The "Mafia Princess" is moving to Las Vegas to help open a mob-themed exhibit.
Antoinette Giancana, daughter of murdered Chicago mob chief Sam Giancana, was in Las Vegas over the weekend for meetings with backers of the museum, which is planned for a Strip location. It would compete with a $50 million downtown mob museum being pushed by Mayor Oscar Goodman.
She's partnering with local investors Jay Bloom and Charlie Sandefur, who reportedly are in negotiations with Strip properties for their venue.
"There would be tremendous foot traffic," she said by phone Tuesday. "I think it's going to be dynamite. Jeez," she paused, adding, "I shouldn't use that word."
Her 1984 book was titled "Mafia Princess - Growing Up In Sam Giancana's Family," as was the 1986 made-for-TV movie that starred Susan Lucci as Giancana and Tony Curtis as her father.
Las Vegas was part of her father's territory, and she's excited about "following in the shadow of his footsteps."
Giancana, 74, said she's moving here this summer to take a hands-on role in the project.
Her father, who controlled Chicago in the late 1950s and 1960s, was killed at his Chicago home June 19, 1975, four days before her birthday.
While the name of Las Vegas hit man Tony Spilotro has come up as a suspect, her No. 1 suspect, she said, remains the CIA. She's convinced the CIA wanted to silence her father. She co-wrote the 2005 book "JFK And Sam: The Connection Between the Giancana And Kennedy Assassinations," which made the case that her father ordered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Giancana arrived with two beefy bodyguards for a business dinner Saturday at Capo's on West Sahara Avenue. She has asked Capo's owner Nico Santucci, a Chicago native, to design the Giancana room for the exhibit, which will include the same furniture that was in the family home the night her father was killed while frying Italian sausage and peppers.
"Sam would love this joint," she told Santucci, who opened the Italian steakhouse at 5675 W. Sahara Ave. this year. It's patterned after a Chicago speakeasy with photographs of mob icons and members of the Rat Pack.
The exhibit is "going to be a first," Giancana said. Bloom, she said, is "bringing in millions of dollars (worth of stuff) from various different (crime) families that have never, ever been seen" by the public.
Thanks to Norm Clarke
Dear Mrs. Antoinette Giancana, You should be aware that Coco Giancana NEVER gave any interview to Norm Clarke of the Vegas Review Journal. Someone pretended to be her. Things he printed in that article had wrong dates, wrong names in it, wrong time frames. Norm Clarke never checked his "source." Somebody was trying to be cute, it caused a problem with a lot of people. You should know Coco never spoke to the press in her entire life. Somebody was looking to cause trouble for everybody. The paper should have printed a retraction but the editor refused. (And he was mysteriously fired a week or two later!)They should have admitted their reporter printed a fake article and never bothered to see who he was talking to. It sure wasn't Coco Giancana!
ReplyDeleteCOCO GIANCANA'S FIRST NAME IS NOT LISA. HER FIRST NAME IS CARLA. HER GRANDMOTHER HAD AN AFFAIR FOR A FEW YEARS WITH MR.G. AND HER GRANDMOTHER HAD A BABY OUT OF WEDLOCK. THAT WAS COCO GIANCANA'S MOTHER. I'M POSITIVE THEY DID NOT FEEL THE NEED TO SHARE THIS WITH THE WORLD, NOR DID THEY WANT TO TELL HIS 3 GIRLS HE HAD ANOTHER CHILD OUT OF WEDLOCK WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND. SORRY THEY FOUND OUT THIS WAY AND DON'T BELIEVE IT. BUT IT'S TRUE, I'M ONE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS WHO KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON, I BABYSAT SOMETIMES. MY HUSBAND OWNED A BAR AND WORKED FOR MR.G. FOR 20 YEARS. LOTS OF SECRETS REGULAR PEOPLE AND CHILDREN IN THE FAMILIES DON'T KNOW. IT WAS NOT THEIR BUSINESS TO BE TOLD. I WAS THERE. SORRY GIRLS.
ReplyDeleteDEAR TONI.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MAKE MONEY OFF SOMEONE ELSE'S DEATH. DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR FATHER SAM HAD ARRANGED THE ADOPTION OF THE KENNEDY KID IN
CHICAGO. AND THAT JUDITH CAMPBELL HIS MOTHER KEPT TELLING LIE'S TO PROTECT THE CHILD. WE FROM ALL THE BOOK WRITEINGS AND MOVIES COMING OUT. HE IS LOOKING TO GET A MOVIE DEAL GOING HIMSELF. YOU SHOULD TRY TO HELP HIM AND SEE WHATS ON HIS MIND. I KNOW THE PERSON AND FROM WHATS BEEN TOLD TO ME HE'S GOT THE UPPER HAND ON THINGS. IF YOU KNOW WHO HE IS CONTACT HIM. HE'S JACKS SON!!