Jose Miguel Battle, Sr.

Ramon Iglesias (c. 1930 [Rosero, Jessica; "Death of a
August 12, 2007; Pages 3 & 6.] – August 4, 2007) was the nominal leader and founder of "The Corporation," which is otherwise known as "the Cuban Mafia."

Rise to fame

A former policeman in Batista's Cuba, Jose assisted the CIA in the early 1960s in training Cuban exiles and was involved in the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1962. He was captured and spent nearly two years in a Cuban prison. After that, he settled in Union City, New Jersey, and began establishing a presence as the leader of a gang of Cuban-American criminals involved in organized crime activities from loansharking and gambling to drug trafficking and murder. He allegedly established good working relationships with the Italian Mafia in the New York City area, but at other times the Corporation is known to have had violent turf wars with various Italian mafia families. He made the bulk of his wealth from an illegal lottery racket known as "bolita" (little ball), which was popular among expatriate Cubans and Puerto Ricans. It is estimated that his network was making up to $45 million a year in the 1970s from bolita in New Jersey, New York and Florida. Battles' reputation was such that he was known among the Cuban American community as El Padrino, or the Godfather. [Chris Summers, Feds take on Cuban "godfather", BBC, August 2004] Battle was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to 30 years in prison in connection with the death of Ernestico Torres, an alleged hit man for Battle's organization. An appeals court overturned the conviction, but Battle later pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy in exchange for a sentence of time served - two years.

By the 1980s Battle had built up an empire of crime with and began investing heavily in legitimate businesses throughout the New York area. In the late 1980s, President Ronald Reagan's Select Committee on Organized Crime investigated the Corporation and estimated its membership, direct or loosely associated, at 2,500 members. Soon afterwards, Battle relocated to Miami, Florida, where there was a large population of Cuban immigrants and began to operate his East Coast empire from the Little Havana area of the city. In 1987 Battle was listed as one of Dade County's wealthiest men with a net worth of $175 million. [Peg Tyre, Mob bosses took a beating, CNN, January 3, 1997]

Arrest and conviction

During 2004 Battle and 20 of his key aides and associates were indicted and convicted in a substantial racketeering case. Of the 21, four were arrested in the New York and Union City, N.J. areas. One was in Puerto Rico and another in Spain; the rest were in the Miami area, including Battle's son. At the present time he is housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Miami on more charges of racketeering.

The Corporation is considered to be not as strong, lucrative as the 1980s with the recent takedown of Battle and his top organized crime associates. The present estimate of his organization is anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 direct and loosely associated members. It is not know whether Battle has an operative outside of jail who makes decisions for him.

Today, little is yet known about the Corporation actually structure and total membership roster after approximately 30 years of existence. Jose Miguel Battle Sr. is considered the original "godfather" of the Cuban Mafia if not still the actually leader of it. [Carl Safikis, The Mafia Excyclopedia: Volume 2]

On May 6, 2006, Battle pleaded guilty to the racketeering charges due to his health. On January 15, 2007, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16465327.htm] On August 6, 2007 he died from various ailments while in South Carolina while in Federal Custody awaiting transfer to another prison. [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRF_ORGANIZED_CRIME?SITE=NYBUE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT]

Notes