1950 Johnny Roselli Mobster Gangster Appears Before Kefauver Hearings on Hollywood Shakedown Original Photo

John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli was a powerful Chicago Outfit mobster whose underworld career intersected with some of the most sensational chapters of 20th-century American history. An associate of Al Capone’s organization, Roselli later became an important mob representative in Hollywood and Las Vegas, helping extend organized crime’s influence into the movie industry and casino business. He was called before the Kefauver Committee during its celebrated investigation of organized crime in the early 1950s.

Roselli’s story became even more extraordinary during the Kennedy era. Beginning in 1960, he served as a key intermediary in a secret CIA operation that enlisted organized crime figures Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante Jr. in unsuccessful plots to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro, including plans involving poison.

Roselli later became entangled in investigations surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. He promoted a theory suggesting that the Castro assassination operation had somehow been “turned around” against Kennedy, although the House Select Committee on Assassinations later found little credibility in that explanation and did not establish that Roselli participated in Kennedy’s murder.

In 1975, Roselli testified before the Senate’s Church Committee about the CIA-Mafia plots against Castro. His remarkable life ended violently in 1976, when he disappeared and was subsequently found murdered, his body concealed inside a 55-gallon drum floating near Miami.

Offered is an original TYPE I photo that measures 8” x 10” in size taken right before he appeared before the Kefauver Committee in Washington, D.C.  Stamped twice, October 6, 1950 and April 28, 1951.

Rare image!