Deadly Secrets: The CIA-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of JFK [Paperback]

Warren Hinckle (Author), Bill Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1993

The fantastic story of the U.S.'s undeclared war against Cuba, including an expanded section on the CIA's role in the assassination of JFK. "Deadly Secrets is a warning as well as terribly exciting reading".--Studs Terkel. National radio and TV coverage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

President John Kennedy put his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, in charge of the U.S. government's secret plan to assassinate Fidel Castro and overthrow his government. This explosive chronicle also contends that RFK cut private deals with the Mafia which solidified the mob's ties with the Central Intelligence Agency. Furthermore, the authors charge, the CIA was involved in at least a dozen attempts on Castro's life through 1987, and the agency recruited thousands of anti-Castro Cubans for military adventurism and political and economic sabotage. Hinckle, founding editor of Ramparts, and Turner, an ex-FBI agent, weave a complex narrative featuring key players like CIA spy E. Howard Hunt, active in assassination attempts on Castro, and mobster Johnny Roselli, whom the CIA drafted to kill the Cuban dictator. First published in 1981 as The Fish Is Red , the book has been updated to include a powerful introductory chapter detailing George Bush's dirty tricks from Iran-Contra through recent schemes to revive the war on Castro. A timely expose, it supports current speculation that the murderers of JFK were part of a CIA-Mafia hit team.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560250534
• ISBN-13: 978-1560250531
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spilling the Beans on the American Corporate State, June 16, 2008

By 

Mark Watterson "Author of Don't Weep for Me, ... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Secrets: The CIA-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of JFK (Paperback)

Authors Warren Hinckle and William Turner are "in the know". Learn what they know and you will be a wiser person. In "Deadly Secrets", these thorough investigators reach out to the American people in an attempt to educate them about how the American government really works. They did a superb job, from detailing George H.W. Bush's involvement in the JFK assassinaiton, Iran-Contra, and CIA drug smuggling to Nixon's hiring of the same CIA thugs for his personal and sinister use. Who would have known? This is a great chronicle of the events leading up to and surrounding all these secret events. The most interesting part is the chapter on Bush. I did not realize he had so many connections to the murder of a president. But now, writing in the year 2008, it looks like such pathological killing runs in the family. America is lost forever.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book's got attitude, January 22, 2007

By 

Matthew C. Kenny "Matt Kenny" (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadly Secrets: The CIA-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of JFK (Paperback)

In addition to what was written above, I'd like to add that this book would almost be funny if it weren't so depressing. When I say funny I mean this only for those who might find James Ellroy or Chandler's bleak wit funny. A bitter sarcasm tinges the language that fleshes out this strange corner of WW3. Unlike many history/expose books, Deadly Secrets is written with attitude, with a sharp perspective that is illuminating (Hinckle and Turner have clearly spent some time with many of the players).

The oblique cold warriors (mafia, arms dealers, mercenaries, displaced patriots, displaced murderers, gamblers, right wingnuts, oil barons, cia officers, bad bankers,international corporations, drug traffickers and all those other types of people we don't like to think of as soldiers on the front lines of the cold war) aren't so oblique after reading this...Its a wonder we won the cold war because with friends like these who needs Soviets. Your taxpayer dollars have gone to interesting 'causes,' (schemes) and its not hard to imagine that these secret wars are no different today.

If you are interested in the Cold War and how it bleeds into to "War on Terror" you should check this out. Also helpful for those interested in the continuity of the careers of those who pass through, in, and around 'Dallas,' Watergate, and the Iran/Contra affair.

If you're hungry for more afterwards, other authors to look for are Jonathan Kwitny, Peter Dale Scott, Jonathan Marshall,Alan Block, Pete Brewton, whose bibliographies give up a bunch of great sources.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rogue agents,the mob, and Cuba., April 16, 2008

By 

J.L. Populist (WI,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly Secrets: The CIA-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of JFK (Paperback)

While this book doesn't identify the actual shooters in the assassination of John Kennedy,it offers up an immense volume of information about the C.I.A.-mafia partnership regarding assassination attempts directed at Fidel Castro.

The planning,execution,and failure of the Bay of Pigs operation are detailed.

The book really focuses on the C.I.A.'s activities and participants,especially in the Caribbean. Air America and the Corsican mafia are also discussed. Various agency business connections and financial ties are detailed.

You will read about characters such as Robert Maheu,Howard Hughes,E.Howard Hunt,Mitchell WerBell III,Frank Sturgis,"Maurice Bishop", and a myriad of other interesting people that were in some instances heavily involved in the intelligence community. In addition to that aspect, the authors investigate the mafia activities in Cuba and Haiti and how they particpated in projects with the Agency, sometimes without Kennedys knowing about it.

The authors documented this book well.
On the subject of the JFK assassination,this is one of the better books available. The details in the book make it an even better book on the subject of secret wars and how participants re-surfaced in the Watergate scandal and even later in politics.