Charles Drago

A slightly nuanced take on multiple guns in DP, in the guise of an informed but by no means provable hypothesis -- at least right now.

The "Castro did it" gambit was not affected in the slightest by LHO's capture. Its sole purpose was to hinder investigation by promulgating the fear, as expressed by Earl Warren and others, that getting to the bottom of the hit inevitably would lead to nuclear holocaust.

Don't forget the function of the Kostikov incident. Soviet as well as Cuban involvement in the assassination was "documented" early on for anyone too eager to get to the bottom of things. Or to the top, if you prefer.

(Castro was then, and is now, an indispensable enemy. Like bin Laden. If eliminated, their value to the war machine is nil. No control, no excess, without threat.)

Under no circumstances could evidence of multiple gunmen be hidden from honest investigators -- hence the presentation of Oswald acting alone becomes the essential, viable fallback position. Recall the scene in JFK when one of Garrison's investigators is approached by an FBI agent and told that of course we know it was a conspiracy.

What then of the anti-Castro boys? How would they be controlled when it became obvious that a retaliatory invasion of Cuba would not take place?

Bribery, blackmail, and mortal threat.

There was one, and only one, target on November 22, 1963.

Charles

A review of the video of the Lancer Hemming panel -- on which I trepidatiously sat -- may prove beneficial as well.

I'm still wondering what "Godell" had to do with the assassination. (Named along with WerBell and Hemming himself by Hemming as among those who should have been arrested immediately after the murder.)

Is there a transcript of the Hemming talk? WerBell was involved, I believe in providing the silencers for some of the weapons not fired from the TSBD [and those not by LHO]. Hemming was in the mix of those involved for sure - but how involved is a gordian knot, for sure.

Peter,

To my knowledge a transcript is not available. Lancer sells a DVD of such abysmally poor audio and video quality that they should be ashamed to market it.

You might google hemming panel lancer in hopes of finding John Kelin's comprehensive and emminently readable review of the (non) event.

Charles

A review of the video of the Lancer Hemming panel -- on which I trepidatiously sat -- may prove beneficial as well.

Or fail to do so.

Perhaps.

Mr. Janney,

Was the Pinchot Meyer hit carried out to obscure her relationship to JFK, or to bring it to wider attention?

Charles Drago

The bulge under the left side of his suit coat is reminiscent of the protrusion under the infamous white windbreaker, isn't it?

Has anyone looked into the sizes and shapes of low frequency, portable communication devices available at the time?

Robert Morrow wrote about providing LF units for the Dealey Plaza operation.

The entire FDR coup story just hits too close to home.

I strongly believe that it holds the key to answering the "who" and "why" questions of the JFK assassination.

Or, as it perhaps was labeled by its prime movers, Operation Never Again.

Charles

My best friend, who is an attorney, has a colleague who married into one of the OLD money families identified -- correctly, I'd argue -- as one of the sponsoring agents of the FDR coup.

Over drinks one evening just before Christmas I suggested to this fellow that, over the holidays, he ask his wife's grandfather and father and uncles what they thought of Smedley Butler.

Who?

Trust me, I told him. You'll find the response ... interesting.

He phoned me early in January. All I got was obscenity, he reported. And oh yeah, the term "rat" was used by the grandfather.

I kid you not.

They also pressed him for why he was asking, and he promptly ratted me out. He was told to avoid bringing up the subject again. With anyone.

Charles

John, et al,

It was my great pleasure to meet and speak with Sherry Sullivan at a JFK Lancer conference. She delivered a moving tribute to her father and a powerful plea for justice. We were introduced by Gordon Winslow

Over the next few months we corresponded to discuss the possibility of co-authoring a screenplay based on her noble search. Working title: "Parting the Clouds."

If you'll excuse the expression, the project never got off the ground.

At the time, I was advised that Plumlee too was assisting Sherry in some form or fashion.

Charles

I checked in with Gaeton Fonzi about the possiblity of two Big Indians (El Indio) and Gaeton says

that he never ran across any reference or mention that there might be two people with

this nickname or being described in this manner...and when he asked Phillips about the reference

in his book there was no confusion that it might be multiple people, Phillips didn't try to point

him in multiple directions.

-- Larry

Larry,

This carries significant weight, but I'm going to keep looking.

And thanks for checking with Gaeton.

Charles

There is, I believe, a Tosh Plumlee connection to all this.

Up until now everything that has ever been written about the Smedley Butler affair has been designed to obscure and deceive. Until now.

But Chappers won't let you down - watch this space!

What I find difficult to grasp about this story is that someone with clearly left-wing views such as Smedley Butler would have been approached to take part in such a conspiracy. However, as with the UK and other European countries, I am sure that there were several rich businessmen who were willing to fund a conspiracy to overthrow the democratically elected government.

By the way, did you know that there is a link between Smedley Butler and the assassination of JFK?

John,

I'm not certain which link to the JFK murder you're referencing, but I'll share the one that I perceive:

Douglas MacArthur.

Jules Archer's The Plot to Seize the White House recently has been reissued in paperback. While it is, to date, the only book-length investigation of the FDR coup to have been published, William Corson and Joseph Trento had researched and written The Last President, another coup history that was scheduled for a 1992 release.

In fact, Oliver Stone had made plans to produce and direct a film treatment of that book. See the following link:

www.freerepublic.com/forum/a398316446f1d.htm

In addition, problematic JFK researcher Barbara Lamonica has published essays on the Butler affair.

As for why Butler would have been approached: Manipulation of the protesting veterans encamped in D.C. was a key element in the plot, and they would have been fiercely loyal to and obediently followed their hero Butler to the exclusion of just about everyone else. It was a calculated risk, I think, one born of arrogance and necessity.

MacArthur and his masters learned their lesson, and took the gloves off in 1963.

Would you care to share your JFK link? Would it have anything to do with Camp Butler in Okinawa?

Charles Drago

Myra,

I'll be the first to write for the record that, at the present time, it's at least as likely that my interpretations of the Morales photos will be shown to be baseless as it is that we've stumbled onto the latest in a long series of double-header gambits.

We need to identify the other El Indio -- James, by the way, is on the right track when he, like me, recalls that this character was/is Cuban.

We need more photos of DSM and serious, objective analyses of the photos in hand.

We need to understand that, given the recent heightened interest in Morales, the release of photos doctored to engender just the sort of suspicions that I harbor is hardly out of the question.

The objective of such an op: To distract and demean "conspiracists" who see bogeymen behind every tree.

Let's proceed with hard-earned wisdom and all due caution.

Charles

Onward indeed, James.

With the caveat that the photos we do have of the historic Morales are B&W and few in number, there is nothing in his appearance that to these eyes would prompt the "Indian" sobriquet.

That being noted, it may well be that "El Indio" was not inspired by facial features but rather arose from recognition of heritage alone.

I still feel that I'm on shakey ground, but something's wrong with the Morales picture(s). Again, compare the big, round countenance in the Cuban photo with the others we now can study. The high school basketball view and the Viet Nam shots show a slender person of modest frame.

(And yes, I have first-hand evidence of what middle age can do to one's middle section.)

But what about bone structure? And what about the hair? Significantly different styles and textures are noted.

As for the other El Indio being Cuban -- I think you're right. My own search through the literature continues.

I do not want to be instrumental in encouraging yet another wild goose chase. And yet ...

Curioser and curioser ...

Charles

James,

"Dramatic" is the only word to describe the weight loss. This is the sort of thing that contributes to the "were there more than one of these guys" questions.

I'd appreciate your take on the differences between the Cuban-released photo of the clean-shaven, square-jawed, round-faced Morales, and the "dramatically" thinner character we otherwise see. Please think of this in light of the two El Indios issue as I've raised it previously.

One of many questions: Do you see anything in the Morales photographic record -- albeit comprised of B&W images -- that would lead a stereotypically inclined person to peg him as an "Indian"?

Charles

Seems to me that this is just the sort of situation (provocation?) to put to the test our seasoned instincts as observers of the secret world.

Might someone be having a go at us?

Is the timing of Mr. Plumlee's return to these cyber pages -- and the contents of his most recent postings -- a tad too mannered?

I won't soon forget how the Secret Service veterans held a major celebration at the Dallas Hyatt Reunion at the same time that the ASK conference was being staged.

They were incognito, of course: fake organization listed on the lobby board.

All those elegantly attired ladies and gentlemen filing into the ballroom adjacent to the great researchers' entertainment program ... all those wry smiles and arched eyebrows ... and we were, in a word, clueless.

Charles

The Irish in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, and the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City, were known to pronounce it as "axed."

And they chopped down trees with an ask.

Peter, you also may be aware that TP was working for a time with the daughter of another pilot who disappeared on a covert mission: of the pre-assassination, anti-Castro variety.

Are you able to share anything you know about Plumlee's work with the Forgotten Families of the Cold War organization?

Charles

Just a few years before her own passing, Mary Ferrell shared with a small group of researchers her "informed" opinion that Barry Seal was not killed in that airport ambush.

You're right, Myra. Few things change in this world.

Bill,

I know two Italian-Americans whose features are so stereotypically Native American that they have "Indian" nicknames.

Don't mean to split (scalp?) hairs, but by the same token none of the Morales photos I've seen, including those most recently dug up by Messrs. Morley and Talbot, reveal a gentleman whose features readily seem to fit the stereotype in question.

The grainy photo released by the Cubans, however, is another story. The broad, round face, square jaw, and even hairline do not resemble those features of the older Morales; but age exacts a price -- or so I'm told.

I referenced this issue in an earlier post, which prompted John Simkin to opine that, to his eye, all photos are of the same individual -- the "historical" David Sanchez Morales.

Charles

To all who love and respect Tim Carroll I offer my heartfelt sympathy.

He has found answers to his questions, and I have faith that he continues to be -- not as mere memory or historical abstraction, but as a personality in spirit. Eternal. Indomitable. Loving.

Charles Drago

I think I may have found your Other "El Indio," among BEA's cast of characters.

Could "El Indio II" be Ernie Sparks?

This guy Ernie Sparks also reminds me of the "CIA Cowboy" in that little coastal town in Chile where the young American Harmon overheard coup operatives bragging, which cost him his life, as portrayed in the book and movie "Missing."

What do you think?

BK

Bradley E. Ayers:

ERNIE SPARKS - "Sitting Bull" - The Other Indian?

Eventually, and old CIA training officer, Ernie Sparks, arrived and took over as chief of branch….Ernie dressed in Western style, with cowboy boots, jeans and open collared riding shirt. Often he would have a big revolver holstered at his side.

He was about 50, with gray hair, a droopy mustache, ruddy complexion, and piercing blue eyes.

He was portly but muscular. He could have been a Wild West movie character.

He had been nicknamed 'Sitting Bull' while serving as a training officer in Guatemala, preparing Cuban exile Brigade 2506 for the Bay of Pigs invasion. As the time went by I learned he had a penchant for booze, women and sports cars….."

Bill,

Thanks for looking -- and for the pm.

While "Sparks" surely qualifies as a candidate, I recall that the other El Indio was literally of Native American heritage.

But it's also possible that I'm experiencing the so-called creative memory phenomenon. So let's keep looking; I'll mount a semblance of a search through my library and via the Internet.

Something tells me that Bill Turner and/or Gaeton Fonzi would have this info at hand.

And I'm convinced that this is an important story within the doppelganger-as-intel-op context.

Charles

Apologies in advance if I've missed this in a previous post:

The "other" William Buckley was executed after having been taken hostage in (I believe) Beirut.

The whole "twins" thing can be blunted by exposure.

Unless, of course, we do it twice.

Charles

Condensed from one of my posts on the "David Morales" thread:

____________________________________________

I'd like to explore the possibility of a Morales "double" -- in the broadest, doppelganger sense of the term. If I'm not mistaken, there was another operative of the period known as "The Indian," or "El Indio."

[After a JFK Lancer program] I was approached in Dealey Plaza by one of the conference attendees, who told me that there were two "big Indians" in the mix.

We all might benefit from a discussion of the "other" one.

_____________________________________________

Was there such a character? Was he named Sanchez, or Sanchez Morales? And/or was he known as "The Indian" or "El Indio"?

I recall having read about such a person many years ago.

Charles

Tim,

East Greenwich is lovely, and the waterfront today is lined with restaurants and dockside bars.

As for your work with the RI GOP: Let's see ... the state's General Assembly is 94% Democrat, the Congressional delegation is 100% Democrat, the mayor of the capital city is a Democrat, the governor is an under-seige Republican who is about to be threatend with a recall ...

By any chance were you involved in the design of NASA's O-rings?

Just kidding around, of course. In fact, RI has very strong connections to the secret world -- Tracy Barnes, Lyman Kirkpatrick, and others.

Plus Meyer Lansky's niece lives in Providence.

Little Compton and environs shelter a number of important ex-spooks.

And RI's new junior US senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, is the son of Charles Whitehouse, about whom much needs to be said.

You should pay a visit to your old stomping grounds.

Bring money.

Charles

Bill,

Yes, it is New Jersey.

Campbell's Social Security number was issued in Rhode Island. I wonder if that means anything?

James

Trust me: Being born in Rhode Island means nothing whatsoever.

In Providence,

Charles