Bronfman family influence in Arizona is so strong that it can be rightly said that the Bronfmans are no less than the “godfathers” behind the political career of America’s best known “reformer”—Arizona Senator John McCain.
In 1976, a crusading Phoenix reporter, Don Bolles, was murdered by a car-bomb after writing a series of stories exposing the organized crime
connections of a wide-ranging number of well-known figures in Arizona, including one Jim Hensley.
Five years later “Honest John” McCain arrived in Arizona as the new husband of Hensley’s daughter, Cindy. “From the moment McCain landed in Phoenix,” according to Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, “the Hensleys were key sponsors of his political career.” But the fact is, the people behind the Hensley fortune are even more interesting and controversial.
While it is well-known McCain’s father-in-law is the owner of the biggest Anheuser-Busch beer distributor in Arizona—one of the largest beer distributors in the nation—the mainstream media has had nothing to say about the origins of the Hensley fortune that financed McCain’s rise
to power. The Hensley fortune is no more than a regional offshoot of the big time bootlegging and rackets empire of the Bronfman dynasty.
McCain’s father-in-law got his start as a top henchman of one Kemper Marley who, for some forty years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician. In fact, he was also theLansky crime syndicate’s top man in Arizona, the protege of Lansky lieutenant, Phoenix gambler Gus Greenbaum.
"The support from the Bronfman-Marley- Hensley network was integral to McCain’s rise to power."
In 1941 Greenbaum had set up the Transamerica Publishing and News Service, which operated a national wire service for bookmakers. In 1946 Greenbaum turned over the day-to-day operations to Marley while Greenbaum focused on building up Lansky-run casinos in Las Vegas,commuting there from his home in Phoenix.
Greenbaum, in fact, was so integral to the Lansky empire that he was the one who took command of Lansky’s Las Vegas interests in 1947 after Lansky ordered the execution of his own longtime friend, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, for skimming mob
profits from the new Flamingo Casino.
Greenbaum and his wife were murdered in a mob “hit” in 1948, their throats cut. The murder set off a series of gangland wars in Phoenix, but Marley survived and prospered. During this time Marley was building up a liquor distribution monopoly in Arizona.
According to Marley’s longtime public relations man, Al Lizanitz, it was the Bronfman family that set Marley up in the liquor business. In 1948 some 52 of Marley’s employees (including Jim Hensley) went to jail on federal liquor violations—but not Marley.
The story in Arizona is that Hensley took the fall for Marley and, upon his release from prison, Marley paid back Hensley’s loyalty by setting up him in the beer distribution business. That beer company today, said to be worth some $200 million, is what largely financed John McCain’s political career.
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kestrel9 ago
Bronfmans, Arizona, Hensley family and McCain
In 1976, a crusading Phoenix reporter, Don Bolles, was murdered by a car-bomb after writing a series of stories exposing the organized crime connections of a wide-ranging number of well-known figures in Arizona, including one Jim Hensley.
Five years later “Honest John” McCain arrived in Arizona as the new husband of Hensley’s daughter, Cindy. “From the moment McCain landed in Phoenix,” according to Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, “the Hensleys were key sponsors of his political career.” But the fact is, the people behind the Hensley fortune are even more interesting and controversial.
While it is well-known McCain’s father-in-law is the owner of the biggest Anheuser-Busch beer distributor in Arizona—one of the largest beer distributors in the nation—the mainstream media has had nothing to say about the origins of the Hensley fortune that financed McCain’s rise to power. The Hensley fortune is no more than a regional offshoot of the big time bootlegging and rackets empire of the Bronfman dynasty.
McCain’s father-in-law got his start as a top henchman of one Kemper Marley who, for some forty years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician. In fact, he was also theLansky crime syndicate’s top man in Arizona, the protege of Lansky lieutenant, Phoenix gambler Gus Greenbaum.
con't
kestrel9 ago
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Greenbaum, in fact, was so integral to the Lansky empire that he was the one who took command of Lansky’s Las Vegas interests in 1947 after Lansky ordered the execution of his own longtime friend, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, for skimming mob profits from the new Flamingo Casino.
Greenbaum and his wife were murdered in a mob “hit” in 1948, their throats cut. The murder set off a series of gangland wars in Phoenix, but Marley survived and prospered. During this time Marley was building up a liquor distribution monopoly in Arizona.
According to Marley’s longtime public relations man, Al Lizanitz, it was the Bronfman family that set Marley up in the liquor business. In 1948 some 52 of Marley’s employees (including Jim Hensley) went to jail on federal liquor violations—but not Marley.
The story in Arizona is that Hensley took the fall for Marley and, upon his release from prison, Marley paid back Hensley’s loyalty by setting up him in the beer distribution business. That beer company today, said to be worth some $200 million, is what largely financed John McCain’s political career.