Mickey McLaney

Michael Julius McLaney, Sr. also known as Mickey McLaney or Mike McLaney (1915 – 1994) was an American casino operator and sports gambler with close ties to the Mafia and to anti-Fidel Castro groups. He was also a Top Echelon Criminal Informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

McLaney briefly owned a Havana casino which was shut down by the Castro government. He and his brother William McLaney (d. 2006) were allegedly involved in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and in Operation Mongoose, the campaign of terrorist attacks and covert operations against Cuba orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the assistance of the Mafia and Cuban exiles.

In 1967 McLaney was implicated in bribing and then conspiring to assassinate Lynden Pindling, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, following a failed attempt to obtain a casino license for himself and his associates. McLaney later moved to Haiti where he operated a casino under the protection of the Duvalier family.

Michael McLaney's name appears in documents released to the public from multiple investigations into both the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy and US actions against Cuba and Castro. He was also known as an excellent golfer; he declined to turn professional on the grounds that he could make more by hustling opponents for money. He claimed to have won $250,000 from Baltimore Colts owner and casino magnate Carroll Rosenbloom betting on one round of golf; McLaney was a guest of Rosenbloom in the owner's box at the 1958 NFL Championship Game. the latter was also a real-estate developer and casino owner in Las Vegas. The same informant reported that McLaney's main income derived from controlling lucrative concessions at horse racing tracks in Florida, New Jersey, and New Orleans. The country had been in the throes of revolution since 1952, and McLaney's Cuban venture was to be short-lived. Castro's forces entered Havana on January 8, 1959 and promptly shut down hotel and casino operations. The new government briefly held McLaney prisoner.

Through informants, the FBI learned of McLaney's bomb plot. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover tipped Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to the plan. An enraged Kennedy reportedly traveled to Florida and personally confronted McLaney to warn him off the plot, as the Attorney General knew that the three corporations intended to recover their refineries once Castro was removed. McLaney and other members of the Syndicate were recruited into Operation Mongoose around this time.

The Bahamian venture was embroiled in racketeering and influence-peddling from the start. McLaney financed Lynden Pindling in the 1967 Bahamas election for Prime Minister, offering cash and favors in exchange for a casino license upon assuming office. Pindling won the election but reneged on the casino deal when corruption charges came to light. A February 3, 1967 issue of Life magazine article alleged connections between Pindling and the Syndicate; the article named McLaney.

A later US government investigation into organized crime and racketeering would confirm the allegations. In 1973, U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) under Senator Henry M. Jackson uncovered the extent of McLaney's and Roosevelt's dealings with Pindling; these included favors of cash, aircraft, boats, and the purchase of a campaign headquarters.

Conspiracy with Elliot Roosevelt to murder the Prime Minister In 1968, McLaney and Roosevelt conspired to murder Pindling as revenge for Pindling's refusal to grant them a casino license. The plot failed; Pindling disavowed McLaney and escaped prosecution.

Haiti

In August 1969 McLaney claimed that he obtained a license from Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier to operate a casino in Port-au-Prince scheduled to open that October. McLaney's family moved to Haiti in 1970. A 1973 Time magazine feature mentions him operating Haiti's sole casino under the Duvalier family regime.

Death McLaney died in Florida in 1994.