Harry Dean: Memoirs

[Paul Trejo]

<snip>

I think the argument that the JFK conspiracy could not have been large because it would have fallen apart, or because the planners would have known it was dangerous to their longevity to involve too many people and therefore would have kept it small, may in this case be wrong...

We cannot know for sure how many large conspiracies go uncovered. We only know the ones that break down.

<snip>

Well, Paul B., since there is a lull in the action here, I can return to this earlier point of yours. I'm inclined to agree with your hypothesis that a large-scale conspiracy could possibly work without being discovered (for 50 years or so).

There is an old saying that Jim Garrison liked to quote from 16th century British writer John Harrington: "Treason never prospers -- why? Because if it prospers none dare call it treason." The same might be said about conspiracy -- if it is successful, then none dare call it conspiracy. However, this is the USA, and free speech will eventually win the day.

Also, I agree with you that -- given the postulate of a JFK assassination conspiracy in Dallas -- the preparation for the conspiracy had to be enormous.

Fletcher Prouty always impressed me with his observations ever since the movie, JFK, was released, where he was portrayed as "Mister X." I don't accept everything that he claimed, but most of what he says is undeniable, IMHO. I couldn't sleep that night after seeing, JFK, because of one statement by Prouty (Mister X), namely, that he was working for the Pentagon, and he should have been assigned to JFK's protection in Dallas, but instead his superior sent him to the South Pole.

While at the South Pole, on the day that JFK was shot, Prouty read the local newspaper there, and on the front page was a carefully constructed bio on Lee Harvey Oswald, complete with studio photo, along with the claim that he was probably the assassin of JFK -- and this was before Lee Harvey Oswald had even been charged with the crime!

That sleepless night was the catalyst that started my reading about JFK research. That was 22 years ago.

No matter what else I have learned since then, I still accept Fletcher Prouty's account of that day, and it clearly speaks about a massive operation -- one that involved countless people in high places. We now know that Fletcher Prouty's superior (called General Y in the movie) was General Edward Lansdale, one of JFK's most outspoken critics on the right.

Although some people would stop right there, and conclude that the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) killed JFK (and indeed that is what Oliver Stone insinuates in his movie), I do not stop there -- I continue to dig deeper.

The problem with the MIC theory is that it never digs down to the Ground-crew. Fletcher Prouty calls them "mechanics," and leaves it at that. For Dr. Cyril Wecht, once we conclude that the autopsy was faked, it doesn't matter who the shooters were. I disagree. To truly resolve the JFK mystery, we must identify the Ground-crew, IMHO.

In fact, the identity of the Ground-crew will probably reveal, once and for all, the actual successful plotters. I say this because I'm sure there were dozens (if not scores) of plots against JFK. We know that Traficante threw tons of money toward any project to get his Cuban casinos back. We know that Carlos Marcello threw millions into a plot to kill JFK. That was only a drop in the bucket. Did that money actually reach its target?

But the Ground-crew will answer that question for us -- the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of the Ground-crew (even if only as the patsy) is evidence that one and only one Ground-crew was successful. So we must ask -- which suspects were seen interacting with Lee Harvey Oswald in the months prior to the JFK murder?

Jim Garrison took this approach -- but his witnesses kept dying off. Garrison was unwelcome in Dallas, where, IMHO, the main conspirators had operated.

Today, in 2013, we are left with only Harry Dean as an eye-witness who is willing to say anything. I can think of five other eye-witnesses who are still living who might know more (or maybe not), and I'll name them here: (i) Larrie Schmidt, who told me he knows nothing more about the JFK murder than anybody else; (ii) John Martin, who refuses to speak with anyone; (iii) Guy Gabaldon, Jr., who has not replied to any of my voice-mails; (iv) Bernie Weissman, who will not respond to my snail mail, but who might have already told everything he knows; and (v) David Robbins, who told me he knows nothing more about it.

Harry Dean, on the other hand, is forthcoming with information -- and I'm glad to say we solidly documented his account of the JFK assassination in our new eBook, Harry Dean's Confessions: I Might Have Killed JFK, published last October on Smashwords.com.

Anyway -- getting back to your point, Paul B. -- I believe that the conspiracy to kill JFK was massive, and yet I personally believe that: (1) it had to have one central controller; (2) that controller would need the expertise of a US General with special operations training; (3) that General would have resigned and forfeited his pension, to feel free to do something radical; (4) that ex-General would need a personal vendetta against JFK, e.g. if JFK sent him to an insane asylum, or the like; (5) that ex-General would have to live in Dallas, and be totally on top of the scene there; and (6) that ex-General would still have contacts in the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, JBS, Minutemen and other paramilitary and secret organizations.

Somebody had to manage the patsy. Somebody had to manage the Ground-crew. Somebody had to organize the Dallas Police moles. That person was the center of the plot. Everybody else in the plot danced around the center.

In my theory, the HSCA was correct in its findings -- the FBI, CIA, ONI, Mafia, JBS, Pentagon and Cuban-Exile radicals were uninvolved in the JFK assassination -- as organizations. Rogue elements, however, from each of those organizations -- capable of working within the system and undermining it from within -- these were almost certainly involved in a central plot that was managed out of Dallas.

So, I think we agree on some points, Paul B., and yet we are still far apart on the details.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited December 12, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Brancato]

Paul - Walker is a key suspect in my opinion and obviously in yours. Researchers like Scott and Newman don't spend much time speculating on the ground crew - about that you are right. If Harry Dean is telling a true story, and let's assume now that he is, it does not mean that Walker and company were the top of the pyramid. If they were working with others like say Angleton, or Dulles, or Harvey, or Lemnitzer, or LeMay, or some combination of big wigs, that does not mean that they would have broadcast that to the JBS folks like Dean who heard the plot discussed. In fact I am quite sure they would not have done so if all this speculation is true. Walker might have even originated the plot, but he would have needed the assurances of those in power to continue. The thing about the hatred that was being spewn against JFK is that it was coming from many quarters, and they all had interlocks. The racist south and their nazi/rightwing soul brothers were motivated and making noise for sure, but so were the mafia/Cuban types and their CIA brethren, and the Generals and their MIC pals like the Suite 8F group and the Texas oil crowd. We agree that the operation had many parts and many people. All of those involved had to feel convinced that exposure after the fact was a slim possibility at best, so they had to be convinced that guys like LBJ, Hoover, Angleton, Helms, would take care of the coverup. And they had to have the help of some Secret Service, Dallas cops/Military Intelligence on the ground in Dallas.

Who were the shooters and how were they armed and put in position? There are many possibles - Cubans, mafiosi hitmen, CIA guys - I would love to know. I just wish we would trust our eyes and believe that the Zapruder film tells us most of what we need to know to assume conspiracy. We spend so much time here on the life and actions of Oswald, the details of the shots. Important for sure, but somewhat of a misdirection.

If you have read David Talbot's great book you would know that it was JFK himself that suggested to Frankenheimer that he make the book Seven Days in May into a movie, and that he was worried, and said so often, about his Generals staging a coup.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Paul Brancato

[Harry J.Dean]

Among still withheld records when released in 2017 or later will expose my final association with US. Intelligence.

This description is with CIA, Long Beach, California Office. Their call to arrange a meeting was mid 1965. An

agent arrived, and presented pictures of Francisco Vega, Cuba G2. Vega had put me through a death threatening

interrogation in June 1960 at G2 headquarters in Havana. Vega had since fallen into my hands after his illegal entry

into the US. I gleefully sunk him to my FBI contacts.

Now, and finally by 1969, CIA said I must fly to New York to personally identify Vega. I refused to fly there in fear of

being hijacked back to Cuba. I had told CIA I was willing to take a train, but would not go by plane, CIA said no one would

hijack a plane from California!. At that time a plane was hijacked from California to Cuba!

This above is one of many far more important documents that will be found in US. FBI/CIA withheld items.

[Harry J.Dean]

Here I offer only one more so far withheld document, yet to be released in 2017. It was Chicago 1960 after my

return from Cuba at a pre-arranged debriefing with US. Intelligence. The choice of a secure location was left to

me and took place in the lunch room of The Moody Bible Institute. The meeting include my usual FBI contact, a

CIA agent and I.

When this yet hidden report sees the light of hopefully 2017. It will reveal not only my fear of local Chicago Cubans

both pro-Castro and anti-Castro with whom I dealt there and in Cuba for US, but also of federal agents who at the start of

dealing with them, had made me sharply aware of my being an unregistered (illegal) agent of a foreign (Castro}

government. That was always a fearful, self guarded existence, especially when the agents ask if I had met with Castro.

Other question and answers of that debriefing will wait until the records are released.

[Paul Trejo]

Paul - Walker is a key suspect in my opinion and obviously in yours. Researchers like Scott and Newman don't spend much time speculating on the ground crew - about that you are right. If Harry Dean is telling a true story, and let's assume now that he is, it does not mean that Walker and company were the top of the pyramid. If they were working with others like say Angleton, or Dulles, or Harvey, or Lemnitzer, or LeMay, or some combination of big wigs, that does not mean that they would have broadcast that to the JBS folks like Dean who heard the plot discussed. In fact I am quite sure they would not have done so if all this speculation is true.

Walker might have even originated the plot, but he would have needed the assurances of those in power to continue. The thing about the hatred that was being spewn against JFK is that it was coming from many quarters, and they all had interlocks. The racist south and their nazi/rightwing soul brothers were motivated and making noise for sure, but so were the mafia/Cuban types and their CIA brethren, and the Generals and their MIC pals like the Suite 8F group and the Texas oil crowd. We agree that the operation had many parts and many people. All of those involved had to feel convinced that exposure after the fact was a slim possibility at best, so they had to be convinced that guys like LBJ, Hoover, Angleton, Helms, would take care of the coverup. And they had to have the help of some Secret Service, Dallas cops/Military Intelligence on the ground in Dallas.

Who were the shooters and how were they armed and put in position? There are many possibles - Cubans, mafiosi hitmen, CIA guys - I would love to know. I just wish we would trust our eyes and believe that the Zapruder film tells us most of what we need to know to assume conspiracy. We spend so much time here on the life and actions of Oswald, the details of the shots. Important for sure, but somewhat of a misdirection.

If you have read David Talbot's great book you would know that it was JFK himself that suggested to Frankenheimer that he make the book Seven Days in May into a movie, and that he was worried, and said so often, about his Generals staging a coup.

Thanks, Paul B., for your discussion. We agree that ex-General Edwin Walker is a key suspect, and that is enough for now.

Scott, Newman, Fonzi, McKnight, Morley, Russell -- and even Talbot's fine book on RFK's private search for JFK's killers, did not focus on the Ground-crew -- and I think that is a significant oversight.

I'm glad you're willing to consider the possibility that Harry Dean has been basically telling the truth for 48 years. I completely agree with you that Harry's account all by itself cannot be used as a final proof that ex-General Walker was the top of the pyramid of the conspiracy to kill JFK.

There are many other problems to resolve.

As I said earlier, I strongly doubt that Dulles was one of the conspirators, although I believe he knew more about the JFK plot than anybody outside of the circle. I perceive strong evidence that Angleton, Harvey, Phillips and Landsdale took active roles. I realize that this is a challenge -- to explain how a private citizen like ex-General Walker could out-rank these sitting US government officials.

Yet upon reflection, it's not that difficult to imagine -- it would be far more risky for a sitting US government official to lead a conspiracy. It would be less risky for a private citizen to be the leader -- especially one who had previously been a US General. In that case, sympathetic US government officials could lend support here and there as needed.

Also, you make a good point -- Harry Dean says that an elite few in the JBS heard about the plot involving Lee Harvey Oswald. Yet no US government official would be so sloppy as to tell anybody in the JBS. Insofar as Harry Dean's account is believable, then it suggests that ex-General Walker felt authorized to tell anybody he wanted to tell. If Walker was a minion of somebody in the US government, he wouldn't have had that freedom. But if he was at the top of the pyramid, Walker would have that freedom.

When you say, "Walker might have even originated the plot, but he would have needed the assurances of those in power to continue," I completely agree with you. Walker would never have continued without the assured support of key conspirators who were working within the US government -- even though they knew they were breaking the law when they supported General Walker.

It was a conspiracy of private citizens -- that's my point -- not a conspiracy of the US government as such.

It has been accepted for decades now that JFK had countless enemies from many quarters, and so the number of volunteers for this conspiracy must have been overflowing. But that's all the more reason to insist upon central coordination.

In fact, JFK had so many enemies, how can we be sure which plot against JFK was the successful one? The Mafia? The MIC? The Bay of Pigs crowd? The JBS crowd? Here is how we can know for sure: only the plot that made Lee Harvey Oswald into the patsy was the successful one.

This is where Harry Dean's memoirs stand front and center.

I believe that Walker would rely on the best efforts of Edward Lansdale, James Jesus Angleton and David Atlee Phillips to protect his assets when the chips were down. But those men weren't the entire solution.

As for LBJ, nobody would rely on a politician, knowing that he had to respond to vast pressures beyond his control. LBJ could never know the details -- and that is what the recent literature on LBJ proves -- not that he was a conspirator, but that he was among the least informed about the JFK killing. LBJ knew what most rightists knew at the time -- JFK was intensely hated. That's about it.

Hoover and Dulles were sitting US officers -- too visible to be involved, even if they wanted to be.

Also, the cover-up was guaranteed without LBJ, Hoover or Dulles -- if it came to that, National Security would be the best reason to rely upon anonymity -- either Cuba was going to become Free again, or the South and the radical right would foment a new Civil War -- and the cover-up be damned -- unless there was a cover-up.

You're also correct, Paul B., that Walker would never continue without the assurance of support from the Dallas Police force. Yet I believe that there were sufficient Friends of Walker in the DPD, as well as JBS members and Minutemen, to make this a slam dunk.

As for the Secret Service and other US government Intelligence operatives, only one or two plotters were needed inside each of these organizations -- to tweak messages going here and there.

Who were the shooters, how were they armed and how were they put in position? In my opinion, we have sufficient photographs and film from Dealey Plaza on that day, and sufficiently advanced video technology today, so that we can hope to resolve this problem in our lifetimes. For example, the very tail end of the Zapruder film itself shows somebody behind the bushes and picket fence on the south end of Dealey Plaza. It's only a matter of time before some genius works out a scientific way to identify that person.

Finally, I agree with you that David Talbot's book, Brothers (2007), is ground-breaking, because he was the first to talk about RFK's own reflections on the JFK assassination. It is indeed a treasure. Yet even Talbot's book doesn't stretch beyond the known histories of the relationship between JFK, RFK and General Walker. Even with Talbot's able retelling of the Ole Miss riots, he was still unable to connect the dots and dig deeper into Walker as a key suspect.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited December 13, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Among still withheld records when released in 2017 or later will expose my final association with US. Intelligence.

This description is with CIA, Long Beach, California Office. Their call to arrange a meeting was mid 1965. An

agent arrived, and presented pictures of Francisco Vega, Cuba G2. Vega had put me through a death threatening

interrogation in June 1960 at G2 headquarters in Havana. Vega had since fallen into my hands after his illegal entry

into the US. I gleefully sunk him to my FBI contacts.

Now, and finally by 1969, CIA said I must fly to New York to personally identify Vega. I refused to fly there in fear of

being hijacked back to Cuba. I had told CIA I was willing to take a train, but would not go by plane, CIA said no one would

hijack a plane from California!. At that time a plane was hijacked from California to Cuba!

This above is one of many far more important documents that will be found in US. FBI/CIA withheld items.

Harry, over the course of this year we've seen more and more official documents released under the FOIA that confirm subtle details of your account of the JFK assassination.

For example, we've seen your letter to JFK written in June, 1961. The letter is a matter of record.

Also, we've seen confirmation from the FBI in Los Angeles in the early 1960's that you'd been providing information to the FBI in Chicago since the late 1950's.

I'm looking forward to seeing more Classified records about your case released in the year 2017, including those regarding your mid-1965 meeting with the CIA about Cuban spy Francisco Vega.

I think that many Americans have forgotten (or never knew about) the tremendous obsession with which the USA worried over Cuba from 1959-1963.

The Vietnam War arose like a tiger and put the problem of Cuba in the shade. Americans forgot all about Cuba in 1964 as the Vietnam War began to ramp up, and so it's hard for us to put ourselves in the shoes of those who were obsessed with Cuba.

Yet we should try again, because the young Americans obsessed with Cuba in 1959-1963 arguably supplied (besides yourself) the key players of the JFK assassination, including ex-General Edwin Walker, Gabby Gabaldon, Loran Hall, Larry Howard, Guy Banister, David Ferrie, Ed Butler, Clay Shaw, Gerry Patrick Hemming, Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt, David Morales, Ed Butler, Carlos Bringuier, David Atlee Phillips, Eladio del Valle, James Jesus Angleton and of course, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited December 15, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Harry J.Dean]

To fully understand the 1960s Cuba and Kennedy history

is to recognize the deceptive, inviting spirit, that led so

many individuals blindly, bravely, into the breech

resulting in defeat and or death.

[Paul Trejo]

For absolute clarity, I would like to point out that my original statements concerning Harry Dean were based upon John Simkin's description of Dean's involvement with the Birch Society -- which you may still see here:

From: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbirchS.htm

"In 1975 Harry J. Dean claimed he had been an undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation who in 1962 infiltrated the John Birch Society. He later reported that John Rousselot and General Edwin Walker had hired two gunman, Eladio del Valle and Loran Hall, to kill President John F. Kennedy."

<snip>

It's too bad that John Simkin didn't finish his fine job of updating all of his Spartacus entries on Harry Dean this year by removing the fallacies about Harry promulgated by fiction writer W.R. Morris. Morris' fictions have dominated the atmosphere of discourse around Harry Dean for decades. John did update his entry on Harry Dean, yet I'm disappointed that he neglected to also update his Spartacus entry on the John Birch Society in the same way.

Simkin's entry in Spartacus about the JBS continues to confuse the discourse about Harry Dean because it repeats fictions and errors from W.R. Morris. It is unfortunate that the important eye-witness testimony courageously provided to the FBI and to the public by Harry Dean starting in 1965, has been corrupted by forces that would drown out Harry's account. W.R. Morris, and his unfortunate publication, The Men Behind the Guns (1975), has done more damage to Harry Dean's account than any other publication.

If Mr. Simkin reads this thread, I respectfully request that he complete his task of scrubbing his web site clean of errors related to Harry Dean as derived from W.R. Morris.

To be generous as possible to W.R. Morris, I'd say that his false claims that Harry Dean was an FBI agent and a CIA agent were conditioned by a widespread ignorance about how the CIA organized its assets. For example, Frank Sturgis was not a CIA agent, as such; yet he was a part-time, contract "asset" of the CIA during the Cuba crisis. The same can be said of Gerry Patrick Hemming, Loran Hall, David Ferrie and many others.

Most of the CIA "operatives" or "contractors" who are associated with JFK assassination research are, IMHO, really this sort of part-time "asset" -- mercenaries -- who are truly outside the scope of genuine CIA Agents. Yet I feel sure that many of these low-level operatives were also braggarts, and would tell their friends and family that they were CIA agents -- where the word "agent" was not used in its technical, official sense, but in a colloquial sense meaning a "representative" or a "stand-in" or an "errand-boy."

The CIA contractors knew their actual role, but their friends and families did not clearly know -- and any news reporters -- like W.R. Morris -- would be only too happy to run with that ball, because it made a sensational story.

We have FBI documents confirming that Harry Dean never portrayed himself as an employee of the FBI or CIA -- but we know that W.R. Morris did spread the rumor of that portrayal. I respectfully ask John Simkin to complete his task of removing the errors of W.R. Morris from his Spartacus entry on the JBS.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited December 22, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Ernie Lazar]

For those interested in pursuing further fact-based research into Harry Dean, Sylvia Odio, Gerald P. Hemming, LHO, and other figures whom are prominent figures in the various JFK conspiracy theories, the CIA files under the control of Russell Holmes (you know----the ones Paul T. thinks are "secret") may be obtained via FOIA requests to NARA. See following link:

http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/finding-aids/holmes-papers.html

[Ernie Lazar]

For those interested in having a complete list of all NARA document references to Harry Dean (there are 166 in total), I have created a pdf file (attached) which gives the full listing for each document.

HARRY DEAN-NARA refs.pdf

[Harry J.Dean]

Hay Lazar-beam, dude would you from that sand blown, sweaty, unfit for normal people Palm Springs, California local be dedicated enough

to display the complete, detailed reports. We all need to read the DETAILS not just the notations as shown.

It may even show that the Bureau who hated my guts, and exposed all of these details as a result AFTER I began blabbing in 1965 of my laboring for them for so long, likely suggested in their documents that I was a Castro agent, a communist etc & etc.. No, they would not need to sink to such a low-level?

In any case put up and let us have the expensive, in depth details. You owe it to the readers you are trying to persuade, Lazer-beam.

[Ernie Lazar]

Hay Lazar-beam, dude would you from that sand blown, sweaty, unfit for normal people Palm Springs, California local be dedicated enough

to display the complete, detailed reports. We all need to read the DETAILS not just the notations as shown.

It may even show that the Bureau who hated my guts, and exposed all of these details as a result AFTER I began blabbing in 1965 of my laboring for them for so long, likely suggested in their documents that I was a Castro agent, a communist etc & etc.. No, they would not need to sink to such a low-level?

In any case put up and let us have the expensive, in depth details. You owe it to the readers you are trying to persuade, Lazer-beam.

Harry -- the full text of most of those documents may be reviewed on the Mary Ferrell website. Eventually, I may be able to post here your entire FBI files. The FBI is still evaluating my Public Interest Disclosure justification letter which I submitted along with my FOIA request on you.

For the record Harry -- you could have seen ALL of these documents DECADES ago simply by submitting an FOIA request with a notarized affidavit from you authorizing release. Somebody received a great many of your FBI file documents as early as 1985 via an FOIA request!.

The CIA documents about you are available from NARA -- I previously posted the link to the NARA webpage which shows the location of your file.

With respect to the second paragraph of your message:

From all the available evidence, the FBI totally ignored you for many years. The ONLY reason they became involved is because of repeated inquiries which they received from (for example) Los Angeles-area newspaper reporters and television executives who asked the FBI if your story was genuine, i.e. they asked if you were what you claimed to be --- i.e. an "informant" or "undercover" agent or operative for the FBI, or if you were associated with the FBI (at their request) in any way.

When J. Edgar Hoover saw the inquiries about your status, he contacted the FBI's Chicago and Los Angeles field offices to find out who you were because FBI HQ had no record of you being any sort of confidential source or informant for the FBI. Obviously, you were NOT listed in the HQ Index which captured data about all of their active and inactive informants and confidential sources. If you had been listed, then Hoover's memos to various field offices would have referenced that fact and probably would have included your symbol number and/or code name or other identifying data. Instead, the only reference is to your FBI number --- i.e. the control number which is assigned by the FBI to people whose fingerprints exist at FBI HQ because of reports from law enforcement agencies who have arrested that person.

There is absolutely no documentary evidence at this time to establish that the FBI "hated" your guts. As just stated, they did not even know who you were because as YOU accurately wrote to JFK in June 1961 in your own handwriting the FBI field office in Chicago told you after they completed their background check on you that they were not interested in your further assistance..

With respect to your claims about your "reports" to the Los Angeles field office --- there is currently no documentary evidence to support your story. It is certainly possible that you provided unsolicited information to Los Angeles (just as you did to Chicago) but as the Assistant Director of Los Angeles told a southern California newspaper publisher, you were never an FBI informant nor were you ever asked to do anything for the FBI.

When the FBI actually "hated the guts" of someone, their FBI files usually reveal very specific instructions from HQ to field offices to continuously monitor the activities and public statements of such persons. What is particularly striking about the FBI file documents which are available on the Mary Ferrell website is that the FBI had no interest whatsoever in you after they rejected you in Chicago in the summer of 1961 (because of what they discovered about you as a result of their background investigation).

When you review the chronological sequence of serials in your HQ, Chicago and Los Angeles files, what becomes very clear is that there were entire years during which no new serials concerning you were produced. In fact, if it were not for the fact that Congressman John Rousselot contacted the Bureau in May 1977 concerning you, there is virtually nothing in FBI files about you from 1967 until 1977.

When, in May 1977, the FBI's Legal Counsel wrote a summary memo about you for the Director, the FBI position regarding your status was very clear and very definitive. I now quote from the "synopsis" of that memo.

"Review of Bufiles has determined that Harry J. Dean, FBI number 4657880...has previously come to the attention of the FBI in connection with the investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; however, Dean was later cleared of any involvement. Dean was never an informant for the FBI, although he did furnish some information on a voluntary basis at one time during the early 1960's. Dean was later determined to be unreliable and a former mental patient and was advised that his assistance was no longer desired by the FBI in June 1961." ...

In the "details" section of that same 1977 memo, the FBI's Legal Counsel observed:

"Bufiles further indicate that Dean has, on previous occasions, claimed he was a former undercover man with the FBI. Dean did, at one time, in the early 1960's, furnish some information to the Chicago office concerning the Fair Play For Cuba Committee. However, he was never an informant and was not encouraged in his activities. Information was also developed in June 1961, that he was a former mental patient. At that time he was specifically told by Special Agents that his assistance was no longer desired by the FBI."

Interestingly, there is no mention whatsoever in that May 1977 memo of any connection between you and Wesley Grapp nor any reference to your supposed reports to the Los Angeles office about any matters.

There are still many tantalizing questions about your story which, someday, I hope I can answer. If I am able to obtain your entire FBI files from my FOIA request I will be happy to post them online here.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Ernie Lazar

[Ernie Lazar]

Harry: During any time in the period from 1962 to 1964 were you a dues-paying member of the Minutemen? If so -- did you join using the name Harry Dean?

[Paul Trejo]

For those interested in pursuing further fact-based research into Harry Dean, Sylvia Odio, Gerald P. Hemming, LHO, and other figures whom are prominent figures in the various JFK conspiracy theories, the CIA files under the control of Russell Holmes (you know----the ones Paul T. thinks are "secret") may be obtained via FOIA requests to NARA. See following link:

http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/finding-aids/holmes-papers.html

Well, now, let's just see what we have here.

Is Ernie Lazar now pretending that there are no more "top secret" files being held by the CIA? Evidently so.

Yet anybody who has been following the Mary Ferrell Foundation in past years probably knows about their AARC project to digitize CIA records that have been released under the JFK Records Act in response to various FOIA requests and lawsuits.

The Mary Ferrell Foundation has taken a large step forward to digitize more than four hundred thousand pages of formerly secret records. Yes, that's a lot -- but is it everything? The hopeful optimism of Ernie Lazar seems to believe so.

While Mary Ferrell's site now shares with the world the thousands of pages of CIA files on Castro, Cuban Exile groups, Oswald's trip to Mexico City -- and even some files on Harry Dean -- are we now to conclude that our work here is done?

There are many documents here of interest, of course. We cannot regard these new acquisitions lightly. We have, for example, the files of eminent CIA historian Russell B. Holmes -- although perhaps not all of his files.

We also have CIA files from the HSCA, of which we are assured, the general public was not permitted to see until now. This includes Latin American Division work files that the HSCA used to investigate Cuban plots against JFK. This also includes CIA Office of Security files that the HSCA used to investigate the Mafia plots against JFK.

Of course, the most stellar of all these new CIA releases is Lee Harvey Oswald's famed 201 File. Yes, this large file is now available, after decades of clamoring. Can we hear Harold Epstein and Jim Garrison cheering from the other world?

But we should remain calm -- some of these documents still contain many redactions (blackouts). Records about Operation Mongoose still remain classified.

The Mary Ferrell Foundation also promises to release FBI Files as a part of this project -- very soon.

Now, let's take a closer look at the specific link that Ernie Lazar provided which displays a link of the Russell B. Holmes papers. This is not the ful cache of four hundred thousand pages, but it is large -- more than fifty-thousand pages can be found within the Russell B. Holmes archive.

But wait -- who is Rusell B. Holmes?

Well, Holmes was a CIA archivist who personally kept a huge collection of CIA documents on the JFK assassination. He was prolific, so he kept files from the early 1960's into the 1990's. His main focus seems to be on Lee Oswald's Mexico City trip and Oswald's 201 File, as well as on Jim Garrison proceedings. This archive, called the "Russell Holmes Work File," was declassified about 15 years ago. Holmes was an important liaison for public/CIA inquiries into the JFK assassination after 1979.

Now, for purposes of this thread, one of the items of interest in this cache is Box 4RH02. It is interesting here because of its first tile, F:034, which is labeled, Harry Dean.

It will be very interesting for the future of this thread to see the unraveling of the Russell B. Holmes collection of declassified CIA records about Harry Dean. Will we find anything of great value in them?

One thing we can say with certainty -- is that the CIA did indeed keep a file about Harry Dean. Now, in the coming weeks, we can finally see for ourselves at least a part of what the CIA had been keeping secret all these decades. Then we can decide whether Ernie's optimism was well-rewarded or not.

Sincerely,

--Paul Trejo

Edited December 29, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Hay Lazar-beam, dude would you from that sand blown, sweaty, unfit for normal people Palm Springs, California local be dedicated enough

to display the complete, detailed reports. We all need to read the DETAILS not just the notations as shown.

It may even show that the Bureau who hated my guts, and exposed all of these details as a result AFTER I began blabbing in 1965 of my laboring for them for so long, likely suggested in their documents that I was a Castro agent, a communist etc & etc.. No, they would not need to sink to such a low-level?

In any case put up and let us have the expensive, in depth details. You owe it to the readers you are trying to persuade, Lazer-beam.

Harry -- the full text of most of those documents may be reviewed on the Mary Ferrell website. Eventually, I may be able to post here your entire FBI files. The FBI is still evaluating my Public Interest Disclosure justification letter which I submitted along with my FOIA request on you.

For the record Harry -- you could have seen ALL of these documents DECADES ago simply by submitting an FOIA request with a notarized affidavit from you authorizing release. Somebody received a great many of your FBI file documents as early as 1985 via an FOIA request!.

The CIA documents about you are available from NARA -- I previously posted the link to the NARA webpage which shows the location of your file.

With respect to the second paragraph of your message:

From all the available evidence, the FBI totally ignored you for many years. The ONLY reason they became involved is because of repeated inquiries which they received from (for example) Los Angeles-area newspaper reporters and television executives who asked the FBI if your story was genuine, i.e. they asked if you were what you claimed to be --- i.e. an "informant" or "undercover" agent or operative for the FBI, or if you were associated with the FBI (at their request) in any way.

When J. Edgar Hoover saw the inquiries about your status, he contacted the FBI's Chicago and Los Angeles field offices to find out who you were because FBI HQ had no record of you being any sort of confidential source or informant for the FBI. Obviously, you were NOT listed in the HQ Index which captured data about all of their active and inactive informants and confidential sources. If you had been listed, then Hoover's memos to various field offices would have referenced that fact and probably would have included your symbol number and/or code name or other identifying data. Instead, the only reference is to your FBI number --- i.e. the control number which is assigned by the FBI to people whose fingerprints exist at FBI HQ because of reports from law enforcement agencies who have arrested that person.

There is absolutely no documentary evidence at this time to establish that the FBI "hated" your guts. As just stated, they did not even know who you were because as YOU accurately wrote to JFK in June 1961 in your own handwriting the FBI field office in Chicago told you after they completed their background check on you that they were not interested in your further assistance..

With respect to your claims about your "reports" to the Los Angeles field office --- there is currently no documentary evidence to support your story. It is certainly possible that you provided unsolicited information to Los Angeles (just as you did to Chicago) but as the Assistant Director of Los Angeles told a southern California newspaper publisher, you were never an FBI informant nor were you ever asked to do anything for the FBI.

When the FBI actually "hated the guts" of someone, their FBI files usually reveal very specific instructions from HQ to field offices to continuously monitor the activities and public statements of such persons. What is particularly striking about the FBI file documents which are available on the Mary Ferrell website is that the FBI had no interest whatsoever in you after they rejected you in Chicago in the summer of 1961 (because of what they discovered about you as a result of their background investigation).

When you review the chronological sequence of serials in your HQ, Chicago and Los Angeles files, what becomes very clear is that there were entire years during which no new serials concerning you were produced. In fact, if it were not for the fact that Congressman John Rousselot contacted the Bureau in May 1977 concerning you, there is virtually nothing in FBI files about you from 1967 until 1977.

When, in May 1977, the FBI's Legal Counsel wrote a summary memo about you for the Director, the FBI position regarding your status was very clear and very definitive. I now quote from the "synopsis" of that memo.

"Review of Bufiles has determined that Harry J. Dean, FBI number 4657880...has previously come to the attention of the FBI in connection with the investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; however, Dean was later cleared of any involvement. Dean was never an informant for the FBI, although he did furnish some information on a voluntary basis at one time during the early 1960's. Dean was later determined to be unreliable and a former mental patient and was advised that his assistance was no longer desired by the FBI in June 1961." ...

In the "details" section of that same 1977 memo, the FBI's Legal Counsel observed:

"Bufiles further indicate that Dean has, on previous occasions, claimed he was a former undercover man with the FBI. Dean did, at one time, in the early 1960's, furnish some information to the Chicago office concerning the Fair Play For Cuba Committee. However, he was never an informant and was not encouraged in his activities. Information was also developed in June 1961, that he was a former mental patient. At that time he was specifically told by Special Agents that his assistance was no longer desired by the FBI."

Interestingly, there is no mention whatsoever in that May 1977 memo of any connection between you and Wesley Grapp nor any reference to your supposed reports to the Los Angeles office about any matters.

There are still many tantalizing questions about your story which, someday, I hope I can answer. If I am able to obtain your entire FBI files from my FOIA request I will be happy to post them online here.

Ernie, you're simply harrassing Harry Dean with your claims here. You haven't processed all the FBI files to be able to evaluate their relative merits -- yet you give yourself a license to repeat FBI rumors in your efforts toward character assassination. What are trying to do here?

The FBI is not perfect -- they have been known for excesses, especially in the early 1960's. For you to resurrect those old FBI excesses and repeat them here in 2013, is inexcusable. You should be ashamed.

Sincerely,

--Paul Trejo

Edited December 29, 2013 by Paul Trejo