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005/Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
Definitely the best period hotel in Havana; excellent setting and standards. In the 1930s the Mafia was persuaded to finance a gambling racket here. At a meeting, Batista was guaranteed between 3 and 5 million dollars a year in exchange for exclusive gambling rights on the island. Subsequently, in 1937, the biggest casino was opened here. Frank Sinatra with his then wife Ava Gardner held a birthday party here in 1946; Marlon Brando and Winston Churchill were great fans of the still running cabaret.






