Michael McLaney

Michael Julius McLaney, Jr. also known as Mickey McLaney or Mike McLaney (February 1, 1915 – July 24, 1998)^[1][2] was an American casino operator and sports gambler with close ties to the Mafia and the U.S. intelligence community and to anti-Fidel Castro elements in both.^[3]

McLaney briefly owned a Havana casino which was shut down by the Castro government. He and his brother William McLaney (d. 2006)^[4] were reportedly involved in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and in Operation Mongoose, the US plot to remove Castro with the assistance of the Mafia.^[5][6]

In 1967 McLaney was implicated in bribing and then conspiring to assassinate Lynden Pindling, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, following a failed attempt to obtain a casino license for himself and his associates.^[7] He later moved to Haiti where he operated a casino under the protection of the Duvalier family.^[8][9] According to an obituary, McLaney "was killed" in Haiti in 1998.^[1]

Michael McLaney's name appears in documents released to the public from multiple investigations into both the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy and US actions against Cuba and Castro.^[10]

Early criminal enterprises

Michael McLaney was born in New Orleans in 1915. He became associated with the New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello^[5] before moving to Miami, Florida in 1950.^[1] McLaney was an accomplished tennis player, winning an amateur title in 1962.^[11][12] He was also known as an excellent golfer; he declined to turn professional on the grounds that he could make more by hustling opponents for money. He claimed to have won $250,000 from Baltimore Colts owner and casino magnate Carroll Rosenbloom betting on one round of golf; McLaney was a guest of Rosenbloom in the owner's box at the 1958 NFL Championship Game.^[11]

By June 1959 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had made McLaney the subject of an anti-racketeering case. An informant described McLaney as having been a "personal pro" and "front man" for sports executives Dan Topping and Del Webb;^[3] the latter was also a real-estate developer and casino owner in Las Vegas. The same informant reported that McLaney's main income derived from controlling lucrative concessions at horse racing tracks in Florida, New Jersey, and New Orleans.^[3]

Havana

In September 1958 McLaney partnered with Rosenbloom to purchase a large share of the Casino Internacional in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana; McLaney later bought out Rosenbloom's shares.^[11] The hotel had long been tied to American organized crime (see Havana Conference); a Life magazine article from March 1958 reported that the casino was then operated by Miami-based crime boss Meyer Lansky.^[13] The country had been in the throes of revolution since 1952, and McLaney's Cuban venture was to be short-lived. Castro's forces entered Havana in January 8, 1959 and promptly shut down hotel and casino operations. The new government briefly held McLaney prisoner.^[11] McLaney was freed and the properties were nationalized in 1960. McLaney and other investor claimed substantial financial losses as a result. ^{[citation needed]}

Miami

Upon his release from Havana, McLaney established himself in Miami, where he and associates within the National Crime Syndicate ("the Syndicate") hatched a conspiracy to bomb newly-nationalized oil refineries in Cuba.^[a] The refineries had been owned by the Esso, Shell Oil, and Texaco corporations. McLaney and his co-conspirators planned to launch their bombing attack in April 1961; this would have made it coincident with the Bay of Pigs Invasion.^[14]

Through informants, the FBI learned of McLaney's bomb plot. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover tipped Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to the plan. An enraged Kennedy reportedly traveled to Florida and personally confronted McLaney to warn him off the plot, as the Attorney General knew that the three corporations intended to recover their refineries once Castro was removed. McLaney and other members of the Syndicate were recruited into Operation Mongoose around this time.^[14]

President John F. Kennedy was reportedly a frequent visitor to McLaney's villa in Miami Beach until his assassination in 1963.^[14]

The Bahamas

Following the assassination McLaney moved his operations offshore. He formed a new partnership with Elliot Roosevelt—a son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and former mayor of Miami Beach with known ties to the Syndicate—to operate a casino in the Bahamas.^[15][16]

The Bahamian venture was embroiled in racketeering and influence-peddling from the start. McLaney financed Lynden Pindling in the 1967 Bahamas election for Prime Minister, offering cash and favors in exchange for a casino license upon assuming office. Pindling won the election but reneged on the casino deal when corruption charges came to light. A February 3, 1967 issue of Life magazine article alleged connections between Pindling and the Syndicate;^[17] the article named McLaney.^[b]

A later US government investigation into organized crime and racketeering would confirm the allegations. In 1973, U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) under Senator Henry M. Jackson uncovered the extent of McLaney's and Roosevelt's dealings with Pindling; these included favors of cash, aircraft, boats, and the purchase of a campaign headquarters.^[7]

Conspiracy with Elliot Roosevelt to murder the Prime Minister

In 1968, McLaney and Roosevelt conspired to murder Pindling as revenge for Pindling's refusal to grant them a casino license. The plot failed; Pindling disavowed McLaney and escaped prosecution.^[7] Once elected Prime Minister, Pindling had McLaney deported from the Bahamas.^[19]

Haiti

In August 1969 McLaney claimed that he obtained a license from Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier to operate a casino in Port-au-Prince scheduled to open that October.^[20][21] McLaney moved to Haiti in 1970.^[1] A 1973 Time magazine feature mentions him operating Haiti's sole casino under the Duvalier family regime.^[9] He remained in Haiti until his death.^[22][23]

Indictments and convictions

McLaney and associates were indicted for conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and perjury in New York City in July 1969.^[24] In December 1970 McLaney was convicted of the federal crime of conspiracy to defraud the US Securities and Exchange Commission by filing false statements concerning the acquisition a conglomerate corporation.^[25]

Death

McLaney was murdered in Port-au-Prince in 1998.^[1]

Notes

1. Their aim was to undermine the Castro government, with the ultimate goal of resuming their casino business upon installation of a new, "friendly" ruler in the mold of the deposed Fulgencio Batista.
2. McLaney sued Life publisher Time Inc. for libel. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed McLaney's suit, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused McLaney's appeal.^[18]