David Morales - The fresh face of innocence

[James Richards]

For those who are interested, below is David Morales' 1944 yearbook photograph.

James

[Shanet Clark]

James,

Many of our members may be less informed on Morales than on some other suspects. What can you add about him?

John Simkins' SPARTACUS file on David Morales:

"David Sanchez Morales was born in 1925. He spent his early life in Phoenix, Arizona. A Mexican-American, Morales was later to be nicknamed El Indio because of his dark skin and Indian features. As a boy his best friend was Ruben Carbajal. After his mother divorced his father he was virtually adopted by Carbajal's parents.

Morales joined the United States Army in 1946 and after basic training was sent to Germany where he was part of the Allied occupation force. According to Ruben Carbajal, Morales was recruited into army intelligence in 1947. However, officially he was a member of 82nd Airborne of the US Army. It was during this time he began associating with Ted Shackley and William Harvey.

In 1951 became a employee of the Central Intelligence Agency while retaining his army cover. The following year he joined the Directorate for Plans, an organization instructed to conduct covert anti-Communist operations around the world.

In 1953 he returned to the United States and after a spell at the University of Maryland he assumed cover as a State Department employee. Morales became involved in CIA's Black Operations. This involved a policy that was later to become known as Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power). This including a coup d'état that overthrew the Guatemalan government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 after he introduced land reforms and nationalized the United Fruit Company. After the removal of Arbenz he joined the staff of the US embassy in Caracas (1955-58). During this time he became known as the CIA's top assassin in Latin America.

Morales moved to Cuba in 1958 and helped to support the government of Fulgencio Batista. Later Morales worked behind the scenes with people like David Atlee Phillips, Tracy Barnes, William Pawley, Johnny Roselli and John Martino in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.

In November, 1961, William Harvey arranged for Morales to be posted to JM/WAVE, the CIA station in Miami. In May, 1962, Morales was seconded to ZR/RIFLE, the plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Some researchers such as Gaeton Fonzi, Larry Hancock, Noel Twyman, James Richards and John Simkin believe that Morales was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It has been suggested that others involved included James Arthur Lewis, Roy Hargraves, Edwin Collins, Steve Wilson, Gerry P. Hemming, Herminio Diaz Garcia, Tony Cuesta, Eugenio Martinez, Virgilio Gonzalez, Felipe Vidal Santiago and William (Rip) Robertson.

In 1966 Ted Shackley was placed in charge of CIA secret war in Laos. He recruited Morales to take charge at Pakse, a black operations base focused on political paramilitary action within Laos. Pakse was used to launch military operations against the Ho Chi Minh Trial. In 1969 Morales moved to Vietnam where he officially worked as a Community Development Officer for the International Development Agency.

Morales moved to Chile in 1970. He was a member of the team that used $10 million in order to undermine left-wing forces in the country. Morales told friends that he had personally eliminated several political figures. He was also involved in helping Augusto Pinochet overthrow Salvador Allende in September, 1973.

After arriving back in the United States Morales moved to Washington where he became Consultant to the Deputy Director for Operations Counter Insurgency and Special Activities. Larry Hancock believes that during this period he provided advice to right-wing governments in the Condor Coalition (Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina).

According to his friend, Ruben Carbajal, in the spring of 1973, Morales talked about his involvement with the Bay of Pigs operation. He claimed "Kennedy had been responsible for him having to watch all the men he recruited and trained get wiped out". He added: "Well, we took care of that SOB, didn't we?"

David Sanchez Morales retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1975. Three years later he was added to the list of people to be interviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations. He died of a heart-attack on 8th May, 1978."

[end SPARTACUS file]

[James Richards]

For those who collect photographs, here's one of David Morales, bastketball star receiving intructions from the coach.

James

[Shanet Clark]

I often wonder who killed the witnesses, who gave all the karate chops, caused the car "accidents," fired the "self-inflicted" gunshots, etc. Can Morales be linked to any of the suspicious witnesses' deaths?

[Tim Gratz]

Very interesting, informative post, James.

In his 2004 book "The Outfit" Gus Russo says Roselli was sleeping at the Desert Inn in Vegas at 10:30 am Vegas time when he received a call from a producer friend at Columbia Pictures telling him that Kennedy had been shot. Russo names the producer.

So if Russo accurately reports what the producer said, and if the producer was a truth-teller, Rosselli may have helped plan the assassination, but he was not in Dallas.

[Tim Gratz]

It is interesting that Morales died so young of a heart attack, although such things do happen.

As you know, there were many people with possible connections to the assassination (witnesses or potential conspirators) who died of "heart attacks".

Does anyone know of a case in which someone admitted murdering someone whose death had previously been reported as a heart attack, and how the confessor said he did it?

[Tim Gratz]

James wrote:

"Rosselli’s public statements about assassination plots suggest he was trying to hide something. In 1967, he told columnist Jack Anderson a since-discredited story that Castro killed Kennedy. . ."

What Rosselli specifically told Anderson (directly or through Morgan?) was that Castro instigated the assassination, Trafficante organized it and Marcello allowed it to be effected within his territory.

Rosselli's version was, of course, "discredited" by subsequent events, e.g. Trafficante's admission of involvement in the assassination to his attorney (an admission protected by attorney-client privilege during Trafficante's lifetime) and Marcello's admission, while he (Marcello) was hospitalized and sedated, of his own involvement in the assassination.

Edited January 29, 2005 by Tim Gratz

[Steve Thomas]

James,

And convicted felon Robert Russell says he was told by a woman he identified only as “Cindy” that Cindy had driven Rosselli and a sharpshooter from Miami to the famed grassy knoll at the far end of Dealey Plaza on assassination day.

According to Russell, “Cindy” told him the sniper fired two shots at Kennedy’s motorcade from the grassy knoll, handed the rifle to Rosselli, and walked away. Cindy says she then drove Rosselli and the rifle away from the scene.

Wouldn't it be interesting if "Cindy" was the woman Roger Craig described in his WC testimony:

Mr. CRAIG - No; as I reached the railroad yard, I talked to a girl getting her car that--uh--thought they came from the park area on the north side of Elm Street. A few minutes after that--I had taken this girl to one of our criminal investigators---and was talking to some other people.

and in his Clay Shaw trial testimony:

A: After I went through this opening onto the grass, there were several people right in this area here and I checked with them to see if anybody was injured and they were not. At this time I saw a Dallas police officer running towards the picket fence and I followed him and went behind the fence and at this time there was a brown Chevrolet pulling out of the parking lot and I stopped it and took a woman from the car and turned her over to Detective Lumney Lewis who still works for the Sheriff's Department.

Steve Thomas

[John Simkin]

It is interesting that Morales died so young of a heart attack, although such things do happen.

As you know, there were many people with possible connections to the assassination (witnesses or potential conspirators) who died of "heart attacks".

Does anyone know of a case in which someone admitted murdering someone whose death had previously been reported as a heart attack, and how the confessor said he did it?

William Harvey died as a result of complications from heart surgery in June, 1976. Note the date. I have been unable to find out how old he was. However, he was born in Indiana, the son of a small-town lawyer.

Tom Parrott, who was with him in Germany (he also took the notes during the famous State Department meeting when Robert S. McNamara suggested that the CIA should murder Castro). Parrott said that Harvey was "anti-elitist". He disliked and resented the Ivy Leagurers in the CIA.

Harvey did not trust the elite (he was the first one to claim that Kim Philby was a spy but the idea was rejected by his chums, Frank Wisner and Richard Bissell. According to another agent, Carleton Swift: "He (Harvey believed that the elite had a guilty conscience. Guilt was the upper-class pathology. Actually, he was envious as hell. He wanted to be part of the establishment. He knew he wasn't, so he hated it." According to Swift he ruined several people's careers because of their elite background. One can understand why he hated JFK so much. It also might explain why the CIA leaked information against Harvey via Jack Anderson.

[James Richards]

I often wonder who killed the witnesses, who gave all the karate chops, caused the car "accidents," fired the "self-inflicted" gunshots, etc.  Can Morales be linked to any of the suspicious witnesses' deaths?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Shanet,

I seriously doubt that Morales could be directly linked.

In my opinion, some witness intimidation and indeed clean-up was conducted by Bernardo De Torres and his brother Carlos - Eladio Del Valle being one of their victims.

I also think a ghoul by the name of Angel Casas was employed for some dirty work. Let me reiterate that this is just my opinion.

James

[James Richards]

James,

And convicted felon Robert Russell says he was told by a woman he identified only as “Cindy” that Cindy had driven Rosselli and a sharpshooter from Miami to the famed grassy knoll at the far end of Dealey Plaza on assassination day.

According to Russell, “Cindy” told him the sniper fired two shots at Kennedy’s motorcade from the grassy knoll, handed the rifle to Rosselli, and walked away. Cindy says she then drove Rosselli and the rifle away from the scene.

Wouldn't it be interesting if "Cindy" was the woman Roger Craig described in his WC testimony:

Mr. CRAIG - No; as I reached the railroad yard, I talked to a girl getting her car that--uh--thought they came from the park area on the north side of Elm Street. A few minutes after that--I had taken this girl to one of our criminal investigators---and was talking to some other people.

and in his Clay Shaw trial testimony:

A: After I went through this opening onto the grass, there were several people right in this area here and I checked with them to see if anybody was injured and they were not. At this time I saw a Dallas police officer running towards the picket fence and I followed him and went behind the fence and at this time there was a brown Chevrolet pulling out of the parking lot and I stopped it and took a woman from the car and turned her over to Detective Lumney Lewis who still works for the Sheriff's Department.

Steve Thomas

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Steve,

Thanks for that, most interesting.

I have been working on the theory that a shooter was positioned up behind the fence near the triple underpass. This guy was a Marine sharpshooter who Howard Hughes employed as a bodyguard for a short time. This job came via Robert Maheu. I don't have his name but I also believe Roselli was his connection to Dealey Plaza.

This fits with the quote you cited. I can't see Roselli being there but it is interesting none-the-less.

As for Cindy, this might be her below. She came out of the Cuban exile militant ranks with connections to Bernard Barker, Edgardo Buttari Puig and Bernardo De Torres.

Cheers,

James

Edited January 29, 2005 by James Richards

[Shanet Clark]

James

On another subject, if I may...

I just picked up a trophy

(a big brass cup with an ornate wooden handle)

it is marked:

56th Air Commando Wing 1968-1969

NAKHON PHANOM RTAFB (or RTAF6)

OOM

Do you have any information about this group?

Or what this cryptic inscription means?

It really looks "spooky"

(but I drink beer out of it anyway)

Best wishes to you sir,

Shanet

[James Richards]

Shanet,

Nakhon Phanom is an Air Force base in Thailand. I'm not sure what the 56th Air Commando Wing was doing there but most likely it was a staging area for bombing raids into Vietnam.

I would also imagine at the time, that was denied.

James

[Shanet Clark]

Thanks

RTAFB = Royal Thai Air Force Base

I should have caught that....

shanet

[John Simkin]

It is interesting that Morales died so young of a heart attack, although such things do happen.

As you know, there were many people with possible connections to the assassination (witnesses or potential conspirators) who died of "heart attacks".

Does anyone know of a case in which someone admitted murdering someone whose death had previously been reported as a heart attack, and how the confessor said he did it?

According to David Corn (Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades) William Harvey was born in Danville, Indiana, in 1915. That means he was 61 when he died from heart problems.

He might well have died of natural causes. However, his death sure was convenient. He was who might well have told the truth about what had happened. He had been fighting a long time battle with the Ivy League leadership of the CIA. Harvey had obviously been the fall-guy for “Plan B”. If he knew “Plan A” he might well have been tempted to tell Frank Church all about it. (By the way, did you know that David Atlee Phillips provided an evidence statement to Frank Church’s committee?)