The Mob Maestro’s Last Sip: Santo Trafficante Jr. and the Twisted Tale of Crime, Cuba, and Pina Coladas
Alright, listen close, and I’ll spin you a tale about Santo Trafficante Jr., a name that carried weight in the dark underbelly of the Mafia. From ’54 to ’87, he ran the show, the maestro orchestrating a symphony of organized crime in Florida and Cuba. Picture him mixin’ up power like a secret recipe for the perfect Pina Colada, smooth but with a kick.
Trafficante wasn’t just a local boss; he had ties that crisscrossed the country. New York’s Bonanno family was on his radar, but his main squeeze was Sam Giancana from the gritty streets of Chicago. Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale—those were like wild horses he couldn’t fully tame. The East Coast was a web of interests with names like Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Carlos Marcello, all swirling in a cocktail of danger.
The Cuban chapter in Trafficante’s book was pure drama. In the ’40s, under his old man, he dipped his toes into the Havana nightlife. Fast forward to ’55, and he’s rubbing shoulders with Batista and Lansky, running joints like the Sans Souci Cabaret. When Castro rolled in and messed up Trafficante’s Cuban dreams, the guy started conspiring with US intelligence, cookin’ up plans to off the bearded revolutionary. It was a plot as complex as crafting the perfect Pina Colada.
Now, the Kennedy saga—we can’t skip that. Rumors floated like smoke in a speakeasy. Did Trafficante know something about Kennedy’s fate? The House Select Committee on Assassinations grilled him in ’78, but he danced around those questions like a pro in a dimly lit dance hall. Racketeering charges came knockin’ in ’86, but Trafficante slipped through the feds’ fingers again.
Come ’87, the final act played out at the Texas Heart Institute, where Trafficante took his last breath. The legacy of this Mob maestro lives on, echoing in the corridors of organized crime history. The family sold off the remnants, and the man himself, well, he took his secrets to the grave. That’s the Mob life, my friend—sweet, sour, and twisted like the last sip of a Mobster’s Pina Colada.
Pina Colada
INGREDIENTS:
2 oz. Rum
1 oz. Cream of Coconut
1 oz. heavy cream
6 oz. fresh pineapple juice
HOW TO MAKE:
Combine the rum, cream of coconut, heavy cream and pineapple juice into a blender.
Add 1/2 cup of crushed ice.
Blend for 15 seconds.
Pour into a 12 oz. glass.
Enjoy!
GLASS: Hurricane glass
GARNISH: Make sure you add a piece of pineapple and make it fancy with one of them maraschino cherries.
