Fuckin' A.

The Mob killed JFK. Well not the Mob by itself but the Mob in collusion with the CIA. At face value this seems absurd. Sure you say the Mafia is a violent ruthless organization but carry out a hit on the Chief executive of the United States? Fuhghedaboutit! Wrong I say because the Mafia had both the motivation and the capability at that time to make it happen. The Mafia in the 60's was a far more powerful vibrant organization than the mob of today. During the 1950's the Mob was making millions of dollars in revenue from the casino it had set up in Cuba. Thanks to their partnership with with dictator Flugencio Batista the Mob had free reign on the island. When revolutionary Fidel Castro and his band of rebels overthrew the despot in 1959 a lot of wiseguy's from Florida to Brooklyn were not happy. After all they were taking a huge hit financially and a wiseguy's biggest concern is money. Johnny Roselli of the Chicago outfit had collaborated with the CIA in the early 60's in various efforts to oust Castro and the failure of the Bay of Pigs in 1961 must have further roiled some tempers. Also there was the matter of JFK's brother Bobby who was doing everything in his power as Attorney General to make life hell for the mobsters. They were pissed about this because the patriarch of the Kennedy clan Joe Kennedy had used his influence with the Chicago outfit to help get JFK elected. Frank Ragano, Santo Trafficante's longtime lawyer recalled a conversation with the Mob boss years later in which the aging mobster told him in Sicilian 'We shouldn't have killed Giovanni.' It could have been just boasting, or was it?

Have I ever told you how much I fucking hate IMs?

I was thinking recently about leadership. More specifically Generalship. How sometimes a commander who is beloved by his men might not always be effective on the battlefield. George McClellan considered by some in the northern press as the 'young Napoleon.' Who after months of plodding slowly advanced towards richmond. He was beloved by his men who thought of him as something of a father figure. Yet as a General he failed to get much done. As opposed to someone like Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson who was not always like by his men but followed because of his many victories. Long marches and gruesome scenes of battle. That it what total war is, right into the present. Grant who by no means wanted to see the casualties of war was prepared to accept them as a sacrifice to end the war. 'War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.' William Tecumseh Sherman said that and it pretty much sums up what he saw what no one else saw in the early days that this was total war. Countrymen against countrymen, brother against brother. Still McClellan was not prepare to accept this fact writing to his wife: 'I am tired to the sickening sight of the battlefield with its mangled limbs and rotting corpses, victory has no charms for me when purchased at such cost.' Then stop being a general you asshole find a new line of work. If you can't accept what it will mean then back
down. Stonewall Jackson rode his men hard but it paid off. Joseph Johnston also on the Confederate side was beloved by his men but notorious for retreating and being overly cautious. There was a story about Johnston before the Civil war. He was with a group of officers from west point hunting. When they came back he hadn't bagged even one. He was a good shot, they said but he was to hesitant always waiting for the perfect shot and in the end not shooting. McClellan may have been acting to not see more of his men dead, but his reluctance and hesitation in the end cost more lives and prolonged the war longer then it needed to be. 'War is the remedy our enemies have chosen and I say give them all they want.'Sherman said and it took a long while for people to realize what a total war it would be.