Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. Gary and Australian contributor Tony Taouk examine the life and career of mob lawyer Frank Ragano. He started defending mafia boss Santo Trafficante Jr.’s Bolita bankers and runners, defended James Hoffa, and advised Carlos Marcello on some matters. One of the most exciting things Frank Ragano claims was that Santo Trafficante Jr. and New Orleans mob chieftain Carlos Marcello ordered the assassination of JFK. He claimed that Santo Trafficante Jr. confessed this to him shortly before his death. More specifically, Trafficante supposedly said he regretted killing John Kennedy and that he should have killed his brother, Robert Kennedy.

Tony Taouk is an Australian lawyer and a Mafia researcher who specializes in the subject of mob trials and mob lawyers. He has also traveled to the United States and visited mob-related sites in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas.

Get 50% off order from Factor Foods by using the code gangland50

Support the Podcast

Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwireClick here to “buy me a cup of coffee”

To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup  click here

To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. 

To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here

To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.

To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Donate to the podcast. Click here! 

GARY JENKINS 00:00

Well hey guys back here in the studio gangland wire. This is your intelligence unit detective Gary Jenkins retired former guys. We’re here with Tony toke from Down Under. He is our expert on mob lawyers. We’ve done several in the past. Tony, we did Oscar Goodman last. And what did we do before that? Oh, we did Roy Cohn and today we’re going to do Frank Ragano. And guys, there’s a heck of a book out there Mob Lawyer if you want to know a lot more about them. What we’re going to say about Frank Ragano get this book that he co wrote with a really highly respected well known mob historian Selwyn Rob wrote the Five Families I believe was his quiz, his premier work. And so it’s called Mob Lawyer. So Tony, let’s talk a little bit about how he got started. I was reading the book and it looks like as a young lawyer down in Tampa Ybor City, there’s a lot of numbers racket or boleto going on. And as any young lawyer, he starts taking some of these low level cases, probably in city court, more than likely that’s what it would be here in Kansas City or maybe the lower level the associate Circuit Court taken on some of those and I believe, Santos Trafficante took notice that a man what do you remember about how I got into this business of being a mob lawyer?

Tony Taourk 01:26

Well, frankly, Ragano was born in 1923. He grew up poor in Tampa, Florida. His parents were working class Sicilian immigrants. He actually fought in the Second World War and he received a Bronze Star for bravery. After the war, he went to the University of Tampa and Stetson Law School on the GI Bill of Rights. He clerked for the Florida Supreme Court, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1952. Now, during his stint with the Florida Supreme Court, he attracted the attention of a Pat Whittaker. He was a maverick criminal defense attorney in the Tampa area, who was the go to lawyer for local mobsters. Now, Whitaker took Ragano under his wing and encouraged him to start his own practice and promised to refer him work. He’s big break came in 1954 when Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante and 34 men were arrested on gambling and bribery charges. This was in connection with the whole Bolita operation that you just referred to, I think we didn’t get represented Trafficante, who was quite because Ragano was quite young at this point.