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Sam Giancana was a very powerful mafia figure that some say even helped put JFK into the Oval Office. He had connections to the CIA, Boss of the Chicago Outfit and many celebrities connections at the time. In addition, him and Bobby Kennedy battled publicly and privately over organized crime. Some say this is why there was a strong benefit to JFK’s death for Giancana. Once JFK was gone Sam’s RFK problems wouldn’t last much longer.
When Giancana was called before a grand jury on June 1, 1965, he chose to remain silent despite being granted immunity, which resulted in his jailing for contempt for more than a year, the duration of the grand jury. Meanwhile, Giancana was deposed as operational boss by Ricca and Accardo, and replaced by Joseph “Joey Doves” Aiuppa.
After his release from prison in 1966, Giancana fled to Cuernavaca, Mexico in order to avoid further grand jury questioning. He was arrested by Mexican authorities on July 19, 1974, and deported to the United States. He arrived back in Chicago on July 21, 1974.
Sam Giancana returned to the United States from Mexico to appear before the Senate Church Committee. Police detailed officers to guard his house in Oak Park, Illinois, but on the night of June 19, 1975, shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the Church Committee, which was investigating CIA and Cosa Nostra collusion, a gunman entered the home through the basement and shot Giancana in the head and neck seven times with a .22 caliber pistol. At around 11 p.m., Joseph DiPersio, Giancana’s caretaker, found his body on the floor of the basement kitchen where he was said to be frying sausage and peppers.
The murderer was most likely a close friend who had been let into the house (it is also believed that Giancana was cooking the food for his killer as Giancana could not eat spicy foods). Giancana was scheduled to appear before a Senate committee investigating supposed CIA and Mafia collusion in plots to assassinate JFK a few weeks before the killing.
With a man this connected and complicated who really knows what happened?