Mafia Helped JFK to Win, Book Claims

As for Monroe, Hersh quotes from what is reputed to be a "stream of consciousness" tape-recording made at her psychiatrist's suggestion. "Marilyn Monroe is a soldier," the actress said, referring to herself. "Her commander in chief is the greatest and most powerful man in the world. The first duty of a soldier is to obey her commander in chief. He says, 'Do this,' you do it."

Kennedy's link to Giancana through the president's relationship with Exner, who was also Giancana's lover, has been reported. But Hersh breaks new ground with allegations linking Giancana and other Mafia leaders to the 1960 election.

Joseph Kennedy was the catalyst in setting up the alliance with the Mafia, by Hersh's account. The elder Kennedy allegedly got a Chicago judge and old friend, William J. Touhy, to arrange a meeting with Giancana. Joseph Kennedy purportedly sought to tap into the mob's influence with local labor unions, part of what Hersh calls "a huge manpower base that could be mobilized on demand."

Hersh reports that, according to Tina Sinatra, the elder Kennedy also persuaded Frank Sinatra to act as a go-between in the campaign's contacts with Giancana. "I believe in this man [John Kennedy], and I think he's going to make us a good president," Sinatra told Giancana, whom he met on a golf course to escape FBI surveillance, Tina Sinatra said.

Efforts to contact Sinatra and his daughter on Saturday for comment were unsuccessful.

The decision by the Mafia to commit resources to the Kennedy campaign was made at a summit of the crime bosses in Chicago, according to Jeanne Humphreys, widow of mob figure Murray Humphreys, who cast the only negative vote at the meeting.

Robert G. Blakey, a former Justice Department special prosecutor, told Hersh that FBI wiretaps confirmed that the Mafia had been active in Kennedy's Illinois campaign, providing financial backing and stuffing ballot boxes. "Can you say that mob money made a difference?" Blakey asks rhetorically. "My judgment is yes."

Kennedy carried Illinois--a crucial win in the electoral-vote contests--by fewer than 9,000 votes out of more than 4.6 million cast. At the time, many Republicans charged that the Chicago Democratic machine, led by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, had rigged Kennedy's victory.