MOB POLITICS: Three Decads of Political Racketeering

Mob Politics Three decades of political racketeering From "Sam Smith's Great American Political RepairManual" WW Norton 1997 Copyright 1997 ORDER DIRECT FROM AMAZON.COM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
ADMINISTRATION	NOTES
John F. Kennedy The 1960 election Castro assassination attempt The Bay of Pigs JFK assassination	A mob payoff may have helped to rig the crucial Illinois election results. The Kennedy administration approached mobsters for help in an unconsummated assassination attempt against Castro. The Bay of Pigs was an off-the-shelf and off-the wall idea of CIA adventurists aided by right-wing Cubans. Major questions remain concerning the JFK assassination.
Lyndon B. Johnson ML King assassination RFK assassination SE Asian heroin trade	Many investigators are still dissatisfied with official conclusions concerning the King and RFK assassinations. During the LBJ administration, the CIA allowed the SE Asian heroin trade to flourish in return for loyalty of tribes involved -- a sort of hook-an-American-for-peace policy.
Richard Nixon CHAOS Cambodia Chile Watergate	CHAOS was a massive covert program of spying on, and disruption of, progressive groups. Nixon conducted a secret illegal war in Cambodia and planned the demise of democracy in Chile along with the assassination of its president. Watergate was the biggest presidential scandal yet in American history.
Gerald Ford	A quiet period
Jimmy Carter October Surprise Debategate	Carter was a target of covert activities. Congressional findings notwithstanding, Russian intelligence files and other foreign sources support the notion that the Reagan campaign made a secret deal with the Iranians to hold the American hostages until after the 1980 election. During the same campaign, Carter's debate briefing books were stolen and turned over to the GOP. Carter may have unwittingly contributed to future illicit activity by ordering major layoffs at the CIA. These forced out hundreds of agents -- some of whom began freelancing and later became involved in Iran-Contra.
Ronald Reagan Wall street scandals S&L scandal BCCI scandal Iran-Contra Latin American drug trade Domestic spying "Continuity in government" scheme	Laissez-faire economics and lack of enforcement encouraged two of the biggest financial scandals in American history. The S&L and BCCI scandals had deep and high-level bipartisan involvement. Reagan pressed a secret and illegal war against Nicaragua. Two way trade develops with arms going south to the Contras and drugs coming north to the US. CIA during this period was supporting Panamanian president and drug lord Manuel Noriega. Meanwhile, the FBI was spying on over 130 progressive groups opposed to the Central American war and there were at least 85 unexplained and uninvestigated break-ins. The Reagan administration began a war on drugs with disastrous results including the corruption of police and government officials. There was also a bizarre scheme for "continuity in government" that proposed the unconstitutional takeover of government in time of crisis.
George Bush Iran-Contra cover-up BCCI cover-up S&L cover-up	George Bush, the first ex-CIA operative and director to be elected president, presided during an extensive cover-up of the Iran-Contra affair. Also under Bush, the lid was kept on the more embarrassing aspects of the BCCI scandal. Most of those involved in the S&L scandals also went unpunished. Other individuals and corporations picked up distressed property at fire sale prices while the taxpayers footed the bill.
Bill Clinton Whitewater	Administration officials and close friends of Clinton involved in complex and sprawling scandals growing out of Arkansas mob politics. Allegations included financial misdeeds, drug running, abuse of FBI files and obstruction of justice.