The CIA tried to recruit organized-crime figures to assassinate Fidel Castro because agency officials believed the mafia employed 'master assassins' and still had influence in Havana's underworld.
Notes on verification
Well-corroborated by Church Committee findings, National Security Archive documents, and multiple independent historical sources describing CIA-Mafia collaboration (Giancana, Roselli, Trafficante) against Castro, including the rationale about mafia's Havana underworld ties.
Sources
- The Mysterious Blunderings of the CIA (warontherocks.com)
- https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2025-11-20/cia-assassination-plots-church-committee-report-50-years (nsarchive.gwu.edu)
- https://www.foxnews.com/story/cia-papers-detail-plot-to-poison-castro (foxnews.com)
- https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/belligerence/mafia-cia.htm (latinamericanstudies.org)