Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder

by Gus Russo, Stephen Molton

A groundbreaking new reporting of the historical drama linking the Kennedys and the Castros that sheds new light on the JFK assassination. Using breakthrough reporting and interviews with long-silent sources, Russo and coauthor Stephen Molton have crafted a dramatic retelling of the time before, during, and after the Kennedy killing. The book centers on the two opposed sets of brothers―the Kennedys and the Castros―who collectively authored one of modern history's most dangerous, and tragically ironic, chapters. Bobby Kennedy pushed for the murder of Fidel Castro and instead got the death of his beloved brother, a psychic blow from which he himself never recovered. Lee Harvey Oswald killed an admired president and traumatized a nation, but in so doing may have prevented a third world war. Built on thirty years of intense research―including discoveries so significant that they have rekindled CIA and State Department interest in the Kennedy assassination― Brothers in Arms is a vivid, character-driven, almost cinematic narration of a singularly fascinating time. For neophytes, it is the most accessible and informed single volume on the assassination. For the many readers fascinated by this story, it provides extraordinary new facts that will force a reconsideration of how and why the Kennedy murder came to pass.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Politics

560 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2009

About the author

Gus Russo is a veteran investigative reporter, musician, and author. His first book, Live By the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK (Bancroft, 1998), was praised by the New York Times as “compelling, exhaustively researched and even handed.” Kirkus Reviews called Sword, “Probably the last book on the Kennedy assassination you will need to read....Gripping and convincing!” The book was a Book of the Month Club and History Book Club Featured Alternate. Sword was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1999, and has been scripted for a mini-series by Showtime Networks. Russo next authored The Outfit: The Role of Chicago’s Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America (Bloomsbury, 2002). It was described as “seamless” (Baltimore Sun), “a tireless read...a saga...550 pages of good journalism” (Chicago Tribune), and “one of the essential works on the subject of organized crime” (Los Angeles Times). The Outfit was also nominated for the Pulitzer, and was optioned before publication by USA Networks.
Russo’s next book, Gangsters and GoodFellas (June 2004, M Evans Pub.), was a collaboration with former NY gangster Henry Hill, a sequel to his 1985 biography Wiseguy, which was the basis for the hit 1990 movie GoodFellas, starring Robert DeNiro.
Russo followed with Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers (Sept. 2006); Supermob film rights were sold before publication to CBS-Paramount, and is being developed as a television series. Regarding this book, Publishers Weekly stated: “Veteran investigative author and organized crime expert Russo's magnum opus is a compelling look at one of the last century's major power players. Russo's extensive research is amply evident, and he has made use of recently disclosed records to paint a fuller picture than predecessors such as Seymour Hersh and Brian Ross were able to...a worthy addition to the genre.” Chicago Sun-Times: “An exhaustive look at [Korshak’s] exploits… Russo does a masterful job… The amount of research in the book is staggering… Russo pulls plenty of substantive dirty deeds done by Korshak into the light. Korshak would have cringed.” Kirkus: “there are plenty of revelations in this absorbing book.” SF Chronicle: “[Supermob] adds up to a compelling picture of the exercise of power in the 20th century… Russo’s chapter on the shameless plundering of the assets of imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II, presided over by a bevy of Korshak’s associates, is particularly stirring.”
In January 2006, Russo, as co-writer with Wilfried Huismann, delivered a breakthrough 90-minute documentary for the German public television network WDR. The film, “Rendezvous With Death,” clarifies the relationship between Cuba’s intelligence service and JFK’s killer. At this writing, the film has aired in fifteen countries. In addition, Russo is also an occasional consultant to Hollywood screenwriter Ron Bass. Russo’s fifth book (w/ Steve Molton), is Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (October 2008). This book was inspired by the “Rendezvous” film. Brothers was named Winner of the 2008 History Prize by the New York Book Festival.


In 2009, Russo produced and co-wrote Generation 9-11, a documentary feature film on the West’s misconceptions about Islam, for Academy Award-winning director Nigel Nobel. Most recently, Russo’s The Outfit was optioned by top Hollywood producer Joe Roth (Alice in Wonderland) as a television series, and his original feature script, Django, ¬is currently being read by Mick Jagger for possible purchase by his Jagged Films Production Co.

Russo released his sixth book, a memoir entitled Boomer Days, in May 2011.

Previously, Gus Russo has worked an investigative reporter for PBS’ Frontline series, as well as ABC News Special Reports w

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author argues that Lee Harvey Oswald was closely linked with the Castros. Using evidence from Soviet and Cuban archives, he presents a compelling case. The biographies of Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro, and Lee Harvey Oswald are detailed and well written. By far the most interesting aspect of the book is the argument that Lyndon Johnson feared the assassination of John Kennedy would spark a global war in the same way that Franz Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 sparked World War I. I had never read that before, but it made sense given that the fiftieth anniversary of Franz Ferdinand's assassination had led to a number of new books about the events leading up to World War I.

[Vin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a chore to get through and I almost gave up at least two times. I personally would recommend skipping this one. Also, some of the "facts" presented seem dubious at best.

[Andrea Reddix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry read...took a long time to get through. Interesting theory though.

[Ryan Halstead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long and slow but interesting theory.

[Jean Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

More details about the Cuban revolution, the Kennedy presidency and assassination, and the place of RFK in all of these than I have seen before.

Very informative and convincing.

[Matthew Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating new look

[Bill Koester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting work. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but the case this author presents seems pretty plausible.

[Zachariah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looking back on my original review (below), a little over a year later, I have to admit it's fairly terrible. Don't get me wrong, I still think this book was crap (even more so now) but I don't think I did a very good job explaining what made this book so unreadable. Not too long ago, though, I stumbled upon an article that really breaks it down and I thought I'd share.
http://www.washingtondecoded.com/site...
Be warned, it is lengthy but well worth it in my opinion. Definitely better to read this review and not the book than the other way around.

(Original Review) This book was a joke. It is like the "he said, she said" of The Kennedy assassination. Some 400 or so pages in and I finally had to give up on it. And I now know to avoid anything by Gus Russo like the plague. As far as historical accuracy it felt like half the stuff in the book was made up. Every eye witness account is taken as the complete and honest truth. Well, that is unless it is coming from someone in Cuban who isn't a defector. Then it's an all out fabrication. All official and unofficial word from our government officials at the time also have 100% credibility. Really I wish I had taken down notes of all the things I took issue with so that I could share them here and hopefully spare someone else this complete and utter waste of time. Anyone who refers to an enemy of the (US)state as "evil" almost every time their names are mentioned, cannot be taken very seriously as far as I'm concerned. The world isn't that Manichean. And to turn around and give the Kennedy administration a free pass when it was guilty of the very same plotting that Castro's government was up to is laughable. And to be honest I don't read history to listen to the author pass judgement anyway. But now I know, this wasn't meant to be historical to begin with.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

This type of 'historical' writing has become fairly commonplace but has never sat well with me. How can a writer of non-fiction, in good conscience, write things like (I'm making this up because I already returned the book but it's typical) this? "Fidel's weary eyes then met Che's slowly. For a moment the two men were of one mind, then eye contact broke. Fidel took a long pull off of his cigar and looked up at the mahogany ceiling, cherubs and grapevines carved there in ornate patterns. 'I'll do it' he thought, and coughed before speaking."

I mean seriously...can we document eye contact? Exact conversations? Especially when we're talking about happenings in countries as inaccessible as Cuba and Soviet Russia? This book is based entirely on eyewitness accounts, which we all know to be fantastically unreliable, and two sketchy, vague sources inside Russia and Cuba. The rest is filled in by the author's imaginations, with no qualification of these ornamental, but fabricated, details.

The bottom line is this -- read this book, it's not a bad one, but take everything in it with a huge grain of salt. Even all of the claims about Fidel, Che and Raul's bloodthirsty nature are contested and unprovable. It's funny that a book about official deception, propoganda, misinformation and double agents takes standard American government accounts of the Cuban regime at face value.


I understand books like this sell better than books that say "well, this is how we think it was, but this, this and this are also possible" so you, the reader, need to be able to ask those questions yourself.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much conjecture and closed-off conservatism to the policy line on Oswald made this non-fiction book dull and inappropriately imaginative. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mr. Russo is not. This was supposed to be a parable about the dynamic parallels and antagonism between the Castro brothers and the Kennedy brothers but it all kept getting distracted by the buzzing about of endless tedious leafs of paper on what a lost dullard Lee Harvey Oswald was.
Honestly, I only got a little over half way through this book, it just annoyed me and pushed me across the line too far and I wound up withdrawing all my ships and missiles from the island.
Sorry.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting look into the lives of the Castro brothers, the Kennedy brothers and Lee Oswald. Not a book full of zealous claims of conspiracies but written rather with a more resigned air of what could of been. I really did enjoy reading this book - it took me a long time with a couple of books read in between but I am glad I didn't chuck it and stuck with it.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along with "Live by the Sword" this is another Russo excellent analysis of the facts swarming around the conspiratorial Kennedy brothers. This one also does an excellent overview and explanation of the rise of LBJ and the decline of RFK.

[Brett Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very convincing analysis of the Kennedy assassination that doesn't blame the Cubans so much as show that they and the Russians knew what Oswald might do, but he still carried it out himself. The US whitewashed this info to avoid war.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting insights, but very disjointed in the presentation.
lots of random shifts in the story......

[Chris Flick · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting story at times, but very difficult to tell whether this was written as fiction or non-fiction.