Legal Attache James P. McMahon, Havana, to the Director, 25 February 1947, with a headquarters memorandum of 3 March: how FBI agents identified Luciano at Oriental Park
Written 'In view of the widespread publicity,' the Legal Attache's letter says informants reported Luciano at the Oriental Park race track in late January 1947, 'using an assumed name,' and that on 8 February a contact pointed him out to McMahon, who recognized him from Bureau photographs; Agent Leo J. Fox arrived with two Cuban Secret Police officers and confirmed the identification.
- Date
- 1947-02-25
- 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 245 is stored here.
Viewer pages 245 and 246 of Part 01 are a letter of 25 February 1947 from the Legal Attache in Havana, James P. McMahon, to the Director. He wrote it “In view of the widespread publicity given this case in the newspapers in the United States and Cuba,” so that the Bureau would know “the exact manner in which LUCIANO was located and identified by Agents of this office.” The stored image is page 245.
The letter says reports of Luciano’s possible presence reached the office as early as October 1946, and that “In the latter part of January, 1947, various sources of this office reported that LUCIANO had been seen at the Habana Oriental Park Race Track; that he was using an assumed name, and was believed to be mixing among Cuban social circles.” On 8 February 1947 McMahon and Special Agent James C. Connors visited the track; a contact pointed out the table where the suspect sat, and “On the basis of photographs furnished by the Bureau with cover letter dated January 21, 1947, Agent McMahon immediately recognized the suspect as being in fact Subject LUCIANO.” Connors kept him under watch. On page 246, Special Agent Leo J. Fox, “accompanied by two Secret Police Officers, arrived at Oriental Park within about 45 minutes” and confirmed the identity, after which the Cuban police took over the surveillance.
McMahon says the Havana press had credited the Cuban Secret Police, Treasury representatives and the “American Secret Service,” and asks for letters of commendation. A headquarters memorandum of 3 March 1947 (pages 243-244) names the contact as an American businessman and recommends against the letters, since Luciano “was not being sought for any crime” within the Bureau’s jurisdiction. The office’s claims of credit are its own.
