Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

20 years ago…

July 18, 1986 – In a ruling called “most unusual” by Robert Merkle, Tampa’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. District Judge William Castagna acquits reputed Mafia boss Santos Trafficante, Jr. of the racketeering charges against him. Just nine days earlier, Castagna ruled that the government failed to produce enough substantiated evidence to allow hearsay testimony in the case and declared a mistrial. During a meeting to discuss the pending retrial on the same charges, Castagna announced that he was ruling in favor of a defense motion asking for judgment of acquittal. Trafficante had been accused of granting prerequisite permission to New York mobsters interested in pursuing underworld enterprises along Florida’s west coast.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

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