William C. Bishop

[John Simkin]

Any information on William C. Bishop?

During the Second World War he joined the United States Army. Bishop served under General Douglas MacArthur as Military Intelligence Aide on the General Staff of Intelligence. His immediate superior was Charles Willoughby. Bishop also worked with Willoughby during the Korean War.

In the 1950s Bishop worked with the CIA and became involved in its Black Operations. This involved a policy that was later to become known as Executive Action. In 1961 he was involved in the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, the leader of the Dominican Republic.

Bishop was also involved in Operation 40, a CIA hit squad set up before the Bay of Pigs invasion. Frank Sturgis, another member of Operation 40, later explained: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time."

During this period Bishop worked under Desmond FitzGerald and was involved with anti-Castro groups in Miami such as Alpha 66. He was also case officer for Antonio Veciana and claims that Santo Trafficante helped to fund his organization. Bishop also had a close relationship with David Atlee Phillips and Roland Masferrer.

In an interview he gave to Dick Russell in 1990, Bishop claimed that Jimmy Hoffa gave Roland Masferrer $50,000 to arrange the assassination of John F. Kennedy. According to Bishop, he disapproved of this act: "I firmly believe that, in our system of government, if you don't like the man, then vote him out of office. Don't shoot him out. And we had a coup d'état on November 22, 1963."

The namebase entry for William C. Bishop is very brief:

http://www.namebase.org/main4/William-C-_2..._29-Bishop.html

Morrow,R. First Hand Knowledge. 1992 (103)

Russell,D. The Man Who Knew Too Much. 1992 (102, 505-14, 570-1, 681-2, 779)

Vankin,J. Whalen,J. The 60 Greatest Conspiracies. 1998 (15, 376, 379-80)

[James Richards]

Bishop's real name is Clarence Ward Bishop.

He penned this interesting letter below just after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Curious views on Manuel Artime and Tony Varona.

Does anyone know who this M.J. Cavitts is?

James

[Greg Parker]

Bishop's real name is Clarence Ward Bishop.

James, are you saying Bishop and John O'Hare were actually two different people?

He penned this interesting letter below just after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Curious views on Manuel Artime and Tony Varona.

Artime being an agrarian reformist probably got up Bishop's nose. And the letter does strongly indicate a mistrust of anyone who was once with Castro.

Does anyone know who this M.J. Cavitts is?

The name is spelled as "Chavitts" toward the end of the letter. My guess in either case, is that it's an alias.

James

[Larry Hancock]

I'm faimiliar with the namebase info that John posted by my impression was that virtually all of itwas sourced from Bishop himself?

It would be really helpful if you three or anyone else could bullet out the points in it which have been independently

corroborated or verified.

About the only thing I'm sure about from third party data is that he clearly did know some of the folks involved in the initial

BOP project and had gotten some introductions from JMWAVE staff to Guard or Reserve contacts in Florida - mostly

because in later years he seems to have used these contacts in some smuggling scams. I can also verify from checking

out address entries in his notebooks that he did indeed know some of the Interpen folks. I'd just like to know what else about

what is in namebase is actually true vs. just being picked up from book entries.

-- Larry

[Jack White]

I remember Penn Jones talking a lot about "Bill Bishop" being involved

and that he thought it was an alias. But I don't remember Penn writing

about him. At the time, in the 80s, I had never heard of Bishop, so what

Penn said was meaningless to me.

Jack

[Guest John Woods]

Gary Shaw has done some outstanding investigative work on Bishop,

some of the individuals involved in Watergate among others whom

are credited in Noel's book.

Gary may have mention Bishop to Penn? I miss Penn and I hope

that Gary is doing well!

johnw

[Robert Howard]

Gary Shaw has done some outstanding investigative work on Bishop,

some of the individuals involved in Watergate among others whom

are credited in Noel's book.

Gary may have mention Bishop to Penn? I miss Penn and I hope

that Gary is doing well!

johnw

I think one of the main areas of interest regarding the whole Bishop conundrum is over the fact that a quick perusal of the Sportsdrome list (not the WCH list but the maryferrell DB).....reveals some areas of interest.......ie Bill C. Bishop, Killgo et cetera......are there some I's to be dotted?

[Guest John Woods]

Peter,

Most amazing to me was the indepth research conducted by Shaw

that was never published in the book, "Cover-Up" which he co-author

with the late Larry Howard.

Shaw had also filed judicial lawsuits for the CIA's "Mexico City"

man along with WCD 729.

If I ever had the chance to rumage his files, it would be like a child

in a candy factory .

johnw

[Greg Parker]

Without being critical of anyone, if the idea is for clarification over further muddying, I think this is a good time to take stock.

We now have three names Bishop was supposedly born with:

John O'Hare (cited by various writers)

Clarence Ward Bishop (cited here by James)

Bill (William?) Bennett (cited as birth name possibility here by Peter)

There is also the very interesting tidbit thrown in by Robert of a William C ("Bill") Bishop being on the Sportsdrome list. Checking that list, it provides these further details from the '63 City Directory : Bank Manager, Brook Mays Music, 2927 W. Colorado Blvd., Dallas, TX. 1966 City...

I also want to throw this is in to see if it goes anywhere. From the letter posted by James, I found the following spelling/typo errors:

compleat (complete) X 2

moral (morale)

personal (personnel)

excepted (accepted)

proberly (probably)

loosing (losing)

(and as already pointed out, he spelled the name of the addressee two different ways)

Does anyone have a list of Oswald spelling mistakes to check against this list to see if he mispelled the same words in the same way?

[James Richards]

Greg,

I addition to the names already listed we have Col. Gray, P. Harrison and Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

To answer your question, I think Bishop and O'Hare were the same person.

Researching this character has proved to be long and frustrating. I do not wish to muddy the waters further but it is safe to say that this guy was an asset for David Morales and was plugged into several of the more independant Cubans and the more militant of the anti-Castro personnel.

Greg, you bring up Oswald and spelling mistakes so it is curious to note that several of the more serious anti-Castro guys around at the time (Miami based and never mentioned in popular assassination research) were warned not to mix with anyone using the name Oswald. This warning allegedly came from Bishop. Interesting given the geography and that Bishop was allegedly aware of the two guys using the names Leopoldo and Angel.

FWIW.

James

[Guest John Woods]

Greg,

I addition to the names already listed we have Col. Gray, P. Harrison and Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

To answer your question, I think Bishop and O'Hare were the same person.

Researching this character has proved to be long and frustrating. I do not wish to muddy the waters further but it is safe to say that this guy was an asset for David Morales and was plugged into several of the more independant Cubans and the more militant of the anti-Castro personnel.

Greg, you bring up Oswald and spelling mistakes so it is curious to note that several of the more serious anti-Castro guys around at the time (Miami based and never mentioned in popular assassination research) were warned not to mix with anyone using the name Oswald. This warning allegedly came from Bishop. Interesting given the geography and that Bishop was allegedly aware of the two guys using the names Leopoldo and Angel.

FWIW.

James

[/quote

Sorry Greg for the rambling of old memories.

FYI, James I compared the images of Bishop and O'Hare are the one and only.

johnw

[Greg Parker]

Greg,

I addition to the names already listed we have Col. Gray, P. Harrison and Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

To answer your question, I think Bishop and O'Hare were the same person.

Researching this character has proved to be long and frustrating. I do not wish to muddy the waters further but it is safe to say that this guy was an asset for David Morales and was plugged into several of the more independant Cubans and the more militant of the anti-Castro personnel.

Greg, you bring up Oswald and spelling mistakes so it is curious to note that several of the more serious anti-Castro guys around at the time (Miami based and never mentioned in popular assassination research) were warned not to mix with anyone using the name Oswald. This warning allegedly came from Bishop. Interesting given the geography and that Bishop was allegedly aware of the two guys using the names Leopoldo and Angel.

FWIW.

James

James,

thanks for the quick response.

So you're saying O'Hare was an alias of Bishop's?

My confusion is not just a result of this thread, but from a morass of contradictory claims scattered across the web. - mostly sourced to the same people - people like Morrow and other mercenary types.

Google and you can find articles that suggest "Col. William Bishop" was an O'Hare alias (as opposed to being the other way around).

That O'Hare died in 1975, while Bishop was interviewed by researchers 15 years after that.

That some articles on O'Hare do NOT mention Bishop as an alias (tho' other aliases are mentioned), but DO give him the exact same background.

None of this is meant to indicate doubt on your information. But can we get general agreement now to the effect that:

Bishop was born Clarence Ward Bishop, that at some stage, he changed his first name, or merely starting using the first name of "William"?

That: at some stage, he starting using various aliases, including John O'Hare, Col. Gray, P. Harrison, Oscar Del Valle Garcia and Bill Bennett, and

that: "John O'Hare" was "killed off" by Bishop in 1975?

[Greg Parker]

Greg,

I addition to the names already listed we have Col. Gray, P. Harrison and Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

To answer your question, I think Bishop and O'Hare were the same person.

Researching this character has proved to be long and frustrating. I do not wish to muddy the waters further but it is safe to say that this guy was an asset for David Morales and was plugged into several of the more independant Cubans and the more militant of the anti-Castro personnel.

Greg, you bring up Oswald and spelling mistakes so it is curious to note that several of the more serious anti-Castro guys around at the time (Miami based and never mentioned in popular assassination research) were warned not to mix with anyone using the name Oswald. This warning allegedly came from Bishop. Interesting given the geography and that Bishop was allegedly aware of the two guys using the names Leopoldo and Angel.

FWIW.

James

[/quote

Sorry Greg for the rambling of old memories.

FYI, James I compared the images of Bishop and O'Hare are the one and only.

johnw

John, no apology necessary. Are you able to post your photo comparison? I've looked at a photo of both and tho' they look similar, I wouldn't pick them as the same individual -- but then, to me all Oswald photos ARE Oswald, thus proving beyond any theoretical doubt that I'm no expect in photo analysis. Besides which, I don't know when the photos were taken. A few years could make a difference...

[James Richards]

Greg,

I addition to the names already listed we have Col. Gray, P. Harrison and Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

To answer your question, I think Bishop and O'Hare were the same person.

Researching this character has proved to be long and frustrating. I do not wish to muddy the waters further but it is safe to say that this guy was an asset for David Morales and was plugged into several of the more independant Cubans and the more militant of the anti-Castro personnel.

Greg, you bring up Oswald and spelling mistakes so it is curious to note that several of the more serious anti-Castro guys around at the time (Miami based and never mentioned in popular assassination research) were warned not to mix with anyone using the name Oswald. This warning allegedly came from Bishop. Interesting given the geography and that Bishop was allegedly aware of the two guys using the names Leopoldo and Angel.

FWIW.

James

James,

thanks for the quick response.

So you're saying O'Hare was an alias of Bishop's?

My confusion is not just a result of this thread, but from a morass of contradictory claims scattered across the web. - mostly sourced to the same people - people like Morrow and other mercenary types.

Google and you can find articles that suggest "Col. William Bishop" was an O'Hare alias (as opposed to being the other way around).

That O'Hare died in 1975, while Bishop was interviewed by researchers 15 years after that.

That some articles on O'Hare do NOT mention Bishop as an alias (tho' other aliases are mentioned), but DO give him the exact same background.

None of this is meant to indicate doubt on your information. But can we get general agreement now to the effect that:

Bishop was born Clarence Ward Bishop, that at some stage, he changed his first name, or merely starting using the first name of "William"?

That: at some stage, he starting using various aliases, including John O'Hare, Col. Gray, P. Harrison, Oscar Del Valle Garcia and Bill Bennett, and

that: "John O'Hare" was "killed off" by Bishop in 1975?

Greg,

Yes, Bishop was O'Hare or vice versa.

Unfortunately, I can not offer any documented proof of birth name as opposed to aliases he used. To be honest, I do not think any exists.

I have had to go on the word of guys around at the time who knew him. Some of them don't agree on points either so yes, confusion reigns supreme. I do not know what ultimately the answer is as anyone who seriously associated with Bishop is not going to go public or on the record.

To state the obvious, mysterious men like Bishop/O'Hare/Bennett/Gray are a vortex of mis and dis information which in turn makes it most difficult in figuring out what really happened on November 22, 1963.

However, in the classic words of Fox Mulder, 'The truth is out there', and there are very few folk living these days who can add to the bigger picture given their compartmentalized perspective. But why come forward when no one's going to believe them anyway? Sadly the demand for proof will go unfulfilled as it just doesn't exist.

More's the pity.

James

[Thomas Graves]

[...] FWIW Plumlee, when shown a photo of him laughing in fatigues, said that he was the "William Bennett" he knew at No Name Key. [...]

["editing" by Thomas Graves]

_____________________________

Too bad, isn't it, that Myra B. ran Mr. Plumlee off the Forum some time ago by accusing him, in so many words, of being part of the conspiracy....

Hopefully, "Tosh" will come back some day in spite of Ms B's loaded questions.

--Thomas

_____________________________

Edited April 30, 2007 by Thomas Graves