Larry Hancock

Rothstein has maintained to me that the reason for over 50 years the role of the Essex was covered-up was because of the two bombs that he has described as nuclear. He and many others on the Essex have been denied Veterans  benefits because the official record failed to  credit the Essex even being involved in the Bay of Pigs. I think you have to go with what he told you today as any discrepancy may be attributed to my not probing deeper in my conversations with him wherein he mentioned the bombs. You are a historian and I am not. Rothstein's and my conversation have covered a number of topics besides the Bay of Pigs. For example a fellow from the Brookings Institution called me last week about government and political figures who have been gay and I happened to mention Forrestal because the NYPD records show that he was according to Rothstein as was Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana who Rothstein and his NYPD partner Rubenstein confronted in a gay bar in NYC to alert him that he had been compromised and could expect to be blackmailed by forces that wanted to control him.. Hartke soon thereafter withdrew from seeking the Democratic nomination for president. The Brookings fellow was not aware of either of these two gay victims. According to Rothstein based upon his NYPD work, the world revolves around who has been compromised and by whom, something the late Epstein was all about.

Well the thing is we actually know a great deal about the Essex now and I was actually able to share a couple of items he was not aware of so that was fun. I don't quite get the denial issue because the participation of the Essex was discussed in all the official inquiries and at least parts of those have been released for decades now. 

We did talk about a number of those other subjects as well and it was a great conversation,  I was just curious if he had mentioned more about those special weapons earlier.

In addition, the full story of the Essex participation appeared in a Navy history news letter out of Hampton Roads quite some time ago - it covered the Essex participation in great detail including several of the things he mentioned today.

In any event, he was great corroboration and the information from his brother on the Independence covers something I had worked out separately.  Actually the Independence is the real secret because while the Essex was officially deployed and discussed, the Independence was officially not there and JFK was not informed it and its group had been dispatched.

Rothstein did say at one time that had the bombs been used, they would "have sunk Cuba." That is about the extent of what I recollect from my conversations with him. 

I am pleased to learn that not only did you provide new insights to him, which he must have been delighted to hear, but that what he had impart will prove helpful to you in your research and writing. Best wishes on your forthcoming  book on the Bay of Pigs that could ignite a renewed public examination of this key historical event.