David Morales

[Paul Brancato]

6 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

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.

 

Sandy - since the Carousel incident was just a few weeks before the assasination I would suspect Morales wasn't just hanging out. In any case, it suggests a relationship between Ruby and Oswald, and both with Morales. Again, shouldn't we put this together with what we know about Phillips? According to Veciana Phillips and Oswald knew each other. Morales worked with Phillips, and Phillips was running the anti-FPCC CIA operation that Oswald was clearly involved in via his fake FPCC branch in New Orleans and his street theater the DRE. Joannides was the operational officer in charge of the CIA/DRE link, and worked out of CIA Miami station, as did Morales. Phillips was back and forth between Miami and Mexico City during the leadup to the assassination. 

[Chris Newton]

45 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Sandy - since the Carousel incident was just a few weeks before the assasination I would suspect Morales wasn't just hanging out. In any case, it suggests a relationship between Ruby and Oswald, and both with Morales. Again, shouldn't we put this together with what we know about Phillips? According to Veciana Phillips and Oswald knew each other. Morales worked with Phillips, and Phillips was running the anti-FPCC CIA operation that Oswald was clearly involved in via his fake FPCC branch in New Orleans and his street theater the DRE. Joannides was the operational officer in charge of the CIA/DRE link, and worked out of CIA Miami station, as did Morales. Phillips was back and forth between Miami and Mexico City during the leadup to the assassination. 

 

An old theory...

I've long considered that Houston, Texas, could have been key "staging area" / HQ for the plotters. Approximately halfway between Dallas and New Orleans, it provided plentiful private marine and aviation facilities. It had big oil, NASA and the CIA and was a favorite location for smugglers such as Mckeown and the mob. Ruby took frequent trips to visit mobbed up Candy Barr and Oswald indicated that this was his destination before his alleged Mexico trip. We also can add the Ferrie ice skating wackiness and a few weird Oswald sightings such as the one in the bar concerning Oswald stopping for lunch with a couple of pilots. If I remember correctly, DAP also claimed that he had gone to Houston, not Dallas during the months before assassination. I think Veciana also mentions Houston.

[Larry Hancock]

Just for reference, in a later discussion with Dick Russell, McKewon stated that he actually recognized the individual with Oswald and that was one of the things that made him cautious.  He recognized him as someone who had been a Castro supporter and someone he had seen during his time smuggling weapons into Castro's forces prior to the overthrow of Batista.

If true that suggests someone who had been a Castro supporter inside Cuba, who had turned on Castro and come out to the US - and by 1963 was in contact with Oswald fairly deeply.  All of which would match one of the two mysterious exiles reported in contact with Oswald in New Orleans, recruiting him for the operation in the DC area - corroborated by Oswald's letters about moving there - which aborted in September.

 

 

[Sandy Larsen]

8 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

15 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

3. At the Carousel Club.

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

 

Sandy - since the Carousel incident was just a few weeks before the assasination I would suspect Morales wasn't just hanging out.

Paul,

What I meant was that I can see Morales -- at the end of a hard day's work -- saying to Oswald, "let's go get us a beer at Jack's club." It seems unlikely to me that they were down to business during a noisy night club act.

Regardless, there is no way to hypothesize what they were up to that day based on what little we know about the photograph incident at the club.

 

[Paul Brancato]

I see your point Sandy. That night at the Carousel wasn't business. 

So, was LHO part of a conspiracy, or being led into a trap? Or both?

my own surmise is that he was being led to a trap, but thought he was spying, not participating. 

[Paul Brancato]

5 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

Just for reference, in a later discussion with Dick Russell, McKewon stated that he actually recognized the individual with Oswald and that was one of the things that made him cautious.  He recognized him as someone who had been a Castro supporter and someone he had seen during his time smuggling weapons into Castro's forces prior to the overthrow of Batista.

If true that suggests someone who had been a Castro supporter inside Cuba, who had turned on Castro and come out to the US - and by 1963 was in contact with Oswald fairly deeply.  All of which would match one of the two mysterious exiles reported in contact with Oswald in New Orleans, recruiting him for the operation in the DC area - corroborated by Oswald's letters about moving there - which aborted in September.

 

 

Larry - does a name come to mind? I think this is your area of expertise.

[Sandy Larsen]

5 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

Just for reference, in a later discussion with Dick Russell, McKewon stated that he actually recognized the individual with Oswald and that was one of the things that made him cautious.  He recognized him as someone who had been a Castro supporter and someone he had seen during his time smuggling weapons into Castro's forces prior to the overthrow of Batista.

If true that suggests someone who had been a Castro supporter inside Cuba, who had turned on Castro and come out to the US - and by 1963 was in contact with Oswald fairly deeply.  All of which would match one of the two mysterious exiles reported in contact with Oswald in New Orleans, recruiting him for the operation in the DC area - corroborated by Oswald's letters about moving there - which aborted in September.

 

 

That would rule out the person being David Morales, wouldn't it?

 

 

[Larry Hancock]

I don't think a name was given but you should check your copy of SWHT, (2010), if it was its in there - it might have been something like Hernandez, which shows up about as frequently as Smith used to. My recollection was that McKeown did not necessarily even know any true name; he had seen the man during the weapons deals and exchanges and those were done quickly and covertly.  But apparently at the time he did think it was someone he had seen during those dealings and it made him nervous - since he had been arrested, convicted and gotten a lot of visibility over it - given the strange nature of the request (one rifle, commonly available in the open market) he suspected it was some sort of set up.

And yes, to me it would seem to rule out Morales for that incident.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Larry Hancock

[Ron Bulman]

Harvey Wade, Dallas 63, sees Oswald and a Dark Complected Man in the Carousel 3 weeks before the assassination.  Bad joke.  A take off on Harvey and Lee?  Henry Wade's brother or cousin?  Nope.

Billings as a Life editor should be at least a semi legit source.  But he leads back to a Warren Ommission document?

 http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0190a.htm

Well Lordy, this Tennessean does mention a scar over the left eye of this Spanish/Mexican white male...  He also felt compelled enough to contact authorities on 11/24/63, same day Ruby shoots Oswald, that afternoon / evening?  Why did nobody from the WO, FBI, CIA (to our knowledge) ever ask this guy, if your recognized Oswald being shot do you maybe remember seeing the guy who shot him in the Carousel?  

I've wondered about the possibility of Morales as a planner regarding the assassination site, shooters, their placement, coordination etc. for some years now.  But would he have exposed himself to possible public observation?  Mr. Hancock mentioned the possibility of him becoming personally involved in operations in the 50's earlier in this thread.  Some called this the Big Event.  Might he have taken a more forward role in it given animosity over the Bay of Pigs and perceived Communistic weakness.   Food for thought, nothing definitive for me.

BTW, didn't a Dallas lawyer see LHO in the Carousel in November also as well as never interviewed employees?

Edited June 15, 2017 by Ron Bulman

[Larry Hancock]

Let me give the best profile of Morales that I can after all these years of investigating him.  Morales was essentially a military leader by nature, without much personal fear and quite combative, even in his high school years.  He was also highly loyal to those he consider close to him and you had to earn that.  In both ways he was very much like John Roselli or for that matter William Harvey which appears to be why those three - from very different backgrounds - managed to bonded in the anti Castro operations, it became very personal to all of them.

Professionally Morales was picked for the CIA as a paramilitary specialist and trainer, moved out of the Army and rising quickly through the ranks largely due to skill, motivation and management abilities - his performance as a trainer in the Guatemala project got him notice as did his organizational skills and the fact that he could communicate and write well and appears to have been a natural leader - in the form of a military DI or combat leader.  He was never a case officer, a political officer or anything of that sort in the CIA, his trade-craft was military oriented. If you read his memos you will be impressed by his organization, his ability to write and his concise reports - again in the military "good report" mode.  Which of course is why he became first a trainer on the Cuba project, then chief trainer and ops officer at JMWAVE, ultimately a CIA base commander at Pakse in Laos and a military trainer in Vietnam - eventually a consultant in paramilitary and counterinsurgency to the JCS.

This is a really smart man, virtually fearless and someone who was respected for his skills....Phillips called him the best back alley operator (which means dark project) he had ever met (Morales security tradecraft - aside from his drinking which only became a problem in later years - was impeccable, unlike most of the case or political officer types such as Hunt or Phillips who did not have his level of military discipline).   By 1963 Morales was assigned projects, gave orders and ensured that they were followed or somebody was in big trouble - reliable and reportedly very mean if crossed, loyal to a fault if you were good at your job, took orders and impressed him.

Morales was not a spy, not a case officer, not a CIA office type - he was a military leader brought in to train and run operations - at a management level above someone like Robertson or Jenkins because he was smarter and more educated and could be a manager at the level of something just short of a general officer, equivalent rank of Colonel.

  -- for what its worth,  Larry

 

[Paul Brancato]

9 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Harvey Wade, Dallas 63, sees Oswald and a Dark Complected Man in the Carousel 3 weeks before the assassination.  Bad joke.  A take off on Harvey and Lee?  Henry Wade's brother or cousin?  Nope.

Billings as a Life editor should be at least a semi legit source.  But he leads back to a Warren Ommission document?

 http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0190a.htm

Well Lordy, this Tennessean does mention a scar over the left eye of this Spanish/Mexican white male...  He also felt compelled enough to contact authorities on 11/24/63, same day Ruby shoots Oswald, that afternoon / evening?  Why did nobody from the WO, FBI, CIA (to our knowledge) ever ask this guy, if your recognized Oswald being shot do you maybe remember seeing the guy who shot him in the Carousel?  

I've wondered about the possibility of Morales as a planner regarding the assassination site, shooters, their placement, coordination etc. for some years now.  But would he have exposed himself to possible public observation?  Mr. Hancock mentioned the possibility of him becoming personally involved in operations in the 50's earlier in this thread.  Some called this the Big Event.  Might he have taken a more forward role in it given animosity over the Bay of Pigs and perceived Communistic weakness.   Food for thought, nothing definitive for me.

BTW, didn't a Dallas lawyer see LHO in the Carousel in November also as well as never interviewed employees?

Ron - glad you followed that story beginning with Billings notes on what Garrison was doing. Because, as you point out, Billings doesn't mention the scar, but Wade did. 

Larry - thanks for that description of Morales. He later bragged about getting JFK. Question for you Larry - any links between Morales and QJWIN? 

[Larry Hancock]

Actually there might be Paul, since it appears to me that QJWIN was a crypt used in conjunction with more than one individual used by Harvey in a variety of operations - initially created to cover recruiting of overseas criminal assets for his Staff D activities but later expanded for a cover to use for executive action.  Others are still working this all out but it appears to me that the last person in that category was John Roselli; we can connect that to the expense reports relating to Harvey's trip to Miami ostensibly to close out that project - with Roselli being the individual in question who was essentially being taken off a Castro assassination project that had continued into 1963...we also have the sign off from Helms continuing that project post-Mongoose.   Given that Morales supported Harvey and the Castro assassination team from an operations and logistics support standpoint - as did Robertson apparently - then that could be a connection.  However there would be no connection to the initial individuals most frequently discussed in terms of QjWIN and overseas (Europe/Africa) operations.

[David Andrews]

he was very much like John Roselli

Larry, I'd love to read your capsule portrait of "Colonel" Roselli.  Most Roselli accounts have a hard time separating him from run-of-the-mill wiseguys and from the flash of his Vegas-Hollywood years.  What made this guy special to the CIA and military?

Edited June 15, 2017 by David Andrews

[Larry Hancock]

I'll give that a shot later today, I'm afraid that is a very limited view of a man who sold his services to several major mob investment groups and godfathers as a strategic consultant - and they believed it.  If you have SWHT I try to do that in a chapter devoted to him, with a lot of input from my friend John Sanders who personally contacted some of the folks closest to him from both a personal and a business standpoint and consolidated a huge amount of FBI surveillance information on Roselli.  Back to this later...As to that Colonel stuff, about the only reason that would happen would be that Roselli carried that same personal aura of command and control that people like Morales did.  He was used to giving orders and having a lot of very tough street guys follow them, compliance had often gotten other people killed, non compliance ditto.  After a couple of decades of walking that path such folks project it pretty well.

[Larry Hancock]

OK David, its hard to compress a rather lengthy chapter into a few paragraphs but here  you go:

By the time Roselli arrived in Los Angeles he was in transition from street hood to enforcer, moving out of the rackets per se into gambling and running protection for games in LA, most importantly the high dollar off shore gambling ships. At that point he took his first syndicate job, putting a major racetrack gambling wire into operation. That gave put him in touch with a number of east coast mob money guys and brought him to the attention of Meyer Lansky, who became his real behind the scenes mentor.  Lansky was so impressed with Roselli he used him in Cuba to clean up some of the most egregious casino problems which were embarrassing the gambling industry there – Roselli had learned how to get people’s attention without leaving bodies strewn all over the place. For him it was about deals and deal making.

Back in LA, he used his east coast connections to bring big money into investments in the entertainment industry, a good way to launder cash – and he figured out ways to frustrate the movie industry unions while at the same time making money off the industry. The FBI was always frustrated by LA and Roselli; it was a city that used outside money to make more money rather than producing it through typical street crime (at least in his era).

With his entertainment connections, his money connections and his backing by Lansky, Roselli was in a great position to broker deals in gambling and entertainment as Vegas grew, his business card described him as a strategist and he helped folks like Giancana put casinos into Vegas. And he brokered his influence with entertainers and entertainment, Roselli made money off investment deals, and legal sidelines such as casino services. By the time you get to 1960 he had been gone from the street for a very long time, he knew people and he was trusted since he provided services and competed with none of the godfathers or with the syndicate. Was he a mob guy, sure, but a very different type of mob guy.

He was special in terms of the Castro plot because he had worked in Cuba, had connections to the old casino crowd there and also knew folks who still had channels into Cuba via the exile community in Florida – specifically Trafficante.  And up to that point in time he was known as the type of guy who could bring people together and ensure nobody talked. If the CIA was going to use criminal assets to operate inside Cuba, he was a great choice for making the right introductions that was his real attraction. That was really all there was to it, another agreement to make introductions, hook up people and get a deal done – which is really all he did for the CIA if you really dig into it.  It’s just that he did it twice, the second time for William Harvey – who clearly found him as a kindred spirit, Harvey always went full bore into anything he did, a really intense guy, and the same thing could be said for Roselli.  Roselli just dressed a lot better.