The JFK Lancer November in Dallas 2007 was a huge success. It's a marvel to me that after all these years we're still learning new things about the assassination of John Kennedy. Debra Conway and Larry Hancock and a host of other hard working people put together a tremendous program and I was honored to have been a part of it.
My talk was well received and I met some amazing people. Check the links in the previous post to get more details about JFK Lancer.
My next event will be in Chicago early next year when I'll be addressing the membership of the Irish-American Heritage Center on the north side. More details to follow.
I've added a clock to my page, showing the local time in Balad, Iraq where my son, Jason, is currently stationed. Please keep him and all of our soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines who are in harm's way in your thoughts.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
JFK Lancer - Dallas, Texas
Wow! I can't believe it's almost time to head to Dallas for the annual convocation of JFK researchers. I've been working feverishly on my presentation. I'll be talking to the group on Sunday November 18, hosted by JFK Lancer (see link below). This annual event is the largest gathering of researchers who are trying to resolve one of this country's greatest tragedies. I've spoken to the group in the past, trying to learn whether there was any actual link between Richard Cain and the Kennedy assassination.
Mostly what I'm going to talk about is how the research community helped me to deal with and ultimately to disprove the allegation that Richard Cain killed JFK. Without this group I doubt that I'd ever have gotten to meet the one guy who helped put it to rest.
The book fair in Washington on November 1 was a terrific event. and I'm grateful to the National Press Club for the invitation to participate.
http://www.press.org/
I'll post an update when I return from Dallas. Thanks for your interest and support.
This year I'll be talking about what I learned about his alleged involvment and I'll open it up a little more by talking about Richard's involvment with Cuban refugees, training them for the Bay of Pigs invasion and using CIA sponsored access to the Glenview (IL) Naval Air Station to conduct the training. I've attempted to get confirmation from the CIA about this program, but so far their response has been "we can neither confirm nor deny." More on that later.
http://jfklancer.com/index.htmlMostly what I'm going to talk about is how the research community helped me to deal with and ultimately to disprove the allegation that Richard Cain killed JFK. Without this group I doubt that I'd ever have gotten to meet the one guy who helped put it to rest.
The book fair in Washington on November 1 was a terrific event. and I'm grateful to the National Press Club for the invitation to participate.
http://www.press.org/
I'll post an update when I return from Dallas. Thanks for your interest and support.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
National Press Club Book Fair - Nov. 1
I had a great time in Chicago last weekend, now it's time to look forward to the next event.
On Thursday, November 1, I'll be at the National Press Club Book Fair in Washington, D.C. The book fair will be at the Press Club from 5:30 - 8:00 PM and should be a spectacular way to spend some time meeting authors and buying books. The club is located at 15th and G Street in downtown Washington, on the 13th Floor.
There will be 40 authors participating, with books on a variety of topics, so there's bound to be something for everyone. I am looking forward to participating and meeting some interesting new people. If you're going to be in Washington, please come by and introduce yourself.
Keep checking back here, my next stop will be Dallas on Nov 15-18 for the JFK Lancer symposium on the Kennedy assassination. I'll be speaking to the group on Sunday Nov 18, about the allegations that Dick Cain was involved in the Kennedy assassination and also about his involvement in a joint CIA/Mafia training exercise at the Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois. More details later.
On Thursday, November 1, I'll be at the National Press Club Book Fair in Washington, D.C. The book fair will be at the Press Club from 5:30 - 8:00 PM and should be a spectacular way to spend some time meeting authors and buying books. The club is located at 15th and G Street in downtown Washington, on the 13th Floor.
There will be 40 authors participating, with books on a variety of topics, so there's bound to be something for everyone. I am looking forward to participating and meeting some interesting new people. If you're going to be in Washington, please come by and introduce yourself.
Keep checking back here, my next stop will be Dallas on Nov 15-18 for the JFK Lancer symposium on the Kennedy assassination. I'll be speaking to the group on Sunday Nov 18, about the allegations that Dick Cain was involved in the Kennedy assassination and also about his involvement in a joint CIA/Mafia training exercise at the Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois. More details later.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Chicago Cultural Center - October 20
I'll be at the Chicago Cultural Center on Saturday October 20 from 10-4. The Illinois Women's Press Association hosts this annual book fair to showcase Illinois authors. There will be nearly 90 authors on hand for this exciting event.
I hope to meet some of you there.
I hope to meet some of you there.
Friday, September 14, 2007
The Daily Herald - Chicago's Suburban Daily
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/print/?id=20884
The more the Chicago mob changes, the more it stays the same
Daily Herald Staff Reports
Published: 8/20/2007 7:18 AM
"Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about Hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years."
Those were the profound words of Carl Sandburg, published in his book of "Chicago Poems" in 1916.
Ninety-one years later, Chicago's landscape may have changed, but the sordid souls, who poisoned Sandburg's time, live here in infamy.
That much is evident after sitting through last week's Operation Family Secrets trial in federal court in Chicago. Five elderly men connected to the Chicago Outfit are charged with running mob rackets and torturing and killing 18 people the past four decades by strangulation, beating and shooting, with ropes, ball bats, blowtorches, shotguns, fists and feet.
But the five hoodlums with witty nicknames such as the Clown, the Breeze, Little Jimmy and Twan, didn't operate without help from outside their secret organization.
Just as in Sandburg's day, when the hell-bent were called Big Jim and the Fox, the mobsters of our era admit they bribed police and public officials to protect their illegal businesses.
Two new books prove that nothing has changed. Despite the modernization of Michigan Avenue, lakefront beautification and regular police department announcements that crime is declining, the dirty business of public corruption at the behest of the Outfit thrives.
In her book "Sin in the Second City," author Karen Abbott writes about the open sex trade in Chicago's Levee District on the near South Side in the early 1900s. It focuses on the turn-of-the-previous-century whorehouse, the Everleigh Club. The story amounts to a blueprint for the modern rackets that the Calabrese/Lombardo Outfit is now on trial for allegedly running.
In 1900, dance hall operator Ike Bloom was in charge of making sure the police allowed bordello operators, call girls and pimps to freely conduct their business.
"So integral was Bloom to the web of Levee graft that his portrait, handsomely framed, hung in a prominent place of honor in the squad room of the 22nd Street police station," writes Abbott.
Below Bloom's picture was a price list of the appropriate bribes to be paid to police: "Massage parlors: $25 weekly; Larger houses of ill fame, $50-$100 weekly, with $25 additional each week if drinks are sold; Saloons allowed to stay open after hours, $50 per month; Sale of liquor in apartment houses without license …"
The architects were First Ward Alderman "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Democratic Party boss Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna.
In a second new book, "The Tangled Web," author Michael J. Cain reports on the devilish work of his brother Dick. In the late 1950s and '60s, Dick Cain was a Chicago police vice detective and then chief investigator for the Cook County Sheriff's Department.
Author Cain says his brother was also "a made Mafia soldier and a protégé and informer for legendary mob boss Sam Giancana."
Dick Cain was a Chicago mobster, groomed by the mob to be a Chicago cop.
"Dick was one of a very small number that reported directly to Sam 'Momo' Giancana," writes Michael Cain.
Dick Cain distributed weekly mob bribes to other cops, according to his brother, and tipped Outfit bosses to gambling and prostitution raids. When independent, non-mob rackets were raided, Cain would be seen in the next morning's newspapers posed with a Tommy gun, a la Eliot Ness.
Cain's mob work stretched to Mexico and Cuba and probably included murders, admits his brother. Dick Cain was killed in 1973, five days before Christmas. Two gunman ambushed him in a West Side sandwich shop.
Richard Cane and Sam Giancana's corrupt DNA was the same that Ike Bloom and his ilk had in 1900. And now a century later, the bad genes are on display in Operation Family Secrets.
Testimony revealed that modern-day Chicago cops were on the Outfit payroll. Mob informants testified they were tipped off by dirty cops about upcoming raids.
An alleged Chicago mob boss testified about his cozy relationship with politically connected labor union bosses and with the late First Ward Alderman Fred Roti, who was convicted of corruption.
Another accused mob boss, who once bribed a U.S. senator, last week implicated all 50 Chicago aldermen in a payoff scheme to allow illegal gambling in their wards.
An admitted Outfit hit man pinned a suburban firebombing on one of Mayor Daley's close friends.
So nothing changes. We just keep writing about Chicago, after looking the town over for years and years
The more the Chicago mob changes, the more it stays the same
Daily Herald Staff Reports
Published: 8/20/2007 7:18 AM
"Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about Hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years."
Those were the profound words of Carl Sandburg, published in his book of "Chicago Poems" in 1916.
Ninety-one years later, Chicago's landscape may have changed, but the sordid souls, who poisoned Sandburg's time, live here in infamy.
That much is evident after sitting through last week's Operation Family Secrets trial in federal court in Chicago. Five elderly men connected to the Chicago Outfit are charged with running mob rackets and torturing and killing 18 people the past four decades by strangulation, beating and shooting, with ropes, ball bats, blowtorches, shotguns, fists and feet.
But the five hoodlums with witty nicknames such as the Clown, the Breeze, Little Jimmy and Twan, didn't operate without help from outside their secret organization.
Just as in Sandburg's day, when the hell-bent were called Big Jim and the Fox, the mobsters of our era admit they bribed police and public officials to protect their illegal businesses.
Two new books prove that nothing has changed. Despite the modernization of Michigan Avenue, lakefront beautification and regular police department announcements that crime is declining, the dirty business of public corruption at the behest of the Outfit thrives.
In her book "Sin in the Second City," author Karen Abbott writes about the open sex trade in Chicago's Levee District on the near South Side in the early 1900s. It focuses on the turn-of-the-previous-century whorehouse, the Everleigh Club. The story amounts to a blueprint for the modern rackets that the Calabrese/Lombardo Outfit is now on trial for allegedly running.
In 1900, dance hall operator Ike Bloom was in charge of making sure the police allowed bordello operators, call girls and pimps to freely conduct their business.
"So integral was Bloom to the web of Levee graft that his portrait, handsomely framed, hung in a prominent place of honor in the squad room of the 22nd Street police station," writes Abbott.
Below Bloom's picture was a price list of the appropriate bribes to be paid to police: "Massage parlors: $25 weekly; Larger houses of ill fame, $50-$100 weekly, with $25 additional each week if drinks are sold; Saloons allowed to stay open after hours, $50 per month; Sale of liquor in apartment houses without license …"
The architects were First Ward Alderman "Bathhouse" John Coughlin and Democratic Party boss Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna.
In a second new book, "The Tangled Web," author Michael J. Cain reports on the devilish work of his brother Dick. In the late 1950s and '60s, Dick Cain was a Chicago police vice detective and then chief investigator for the Cook County Sheriff's Department.
Author Cain says his brother was also "a made Mafia soldier and a protégé and informer for legendary mob boss Sam Giancana."
Dick Cain was a Chicago mobster, groomed by the mob to be a Chicago cop.
"Dick was one of a very small number that reported directly to Sam 'Momo' Giancana," writes Michael Cain.
Dick Cain distributed weekly mob bribes to other cops, according to his brother, and tipped Outfit bosses to gambling and prostitution raids. When independent, non-mob rackets were raided, Cain would be seen in the next morning's newspapers posed with a Tommy gun, a la Eliot Ness.
Cain's mob work stretched to Mexico and Cuba and probably included murders, admits his brother. Dick Cain was killed in 1973, five days before Christmas. Two gunman ambushed him in a West Side sandwich shop.
Richard Cane and Sam Giancana's corrupt DNA was the same that Ike Bloom and his ilk had in 1900. And now a century later, the bad genes are on display in Operation Family Secrets.
Testimony revealed that modern-day Chicago cops were on the Outfit payroll. Mob informants testified they were tipped off by dirty cops about upcoming raids.
An alleged Chicago mob boss testified about his cozy relationship with politically connected labor union bosses and with the late First Ward Alderman Fred Roti, who was convicted of corruption.
Another accused mob boss, who once bribed a U.S. senator, last week implicated all 50 Chicago aldermen in a payoff scheme to allow illegal gambling in their wards.
An admitted Outfit hit man pinned a suburban firebombing on one of Mayor Daley's close friends.
So nothing changes. We just keep writing about Chicago, after looking the town over for years and years
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Upcoming Events
I'll be in Chicago on October 20 for the Illinios Women's Press Association Book Fair.
Also during that trip I'll be speaking at St. Malachy School, addressing the issue of integration in the sixties. I know this has nothing to do with The Tangled Web, but it's an important adjunct to another book I had a hand in writing and publishing - Herren's: An Atlanta Landmark by Ed Negri with Michael J. Cain (Roswell Publishing 2005).
On November 1 I'll be in Washington, D. C. to participate in the National Press Club Book Fair - details to follow.
November 16-18 is the annual gathering of the JFK research community sponsored by JFK Lancer. Held this year at Radisson Dallas Love Field, 1241 West Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. I'll be speaking to the group about the alegation of Dick's involvement in the Kennedy assassination and about the goings on at the Glenview Naval Airstation in the sixties. I'll also be signing books there at the resource center.
The next event on the horizon is the Spring Lecture Series at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. The date's not fixed yet, but should be sometime in late January 2008. I'll keep you posted right here.
Also during that trip I'll be speaking at St. Malachy School, addressing the issue of integration in the sixties. I know this has nothing to do with The Tangled Web, but it's an important adjunct to another book I had a hand in writing and publishing - Herren's: An Atlanta Landmark by Ed Negri with Michael J. Cain (Roswell Publishing 2005).
On November 1 I'll be in Washington, D. C. to participate in the National Press Club Book Fair - details to follow.
November 16-18 is the annual gathering of the JFK research community sponsored by JFK Lancer. Held this year at Radisson Dallas Love Field, 1241 West Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. I'll be speaking to the group about the alegation of Dick's involvement in the Kennedy assassination and about the goings on at the Glenview Naval Airstation in the sixties. I'll also be signing books there at the resource center.
The next event on the horizon is the Spring Lecture Series at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. The date's not fixed yet, but should be sometime in late January 2008. I'll keep you posted right here.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Family Secrets
This afternoon a jury in federal court in Chicago convicted five men in what's come to be known as the Family Secrets trial. Joseph Lombardo, 78; Frank Calabrese, Sr., 70, James Marcello, 65, Paul Schiro, 70 and Anthony Doyle, 62 were convicted of a wide ranging number of charges including 18 Murders and a variety of conspiracy and racketeering charges.
The trial, which lasted nearly ten weeks, was the most important case of its kind in years. Lead prosecutors, Patrick Fitzgerald and John Scully wove together a substantial case and are to be commended for their efforts.
One of the documents prepared by the prosecution for trial, the Santiago Proffer, indicated their belief that Joseph Lombardo (known as "the Clown") was the triggerman who killed Richard Cain on December 20, 1973. Richard's murder was not included in the indictment because of a lack of physical evidence.
Sentencing will happen at some point in the future, but it's unlikely that Lombardo will see the light of day.
The trial, which lasted nearly ten weeks, was the most important case of its kind in years. Lead prosecutors, Patrick Fitzgerald and John Scully wove together a substantial case and are to be commended for their efforts.
One of the documents prepared by the prosecution for trial, the Santiago Proffer, indicated their belief that Joseph Lombardo (known as "the Clown") was the triggerman who killed Richard Cain on December 20, 1973. Richard's murder was not included in the indictment because of a lack of physical evidence.
Sentencing will happen at some point in the future, but it's unlikely that Lombardo will see the light of day.
Illinois Women's Press Association Book Fair
On October 20, 2007 I'll be appearing at the Illinois Women's Press Association Book Fair to be held at the Chicago Cultural Center.
The Chicago Cultural Center is located at 77 East Randolph Street in downtownChicago. The building occupies the block bordered by Michigan Avenue to the east, Randolph Street to the north, Garland Court to the west, and Washington Street to the south.
I'll look forward to meeting you and talking about The Tangled Web.
The Chicago Cultural Center is located at 77 East Randolph Street in downtownChicago. The building occupies the block bordered by Michigan Avenue to the east, Randolph Street to the north, Garland Court to the west, and Washington Street to the south.
I'll look forward to meeting you and talking about The Tangled Web.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Decatur Book Festival
For any of you who attended the Decatur Book Festival last weekend, you were subjected to one of the finest book events in the Southeast. Last year more than 50,000 people attended, that's pretty impressive when you consider that the Printer's Row Book Festival in Chicago only draws 70,000.
The crowd was impressive this year and, best of all, they bought lots of books.
I'm going back to Chicago in October, more on that later...
The crowd was impressive this year and, best of all, they bought lots of books.
I'm going back to Chicago in October, more on that later...
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Update for September 6, 2007
On my recent trip to Chicago to promote The Tangled Web, I was interviewed on WBEZ a Chicago affiliate of NPR by Richard Steele, a talented interviewer who clearly did his homework. You can listen to interview by clicking on this link:
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Program_848_Segment.aspx?segmentID=12978
Another interview with a cable access station is now available on the web. They'll be running the interview in a week or so on Comcast channel 19 in Chicagoland.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4778540979621885458
The Family Secrets trial went to the jury on Tuesday (September 4) and it's anyone's guess how long it will take to reach a verdict. In the last two days they've asked the judge to define usury and intimidation. The judge refused to give them a dictionary and they later discovered that usury is actually defined in the indictment. I wonder what ever possessed them to read the indictment?
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Program_848_Segment.aspx?segmentID=12978
Another interview with a cable access station is now available on the web. They'll be running the interview in a week or so on Comcast channel 19 in Chicagoland.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4778540979621885458
The Family Secrets trial went to the jury on Tuesday (September 4) and it's anyone's guess how long it will take to reach a verdict. In the last two days they've asked the judge to define usury and intimidation. The judge refused to give them a dictionary and they later discovered that usury is actually defined in the indictment. I wonder what ever possessed them to read the indictment?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Family Secrets Trial
I've been in Chicago for a week or so and have attended the ongoing Family Secrets trial in federal court here in Chicago. It's a pretty interesting experience, the spectators include retirees with time to kill, friends of the mobsters on trial, attorneys getting a glimpse of the big time cases that could make their careers, cops who want to see these guys go down the tubes and a host of others.
In addition to attending the trial, I've also done several interviews. One with Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) and one for a cable access program that will air in a couple of weeks. On Tuesday, August 28, I'll be on WGN Radio with Milt Rosenberg. We're on after the Cubs game, about 10 PM.
I return home on Wednesday August 29 and will be at the Decatur (GA) Book Festival on September 1 & 2. I hope to see you there.
In addition to attending the trial, I've also done several interviews. One with Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) and one for a cable access program that will air in a couple of weeks. On Tuesday, August 28, I'll be on WGN Radio with Milt Rosenberg. We're on after the Cubs game, about 10 PM.
I return home on Wednesday August 29 and will be at the Decatur (GA) Book Festival on September 1 & 2. I hope to see you there.
Friday, August 17, 2007
This BLOG has been created to discuss and shamelessly promote my book "The Tangled Web"
It's a biography of Richard Cain, former Chicago cop and a made member of organized crime in Chicago. Richard's life was an enigma and involved close associations wtih Sam Giancana, Chicago boss at that time and later with the FBI and CIA. The book was released in April 2007.
I'm off now and then to promote the book and to tell the story of how it came about. Thanks for stopping by and let me know you were here.
Michael J Cain
It's a biography of Richard Cain, former Chicago cop and a made member of organized crime in Chicago. Richard's life was an enigma and involved close associations wtih Sam Giancana, Chicago boss at that time and later with the FBI and CIA. The book was released in April 2007.
I'm off now and then to promote the book and to tell the story of how it came about. Thanks for stopping by and let me know you were here.
Michael J Cain
Glenview Naval Airstation
So, it seems there was more going on at Glenview NAS than people thought. In a joint operation with the Chicago Outfit and the CIA in early 1960, Fulgencio Batista was living in Glenview and directing the training of Cuban nationals in anticipation of the invasion of Cuba. Richard Cain and Dr. Anthony DeVarona were the principals in the operation, and when Batista wasn't on the scene getting involved himself, he was taking refuge in Richard Cain's home.
I've been in touch with the folks at the museum on the grounds, the station is closed now, and not surprisingly they had no idea that this activity had been going on.
I've been in touch with the folks at the museum on the grounds, the station is closed now, and not surprisingly they had no idea that this activity had been going on.
August 19, 2007
I'm off to Chicago this Sunday for another round of promotion for The Tangled Web and I can't wait to get there. I'll be on Chicago Public Radio with Richard Steele, we're taping on Monday the 20th and the air date is to be announced later. On Tuesday, August 28 from 10-11 PM I'll be on WGN Radio (720 AM) with Milt Rosenberg. In between I'll be taping a TV show with Frank Avila which will run on Comcast channel 15.
Besides those comfirmed appearances, I'll be visiting bookstores all over the Chicago area to sign their books and meet whoever I can meet.
I hope to see you in Chicago soon.
Besides those comfirmed appearances, I'll be visiting bookstores all over the Chicago area to sign their books and meet whoever I can meet.
I hope to see you in Chicago soon.
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