The Men From Miami: American Rebels and Patriots on Both Sides of Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution

About the Author Christopher Othen is a writer and former legal representative for asylum seekers. He is the author of The King of Nazi Paris: Henri Lafont and the Gangsters of the French Gestapo and four other books including Franco’s International Brigades: Adventurers, Fascists, and Christian Crusaders in the Spanish Civil War and Katanga 1960–63: Mercenaries, Spies, and the African Nation that Waged War on the World. Product Description The Men from Miami is a real-life Cold War thriller about the Americans who fought for Fidel Castro in the Cuban revolution – then switched sides to try to bring him down. This larger-than-life assortment of adventurers and misfits wreaked havoc across the Caribbean as they fought for and against Castro, then went on to be implicated in President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, a failed invasion of ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier’s Haiti, and the downfall of President Nixon.Back in 1957, Fidel Castro was a hero to many in the United States for his battle against Cuba’s dictatorial regime. Two dozen American adventurers joined his rebel band in the mountains, including fervent idealists, a trio of teens from Guantánamo Bay naval base, a sleazy ex-con who liked underage girls, and at least two future murderers. The rebels’ eventual victory delighted the USA – but then Castro ran up the red flag and some started wondering if they’d supported the wrong side.Many of Castro’s now disillusioned American volunteers – most importantly Frank Fiorini, who would become infamous for his role in the Watergate burglary, and Alex Rorke, whose mysterious 1963 disappearance remains unsolved – changed sides and joined the Cuban exiles who had washed up in Miami. Their numbers swelled with the arrival of amateur mercenaries from across America ready to drink beer and fight communism. Meanwhile, CIA agents were training Cuban paramilitaries in the Everglades and working alongside the Mafia to assassinate Castro.The Cold War had arrived in Florida, and things would never be the same again. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Missing Over Cuba: $25,000 Reward
On
24 September 1963, Alexander Irwin Rorke climbed into a small twin-engine aeroplane
at Fort Lauderdale airport and took off on a flight across the Caribbean Sea.
He was never seen again. When the handsome 37-year-old with black hair and blue
eyes failed to return, Rorke’s panicky wife telephoned New York for help. Her
father had influential friends.
Sherman
Billingsley owned the Stork Club, three stories of white tablecloths and potted
palms just east of Fifth Avenue. In the club’s glory days, big-name actors from
Hollywood had drunk its overpriced cocktails and pranced around to the band
while a 14-karat gold chain across the door kept out ordinary folk. These days
the Stork was looking a lot less glitzy. A picket line protested outside most
nights over Billingsley’s refusal to unionise and the celebrities had been
replaced by anyone with $1.99 to spare for a burger and fries.
Despite
his club’s decline, Billingsley still had important contacts on both sides of
the law. Jacqueline Rorke begged him for help finding her husband. Alex’s
friends Frank Sturgis and Jerry Patrick were organising a search party, but
they were penniless members of the Miami political underground. She needed
professional help.
It
was a tough sell. Billingsley had always hated his son-in-law and refused to
allow him into the family mansion on Park Avenue. When Jacqueline brought
their son Alex III around for visits, Rorke had to wait outside in the car.
Billingsley was convinced the marriage was just an act of rebellion by his
favourite daughter, and it was only when Jacqueline began sobbing down the
telephone from Florida that he realised how much Rorke meant to her.
‘Oh
my God, you really loved him,’ said Billingsley in surprise.[i]
He
reached out to some friends in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They
already knew all about Alex Rork