Lamar Waldron: Legacy of Secrecy

[John Simkin]

Lamar Waldron has agreed to discuss his book Legacy of Secrecy on the forum. Please post your questions on this thread.

[William Kelly]

Lamar Waldron has agreed to discuss his book Legacy of Secrecy on the forum. Please post your questions on this thread.

Lamar, Why do you keep harping about a coup in Cuba in December that never happened, and nobody in JFK's cabinet knew about, when the real coup took place in Dallas in November?

Also, do you think the unresolved nature of the John Kennedy assassination is a threat to America's national security today?

Thanks, Bill Kelly

Edited December 13, 2008 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

Chapter One, thanks to Lamar and Rex at Mary Ferrell.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?absPageId=1420694

Edited December 15, 2008 by William Kelly

[Steve Rosen]

Vanity Fair article on Legacy of Secrecy:

Legacy of Mystery by Rob Sheffield, linked at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...1?currentPage=1.

[William Kelly]

Vanity Fair article on Legacy of Secrecy:

Legacy of Mystery by Rob Sheffield, linked at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...1?currentPage=1.

Yea, Ridicule,

That's how Ian Fleming told JFK how to deal with Castro.

BK

[Lamar Waldron]

I look forward to answering questions about "Legacy of Secrecy," which will also let me address any remaining questions about the trade paperback edition of "Ultimate Sacrifice" (which had over 200 updates and additions from the hardback edition, primarily relating to Commander Almeida).

Links to several excerpts of "Legacy," and the first round of supporting documentation, can be found at:

http://www.legacyofsecrecy.com/

and I've also listed them below:

The first portion of "Legacy's" Introduction is available at:

http://buzzflash.com/articles/node/7136

Chapter 1 and the Epilogue of "Legacy," and their endnotes, can be found at:

http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Legacy_of_Secrecy

Keep in mind that these early--and final--chapters often have sweeping summary sentences about matters that are delved into, and extensively documented, in depth in other parts of the book. That's why "Legacy" has more than 2000 endnotes, even more than "Ultimate Sacrifice."

I've also answered some general questions about "Legacy" at:

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/137

Almost all of the files cited in "Legacy" can be found at the National Archives or, much more easily, by searching the website of the Mary Ferrell Foundation.

The first round of key documents has been posted at the following link, which also contains a video overview of "Legacy of Secrecy."

http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Legacy_of_Secrecy

More will be added later, and this first round focuses primarily on JFK. They also illuminate some of the additions to the trade paperback of "Ultimate." Note that the one Marcello confession document currently on that site is the redacted version (missing an entire paragraph) that has been available for several years. "Legacy" quotes many pages from the unredacted FBI files about Marcello's confession.

As you read the excerpts and documents, please keep in mind a major theme of "Legacy," which is how many files are still being withheld, including the "one million CIA records" related to the assassination that OMB Watch found had not yet been released.

I'm sure reading the above excerpts and documentation will raise questions that I'll be happy to answer (short of identifying confidential sources).

[David Andrews]

Vanity Fair article on Legacy of Secrecy:

Legacy of Mystery by Rob Sheffield, linked at http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...1?currentPage=1.

It's sad that two powerful and influential men like JFK and Hoffa - whatever their failings or antitheses - can be removed from public life in this country, while ridicule of persons who care about these events is the best that they can command in the press today, even when their absences call into question the nature of government and society.

That Iraqi shoe-thrower may be the only working reporter this year.

Welcome, Mr. Waldron, and thank you for your book and your input here.

Edited December 22, 2008 by David Andrews

[William Kelly]

Lamar Waldron has agreed to discuss his book Legacy of Secrecy on the forum. Please post your questions on this thread.

Lamar, Why do you keep harping about a coup in Cuba in December that never happened, and nobody in JFK's cabinet knew about, when the real coup took place in Dallas in November?

Also, do you think the unresolved nature of the John Kennedy assassination is a threat to America's national security today?

Thanks, Bill Kelly

After reading both editions of the first book and the excerpts from Mary Ferrell of Secrecy, I'd like to know why you still propose the mob was behind the assassination when G. Robert Blakey's chief mob exerpt (Salerno) said that he didn't believe the mob (Marcello, Giancana, et al) were behind the assassination because the FBI's wired intercepts would have indicated it.

Thanks for contributing to the forum and answering our questions,

Bill Kelly

[Lamar Waldron]

Lamar, Why do you keep harping about a coup in Cuba in December that never happened

After spending several years looking at the evidence behind every theory about JFK's murder, Thom and I eventually started approaching people who had worked closely with John and Robert Kennedy in 1963. They told us about the JFK-Almeida coup plan and how close it was to implementation at the time of JFK's death, indicating that it was central to the secrecy surrounding JFK's assassination. Some of those Kennedy associates pointed to Marcello, Trafficante, and Rosselli--and their associates--as being behind JFK's murder. In the ensuing years, much evidence documentation has emerged, and continues to emerge, to support what those Kennedy associates said.

.... and nobody in JFK's cabinet knew about, when the real coup took place in Dallas in November?

Dean Rusk told me--and confirmed for "Vanity Fair," in their December 1904 issue--that he was told about an active coup plan to overthrow Fidel, but only after JFK's death. As we explained in "Ultimate," and delve into more in "Legacy," there was no way for JFK and Bobby Kennedy to tell officials like Rusk (or McNamara)--who had numerous subordinates, headed massive departments, and were constantly meeting with the press--about Almeida and the coup well in advance, without the whole operation becoming an open secret like the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

As we showed in both "Legacy" and "Ultimate," the Kennedys got the input (and "buy-in") of Rusk, McNamara, and their key subordinates by having much planning done in the summer and fall of 1963 on a "what if" basis, just in case a very high official could be found to lead a coup against Castro. While some planning had gone on prior to Almeida contacting the Kennedys through Harry Williams in May 1963, the coup planning accelerated greatly after that contact.

As to why the JFK-Almeida coup plan is significant, I also refer you to this unedited 11-23-06 e-mail from Peter Dale Scott, after he read the updated trade paperback of "Ultimate," that added the material regarding Commander Juan Almeida:

"When the hard cover edition of Ultimate Sacrifice appeared in 2005, I had too many problems with the book's central thesis to read very much of the book. The new 2006 edition, with much added information about the role of Che Guevara and Cuban Army chief Juan Almeida in Washington's anti-Castro plotting, resolves most of those problems. Above all I now see for the first time how plans leading to a possible U.S. invasion could be both grandiose and tightly held. I also understand for the first time the difference between the two operations known inside the CIA as AMTRUNK and AMWORLD (or, if you prefer, the distinction between the Cubela and the Harry Ruiz Williams coup plans). The book's value and credibility are further enhanced by a twenty-page appendix of important documents pertaining to the latter. Although I will still wish to take issue with the book about particular facts and interpretations, I have no difficulty in declaring that Ultimate Sacrifice must now be taken seriously by all researchers in this field, both for its argument, and for its 73 pages of supporting footnotes."

Also, do you think the unresolved nature of the John Kennedy assassination is a threat to America's national security today?

Sure. "Legacy of Secrecy" was written to show that all the secrecy surrounding JFK's murder had tragic effects in the years and decades that followed, most especially the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

It also impacted Robert Kennedy's murder, Watergate, and its effects continue to harm America today.

[William Kelly]

Thanks Lamar,

But by effecting the national security today, I mean the unresolved nature of JFK's assassination not only allowed MLK and RFK to happend, but still threatens the national security of the USA Today - and will continue to do so until it is resolved.

In the course of my research I've come across some things that support your thesis (re: Jim Brade, John Martino, Angelo Bruno), but then again there's other aspects that implicate the military.

Looking forward to reading Secrets and to your assistance in getting hearings in Congress on the JFK Act and proposed MLK Act this spring.

Bill Kelly

Edited December 22, 2008 by William Kelly

[Charles Drago]

As we showed in both "Legacy" and "Ultimate," the Kennedys got the input (and "buy-in") of Rusk, McNamara, and their key subordinates by having much planning done in the summer and fall of 1963 on a "what if" basis, just in case a very high official could be found to lead a coup against Castro.

Lamar,

I'm pleased to be able to communicate with you again. The last time we spoke was in Dallas some years ago when I offered technical assistance during one of your Lancer presentations. I trust that you and yours are well.

To be blunt, I don't buy your thesis. One of many reasons:

Are you seriously suggesting that the Kennedys approached Rusk, McNamara, et al with a classic, "Excuse me doctor, but I have a friend who can't get it up, what should he do?" ruse?

And that the ruse worked?

Further, would you care to go into detail regarding the manners in which E. Howard Hunt and/or his known surrogates informed and otherwise directed your research for the two volumes under scrutiny?

If you wish, we can continue this on www.deeppoliticsforum.com

Best,

Charles

Edited December 22, 2008 by Charles Drago

[William Kelly]

Lamar,

How do you get Liz Smith to promote your books?

Is she the Dorithy Kilgallon of today?

BK

[William Kelly]

Lamar,

How do you get Liz Smith to promote your books?

Is she the Dorithy Kilgallon of today?

BK

Did I call that, or what?

I should go to Atlantic City. - BK

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01062009/gossi...htm?&page=0

Liz Smith

Posted: 2:27 am

January 6, 2009

'YEAH, I HAD the son of a bitch killed. I'm glad I did. I'm sorry I couldn't have done it myself!"

These were the words of Carlos Marcello, the Mafia godfather of Louisiana and Texas. And he was talking about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Marcello's startling admission is in uncensored FBI files at the National Archives, detailed for the first time in a new encyclopedic book "Legacy of Secrecy." I have been referring to this work off and on for years while the author, Lamar Waldron, completed his investigation into the murders of John and Robert Kennedy and also into the death of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Waldron's 848-page tome was published in November. It caps 20 years of research that began in 1988 when he didn't know that Marcello had confessed to JFK's murder back in 1985. The FBI kept this fact a secret for more than two decades while "conspiracy theorists" ranged all over the place. And . . . the Warren Commission released its fairy-tale version of the death of JFK at the hands of a lone assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

IN 1963, only weeks after JFK was killed, the FBI questioned 14 Marcello mob associates. Yet the godfather's name doesn't even appear in the Warren Report. This secrecy, it seems, was all because of Cuba. (And that info is contained in Waldron's first incredible book, "Ultimate Sacrifice.")

In their massive war against the Mafia, President Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy were never able to convict any members of the Marcello crime family. And Marcello didn't make his admission of guilt until he was serving a long prison sentence as a result of an FBI sting called BRILAB. The FBI also carried on a sting against Marcello with the code name CAMTEX.

The FBI groomed an informant who became Carlos Marcello's cellmate. These tapes have never been released but they reveal the godfather standing in the prison yard, flying into a rage and cussing the Kennedys.

Marcello confessed that he'd also met Lee Harvey Oswald and brought him into the plot via that Louisiana character David Ferrie, a person notably played by actor Joe Pesci in Oliver Stone's conspiracy movie "JFK." Marcello also admitted that it was he who had set up Jack Ruby "in the bar business in Dallas." (As we know, Ruby did his bit for the Marcello plot when he killed Lee Harvey Oswald before he could implicate anyone else.)

There is now massive evidence, compiled by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which concluded in 1979 that Marcello "had the motive, means and opportunity to have the president assassinated."

YOU MAY WONDER why the FBI and CIA withheld information from the committee. By the time of JFK's murder, dozens of Marcello associates had infiltrated a CIA operation code-named AMWORLD, a project started by JFK himself. Writer Waldron revealed this back in 2005. This was the CIA's top-secret plan to cooperate with Cuba's army commander, Juan Almeida, to stage a coup against Fidel Castro on Dec. 1, 1963. That was 10 days after JFK's trip to Dallas. (The CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff even referred to the World War II plot to kill Hitler as their role model for getting rid of Castro. You can see that story told by Tom Cruise in the new movie "Valkyrie.")

AMWORLD files show that these conspirators wanted to shoot Castro while he was riding in an open jeep. Marcello's men used that idea to kill JFK in an open car in Dallas. They then planted phony evidence implicating Castro.

After Dallas, powers that be, confused and disoriented, felt that exposing all they really knew about JFK's assassination might well trigger a third world war, as it was only a year after we had escaped nuclear devastation in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Commander Almeida is still high in command in Cuba although he was under house arrest in the early '90s. Today, he is the No. 3 official in Cuba. Yet shortly after JFK's death, Castro had Che Guevara put under house arrest on suspicion of being the coup leader against him. This triggered a series of events that would eventually lead to the iconic revolutionary leader's death in Bolivia. (You can see that story in the Steven Soderbergh movie "Che." The title role is notably played by actor Benicio Del Toro.)

NOBODY SEEMS ever to have completely solved the Mafia-type hit murders leveled at Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and the popular mob lieutenant Johnny Rosselli. But this indicates to me that these mobsters, who were involved in JFK's plot to get rid of Castro, were rubbed out by Marcello associates simply because they seemed to be helping the Kennedys.

The 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution was Jan. 1. Commander Almeida again seems to escape Castro's revenge and he is believed able even yet to play a role in resolving the impasse between the US and Cuba.

[Charles Drago]

Lamar,

How do you get Liz Smith to promote your books?

Is she the Dorithy Kilgallon of today?

BK

Did I call that, or what?

I should go to Atlantic City. - BK

Let's flip all the cards.

If Smith truly wishes to emulate Kilgallen, she should take off her blindfold and meet the truth.

[William Kelly]

Lamar,

How do you get Liz Smith to promote your books?

Is she the Dorithy Kilgallon of today?

BK

Did I call that, or what?

I should go to Atlantic City. - BK

Let's flip all the cards.

If Smith truly wishes to emulate Kilgallen, she should take off her blindfold and meet the truth.

She makes me think she's more like a Tony Zoppi.

In her promo review of Legacy of Secrecy Liz Smith wrote:

"(The CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff even referred to the World War II plot to kill Hitler as their role model for getting rid of Castro. You can see that story told by Tom Cruise in the new movie 'Valkyrie.')"

There's Valkyrie at Dealey Plaza again.

BK