Mob Wanted To Rub Out Trudeau

"I was going to hit him (with a bullet) in the eye and kill him instantaneously," Craft said. "I did not personally dislike Pierre Trudeau but I was told by my superiors to kill him." Trudeau was slated for execution because of his close association with Cuban President Fidel Castro, Craft said. Canada was trading with Cuba in 1974 and giving aid, despite an American boycott of the communist Caribbean nation. Mobsters like Meyer Lansky hated Castro because he had kicked them out of Cuba and shut down their casinos when he seized power in 1959, Craft said. They hoped that Castro would attend Trudeau's funeral in Canada, so that they could get a shot at him, Craft said. "They thought, if we kill Trudeau, we can get Castro." Craft said he was told to come home to the U.S. and drop the plot to kill Trudeau in mid-September 1974. While he doesn't know why with absolute certainty, he said he believed it was because the mobsters felt that Trudeau was taking a harder line with Cuba. Toronto-area author Antonio Nicaso said Lansky was enraged to lose the Cuban casinos, where he laundered organized crime profits. "After the Cuban Revolution the new regime wiped out Lansky's asset base and revenue streams," said Nicaso, who has lectured police intelligence experts on organized crime. "He lost much of his wealth. He was more furious than a rabid dog." Nicaso said it's plausible that the mobsters would plan to kill Trudeau to get a chance to kill Castro, but added that murdering a prime minister inside Canada would likely involve approval and support from local mobsters. "The Mafia is very territorial," Nicaso said. ... http://www.thestar.com/article/290634

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