Record
Hearing
1950-12-30
U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, via Internet Archive
Kefauver Part 1-A: testimony of Oscar Perez, Miami (30 December 1950)
Jimmy Velasco's former chauffeur agrees with counsel's list of sections of the Tampa syndicate, including 'The Trafficantes in another section,' and repeats what Velasco told him, adding that he cannot vouch for it. Pp. 242-253, syndicate passage at pp. 243-244.
- Date
- 1950-12-30
- Kind
- hearing
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Rights
- A hearing print of the United States Senate, published by the Government Printing Office. A work of the United States Congress, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The Internet Archive item marks it not in copyright.
Oscar Perez of Miami testified at Tampa on 30 December 1950 (pp. 242-253 of Part 1-A). He said he had been Jimmy Velasco’s private chauffeur in Tampa for about three years and that Velasco was in the bolita business and gambling in general.
Asked by counsel Downey Rice to describe the syndicate “as you knew it,” Perez agreed with counsel’s list of sections, including “The Trafficantes in another section?” (“Yes”). At p. 244 he said Velasco had told him that the higher-ups were Sheriff Culbreath, Red Italiano, Jimmie Lumia and Angel Daniels, and added: “now, I can’t personally vouch for this, because I don’t know - I am just telling you what someone else related to me.” Asked where Trafficante stood, he answered “I guess he was tied in with them somewhere or another.”
The question names the Trafficantes; the witness does not distinguish father from son. His account is secondhand by his own statement. The sheriff’s answers to these allegations are on the Culbreath page.
