In 1992, the United States Congress ordered that records related to the 1963 assassination of Kennedy would remained sealed, in the interest of national security, for another 25 years.
In 2017, then U. S. President Donald Trump ordered the unveiling of a tranche of these classified records kept under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. Not all the records have been released. Some will stay, under seal, for an undetermined period of time.
Congress had ordered in 1992 that all remaining sealed files pertaining to the investigation into Kennedy’s death should be fully opened to the public through the National Archives in 25 years, by Oct. 26, 2017, except for those the president authorized for further withholding.
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1CV3JA/
Within the vast treasure trove of information released, which had been gathered from an extensive database of national and international intelligence sources, any and every possible link to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was explored. The most significant theory at the time was that the assassination was somehow linked to the mafia and organised crime.
Links to organised crime, the mafia and funnelling of money between the United States and offshore banks, as well as, suitcase companies and alleged mafia funded elections of Bahamian 1967 and 1968 brought The Bahamas into the spotlight.
Pindling was under FBI surveillance in the months before the January 1967 general elections because of his continued association with unsavoury characters
In 1966, the FBI and US Department of Justice representatives met with Progressive Liberal Party leader Lynden Pindling to inform him and the PLP that they were consorting with unsavoury American characters with ties to criminal gangs.
Michael McLaney, who claimed to have funded the PLP’s January 10th, 1967 election victory to the tune of $100,000, was also a secret informant to the FBI.
McLaney, it was alleged, did not have $100,000 of his own money, but was in fact funded by reputed mafia figure Meyer Lanksy.
Meyer Lanksy, it was further alleged, was the real backer of the PLP’s campaign in 1966/67. In exchange, for campaign money, it was claimed that the mafia wanted a casino license for Paradise Island, and Micheal McLaney would receive a top gambling casino job in Nassau.
On March 1, 1967, just weeks after Pindling and the PLP claimed victory in the January general elections, Michael McLaney was in Miami, being interviewed by the FBI.
McLaney was obviously playing the odds and hedging his bets like a good gambler should. McLaney was working for the mafia in order to ingratiate himself with Pindling, and funnel mafia money into the PLP election campaign. He was also an FBI informant, spilling all he had learnt while spying on Pindling and the PLP.
In March 1, 1967 interview, Micheal McLaney disclosed to FBI officials in Miami that he was connected to the “with the little man.” The “little man” was commonly known as key mafia boss figure Meyer Lanksy.
McLaney also told authorities that over $100,000 had been given to Pindling’s Progressive Liberal Party in order to fund their election campaign.
In 1973, after an American hatched plot to kill Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling was revealed. It was as alleged that Pindling had reneged on a deal to grant a casino license to mafia connected figures. Michael McLaney would also claim to have funded the PLPs 1968 general election campaign as well.
9th February 1967 – Detailed FBI Investigation into mafia ties to casino gambling in The Bahamas, Pindling and other prominent Progressive Liberal Party figures
Some of the highlights revealed: (1) In 1966, Lynden Pindling, the Police Chief in Nassau as well as top UBP and British government officials were made fully aware of the questionable backgrounds and mafia connections of Michael McLaney and a man named David Probinsky. Pindling made an informed personal choice to retain their friendship, connections and their campaign finance money.
(2) David Probinsky had reinvented his background. He was not actually a night club owner catering to coloured people in a then largely segregated Miami. Probinsky in fact ran a house of prostitution.
(3) David Probinsky became the very first public relations manager for the Progressive Liberal Party after their win in 1967.
(4) Alleged gun trafficking was traced to the Bahamas in the run up to the January 1967 general elections. Had the PLP not won, the FBI alleged that a plot had been formulated for an armed resistance response, on Bay Street, to another United Bahamian Party term in government.
(5) Micheal McLANEY, L. O. PINDLING, Arthur FOULKES, and Milo BUTLER were engaged in a plan to use documents stolen from the FREEPORT AUTHORITY and the office of Bahamian finance minister Stafford SANDS. PINDLING was also to use these documents in return for the withdrawal of a US Grand Jury indictment against the person who had stolen the documents.
9th February 1967 FBI Report
