Cuban Connection

In April 1959, Fidel Castro toured the United States at the invitation of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Though he was wary, Castro entertained some hope of establishing a rapprochement with Washington. But after being snubbed by President Eisenhower and receiving a less-than-cordial reception from Vice President Richard Nixon, Castro got the strong impression that US intentions toward his new Cuban government were hostile.In The Cuban Connection, former FBI agent and investigative journalist William Weyand Turner examines the fateful meeting between Castro and Nixon and the murky connections that existed between official Washington, the CIA, and organized crime in Cuba. Based on firsthand interviews with many of the key players involved in Cuban-American relations of that era, plus thorough background research, Turner raises a host of disturbing questions.Before the ouster of the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista by Castro, why did Vice President Nixon often socialize at Havana casinos with his Cuban friend Bebe Rebozo? How was the rabid anti-Communism of the Eisenhower administration, especially its instant dislike of Castro, connected to its cozy relationship with the former mob-controlled dictatorship? How did all of this set the stage for the Bay of Pigs fiasco and, ultimately, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the JFK assassination?In a vivid narrative, The Cuban Connection provides insider information that rarely reaches the public.

William Weyand Turner (San Rafael, CA) is the author of many books, including Deadly Secrets: The CIA-Mafia War against Castro and the Assassination of JFK (with Warren Hinckle). Turner served for more than ten years as an FBI agent. He was also a senior editor of Ramparts magazine and assisted the district attorney in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, with the investigation of the JFK assassination.