George Mantello was the driving force behind Permindex/CMC, which was started in Basel, Switzerland. The goal was to build a world trade center but there was a lot of local opposition - Basel already had another industrial exhibition. Ultimately, the local authorities approved Permindex's plan, but they had to agree to build a hotel to go along with the trade center. Ultimately, they could not find enough financing, and they moved the company to Italy. That's when they started CMC - Centro Mondiale Commerciale; it was necessary to operate as an Italian company rather than a Swiss corporation. Because of his expertise in international trade, Clay Shaw was asked [and he accepted] to be on the Board of Directors. You can see Clay Shaw's Permindex file here. But, just who was George Mantello? He was born György Mandl to Jewish parents in Hungary. He manufactured textiles in Romania and escaped to Switzerland to avoid the Nazis. James DiEugenio has this to say about George Mantello in his book Destiny Betrayed: (page 385) "The Board of Directors [of Permindex] was made up of bankers who had been tied up with fascist governments, people who worked the Jewish refugee racket during World War II..." He also republished the allegation in this more recent article from 2019. Joan Mellen used the term "Jewish refugee racket" on page 138 of her book A Farewell to Justice, and William Davy used the same term in his book Let Justice Be Done on page 97. This allegations came from a paragraph in a Foreign Service Despatch from the American Consulate in Basel dated February 1, 1957: But was this true? Here is an excerpt from another Despatch from April 9, 1958: The attacks on Permindex and on George Mantello all stem from the socialist newspaper, the Arbeiter-Zeitung. As the Consulate noted, "none of of these charges have been proved." Further reference to the Arbeiter-Zeitung was made in a Despatch from May 21, 1958: So, we know from the Foreign Service Despatches that the allegations against Mantello were made by the socialist newspaper, but the Despatches do not corroborate the charges. A November 23, 1969 memo from the Chief of International Organizations Division (IOD) to Chief of Commercial Staff of the CIA had more information: So, what really happened during the war? George Mantello served as first secretary of El Salvador in Switzerland and gave out fifteen thousand Salvadorian citizenship papers to Jews during World War II. In 1944, he publicized the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, through the publication of a document called "The Auschwitz Protocol." You can read the Auschwitz Protocol at the bottom of this post. This led to the publication of over four hundred newspaper articles in 120 Swiss newspapers and was a contributing factor in stopping deportations. For his great work for the Jewish people, Mantello received an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University, he was awarded the 1989 Righteousness Award by the Holocaust Memorial Center in Michigan, and he was nominated for a Congressional Gold Medal in 1989. His partner in the El Salvadorean embassy, Jose Arturo Castellanos, was recognized posthumously by Yad Vashem on May 3, 2010, with the title Righteous Among the Nations. Jose Arturo Castellanos Here is what Yad Vashem said about Castellanos and Mantello: Even before the war began, when he was a Consul in Hamburg, Castellanos urged his government to allow German Jews to emigrate to El Salvador. In response, he received written instructions forbidding him from providing visas to Jews. During the war years, Castellanos, now a consul in Geneva, along with George Mantello, a Jewish man of Romanian origin, that Castellanos named first secretary of his Embassy, issued some 10,000 visas and false citizenship papers to more than 20,000 Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, in particular Hungary. In many cases, the papers issued were good for 2,3 or 4 people, thus potentially saving the lives of thousands of Jews. Castellanos and Mantello did not take any payment for the papers. In May 2010, Castellanos was recognized as the first (and thus far only) Righteous Among the Nations from El Salvador. So where did all the allegations against Mantello come from? In May 1944, Mantello was arrested by Swiss authorities on the formal charge related to his black-market activities. He had purchased a thousand chronographs which were sent to New York for British Intelligence (they wanted them for fighter planes). But he was also questioned about the sale of Salvadorian papers. He was detained for sixteen days and was only released when he paid two thousand Swiss francs to cover any fines. John Winant, American Ambassador to the U.K., reported on the results of a State Department investigation in March 1944. He noted that "the consul of San Salvador [Mantello] has acted from humanitarian motives and has charged no fee at all." After the war, the Jewish community of Geneva wrote to Mantello: "It is impossible for us to adequately express our gratitude to you for the tremendous, altruistic work you have done, sparing neither your time nor your financial resources to come to the aid of the wretched victims of the Nazis. We can, however, bear witness to the fact that your help was entirely without personal motive. Not only have you declined any reimbursement for the innumerable papers you sent to us, but, in your life-saving mission, you have also spent considerable sums of your own money." Still, rumors abounded about Mantello's supposed profiteering. He wrote to the Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities in September 1945 asking for a formal inquity. Three judges were named and witnesses were called to either testify or to send affidavits. Wilhelm Fischer, head of the Romanian World Jewish Congress, said that he sent thousands of names to Mantello and had spent over $20,000 cabling details to Mantello but that nothing was paid for the papers themselves. Rabbi Zvi Taubes, the chief Rabbi of Zurich, said that "Mantello always used to come to me with new plans for the rescue of European Jews ... Since he provided his Salvador papers free of charge, it was a great relief no longer to have to pay for the foreign passports and to be able to obtain as many as possible." A sample of a citizenship papers issued by George Mantello The inquiry ended on June 27, 1946, and complete exonerated Mantello. The judges concluded that "The Commission is of the contrary opinion that Mr. Mantello organized the entire operation solely for the purpose of assisting his endangered coreligionists in a totally selfless manner." [Emphasis in original.] In the meantime, Mantello was denied entry visas to the UK and France. This was due to the ongoing harassment by Heinrich Rothmund, the antisemitic head of the Swiss Alien Police. In 1942, he had addressed a conference of cantonal immigration directors and said that "the Jew is not easily assimilated ... Nor must one forget that many of them pose a danger to our institutions, being used to conditions in which the Jewish instinct for business has a tendency to run free." At one point, Switzerland was ready to expel Mantello from the country, but in October 1948, the Swiss government lifted all restraints on his travel and closed the inquiry on his alleged black-market activities. The U.S. Holocaust Museum has a collection of certificates handed out by Mantello. Here is a good article about George Mantello. George Mantello died on April 25, 1992. Here is the notice from the New York Times: Update James DiEugenio noticed my criticism of his term 'refugee protection racket' in my book, and commented on it in one of his review articles: "In what is probably the only positive contribution by Litwin in his entire book, he appears to clear Permindex member George Mandel of being in the Jewish refugee racket. (Litwin, pp. 295–97) The problem with this is that Metta shows that Mandel was working with the Israeli spy service for years and years. (Metta, p. 114) Had he been a serious researcher, he would have retracted the allegation without an irrelevant caveat. Here is the excerpt from a CIA document, that I included in my book, that discusses this: There was nothing nefarious about Mantello working with Israeli intelligence – after all, few people knew as much as he did about Jewish refugees in Europe. It appears he cooperated with Asher Ben-Natan who worked for the intelligence service of the Israeli foreign ministry. One CIA document, dated November 1951, notes that “Ben Natan … is surrounding himself with former IIS personnel,” and the list included Mantello. This would seem to confirm the paragraph above that Mantello, by then, was separated “from their service.” Natan was deeply involved with the Jewish Brichah, an organization dedicated to bringing Jewish survivors to Israel. Here is a CIA document on the Jewish Brichah. The Auschwitz Protocol "In April 1944, two Slovakian Jews, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, escaped from Auschwitz and wrote a report providing some of the first reliable eyewitness accounts of the camp. Romanian diplomat Florian Manoliu, who was assisting George Mandel-Mantello in his rescue efforts, received a copy of the Protocol and immediately gave it to Mandel-Mantello in June. Mandel-Mantello received the copy of the Protocol on the same day he learned of the deportation of his own parents. Recognizing the Protocol’s importance, Mandel-Mantello recopied it, translated it (he immediately hired students to translate the report into various languages), and organized a campaign to distribute the report to Swiss clergy, newspapers, and foreign diplomats."

James DiEugenio writing in Probe Magazine of May-June, 1997 writes: "In a Wackenhut interview with Carlos Bringuier (5/9/67), Bringuier stated that Shaw's friend Alberto Fowler revealed that Garrison had "something big" and that "high persons" were involved in the assassination conspiracy. Fowler said Shaw felt confident because he knew that these "high persons" would have to defend him." [emphasis in original] DiEugenio also wrote in the same issue: "In the same Wackenhut report quoted above, it is revealed that Gordon Novel was a CIA agent and that Shaw was in the "Intelligence Services" of the armed forces." Let's have a closer look. Just who was Alberto Fowler? He was born in New Orleans and had worked in Cuba for his family in the 1950s. Fowler was a participant in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was captured by Cuban troops. He was freed in a prisoner exchange for food and medicine a year and a half later. Fowler became Director of International Relations for the City of New Orleans in 1965, and he knew Shaw through their respective work on international affairs. DiEugenio doesn't mention Fowler's association with Jim Garrison and his JFK assassination investigation. Fowler was a major source for Garrison on the Cuban community in New Orleans, and helped him in Miami. On January 7, 1967 Jim Garrison issued a memo to his staff regarding investigative assignments. Here is the paragraph for Alberto Fowler: Fowler also wrote several memos to Garrison. Here is one, for example: Another example can be seen here. And, Rosemary James included Fowler in her cast of characters of the Garrison affair in the April 8, 1967 edition of the New Orleans States-Item. DiEugenio referenced the Wackenhut interview with Carlos Bringuier. Here is the entire memo: [Fowler starts on page four] Now, the way I read this document is that Alberto Fowler is just repeating back to Bringuier information he has heard from Garrison. There is no indication, at all, that he had been speaking to Clay Shaw. It's interesting that DiEugenio would not repeat the Fowler allegation that Gordon Novel was one of the assassins. Probably because he knew that that was insane. The next day Fowler talked to a reporter from Newsweek: Fowler had no hard information at all. And not a mention of Clay Shaw. On June 1, 1967, Carlos Bringuier spoke to Aaron Kohn of the Metropolitan Crime Commission to discuss the Garrison investigation. Here is an excerpt: So, was Fowler trying to rationalize why Clay Shaw was so calm? The whole idea that Gordon Novel was a CIA agent because he went to Virginia (where the CIA is located) is pure Garrison. And, of course, Mark Lane did come to town. Here is an article from the New Orleans States-Item of April 8, 1967: You can see more craziness from Garrison in this FBI memo from June 1967: Guess who used the above FBI report? None other than John Armstrong - in an essay for Pease and DiEugenio's anthology, The Assassinations. (see page 134). He quoted from a Lou Ivon memo about the heights of the Oswalds, as further proof that there was an Oswald double. Here is what James DiEugenio said just this past week on the Education Forum: Point three relates to Fowler. Fowler's reporting now "strongly indicates consciousness of guilt" on the part of Clay Shaw. Not one mention of Fowler's involvement with Garrison - clearly implying all of this information was coming from Shaw. Alberto Fowler died in 1987 at a very young age.

James DiEugenio, in his book Destiny Betrayed, writes: (page 208) "This collection by attorneys Bill and Ed Wegmann includes a report by Wackenhut - a detective agency the Wegmanns hired - of an interview of a secretary who worked for attorney G. Wray Gill. Gill had employed David Ferrie as an investigator on some of his cases, including his work for Carlos Marcello. This secretary, named Sandra Anderson, told the detectives that she had seen a photograph depicting Shaw with Ferrie." DiEugenio's source is Probe Magazine, Volume 4 Number 8, page 8, which is not very helpful, since many issues are not online, In this case, that article is now online and page 8 does indeed give us more information: "In a report to the Wegmanns by Wackenhut agents along with [sic] WDSU reporter Rick Townley (4/19/67), there are references to attorney G. Wray Gill. In this report she said she had a photo depicting both Shaw and Ferrie." [emphasis in original] Ok, the source is a report of an interview of Rick Townley. I have all the detective reports in the Wegmann/Dymond files, and here is that memo: A few points about this memo: Of course, the photograph in question is not available. An FBI agent came and confiscated it. Sound familiar? Sandra Anderson also claimed that David Ferrie was in Dallas "right around the assassination period." We know that is not true. She claimed she made airline reservations for David Ferrie and Clay Bertrand, but Townley could find no evidence to support that allegation. An interesting aside about Betty Parrott (mentioned on page three) - that she was known as "the mother hen to all the homosexuals in the French Quarter." We have previously blogged about Parrott (a.k.a. Parrot or Parent) - and her inability to find Clay Bertrand back in 1963. In addition, Parrott also talked to both the FBI and the Garrison investigation. Anderson said that Morris Brownlee took the photograph. And, guess what? The Wackenhut detectives talked to Brownlee. Here is the memo: On page four, Brownlee told Wackenhut that "he never had his picture taken anyplace with SHAW or DAVID FERRIE and that he never took their pictures." He added that "this is the first time that he has heard of such an alleged episode." On May 3, 1967, Brownlee called up Wackenhut to "state he was interested in clearing David Ferrie's name in the investigation." He also added this about the picture: Now, you might expect that the denials from Morris Brownlee about the picture might be reported by James DiEugenio. He never mentions it in his book or in Probe Magazine. You might expect that the other ridiculous claims by Sandra Anderson might give one some concern about her credibility. Nope, not all in. In fact, James DiEugenio just repeated the allegation this week on the Education Forum: Now, the Anderson allegation is also proof that "Shaw's lawyers knew he was lying." All of this begs the question: Did James DiEugenio actually read all the Wackenhut reports?

Theodore Link, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, talked to David Ferrie before he died. Ferrie complained about surveillance by Garrison's men and that it "aggravated" his health. Of course, Ferrie was right - he was under surveillance, and to make things worse, Garrison had an undercover agent embed himself into Ferrie's life. Did all of this stress play a part in Ferrie's death via a berry aneurysm? Here is his report from the February 23, 1967 edition: The section on Ferrie starts at the bottom of the third column on the second page. For those of you who cannot read it, here is the text: "In the Sunday interview with this reporter, Ferrie expressed bitterness over the investigation. He said a rival private investigator [Jack Martin] had started a rumor about an innocent hunting trip to Texas that Ferrie had made with two friends at the time of the assassination. Garrison's investigators had accepted the story, he said, although the rival private detective had twice been in a mental institution and was known to police as a lunatic-fringe character. "After Garrison and his detectives searched my place and took a lot of memos and stuff out of it, I arrived back from Texas via Alexandria, La. They didn't arrest me at all," Ferrie said, "I went to them the next day and told all about my trip. "They took me to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and I think also the Secret Service and I gave them minute accounts of my movements. From what I could gather of the Garrison questioning, someone thought they had information that while on the trip I had taken a plane and flown to Dallas, the Bahamas or Cuba. "I was working for a New Orleans lawyer in a case involving Carlos Marcello, the supposed Mafia leader of Louisiana on an income tax evasion charge and when it was over about 3 p.m. we decided on the spur of the moment to go hunting. The assassination was all over then. "The Garrison investigation is a "big joke" but it is killing me. It was dead until last January when I received a summons to appear before the Orleans parish grand jury. I never got before them because I was intercepted by Garrison's men who again questioned me. This time they went into questions about a supposed plot hatched in New Orleans involving me and Lee Harvey Oswald, who killed the president, and a group of Cubans, both pro-Castro and anti-Castro, who had united in their hatred of Kennedy. "Oswald was publicly known as a pro-Castro man and had held rallies in the Cuban district here. The anti-Castro Cubans were bitter because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. There was a lot of hate among them just as I understand there was a lot of hate in Texas and the President was warned not to come there. "I never knew Oswald personally. I read that he had lived here during the summer before the assassination. All I have asked is that they prove something on me or let me get back to my flying," he said. Ferrie was highly nervous during the interview, but explained that he had been ill with emphysema and the surveillance of the Garrison forces aggravated it." The last sentence quoted above is interesting. David Ferrie was indeed under surveillance by Garrison: I haven't included all the surveillance memos - just a few to give a taste of what was going on. In addition to the surveillance, Garrison also had an undercover agent (Jimmy Johnson) insert himself into Ferrie's life. Here are three memos regarding him: Jimmy Johnson did not like David Ferrie. I'm not sure if it was good for Ferrie's health to have Johnson threaten to "kick the shit" out of him. Johnson was interviewed for NBC's special on Jim Garrison, which was televised on June 19, 1967. He didn't make the final cut, but here is his interview: A couple of points from this interview: Garrison's office called Johnson in January to ask him to inform on Ferrie, and they used his probation violation to make sure he would. Ferrie was physically sick. Johnson went through Ferrie's briefcase. Ferrie never said he had anything to do with the assassination. Johnson claimed that Ferrie liked Fidel Castro. Johnson said he flew with Ferrie to Mexico, Kentucky, South Carolina and Texas, to haul chickens. I don't think Johnson knew Ferrie that well - we do know that Ferrie hated Castro, and the one thing he did like about Kennedy was his support for civil rights. Here's the question I wonder about. Given Ferrie's precarious health - did the added pressure of surveillance, an informant who is purposely aggravating him, and the fact that investigators were asking about Ferrie around town - did all of that contribute to his death via a berry aneurysm? UPDATE Here is another memo from Jimmy Johnson:

I was devastated yesterday when I heard that John McAdams had died. He taught me, and many others, how to think about the evidence in the JFK assassination and how to think about claims of conspiracy. His website is an indispensable resource for researchers. My relationship with John was entirely through e-mail. We never met in person and we never talked on the phone. I was hoping to finally meet John after COVID recedes and archives started opening. I have plans to visit an archive in Wisconsin and that would have been a perfect time for us to meet. Alas, fate intervened. Many years ago, I was delighted when John agreed to put my paper, "A Conspiracy Too Big," on his website. He had to do a lot of work to convert the Word document and its formatting (particularly the footnotes) into http. It was quite an honor to finally make the 'big leagues.' He was also kind to put the conclusion to my book, On The Trail of Delusion, on his website. Whenever I had a question about the assassination, I knew that John would most probably have the answer. His replies would be prompt, and to the point. When I published I Was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak, I was delighted when John agreed to write a blurb for my book. I've been quite privileged to get exceptional people to write blurbs for all three of my books. I urge everybody reading this to go out and read John's book, JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy. It's required reading for anybody who wants to understand how to evaluate documents and evidence. When John had his troubles with Marquette University a few years ago, I offered to go to Wisconsin and testify on his behalf. I thought that perhaps a gay man could help his case. I also offered financial help for his defense. He didn't need my testimony and he already had a team of great lawyers, and I was delighted when he won his case. I've always been a big supporter of free speech - and even thought I am a big supporter of same-sex marriage, I also support the rights of people to be opposed. Here is a good article about McAdams going back to work. You can read more about his case here. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a terrific organization. Please support them if you can. I want to send my deepest condolences to John's family. John McAdams, R.I.P.

Here is the New York Times Editorial from March 2, 1969: Justice in New Orleans One of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of American jurisprudence ended happily early yesterday morning when the New Orleans jury declared Clay L. Shaw innocent of conspiring to murder President Kennedy. The fact that the jury reached its verdict unanimously, on the first ballot, and after less than an hour of deliberation provided a fitting judgment on the flimsy case offered by the prosecution. But, even after this victory for justice, the question remains of how an innocent man could be jailed and tried for a capital crime on such bizarre "evidence." District Attorney Jim Garrison has much to answer for in this persecution of an innocent man. As his emotional final appeal to the jury showed once again, Mr. Garrison's real purpose in holding the trial was to prove his obsessional conviction about the fraudulent character of the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination. This fantasy produced the victimization of Mr. Shaw. Mr. Garrison's shocking conduct of the whole matter proved his unfitness for public office, particularly for such a sensitive post as that of district attorney. Fortunately, the voters of New Orleans have an opportunity later this year to demonstrate the same common sense toward Mr. Garrison's continuance in office that the jury exhibited toward his wild charges against Mr. Shaw. This opinion piece also appeared in the New York Times on March 2, 1969:

In early 1971, Garrison filed a response, in U.S. District Court, to Clay Shaw's complaint regarding the upcoming perjury charges. He listed a variety of witnesses that would support "the probability of Shaw's association on some occasions with Ferrie, on some occasions with Oswald, and on some occasions with both parties at the same time." One witness on the list was Herbert Wagner, a friend of David Ferrie's. New Orleans States-Item, April 24, 1961 Here is Wagner's statement to the D.A.'s office from December 1967: Point #1 reads: "A CPT. VON MAYER who lived at 6942 Canal Boulevard, as a personal friend." The last sentence reads "This is the only loan ARCACHA made with me. At that time I did see a United States government Diplomatic I.D. card with his picture and so forth on it. I verified his employment by calling..." The second to last paragraph ends "I told him, "How in the hell can you make money, DAVE. Just tell me that." And he said, "We're taking people in and out of Cuba at nighttime." I didn't want any part of it." A couple of things worth noting. Wagner clearly did not identify Clay Shaw. Had he been a witness at a Shaw perjury trial, and had the defense known about this memo, his value as a witness would have been zero. Wagner had loaned money to Ferrie and was very patient with repayment. He even once refinanced the loan in a way to put money into Ferrie's pocket, even though it seemed clear that Ferrie did not have the resources to pay him back. Ferrie also bragged to Wagner about some of his activities. It is doubtful that he flew to Cuba. Ferrie was asked about flying to Cuba in his first interview with the D,A.'s office on December 15, 1966: Here is what Stephen Roy (aka Blackburst) wrote on an internet forum about Ferrie flying to Cuba: "I have spent many years examining the life of David Ferrie and his role in the New Orleans milieu. I have conducted numerous interviews with primary sources and obtained or read many thousands of pages of documents relating to these matters. Ferrie's period of activity with the Cubans was very brief, beginning in late 1960 and abruptly ending in the fall of 1961 after his morals arrests. Throughout most of this period, his whereabouts are established by his employment and other records. He had very little opportunity to fly any missions." Roy also added: "Having looked very closely into the career of David Ferrie, while I cannot rule out the possibility that he may have made such flights at some juncture, I make the following observations: 1) Prior to September 1961, Ferrie was flying for Eastern Air Lines three times a week from New Orleans to Houston and other Texas cities, including two overnighters. There would not have been a great deal of opportunity for him to have made such flights from Florida. (And the flight log on his Stinson contains no indication of any such flights.) 2) Prior to April 1961, Ferrie was not fully accepted as an active participant by the anti-Castro Cubans. 3) After his August 1961 morals arrests, Ferrie was soon ostracized by the Cubans. Further, his Stinson soon entered a long period of inactivity. Ferrie denied ever going to Cuba. However, he did tell a friend about one sojourn into Cuba in August 1960, which he said was for the CIA. He said he was wounded in the process, but his friends doubted this. So the assertion that Ferrie made "flights" or extensive flights into Cuba is not strongly supported by the evidence." Conspiracy theorists, like James DiEugenio and Bill Davy, also make another claim from the Wagner memo above. "The capper to it all is that Litwin writes that Ferrie’s anti-Castro activities ended in 1961, when, in fact, Ferrie admitted he was involved with Operation Mongoose, which began in 1962. (NODA Interview with Herbert Wagner 12/6/67)" But, the Wagner memo above references an Operation Mosquito, which DiEugenio believes is really Operation Mongoose. But Wagner definitely heard 'mosquito' - he even made a joke about it. Furthermore, Operation Mongoose took place in 1962 which is after Ferrie left his Cuban activities to focus on his problems with Eastern Airlines, and a morals charge. As mentioned above, Ferrie was ostracized by the Cubans after his August 1961 morals arrest. New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 26, 1961 Stephen Roy writes in his unpublished manuscript, Perfect Villain: David Ferrie and the JFK Mystery: While the sources on Ferrie's anti-Castro activities from, at the earliest, summer 1959 to about October 1961 are many, detailed, mutually corroborative and reliable, there are no reliable sources for significant anti-Castro activities on his part after October 1961. This is an important point missed in most studies of Ferrie's life and career. The single thread of Al Landry's runaway, pulled by New Orleans area police, led to the virtual collapse of Ferrie's life: his job, his Falcon [CAP] group, his position in the anti-Castro group and his standing in the community. While he would have loved to have continued on in the fight against Castro, nobody would have him. What scattered reports there are of anti-Castro activities by Ferrie in 1962 and 1963, such as running training camps, all come from sources of questionable reliability and are impossible to corroborate. Ferrie had other battles to fight." If you want to claim Ferrie was associated with Operation Mongoose, well, Herbert Wagner's statement is not sufficient to prove the point.

Our blog post from yesterday looked at L. P. Davis who provided information about a possible Clay Shaw - David Ferrie Link. Here is another such witness - equally unbelievable. In 1965, the FBI in Chicago received some information about an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro: A few weeks later there was some additional information: So, what really happened? Well, Mr.. Conte has the whole story: The FBI talked to Milian and Rodriguez when they returned to Chicago: Charles Krop was a good man who worked with Catholic organization helping a variety of people over the years. Did Krop just hear these two guys talking, or fantasizing about getting rid of Castro? Or was Krop thinking that perhaps the FBI would be interested in funding the project? I should add that Rodriguez Quesada was very active in anti-Castro activities in the early 1960s, but had run into some difficulties: Here is another report on Quesada: OK, back to Charles Krop, who comes forward in March 1967 when he calls Garrison's office with some important information: Was Krop trying to be helpful? Did he have some sort of urge to be the center of attention? Or did he realize that the only way to get Garrison's attention was to add Clay Shaw and David Ferrie into the mix? And now claiming he had audio tapes? A few weeks later, Sgt. Duffy, after trying several times, got hold of Krop to inquire further about the tapes: Garrison's notation refers back to the "fag ball" in 1962 in which 96 people were arrested (One person must have been a Carlos Rodriguez, which is probably a fairly common name in the Latin community). Not surprisingly, no tapes ever arrived. In September, 1968 Garrison was holding a conference in New Orleans with his investigators (and buffs like Bernard Fensterwald and Richard Sprague) and Charles Krop was mentioned. F = Bernard Fensterwald G = Jim Garrison Box = Billl Boxley Gee, what kind of guy did Fensterwald have in mind? In 1969, Charles Krop was involved with the Black Panther Party, no doubt trying to be helpful: In September 1977 Garrison sent the Krop lead to the HSCA. Clearly, he had not worked the lead at all: Charles Krop is now a witness that can link Clay Shaw to David Ferrie. James DiEugenio wrote in The JFK Assassination that "there are at least three other witnesses in Garrison's files who connected Shaw with Ferrie: L. P. Davies Jr. [sic], Charles Krop, and Betty Rubio." (page 180) Well, yes, there are reports like Krop's in Garrison's files. But are they credible? Here is Krop's obituary.

Here is a memo from the Garrison files about a possible Clay Shaw - David Ferrie connection. Now, this memo is unclear as to whether David Ferrie flew "or made arrangements" to fly Shaw to the island. Of course, Clay Shaw did not like to fly, and so the whole premise is somewhat shaky. Here is a follow-up memo: Now Milligan supposedly brought back Clay Shaw to New Orleans, but the description of the two men he did bring back do not match Clay Shaw. Clay Shaw was 6' 4" tall - some five inches taller than the taller of the two men. He did select a photograph of Shaw and said "this was similar to one of the men he had picked up." However, he "did not get a very good view of either of the men in a fully erect position." Even if Clay Shaw did go fishing, there is no indication that he knew David Ferrie - just as clearly he didn't know Natt Milligan. All we know from the memo is that Ferrie may have flown four fishermen to the island. This doesn't stop conspiracy theorists from claiming that this is further evidence of a Clay Shaw - David Ferrie link. James DiEugenio is his book The JFK Assassination writes: (page 180) " . . . there are at least three other witnesses in Garrison's files who connected Shaw with Ferrie: L. P. Davies [sic] Jr., Charles Krop, and Betty Rubio." And, of course, Mr. Davis was not called to testify at the Clay Shaw trial. UPDATE: L. P. Davis was a contributor to Truth and Consequences - the private organization set up to fund Garrison's investigation. Jerry Shinley has more information on Mr. Davis.

Clay Bertrand supposedly called lawyer Dean Andrews, who was in the hospital with double pneumonia, on November 23, 1963 and asked if he would go to Dallas to represent Lee Harvey Oswald. In 1966, Jim Garrison decided that Clay Shaw was the elusive Clay Bertrand. What few people realize is that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the New Orleans Police Department made a concerted effort to find Clay Bertrand in 1963 with no luck. Here are some excerpts from a variety of Warren Commission documents: Warren Commission Document #75 Warren Commission Document #75 Warren Commission Document #75 Warren Commission Document #75 Warren Commission Document #75 Warren Commission Document #87 Warren Commission Document #87 Warren Commission Document #87 (this section on Tulane University) Warren Commission Document #87 Warren Commission Document #126 Warren Commission Document #126 And, Warren Commission Document #1203 contains a letter that Carlos Bringuier wrote to Jose Lanuza in November 1963 which was translated by FBI SA Warren deBrueys - “Here are some loose ends I have heard mentioned: The police here were looking for a certain ‘Clay Bertrand’ who is a pervert.” Clay Bertrand could not be found - most probably because he was a figment of Dean Andrews' imagination. Now, fast forward to 1966-1967, and Garrison is once again looking for Clay Bertrand. You can read about the search in his book, On The Trail of The Assassins: (page 86) "Gradually, my men began encountering one person after another in the French Quarter who confirmed that it was common knowledge that "Clay Bertrand" was the name Clay Shaw went by. However, no one would authorize the use of his name or even sign a statement to be kept confidential. No one wanted to get involved. This was quite curious considering Shaw's reputation throughout the city as a man of decorum and distinction." But, is that what really happened back in 1966-1967? Dean Andrews refused to identify Clay Bertrand - but was quite adamant that he wasn't Clay Shaw. Garrison had his investigators comb through the French Quarter. And, guess what? Once again, the elusive Clay Bertrand couldn't be found. Here is an entry from the Tom Bethell diary for August 19, 1967: I talked to Alcock today; he seems to be the most intelligent, and the most communicative person in the office. He said several things, some of them astonishing. First, he told me that Gene Davis had called Dean Andrews at the Hotel Dieu. I asked him how he knew that and he said that Davis had called him and admitted it. It now begins to look as though Gene Davis really is Clay Bertrand, inasmuch as anyone is. Alcock suggested that Dean might have just made up the name Bertrand. He said there was a rumor that there had been a nurse at the Hotel Dieu while Andrews was there named Clare Bertrand, and that as far as he knew nobody checked this out. Here is an entry for October 2, 1967: Alcock repeated what Garrison had already said to Epstein and myself in June–that Shaw became the suspect because they were looking for Clay Bertrand and Clay Shaw had the same first name; also Clay Bertrand was presumed to be a homosexual. Thus Shaw came to light. Garrison had said earlier to Epstein and myself that Sciambra had "squeezed the quarter" looking for Clay Bertrand, but that he could not be found. The Richard Billings journal has an entry for February 23, 1967: Giant says Andrews now tells him there is no such man as Clay Bertrand . . . They also went to speak to Eva Springer (see above), Dean Andrews' secretary, on April 13, 1967. Here are two excerpts from her interview: And, how about this memo? Garrison's notation reads as follows: "Lou Ivon also has tape in which confidential informant (ML) is advised by Prentiss Davis that Bertrand apparently did not exist - that Andrews really made no effort to locate him (+ Davis, his investigator, would have known.)" And, when Dean Andrews testified before the grand jury, he said that the phone call in the hospital came from Gene Davis (who he sometimes referred to as Clay Bertrand): A few minutes later, he added: Of course, Gene Davis would not admit to being Clay Bertrand - and he wasn't. But, he did call Dean Andrews on the afternoon of November 23, 1963. And, at the Dean Andrews trial for perjury, here is some testimony that might be closer to the truth: Davis called Andrews. Andrews then made up the story of being asked to represent Lee Harvey Oswald, and said that Clay Bertrand called him. Perhaps David Ferrie said it best when asked about Clay Shaw and Clay Bertrand (his interview with Andrew Sciambra on February 18, 1967): "Dean Andrews might tell you guys anything. You know how Dean Andrews is."

One of our earlier blog posts looked at Eladio del Valle and the rumor that he was David Ferrie's paymaster. In 1975, an allegation was made that he was one of the assassins of JFK. Was there any truth to this? Bill Turner, an investigator for Garrison and a writer for Ramparts Magazine, gave the HSCA an unpublished manuscript, The Cuba Project, which discussed the allegations: W. R. Morris was the author of The Twelfth of August, which was the authorized biography of Buford Pusser, the hero of the film, Walking Tall. In 1975 Morris came out with a very short book, The Men Behind the Guns (about 28 pages): Here is a page from the book about the author W. R. Morris: Here is a promotional flyer for the book: Here is the article from the July 13, 1975 issue of the National Tattler with an article about Morris and his theories. Clearly Morris got his information about del Valle from the 1967 National Enquirer article (included in my previous post on del Valle) because he has the exact same allegation - that Ferrie was paid $1,000 - $1,500 per flight to Cuba, depending on the mission. The rest of Morris's allegations are just plain fantasy. Morris communicated with the Rockefeller Commission in 1975. Here is an Earl Golz article about Morris and his allegations about Jim Braden: Earl Golz also wrote an article for the Dallas Morning News on May 16, 1975: Morris sent his book to US Attorney Turley, who then wrote to Morris, Morris then left a message, and Turley wrote this letter: A copy of Morris's book made its way to the FBI. Here is their report: Then this memo was issued: The ARRB looked into possible files regarding Morris's main source Harry Dean: You can read more about Harry Dean here. In 1985, W. R. Morris co-wrote Alias Oswald with R. B. Cutler: Alias Oswald was reviewed favorably in The Third Decade (I used to subscribe to this publication in the early 1990s): Even the author, Jerry Rose, didn't find Harry Dean very convincing

This is one crack investigator, no?