A Lie Too Big To Fail by Lisa Pease

[John Kozlowski]

On 3/2/2019 at 9:16 AM, Gene Kelly said:

Ron

Somewhere (can't find it now) I read that Harold Meltzer had an office in and worked out of the Ambassador Hotel at one time. 

You mention this earlier in this post. It's in Lisa's book.

[Gene Kelly]

John

I thought that was where I read it, but when I went back I couldn't find reference to it.   This makes sense, since the Ambassador was a hangout for the iconic mobster Mickey Cohen in the late 1940's and 1950's, who infamously ran a gambling operation (a high-stakes crap game) in the hotel. The Ambassador was owned by Myer Schine, an associate of Cohen, who also owned the Gulf Stream Hotel on Miami Beach where Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson spent their annual Christmas holiday ... on the house (see attached picture).  Schine's grandson - James Schine Crown - was President of defense contractor General Dynamics. His legal counsel was none other than Albert E. Jenner, a Warren Commission senior attorney who led the inquiry into Oswald's background ... and a Nixon-approved minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate impeachment.  Jenner sat on General Dynamics' Board of Directors in 1970 with his billionaire client Henry Crown. 

And of course, Harold 'Happy' Meltzer was Cohen's enforcer and right-hand man. Cohen had succeeded "Bugsy" Siegel as the face of post-war Los Angeles rackets.  The colorful Cohen was Brooklyn-born, a prizefighter, and loved fancy suits ... he had a menswear boutique called "Michael's Exclusive Haberdashery" on the Sunset Strip stocked with suits that only fit him. A 2007 book "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" by Brad Lewis describes Cohen - the West Coast leader of the Jewish Mob for Meyer Lansky - as instrumental in backing Ricard Nixon's early political career (in 1945 and 1950).  Helped by his longtime attorney, Murray Chotiner - who leveraged the mobsters that he had defended in court - a young Richard Nixon was the recipient of fundraisers held by Cohen. Columnist Drew Pearson called the Nixon efforts "one of the most cut-throat campaigns ever seen ... a dirty anti-Semitic, anti-communist smear campaign, using mob money".  Cohen and Meyer Lansky provided support for Israel's Menachem Begin, who had fled Palestine in 1949 and was living in exile in LA. Cohen was convicted of tax evasion (by Attorney General Bobby Kennedy) in 1961 and served a 15-year sentence in Alcatraz before being freed in 1972 ... while in prison, when Nixon defeated Humphrey in 1968, he stated:

"... let's hope he isn't the same guy I knew as a rough hustler ... I never had no idea that this guy could go anywhere" 

Among some the book's revelations are that Cohen:

• made sex tapes of Marilyn Monroe (and other stars) for extortion 
• introduced Monroe to JFK thru Sinatra and Peter Lawford 
• had links to Carlos Marcello, David Ferrie and Jim Braden 
• the Jewish mob had had concerns about JFK's Israeli politics
• was threatened by RFK while naked in a prison shower
• owned the Santa Anita racetrack (a gambling center) where Sirhan worked
• was idolized by Jack Ruby, who dated his girlfriend Candy Barr

Lots of dots to connect here.

Gene

[John Kozlowski]

8 minutes ago, Gene Kelly said:

John

I thought that was where I read it, but when I went back I couldn't find reference to it.   This makes sense, since the Ambassador was a hangout for the iconic mobster Mickey Cohen in the late 1940's and 1950's, who infamously ran a gambling operation (a high-stakes crap game) in the hotel. The Ambassador was owned by Myer Schine, an associate of Cohen, who also owned the Gulf Stream Hotel on Miami Beach where Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson spent their annual Christmas holiday ... on the house (see attached picture).  Schine's grandson - James Schine Crown - was President of defense contractor General Dynamics. His legal counsel was none other than Albert E. Jenner, a Warren Commission senior attorney who led the inquiry into Oswald's background ... and a Nixon-approved minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate impeachment.  Jenner sat on General Dynamics' Board of Directors in 1970 with his billionaire client Henry Crown. 

And of course, Harold 'Happy' Meltzer was Cohen's enforcer and right-hand man. Cohen had succeeded "Bugsy" Siegel as the face of post-war Los Angeles rackets.  The colorful Cohen was Brooklyn-born, a prizefighter, and loved fancy suits ... he had a menswear boutique called "Michael's Exclusive Haberdashery" on the Sunset Strip stocked with suits that only fit him. A 2007 book "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" by Brad Lewis describes Cohen - the West Coast leader of the Jewish Mob for Meyer Lansky - as instrumental in backing Ricard Nixon's early political career (in 1945 and 1950).  Helped by his longtime attorney, Murray Chotiner - who leveraged the mobsters that he had defended in court - a young Richard Nixon was the recipient of fundraisers held by Cohen. Columnist Drew Pearson called the Nixon efforts "one of the most cut-throat campaigns ever seen ... a dirty anti-Semitic, anti-communist smear campaign, using mob money".  Cohen and Meyer Lansky provided support for Israel's Menachem Begin, who had fled Palestine in 1949 and was living in exile in LA. Cohen was convicted of tax evasion (by Attorney General Bobby Kennedy) in 1961 and served a 15-year sentence in Alcatraz before being freed in 1972 ... while in prison, when Nixon defeated Humphrey in 1968, he stated:

 

"... let's hope he isn't the same guy I knew as a rough hustler ... I never had no idea that this guy could go anywhere" 

Among some the book's revelations are that Cohen:

• made sex tapes of Marilyn Monroe (and other stars) for extortion 
• introduced Monroe to JFK thru Sinatra and Peter Lawford 
• had links to Carlos Marcello, David Ferrie and Jim Braden 
• the Jewish mob had had concerns about JFK's Israeli politics
• was threatened by RFK while naked in a prison shower
• owned the Santa Anita racetrack (a gambling center) where Sirhan worked
• was idolized by Jack Ruby, who dated his girlfriend Candy Barr

Lots of dots to connect here.

Gene

I haven't gotten a chance to finish her book yet I was just repeating what you had said earlier.

I dont think I remember ever reading Ruby idolized Mickey Cohen. I thought he looked up to Lewis McWillie or that's what I've always read in other books. 

 

[Gene Kelly]

Not sure how accurate the comment is about jack Ruby ... but its in "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" by Brad Lewis.  Ruby is under-researched and deserving of a serious study.   

The subjects of Nixon and Maheu surface regularly, when you dig into Bobby Kennedy's murder.  I'm of a mind (and generation) that Richard Nixon burns in a special place in Hell 

[John Kozlowski]

56 minutes ago, Gene Kelly said:

Not sure how accurate the comment is about jack Ruby ... but its in "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" by Brad Lewis.  Ruby is under-researched and deserving of a serious study.   

The subjects of Nixon and Maheu surface regularly, when you dig into Bobby Kennedy's murder.  I'm of a mind (and generation) that Richard Nixon burns in a special place in Hell 

He was indeed a miserable son of a gun if what I've read is true.

[Ron Bulman]

6 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

Not sure how accurate the comment is about jack Ruby ... but its in "Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster" by Brad Lewis.  Ruby is under-researched and deserving of a serious study.   

The subjects of Nixon and Maheu surface regularly, when you dig into Bobby Kennedy's murder.  I'm of a mind (and generation) that Richard Nixon burns in a special place in Hell 

Ruby is well under researched.  Kind of like Sirhan and RFK's death have been previously.   It is not inconceivable he was drugged of hypnotized himself when he killed Oswald.  He was reputedly taking speed capsules that weekend and well before of his own volition.   He was already wired.

[John Kozlowski]

8 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Ruby is well under researched.  Kind of like Sirhan and RFK's death have been previously.   It is not inconceivable he was drugged of hypnotized himself when he killed Oswald.  He was reputedly taking speed capsules that weekend and well before of his own volition.   He was already wired.

I think he was just taking the speed to keep his nerve. He knew it was either him or Oswald. If he didnt do the job they would do him

[James DiEugenio]

Most of these Mob books are so unreliable.

I mean just from that list above, I mean so many people were making tapes of MM that her yard must have been crowded with parked cars and tripods.

Monroe got introduced to JFK through his sister who was married to Lawford. This was in October of 1961 at Lawford's Santa Monica beach house. There were several other guests there for dinner. (Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe, pp. 486-87)

Cohen was part of the Jewish Mafia, via Lansky and Siegel which was not interwoven with the Italian Mafia, of which Marcello and Trafficante were a part of.  I have never seen any link at all between Cohen and Cuba and Castro in any documents.

And My God, everyone knows that Ruby's idol was McWillie, not Cohen.  

You really have to watch yourself in these areas. Its  a morass.

Edited March 4, 2019 by James DiEugenio

[John Kozlowski]

4 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Most of these Mob books are so unreliable.

I mean just from that list above, I mean so many people were making tapes of MM that her yard must have been crowded with parked cars and tripods.

Monroe got introduced to JFK through his sister who was married to Lawford. This was in October of 1961 at Lawford's Santa Monica beach house. There were several other guests there for dinner. (Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe, pp. 486-87)

Cohen was part of the Jewish Mafia, via Lansky and Siegel which was not interwoven with the Italian Mafia, of which Marcello and Trafficante were a part of.  I have never seen any link at all between Cohen and Cuba and Castro in any documents.

And My God, everyone knows that Ruby's idol was McWillie, not Cohen.  

You really have to watch yourself in these areas. Its  a morass.

Thanks Jim. I was sure it was McWillie I never heard Cohen. I was also under the impression JFK knew MM through Lawford. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by John Kozlowski

[Ron Bulman]

14 hours ago, John Kozlowski said:

I think he was just taking the speed to keep his nerve. He knew it was either him or Oswald. If he didnt do the job they would do him

True on the latter part in a sense I think.  He was taking and had been for a while taking the speed because he was addicted, to help him loose weight in conjunction with his workouts at the YMCA.  So he was already wired.  Then he was told by Civello through Campisi or associates first he would see his sister and /or brothers die, before he did if he did not do Oswald.  If he did do the job they would take care of them and him.   Hence his "unpaid" lawyers.  Probably not hypnotized.  But, the Only aspect of this assassination the mob was used in. To correct a screwup.   LHO was supposed to have been killed the first day.  That's why Tippit was hunting him.  But he  got away from him, and them, for a little while.  

Though we digress from Lisa's fine book it leads us back to JFK, as well as MLK and Malcom X.

[John Kozlowski]

33 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

True on the latter part in a sense I think.  He was taking and had been for a while taking the speed because he was addicted, to help him loose weight in conjunction with his workouts at the YMCA.  So he was already wired.  Then he was told by Civello through Campisi or associates first he would see his sister and /or brothers die, before he did if he did not do Oswald.  If he did do the job they would take care of them and him.   Hence his "unpaid" lawyers.  Probably not hypnotized.  But, the Only aspect of this assassination the mob was used in. To correct a screwup.   LHO was supposed to have been killed the first day.  That's why Tippit was hunting him.  But he  got away from him, and them, for a little while.  

Though we digress from Lisa's fine book it leads us back to JFK, as well as MLK and Malcom X.

I agree with everything you said. I never believed the mob had as big a role as some people have said. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by John Kozlowski

[Gene Kelly]

Candy Barr was an exotic dancer whose hardscrabble life became Texas legend as she befriended Jack Ruby, dated a mobster, shot her husband went to prison for drug possession, and starred - unwillingly, she insisted - in a famous stag film.  Abe Weinstein's Colony Club in downtown Dallas, a few blocks from City Hall, was the scene of Miss Barr's nightly triumphs. Outfitted in her trademark Texas costume -- 10-gallon hat and cowboy boots, pasties and "scanty panties" -- and waving cap-gun six-shooters, she gave them a show they wouldn't soon forget. She became a Texas folk hero. A friend of Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby and romantically linked to Las Vegas gangster Mickey Cohen, she had a distinct skill for making front-page news.

When she was arrested after shooting her estranged second husband, Troy Phillips, in 1956, she told newspaper photographers jostling for a good photo, "Make it sexy, boys."  She shot her second of four husbands in the stomach in January 1956 after he came home drunk and threatened her. He said that he deserved it, and a grand jury dismissed charges.  For students of the Kennedy assassination, it is her friendship with Mr. Ruby, a nightclub owner, that is most provocative. They were friends over the years, and seven months before the assassination, he visited Miss Barr after her release from prison and gave her two dachshund puppies (he thought she should breed them). Briefly involved in a turbulent romance with mobster Cohen, she lost her job at El Rancho nightclub in Las Vegas because of her "detrimental effect" on the community's morals. She was replaced by Nelson Eddy.  Back in Texas in 1960, she served three years and 91 days in prison. "I always wanted a brick house of my own, and it looks like I am going to have one."  

In 1957, she was arrested for possession of marijuana in a case that drew wide attention because of Texas's tough new drug laws and questions about the legality of wiretapping by the Dallas police. During her appeal, she made $2,000 a week stripping in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to music specially composed for her. Around this time, she dated Mickey Cohen, an infamous mobster in the West.  Awaiting appeal, Ms. Barr was hired to perform in Las Vegas's El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Los Angeles's Club Largo on Sunset Boulevard, drawing the $2,000 fees. It was during this period that she met and dated Cohen for two months. They publicly said they were engaged, but neither the romance nor the appeal could go on forever. Two years later, Ms. Barr revealed Cohen's other solution to her drug sentence when she was returned to Los Angeles to testify against him in his trial for income tax invasion, in which he was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison.  Ms. Barr testified that although Cohen paid her lawyers $15,000, he also gave her cash and phony identification documents, had her dye her hair, and arranged for her to flee to Mexico. She said she got bored and returned to the United States. After the Texas Supreme Court upheld her conviction, she served three years of a 15-year sentence. She wrote a poetry book in prison and emerged in a somber black outfit, quoting Bible verses.

Jack Ruby came to see her two months before the assassination; so did federal agents after Ruby shot Oswald. She always insisted she knew nothing about any conspiracy involving Ruby.  In 1968, she received a pardon from then-Gov. John Connally. Jack Ruby first long-distance call was to a contact man, Jack Gruber in Hollywood, Mickey Cohen’s associate.  They laid out the reason he was to give for killing him, Ruby was to claim that, “He had become so mentally distraught over this lousy commie shooting the President and the thought of his poor wife and children suffering that he had become temporarily insane.” Ruby would then become a ‘hero’ for having killed this traitor and be back on the street in only a few days.  Strangely, the ‘hero’ bit was the same words Cohen used when he conned Sammy LoCigno into taking the blame for the Jack O’Hara murder. 

Around 1970, Candy largely disappeared from public view, with the notable exception of a nude pictorial feature in Oui Magazine when she was 41.  She was paroled on condition that she live within 36 miles of her small South Texas home town and never work again as a stripper or at an establishment that served alcohol.

 

 

[Micah Mileto]

Are there any publicly available photographs of the "DWTN" bullet?  All I could find is this http://www.sirhansresearcher.com/justiceinterruptedc.pdf but this does not show the base of the bullets, nor a 360-degree view

 

[...] if the panel had been distracted, Sirhan’s neighbor Rose “Lynn” Mangan was fixated. She spent years studying the ballistics evidence in this case. Mangan had befriended Harper, who spurred her curiosity when he told the 1975 panel was a “fix” and that the bullets had been switched.

Mangan carefully traced the chain of possession of the Kennedy neck bullet and the Goldstein bullets. She noted when Noguchi recovered it, he had marked the base with his initials and the last two digits of the autopsy case number, TN31. The marking of TN31 on the bullet appears in both the autopsy report and the Grand Jury transcript of Noguchi’s testimony. But when Mangan looked at the markings Patrick Garland had carefully detailed in his inventory list for the panel, she found the “Kennedy” bullet the panel examined was not from Kennedy at all, as the base was marked “DWTN.”

One of the reasons to believe Wolfer, and not anyone else, switched the bullets was this marking. Wolfer apparently created the photomicrograph using this bullet. It makes sense he would put his initials on it. It doesn’t make sense he wouldn’t have noticed that someone else had put his initials on that bullet.

Similarly, Mangan traced the Goldstein bullet through the LAPD’s records and found the doctor who removed it had marked it with an “X” on the base. Mangan even called the doctor, and heconfirmed to her personally that he had put an “X” on the base of the bullet.³⁵⁰ But the “Goldstein” bullet the panel examined had no marking on its base, so a “6” was added to mark it for the panel’s purposes. It strains credulity that someone was able to successfully turn an “X” into a 6 such that no one noticed. Clearly, both the “Kennedy” and “Goldstein” bullets the panel examined were not the Kennedy and Goldstein bullets originally recovered.

When Mangan first told me the bullets had been switched, I didn’t want to believe it. Such an act was such an incredible cheat, so egregious. So I reviewed the documents in SUS and retraced Mangan’s information to confirm this for myself. Yes, Noguchi had listed his marking of TN31 in the autopsy report. Yes, he had confirmed that marking at the Grand Jury hearing. Yes, the panel’s version of that bullet was marked DWTN, not TN31. Yes, the Goldstein marking of X by the doctor was right there in the SUS files. But the panel’s bullet had a 6 where the X should have been. Mangan was right about the markings at all points. That meant the bullets the panel had investigated were not the bullets they had been purported to be. Someone, most likely Wolfer, had faked the bullets and then took a photo of the fake bullets with a built-in lie.

If we had photographs of the bullet, that would be extra useful to use in arguments.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Micah Mileto

[Andrew Prutsok]

On 3/4/2019 at 1:40 PM, James DiEugenio said:

 

Cohen was part of the Jewish Mafia, via Lansky and Siegel which was not interwoven with the Italian Mafia, of which Marcello and Trafficante were a part of.  I have never seen any link at all between Cohen and Cuba and Castro in any documents.

 

 Lansky and Siegel were childhood/young adult friends and partners of Frank Costello and Charley Luciano. Hard to believe that affiliation did not carry forward in later years.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Andrew Prutsok

[James DiEugenio]

I am aware of that Andrew.

What I am saying is how was Cohen a part of the whole Caribbean aspect?