Havana

Havana matters in the narrative as both a destination for casino investment and a meeting point for a criminal network broader than any one ethnic group. Teamsters pension-backed ventures helped finance casinos there, while Kelly Mannarino and his brother partnered with Meyer Lansky in Havana’s San Souci casino; the book later associates the loss of Cuban assets with a reversal in fortunes for Lansky, the Mannarino brothers, and Russell Bufalino.

Casinos and Pension-Fund Money

The pension fund organized by Jimmy Hoffa quickly became a source of loans to La Cosa Nostra, functioning in the account as a private bank for a national crime syndicate. Casino construction in Havana and Las Vegas was among the ventures made possible by Teamsters money. The scale of the fund and the expectation of further gambling expansion made Havana part of a much larger financial landscape: when Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975, Atlantic City was about to legalize gambling.

A Wider Criminal Network

The San Souci partnership connects Kelly Mannarino and his brother with Meyer Lansky, while Russell Bufalino is described as closely allied with Lansky and Kelly. The account uses these relationships to resist treating organized crime as exclusively Italian: Lansky and the Mannarino brothers belonged to a wider criminal world that included different groups and backgrounds. Havana’s importance therefore lies not only in its casinos, but in the way casino partnerships brought those networks together.

Loss of the Cuban Assets

The book places the Cuban casino interests within a story of gains followed by dispossession. Lansky, Kelly, and Kelly’s brother had a great deal taken from them in Cuba, as Russell Bufalino did. This loss gives Havana’s investment history a sharp contrast: the city had represented opportunity for the casino entrepreneurs, but their holdings there did not remain secure.