Did Ruby Own Silver Slipper in Eunice, LA where Rose C.

[Thomas Graves]

In this article, Joan Mellen says Jack Ruby owned the Silver Slipper Lounge in Clinton, Louisiana.

http://www.joanmellen.com/oswald.html

I know that at one time Ruby owned the Silver Spur Club in Dallas, but can find nothing to indicate that he owned the Silver Slipper Lounge in Eunice (not Clinton), Louisiana.

Is Ms. Mellen confusing the two establishments?

IMHO, I think she made two mistakes:

1) The Silver Slipper Lounge (of Rose Cheramie fame) is in Eunice, Louisiana, not Clinton. Eunice is 124 driving miles to the west of Clinton.

2) Jack Ruby did not own the Silver Slipper Lounge in Eunice, Louisiana. He owned the Silver Spur Club in Dallas, Texas. According to the HSCA, the Silver Slipper Lounge in Louisiana was owned by Mac Manual.

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_3067.pdf

--Tommy

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Stephen Roy]

Others will probably disagree with me: You mentioned Arcacha in your topic line. We're basing this identification of Arcacha on an ID made some 3 1/2 years after the fact, by a bartender no longer alive to answer questions, after Arcacha's name and picture were all over the Louisiana and Texas news media. And if true, it would suggest that Arcacha led a double life: a quiet family man selling air conditioners in Texas, but secretly driving late at night around Louisiana, involved with strippers, drugs and worse.

[Thomas Graves]

On 1/30/2012 at 7:29 PM, Stephen Roy said:

Others will probably disagree with me: You mentioned Arcacha in your topic line. We're basing this identification of Arcacha on an ID made some 3 1/2 years after the fact, by a bartender no longer alive to answer questions, after Arcacha's name and picture were all over the Louisiana and Texas news media. And if true, it would suggest that Arcacha led a double life: a quiet family man selling air conditioners in Texas, but secretly driving late at night around Louisiana, involved with strippers, drugs and worse.

Stephen,

Mac Manual said he knew Arcacha Smith and Emilio Santana quite well, as they had been in the Silver Slipper Lounge several times before while transporting prostitutes between Miami and Dallas. If you're right, Stephen, I guess it means that Rose Cheramie and Emilio Santana were with some other drug-smuggling pimp who just happened to resemble Sergio Arcacha Smith.

Cheramie said that the three of them were on their way to Texas get her baby, kill Kennedy, pick up $8,000, and buy eight kilograms of heroin from a man in Houston. (For some strange reason, they were going to smuggle the heroin into Mexico!)

I've also read recently that later on in Oklahoma, Cheramie claimed that they(?) had had plans to sell $2,600 worth of heroin to someone in Oak Cliff.

The following excerpt is from pages 312-314 of Douglas Valentine's interesting book The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs:

"There are two other FBN-related factors to consider in the official cover-up. On 20 November 1963, Rose Cheramie was found on a Louisiana road, dazed and bruised. She was taken to a private hospital where she told a doctor that JFK was going to be killed during his forthcoming visit to Dallas. Later that day, Cheramie was released into the custody of Louisiana State policeman Francis Fruge, and while Fruge was taking her to a state hospital Cheramie said she'd been traveling from Florida to Dallas with two men who "were Italians or resembled Italians."(39) She didn't know their names, but they'd stopped at a lounge for drinks. An argument ensued, Cheramie was evicted and, as she stood outside the lounge, she was struck a glancing blow by a car. She also repeated to Fruge her claim that president Kennedy was going to be killed. But because she was a prostitute and drug addict, neither Fruge nor the doctor believed her - at least, not until to afternoon of 22 November.

On 27 November, Fruge interviewed Cheramie again, and she expounded on her story, She said the Italians were taking her to Dallas to obtain $8,000, so they could buy eight kilograms of heroin from a seaman. The seaman was to meet them in Houston after disembarking in Galveston. Cheramie gave Fruge the names of the seaman and the ship. As they were on the way to Houston to check out her story, Cheramie told Fruge that she was a stripper at Jack Ruby's nightclub in Dallas, and that she had seen Ruby and Oswald together. She said she was part of a Mafia operation in which call girls were rotated between cities, and that Ruby had sent her to Miami on 18 November.

When contacted by Fruge, the Customs agent in charge of Galveston verified that the seaman was being investigated for drug smuggling. The Coast Guard likewise confirmed that it was interested in the ship named by Cheramie regarding its role in drug smuggling operations. But the state narcotics bureaus in Texas and Oklahoma found Cheramie's story "erroneous in all respects," and when the HSCA asked Customs to produce the agents she had named, and their reports, Customs officials said that neither the agents nor reports could be found.(40)

The HSCA let this promising lead drop without attempting to talk to Customs agents like William Hughes, who vividly recalls "Nutty Nate" Durham as the feckless agent in charge of Galveston in 1963. Nate may have been alive in 1978, but the CIA did not allow Customs to identify him or provide his reports to Congress. The reason for this subterfuge comes as no surprise: some of Nutty Nate's colleagues on the Galveston case were CIA officers operating under Customs cover, as part of a special unit organized in Houston by (FBN officer) Dave Ellis. Members of this group facilitated the activities of anti-Castro drug smuggling terrorist groups in the US, which is why the FBI also "decided to pursue the case no further."(41)

Neither Customs, nor the Coast Guard, nor the FBI, nor any state narcotics bureau revealed the existence of the Galveston drug ring to the FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics). But Fruge did tell congressional investigators that the Cuban Revolutionary Council's delegate in New Orleans, Sergio Arcacha Smith, may have been one of the men who had accompanied and abused Rose Cheramie. Smith's CRC office was located in the same building as Oswald's notional Fair Play for Cuba office at 544 Camp Street in New Orleans, and Guy Bannister, a former FBI agent in Chicago, had gotten Smith his office space. Smith and one of Bannister's employees, David Ferrie, were also believed to have ties with organized crime figure Carlos Marcello."(42)

Here the plot thickens, for Bannister was the FBI agent in charge of Chicago while George White was there as the FBN district supervisor in 1945 and 1949. Bannister moved on to become a deputy chief of police in New Orleans, and then opened a private detective firm that served as a CIA front. A certified right-wing fanatic, Bannister was a member of the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean (funded in part buy Anistasio Somoza), as well as Lousiana coordinator of the racist Minutemen.(43) Working for Bannister was David Ferrie, a pilot who knew Oswald and worked for Carlos Marcello. Ferrie claimed that he drove to Houston to ice skate on the day Kennedy was killed, and to Galveston to go duck hunting two days later when Ruby killed Oswald. This put him on the same path Rose Cheramie intended to follow - a bizarre coincidence that suggests that he was involved in transporting and paying conspirators, including Arcacha Smith, in the Kennedy assassination. Adding to this possibility is the fact that Ferrie's boss, Guy Bannister, assisted Arcacha Smith in his counter-revolutionary activities, as did Carlos Marcello.(44) Bannister brings us to the other FBN-related piece in the JFK puzzle: the French connection."

(note: Valentine next gets into Clay Shaw, Permindex, Centro Mondiale Commerciale, OAS, CIA, $200,000 in a suitcase, Jean Rene Marie Soutre, Narcotics, Narcotics, Narcotics, E.H. Hunt, and General Walker, etc.)

note: google ' "george white" fbn mkultra '

--Tommy

Edited April 27, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Thomas Graves]

On 1/30/2012 at 8:06 PM, Thomas Graves said:

On 1/30/2012 at 7:29 PM, Stephen Roy said:

Others will probably disagree with me: You mentioned Arcacha in your topic line. We're basing this identification of Arcacha on an ID made some 3 1/2 years after the fact, by a bartender no longer alive to answer questions, after Arcacha's name and picture were all over the Louisiana and Texas news media. And if true, it would suggest that Arcacha led a double life: a quiet family man selling air conditioners in Texas, but secretly driving late at night around Louisiana, involved with strippers, drugs and worse.

Stephen,

Mac Manual said he knew Arcacha Smith and Emilio Santana well as they had been in the Silver Slipper Lounge several times before while transporting prostitutes between Miami and Dallas. If you're right, Stephen, I guess it means that Rose Cheramie and Emilio Santana were with some other drug-smuggling pimp who strongly resembled Sergio Arcacha Smith.

Cheramie said that the three of them were on their way to Texas get her baby, kill Kennedy, pick up $8,000, and buy eight kilograms of heroin from a man in Houston. (For some strange reason, they were going to smuggle the heroin into Mexico!)

I've also read recently that later on in Oklahoma, Cheramie claimed that had had plans to sell $2,600 worth of heroin to someone in Oak Cliff.

The following excerpt is from pages 312-314 of Douglas Valentine's interesting book The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs:

There are two other FBN-related factors to consider in the official cover-up. On 20 November 1963, Rose Cheramie was found on a Louisiana road, dazed and bruised. She was taken to a private hospital where she told a doctor tha t JFK was going to be killed during his forthcoming visit to Dallas. Later that day, Cheramie was released into the custody of Louisiana State policeman Francis Fruge, and while Fruge was taking her to a state hospital Cheramie said she'd been traveling from Florida to Dallas with two men who "were Italians or resembled Italians."(39) She didn't know their names, but they'd stopped at a lounge for drinks. An argument ensued, Cheramie was evicted and, as she stood outside the lounge, she was struck a glancing blow by a car. She also repeated to Fruge her claim that president kennedy was going to be killed. But because she was a prostitute and drug addict, neither Fruge nor the doctor believed her - at least, not until to afternoon of 22 November.

On 27 November, Fruge interviewed Cheramie again, and she expounded on her story, She said the Italians were taking her to Dallas to obtain $8,000, so they could buy eight kilograms of heroin from a seaman. The seaman was to meet them in Houston after disembarking in Galveston. Cheramie gave Fruge the names of the seaman and the ship. As they were on the way to Houston to check out her story, Cheramie told Fruge that she was a stripper at jack Ruby's nightclub in Dallas, and that she had seen Ruby and Oswald together. She said she was part of a Mafia operation in which call girls were rotated between cities, and that Ruby had sent her to Miami on 18 November.

When contacted by Fruge, the Customs agent in charge of Galveston verified that the seaman was being investigated for drug smuggling. The Coast Guard likewise confirmed that it was interested in the ship named by Cheramie regarding its role in drug smuggling operations. But the state narcotics bureaus in Texas and Oklahoma found Cheramie's "erroneous in all respects," and when the HSCA asked Customs to produce the agents she had named, and their reports, Customs officials said that neither the agents nor reports could be found.(40)

The HSCA let this promising lead drop without attempting to talk to Customs agents like William Hughes, who vividly recalls "Nutty Nate" Durham as the feckless agent in charge of Galveston in 1963. Nate may have been alive in 1978, but the CIA did not allow Customs to identify him or provide his reports to Congress. The reason for this subterfuge comes as no surprise: some of Nutty Nate's colleagues on the Galveston case were CIA officers operating under Customs cover, as part of a special unit organized in Houston by (FBN officer) Dave Ellis. Members of this group facilitated the activities of anti-Castro drug smuggling terrorist groups in the US, which is why the FBI also "decided to pursue the case no further."(41)

Neither Customs, nor the Coast Guard, not the FBI, nor any state narcotics bureau revealed the existence of the Galveston drug ring to the FBN (Federal Bureau of narcotics). But Fruge did tell congressional investigators that the Cuban Revolutionary Council's delagate in New Orleans, Sergio Arcacha Smith, may have been one of the men who had accompanied and abused Rose Cheramie. Smith's CRC office was located in the same building as oswald's notional Fair Play for Cuba office at 544 Camp Street in new orleans, and Guy Bannister, a former FBI agent in Chicago, had gotten Smith his office space. Smith and one of Bannister's employees, David Ferrie, 'were also believed to have ties with organized crime figure Carlos Marcello."(42)

Here the plot thickens, for Bannister was the FBI agent in charge of Chicago while George White was there as the FBN district supervisor in 1945 and 1949. Bannister moved on to become a deputy chief of police in New Orleans, and then opened a private detective firm that served as a CIA front. A certified right-wing fanatic, Bannister was a member of the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean (funded in part buy Anistasio Somoza), as well as Lousiana coordinator of the racist Minutemen.(43) Working for Bannister was David Ferrie, a pilot who knew Oswald and worked for Carlos Marcello. Ferrie claimed that he drove to Houston to ice skate on the day Kennedy was killed, and to Galveston to go duck hunting two days later when Ruby killed Oswald. This put him on the same path Rose Cheramie intended to follow - a bizarre coincidence that suggests that he was involved in transporting and paying conspirators, including Arcacha Smith, in the Kennedy assassination. Adding to this possibility is the fact that Ferrie's boss, Guy Bannister, assisted Arcacha Smith in his counter-revolutionary activities, as did Carlos Marcello.(44)  Bannister brings us to the other FBN-related piece in the JFK puzzle: the French connection.

(note: Valentine next gets into Clay Shaw, Permindex, Centro Mondiale Commerciale, OAS, CIA, $200,000 in a suitcase, Jean Rene Marie Soutre, narcotics, E.H. Hunt, General Walker, etc.)

(note: google "george white" fbn mkultra)

--Tommy

recently expanded

Edited April 27, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Stephen Roy]

The following excerpt is from pages 312-314 of Douglas Valentine's great book The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs:

Neither Customs, nor the Coast Guard, not the FBI, nor any state narcotics bureau revealed the existence of the Galveston drug ring to the FBN (Federal Bureau of narcotics). But Fruge did tell congressional investigators that the Cuban Revolutionary Council's delagate in New Orleans, Sergio Arcacha Smith, may have been one of the men who had accompanied and abused Rose Cheramie. Smith's CRC office was located in the same building as oswald's notional Fair Play for Cuba office at 544 Camp Street in new orleans, and Guy Bannister, a former FBI agent in Chicago, had gotten Smith his office space. Smith and one of Bannister's employees, David Ferrie, 'were also believed to have ties with organized crime figure Carlos Marcello."(42)

Here the plot thickens, for Bannister was the FBI agent in charge of Chicago while George White was there as the FBN district supervisor in 1945 and 1949. Bannister moved on to become a deputy chief of police in New Orleans, and then opened a private detective firm that served as a CIA front. A certified right-wing fanatic, Bannister was a member of the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean (funded in part buy Anistasio Somoza), as well as Lousiana coordinator of the racist Minutemen.(43) Working for Bannister was David Ferrie, a pilot who knew Oswald and worked for Carlos Marcello. Ferrie claimed that he drove to Houston to ice skate on the day Kennedy was killed, and to Galveston to go duck hunting two days later when Ruby killed Oswald. This put him on the same path Rose Cheramie intended to follow - a bizarre coincidence that suggests that he was involved in transporting and paying conspirators, including Arcacha Smith, in the Kennedy assassination. Adding to this possibility is the fact that Ferrie's boss, Guy Bannister, assisted Arcacha Smith in his counter-revolutionary activities, as did Carlos Marcello.(44)

Bannister brings us to the other FBN-related piece in the JFK puzzle: the French connection.[/color]

(note: Valentine next gets into Clay Shaw, Permindex, Centro Mondiale Commerciale, OAS, CIA, $200,000 in a suitcase, Jean Rene Marie Soutre, narcotics, E.H. Hunt, General Walker, etc.)

(note: google "george white" fbn mkultra)

--Tommy

There are a few mistakes in that article. I'd be careful about taking it all as gospel.

1) Ferrie was not Banister's employee. (That's Banister with one "n", not two.)

2) To say that Arcacha's office was in the same building as Oswald's is chronologically misleading, by about 18 months.

3) CIA considered using Guy Banister Associates in 1960, but the files say it was not approved.

4) Banister was not SAC in Chicago "in 1945 and 1949." He served as SAC there 1954-5.

5) The evidence does not support Marcello funding Arcacha's group. A fellow named Dalzell told Arcacha that he THOUGHT he might be able to get money from Marcello in exchange for gambling concessions, but he said he never actually approached Marcello.

6) The skating/hunting reason for Ferrie's trip leaves out some more conventional business reasons.

[Thomas Graves]

On 1/30/2012 at 5:26 PM, Thomas Graves said:

In this article, Joan Mellen says Jack Ruby owned the Silver Slipper Lounge in Clinton, Louisiana.

http://www.joanmellen.com/oswald.html

I know that at one time Ruby owned the Silver Spur Club in Dallas , but can find nothing to indicate that he owned the Silver Slipper Lounge in Eunice (not Clinton), Louisiana.

Is Ms. Mellen confusing the two establishments?

IMHO, I think she made two mistakes:

1) The Silver Slipper Lounge (of Rose Cheramie fame) is in Eunice, Louisiana, not Clinton. Eunice is 124 driving miles to the west of Clinton.

2) Jack Ruby did not own the Silver Slipper Lounge in Eunice, Louisiana. He owned the Silver Spur Club in Dallas, Texas. According to the HSCA, the Silver Slipper Lounge in Louisiana was owned by Mac Manual.

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_3067.pdf

Thanks,

--Tommy

bumped

Edited April 27, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Robert Howard]

SS Maturata

st MATURATA built by William Hamilton & Co Port Glasgow,
Yard No 497
Engines by D Rowan & Co LtdLast Name: APAI SAMUT (1971)
Previous Names: 1969: MALDIVE EXPLORER | 1970 LANKA SINHA | 1970: OCEAN TRUST
Port of Registry: Liverpool
Propulsion: 3 Steam turbine sr geared to sc shaft 5750shp, single screw, 15 knots
Launched: Friday, 17/06/1955
Built: 1955
Ship Type: Cargo Vessel
Tonnage: 7365 grt
Length: 472 feet
Breadth: 59 feet
Draught: 21 feet 7
Owner History:
Thos & Jno Brocklebank Liverpool
Status: Scrapped - 14/03/1972

Remarks: Completed: September 1955
Scrapped at Kaohsiung
Photo supplied by Michael Campbell
Previous updates by Paul Strathdee, Colin Campbell

Last updated: by Bruce Biddulph from the original records by Stuart Cameron
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=19895

Robert:

I posted this not to show a photo of the ship, [who cares what it looked like?] but the accompanying

information and the mention of Liverpool, one of the elusive questions about this episode could be argued that the port the ship had been docked in before its arrival in Galveston, could provide some critical information rivaling the identity of the seaman. A copy of the Galveston newspapers for the pertinent dates, might provide some additional information.

[Ken Davies]

Isn't the story that Hoover owned silver slippers, to match his evening wear?

[William Kelly]

A Rose By Many Other Names - Rose Cheramie - By Todd Elliott

La. author writes book on JFK Assassination | KATC.com | Acadiana-Lafayette, Louisiana

[Robert Howard]

A Precursor to the SS Maturata after November 22nd 1963.....methinks so...

11/27/1960
Houston Police, Federal Agents Seize Raw Opium
HOUSTON, TX (UPI) Twenty-four pounds of raw opium - one of the largest seizures
in the United States has been impounded by T-men and city police.
A Pakistani seaman Said Ahmad, 40, is in Harris County jail facing federal charges
of illegal possession of the opium. John L. Kelly, agent-in-charge here, of the Federal Narcotics
Bureau here, announced the seizure and arrest here.
Ahmad, a helmsman on the M. V. Elmbank, is being held on $10,000 bond, set by
U. S. Commissioner Ralph Fowler, Saturday.
The arrest was the climax of a one year investigation of opium traffic in the Houston area
Kelly said. Federal narcotics and customs agents and the Houston police narcotics squadron
cooperated in the case. Ahmad was arrested as he sought to board a bus for Beaumont.

[Thomas Graves]

On 1/31/2012 at 4:53 PM, Stephen Roy said:

There are a few mistakes in that article. I'd be careful about taking it all as gospel.

1) Ferrie was not Banister's employee. (That's Banister with one "n", not two.)

2) To say that Arcacha's office was in the same building as Oswald's is chronologically misleading, by about 18 months.

3) CIA considered using Guy Banister Associates in 1960, but the files say it was not approved.

4) Banister was not SAC in Chicago "in 1945 and 1949." He served as SAC there 1954-5.

5) The evidence does not support Marcello's funding of Arcacha's group. A fellow named Dalzell told Arcacha that he THOUGHT he might be able to get money from Marcello in exchange for gambling concessions, but he said he never actually approached Marcello.

6) The skating/hunting reason for Ferrie's trip leaves out some more conventional business reasons.

bumped

Edited April 4, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Thomas Graves]

On 1/31/2012 at 4:53 PM, Stephen Roy said:

There are a few mistakes in that article. I'd be careful about taking it all as gospel.

1) Ferrie was not Banister's employee. (That's Banister with one "n", not two.)

2) To say that Arcacha's office was in the same building as Oswald's is chronologically misleading, by about 18 months.

3) CIA considered using Guy Banister Associates in 1960, but the files say it was not approved.

4) Banister was not SAC in Chicago "in 1945 and 1949." He served as SAC there 1954-5.

5) The evidence does not support Marcello funding Arcacha's group. A fellow named Dalzell told Arcacha that he THOUGHT he might be able to get money from Marcello in exchange for gambling concessions, but he said he never actually approached Marcello.

6) The skating/hunting reason for Ferrie's trip leaves out some more conventional business reasons.

Thanks, Stephen (R.I.P.).

Excellent post.  Thanks for pointing out some of the mistakes Douglas Valentine made in his book The Strength of the Wolf.

Ferrie's old buddy, Alvin Beaubouef, called me from out of the blue one day to tell me the rain and lightening storm they drove through on the way to Houston wasn't as severe as many researchers have claimed it was over the years (and as it was immortalized in Oliver Stone's film, JFK), and that because he was an excellent figure skater as a young man, he and Ferrie were considering opening an ice skating rink in New Orleans.

--  Tommy

Edited April 27, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Thomas Graves]

9 hours ago, Thomas Graves said:

Thanks, Stephen (R.I.P.).

Excellent post.  Thanks for pointing out some of the mistakes Douglas Valentine made in his book The Strength of the Wolf.

Ferrie's old buddy, Alvin Beaubouef, called me from out of the blue one day to tell me the rain and lightening storm they drove through on the way to Houston wasn't as severe as many researchers have claimed it was over the years (and as it was immortalized in Oliver Stone's film, JFK), and that because he was an excellent figure skater as a young man, he and Ferrie were considering opening an ice skating rink in New Orleans.

--  Tommy

Bumped for Cliff Varnell

[Thomas Graves]

On 4/27/2017 at 10:36 AM, Thomas Graves said:

On 1/31/2012 Steven Roy (R.I.P.) wrote:

 

There are a few mistakes in that article. I'd be careful about taking it all as gospel.

1) Ferrie was not Banister's employee. (That's Banister with one "n", not two.)

2) To say that Arcacha's office was in the same building as Oswald's is chronologically misleading, by about 18 months.

3) CIA considered using Guy Banister Associates in 1960, but the files say it was not approved.

4) Banister was not SAC in Chicago "in 1945 and 1949." He served as SAC there 1954-5.

5) The evidence does not support Marcello funding Arcacha's group. A fellow named Dalzell told Arcacha that he THOUGHT he might be able to get money from Marcello in exchange for gambling concessions, but he said he never actually approached Marcello.

6) The skating/hunting reason for Ferrie's trip leaves out some more conventional business reasons.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My reply:

 

Thanks, Stephen,

Excellent post. Thanks for pointing out some of the mistakes Douglas Valentine made in his book The Strength of the Wolf.

Ferrie's old buddy, Alvin Beaubouef, called me from out of the blue one day to correct me about something I'd posted on the Forum.

He told me that the rain and lightening storm they drove through on the way to Houston that night wasn't nearly as severe as many researchers have claimed it was over the years (and as it was immortalized in Oliver Stone's film, JFK).

I asked him why they went to Houston, and he said that since he was an excellent figure skater as a young man, he and Ferrie were considering opening an ice skating rink in New Orleans.

He said they wanted to check out the nearest ice skating rink to New Orleans, and that it happened to be the one they went to in Houston.

--  Tommy

 

edited and bumped

Edited March 18, 2018 by Thomas Graves