Former crime lord Battle dies

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Former crime lord Battle dies
Posted on Mon, Aug. 06, 2007
BY EVAN S. BENN
[e-mail]

Jose Miguel Battle Sr., former godfather of the Cuban mob, died in federal custody at a dialysis facility in South Carolina, his attorney confirmed to The Miami Herald late Sunday. He was 77.
(snip)

Battle was the reputed leader of ''The Corporation,'' a Cuban organized-crime group that made millions from decades of illegal bookmaking, bolita lotteries and drug trafficking. Known as ''El Padrino,'' or Godfather, Battle directed the large organization with ties from New York to Latin America.

Battle's career began in law enforcement, when he worked as a vice cop in Havana under Fulgencio Batista's regime. He fled Cuba after Fidel Castro took power.

In the United States, the CIA recruited Battle to join Brigade 2056, which landed in Cuba during the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/193979.html

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In memorium:

Jose Miguel Battle Sr. (born 1930) is the nominal leader and founder of "the Corporation," which is otherwise known as "the Cuban Mafia."

Background and Expansion
A former policeman in Batista's Cuba, Jose Miguel Battle Sr. assisted the CIA in the early 1960s in training Cuban exiles and was involved in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1962. He was captured and spent nearly two years in a Cuban prison. After that, he settled in Union City, New Jersey, and began establishing a presence as the leader of a gang of Cuban-American criminals involved in everything from loansharking and gambling to drug trafficking and murder. He allegedly established good working relationships with the Italian Mafia in the New York City area, but at other times the Corporation is known to have had violent turf wars with various Italian mafia families. He made the bulk of his wealth from an illegal lottery racket known as bolita (little ball), which was popular among expatriate Cubans and Puerto Ricans. It is estimated that his network was making up to $45 million a year in the 1970s from bolita in New Jersey, New York and Florida. Battles' reputation was such that he was known among the Cuban American community as El Padrino, or the Godfather.<1> Battle was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to 30 years in prison in connection with the death of Ernestico Torres, an alleged hit man for Battle's organization. An appeals court overturned the conviction, but Battle later pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy in exchange for a sentence of time served - two years.

By the 1980s Battle had built up an empire of crime and began investing heavily in legitimate businesses throughout the New York area. In the late 1980s, President Ronald Reagan's Select Committee on Organized Crime investigated the Corporation and estimated its membership, direct or loosely associated, at 2,500 members. Soon afterwards, Battle relocated to Miami, Florida, where there was a large population of Cuban immigrants and began to operate his East Coast empire from the Little Havana area of the city. In 1987 Battle was listed as one of Dade County's wealthiest men with a net worth of $175 million.<2>
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Miguel_Battle

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Alleged kingpin of 'Cuban mafia' nabbed
Saturday, March 20, 2004
MIAMI, USA (UPI): Police in Miami have arrested the alleged kingpin of the "Cuban mafia" and two dozen associates on charges of running a numbers operation for 40 years.

Arrested was Jose Miguel Battle Sr., 74, and 24 associates, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

Battle was arrested Thursday in the produce section of his neighborhood supermarket.
(snip)

Federal prosecutors said the organization, known as "the corporation," has made $1.5 billion since it began in 1964.
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http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2004/03/20/kingpin.htm

http://www.indcjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/archives/desi.jpg

[Ian David]

1. Damn! "The Corporation" gave me six to one odds he'd make it until August 12th! I'm out 100 bucks!nt