Tropicana Club
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El Tropicana Night Club in
Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
located in a lush, estate tropical garden opened on December 30, 1939 at the Villa Mina in Marianao. It is located next door to the old
Colegio de Belén, Havana The Colegio de Belén is a Private school, private religious school in Marianao, Havana, located between 45th and 66th streets, next to the Tropicana Club, Tropicana nightclub. It was designed in 1925 by the architect Leonardo Morales y Pedroso ...
, presently, the Instituto Técnico Militar.


History

The Tropicana evolved out of a nightclub called Edén Concert, operated in the late 1930s by the late Cuban impresario Victor de Correa. The club was a combination casino and cabaret located on a rented property in Marianao from Guillermina Pérez Chaumont, known as Mina. The tropical gardens of the Villa Mina provided a natural setting for an outdoor cabaret. In December 1939, de Correa moved his company of singers, dancers and musicians into a converted mansion located on the estate. De Correa provided the food and entertainment, while Rafael Mascaro and Luis Bular operated the casino located in the chandeliered dining room of the estate's mansion. Costumes designed by Juan Emilio Daudinot. Originally known as El Beau-Site, de Correa decided to rename it The Tropicana. With a fanfare from the Alfredo Brito Orchestra El Tropicana opened on December 30, 1939.Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of The Legendary Cuban Nightclub by Rosa Lowinger with Ofelia Fox (Harcourt Books, 2005) Martín Fox, a gambler rented table space in the casino. By 1950 he took over the lease of what would become The Tropicana, he hired Max Borges Jr. to design an expansion that would be known as ''Los Arcos de Cristal''.


1956 Cabaret Yearbook

Truffin Ave. & Linea (B-4544). "This claims to be the largest and most beautiful nightclub in the world. Located on what was once an extensive private estate, Tropicana has two complete sets of stages, table areas, and dance floors. If the weather is fine, the outdoor area is used; otherwise, everyone moves to the indoor area. Tall palm trees growing among the tables lend the proper tropical atmosphere and blend well with the ultra-modernistic architecture. Shows include 50-dancer chorus lines which often branch out into the trees. Rhythms and costumes are colorfully native (voodoo is a frequent theme.) Top names often star. Minimum at tables is $4.50 per person, but this can be avoided by sitting at the bar which has an adequate view of the stage."


Architecture

Max Borges designed a building composed of five reinforced concrete arches and glass walls over an indoor stage. When the indoor cabaret opened on March 15, 1952, it had a combined total
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 1,700 for the interior and outside areas. The furniture was designed by
Charles and Ray Eames Charles Eames ( Charles Eames, Jr) and Ray Eames ( Ray-Bernice Eames) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of ...
. The ''Arcos de Cristal'' won numerous international prizes. The Tropicana was one of six Cuban buildings included in the 1954
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
exhibit entitled ''Latin American Architecture since 1945.'' Henry Russell Hitchcock wrote the book ''Latin American architecture since 1945'' for the occasion. Borges won the Premio , from the Colegio de Arquitectos in 1953 for his work on the Tropicana. ''The Arcos de Cristal'' can be seen in the Tropicana scene of the movie ''
Our Man In Havana ''Our Man in Havana'' (1958) is a novel set in Cuba by the British author Graham Greene. Greene uses the novel to mock intelligence services, especially the British MI6, and their willingness to believe reports from their local informants. Th ...
''.


Trafficante

Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 – March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
bosses in the United States. He headed the
Trafficante crime family The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa crime family or the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian Americans, Italian-American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. The most notable boss of the family was Santo Trafficante ...
and controlled organized criminal operations in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
and
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, which had previously been consolidated from several rival gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante Sr. Reputedly the most powerful crime boss in
Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...
-era Cuba, he never served a prison sentence in the US. Trafficante turned his father's criminal organization into a multi-billion dollar international organized crime empire. Trafficante was reportedly a multi-billionaire and wielded enormous power and influence all over the United States and Cuba by paying off police, judges, federal prosecutors, city officials, government officials, local and international politicians, mayors, governors, senators, congressmen, CIA agents and FBI agents. Trafficante maintained links to the
Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City. The family was known as the Maranzano crime family until its founder Sal ...
, in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, but was more closely allied with
Sam Giancana Salvatore "Mooney" Giancana ( ; born Gilormo Giangana, ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. Consequently, while generally recognized as the most powerful organized crime figure in Florida throughout much of the 20th century, Trafficante was not believed to have total control over
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...
, Ft. Lauderdale, or Palm Beach. The east coast of Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with links to
Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Lucky Luciano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the dev ...
,
Bugsy Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (; February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American gangster, mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish-American organized crime, Jewish Mo ...
, Angelo Bruno,
Carlos Marcello Carlos Joseph Marcello (Sicilian Italian); or-sel-loborn Calogero Minacore ; February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was an Italian-American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 to 1983. Aside from his role in the American Mafia, ...
, and Frank Ragano. Trafficante admitted his anti- Castro activities to the
United States House Select Committee on Assassinations The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was established on September 15, 1976 by U.S. House Resolution 1540 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 a ...
in 1978. Though he vehemently denied any association with a
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
against
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
, at least one witness before federal investigators testified that Trafficante predicted the assassination in spring of 1963. Federal investigators brought
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...
and conspiracy charges against him in summer of 1986. Santo Trafficante Jr. had been operating in Cuba since the late 1940s under his father, Santo Trafficante Sr., a mobster in Tampa, Florida. After his father died in 1954, he became the head in Tampa and took over his father's interests in Cuba. Trafficante moved to Cuba in 1955, where he came into contact with Batista and Meyer Lansky. During the rule of Cuba's authoritarian dictator
Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...
, Trafficante openly operated the Sans Souci Cabaret and the Casino International gambling establishments in Havana. As a leading member of the syndicate, he also was suspected of having behind-the-scenes interests in other syndicate-owned Cuban casinos: the Hotel Habana Riviera, the Tropicana Club, the Hotel Sevilla-Biltmore, the Hotel Capri Casino, the Comodoro, the Hotel Deauville, and the Havana Hilton. Trafficante was apprehended in November 1957, along with over 60 other mobsters, at the Apalachin meeting in Apalachin, New York. All were fined, up to $10,000 each, and given prison sentences ranging from three to five years. All the convictions were overturned on appeal in 1960. Cuba was one of the Apalachin topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on the island. The international narcotics trade was also an important topic on the Apalachin agenda. In January 1958, Trafficante was questioned by the Cuban police regarding the Apalachin meeting. A full report was made by the Cuban police, dated January 23, 1958, includes transcripts of long-distance telephone calls made from the Sans Souci during the period August–December 1957. The report was given to the District Attorney's office. In addition, "on January 23, 1958, the Cuban Department of Investigation, Havana, Cuba notified the Bureau of Narcotics that Santo Trafficante was registered in their Alien Office under No. 93461."


See also

* Max Borges Jr. * Club Náutico *
Colegio de Belén, Havana The Colegio de Belén is a Private school, private religious school in Marianao, Havana, located between 45th and 66th streets, next to the Tropicana Club, Tropicana nightclub. It was designed in 1925 by the architect Leonardo Morales y Pedroso ...


Notes


References


Gallery

File:Max Borges Jr. Tropicana Club. 1953.jpg, Image of Tropicana showing Eames chairs. File:Tropicana, a glamorous nightclub in Havana, Cuba LCCN2010638787.jpg File:Tropicana, a glamorous nightclub in Havana, Cuba LCCN2010638789.tif


External links


Vanity Fair, An Oral HistoryArcos de CristalOur Man in Havana, Tropicana Scene (1959 )Latin American architecture since 1945, Author Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, 1903-1_Page 108-109. Text, photo and floor plan of Tropicana Night Club.
{{Havana landmarks Nightclubs Culture in Havana Buildings and structures in Havana Tourist attractions in Havana 1939 establishments in Cuba Nightclubs in Havana 20th-century architecture in Cuba