FBI memorandum, A. Rosen to E. A. Tamm, 14 February 1947: who helped Luciano enter Cuba, and his reported gambling associates in Havana
Summarizing 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.
- Date
- 1947-02-14
- Kind
- case-file
- 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 206 is stored here.
Viewer pages 206 and 207 of Part 01 hold a memorandum of 14 February 1947 from A. Rosen to E. A. Tamm, written “To advise you of information appearing in Bureau files concerning individuals assisting subject in entering Cuba and those individuals reportedly connected with subject in gambling operations in Havana.”
It says that by radiogram of 10 February the Legal Attache reported that Luciano had received his visa with the help of Dr. Indalecio Pertierra, and that by radiogram of 12 February he reported that “subject received assistance from Cuban Senator Manuel Capestany. It was further reported that subject is managing gambling concessions at the Jockey Club and National Casino for Pertierra and that he is associated with Charles Simms, Conrad Immerman, Victor Vesta and Meyer Lansky.” The memo then sets out what the Bureau’s files held on each: Pertierra’s election to the Senate as a Liberal (a 1944 letter), Capestany as a Liberal leader who had aided Dr. Ramon Grau San Martin, a 1941 letter placing Vesta as a croupier at the Casino Nacional, and a paragraph on Lansky that says that “In 1939, Lansky was engaged with Frank Erickson, a well-known New York gambler in the operation of the Oriental Racetrack in the Nacionale Gambling Casino, Havana, Cuba.” It adds that the files could not identify the Charles Simms associating with Luciano.
“Managing gambling concessions” is the radiogram’s report. The FBI’s closing report of March 1947 says no evidence developed of illegal activity in Cuba and that Luciano said he had not completed a purchase of a share. Spellings vary across the file (Sims and Simms; Vesta, Festa and Westa).
