David Morales

[Thomas Graves]

On 3/26/2017 at 7:56 PM, Sandy Larsen said:

My highlights in red:

 

Tommy

I think it's clear from the context of Billings' notes that they were using the word "Spanish" instead of Hispanic. The term Hispanic wasn't widely used in America until it was adopted by the U.S. government in 1970. I suspect that "Spanish" was often used before the term "Hispanic" became widely known.

I, like you, have also heard people use Spanish instead of Hispanic.

BTW, do you have any idea why they referred to the guy as shepherd?

 

Sandy,

Have you seen this?

http://www.jfk-online.com/billings1.html

You might want to press "ctrl" & "F" on each page and then typing the word "spanish" or "mexican" or "hispanic" (lol) or something like that in the little drop-down "search box" in the upper right-hand corner.

--  Tommy

Edited March 28, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Sandy Larsen]

23 hours ago, Thomas Graves said:

Sandy,

Have you seen this?

http://www.jfk-online.com/billings1.html

You might want to press "ctrl" & "F" on each page and then typing the word "spanish" or "mexican" or "hispanic" (lol) or something like that in the little drop-down "search box" in the upper right-hand corner.

--  Tommy

It looks like Billings uses the word "shepherd" the way we use "CIA handler." Or just "handler."

[Sandy Larsen]

On 3/25/2017 at 9:23 AM, Michael Walton said:

Yayy, nice job, Sandy.  I stand corrected.  Balding Guy and Neck Scratcher are two different people! Hurray!

So now - what does it all mean? Balding guy is obviously not Morales. And Scratcher?  You'd think maybe Oswald would shoot him a knowing glance as he walks by him. "Oh, there's Dave.  I'll shoot him a knowing glance, like I'll shoot my executioner Ruby a knowing glance seconds before he murders me."

Nope.  Doesn't even bother. When you run a covert operation, you do NOT send the people who run it into the field, especially one where disruption and possible photography and film cameras are going to be around to record it.

So hurray glad you caught my error.  But I still stand by the crazy thing you mentioned in the other thread, how you said one of the three old gentlemen standing up on the steps as Kennedy gets his brains blown out was holding a black pistol.

And I'll also stand by the other crazy thing you said on still another thread, when you said a guy standing out in the outfield of a MLB ballpark and throwing a ball to home plate has to "aim" the ball the equivalent of 150 feet in the air for it to reach there.

 

Crazy, huh? Check this post out.

(Which is where we should carry on this exchange. If you want to.)

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Sandy Larsen

[Thomas Graves]

On 12/23/2015 at 3:27 PM, Thomas Graves said:

 

Dear Paul,

My next challenge is getting you to read Richard Billings' notes from March 25 - April 20,1967, specifically the parts in which he talks about "Spanish Trace" and "The Shepherd," and also perhaps those from February 11 - March 22, in which he talks about a "shepherd" (with lower case "s") who was "mistaken" for Oswald in the Mexico City CIA photos. FWIW, the "tan station wagon" he refers to is, I believe, the same station wagon that Roger Craig claimed to have seen "Oswald" get into on 11/22/63. Also please note that "Maison Blance" refers to the Maison Blanche Building (q.v.) which itself is on Canal Street and which was, ironically(?) the building in which Dean Andrews had his law office. It was (and still is) only about two blocks away from the 700 block of Canal Street where Oswald and Bringuier (and two other anti-Castro Cubans) were arrested -- and Neck Scratcher was caught in the act of pretending to scratch his neck -- on August 9, 1963.

Please get back to me after you've done that, and we'll continue this conversation...

Oh and by the way, why don't you read the report James Doyle's father gave to the FBI about the events surrounding his son's filming of the Oswald arrest incident. Let me know if I can help you find it.

  --Tommy 

PS In accordance with my generally-unknown Full Disclosure Policy, let me say now that Morales was only 5'10" tall and 190 pounds in weight in 1949, and he listed football, basketball, baseball, boxing, and swimming as sports he participated in.

 

Still 5'10", he was up to 220 pounds in 1961. Much too heavy to have been Neck Scratcher, right? Despite the fact that "muscle weighs more than fat," and, therefore, a man who is that height and weighs 220 and happens to be muscular wouldn't necessarily appear to be fat, would he? 

bumped

Edited April 3, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Mathias Baumann]

Could that be a scar?

[Paul Brancato]

Mathias - Nice closeups.

If anyone is examining Billings' notes, you will also notice the mention of Oswald being seen in the Carousel Club. With a little digging you will see that the building inspector who filed this report also said that Oswald was with a man who had a noticeable scar over his eye. This is why I believe that Graves uncovered something important. Morales appears to have been 'shepherding' Oswald for some purpose. In New Orleans it might have been as part of the Intel operation to smear the FPCC by linking it to a 'Communist'. But when combined with the sighting at the Carousel, in which a photographer who was taking pictures had his camera taken by Ruby who removed the film, it appears that Morales was up to something more sinister. To me this is important, because Morales was no rogue. Rather, he was the top on the ground operational guy at the CIA. And we know he later bragged about getting that s.o.b. or something to that effect. 

[Mathias Baumann]

Thank you Paul for this interesting piece of information. This reminds me of something else I read in the Trail of the Assassins. Jim Garrison claims that one of the men trying to buy trucks at the Bolton Ford dealership was also a Latino with a scar over his left eye. However, other sources say that the Bolton Ford employees were not able to give a detailed description of the two visitors at all... so what's the truth here?

Edited May 26, 2017 by Mathias Baumann

[Paul Brancato]

Mathias -new one for me. Wonder what Thomas Graves will make of it.

[Mathias Baumann]

Paul, I think I've found the answer myself. Look here at Jim Hargroves post about the Bolton Ford incident:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/23677-a-couple-of-real-gems-from-the-harvey-and-lee-website/&page=11

Deslatte could not describe the two visitors, but his colleague Sewell could. This is how he describes the Latino:

"Kind of heavy-set ..... not overly, but well built ..... he was curly haired ..... he had a scar over his left eye ..... olive complexioned and seemed to be educated ..... he had a Cuban accent and looked like a Cuban."

 

I think that description might fit David Morales.

 

[Paul Brancato]

12 hours ago, Mathias Baumann said:

Paul, I think I've found the answer myself. Look here at Jim Hargroves post about the Bolton Ford incident:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/23677-a-couple-of-real-gems-from-the-harvey-and-lee-website/&page=11

Deslatte could not describe the two visitors, but his colleague Sewell could. This is how he describes the Latino:

"Kind of heavy-set ..... not overly, but well built ..... he was curly haired ..... he had a scar over his left eye ..... olive complexioned and seemed to be educated ..... he had a Cuban accent and looked like a Cuban."

 

I think that description might fit David Morales.

 

Mathias - well spotted. It seems like too much of a coincidence that a man with a scar over the left eye appears in the crucial 6 months before Nov. 22 - the man that Mr. Graves spotted in a photograph taken during the Oswald leafleting in N.O., the man at the Bolton Ford dealership where someone was using the name Lee Oswald, and the one seen at the Carousel in the company of Oswald. For me this leads in one direction - David Atlee Phillips. No wonder crucial files on Phillips are still classified. 

[Chris Newton]

On 6/10/2017 at 5:41 PM, Paul Brancato said:

Mathias - well spotted. It seems like too much of a coincidence that a man with a scar over the left eye appears in the crucial 6 months before Nov. 22 - the man that Mr. Graves spotted in a photograph taken during the Oswald leafleting in N.O., the man at the Bolton Ford dealership where someone was using the name Lee Oswald, and the one seen at the Carousel in the company of Oswald. For me this leads in one direction - David Atlee Phillips. No wonder crucial files on Phillips are still classified. 

Don't forget the man who showed up at McKeown's, with Oswald looking to buy guns. A Heavy set, well dressed, Hispanic male. Of course this was after Ruby had documented and verifiable contact with McKeown. What are the odds?

[Paul Brancato]

And he probably had a scar over his left eye. 

[Sandy Larsen]

14 hours ago, Chris Newton said:

On 6/10/2017 at 6:41 PM, Paul Brancato said:

Mathias - well spotted. It seems like too much of a coincidence that a man with a scar over the left eye appears in the crucial 6 months before Nov. 22 - the man that Mr. Graves spotted in a photograph taken [1] during the Oswald leafleting in N.O., [2] the man at the Bolton Ford dealership where someone was using the name Lee Oswald, and the one seen [3] at the Carousel in the company of Oswald. For me this leads in one direction - David Atlee Phillips. No wonder crucial files on Phillips are still classified. 

Don't forget the man who [4] showed up at McKeown's, with Oswald looking to buy guns. A Heavy set, well dressed, Hispanic male. Of course this was after Ruby had documented and verifiable contact with McKeown. What are the odds?

 

4 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

And he probably had a scar over his left eye. 

Brilliant.

Wish Tommy were here.

 

[Sandy Larsen]

But there has to be a reason for each incident of Morales being with Oswald. My guesses:

1. Oswald leafleting.

Morales is taking photos of Oswald, helping to establish him as pro-Castro.

2. Buying trucks for Friends of Democratic Cuba (FDC).

This was in 1961, so presumably this event was unrelated to the assassination. In addition, the FDC was anti-Castro, and so this wouldn't have served to paint Oswald as pro-Cuba. Therefore it seems that this event served a completely unrelated function.

3. At the Carousel Club.

Just hanging out? Yeah, I can see that with Morales.

4. Buying guns at McKeown's. (Morales's description does not include the scar.)

To create the illusion that Castro is supplying guns to Oswald, for the assassination.

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Sandy Larsen

[Mathias Baumann]

I'm not yet 100 % sure about the scar, because I didn't find in any other photographs. Maybe what I found is really just a shadow of some kind. I think the only argument for it being a facial feature is that it appears to be in in about the same place in both photographs, although they were taken from different angles (and most probably at different times). We should never forget that all the photos on the Internet are digital and nowhere close to the quality of a "real" photograph.