Chapter Eleven
1 The character of Vito Corleone in The Godfather is based upon Joe Profaci.
2 Frank Costello also had a lavish home in Sands Point, Long Island.
3 The site of Albert Anastasia’s murder still exists on the corner of Fifty-Fifth and Seventh in Manhattan. However, it is now a Starbucks instead of a barbershop.
4 Other senators serving on the McClellan Committee were heavyweight Senate legends Barry Goldwater, Sam Ervin, and Frank Church.
5 The committee consisted of eight members, composed of Democrats and Republicans.
6 Giancana spent millions of dollars to make sure that Chicago and Cook County authorities would allow his criminal enterprise to prosper unimpeded.
7 Almost $4,000 in modern currency.
8 Joseph Barbara’s health slowly deteriorated, due to a series of heart attacks. Several tax liens were placed on his property, forcing him to sell the estate and relocate to a much smaller home. After seventeen months in hiding, he appeared in court to face charges of tax evasion. One month later, Barbara suffered a fatal heart attack and died on June 17, 1959. The former Barbara estate was at first turned into a tourist attraction and is now a horse property.
9 This top ten list proved impossible for agents in cities truly lacking organized crime, placing them in the predicament of concocting imaginary local syndicates to please Hoover. The Top Hoodlum Program actually began in 1957, but if you read the FBI’s official history, it says that Hoover began the list in 1953. Some believe that revisionist history is there to cover for J. Edgar Hoover.