Colhoun damningly documents the pathetic, incompetent and sometimes comic, but always inappropriate and anti-democratic, attempts by the CIA and/or its confederates, working in tandem with members of the mob, to assassinate Castro and overthrow the Cuban revolution." -Victor S. Navasky, publisher emeritus,The Nation; professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism"Invaluable . . . Colhoun has done his homework. This is a must-read." -Margaret Randall, author ofTo Change the World: My Years in Cuba"A breakthrough: [Colhoun] casts light upon one of the darkest recesses of a dark history . . . and reveals in the process that film and fiction have actually only scratched the surface of a sordid story." -Louis A. Pérez, Jr., editor,Cuban Journal; professor of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillGangsterismodocuments the unholy triangle of the CIA, the Mafia, and the counterrevolutionaries that had Castro's overthrow as their unifying goal. It's an unprecedented piece of research, packed with the actions and words of thugs and politicians (often one and the same) from Meyer Lansky to Castro, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon and Kruschev.