Casinos in Cuba and their Negative impact on the Nation: President Batistas Era - Research Paper Example

Casinos in Cuba and their Negative impact on the Nation: President Batista’s Era Introduction Casinos in Cubaduring president Batista’s era were nothing but a cover up of the evils happening during this time period. This is a study set out to support relentlessly this aforementioned thesis statement. To this the writer will, besides the firm support to the statement, use other authors’ works to make reinforced the argument. The study is going to look at this issue in detail and give an understanding on the reason why the economy of Cuba stagnated. Wealth remained with the illegitimately rich people while the poor continued to wallow in poverty. On 1st January 1959, Havana was all jubilant but ironically it was not for the welcoming of the New Year. The celebrations were totally for other reasons. The youth could not be any happier; young folks came from their homes to the streets and the ones who were students in campuses alike. The coming of 1959 brought with it a brand new dawn, news was all over that president Batista had been ousted by Castro. Subsequently, Batista fled Havana and his family had no choice but to tag along. The professional gamblers who had infested the city of Havana by establishing organized crime had no choice but to get out of the country as well. Castro had accomplished his mission; these professional gamblers who were allover the city of Havana by establishing casinos brought nothing of essence to the nation of Cuba, and they were finally gone. Castro led the entire nation to rid themselves (as nationals) of the firmly established organized crime that had brought the economy to its knees. Gangsters would carry out their illegal business operations while basking in all the privileges granted by Batista in exchange for large sum of money. (cuban-exile.com, 2008) This introductory part, courtesy of the cuban-exile.com helps the reader have an insight of the whole issue and make informed predictions of the directions the study is going to take. Body According to Maureen Hudges, president Batista invited a legendary figure in the Americas organized crime-Meyer Lansky.Batista called him to become the prime adviser upon the reform of gambling in his so referred bid of tourism attraction. Lansky became the new manager of the previously established Hotel Nacional and in 1956 he started the popularly known hotel of then hotel–casino. Hughes argument, which the study totally backs, is that despite the fact that Batista introduced Casinos to bring about tourist attraction, it was merely a state of legitimacy in disguise. In reality the president aimed at dictating his way to illegitimately acquiring income and further would cover that up with the introduction of casino business in Havana Cuba. His right-hand man as mentioned earlier to aid his works was Meyer lansky who was later, as he carried out his business, joined by Trafficante Senior who sent his son to launch casino operations in Cuba. Lansky and Trafficante were high rankers when it came to drug trafficking back in the US. This was especially proven by the fact that Lansky was highly sought after by FBI. His accomplices Trafficante was also in the 1940s put in FBI’s wanted list together with his son for a specific case where he was the financier of shipments of heroine sent from Cuba to the US. (Hughes, 2010, pp 57-59) As a matter of fact, the website of cubanheritage.com which is fully for the argument Presented by the study states that it was the members of the mafia who had the art of wining after taking part in gambling games. They would come out with outstanding gains since they knew their way towards making maximum of the amounts staked. However, gains would not be ascertainable were it not for the government officials’ compromising. These officials could be used by the gangsters to achieve anything that they wanted. The membership of this said gang were none others than Meyer Lansky, Santos and Jake. Back in Havanna, the members of the gang were taken as very successful and highly reputable businessmen. They would avoid confrontation like the use guns to get things done and instead utilize their monetary powers to operate in tranquility .It took them big chunks of money to bribe the way into the government officials, but amazingly they would still make profits .This according to the website was not a flaw, but rather an essential procedure applied by such seasoned gangsters. They had learnt this trade throughout their lifetime and in fact Havana, Cuba presented one of the most sought after chances at getting a lifetime boost in organized crime. The king in the racket of Cuba was Lansky and back in the US as well if this ranking were anything to go by. Of the most wanted racketeers he was in top ten lists. Thus, this president Batista’s invitation where he would set up legitimate gambling investments in the capital of Cuba, Havanna presented a rare opportunity to cleanse his reputation. This business he made sure that he did not run alone bringing a group with the inclusion of Jake his brother, Santos, Einstein and Trafficante to give a hand. Tranfficante’s business was under the management of Joseph Siles.His business share was entirely Casino, where he was granted Cornodoro, Suci as well as Capri hotel. Capri was co-owned with Actor George Raft. Aside from the mentioned, the website clarifies that there were others as Well and Thomas Jefferson McGinty was not left behind. (cubanheritage.org, 2011) Despite Perez’s focus on the cultural side of the Cuban casino’s case, he also notes in his book that in the decades of 1950s there were more than twenty hotels that were completed as well as the increment of establishment of gambling. More precisely, in 1957 Hotel Capri and Rivera brought about Casinos in Havanna. Several other hotels like Tropicanna followed suit. The underworld of US got attracted to Cuba and as a matter of fact organized crime was on its peak in the 1950s in this Island. The relocation from US was especially due to Senator Estes Kefauver’s aftermath of his effort to clear criminal activities in the US. President Batista, as per this book by Perez, altered the gambling regulations in place as at then to allow any hotel or night club to operate casinos for gambling. So as long as such night hotels or clubs in the city of Havanna had a worth of USD1,000,000 and above or if outside Havanna the amount would be any amount above USD500,000. It was all set and as per the sentimental claims by Roth the government of Batista had given more than needed in enhancing partnerships with government as he resented Kefauver, the FBI and the Justice Department of US. As the late 1950s approached the major hotels as well as casinos of Cuba had been taken over by organized crime operations and millions of dollars got invested in luxurious night clubs, hotels and Casinos. Over the decade of the 1950s the receipts from gambling were approximately above USD 500,000. Over this period much had been done and plans were underway. One of the numerous plans was the lucky Lucianos, who was a major gangster, to make a conversion of the Pines Isle into western Hemisphere’s Monte Carlo. His was to establish lavish casinos for gambling, luxury hotels and elegant brothels. There was no other place in the globe during this period where mobsters business would thrive than in the capitals of Cuba, Havanna.Anything that gangsters wanted was at their disposal. The bigwigs of crime in North America were commonly seen in Havanna and also the smallest gangsters alike. The biggest portions of immigrants to Cuban were the underworld players. Infant the Miami Herald had once reported that it was the Cuban invasion by the US underworld. All the thugs from Las Vegas had in a way found exile in Havanna, Cuba. (Perez, 2007, pp 191-197) Meyer Lansky, after being invited in Cuba by Batista, came up with a both bold and imaginative sort of plan to lead the rollers, converting Havana. After the successful wooing of the gangsters, the place became a haven of crime bosses, gamblers as well as thrill seekers. Everyone’s goodtime was brought into a screeching halt by the revolutionary works of Castro. This marked the end of organized crime by Lansky and Luciano, who had made a grand entrance in the market of Havanna .Batista, had seized casinos from the Cuban military management to these two men who knew better on how to carry out such kind of business. The profits made by the military men were not appealing to the Cuban dictator Batista. Therefore, he invited his friends from America to ease things up. Batista is described by ipsn.org website as the backbone of the racketeers’ business in Cuba. He was a power hungry dictator who ended up exposing his nationals to abject poverty as he enjoyed his riches gained from illegal business. He would use Lansky to woo rich tourists from America as long these ended up bringing something substantial to his table. It was a symbiotic relationship between Batista and his fellow men Siegel and Lansky. For instance, these two men from the USA went on establishing gaming business in Las Vegas using the amounts earned from the Cuban business operations. (ipsn.org, 2006) Rose writes that over the period of 1950s the Cuban as well as American mob families launched successive luxurious casinos in Cuba. In the Batista’s calling up of Meyer Lansky to ensure things were cleaned up the action really worked for him. But it worked in favor of the establishment of flourishing casino and organized crime business ran concurrently. From a distance, the economy under President Batista was well off. However, Cuba was to a huge extent an economy of middle class. At first as Rose says Lansky was not for the idea of setting up casino business in Cuba due to the strengths of existing labor unions. As time went on majority of Cubans could not enjoy a share of immense wealth they observed all over the capital.Corruption was at its best and a revolution like that one led by Fidel Castro was the only way out of the mess. After the fleeing of Battista, the enraged crowd of hurt citizens entered the casinos in force and ensured that everything was overturned. (Rose, 2010) Jain in his article notes that for mafia business to attain high levels of, gambling is a vital route. Mafia do earn a lot of money from such operations and a case at hand is the illicit operations that involved gambling and other business in the same line that occurred in the USA just before the player fled to Havanna after realizing a loophole. Las Vegas before Siegel and lansky was free of mafia kind of operations until it caught their eye. The timing of establishing mafia business was especially ripe since tourists from America had gotten tired of visiting Cuba to look for good times. In the nation of Cuba, Batista was the head of the regime that portrayed corrupt deals as well as allowing for casino business by gangsters to be carried out in his territory. The casinos in Cuba, Havana would be run simultaneously with those ones in Las Vegas until the Cuban side suffered a downturn following the successful revolution by Fidel Castro and his men. As Jain mentions, Sigel was particularly known for his gereat skills in organizing, imagination as well as knowledge in the handling of mafia money. (Jain, 2011) Despite the mentioning by the study that gambling breeds mafia business, Barry of another view since he puts it that gambling is always a well established undertaking for the purpose of recreation. However, he quickly notes that by watching movies related to gambling activities an opportunity of learning presents itself in the process of obtaining a better way to make members of the public aware of the likely vices that might go along with gambling. (Barry, 2007) Meyer Lansky whose original name was Suchowljansky was the mastermind of the whole organized crime undertakings in Cuba. He was as well the most wealthy and powerful of crime syndicates of us. As year 1918 set in, Lansky and Sigel were only involved in the playing of floating crap kind of game but went on to graduate in later years to conduct highly lucrative sort of thefts and eventual resale of the stake. By 1920s Lansky’s follower gang were involved in major burglaries and smuggling of liquor. They, Lansky and Sigel, had a well established a squad of murderers who were put as professionals for hire. After getting their gains from crime, they would launder money using foreign placed accounts. As the year 1936 set in, Lansky set up operations for gambling in USA’s Florida as well as New Orleans, besides the Cuban city of Havana, (where payoffs to dictator Batista would be effected). This Cuban establishment was, until the 1959s Revolution that saw Batista removed from power by Fidel Castro. (britannicca.com, 2011) Batista’s return to power after eight years of his being out of power saw the Cuban situation of organized crime escalate a big deal. Mafia operations during his return to power period hit an all time high. He was particularly the one who opened up Cuba for large scale levels of gambling in the capital of Cuba. Havana, following this move, was nicknamed as the “Latin las Vegas”. The growth of casino operation in Cuba was due to the efforts of Lansky. Subsequent, to the Batista’s asking for him to aid in establishing legalized gambling in this action, he (Lansky) brought the most outstanding gangsters Jake Trafficante and Luciano among many others as Christopherson puts it. (Christopherson, 2011) Sergio and others say in the write-up, that Cuba had grown to a quite significant American tourist’s attraction. However it was all done to the wrong reasons. Fidel alongside Che’ Guevara had to do a revolution to ensure a cleaning of the system. Each an every business that flourished during Batista’s era was later discovered to have been through corruption and decadence by him. In fact, gambling in casinos is a major example. Following his removal from power, Batista and his family fled with a huge chunk of reserve from the central bank of Cuba. (Khrushcher, et al, 2007) Conclusion While concluding this study, it is of essence to establish that despite the claim by the then president of Cuba, that he was after the attracting of tourists to the nation, it was all but a cover up. In fact, he knew all too well that he was to establish illegal business operations by way of casinos and through that he would gain from the illegal business by American gangsters. The study mentions all the key notes to make the affirmation of the thesis statement: Casinos in Cuba during president Batista’s era were nothing but a cover up of the evils happening during this time period. Various authors aid the study’s argument and an example at hand is the study by Rose who writes that over the period of 1950s the Cuban as well as American mob families launched successive luxurious casinos in Cuba. In the Batista’s calling up of Meyer Lansky to ensure things were cleaned up the action really worked for him. It would portray as if he was carrying out business to help the country grow, but this was not the case. Work Cited: britannica.com. Meyer Lansky. (2011). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/330022/Meyer-Lansky Christopherson, Erika. Gangsters in Cuba. (2011). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://profe.benjaminearwicker.com/students/blog-main/organized-crime-in-cuba- .html cuban-exile.com. Cuba’s Capones. (2008). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://cuban- exile.com/doc_176-200/doc0190.html cubaheritage.org. Mafia rules in Havana casinos, part 1. (2011). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://www.cubaheritage.org/articles.asp?lID=1&artID=220 Fritz, Barry. Images of gambling in film. (2007). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://jgi.camh.net/doi/pdf/10.4309/jgi.2007.20.3 Hughes, Maureen. The Countess and the Mob: The Untold Story of Marajen Stevick Chinigo and Mafia Lord Johnny Rosselli. Publisher iUniverse, 2010. pp57- 59. ipsn.org. The Late Bill Roemer Looks at Las Vegas -- Then and Now. (2006). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://www.ipsn.org/vegas1.html Jain, Vedant. The Mafia in Las Vegas. (2011). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Mafia-in-Las-Vegas&id=1500855 Khrushchev, Sergei, et al. Cuba at the Crossroads. (2007). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/48/4/402.full.pdf+html Perez, Louis A. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture. UNC Press Books. Edition illustrated. (2007). (pp191-197) Rose, Nelson. Gaming Law Review and Economics. Published in Volume: 14 Issue 4: July 27, 2010. (2010). Retrieved 25 April 2011 http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/glre.2010.14403 Read More