Who killed John F. Kennedy?

Robert Kennedy's moves against organized crime

Question: Who killed John F. Kennedy?
Position‹3 of 5›: The mafia killed JFK
Argument‹2 of 3›: Robert Kennedy's moves against organized crime

JFK's brother, Robert Kennedy, had a major influence over organized crime.

The argument

This account looks for a motive in the Kennedy administration's own record against organized crime. When JFK was elected president he appointed his brother, Robert Kennedy, to Attorney General, and Robert immediately began attacking leaders of the mafia — a campaign which, on this account, angered many large crime families. The specific target emphasised is Jimmy Hoffa, the elected leader of the union, who was suspected to work with multiple large mob leaders. The significance attached to Hoffa is structural rather than personal: during this time mafias controlled many labor unions in big cities, so an Attorney General pursuing union leadership was pursuing organised crime's access to organised labour and the revenue and influence that came with it. On this reading the pressure was not a series of isolated prosecutions but a threat to an established arrangement. From that motive the argument constructs the assassination as retaliation. The mafia could have assassinated JFK as an act of revenge against Robert Kennedy, and the choice of target is explained by the aim: in order to cause the most grief, they assassinated President Kennedy rather than the Attorney General who was actually prosecuting them. The reasoning is that a brother's death would wound Robert Kennedy more than his own prosecution could, while also removing the political protection that made his campaign possible. The corroboration offered is that three different mobs claimed responsibility for Kennedy's death immediately after the assassination — presented as an indication that organised crime regarded the killing as its own work. On the strength of a documented motive, a proposed mechanism of retaliation, and those claims of responsibility, this account holds that the mafia killed JFK.

Premises

[P1]As Attorney General, Robert Kennedy aggressively targeted mafia leaders—especially Jimmy Hoffa, tied to mob bosses who controlled big-city labour unions—angering many large crime families. [P2] The mafia thus had motive to retaliate against Robert Kennedy by assassinating the President for maximum grief, and three separate mobs claimed responsibility immediately after the killing. [C] Because organized crime had both motive and claimed involvement, the mafia killed JFK.

Counter-arguments

Again, there is no evidence that supports this conspiracy theory. The mafia was angry with Robert so they would not be targeting JFK. The mob had many ties to the Kennedy family, and correspondingly had political power, so they would not be doing anything to jeopardize that relationship.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P3] There is no evidence that supports this theory.