The Three Barons

by J. W Lateer

  Unfortunately for Garrison, Guy Banister had already died of a heart attack before the investigation began. And worse, after he arrested David W. Ferrie, Ferrie died violently hours after he was released on bail. This untimely death came only hours after Ferrie had described himself as “a walking deadman” because of his fear of retribution from the JFK conspiracy plotters.

  The only good news for Garrison was regarding Clay Shaw. As fifty years of evidence has shown, Shaw was possibly the “hinge,” or served the central function in the plot. According to Judyth Vary Baker, Shaw was a payroll agent for the assassination as well as the related plot to weaponize cancer to be discussed in greater detail in a later chapter. Shaw was possibly a main player in, or even the founder of the Permindex organization. The Permindex assassination organization will also be discussed in detail in a later chapter.

  Clay Shaw was born on March 17, 1913 in Kentwood, Louisiana, the son of a United States Marshall. At age 5 he moved with his family to New Orleans. In A Farewell to Justice, author Joan Mellen discusses both Shaw and Permindex. Mellen classifies the Permindex organization as run by the CIA and known to have financed the French OAS. She describes how Shaw dropped out of Warren Easton High School in New Orleans in the 11th grade. In November, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Mellen states that Shaw was put both in Officer’s Candidate School (OCS) and the medical corps.

  Then, Mellen says, Shaw was “discovered” by military intelligence and was made an aide to General Charles O. Thrasher. In that role, he rose to the rank of major. At that time, Thrasher was in charge of transferring German POWs to the French. Shaw worked in the Army Counter-Intelligence Corp. (CIC) and was decorated by the Government of France with a Croix de Guerre and Legion of Merit, and with a similar decoration by the Government of Belgium.

  In a World War II history book, it was reported that General Thrasher was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. If that were the case and if Clay Shaw was his aide-de-camp, then that would explain why Shaw could have been awarded the French Croix de Guerre which would normally have been associated with heroism, not covert intelligence operations.

  The following appears on a blog regarding the military career of Clay Shaw. Although it was not posted by a recognized author or historian, it does on its face seem to offer useful details about Shaw’s military service. It was posted by Thomas H. Purvis on May 1, 2007. Purvis was, among other things, the Commanding Officer, Special Forces Schools Advanced Airborne Committee and held numerous other combat positions in the military. The military service of Thomas H. Purvis can easily be verified on websites which contain such background military and other information.

  “Although I can not immediately quote the exact source, Clay Shaw became assigned to the OSS, working in the ‘Recovery’ section. This section of the OSS was assigned responsibility for attempting to track down and recover the stolen monies; gold; silver; art; art objects; antiquities; etc; etc; etc; which Hitler had looted from the countries which he over ran, as well as what was confiscated from the German Jews.”

  In that regard, Clay Shaw was assigned to and worked with that section which had responsibility for recovery of stolen art works. Somewhere, boxed away, I have much of this information as well as the source data.

  However, in one Government file, information relative to Clay Shaw was found in the same box as the records which dealt with the I. G. Farben case.

  It is suspected, though certainly not confirmed, that Clay Shaw still performed “contract” work for the CIA, relative to the continuation of the search for stolen items. If accurate, then this information explains Clay Shaw’s interests in South American countries, and especially those which considerable numbers of German Nazi’s fled to after the fall of Germany. It should also be noted that JFK was “pushing hard” for the recovery and return to the rightful owners of many millions of dollars of this stolen property, much of which was known to be stashed away in Swiss Banks.

  The above information from the posting by Thomas H. Purvis is a lesson in itself. Purvis came across information linking Clay Shaw to the General Aniline and Film case. Virtually no one, probably including Purvis, could imagine that Shaw was somehow involved with the recovery of German property and few people even knew what the GAF case was about. But this bit of information drives the dagger right to the heart of the assassination conspiracy. It supports the tried and true theory of “follow the money.” The largest amount of money directly at stake in the JFK assassination was clearly the settlement of the IG Farben-GAF case. This is seemingly just an offhand comment on a blog by Purvis but it suggests a direct line existed between the IG Farben corporation and Clay Shaw.

  Author Joseph P. Farrell describes the beginning of the relationship of Major Clay Shaw with the Nazis by writing:

  Worse yet, when the Nazi rocket scientists led by Von Braun surrendered themselves to the American armies overrunning their country, it was then that Von Braun and his associates encountered another player in the drama, Clay Shaw. ‘Von Braun first met Clay Shaw in 1945 when he, Walter Dornberger and about 150 other Nazi rocket scientists abandoned Peenemunde and traveled south to join the American forces in Germany close to the French border. The Nazis were brought to the Deputy Chief of Staff’s headquarters where Major Clay Shaw was aide-de-camp to General Charles O. Thrasher.

  Author Mellen states that when Shaw returned from Europe after the War, he began employment with the Mississippi Shipping Company, which was a CIA front organization.

  If, as stated by author and German expert T H Tetens, it was true that Permindex was basically a fund set up by and for the benefit of ex-WWII Nazis, then this puts an entirely different cast on the image of Clay Shaw. This totally undermines the image of Clay Shaw as an eccentric, gay New Orleans socialite who cavorted with right-wingers exclusively in New Orleans.

  We have found that the Reinhard Gehlen Nazi spy network was in total charge of CIA spying in Europe at that time. This was, in effect, a merger of the Gehlen network and the CIA as far as Europe was concerned. Clay Shaw apparently ran a branch operation of this merged entity in New Orleans which did the bidding of German industrialists as well as German, French and Italian Fascists and the CIA. From this connection, we can see that the U.S. never really defeated Germany and the Nazis, but rather, the Nazis went right on undermining the U.S. Government at least from 1945 up to the mid-1970s.

  Shaw was then seen by witnesses passing money to Lee Harvey Oswald in the nether-world of Louisiana swamp conspiracy, somewhere north of Lake Ponchartrain. In 1967, Senator Russell Long suggested to Jim Garrison that he, Garrison, should investigate the assassination. Garrison began an investigation which charged Clay Shaw with homicide in the murder of JFK. Although many on the jury believed that Shaw was involved, Garrison could never prove a motive.

  Although Garrison promoted the theory that Shaw was motivated by his role as a CIA operative, proving such a connection became impossible. So Clay Shaw went free. Shaw died on August 15, 1974 of lung cancer at age 61.

  David Ferrie

  Ferrie is one of the most storied figures in the assassination literature. Yet not much of a connection has ever been demonstrated between Ferrie and the overall JFK conspiracy.

  David W. Ferrie was born in 1918 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied for the Catholic priesthood in the early 1940’s but failed in that attempt, possibly because of emotional problems. He became a trained pilot and flew airliners for Eastern Airlines. But Ferrie was also a pedophile. He was very involved with the Civil Air Patrol, an organization of youthful pilots. One member of his squadron of Civil Air Patrol Youth was Lee Harvey Oswald. This connection was around 1955 when LHO would have been 16.

  The political beliefs and motives of David W. Ferrie were confusing. He was at first a supporter of the overthrow of Cuban dictator Batista, but changed his mind and began to work closely with the anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans after 1959.

  According to Oswald girlfriend Judyth Vary Baker in her memoir Me & Lee, D
avid Ferrie was involved in the plan to weaponize cancer which was the brainchild of the sinister Dr. Alton Ochsner, a known right-wing fanatic.

  Garrison’s suspects are generally believed to have been Clay Shaw, David Ferrie and Guy Banister. Unfortunately, Ferrie and Banister died prematurely after Garrison began to focus on them. Ferrie died February 22, 1967, just a day after he was released from protective custody by Jim Garrison. Because of the quick timing of his death in this manner, most researchers believe Ferrie was murdered just as Ferrie himself had predicted he would be.

  Probably the most direct theory in which to connect Ferrie to the assassination would be his ongoing fanaticism regarding his Catholic religion. After being rejected in his pursuit of the role of priest, Ferrie became involved in some official capacity with an offshoot of the Catholic Church called the Old Roman Catholic Church of North America. If Ferrie had such a burning desire to be a priest, one would have to conclude that he was active in some Catholic circles in his practice of his religion. New Orleans was thick with such types of activists.

  When Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, there were very strong rumors or actual reports that LHO carried the library card of David W. Ferrie in his wallet. Author Judyth Vary Baker offers the best explanation of this. Ferrie was involved along with Oswald in the operation to find a form of cancer that could be used as a biological weapon.

  Anyone who knows anything about medical schools knows that not just anyone can use a medical school library. Apparently David Ferrie had “jumped through the hoops” to become eligible to use the Tulane University Medical School Library, but Lee Harvey Oswald hadn’t. So when LHO was sent to the library to fetch medical books for Dr. Ochsner, Dr. Mary Sherman or for someone else, he had to use the library card which belonged to Ferrie.

  Guy

  Banister

  In addition to the film JFK and Garrison’s book, there is a third source of information about the Garrison investigation. It is the book A Farewell To Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK’s Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History, by Joan Mellen. This book was published in 2013 and hence is up-to-date with the latest evidence regarding the assassination.

  The third suspect of Jim Garrison in the JFK murder investigation was Guy Banister. Since Banister died on June 6, 1964, he was not available during the full term of the Warren Commission nor to the investigators of Jim Garrison.

  What is known for certain is that Banister had all the connections possible to the people and, more importantly, the type of people who perpetrated the assassination. Banister was born on March 7, 1901 in Monroe, Louisiana. He joined the FBI in 1934. He was present when John Dillinger was gunned down on the streets of Chicago. While in the FBI, Banister worked on investigating Communists and his work was admired by J. Edgar Hoover. He rose to the level of Special Agent In Charge in Chicago. Banister left the FBI and retired at age 53. His early retirement was thought by some to have been due to emotional issues.

  Upon retirement, Banister moved to New Orleans and went to work with the New Orleans Police Department. His duties included running a string of informants who were investigating left-wing activities at Tulane and LSU as well as other places in Louisiana. But after he was dismissed from the NOPD, Banister founded his own private detective agency in New Orleans.

  It was around that time, 1956, when Banister began cooperating with Senator James O. Eastland. Eastland was Chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee and also Chairman of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) which was charged with investigating Communists. In his investigation, Garrison found records linking Banister to many members of European “titled nobility” and international jet-set types.

  Eastland brought his hearings to Louisiana and interrogated Civil Rights leaders of the time like James Dombrowski. All of this activity is documented in detail in the iconic book, General Walker by Dr. Jeffrey Caulfield.

  Walter Sheridan

  The largest single influencing factor in this investigation was the intervention of a man named Walter Sheridan. Walter Sheridan was an ex-FBI man who became seen as the right-hand-man of Robert Kennedy. Sheridan was dispatched to New Orleans to foil the Garrison investigation, presumably by RFK himself, or with the blessing of RFK.

  In any event, Sheridan used both interference in the operation of the investigation and also his employment by NBC News to create false publicity that went nationwide. With that kind of millstone around his neck, Garrison made a brave but futile attempt to break the case and convict the guilty parties.

  Another impediment to the Garrison investigation was the fact that he could not extradite witnesses from other states. Conservative Republican Governor John Rhodes of Ohio refused to extradite Gordon Novel. Governor John Connally of Texas refused to extradite Sergio Arcacha Smith, a man with proven advance knowledge of the assassination. This was true even though Connally himself had been shot during the assassination. Even Conservative Governor Ronald Reagan got into the act by refusing to extradite Mr. E. E. Bradley. This was the first time in the history of California that a governor had refused to extradite a person under indictment for murder.

  One small item of evidence mentioned by Garrison in his book has loomed large in more recent years. In his book, Garrison describes how he tried to summon five employees of the Reily Coffee Company (who had worked with Oswald) to testify. All of these employees, within a day or two, were given new, higher paying jobs with NASA. NASA had a large facility in New Orleans which manufactured the Saturn moon rocket but was actually owned by Boeing. One of these five employees was hired at Cape Canaveral in Florida! Immediately following their hire, NASA forbade them to talk to Garrison.

  Garrison concluded that NASA was involved, at least in the cover-up. Of course we now know that Judyth Vary Baker worked with Oswald at Reily Coffee. Reily Coffee was functioning, in part, as the front for the weaponized cancer project in co-operation with some intelligence agency or agencies. The other Reily employees were irate because even though Lee Harvey Oswald was being paid, he usually disappeared and was not doing any work, or so it appeared.

  NASA was implicated by Garrison and was also accused as a suspect in the Torbitt Document. Finally, NASA appeared again in the person of General Walter Dornberger, best friend of Wernher von Braun. As will be discussed in a later chapter, Michael Paine, who was subordinate to Dornberger at Bell Aerospace, gave up his own bedroom to Oswald and his family for two months preceding the assassination.

  The final outcome of the Garrison investigation was a verdict of not guilty in the prosecution of Clay Shaw. A follow-up prosecution of Clay Shaw for perjury was dismissed contrary to statute by a Federal Court.

  As stated above, Garrison was ex-military, ex-FBI and an elected official. Because of these connections, Garrison was simply not going to point the finger at the military, the FBI or any other elected official. This is simply reality. It is the way things work in government. Further, since the Mafia was active in New Orleans and Garrison had to “work around” the Mafia as a prosecutor, the Mafia was not blamed either.

  That left Garrison with only the CIA to blame, which he did openly and it has been proved that Clay Shaw, Ferrie and Banister had CIA connections. Garrison was unable to prove this CIA connection and hence he had no motive for murder which he could prove in his court case.

  The House Select Committee on Assassinations

  The House Select Committee on Assassinations, hereinafter HSCA, was organized in September 1976 to investigate the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK. The first chairman Thomas N. Downing of Virginia retired in January, 1977 and was replaced by Rep. Henry Gonzales of Texas.

  Presidential advisor Cliff Carter had given the bloody clothes worn by John Connally when he was shot along with JFK to Congressman Henry Gonzalez the day of the assassination to preserve as evidence. So Gonzalez was literally the only elected official in the country who was attempting to solve the assassination from the very beginning. This, of course, is hard to expl
ain or even comprehend, but it happened.

  The first counsel to the HSCA was an attorney named Richard A. Sprague. The real reason for the creation of the committee, at least in the opinion of Sprague, was that President Jimmy Carter was the only truly honest recent President either before the assassination or since. Therefore, Carter allowed the investigation to move forward. This could also probably be said about the beginning of the Church Committee which investigated the CIA. That never happened before Carter and hasn’t happened since.

  Sprague too was too honest, intending to forcefully investigate the case with heavy use of lie detectors and other aggressive investigative techniques. It soon became apparent that the Congress, although desiring the investigation, didn’t want any surprises, so they replaced Richard A. Sprague with G. Robert Blakey as counsel. Since the forte of Blakey was investigating the Mafia, it was apparently pre-arranged at least informally that the blame would be placed on the Mafia. This was done in private speeches and other revelations personally made by Blakey but not in the committee report.

  The second major feature of the HSCA is that it precipitated an horrendous series of murders of witnesses. In the book Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination, by Richard Belzer published very recently in 2013, the author details almost 100 witnesses in the assassination who were murdered. It is fair to say that the greatest number of deaths and the most flagrant and obvious murders of witnesses occurred in connection to the HSCA investigation. Belzer claims that there were six FBI agents and officials alone who were murdered within a period of six months prior to their expected testimony to the HSCA.

  Mobsters Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana were known to have been murdered to prevent their testimony. The very top potential witness, George de Mohrenschildt, died violently hours before his interview. De Mohrenschildt was the best friend and “baby sitter” for Oswald just months before the assassination. He also had life-long ties to intelligence activities. It was claimed he committed suicide but (for some odd reason), the relatives with whom he was staying on the day before his scheduled testimony just happened to have a loaded shotgun propped against the wall beside his bed!