Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Viewer page 214 of Part 01 of the FBI Vault's Luciano file: page 3 of a typed FBI report, with paragraphs on the Cuban visa deposit, Senator Manuel Capestany's letter, Luciano's arrival at Camaguey on October 29, 1946, Dr. Indalecio Pertierra and the Jockey Club and Gran Casino Nacional, and the February 9, 1947 Tiempo en Cuba article.
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FBI report of Special Agent Leo J. Fox, Havana, 12 February 1947: Luciano's entry into Cuba, the Pertierra visa, and the gambling at the Gran Casino Nacional and Oriental Park

The Havana office's first full report states that Luciano arrived at Camaguey by airplane on 29 October 1946 as Salvatore Lucania, that his visa was backed by a Cuban senator's letter, that Congressman Indalecio Pertierra 'reportedly controls the gambling at the Jockey Club at Oriental Park and at the Gran Casino Nacional,' and that Luciano frequented both.

Date
1947-02-12
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault, Charles (Lucky) Luciano / Salvatore Lucania, Part 01
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The page image of viewer page 214 is stored here.

Viewer pages 210 to 218 of Part 01 hold the report made at Havana on 12 February 1947 by Special Agent Leo J. Fox, under the title “Charles Luciano, with aliases Charles Lucania, Salvatore Lucania.” Its administrative note says that Joseph Fortier, the Treasury representative at the embassy, had been trying to locate Luciano since October 1946 because of information that he “might attempt to establish himself in illegal narcotic traffic.” The stored image is page 214.

The report says Luciano was “located and identified” at the Oriental Park race track on 8 February 1947, seated at a table in the Jockey Club. Cuban immigration records showed that a visa was requested on 1 July 1946 by Antonio Madan Valdes with a deposit of $500, that the file held a letter from Senator Manuel Capestany who “guaranteed him as a person of democratic ideals,” and that “Subject, as SALVATORE LUCANIA, arrived at Camaguey, Cuba, via airplane on October 29, 1946.” A source called Dr. Indalecio Pertierra, “a Cuban Congressman, who reportedly controls the gambling at the Jockey Club at Oriental Park and at the Gran Casino Nacional, Habana,” “the moving force behind the plan to bring Subject to Cuba.” The report gives his residence as of 11 February 1947 in the Miramar district.

It states that “LUCIANO frequents the Gran Casino Nacional and the Oriental Park Race Track,” and that “the roulette, baccarat, 21 and crap game operators at both these places (the only two places in Cuba where gambling is legal) are reportedly American citizens.” A source said most of these gamblers were often seen at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, that Meyer Lansky “has registered there on various occasions,” and that the source had never seen Luciano at the Nacional. The report lists the Pertierra family’s companies, among them the operators of the Cabaret Mont-Martre in Havana and of the Oriental Park track and Jockey Club, the Sports Casino and the National Casino, each placed at Marianao, and says the National Casino’s operating company sold out to the Cia. Promotora de Turismo in the fall of 1946.

The report also summarizes an article in the Cuban weekly Tiempo en Cuba of 9 February 1947 accusing Pertierra of crooked gambling with Luciano and “his lieutenants, MEYER LANSKY and CHARLES SIMMS.” That is a translated press account inside the file, not FBI reporting. The report keeps the Hotel Nacional and the Gran Casino Nacional apart, as this archive does.

itemFBI memorandum, A. Rosen to E. A. Tamm, 10 February 1947: Luciano found in Havana, 'allegedly backing gambling at the local race track and National Casino'A headquarters memorandum reports that Luciano has been identified in Havana, where 'he is allegedly backing gambling at the local race track and National Casino,' that he 'reportedly secured a Cuban visa through Dr. Indalecio Pertierra, Cuban Congressman,' and that the Cuban Secret Police were questioning him that day.itemFBI memorandum, A. Rosen to E. A. Tamm, 14 February 1947: who helped Luciano enter Cuba, and his reported gambling associates in HavanaSummarizing the Legal Attache's radiograms, headquarters records that Luciano had help from Congressman Pertierra and Senator Manuel Capestany, that he 'is managing gambling concessions at the Jockey Club and National Casino for Pertierra,' and that he was associated with Charles Simms, Conrad Immerman, Victor Vesta and Meyer Lansky.itemFBI report of Special Agent Leo J. Fox, Havana, 22 March 1947: Luciano's arrest and deportation, and the visits by Lansky, Siegel and CostelloThe closing report on Luciano in Cuba: arrested in Havana on 22 February 1947 and deported to Italy on 20 March 1947; 'No evidence developed indicating LUCIANO engaged in narcotic trafficking or other illegal activities in Cuba'; and 'LUCIANO admitted that MEYER LANSKY, BENJAMIN SIEGEL and FRANK COSTELLO had visited him in Cuba,' with Lansky's three Hotel Nacional registrations.itemKefauver Part 7: Henry Silver and John W. Barker on working at the Jockey Club in Havana (11 October 1950, pp. 42-43, 54-55)Two gambling-house employees from New Jersey told the committee about earlier work at the Jockey Club in Havana: Silver about 1939, after hearing 'that there were Americans running it,' and Barker around 1933, when he was in charge of the roulette wheels.