When the Mob Ruled Havana

Meyer Lansky 1958 (Library of Congress)

(Cigar Aficionado) In February of 1947, Frank Sinatra arrived in Havana, Cuba, holding a suitcase filled with $2 million in cash. He was flanked by two mobsters from Chicago, the Fischetti brothers, Rocco and Charlie.

The brothers were cousins of Al Capone, with long-standing reputations in the businesses of illegal gambling and killing. As bodyguards they were second to none—tough, loyal and connected at the highest levels of the Mob, which, at the time, was more robust and powerful than it had been since the glory days of Prohibition. Continued