Not in Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the J.F.K. Assassination
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Ferrie and Marcello: (as pilot) HSCA Report, p. 143n; (and Andrews) James/Wardlaw, op. cit., p. 92; (Andrews and Marcello) testimony released by New Orleans grand jury, April 12, 1967; (Ferrie and Marcello case) CD 75 and HSCA X.105–; int. Joe Newbrough, former Banister investigator, by William Scott Malone, August 16, 1978.
289 Banister and Marcello: int. Mary Brengel, 1978; HSCA X.127.
290 Oswald mother/uncle links to organized crime figures: HSCA IX.93–103, 115–.
291 Clem Sehrt: HSCA IX.100.
Note 12: Dean Andrews, another New Orleans attorney, who had links to Marcello associate David Ferrie, also said he was asked to represent Oswald after the President’s murder. He named the man who called him by the pseudonym of Clay Bertrand. To reveal the true identity of his caller, he said later, would endanger his life. (XVI.331, 326, 339; (pseudonym) Epstein, Counterplot, op. cit., p. 41n; (in fear of life) Weisberg, Oswald in New Orleans, op. cit., p. 139.)
Raoul Sere: HSCA IX.103.
Termine: HSCA IX.115.
Murret: See entry for Oswald family’s connections with organized crime figures, above.
292 Helping Oswald get bail: XXV.117; CD 75.159, FBI report of November 30, 1963; Clandestine America, III.2, p. 7, quoting New Orleans Crime Commission Director on Bruneau; CD 6.104; VII.175; (Pecora) HSCA IX.192; HSCA Report, p. 155.
293 Schweiker: int. 1978.
18. The Cuban Conundrum
295 American University speech: Public Papers of President Kennedy (1963), p. 45.
296 “Let us, if we can”: Public Papers of President Kennedy (1963), p. 606.
Alpha 66: Sen. Int. Cttee., Performance of Intelligence Agencies, p. 11–; raids: Dallas Times-Herald, March 19, 1963; ibid., March 22, 1963; Albert Newman, op. cit., p. 326; Dallas Times-Herald, March 28, 29, 30, 31 & April 1, 1963; JFK statement on raids—JFK Public Papers, April 1 & 12, 1963.
“Pinprick” attacks: Sen. Int. Cttee. Assassination Plots, pp. 172, 337; Schlesinger, Robert F. Kennedy, op. cit., p. 543–.
297Note 1: The formal title was Special Group (Augmented), an offshoot of the Special Group of the National Security Council specifically charged with the overthrow of the Castro regime. (“Note on U.S. Covert Action Programs,” Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, XII, www.fas.org).
Note 2: The author has drawn here on 1970s interviews of Ayers and on Ayers’ memoir The War That Never Was (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976). A second book written three decades later, however, and points to sinister figures supposedly involved in the Kennedy assassination. In this author’s view, it has no credibility. It is The Zenith Secret: A CIA Insider Exposes the Secret War Against Cuba and the Plot that Killed the Kennedy Brothers (New York: Vox Pop, 2007).
Ayers: Ayers, War That Never Was, op. cit., p. 53; and ints. 1980, 1994, 1995.
Krulak/Kennedy: Ayers, War That Never Was, op. cit., pp. 14, 76, 147. (In the book, Ayers called him Kartak.)
298 Exile leaders talk: AP, May 10, 1963; CRC statement, June 21, 1963.
San Roman: int. 1994. Author also drew on 1994 ints. of Ramón Font, Eugenio Martínez, Eloy Menoyo, Rafael Quintero, Segundo Borges & (courtesy of Lamar Waldron) with Enrique Ruiz-Williams.
299Note 3: The document was supplied to the author by David Barrett, a political science professor at Villanova Unversity in Pennsylvania, who located it at the National Archives. (Memos of calls of August 20, 1962, Box 46, Executive Secretariat, State Department Records, NARA & see “McCone’s Telcon Gaffe” by Max Holland & David Barrett, August 22, 2012 & related citations).
Note 4: See, for example, David Kaiser’s The Road to Dallas, p. 302, Brian Latell, Castro’s Secrets: The CIA and Cuba’s Intelligence Machine. (Latell is a former CIA analyst specializing in Latin American affairs, now with the University of Miami), p. 93–, and Gus Russo’s Live by the Sword, p. 61–, and Seymour Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot (New York: Little, Brown, 1997), pp. 3, 291–, 399n.
By contrast Arthur Schlesinger—who had been a Special Assistant to President Kennedy—devoted several pages in his Robert Kennedy biography to rebutting the notion that the Kennedys encouraged the Castro assassination plots. “No one who knew John and Robert Kennedy well,” he wrote, “believed they would conceivably countenance a program of assassination.” More recently, the author David Talbot argued in his book Brothers that there was “no compelling evidence” to support the claim that the Kennedys authorized Castro’s assassination. (Schlesinger, Robert F. Kennedy, op. cit., p. 488–, & David Talbot, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2007, p. 93–)
Cubela: Sen. Int. Cttee. Assassination Plots, pp. 86– and 174–; author’s int of Rolando Cubela, Havana, 1978; HSCA X.157, 162–; HSCA Report, p. 111–; and author’s perusal of relevant 1994 CIA releases.
300Note 5: According to interview notes taken by Assassinations Committee investigators, one of the exiles most favored by the Kennedy administration, Manuel Artime, said weeks before his own death that he “had direct contact with JFK and RFK personally. They in turn contacted the CIA … AMLASH [the CIA cryptonym for the Cubela operation] was proposed by JFK.” (notes of HSCA investigators Al Gonzalez & Gaeton Fonzi, available in HSCA document releases of 1994 as HSCA 014584; ints. with Gonzalez, 1994.)
“traitor” thesis: refs., Latell, op. cit.
301 Veteran: HSCA X.65.
Veciana: ints.Veciana, 1978, 1980, 1993; HSCA X.37– and HSCA Report, p. 135–; HSCA IV.476 & ints. HSCA staff; “Dallas, the Cuban Connection,” Saturday Evening Post, March 1976; “Who Killed President Kennedy?” article by former HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi, Washingtonian, November 1980; research by David Leigh for Washington Post, June–July 1980; ints. Gaeton Fonzi, 1993; Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1993.
304Note 6: Veciana’s group Alpha 66 was to be linked to the name “Oswald” immediately after the assassination. Early on November 23, a Dallas police detective would report information from an informant that an “Oswald” had attended meetings of an anti-Castro group at an address in Dallas. Cubans had vacated the address in the last few days. It is now known that the address in question had been a local base for Alpha 66. (XIX.534, report of Deputy Sheriff B. Walthers, November 23, 1963, see also CD 1085U. There is confusion over two phonetically similar addresses, but the correct address was probably 3126 Hollandale, in the Farmers Branch area.)
Note 7: For a discussion of the Committee’s debate on Veciana’s claims, see HSCA volumes as indicated supra, and p. 330 of an earlier edition of this book (New York: Paragon, 1989) and in Chapter 24, “Hints and Deceptions.”
Agents seized: Sen. Int. Cttee., Performance of Intelligence Agencies, p. 12–.
305 Lacombe: ibid., and New Orleans States-Item, May 5, 1963; (Ferrie) James & Wardlaw, op. cit., p. 131; (McLaney) Washington Post, August 1, 1963; HSCA X.185, X.72–.
Note 8: Author Gus Russo quotes three interviewees as having alluded to Ferrie’s role at camps near New Orleans, and reporter Jack Wardlaw cited a New Orleans States-Item reference to Ferrie’s role at Lacombe. (Russo, op. cit., p. 187, Rosemary James and Jack Wardlaw, Plot or Politics: The Garrison Case and Its Cast, New Orleans: Pelican, 1967, p. 131, Russo, op. cit., p.187.)
Raid & McLaney: Washington Post, August 1, 1963, HSCA X.185, X.72–.
Note 9: Mike McLaney had owned the International Casino in Havana. In 1973, in sworn testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, a witness stated that McLaney “represents Meyer Lansky”—the man dubbed the “finance minister of the Mob.” The same witness claimed McLaney had plotted the assassination of Bahamian leader Lynden Pindling. McLaney denied the allegation, and the Assassinations Committee found no evidence that the McLaney operation in Louisiana was linked to the CIA or to the crime syndicate. (HSCA X.185)
Br
inguier: memo, FBI New Orleans to HQ, May 11, 1964.
Interpen: New York Times, September 16, 1963.
Sturgis group financing: Fensterwald, op. cit., p. 505.
Hall: (detained) Weisberg, Oswald in New Orleans, op. cit., pp. 161, 273, 274, 276, and HSCA X.22; (Cuban detention) int. of Hall by Harold Weisberg, p. 92; Most stung by clampdown: HSCA X.13.
306 “Those individuals”: Sen. Int. Cttee. Assassination Plots, p. 13.
“At peace”: AP, July 31, 1963.
Oswald at time of “Bishop” meeting: chronology of Oswald’s activities based on Warren Commission documents, by researchers Mary Ferrell & Arch Kimbrough.
Oswald at Mexican Consulate: XXIV.549, 685; XXV.17, 811. Passport: XXII.12; XXIV.509;
307 Knight: New York Times, March 23, 1966.
Tourist card numbers: FBI report November 30, 1963, File no. SA89-67; CD 21; CD 75; CD 88; CD 613; CD 652.
Gaudet: ints. 1977, 1978; int. by Bernard Fensterwald, 1975, by Allen Stone (WRR, Dallas), May 7, 1975; HSCA Report, p. 218–; John Newman, op. cit., p. 346–, CIA Advice of Project Action 00-48-50, February 15, 1950, & 00-32-51, June 21, 1950; Asst . Dir. Ops to Chief, Inspection & Sec., January 5, 1950 & attachments, Secrecy Agreement, March 2, 1950, CIA 1993 releases.
309Note 10: Gaudet said, too, that, “Another vital person is Sergio Arcacha Smith. I know he knew Oswald and knows more about the Oswald affair than he ever admitted.” As the first New Orleans representative of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, Arcacha—mentioned earlier in the Notes for Chapter 17—had previously had an office at 544 Camp Street. The author knows of no link between Arcacha and Oswald.
Gaudet saw Oswald/Banister: int. Gaudet, 1978; HSCA Report, p. 219n.
Note 11: Interviewed after her husband’s death, Gaudet’s widow said he had known Banister, though not well. (int. Mrs. C. K. Gaudet, 1993)
310 “Giving some thought”: Papich to Brennan, September 13, 1963, FBI 97-4196-861, www.maryferrell.org; Sen. Int. Cttee., Performance of Intelligence Agencies, p. 65.
Oswald summary of achievements: Report, p. 731.
311 Oswald leaves New Orleans: XI.462–; XXIII.715; CD 170.4, 8; HSCA X.21.
312 Frontier stamp: XXV.16 and 819; XXIV.663.
IV. ENDGAME: Deception and Tragedy
19. Exits and Entrances in Mexico City
315 “Oswald’s visit”: AARB Report, p. 86.
Passengers on bus: (Mumford & Winston) XI.215, ints. with both, 1993; (McFarland) XI.214.
316Note 1: On the bus, Oswald sat next to a much older man who spoke with an English accent. An extensive search eventually led investigators to a person who had traveled under the name of John Bowen, but denied having sat next to Oswald. He claimed that he was a “missionary” who traveled extensively and that his most recent trip, begun just before the Kennedy assassination, had included France and Spain. Intensive frontier checks revealed no record of entrance to either country. This man might not seem worth noting at all were it not that when tracked down he was using the name “Osborne.” In New Orleans, the name Osborne had twice been used to order the printing of Fair Play for Cuba Committee material. This is likely a mere coincidence. (Bowen: XI.220; XXIV.576; XXV.42, 45, 75; Report, p. 733; “Osborne”: see Notes for start of Chapter 16)
Hotel Cuba: XI.223
Note 2: A long-ago foray to a border town while on leave from a Marines base aside, the heavily documented record of Oswald’s life shows no previous visits to Mexico. Guy Banister’s secretary, Delphine Roberts, however, told the author in 1978 that she believed—on the basis of what Banister told her—that Oswald made more than one trip to Mexico in the summer of 1963.
Hotel Comercio: Report, p. 733; and Robbyn Swan’s int. manager Guillermo García Luna, 1993.
Note 3: The Warren Commission had trouble documenting the bus travel by Oswald. Establishing how he returned to the United States remained unresolved until the production in August 1964 of a bus ticket allegedly found by Marina Oswald while working with the author Priscilla McMillan. The Warren Commission’s Senator Russell was less than satisfied on this point. Oswald’s re-entry to the United States was initially reported to have been by “automobile.” Had that been the case, and as Oswald did not drive and had no car, questions would arise as to who might have traveled with him. Further, on its face strong, evidence that Oswald did travel to Mexico was a copy of a letter he apparently wrote on November 9—following the trip—to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC. Both the content of this letter and the circumstances of its writing have raised questions about its purpose and authenticity. What Lee and Marina Oswald had to say on the subject of Mexico will be reported later in this chapter. A useful research tool on the overall Mexico episode is researcher Rex Bradford’s paper “Not a Shred of a Speck of Evidence for Conspiracy: Vincent Bugliosi on the Mexico City Impostor,” 2007, updated, supplied to author; Nov. 9 letter: infra., Chapter 20, Jerry Rose, “Gifts from Russia: Yeltsin and Mitrokhin,” Fourth Decade, 7.1, & HSCAVIII, 233–, 237–, 351–, 358; Marina: HSCA I.27–50, XI.150, 155,) Mexico activity: (except where indicated) Report, p. 299– and HSCA Report, pp. 121–, 248–.
Oswald in Mexico: (seen with Cubans) XXVI.672; (exile haunt) Anson, op. cit., p. 251.
317 Durán: ints. 1978, 1993, and other contacts; XXV.586, 634; XVI.33; XXIV.590; HSCA III.6.
Durán re. phony?: HSCA III.35, 58; int. John Newman, 1995.
318 Azcue: XXIV.570; XXIV.563; author’s research in Cuba; HSCA III.127; Report, pp. 301, 734–.
319Note 4: According to Cuban Intelligence defector Vladimir Rodríguez Lahera, Mirabal was—while fronting as a consular official in Mexico City—also a senior Cuban Intelligence officer. (Debriefing of AMMUG-1, April 1964, NARA 104-10183-10284)
Communist Party card: HSCA III.176, 155, 142.
Note 5: A CIA document, however, was to state that Oswald returned to the Cuban Consulate the following day—Saturday, September 28—and that Durán assisted him in telephoning the Soviet Embassy. Durán has insisted that was not so, that she did not work on Saturdays. (Helms to Rankin & attachment, January 31, 1964, NARA 104-10009-10212.)
KGB officials: ints.Valery Kostikov, Pavel Yatskov, & Oleg Nechiporenko, 1993.
CIA surveillance: HSCA report, “Oswald, the CIA, and Mexico City,” by Edwin Lopez and Dan Hardway, released with redactions, 1993; David Phillips’s speech to National Military Intelligence Association, June 1976; David Phillips, The Night Watch, New York: Atheneum, 1977; ints. with Cuban Ministry of the Interior officials, 1978 (including Nilvio Labrada, electronics specialist).
320Note 6: The Warren Report referred to this information euphemistically as having come from “sources of high reliability available to the United States in Mexico.” What we now know of that will be the basis of much of this chapter. (Report, p. 305)
Surveillance: New York Times, September 21, 1975; Washington Post, November 26, 1976; Secret Service document 104; State Department telegram 1201, November 28, 1963; Assassination Information Bureau briefing document, “Oswald’s Alleged Contacts with the Cuban and Soviet Embassies in Mexico City, 1978”; (with Soviets) Report, p. 734; XXVI.149, 667–; CD 1084d.5; CD 1216; and CD 347 reported in Coleman-Slawson draft.
321Note 7: There was also potential for blaming the Soviets. The CIA would later note that Valery Kostikov, who told the author he met and took a gun away from Oswald, was a member of the KGB’s Department Thirteen, which specialized in sabotage and murder. (See refs. in John Newman, op. cit., and in Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.)
Azcue: statement, Havana public hearings on Kennedy case, July 29, 1978; Azcue testimony, HSCA, September 18, 1978; ints. Eusebio Azcue, Carmen Bilbao, Carmelle Azcue, by Robbyn Swan and Anthony Summers, 1993.
322 Oswald height: XVII.285
.
Azcue description: Havana statement July 29, 1978; HSCA III.152–; (belief) HSCA III.136; ints. Azcue family, supra.
Mirabal: HSCA III.174.
Azcue maintained: HSCA III.139.
Note 8: Durán’s former husband, Horacio Durán Navarro, said in an interview with the author that the Mexican press carried only a poor wire-photo of the Oswald under arrest after the assassination.
Durán on seeing film: ints. 1979, 1994 & corr. June 22, 1979.
323 Durán on height, etc.: HSCA III.103.
Durán on hair/ “rubio”: DDP, CIA to Director, November 29, 1963 & attached Mexican Police Interrogation report, November 23, 1963 (in Spanish), NARA 104-10209-10279; HSCA 111.69.
Note 9: The omission of that detail from later CIA and Mexican official reports was noted by a footnote in the Assassinations Committee Report, “Oswald, the CIA, and Mexico City,” prepared by Edwin Lopez and Dan Hardway, released with redactions, 1993. (Lopez & Hardway, Mexiso City Report, supra., p. 190, & notes section, p. 24n347).
Azcue “dark blond”: HSCA III.136.
“Light-brown”: CE 826.
Contreras: ints. 1978, 1993 & by Robbyn Swan 1993, HSCA Report, pp. 124, 125nl7.
324Note 10: According to Contreras, “Oswald” said he was a painter by occupation. The author failed to ask whether he understood “painter” to mean that “Oswald” had been employed as a house painter or whether he meant that he was an artist.