Mafia Helped JFK to Win, Book Claims

Hersh writes that Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.), the GOP Senate leader, called Cartha DeLoach, then-deputy director of the FBI, claiming he had evidence of fraud and demanding an investigation. DeLoach told Hersh that when he informed Dirksen he would turn the matter over to the Justice Department--then headed by Robert Kennedy--the senator snapped: "Thanks a hell of a lot" and slammed down the phone.

"Dirksen probably knew that the Justice Department had already advised the FBI not to the conduct any further investigation," DeLoach told Hersh.

The reason Mafia leaders were willing to aid Kennedy's candidacy was their belief, according to Blakey, that "the Kennedys would do something for them," specifically, Hersh writes, "reduce FBI pressure on their activities."

If that was the case, the mob made a bad bargain because once in charge of the Justice Department, Robert Kennedy made fighting organized crime a priority. Victor Navasky wrote in his book, "Kennedy Justice," that "ever since Prohibition . . . attorneys general have been 'declaring war' on organized crime, but Robert Kennedy was the first to fight one."