By Jane Sonneman, Archivist

The Kennedy Library is pleased to announce that the Carmine S. Bellino Personal Papers are now available for research. 

This collection relates to the personal and professional life of Carmine Bellino and spans from the years 1938 to 1979, with a bulk of the materials dated 1957 to 1964. Bellino served as Special Consultant to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. An accountant by trade, he worked as a consulting investigator to several congressional committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate for a majority of his professional career. Additionally, he also consulted on John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Presidential campaign and Robert F. Kennedy’s 1964 Senate campaign.

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Carmine Salvatore Bellino was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on July 26, 1905. He received a Bachelor of Commercial Science with honors in Accounting from New York University in 1928. On June 6, 1938 he married his first wife, Santina I. Novello, with whom he had seven children. He married his second wife, Catherine T. DiGiacomo, in 1983. 

Bellino worked for the accounting firm Mills and Co. in New York City prior to joining the FBI as a special agent accountant in 1934. By 1945, he had risen to the role of administrative assistant to J. Edgar Hoover and served in the War Assets Administration from 1946-1947. Bellino returned to private practice in 1947, joining the New York and Washington D.C. based accounting firm Wright, Long, and Company. For the next three decades, Bellino served as a staff aid or consulting investigator to several congressional committees including the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, the Banking and Currency Committee, and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

In 1957, Bellino was appointed Chief Assistant to the Chief Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management, also known as the McClellan Committee. Bellino worked under Chief Counsel Robert F. Kennedy. The committee aimed to investigate corrupt practices within labor unions, with particular attention given to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and their presidents Dave Beck and James (Jimmy) R. Hoffa. The committee hearings were held between 1957 and 1959 and uncovered substantial evidence of corruption and illicit practices carried out by officials of fifteen unions and over fifty companies. 

In 1959, Bellino joined John F. Kennedy’s campaign staff for his 1960 Presidential campaign. Following the election of Kennedy, Bellino was appointed special consultant to the President and served in the role until Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. While in the White House, Bellino served as an investigative accountant in the Department of Justice’s investigation into federal crimes uncovered by the McClellan Committee involving the Teamsters Union and their president, Jimmy Hoffa. The investigation resulted in four grand jury trials that took place in Florida (Sun Valley); Nashville, Tennessee; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Chicago Illinois between 1961 and 1964. Bellino also served as an advisor to the Bureau of the Budget during his appointment as Special Assistant. In this role he conducted budgetary surveys of each department in the executive branch.

Bellino resumed his private practice and government consulting work following his departure from the Kennedy administration in 1963. He continued to work as a consulting investigator for congressional committees including the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the Judiciary Committee. In 1973, he was appointed chief investigator for the Senate Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, also known as the Watergate Committee. 

In 1964, Bellino joined Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign staff for his Senate race in New York. Bellino oversaw campaign budgets and staffing. 

Outside of federal government service, he also provided accounting services in the private sector, including consultant work for 20th Century Fox following their production of Cleopatra (1963) and the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors in 1976. Bellino retired from his career in accounting in 1981.

Carmine S. Bellino died from prostate cancer on February 27, 1990 in Coconut Creek, Florida.

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This collection is arranged into four series. Series 1. Consulting Investigator for the United States Senate, 1938-1979, contains investigative materials including reports, memoranda, correspondence, research materials, telephone records, budget data, bills, and news clippings collected during Bellino’s work as a consulting investigator for the U.S. Congress. Series 2. Special Consultant to the President Files, 1961-1964 contains general files including subject files, memoranda, investigation materials, correspondence, and press materials created during his work in the Kennedy administration. Series 3. Correspondence, 1951-1967 contains personal correspondence files generated by Bellino throughout his career. Series 4. Personal and Political Files, 1957-1979 contains correspondence, speeches, budget data and other financial materials, campaign materials, and news clippings related to Bellino’s personal, professional, and political activities outside of his government service.  

Please note that materials from this collection were removed for classification issues during processing. Therefore, folders may contain withdrawn information. For information and to find out if a particular folder has classified components please contact the National Declassification Center at ndc@nara.gov or National Declassification Center (NDC), National Archives and Records Administration, Room 6350, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001.

Additionally, records related to Bellino’s investigative work on the Senate Judiciary Committee are closed due to Senate Resolution 474. Folders may be subject to review by archives staff for declassification status before use. Please contact the Research Room staff if you would like access to a folder for review.

All are welcome to visit the Library to work with our collections, and you can make an appointment by contacting an archivist at Kennedy.Library@nara.gov.