Michael McLaney

Michael Julius "Mickey" McLaney (1 February 1915[1] - 9 September 1994[2]) was a mafia-linked US golf and tennis player who made a fortune in the casino business.

Career

McLaney was Louisiana state champion as a young tennis player for eight years running,[3] and in 1962 he won the Grass Court Men's Doubles title at the United States Amateur Championships, with Gardnar Mulloy.[4] McLaney also played excellent golf, declining to turn professional on the grounds that he could make more money as an amateur (he claimed to have once won $250,000 from Carroll Rosenbloom betting on a round of golf).[3] McLaney formed a professional partnership with Rosenbloom, and was in Rosenbloom's owner's box with him at the Colts-Giants 1958 NFL Championship Game.[2]

In September 1958 McLaney was able to purchase a large share of the Casino Internacional at Havana's Hotel Nacional de Cuba, partnering with Rosenbloom.[3] In 1959, following the Cuban Revolution, the hotel and casino were nationalised, and McLaney briefly imprisoned.[3] Despite this debacle, McLaney continued to be active in the casino business,[5][6] moving to the Bahamas and operating a casino in the Cat Cays. In the 1967 Bahamas election McLaney aided Lynden Pindling, and was mentioned in a Life magazine article alleging corrupt connections between Pindling and organised crime.[7] McLaney unsuccessfully sued the magazine's publisher, Time Inc..[8] He eventually moved with his family to Haiti, where he enjoyed a near-monopoly on the casino business under the Duvaliers.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ AncientFaces, M J Mclaney (1915 - 1994)
  2. 1 2 Russo (2010:526)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gus Russo (2010), Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK, Bancroft Press, p161-2
  4. ↑ United States Tennis Association, U.S. ADULT & SENIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
  5. ↑ FBI, 1. October 1965, Mary Ferrell Foundation, He has a silent interest in the Carousel Gambling Casino
  6. ↑ Time, 1 October 1973, Accusing a Roosevelt
  7. ↑ William Lambert and Richard Oulahan, Life, 3 February 1967, "The Scandal in the Bahamas"
  8. ↑ Time, Inc., D/B/A Life v. Michael J. McLaney A/K/A Mike McLaney, 406 F.2d 565 (5th Cir. 1969), 11 February 1969
  9. ↑ Marcus Stern, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 October 1994, Hill of plenty: Some Americans living in Haiti look down on slum-dwellers
  10. ↑ The New York Times, October 12, 1994, MISSION TO HAITI: THE RICH; Business Owners Fear Chaos at the Hands of Mobs When Aristide Returns
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