GIANCANA MURDER HELD NO 'OFFICIAL' GANG-STYLE KILLING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510104-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 104
• Publication Date: June 21, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Relea Q IOC/t -,: CIA-RDP88-0131
By Orr hells
Washington Star Safi Writer
Sam Giancana was prob
ably killed by someone with
i personal grudge who was
:arefttl to get prior clear-
ance from mob leaders, ac-1
-i
:ording to a Justice Depart
nent official.
Peter F. Vaira, head of
Justice's Organized Crime
;tri ke Force in Chicago, I
sized up the slaying yester
lay in a telephone inter-
Giancana, the 65-year-old
arrrer gang loader, was!
;hot six times with a .22-i
aliber gun Thursday night
r; the basement of his Oak i
'arik, Ill., home.
Giaricana's murder came
t st as staff members of thei
rate select intelligence'
zirnittee were consider-
?g questioning him about
ports that he bad been in-
olved with the Central.
ntelligence Agency in anf
assassination plot directed
st Cuban Premier Fidell
-ttstro.
Sen. John Tower, R-Tex.,
he committee vice chair-
nan, said the panel had not
lecided whether to call
"OF COUR F, now the
matter is quite moot,";
rower said.
We have decided it was!
Cain, a former Chicago vice)
detective who had joined
the mob.
"They got him with al
shotgun, shot his head off," i
Vaira said. "We heard ii-c+.
was trying to get his own!
thing going; double-crossing
the.mob." '
IN THAT CASE, Vaira
said, Giancana - even;
though he had been a close
associate of Cain's - would
have to have given his ap-
proval for the slaying.
In addition to the style of
the slaying, Vaira said
several other factors con-
vinced him it was not an
official mob killing.
"Ile had been back here a
year or so from Mexico
(where he had been-in exile I
until expelled by the Mexi-
can government), but he
had not tried to push his
way back in. He had a low
profile. No quarrels," Vaira
said.
"W'yre had had him before
th ';grand jury four or five
times, but he was just giv-
ing us junk. To give you an {,
idea of the kind of garbage! he was giving us,. we were
thinking of indicting him for;
perjury. He wasn't hurting'
anyone and they knew it.
lot an official gang-typei
-diling," Vaira said. "But
in doubt the person who did;
-t had to get permission-"
The major reason Vairaj
,as concluded that the slay-,I
? was not an "official''
:rcler is the .V ;y rlianca-'
a:, -is killed.
l;hic::i,40 , is to'
:initiate the person. They;
+1e"v him away. Usually,'
Shotgun in the face,,'
said.
In December of 1973, lie'
an old associate of,
=;iaucana's was, gunned 1
I.1?,vn in a Chicago restau- I
A shotgun bli:st struck;
7i,n in the face, rr,~d it was' Approved
,nui?s before police even'
ound out he was Richard:
"Sam was kind of vicious
and he pl ,yed around
always 1~:a] some girl
friends. I think it was some-
one with a personal mo-
tive", Vaira said.
THERE IS ALSO a possi-
bility, discounted by Vaira,
that someone found Gianca-
na's door open because of
the warm evening, simply
walked in off the street and
shot him.
"You don't walk in off the
street zo Sam Giancana's,"
Vaira said. "This was
someone he knew - a re-
venge':iilirg."
Even though the killing
does not appear to have
been an official mob execu-
tion, it was a coldly profes-
sional ,job.
Giancana was shot five
times in the neck and once
in the mouth. A spokesman
for the Oak Park police said
the ;sun was fired upward,
directing the bullets into the
victim's brain. The gun was
not found, but six .22-calib-
er ::Tetis were scattered on
the floor.
The murder may also de-
prive fl he Sarate committee
of the cooperation of John
Raselii, a iancana lieuten-
arit who reportedly was to
carry. out the plot against
Castro.
ROSELLI,' WHO was
scheduled to appear before
the committee Tuesday,
told Washington Star Staff
Writer ;Morris Siegel yester-
clay that he may balk at
testifying because of Gian-
caaa's killing.
?, -- /E; e // 16r'e-2.
5R000300510'TOS"1 4J 5 "
Tower sriid'he ;"clt the
Sn`nnte GU31 mittE 'has "b't
ter sonrc:e.s of information
than Mr. Giancana."
But then he added, with
cariful understatement:
"The committee notes with
interest that Mr. Giancana
was chine a'. ay with."
vaira Said the strike
force lawyers had never
been asked to check Gian-
cana' , oossinle involvement
with the CfA and ?a had not
been questioned on that
subject.
Vincent L. luserra, head
of the F131's organized
crime squad in Chicago.
said Giancair?a had been
under investigation ra pLrl
of the, probe of racket ac-
tivities since 1967. But he
said the rnurder at this
point appeared to be a
violation of local rather
than federal laws and the
bureau was not actively in-
volved in invest;,-:sting the
slaying.
I:+l HIS :0-YEr' .R crime
c.u?eer, Giancana rose from
common car thief to the
a lparant safety of his re-
cent role ra a retired mat,
lead er.
i:Iiring World War '11, -'he
de It '--Uard labeled him "a
constitutions psychopath
with an inadequate person-
They reportedly based
his 4-F classification on the -
ansver? he save when he
vas asked what he did for a
living-.
"I steal," Giancana
replied.