Richard Case Nagell

[John Simkin]

What do members make of Richard Case Nagell?

He was born in Greenwich, New York, on 5th August, 1930. Educated in Albany, Nagell, joined the United States Army at Albany in 1948. During the Korean War he was awarded the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart and at the age of twenty became one of the youngest men in history to receive a field promotion to the rank of Captain.

In November, 1954, Nagell suffered severe injuries in an air crash. After recovering he was transferred to Army Counter Intelligence Corp. He served as a CIC officer in both Korea and Japan. In March, 1958, Nagell married a local woman. The couple had two children but the marriage ended in divorce.

Nagell reached the rank of Second Lieutenant by the time he left the army in October, 1959. As a result of his accident he was judged to be 50% disabled and was placed on a disability pension. In December, 1959, Nagell found work as an investigator with the Department of Employment in Los Angeles. In March, 1961, Nagell did a similar job with the California Beverage Control Board. He held the job until being sacked in June, 1962. The following month he was admitted to the Wadsworth Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles, California in what was alleged to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest.

According to Nagell, when he recovered he began working for the CIA as a double agent. This involved becoming an activist in the American Communist Party. This included distributing Marxist propaganda in Mexico.

Nagell also claimed he was involved in monitoring a group of Cuban exiles plotting against Fidel Castro. In 1963 Nagell discovered that this group was planning to assassinating JFK while making it appear that it had been ordered by Castro. When he told the KGB they ordered him to warn Oswald about what was happening. Nagell also claimed he warned the FBI and CIA about the plot.

In September, 1963, Nagell walked into a bank in El Paso, Texas, and fired two shots into the ceiling and then waited to be arrested. Nagell claimed he did this to isolate himself from the assassination plot. This was successful and Nagell was charged with armed robbery and ended up spending the next five years in prison.

On his release Nagell told Jim Garrison about his knowledge of the assassination of JFK. He claimed that David Ferrie, Guy Banister, and Clay Shaw were involved in this plot with Oswald. However, Garrison decided against using him as a witness in the court-case against Shaw.

Dick Russell wrote about Nagell in his book, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992). Nagell claimed the initial plan to assassinate JFK was financed by Haroldson L. Hunt and other individuals. The operation was to be performed by a anti-Castro group. According to Nagell the conspirators believed that if they set-up Oswald, a well-known supporter of Fidel Castro with links to the Soviet Union, the assassination would result in a full-scale war against Cuba.

Richard Case Nagell was found dead on 1st November, 1995. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Coroner's Office said Nagell had a history of heart disease, and that his body was discovered on the floor of the bathroom at his home in Rampart, Los Angeles.

[John Simkin]

Namebase entry for Richard Case Nagell:

http://www.namebase.org/main4/Richard-Case-Nagell.html

Anson,R. They've Killed the President! 1975 (283)

Back Channels 1995-05 (12, 14)

DiEugenio,J. Destiny Betrayed. 1992 (139-42, 177-8)

DiEugenio,J. Pease,L. The Assassinations. 2003 (119-20, 236-7)

Duffy,J. Ricci,V. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. 1992 (323-4)

Garrison,J. On the Trail of the Assassins. 1988 (182-6)

Hinckle,W. Turner,W. The Fish is Red. 1981 (226-7)

Lobster Magazine (Britain) 1985-#10 (13)

Penthouse 1981-10 (183, 185)

Russell,D. The Man Who Knew Too Much. 1992

Vankin,J. Whalen,J. The 60 Greatest Conspiracies. 1998 (378-9)

[Robert Howard]

Namebase entry for Richard Case Nagell:

http://www.namebase.org/main4/Richard-Case-Nagell.html

Anson,R. They've Killed the President! 1975 (283)

Back Channels 1995-05 (12, 14)

DiEugenio,J. Destiny Betrayed. 1992 (139-42, 177-8)

DiEugenio,J. Pease,L. The Assassinations. 2003 (119-20, 236-7)

Duffy,J. Ricci,V. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. 1992 (323-4)

Garrison,J. On the Trail of the Assassins. 1988 (182-6)

Hinckle,W. Turner,W. The Fish is Red. 1981 (226-7)

Lobster Magazine (Britain) 1985-#10 (13)

Penthouse 1981-10 (183, 185)

Russell,D. The Man Who Knew Too Much. 1992

Vankin,J. Whalen,J. The 60 Greatest Conspiracies. 1998 (378-9)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have always been extremely interested in Richard Case Nagell. I have both copies of the Man Who Knew Too Much the 1st printing and the updated version that came out recently. I am aware that there are certain researchers that think or want people to think he was a crackpot with mental problems and the helicopter crash in Korea gives a certain credence to that idea, but Dick Russell's book is so well written and researched that I personally believe Nagell was who Russell thought he was; a man who was deeply involved in the machinations of the plot that killed JFK until he went into the bank in El Paso in Sept 63. Nagell's story touches the fact that he, while working for the CIA and Field Operations Intelligence felt that the KGB had infiltrated part of the CIA's hierarchy, including the mysterious "Bob" who was his ostensible superior officer. The other issue involves the role of hypnosis with regards to Oswald. In a key part of the book, Russell asks Nagell what he thought Oswald's activities were on November 22 at the TSBD and Nagell drew a sketch that displayed Oswald firing a rifle under the influence of hypnosis. The frustrating thing about the book is that Nagell never gives away the complete story to Russell about Nov 22 allegedly because the government threatened to make sure he never got his retirement pension if he talked, which makes Nagell look bad to some people. But overall I think the book is a treasure trove of info. and is required reading for any researcher that wants to look at the JFK assassination "thinking outside the box." The only other thing I would add is that Nagell said he had audiotapes of himself, Oswald, Angel and Leopoldo discussing the assassination along with pictures in a safety deposit box in Switzerland to be opened after he died. I read in the update version I beleive it was, that all of his "stuff" pertaining to the JFK assassination was taken by the FBI before a family member could get it. I don't know if the tapes and pictures were included in the cache.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

"Nagell said he had audiotapes of himself, Oswald, Angel and Leopoldo discussing the assassination along with pictures in a safety deposit box in Switzerland to be opened after he died."

If someone ever produces these items I might begin to take Nagell seriously. In the meantime I for one consider him the most entertaining of all the charlatans this case has so far produced. The only relevant questions about Nagell & his ilk (e.g. Robert Morrow) have to do with his motives: Why was he spreading this bullxxxx?

[Mark Knight]

The only relevant questions about Nagell & his ilk ...have to do with his motives: Why was he spreading this bullxxxx?

I believe the politically correct term is "pablum" [thanks, Mr. Purvis!].

I don't necessarily believe Nagell, but I don't necessary disbelieve him, either. I haven't seen enough evidence to show that his "bank job" was anything other than what he says it was...but I don't find enough credible evidence to back up his other claims about his part in any conspiracy. If the alleged items from the Swiss safe-deposit box ever turn up, I guess that might back up his allegations...but otherwise, I consider him a small player in the big picture--if he was involved at all--and suggest that, knowing his "evidence" would never see the light of day, he embellished his role [and the level of his knowledge] in the plot. Do ya think the principals are gonna reveal the truth, just to prove him wrong, if there IS anything to Nagell's story? Doubtful. And if there's nothing to his story, it'll eventually fade away. Either way, I don't think I'd lose much sleep over it.

[Lee Forman]

"Nagell said he had audiotapes of himself, Oswald, Angel and Leopoldo discussing the assassination along with pictures in a safety deposit box in Switzerland to be opened after he died."

If someone ever produces these items I might begin to take Nagell seriously. In the meantime I for one consider him the most entertaining of all the charlatans this case has so far produced. The only relevant questions about Nagell & his ilk (e.g. Robert Morrow) have to do with his motives: Why was he spreading this bullxxxx?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nagell was in a delicate situation - he had taken an assignment from an individual whom he later discovered was not what he appeared to be - a 'false flag' recruiter, as per GPHs responses in other threads on this forum - therefore his situation was 'compromised.' Also Harry Dean provides additional credibility to the fact that there was at least one individual claiming to be CIA at that time, that was not.

Additionally, he was finally successful in being reunited with his children - at great personal risk [i realize that it it unknown as to whether or not the children were kidnapped and ransomed]. He was constantly petitioning the US Government for the remainder of his pension and benefits due - to his disability. The best he could do, very much like the case of Bud Culligan, Nixon, Angleton, Hall, Harrelson, and others, was to hint at his proofs, in order to swing a deal - call it coercion, call it blackmail - how else do you fight the machine? And what would he have gained by making any of his information public, aside from a life that was nasty, brutish and short? I believe that there are plenty of folks alive today who have retained certain pieces of information - for purposes of security.

I read that someone was under the impression that Nagell felt as if the Government owed him something - didn't it? His record as a decorated veteran [bronze Star and Purple Heart], his service in Intelligence, the injuries he suffered in the plane crash, etc.

And, if it can be credited, Nagell was set-up for extermination on more than one occasion.

"Caught In The Act. Notice to the CIA and all SY xxxxheads who participated in Project Purple Shaft. After that fiasco in the GDR you worms did your best to screw, blue and tattoo me. You even tried to have my ass dusted in Berlin . . . Now it's my turn to do a little shafting. Cordially, R. C. Nagell."

It's also implied in Russell's book that Nagell executed one of his attempted executioners, but the event never seemed to get any press - this was written up as the self-inflicted bullet wound he received - if memory serves, weren't there holes in the windshield of his car?

Nagell's proofs appear to have been collected, one by one. If you read the book, "The Man who knew too much," it would appear that the last vestiges of his numerous caches was discovered and removed, shortly before his strange death. There was no purple trunk among the things he had placed at a storage facility. The items he had left with his sister were confiscated. He attempted numerous times to have the articles [present in the trunk of his car upon his arrest] restored without success. These articles alone say Nagell had credibility, IMO - it was a month before the assassination. His allegations concerning involvement by so many groups and individuals that are still on the HIGHLY SUSPECTCT list today, and the fact that he brought this information forward - prior to the assassination - unlikely coincidences?

There were 4 trunks? recovered by his Niece, following Nagell's death. His Niece commented on some photos that remained, and some newspaper clippings - specifically of a man she had never seen before. These trunks apparently then went on to Nagell's estranged widow. I wrote to Robert Nagell 3x and asked him to please allow me to see the remaining photos - I also offered to pay him for the photos. He did not respond.

Perhaps someone in California might give it a whirl, and visit Robert in person. I would very much like to know whom the subject of these photos and newsclippings may have been.

"Hypothetically," he told Dick Russell, "I was doing something for another country and it backfired. I got ID'ed, got called in, and I strapped some story on my superiors." "This had to do with a Korean who was a suspected Soviet agent, though he was working with a very right-wing group. He was one of our informants, and also an informant for the Japanese police. They wanted to know, why did I contact this guy? They caught me cold. I came out with some preposterous thing that they bought." "If they'd have checked, I'd have been court-martialed . . . The Korean was really a contact and I screwed up" (Russell, 160).

Harry Dean could vouch for the legitimacy of Nagell's story? Just the account of Nagell's service record in Korea, and his being the sole survivor of the plane crash make him an interesting and significant historical figure. I have the Washington Post articles on the crash, and it seems like something straight out fiction.

Is this the Korean contact? Is the man at the far right associated with Oswald and his Cuban looking buddy, engaged in passing out leaflets, or simply reading one? Where did Richard get his leaflets, which were in the car at the time of his arrest in El Paso?

I personally find him 100% credible, and wish I was in a position to have had the opportunity to share a few Heinekens with him in the years before his death.

Seems to me that Nagell was indeed 'A man without a Country.' Clearly a Military hero. Someone who tried, as best as he was able, to do the right thing - Richard Case Nagell.

- lee

[Lee Forman]

http://www.dickrussell.org/articles/richard.htm

Richard Case Nagell,

The Man Who Knew Too Much

In April of 1994, which was about a year and a half after my book came out, I came down the stairs one day and heard my answering machine going - and recognized this voice. Picked it up, and sure enough, it was Richard Nagell. He had received some documents I'd sent him, including the Hensen document, and some CIA files about his notebook names. And was calling me, and talking as if no time had passed. Just commenting on these documents, talking about the description of Elrod Henson and the CIA document, the Laredo codename that fit somebody that he'd run into at the time...

"And then, as the conversation went on, it began to seem very strange to me, because he hadn't even mentioned the fact that I'd written this book, this massive book about him. And finally - I'd also written him a number of letters when I was putting the book together, hoping that he would get back in touch with me at that time. So I said, 'Dick, I'm really glad to hear from you. But,' I said, 'I wrote you a number of letters over the last few years.' And he said, 'Oh, really? I think maybe I've gotten one or two of them.' And I said, 'You are aware that I've written a huge, unauthorized biography of you...?' And he said he had no idea.

"I had sent him the book. And obviously he had never received it - I think he was telling me the truth. He began going on about how the Post Office was still checking on his mail, and somebody was running off with stuff, and he had no idea...

"So I said, 'I can't believe none of your friends wouldn't have told you that this book was out.' He said, 'Well, I don't have that many friends, and the ones I do don't speak - a lot of them don't even speak English.

(1) Dick Russell, speech at a conference in Washington (October, 1995)

According to Nagell, Desmond FitzGerald definitely figures into the Oswald saga - to what degree we may never know, except perhaps through a no-holds-barred official inquiry. A Time magazine file would later describe FitzGerald as "one of the most powerful, but least known top officials in Washington." This was shortly after his death at age fifty-seven, when FitzGerald suddenly collapsed of an apparent heart attack on a country-home Virginia tennis court on July 23, 1967, and died en route to the hospital. At the time he was in charge of all CIA clandestine operations. "Now there is a corpse," Nagell would write, "that should be exhumed and examined by a qualified pathologist."

FitzGerald was a charming, well-connected, redheaded Irishman whose roots derived from the same Boston-Irish background as the Kennedys'. He stood about six-foot-two, with strong, rugged features and, like his mentor Alien Dulles, there was often a ready pipe in his mouth. In 1951 FitzGerald joined the CIA. Almost from the beginning he was the agency's leading spokesman for agents in the field, a staunch advocate of the "can-do" philosophy During the Korean War FitzGerald made his name, smoothly organizing dozens of covert operations from a CIA base in Taiwan. After Korea, FitzGerald moved on to become CIA station chief in the Philippines and then Japan before being appointed the Agency's Far Eastern Division head. He was known as a scholarly sort with a rapt interest in art - as well as an avid enthusiast of CIA covert operations.

"He grew up in a world where the models were the British," his daughter Frances was saying as we sat in her book-lined apartment over-looking New York's East River in the spring of 1992. "You know, the attitude that a whiff of grapeshot would do. He viewed politics in the Third World as a matter of elites, very small elites, so he simply believed you could change things quite a bit by changing the ruler."

(2) Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992)

"What were you doing in New Orleans that summer?" I asked. Bishop paused and took a deep breath, pushing his glasses back above his nose. He turned to give a hard look at Gary Shaw. "How far can I really trust him?" Bishop asked, casting a finger in my direction. "Tell him anything you'd tell me," Shaw replied.

Bishop nodded and continued: "I was to obtain additional funding, say this and no more, from the crime Syndicate out of New Orleans, for Alpha 66. At that point in time, Rolando Masferrer was the key bagman, for lack of a better term, for Alpha 66. Primarily the funding came through the Syndicate, because of Masferrer's connections with those people back in Cuba. He had ties with Santos Trafficante, Jr., and other criminal elements. Organized crime, pure and simple. He also had different ties with Jimmy Hoffa. As far back as 1962,1 think.

"But Rolando, from time to time when it came to large sums of money, had sticky fingers. I think that's why he was killed, eventually. Either that, or the Kennedy assassination. Because he knew about it."

The colonel stopped talking again, sat in silence for a time, then resumed in low tones. "By 1963, the Cuban element - see, Kennedy had gone to Miami, to the Orange Bowl down there, and made this statement that the brigade's flag would fly over Cuba and all this crap. That was a stopgap. The exiles for a time believed him. Then shortly after that, a presidential executive order came out that no military-style incursions into Cuba based from the United States would be tolerated. The end result was complete distrust and dislike for Kennedy and his administration by the Cuban exiles. You take Tony Varona and Rolando Masferrer to name but two - and there were many, many more - when serious talk began to happen about the possibility of assassinating Kennedy."

(3) Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992)

The most intriguing news to come out of the Nassau conference, however, was Escalante's revelation about what another leader of the Alpha 66 group allegedly told him. As we have seen, Nagell would never reveal the true identities of "Angel" and "Leopoldo" - the two Cuban exiles who he said had deceived Oswald into believing they were Castro operatives. Instead, on several occasions when I prodded him, Nagell had cleverly steered the conversation toward a man named Tony Cuesta - indicating that this individual possessed the knowledge that he himself chose not to express. Cuesta, as noted earlier, had been taken prisoner in Cuba during a raid in 1966.

"Cuesta was blinded (in an explosion) and spent most of his time in the hospital," Escalante recalled. In 1978, he was among a group of imprisoned exiles released through an initiative of the Carter Administration. "A few days before he was to leave," according to Escalante, "I had several conversations with Cuesta. He volunteered, 'I want to tell you something very important, but I do not want this made public because I am returning to my family in Miami - and this could be very dangerous.' I think this was a little bit of thanks on his part for the medical care he received."

Escalante said he was only revealing Cuesta's story because the man had died in Miami in 1994. In a declaration he is said to have written for the Cubans, Cuesta named two other exiles as having been involved in plotting the Kennedy assassination. Their names were Eladio del Valle and Herminio Diaz Garcia.

(4) Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992)

In late October of last year, author Dick Russell said of Richard Case Nagell, "I would hope, someday... we will finally know everything he knows" about the assassination of President Kennedy. No one knew it at the time, but when Russell spoke those words, Nagell only had about one week to live. The former intelligence agent died on November 1, at the age of 65...

Nagell, who claimed to have had foreknowledge of the JFK assassination and the activities of Lee Oswald, was considered by many to be one of the last people alive with information that could crack the Kennedy case. Indeed, his death has led to speculation that such information may be forthcoming. Dick Russell wrote that Nagell had stashed certain pieces of evidence as "life insurance" that would surface in the event of his death. These were said to include an audio tape recording of a conversation Nagell secretly made of himself, Lee Oswald, and several alleged assassination conspirators, and a photograph of Nagell and Oswald in New Orleans.

Staff members of Probe, the newsletter of the Citizens for Truth about the Kennedy Assassination, report going to Nagell's apartment as soon as they learned of his death. They write that "the inside door to the apartment was open and one could look inside. By November 4th, the place appeared to be barren. If Nagell left anything of importance behind, it doesn't seem to have been there."

[Lee Forman]

Don't hold your breath waiting for any of Nagell's material to emerge.

October 8, 1967

Dear Arturo:

I've received both of your letters, dated 9/26 and 10/4, respectively. Still haven't seen hide nor hair of the Equipment Times, though. Does it really advertise the likes of machines that nibble steel at the rate of three feet per minute? Now I know why E.T. wasn't delivered. Should have thought of the reason sooner, last week, when a recent issue of a popular magazine was withdrawn from circulation because it featured a bar-stretching device. Looks like the meticulous inspection-for-microdots-and-sophisticated-cable-arrangement theory will have to be shelved in favor of a more logical premise. Can you imagine the possibilities that E.T.'s next issue might provide to some innate-genius with a penchant for slapping together a facsimile of the Steel Eater, merely by studying the specifications set forth in E.T.? Wow! I can see it now. Built on the Q.T. in the prison library, cranked up and let loose after its christening, like some weird science-fiction monster, easily smashing past 20,000 volumes of Zane Grey, bursting out through the side of the library building, rumbling slowly across the west yard toward the nearest gun tower, bullets bouncing off its impenetrable armor, tear-gas bombs exploding all around it, sirens wailing, bedlam -- National Guard called out, still rumbling onward, onward, not to be stopped, finally reaching THE WALL, angry now -- completely out of control -- spitting gooey blobs of black molten tar at the N.G. Commander running along the top of the wall, now rearing a gigantic head , flashing a single mamouth [sic], keenly-polished incisor, hesitating, momentarily, then suddenly lunging forward, chomping at the wall, bricks and chunks of concrete flying every which way ... once ... twice ... and ... through! Daylight on the other side! A gaping hole, 20' x 20', appears out of nowhere ... two thousand cons stampeding through, on their way to Sacramento.

After perusing your comments about the First Day's reporting of the Great Bank Robbery -- random shots, 27 centavos, gambling activities, etc. -- I am more convinced than ever that you should see the transcripts of the first and second trial record. As for myself, I've never read either transcript, though I would bet that I could give a fair account of both without much error. I wrote sis again, this time asking her to send everything.

Here's a more up-to-date lead on Abe Greenbaum: "Informant F-HC reports subject handed suspected courier forty pieces of silver on 10/21/62 at Laredo, Mexico, for delivery to nuclear physicist residing in house on 92nd Street, New York City. S/A B. O. Schernnn [sic], Washington, D.C. Field Office, reports subject seen 11/28/62 walking east on Beacon Street, constantly checking for tail, suddenly dashing into parked limousine sporting U.S.S.R. Embassy license plates, which speeds away, runs red light, terminating surveillance as Agent Schernnn forced to brake bicycle to avoid breaking the law. Informant F-111-B reports subject and suspected courier observed at King's Tavern, Wilmington, Del. on 12/6/62, paying for drinks with strange-looking silver dollars taken from bulging briefcase carried by subject. Subject now suspected of being Mr. Big in Communist plot to disrupt U.S. economy by flooding country with hard cash. /s/ I.M. NEVERWRONG, SAIC, D.C. LAIR."

Or, we could furnish Mr. Xerox an even more up-to-date lead, of somewhat different vintage:

Abe Greenbaum, long suspected leftist is actually confirmed rightist, in deep cover, working plausible denial bit with one of nation's leading and best-financed foreign policy-making firms. He is driving along highway not far from Langley, Va., peering intently out of jagged hole in windshield of his Volkswagen, searching for sign bearing acronym "BPR". Date is November 21, 1963. BPR--Bureau of Public Roads--is innocuous designation used by Abe's firm. "Gee, the Chief must be upset about something," Abe mutters to self, "he used a rock this time instead of the ol' soap-the-windshield trick." Purposefully cruising past BPR sign, Abe makes U-turn in center of highway, barely missed by Fruehauf semi-trailer, then turns right onto road leading to firm's Main Office Building. "Must not be seen making left turn this close to headquarters," Abe mutters. Arriving at destination, Abe circles Main Office Building five times, finally enters parking lot abutting wooded area to right rear of building, drives to extreme right end of lot, parks Volkswagen on right side of firm's undercover utility truck, disguised with Bell Telephone Company markings. Sliding across right-hand seat, he exits from right door of auto, walking long distance to right rear entrance of Main Office Building which is draped with high Quonset-hut type roof. "Hello there," Abe mutters as he slips by uniformed guard he recognizes as Soviet defector, former KGB light colonel. Abe proceeds down mile-long, musty-smelling corridor, pauses under tiny, inconspicuous replica of firm's seal which is painted upside-down on right wall, notices that Bald Eagle's beak on seal is pointing to far left. "Must tell Chief Bald Eagle looking wrong way," mutters Abe. He then takes elevator to fourth floor, goes directly to Chief's office, raps out coded knock on unmarked door, enters. Chief is reclining in swivel-chair with feet on desk, arms folded, sleeping. On desk Abe sees torn-up typewritten letter addressed to CHIEF, DIVISION OF DIRTY TRICKS, signed by B. KNOW NOTHING. Chief is balding, slender man, oft referred to by underlings as "Dirty Dick", albeit behind back. "What's up, Chief?" asks Abe. Chief blinks eyes, opens them, snaps, "I see you got my message!" Chief smiles. "What's with this guy Osborne recruited for Fair Play Caper? XYZ man claims he's being used for wet affair by team we sold out at Cochina Bay." Abe shifts weight to left foot, uncomfortably. "Don't know, Chief," he mutters, "Ozzie seems like good man for penetration of target." Chief stands and yawns, grins slyly. "Well, just the same you'd better contact Tidbit and have him execute alternate ... plan." Abe stares at Chief with knowing-look. "Right, Chief, I'll get on it ... first thing Monday morning." Abe picks up cloak and dagger conveniently lying on desk, turns to leave, stops dead in tracks. "Incidentally, Chief, Bald Eagle on firm's seal is pointing left." Chief grins, sits down in swivel chair, leans back, puts feet on desk, clasps hands behind head, closes eyes. "Really?" He says. Soon Chief is snoring. Abe departs, returns to Volkswagen, worried about jagged hole in windshield. Mutters to self, "Gee, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow."

Of course, this lead is utter fiction too, a figment of the imagination ... still, it may make interesting reading for somebody.

Are you aware that a Duesseldorf record company has come out with just the thing for any German who wants to relive the heady days of Nazi victory? It is two long-playing phonograph records called, "From the Fuehrer's Headquarters (Aus dem Fuehrerhauptquartier)." Billed as documentary records, they are comprised of victory announcements and special bulletins from the Nazi high command, military music and soldier's songs, Nazi songs and speeches. A booming voice discloses the Nazis are fighting for the German nation and the security of Europe "against the ... plot of the Jewish-Anglo Saxon warmongers ... and against the ... Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik central in Moscow."

(Now where did he get that? What does all this gobbledygook mean, anyway? Could this be an important lead? ... I mean there is this thing about doing business with the Military-Industrial Complex, you know.)

Seriously, Arturo, I had better give with a plausible lead on this Abe Greenbaum fella, in spite of this business about plausible denial, or "they" are liable to drop his name from my approved correspondents list. That would be catastrophic, considering that he is the only other person besides sis who is so approved. And the lead had best not sound too cryptic either, or "they" might ship #83286 [Nagell's prisoner number] back to the Funny Farm ... you know, for more "treatment."

So let's try again:

Young Regent of Yanquis Land is visiting "Little D" to plug for assistant who is fast losing popularity amongst ultra-conservative proletariat of Friendship Province. Date is well-remembered date in fall of '63. Young Regent is hated by proponents of Secret War (and by director of large pharmaceutical combine specializing in manufacture of cyanide capsules) because word is out he intends to decree curtailment of clandestine operations of various Yanquis Land spook outfits, citing as reasons that regime's continued reliance on covert methods of achieving political goals widens faith-in-government gap, is corrosive to principles of democracy, etc., especially when spooks get caught in the act. Young Regent feels one spook outfit in particular is exceeding bounds of propriety, has expanded narrow function delegated it by International Security Act of '47 ... is becoming TOO POWERFUL ... is unduly influencing both foreign and DOMESTIC policy by its shenanigans ... thus, must have nefarious activities at home and abroad throttled, or at least have them restricted to endeavors which cannot be accomplished by other, more acceptable means. BANG! BANG! BANG! Young Regent no longer Regent of Yanquis land. Clandestine operations of spook outfits not curtailed. Cyanide capsule market flourishing. Too Powerful One getting MORE POWERFUL ...

What has all this got to do with Abe Greenbaum? ANSWER: Nothing. Is it a plausible lead? ANSWER: Not very.

Wait!

Before visit to Little D, Young Regent also thinking of effecting rapprochement with Isle of Cuber, establishing nicer rapport with Isle of Cuber's Big Mother Busher. Strange! ... Young Regent of Isle of Cuber also thinking of effecting rapprochement with Yanquis Land, establishing nicer rapport with Yanquis Land's Big Doctrine, Monroe.

How nice!

Feelers put out by both Young Regents through "private" channels in July '63, then quasi-official channels in August '63, through "official" channels in September '63.

Meanwhile, anti-Castor Oilers known as Bravo Club gets wind of feelers ... doesn't like smell ... nohow! There is huddle. There is chant: "Remember Cochina Bay! -- Remember Cochina Bay! Soon there is talk (louder than '62 talk) of giving Young Regent of Yanquis Land Xmas present ... yo! ... gonna brow that out to keep situation status quo (at worst) ... to change status quo for worse (at best).

Patsy is needed! She is pro-Castor Oiler well-known to Bravo Club. Two Bravo members speak to Patsy, convince her they are boyfriends, buy her Cuber Liber Cocktail (minus rum), get her drunk on glory, tell her they are special emissaries to Yanquis Land personally by Young Regent of Isle of Cuber to give Xmas present to Young Regent of Yanquis Land ... have "chosen" Patsy to help deliver Xmas present. Will be furnished Safe Conduct Pass to Isle of Cuber by Embassy in Mexico City. Will be given proper treatment on arrival. Oh, joy! Will live happily ever after. Can Patsy join Xmas Present Committee now?

Uh-uh! Not yet. First must prove self deserving of great honor. Must set up Chapter of Foul Ploy for Isle of Cuber, must stand on street corner ... pass out pro-Castor Oil tracts, must appear on TV ... root for Castor Oil products, must rumble with anti-Castor Oil salesman. Above all, must not mention Xmas Present Caper to anybody, not even husband, Ivan.

Meanwhile, Single-Man named "Snerd" gets wind of Xmas Present Caper and going-on at Bravo Club. Snerd is Isle of Cuber's Big Mother Busher's illegitimate son. Snerd gets in touch with Double-Man Abe Greenbaum, working in deep cover at BPR, Division of Dirty Tricks, as Rightist. Actually, Abe is Leftist-turned Middlist. Middlist Abe contacts Triple-Man Zero, sitting on ice because has burned butt. Triple-Man Zero instructed to join Delta Club, which is affiliate of Bravo Club, find out if things real. Zero does just that, craftily, in guise of crossbow expert. Discovers Patsy undergoing hypnotherapy by ex-ferry pilot named Hairy De Fairy. Reports to Abe things are for real, yes siree! Abe passes info on to Dirty Dick (and Snerd). Snerd passes info on to Big Mother Busher. Somebody flashes word back for Zero to let go with well-aimed arrow in Patsy's rump ... leave Yanquis Land, hubba hubba! Zero chickens out day he is to arrow Patsy, six days before Xmas present to be delivered. Pens Abe nasty note. Pens Snerd nastier note. Pens Dirty Dick even nastier note. Also pens note to Boss of Yanquis Land's Main Secret Police Bureau, tattles on Xmas Present Caper, tattles on Patsy, etc. Burns butt again. Searches in vain for cake of ice to sit on. Winds up in Friendship Province Halfway House.

End of lead? Not hardly.

Apparently something amiss. Xmas Present Caper does not come off per schedule. Delta Club disintegrates. Bravo Club Xmas Present Committee disintegrates. Abe drops out of sight. Dirty Dick is mum. Snerd crawls back inside Big Mother Busher's womb, dies. De Fairy puts on falseface, hides at 3330 Clubhouse, gets whipped. Director of large pharmaceutical combine gives order for increased production of cyanide capsules. Boss of Main Secret Police Bureau sits in office, drums fingers on desk, waits. Zero is still in Friendship Province Halfway House, getting older ... if not wiser.

End of lead? ... Not hardly.

Day of Infamy arrives! Patsy crouched at open window, armed with second-hand crossbow, quiver filled with curare-tipped arrows slung across shoulder. ZIP! ZIP! ZIP! BANG! ZIP! BANG! ZIP! BANG!

End of lead? ... Not hardly.

Patsy awakens from hypnotic trance. Says, "What am I doing here?" Wonders what cyanide capsule is doing clenched between teeth? Wonders what cloak and dagger is doing on window sill? Wonders why floor of room is lettered with pro-Castor Oil pamphlets? Wonders how chicken bones got in lunch pail? Memory returns. Patsy flees. Refuses ride by former Bravo boyfriend driving by in utility truck bearing Bell Telephone Company markings. Catches bus instead.

End of lead? ... Not hardly.

Patsy has gone her way. De Fairy has gone his way. One former Bravo boyfriend now living vicinity M. Cyanide capsule market still flourishing. Dirty Dick promoted within superstructure of BPR ... is still mum. Snerd reborn as "Terd". Abe Greenbaum has changed name, retired, resides in mansion protected by pack of snarling German Shepherds, disappears for one hour each night in vault to count huge pile of American silver dollars. Boss of Yanquis Land Main Secret Police Bureau has four-year old secret ... but is relaxed. Zero out of Friendship Province Halfway House ... is now in Old Triple-Man's Home for Aged. More Powerful One now MOST POWERFUL (evidently). End of lead? ... Not hardly. End of letter? ... yes.

Most sincerely yours,

Richard C. Nagell 83286

[Lee Forman]

What could be termed a similar type of situation / reaction / response by General Roland Culligan.

- lee

[John Simkin]

The most detailed study of the Suite 8F Group appears in the book, “Builders: Herman and George R. Brown. Written by two local historians, Joseph A. Pratt & Christopher J. Castaneda, the book, published by the Texas A & M University Press, is very difficult to find. However, I have managed to get a copy and it includes some interesting information about the Brown brothers.

The authors reveal that the judge in the Richard Case Nagell case, Homer Thornberry was a friend of LBJ and a member of the Suite 8F Group.

The photograph below shows four members of the Suite 8F Group (left to right Homer Thornberry, Sam Rayburn, George R. Brown and Frank Oltorf).

[Guest John Gillespie]

The only relevant questions about Nagell & his ilk ...have to do with his motives: Why was he spreading this bullxxxx?

I believe the politically correct term is "pablum" [thanks, Mr. Purvis!].

________________________________________________________

Nagell's insistence on tantalizing, manifest throughout TMWKTM, is insufferable. That said, the above criticism paints with an awfully broad brush. For one example, the Dick Russell/Mary Ferrell ID revelation - and its significance - ought not to be dismissed out of hand. Neither should the fact that Nagell died (predicted by a consensus of colleagues here) just before his scheduled ARRB appearance, thereby joining the ranks of Airtime, Ferrie, de Mohrenschildt et al. Those are factual.

Something else I found interesting - and which is tangential to Mr. Simkin's recent essays on the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK - is Dick Russell's timeline on Nagell. He was in Zurich, according to Russell, the day of the RFK killing and then arrested 3-4 days later by East German police. Nagell then was incarcerated until October that year, 1968. Make of it what you will but, in the light of the Simkin entries as perspective, at least consider the machinations involved and possible correlation.

Neither TMWKTM nor Nagell himself is a Rosetta Stone of the JFK assassasination mystery, as if we will ever discover one. However, this fascinating, troubled Intelligence Agent DID know a great deal of things and of people. For me his most significant remark came as an answer to Russell's question about Nagell's level of knowledge: he said (paraphrasing here because my copy of TMWKTM is at home) that the operation involving Oswald at that time did not necessarily involve a plan to kill JFK. That happened to strike a chord because it is known, though not widely, that insiders have manipulated and usurped various operations to accomplish their true missions.

Yours Truly,

John Gillespie

Edited April 5, 2006 by John Gillespie

[Guest John Gillespie]

"I personally find him 100% credible, and wish I was in a position to have had the opportunity to share a few "Heinekens with him in the years before his death.

Seems to me that Nagell was indeed 'A man without a Country.' Clearly a Military hero. Someone who tried, as best as he was able, to do the right thing - Richard Case Nagell.

- lee

_______________________

I am in complete agreement with you, Lee, as you probably know. Though I am not in position to corroborate anything in TMWKTM, others have - including Russell himself while constructing his tome. Nagell's modus operandi, his tales of the use of tradecraft (such as the neglected Harry Power contingency - "The ol' substitution trick" as Nagell called it) and his postulation all have a ring of clarity and truth. Oh, did I mention the timing of his death?

Regards,

JG

Edited April 5, 2006 by John Gillespie

[Dick Russell]

My basic approach to writing about "secret history" is, at first, to believe just about everybody. By that, I mean I don't prejudge someone I'm interviewing or dismiss even a "fantastic" story out-of-hand. It's only as I came to know a great deal about the Kennedy assassination, for example, that I was able to realize that quite a few - indeed, the majority - of the strange folks I'd interviewed were probably not telling the truth. Some may have been intentionally planting disinformation. Ultimately, I came to believe Richard Nagell - and Antonio Veciana, for example - because I gained a strong sense of their personal integrity. And, I guess, because there were things they WOULDN'T say, to my frustration. After awhile, an investigative journalist starts to draw conclusions by finding as many sources for verification as possible. It's time-consuming. As for getting ahold of documents, it used to be a lot easier to use the FOIA, before the Bush Administration set about trying to "cancel it out" - and thereby keep the "secret history" secret.

[Wim Dankbaar]

On page 26 of "The man who knew too much" Dick Russell asks what was in the trunk of Nagell's car, and he quotes

Nagell's answer in part as follows: "There was a photo of a friend of mine next to a sign in a restricted area with a unit designation of intelligence'.

Is he referring to this photo of David Atlee Phillips?

Edited December 11, 2007 by Wim Dankbaar

[John Simkin]

James DiEugenio, review of Larry Hancock's Someone Would Have Talked (March, 2008)

http://www.ctka.net/someone_would.html

I said that by 1975 Martino's information was pretty well known to serious investigators. But really, as Hancock relates it, it was known earlier than that. For by the end of 1968, all of the points -- except as noted -- were working axioms of the New Orleans investigation by DA Jim Garrison. To use just one investigator's testimony, researcher Gary Schoener has said that Garrison was "obsessed" with the Cuban exile group Alpha 66. At one time, he thought they were the main sponsoring group manipulating Oswald, and that they had pulled off the actual assassination.

One avenue by which Garrison was led to believe this was through Nagell. And one thing I liked about the book was that it summarized a lot of Nagell's testimony in more complete, concise and digestible terms than previously presented (see pgs. 39-58). In the first edition of Dick Russell's book, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Nagell's story wandered and got lost in a 900-page mountain consisting of much extraneous and tangential elements. Although Hancock leaves out some rather important details -- which I will mention later -- he does a nice job in distilling and relating its basic outlines. Between the two, because of who he was, his first person testimony, and some evidence he had, I believe Nagell's story easily has more evidentiary value.

Consider: Nagell actually tried to inform the authorities in advance. When they did not respond, he got himself arrested. He was then railroaded -- along with Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden -- because of his attempt to talk. He then wrote letters describing his knowledge to friends while incarcerated (see Probe Vol. 3 No. 1). He then revealed to Garrison assistant William Martin his specific knowledge of two of the Cuban exiles who were manipulating Oswald. One he named as Sergio Arcacha Smith. The other who he only hinted at had a last name beginning with "Q". This could be Carlos Quiroga, or Rafael 'Chi Chi' Quintero. Since Smith and Quiroga were known associates in New Orleans, I lean toward Quiroga. Nagell actually revealed that he had recorded their incriminating talks with Oswald on tape. Since he -- as well as Garrison -- did not know that Martin was a double agent, it is not surprising that the FBI later broke into his belongings and absconded with the tape, among other things. (Strangely, or as we shall see later, perhaps not, Hancock leaves this intriguing episode out of his book.)

Now since Garrison was the first law enforcement authority Nagell confided in directly, and the first person to take him seriously, the DA was clearly interested in the Cuban exile aspect. Especially since Nagell's information was being reinforced to him from multiple angles. For instance, David Ferrie's close friend Raymond Broshears was also quite specific with Garrison as to the importance of Sergio Arcacha Smith. And when Garrison tried to get Smith extradited from Texas, the local authorities, under the influence of Bill Alexander and Hugh Aynesworth, refused to cooperate. (It is puzzling to me that Hancock, who is so interested in the Cuban groups, seems to try to minimize the importance of Smith.)

One thing Hancock makes clear is how Nagell originally got involved in the JFK case. Like many foreign intelligence operatives, one of Nagell's ports of call was Mexico City. As certified by his friend Arthur Greenstein and an FBI memorandum, Nagell was there in the fall of 1962. And at this time, he began acting as a triple agent: "He represented himself to a Soviet contact as a pro-Soviet double agent, while secretly retaining his loyalty to the United States." (p. 54) It was in this pose that he became known to the KGB. When they approached Nagell they asked him to monitor a Soviet defector and his wife. The second mission they had was to infiltrate a group of Cuban exiles. The Russians had discovered a group of them in Mexico City making threats against President Kennedy for his actions at the Bay of Pigs. The Russians had garnered that part of the scheme was to blame the plot on the Cubans and Russians. This is something that, in the wake of the Missile Crisis, the Russians were desperate to avoid. From here, Hancock summarizes the stories of both Vaughn Snipes and Garret Trapnell, people Nagell suspected as being considered as pro-Castro patsies by the Cuban group (pgs 56-58). And it was this trail that eventually led Nagell to New Orleans and Oswald.