We have already done one blog post on this topic, and we showed that Gordon Novel didn't like to pay his legal bills from Elmer Gertz. Here is a letter that was sent to Gordon Novel in June 1969 about some documents he wanted from Jerry Weiner, his lawyer in Ohio. Note that on page two, there are threats to countersue for legal fees: It seems there was a "great dispute" about fees. Gee, why didn't the CIA pay those fees? Reporters Hoke May and Ross Yockey of the New Orleans States-Item told Garrison that Gordon Novel's lawyers were being paid by the CIA. Here is an excerpt from Richard Billings' journal from May 22-23, 1967. "At this point, Hoke May came to Garrison's office; he had a report about Jerry Weiner, the Novel lawyer in Columbus, who, according to Hoke May, has admitted being paid by the CIA. This makes two lawyers who told reporters they were on the CIA payroll, the other being Plotkin, who is Novel's lawyer in New Orleans, who told States-Item reporter Ross Yockey of his CIA retainer." Now, did Steven Plotkin really tell Ross Yockey that he was being paid by the CIA? Here is an affidavit of Ross Yockey from the Gordon Novel libel proceedings against Playboy Magazine and Jim Garrison: It seems to be that Ross Yockey did not know how to interpret a laugh - for him it was "sufficient confirmation" that Plotkin was being paid by the CIA. A few days later, Garrison received this memo: Burton Klein was Al Beauboeuf's lawyer. There is no underlying evidence to support any of the allegations about the payment of funds to Klein or Plotkin made in this memo. It is true that David Baldwin did work for the CIA in the early 1950s. He was stationed in India, but, according to Don Carpenter, author of Man of a Million Fragments, "he had been fired by the CIA for becoming romantically, or at least physically, involved with a woman, Lillian Baxter; during the relationship, certain classified information was divulged." (page 103) Garrison also scribbled a note about Plotkin at the end of a memo about Betty Parrott, a local informant: Garrison's notations were made long after the Parrott memo was written. He writes: "Re: Attorney STEVE PLOTKIN: See statement of DA assistant WILLIAM MARTIN re confidential source informing him that CIA's New Orleans "pay-master" for attorneys was attorney STEPHEN LEMANN (of major New Orleans firm of MONROE + LEMANN) and that LEMANN had retained PLOTKIN to represent individuals, connected with the C.I.A., under inquiry by the New Orleans D.A.'s office. Note that in DA's office interview of DALZELL on July 11, 1967, PLOTKIN appears with DALZELL as his attorney. Note PLOTKIN's representation of GORDON NOVEL (mentioned in DALZELL's statement on "association with Cuban organization") in N.O.D.A.'s office unsuccessful attempt to extradite him from Ohio to testify before the Orleans Parish Grand Jury. Note PLOTKIN's refusal, in response to press request, to confirm or deny that he was being paid to represent NOVEL by the C.I.A." Well, here is the New Orleans Times-Picayune of May 12, 1967 with some denials: Garrison brought Steven Plotkin before the grand jury. He refused to answer questions about his client Gordon Novel, but in his second appearance, he agreed to answer: Of course, conspiracy theorists have also chimed in that the CIA paid legal fees for people caught up in Garrison's probe. James DiEugenio writes in Destiny Betrayed (page 233) that: "How could the out of work, itinerant Novel afford to finance an expensive civil suit against both a large company like Playboy, and a veteran attorney like Garrison? Especially since the suit would drag on for over three years, until 1971. David Krupp. attorney for Playboy, twice posed this question to Novel in the process of legal proceedings. The second time, the plaintiff answered that his attorneys "refused fees for this matter, but it is my understanding that they were clandestinely renumerated [sic] by a party or parties unknown to me..." Here is exactly what Gordon Novel said in his answer to an interrogatory: Not a massive amount of money - and certainly no indication that it was the CIA. Note that Gordon Novel was a massive braggart who was prone to inflate his involvement in almost anything. Saying he was "clandestinely remunerated" sounds better than "I never paid my lawyers." DiEugenio doesn't mention this clarification from Novel's lawyer, Elmer Gertz: As we know from above, Weiner was ready to counter-sue for his fees; Plotkin said he was never paid; and as shown in my earlier blog post, Elmer Gertz was always after Novel for payment. And the answer to DiEugenio's question about how Novel could afford to finance such an expensive civil suit? Well, Gertz was to be paid a percentage of the recoveries, if any: By the way, back in 1967, Novel was hounding reporters. Here is an excerpt from a deposition of Rosemary James, then a reporter for the New Orleans States-Item, from the libel proceedings: And, here is what Rosemary James said about Novel's credibility:

Here is an article from the New Orleans States-Item from November 27, 1963. Had Kerry Thornley seen Oswald in New Orleans in September 1963, he would have mentioned it, no? He sure seemed anxious to talk about Oswald. Garrison would charge Kerry Thornley with perjury for denying he had met Oswald in New Orleans in September 1963. They only overlapped for about three weeks in New Orleans and Oswald wasn't known to frequent bars in the French Quarter (where they supposedly met). I am sure that, had they met, Thornley would have been super interested in learning more about Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union, and his subsequent return to the United States. Other Kerry Thornley Blog Posts Kerry Thornley Writes Sylvia Meagher Was Kerry Thornley the Second Oswald? Was Thornley the Second Oswald? Yes, Again Reverend Raymond Broshears Makes a Startling Revelation!

Judge Herbert Christenberry held three days of hearings regarding Garrison's two counts of perjury against Clay Shaw. Ultimately, in May 1971, he provided a permanent injunction against Garrison. Here is a letter that Clay Shaw wrote to Elmer Gertz, who was representing Gordon Novel in his libel suit against Jim Garrison: Here is the editorial from the February 5, 1971 edition of the New Orleans States-Item: They also ran a relevant editorial cartoon: Here is Elmer Gertz's reply to Clay Shaw:

Many conspiracy theorists believe that Eladio del Valle, a former Cuban Congressman who was murdered in Miami in February 1967, was involved in the JFK assassination. Was he friends with David Ferrie? Was he David Ferrie's paymaster? Conspiracy theorists love to tell stories about del Valle - but what is the truth? More about Eladio del Valle including the autopsy results and his death certificate here. Miami Herald, February 24, 1967 James DiEugenio writes in his book, Destiny Betrayed: (page 85) "Ferrie developed an obsession for the regime of Fidel Castro. This led him to become more intertwined with the Agency and its underground Cuban exile community in New Orleans. He bombed targets inside of Cuba at the request of former Cuban Congressman Eladio del Valle. Del Valle was linked to the CIA, Santo Trafficante, and Senator George Smathers." DiEugenio's source is the book Deadly Secrets by Warren Hinckle and William Turner, page 233., and Probe Magazine. Here is an excerpt from page 233 of Deadly Secrets: There are no footnotes for this paragraph. James DiEugenio also writes in Destiny Betrayed: (page 226) "Once Castro took over, Del Valle joined the violent opposition to him. One of the things he did was hire David Ferrie to run fire bomb missions over Cuba. Since Del Valle had run up a small fortune in smuggling contraband with mobster Santo Trafficante, he could afford to pay Ferrie well, 1,500 dollars per mission." DiEugenio's source is once again Deadly Secrets, page 270 and page 321. Here is page 270: There are no footnotes in this paragraph and thus no sourcing. Here is page 321 from Deadly Secrets: There are no footnotes in this paragraph and thus no sourcing. While the pages on del Valle in Deadly Secrets have no sourcing, we can still figure out where Turner got his information. His book, Rearview Mirror, has a few pages on del Valle, and his source is journalist Diego Gonzalez Tendedera: (page 142) And Tendedera did write about Eladio del Valle - in the Spanish-language newspaper El Tiempo which was then reprinted in English in the April 30 1967 edition of the National Enquirer. Here are two articles from the same issue: the first by Charles Golden, and the second by Diego Gonzalez Tendedera. The key points of the above article: - A "highly placed source" close to Garrison claimed that del Valle was a "close pal" of David Ferrie. - Ferrie's death was "apparently suicide." - Del Valle was located "in a Miami bar" three days before his murder by a Garrison investigator. He convinced del Valle to "help round up several persons believed to have conspired in the President's murder." - Del Valle identified Manuel Garcia Gonzalez from a photograph with Lee Harvey Oswald. He believed it would take several days to find Gonzalez. - Del Valle was a bisexual and "sexual deviance is taking on special importance as new evidence comes to light in the assassination probe." - "There already have been definite signs that a number of people linked to the assassination probe were tied to Cuban politics, to organized crime and to sexual perversion." - "Ruby has become a prime suspect in the New Orleans-based assassination probe." - "Torture victim del Valle fits the overall pattern of sexual deviancy and international intrigue." "del Valle teamed up with Ferrie as early as 1960 for "fire-bomb" raids in Cuba." "Some of the truth is coming from the homosexual world, where talk is now rife about the obviously "gay" twists within the assassination conspiracy." "Some key investigators feel Castro's "higher-ups" used homosexuals for the assassination." The Tendedera article makes the following claims: - Ferrie flew "scores of missions" with del Valle to drop bombs on Cuba. - Tendedera "saw Ferrie and del Valle together almost every day" for six months. - del Valle would pay Ferrie $1,000 to $1,500 per flight depending on whether they were going to bomb or pick up refugees which was "a far more dangerous mission." - U.S. government agents put a stop to the raids. - Tendedera has moved his family to a Manhattan hotel. - "I personally believe del Valle and David Ferrie knew too much about the circumstances surrounding JFK's assassination." Tendedera was wrong about the murder - del Valle was not hit with a machete and his skull was not split from ear to ear - the coroner said his death was due to blunt force trauma and the gunshot. It is clear from the above articles that somebody in Garrison's office was talking to Tendedera and Golden - the comments about homosexuality certainly indicate the thinking inside the D.A. office in early March 1967. There is only one reference to Eladio del Valle in Garrison documents: Bernardo Torres, a Bay of Pigs veteran, was helping the Garrison investigation in Miami. It appears he talked to del Valle and asked him about photographs. Given the information from the Golden article, he must have been asking him about this picture of Lee Harvey Oswald - taken in New Orleans when he was handing out his Fair Play for Cuba pamphlets: After Garrison figured out that Clay Shaw was the elusive Clay Bertrand, he invited Dean Andrews to dinner to corroborate his thesis. But Andrews refused to play, and when Garrison wouldn't let up, Andrews decided to test him. He invented a fictitious Cuban acquaintance of Oswald's, Manuel Garcia Gonzalez, and this piqued Garrison's interest. He then convinced himself that the man on the left, who has always been unidentified and who was helping Oswald that day, was Manuel Garcia Gonzalez. He then sent his investigators to Miami to find him. Garrison couldn't help but shoot off his mouth about Manuel Garcia Gonzalez, and the press reported that Gonzalez was "one of a group of Cubans who reportedly hid behind a billboard in the parade route in Dallas.". And William Turner mentioned Manuel Garcia Gonzalez in his June 1967 article on the Garrison investigation in Ramparts: I don't know if del Valle actually saw any photographs - certainly if he was shown the Oswald photograph and did identify Manuel Garcia Gonzalez, then he was certainly playing along. In any case, the first time Garrison ever heard of del Valle was from that memo from Ivon about the Fowler telephone call. The truth is that Garrison never really checked out del Valle for anything. Here is an excerpt from Garrison's interview with Playboy Magazine from October 1967: Thus, the only source for the del Valle-Ferrie relationship was Tendedera. So, could there have been any truth to his allegations? First, what about the claim that Ferrie and del Valle were together every day for almost six months? Stephen Roy, aka Blackburst, posted this on a bulletin board: "The relationship as reported probably took place in late 1960-early 1961, but the claim that Ferrie and del Valle were together every day for a sixth month period seems to conflict with Ferrie's work record with Eastern Air Lines. None of the thousands of documents I have found relating to Ferrie mention del Valle, and none of his friends seem to remember him. I would be much more comfortable with Tendedera's story of a Ferrie/del Valle relationship if it were confirmed by some other credible first-hand source." Did David Ferrie fly to Cuba? Once again, here is Stephen Roy: 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. Del Valle is mentioned a few times in the Richard Billings diary. The first entry is from February 25, 1967: Fowler has new information from Bernardo [de] Torres which proves unlikely . . . Torres has reidentified stocky guy in leaflet photograph, already positively identified as a Lebanese businessman . . . Torres claims his name is Verdaguer, a pilot, and his informant, Yito del Valle, was murdered the past Wednesday night . . . Del Valle turns out to be tied up with Santo Trafficante . . . Giant cuts Torres off as source . . . And, then in April 15 - April 16: We discuss Yito del Valle briefly . . . Garrison interested in fact he knew Ferrie, but this aspect has not been developed by New Orleans . . . And, then on April 20: Garrison considers del Valle murder in Miami a side alley not worth pursuing at present . . . Garrison didn't consider the del Valle murder worthy of investigation. It's interesting that the man in the photo was not identified as Manuel Garcia Gonzalez. Tendedera's report would seem to have little credibility. And, here is a JMWAVE document from 1963 that also raises some questions. And, what about the claim that del Valle was a smuggling partner with Santos Trafficante? Here is an excerpt from an FBI report with information from Daniel Vazquez ( who is MM T-3), who had worked with del Valle: Now, to be sure, that is not conclusive that del Valle was not working with Trafficante, but before I conclude that del Valle was his smuggling partner, I'd need some evidence. Here is a letter from the CIA to the Department of Justice that mentions del Valle: Rolando Masferrer was on trial for an attempted invasion of Haiti. As you can see from page 3, del Valle might have been murdered because of a trip he made to Haiti. To sum up - the ONLY source for the del Valle-David Ferrie connection was the article by Tendedera. And, there is no corroborating evidence for its claims. You would think that conspiracy theorists might be a little more circumspect in circulating the del Valle rumors, but there are many books with the allegations. And, of course, Oliver Stone couldn't help but put Eladio del Valle into three scenes in his film JFK. The first scene is with Jim Garrison and David Ferrie in a hotel room: Garrison: Who are you scared of? Ferrie: Everybody. The Agency, mob, Cubans. Follow the Cubans. Check out Eladio del Valle. He was my paymaster when I flew missions into Cuba. The official screenplay says the source for this scene is Paris Flammonde's book, The Kennedy Conspiracy, page 119. The actual source is page 19 which states "Garrison believes that he was on occasion paid $1,500 per mission by a former Batista man, one Eladio del Valle." Another scene is with Jim Garrison and his chief investigator Lou Ivon: Garrison: I know what you're going through with Ferrie. We'll talk tomorrow. I have to catch a plane to Washington. A lead says he's closely connected to these events . . . but he won't come here. Ivon: I'm onto Ferrie's Cuban paymaster, Eladio del Valle. I need more men. I need to get him in. The next scene is in Ferrie's apartment after his death: Garrison: Ferrie was the only one to express any kind of remorse about the whole thing. I think it got him killed. Susie: More bad news from Miami. Ferrie's friend, Eladio del Valle, was found . . . hacked to death with a machete in his car. He was tortured, shot point-blank in the heart, his skull split open with an ax. Ivon: Ain't that the devil's piss! The source for this scene is Turner & Hinckle's book The Fish is Red [which was subsequently republished as Deadly Secrets] and Paris Flammonde's book The Kennedy Conspiracy - the screenplay admits that "they cite as their source Diego Gonzalez Tendedera, the Miami correspondent for El Tiempo." There's not much left to say. Except that the del Valle story is still being used to bolster claims of conspiracy. Fabian Escalante, a former Cuban intelligence chief, told a conference of assassination researchers in the Bahamas in 1995 that del Valle and Tony Cuesta (one of the founders of Alpha 66) were involved with the JFK assassination. If you want to read more about that conference, click here. Very little was said about del Valle at this conference. At one point. Escalante talks about Tony Cuesta: Escalante was asked about del Valle's murder: But that was enough to impress Dick Rusell. And, finally let's go back full circle to James DiEugenio. In his review of my book, On The Trail of Delusion, he brings up Eladio del Valle: "For example, Litwin does not mention the infamous CIA agent Bernardo DeTorres as an early infiltrator into Garrison’s office. DeTorres was later called as a witness before the HSCA. One reason being that he reportedly had pictures of Dealey Plaza in a safe deposit box. A second being he was in communication with people who talked about the assassination before it occurred. (DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed, Second Edition, pp. 227–28) Further, David Ferrie’s colleague for raids into Cuba—and a suspect in the JFK case—Eladio Del Valle, was found killed, within 24 hours of Ferrie’s death. The report written up for Garrison read, “He was shot in the chest and it appears ‘gangland style’ and his body was left in the vicinity of BERNARDO TORRES’ apartment." (ibid) If those two deaths, along with DeTorres’ infiltration, do not at least suggest attempts to cripple Garrison’s inquiry, then what does?" I have written a previous blog post about DiEugenio's missing evidence. Now, del Valle's death helps to prove an attempt to "cripple Garrison's inquiry." I wonder if Diego Gonzalez Tendedera ever thought that his El Tiempo article would help make Eladio de Valle a legend in the conspiracy world.

One of the most bizarre accusations by conspiracy theorists is Clay Shaw's supposed involvement with the Freeport Sulphur Company. The company had operations in Cuba which were endangered by Fidel Castro's revolution. This story starts in 1957 with an article about their upcoming projects: New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 2, 1957 Unfortunately, Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 and the project was aborted. The story picks up again in 1968. James DiEugenio writes in Destiny Betrayed: (207-208) "First, with Castro taking over their operations in Cuba, Freeport was attempting to investigate bringing in nickel ore from Cuba through Canada, which still had trade relations with Cuba. The ore would then be refined in Louisiana, either at a plant already in New Orleans or at another plant in Braithwaite. Shaw, an impresario of international trade, was on this exploratory team for Freeport. And he and two other men had been flown to Canada by Ferrie as part of this effort." DiEugenio's source is a Garrison memorandum that mentions an interview with Ken Elliott - a local radio personality who had taken a personal interest in the Garrison investigation. Here is that memo: Now, I have to say that this is not really evidence - it's just somebody saying something. It's interesting that Elliott did not want to come forward unless served - and Garrison did not subpoena him. By the way, Elliott also spoke to Shaw's investigators a few months earlier in April 1967 and he mentioned the Freeport Sulphur story: So, in April Elliott had no idea how this fit "into the Shaw investigation." By July, he had some sort of idea - might Russo have been putting words in his mouth? DiEugenio then claims additional supporting evidence: (page 208) "More evidence of this connection through Freeport was found during their investigation of Guy Banister. Banister apparently knew about another flight taken by Shaw with an official of Freeport, likely Charles Wight, to Cuba. Again the pilot was David Ferrie." His source is another Garrison memo from October 1968. Here is that memo: Sciambra refers to an interview with a Mr. James J. Plaine who told him that Mr. White of Freeport Sulphur was interested in the assassination of Fidel Castro. He also believed that Shaw was familiar and that he may have seen him in Houston. His identification is extremely fuzzy. We'll come back to Mr. Plaine in a minute. But the Garrison office is sitting on a memo in the Guy Banister file that is even more explosive - it contains information that a Freeport Sulphur manager, Dick White, flew to Cuba with Clay Shaw, with David Ferrie in the pilot's seat. Here is that memo: Now, Shaw was part of a plan to purchase the plant and get ore through Canada. Once again, there is no evidence here at all. Note that Clay Shaw hated to fly, and so the thought that he would get into a small plane and fly to Cuba is far-fetched. Shaw actually took the train to San Francisco for his speaking engagement in November 1963. So, who is this Mr. Plaine? Well, on October 1, 1968, Sciambra wrote a memo about his interview with Plaine in Houston. Here is the memo: The notations at the bottom read: "Plaine also said that he felt sure that Ruby + Oswald knew each other. He said he just knew." "Moo asked me to check this further, esp. with White, but I thought he should. I believes he found the White at the Gretna bank is the wrong White." This whole memo is insane. It is unclear how they got in touch with Mr. Plaine, but I would guess that he called Garrison's office. It all sounds preposterous - fighting with Castro, taking part in the Bay of Pigs, and then being involved in assassinating Castro. As for identifying Clay Shaw, he does say that "his face is familiar" but "cannot be sure." And, he was "very vague" about the identities of people who came from New Orleans to attend his meetings. Wow, he even gave the CIA information about missile sites. Plaine claimed that David Ferrie "attended a couple of dozen meetings at his house and FERRIE gave him the impression that he was interested in only the money." That's a lot of meetings, no? And, who can believe his claim that he received a Fair Play for Cuba leaflet with an attached note from "Lee"? And then two young men came to see him and asked about the leaflet and the note. "He said the two men asked about rifles and scopes and elevation and other things pertaining to an assassination." And, not surprisingly, "he said he would stake his life that one of the young men was LEE OSWALD and the other man looked a lot like him." Of course Sciambra, well, he just had to ask about Kerry Thornley - because as we know Thornley was the second Oswald. I would have been nervous if I was Sciambra because Plaine told him "he kept a loaded automatic pistol in his apartment. As I was talking to him, he pointed to the pistol and said he kept it loaded at all times." Plaine also claimed that after the assassination, the FBI searched his apartment for rifles. I would have closed the entire file after that interview, but Sciambra called him back on October 23, 1968: Now, Plaine remembers "either Shaw or Ferrie talking about some nickel mines." That is the first time he brings up David Ferrie (unless he was the source of the undated memo up above). But Sciambra then mentions Jules Ricco Kimble - a KKK member who had been questioned twice by the D.A.'s office. The entire Kimble story is told in this blog post. Kimble first told Garrison's office that "he knew about a flight David Ferrie took to Canada. He thought it involved some Minute Men operation." One month later, his story changed, and now Ferrie was flying him and Shaw to Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Toranado, Canada; and then Montreal, Canada. (I have never heard of Toranado, Canada). Kimble is simply not believable. So, did Garrison's investigators ever talk to Mr. Wight of Freeport Sulphur? The answer is YES, and here is lead #86 from a long Garrison memo dated November 14, 1967 regarding outstanding leads: I love the last two lines - "We have interviewed Dick White, and he denies having any knowledge of or connection with the matter. However, inasmuch as in this case everybody denies everything, this lead should be checked out completely." So, they actually had the denial from White before Sciambra was sent off to Houston to interview Plaine. By the way, the first juror selected for the Clay Shaw trial was an employee of Freeport Sulphur. There were no objections from the prosecution: New Orleans States-Item, January 21, 1969 If they really thought Shaw was an investor in Freeport Sulphur, they would have used one of their challenges to make sure Mason did not sit on the jury. The lead just languished until after the Shaw trial when it was once again listed in a new Shaw leads memo dated March 20, 1969: This memo is contradicted by the earlier memo in which they indicated they had spoken to Wight. Not much was done with this lead at this point. But, the lead resurfaced in a Garrison leads memo to the HSCA dated September 12, 1977: It appears to me that there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations made by James DiEugenio. The one person who actually did some research on this was Don Carpenter for his book, Man of a Million Fragments: (page 423) "The Freeport Sulphur story, which has been freely circulating over the years by conspiracy theorists, has an element of truth in it, as there had been plans for such a manufacturing facility back in the 1950s, as discussed earlier. However, Shaw had no part in it, and the actual facility was never built, probably because of the takeover in Cuba by Fidel Castro's forces. An examination of Shaw's income tax returns and other business records shows no such ownership; Shaw's investments were almost exclusively in local real estate. The anecdote by Plaine, whose credibility has never been established, is usually pyramided into larger stories based upon alleged past foreign shenanigans supposedly engaged in over many decades by Freeport Sulphur, which, whether true or not, have nothing to do with Shaw." As for James Plaine and his credibility, he apparently served two years for passing a bogus check in the 1940s. This whole story was based upon rumors and the testimony of Jules Ricco Kimble. But, the story has actually gotten more conspiratorial over time. Here is an excerpt from James DiEugenio's latest book, The JFK Assassination: "One of the most interesting group of ARRB released files were those on Freeport Sulphur...Based on these files, Lisa Pease did an absolutely scintillating two-part essay in Probe. It revealed the fact that Banister knew about a business venture which involved shipping nickel ore from Cuba to a Canadian front company. Ferrie flew an official of Freeport along with Shaw on an exploratory trip to organize the venture. Garrison had not just a file on this but at least two witnesses. Gaeton Fonzi was also interested in this interesting angle, and he actually connected the enterprise to David Phillips." DiEugenio's sources are from William Davy's book, Let Justice Be Done. His sources are Plaine and Kimble. Here is how he brings David Phillips into it: (page 87) "However, after Castro gained power, Cuban nationalization forced the closure of Moa Bay Mining. During its tenure in Cuba, Moa Bay had offices in downtown Havana. Former Alpha 66 leader, Antonio Veciana recalled receiving his CIA training in an office in Havana associated with a mining company. Recall that Veciana worked closely with his CIA officer, "Maurice Bishop," an alias believed to be used by David Atlee Phillips." Impressive evidence, no? Update: Ken Elliott died in November 1969. Here is a notice in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: His son has a tribute here.

Hat Tip: The leg work for this story belongs to David Reitzes and Stephen Roy (under the name David Blackburst). This story starts with the FBI interview of Layton Martens, which is contained in Warren Commission Document 75: Martens tells the FBI that "Gill stated he had gotten word that Lee Oswald, when he was picked up, had been carrying a library card with David Ferrie's name on it..." The FBI then spoke to Gill: Gill contacted Hardy Davis who "then informed him that he had learned through hearsay when Oswald was arrested by the Police Department in Dallas, Texas, he had in his possession a library card of DAVID W. FERRIE. DAVIS also informed him that his source of information, Jack Martin..." The FBI also talked to Hardy Davis: Davis confirmed that the library card story originated with Jack Martin. And then the FBI talked with Jack Martin: Martin confirms he talked to Hardy Davis about Oswald possessing David Ferrie's library card. So, the story started with Martin; he called Hardy Davis; who then called G. Wray Gill; who then told Layten Martens. And, as we know, Jack Martin was incredibly unreliable - and had a grudge against David Ferrie. The FBI then asked David Ferrie about Oswald's library card: Ferrie showed the FBI his library card. After being questioned by the FBI, David Ferrie called Edward Voebel to ask him if he knew anything about Oswald. He told Ferrie about Oswald and CAP (which led to Ferrie calling the FBI back to tell them that Oswald might have been in the same CAP unit). But, Voebel might have told Ferrie something else - and it meshed with the questions about the library card. And in Warren Commission Document 365, Voebel says that Oswald might have attended a party at David Ferrie's apartment. And so Voebel probably told Ferrie that Oswald might have attended a party at Ferrie's apartment. Ferrie threw a lot of parties for the boys in CAP, might Oswald have been at one of them, and might he have taken a library card [don't forget we are talking about the party being in 1955] or other documents? On November 23, 1963, the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a story on Lee Harvey Oswald. The story mentioned the neighbors who lived on either side of the Oswalds - Doris Eames, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Garner. It's quite probably that Ferrie saw this article, and he decided to pay them both a visit to ask them about his library card. Here is a Garrison report of an interview with Doris Eames: Garrison's investigators visited the Eames residence again in 1969 and here one page from that memo: What's interesting is that Mrs. Eames said the visit by Ferrie was on November 26, 1963, well after the article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Mrs. Jesse Garner testified in the Clay Shaw trial for the defense. Here is part of her testimony. Mrs. Garner is not sure which night Ferrie visited - but we know it's impossible he was there on the evening of the assassination, or the next night, because he had driven to Houston. According to Stephen Roy: (unpublished manuscript Perfect Villain) "While it is certainly possible that David Ferrie visited Garner and asked about the library card, her conviction that it was the night of November 22 is problematic. Ferrie's activities from about 4:00 PM through the end of that night are accounted for by his companions, Alvin Roland Beauboeuf and Melvin Stacey Coffey. Neither mentioned any such visit, and Beauboeuf is adamant today that no such visit occurred on November 22. It couldn't have been Saturday, November 23, because Ferrie was in Houston. Ferrie's activities on Sunday, November 24 are also accounted for by Beauboeuf and Coffey up to about midnight, and no such visit occurred. And on Monday night, November 25, Ferrie was in jail. So the earliest it could have occurred would seem to be the evening of Tuesday, November 26." So, given the statement of Mrs. Eames, and the fact that Ferrie probably learned the identities of Garner and Eames from the Times-Picayune, it all fits that he visited them on November 26, 1963. Before we get to the conspiracy books, I want to post what Stephen Roy posted on a bulletin board about this incident: Presuming he was telling the truth about not recalling Oswald, put yourself in Ferrie's mind in November 1963. You just found out that the man who allegedly killed the president was in your CAP unit 8 years ago. Someone is alleging that he had your library card in his possession, but you have no other details. You have just been arrested and questioned by the police, DA, FBI and Secret Service. Your name has been mentioned in the press. Well, he couldn't have my current library card, 'cause it's in my wallet. Could he have one of my old library cards? (All through his 10-plus years with the CAP, Ferrie threw parties to which dozens of kids came, and they brought friends. Alcohol was served.) Before he found out that Martin was the source of the story, he worried that it might be true, that one of his old cards had ended up in Oswald's hands, presumably from the time they served in the CAP. This is what Ferrie told people. I am not endorsing it, but I don't find it silly or implausible at all, given the situation Ferrie found himself in. Conspiracy theorists have had a field day with this story. Let's start with Jim Garrison. Here is what he told Dutch researcher William Oltmans in an interview from 1968. What was Garrison's source? In 1970, Jim Garrison discussed Ferrie's library card in his book A Heritage of Stone: (page 119) "Oswald had a library card on him when arrested, but the card is not available for public examination. We must presume that the Secret Service agents were reasonable men and that that there was something about the card on Oswald which made them think that it belonged to David Ferrie. Otherwise it would be meaningless to place in its investigative report Ferrie's denial that it was his. If, for example, Oswald had a library card on him bearing the name George Washington, it would not be reasonable to state in an investigative report that David Ferrie denied lending his library card to Lee Oswald. It is fair to conclude that the Secret Service knew that a library card bearing Ferrie's name had been found on Oswald at the time of his arrest. Conceivably, the federal investigators believed that Oswald, not being built into one of history's greatest criminals, had crowned his achievements by stealing David Ferrie's library card." While Oswald's library card might not have been in the Warren Commission volumes (they did publish his application for the card), Commission Document #75 lists the books taken out by Oswald using his own card. Oswald's New Orleans Public Library card did exist. Here is a picture of his card: Not surprisingly, the nonsense about the library cards disappeared in Garrison's book On The Trail of the Assassins. James DiEugenio, in his book Destiny Betrayed, writes: "For in the wake of the assassination, Ferrie was doing something that was more than faintly suspicious. In fact it could be noted that, as prosecutors like Vincent Bugliosi like to say, Ferrie was showing "consciousness of guilt." For it appears he was trying to confiscate the evidence that he was ever associated with Oswald. Within the space of five days, he did this at least three times, Oswald's former landlady in New Orleans told several sources, including the HSCA, that Ferrie was her door in search of his library card. He thought he may have loaned it to Oswald and wanted to retrieve it from his room. Even though Oswald had left New Orleans two months previous, Ferrie was looking for it now. But, as William Davy as noted, what is so startling about this testimony is that Ferrie was at her door on the day of the assassination, before he left for Texas." It is true that Mrs. Jesse Garner did tell the HSCA that Ferrie visited her on the evening of the assassination. But when she testified in the Shaw trial, she was less certain of the exact date. And, the HSCA was skeptical of this part of her testimony. DiEugenio also adds "But several researchers did talk to Mrs. Garner afterwards. She said that Ferrie had returned to search for his library card. He thought he had given it to Oswald and wanted to retrieve it from his room." There is no evidence that David Ferrie ever thought that at all - and not surprisingly, there is no footnote for that last sentence. It wasn't consciousness of guilt that drove David Ferrie. It was just the opposite - he was trying to run down rumors that had started with Jack Martin, nothing more, and nothing less. There was nothing for him to "confiscate." Previous Blog Posts of Interest Did David Ferrie Know Lee Harvey Oswald?

Here is another insane memo from Steven Jaffe... Richard Sprague was responsible for a lot of silliness regarding the three tramps: Here is a blog post about Fred Crisman being one of the tramps. Other Crazy Jaffe Memos Was a Hit Ordered Against Jim Garrison? David Ferrie's Roommate Reveals the assassination plot Was JFK Shot From a Sewer?

On March 4, 1967, a Communist-controlled newspaper in Rome, Paese Sera, began a series of articles on Clay Shaw, his board membership on the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC), and the organization's supposed ties to the CIA and right-wing extremists. Paese Sera, March 5, 1967 Here is part of the first article in the series translated into English. This actually comes from the papers of Jim Garrison. The third paragraph is on Louis Bloomfield, and Paese Sera got all the facts wrong. Bloomfield was not a "former American major," he was was a major in the Canadian military during World War II. He was not "presently a banker in Montreal," he was a lawyer in Montreal. And, he was not a shareholder in CMC - he represented some of the shareholders. There is absolutely no evidence that "Bloomfield . . . had participated in the espionage activities of the OSS (now the CIA) during the war." When these allegations, taken from Paese Sera, appeared in March 1967 in Le Devoir, a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Bloomfield wrote the editor demanding an apology. No evidence has ever materialized that linked Bloomfield with the OSS. And yet, you can still find discussions of Bloomfield and the OSS in various conspiracy books. For instance, Jim Garrison mentions this in his book, On The Trail of The Assassins: (page 88) "One of the major stockholders of the Centro was a Major L. M. Bloomfield, a Montreal resident originally of American nationality and a former agent with the Office of Strategic Services, out of which the United States had formed the C.I.A." James DiEugenio writes, in a review of my book On The Trail of Delusion, that : "And although Litwin writes that Bloomfield was not in the OSS, John Kowalski, who has been through the Bloomfield archives, says he did see letters between the legendary World War II Canadian/British intelligence officer William Stephenson and Bloomfield." Here is the letter that Bloomfield sent to William Stephenson: William Stephenson was a Canadian who worked for the British Security Coordination (BSC) during World War II. He is best known by his code-name Intrepid. He lobbied people close to FDR to set up some sort of intelligence operation and was instrumental in the founding of the OSS. Stephenson was a World War II hero. Here is a short bio from the Canadian Encyclopedia. The letter above is hardly proof that Bloomfield was a member of the OSS. In fact, the letter is addressed to Richard Coit, who worked with Stephenson in the BSC. Knowing William Stephenson was an honor, not a crime.

Some conspiracy theorists believe that anything to do with the Rockefellers is nefarious. James DiEugenio, in his review of my books, wrote: "[Maurice] Phillips made two groundbreaking discoveries. First, as already mentioned, about Nagy and the CIA. Secondly by going through the Louis Bloomfield archives in Canada, he found out that corporate lawyer Bloomfield served as a legal representative of the company and was soliciting funds for Permindex. What made that even more fascinating was, in doing so, he was in contact with the wealthiest families in the world at that time e.g. the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. None of this had been previously disclosed." Yes, there are a few letters in the Louis Bloomfield papers that talk about David Rockefeller. Here are the shocking letters: Oh my god! Collaboration between New York and Rome regarding World Trade Centers? How nefarious! Some progress in a meeting. The collaboration between the Rockefellers and Permindex/CMC never panned out. But, now the shocking truth has been revealed. Louis Bloomfield was excited that word was going to get out through the Foreign Commerce Weekly about the CMC in Rome. Other Blog Posts about Permindex Exposed! Louis Bloomfield's Letters to Baron Edmund de Rothschild... Was Permindex Running an Assassination Bureau? Clay Shaw's Permindex File Why Didn't Jim Garrison Go to Montreal? Exclusive - Louis Bloomfield's Secret Correspondence with George H. W. Bush

I love this memo!

We previously blogged about Bill Boxley's investigation in Dallas of people listed in Clay Shaw's address book. He believed he found evidence that linked Clay Shaw to the Gehlen intelligence apparatus. Here's another look at Clay Shaw's address book, this time by Bill Turner, who also wrote for Ramparts Magazine. What on earth do you do with such a memo? For instance, William Spratling was killed in an auto accident - but "Thayer Waldo says he was more liberal than anything." Of course, Turner was looking for arch-conservatives because Garrison was convinced that Shaw was not a liberal. Despite this silly memo, Jim Garrison was able to find something nefarious in Clay Shaw's address book.

on January 25-27, 1971 Judge Herbert Christenberry held a three-day hearing to determine if perjury charges against Clay Shaw should proceed. In an earlier blog post, I went through Perry Russo's testimony at that hearing in which he pleaded the fifth. The day before he testified, Russo stopped by the law offices of Irvin Dymond for a discussion. Here is a memo of their conversation: Some pretty incredible stuff in this memo: - Russo said Shaw was "absolutely not" at the supposed conspiracy meeting at Ferrie's apartment. Perhaps it was Guy Banister. Interestingly, Russo is not ready to admit that the meeting never happened. - Garrison's office wanted to pin other murder charges on Shaw. - Russo says he was upset that Shaw was arrested only on the basis of what Russo's statements. He was led to believe there was other evidence against Shaw. - There was a "terrible scene" when Lt. O'Donnell gave his report on Russo's lie detector test. See our earlier post on this for more details. - Russo said Garrison's office knew how Judge Haggerty would rule on admission of documents. The staff were "completely shocked" when Officer Habighorst's fingerprint card showing that Shaw had admitted his alias was Clay Bertrand was not allowed. (We'll be doing a post on this) On January 29th 1971, Perry Russo went back to visit with Shaw's attorneys for a lengthy interview. He was also interviewed on March 26, 1971, and on April 16, 1971. We will be posting highlights of these transcripts in the near future.