The Hotel NH Capri La Habana is a historic high rise hotel located in central

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

History

In 1955, President

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also ...

enacted Hotel Law 2074, offering tax incentives, government loans, and casino licenses to anyone wishing to build hotels in excess of $1,000,000 or nightclubs for $200,000 in Havana. This law brought

Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...

and his "associates" in the mafia flooding to the city to take advantage. The Hotel Capri de Havana was one of the first mob hotels to be built. Located on Calle 21, 1 Mp. 8 Vedado, only two blocks from the

Hotel Nacional "Hotel Nacional" ("National Hotel") is a song by Cuban-American recording artist Gloria Estefan. It was released as the second single from her studio album '' Miss Little Havana'' (2011). Written by Estefan, the song portrays the need to dance, g ...

, it opened in November 1957. With its 250 rooms, the nineteen-story structure was one of the largest hotel/casinos in Havana during its heyday. It boasted a swimming pool on the roof. Owned by mobster

Santo Trafficante, Jr. Santo Trafficante Jr. (November 15, 1914 – March 17, 1987) was among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. He headed the Trafficante crime family and controlled organized criminal operations in Florida and Cuba, which had previ ...

of Tampa, Florida, the hotel/casino was operated by Nicholas Di Costanzo, racketeer Charles Turin (aliases: Charles Tourine, Charley "The Blade"), and Santino Masselli of the Bronx NY(aliases:"Sonny the Butcher"). After it opened,

George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...

was hired to be the public front for the hotel's club during his gangster days in Cuba. It was believed that he owned a considerable interest in the club. The hotel was designed by architect Jose Canaves and owned by the Canaves family. The hotel, along with its famous casino, was leased to American hotelier, "Skip" Shephard. The Hotel Capri was nationalized by the Cuban government in October 1960, and the casino was closed. The hotel was known as the Hotel Horizontes Capri in the 1990s, before it closed in 2003. It reopened in January 2014, following major renovations managed by the Spanish

NH Hotel Group NH Hotel Group is a Spanish multinational hotel company headquartered in Madrid, that operates over 350 hotels in 28 countries, currently under the Anantara, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, Tivoli, NH Hotels, Elewana Collection and Avani brands. The ...

as the Hotel NH Capri La Habana. In 2017 the hotel was one of several sites of a suspected acoustic attack against American diplomats, described as " Havana syndrome". Reports of piercing, high-pitched noises and inexplicable ailments were investigated, but a source of the phenomenon was never definitively determined.

Filmography

*The rooftop pool can be seen in the opening scene of

Mikhail Kalatozov Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov ( ka, მიხეილ კალატოზიშვილი, russian: Михаил Константинович Калатозов; 28 December 1903 – 26 March 1973), born Mikheil Kalatozishvili, was a So ...

's film " I Am Cuba". *The main entrance and adjoining square are visible in the Soviet spy miniseries " TASS Is Authorized to Declare..." (episode 2, 55:05-55:43), based on a novel of the same name by

Yulian Semyonov Yulian Semyonovich Semyonov (russian: link=no, Юлиа́н Семёнович Семёнов, ), pen-name of Yulian Semyonovich Lyandres (russian: link=no, Ля́ндрес) (October 8, 1931 – September 15, 1993), was a Soviet and Russian writ ...

. *In Francis Ford Coppola's movie ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...

,''

Fredo Corleone Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather''. Fredo is portrayed by American actor John Cazale in the Francis Ford Coppola 1972 film adaptation and in the 1974 sequel, ''The Godfather Part II'' ...

brings a suitcase containing $2 million to his brother Michael at the "Hotel Capri". The movie refers to the involvement of the American mafia in the gambling and hotel industry in Cuba during the Batista dictatorship. The film was shot in the Dominican Republic, where the Hotel El Embajador doubled for the Capri.

Gallery

File:Hotel Capri Havana.jpg, Hotel Capri in 2009, before renovations

Notes

References

External links