David Boylan

Harry, Was Lechner one of the guys that helped secure the rifles and medical supplies that Hall, Howard and Castro-Alba brought to Dallas and then later to Miami?

Hey Harry, Long time! Harry, what do ou remember about John Lechner or Burt Mold? (Lechner's name and organization was listed in Richard Case Nagell's notebook. The entry was "Dr. John Lechner, Americanism Educational League.")

Thanks for this Bill. Great info.

Paul, I'll have to dig through my files but this was a Gerry Hemming doc. He did have a much better memory than Hall.This was Hall's first trip. The second was indeed in June. Hemming was complaining because Hall went behind his back to later meet his Hemming's contacts. I thought this date was noteworthy because it mirrored the Sierra initiative that also came out of California. This was the visit of Burt Mold and John Lechner to Chicago where if memory serves, they met with Cesar Blanco. My notes on Lechner: Lechner was an old time anti-communist. He was Executive Director of the Americanism Educational League, which was an arm of the California American Legion and the JBS. He was also very active in the American Committee to Free Cuba. He and Mold formed their own organization called Americans for Cuban Freedom. The American Committee to Free Cuba is a very interesting org that had a very interesting membership. The ACFC had many right wing extremists – California Rangers, Christian Defense League, etc. Some names of note: Robert A. Surrey, Gen. Walker’s right hand man, Kent Courtney, Hon. John Rousselot, Steve Foote, Harry Von Zell, and Jose Norman. Norman gave Loran Hall the money to get Hemming’s rifle out of hock. The check was from the ACFC. Hall knew many of these people and would give inspirational fund raising talks before many of these people. The HSCA was very interested in this group. -----------------

Some notes I had on Hall. Background – In January 1963, Hall and Hemming traveled to Dallas from California to meet with various conservatives in order to raise funds for anti-Castro activities. John Rousselot (District Governor of the John Birch Society. See Harry Dean’s account of Rousellot) gave Hemming some names of people to see, most notably Robert Morris. Morris then introduced them to Lester Logue. H and H visited Warren Reynolds who brought them to General Walker’s. Walker said he would throw his organization behind them. A newspaperman did a nice article on them and their anti-Castro efforts. It was due to the publicity from this article that Hall was contacted by and met Nico Crespi and Wiley Yates. Hemming claims that after Hall met all these people in January, he continued to see them all though 1963 behind Hemming’s back. Hall would meet with H.L. Hunt, Robert Morris, Dan Smoot, Wiley Yates, Lester Logue and the unnamed foursome in Logue’s office. (One was possibly Jeb Rose of Rose Trucking) After leaving Dallas, Hall and Hemming stopped in New Orleans to visit Frank Bartes and Larry Laborde. After leaving NO, Hall left Hemming and continued on to Tampa to visit Santo Trafficante. Hall went back again to Dallas in Feb/March without Hemming. Burt Mold and John Lechner go to Chicago from LA to visit Paulino Sierra end of February. Mold and Lechner were members of various conservative organizations based in California – Americanism Educational League, board member of the American Committee to Free Cuba, California American Legion and the Americans for Cuban Freedom that Mold and Lechner co-founded in 1961. Richard Nagel had an entry in his notebook “Dr. John Lechner Americanism Educational League.” Members of note of the AEL: Hon. Robert Morris, Vice Admiral TD Ruddock, Rear Adm Julian Wheeler, Brig Gen Walter Shoaff, Adm Chester Ward, Spruille Braden, Walter Knott, Herbert Philbrick, and Harry von Zell. Board Members of note of the ACFC: John Rousellot, Dr. John Lechner, Kent Courtney, Gen. Sumter Lowrey, JB Mattews, Herbert Philbrick, Matt Cvetic, Jose Norman, and supporter Robert A. Surrey (Walker’s aid de camp) [Hall’s immunized HSCA testimony pages 60-61] Mr. Hall. We were wasting our time with the hit and run raids in Cuba…Not only did we have to worry fighting the Cubans but we had to fight the American Government also. So rather than go through all that Logue and myself decided what we would try to do was form a government-in-exile, Cuban government-in-exile, try to get all the groups to come together under one group. In order to do that we had to have someone, some Cuban who would be accepted by all the groups…we tried to do that. We couldn’t get that accomplished. The groups wouldn’t agree to one president…I was there [at the meeting in Lester Logue’s office] mostly because I was you might say the military part of the operation. Mr. Triplett. At that meeting was a comment made regarding the killing of President Kennedy? Mr. Hall. Yes, there was. [Harold Weisberg interviewing Hall. Feb 1968] Hall: …We had a hell of a deal set up – we were going to take all the, uh, we were going to take [Carlos] Prio Socarras to Guatemala and we were going to invade Cuba from Guatemala into Oriente, set up a 24 hour holding period and ask the United Nations to come in and help us and we going to do this and Prio got…Yeah, and do you know what, the dirty lousy son of a bitch wouldn’t do it. Prio Socarras flat turned me down and I had the money to do it. Weisberg: Did you have an army? Hall: You bet. Hall: The reason I was really disappointed was because, one of Prio Soccares, in fact he was Prio Socaras military attaché,…his name was Emitario Sierra, he was a good friend of mine, in fact [sierra’s] sister, Carmen, tried to help me escape from prison in Cuba in ’59. (This is probably Paulino Sierra. Between the translation from the tape and Hall’s occasionally misremembering names – i.e., he kept calling Bill Seymour “Bill Sizemore.” – my comments) ----------------------------------------- Prio, Sierra and Pedro Diaz Lanz visited H.L. Hunt in trying to secure funds for JCGE. I'm not sure of the outcome. The money may have been laundered through Union Tank Car with William Browder in charge of the funds.

Paul, I believe that Hemming got his first intro to Walker via Warren Reynolds in January/February 63. He got Warren Reynolds name from Rouselett in California.

And another - http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20120901_Gaeton_Fonzi__76__reporter_who_wrote_of_JFK_s_killing.html

I read The Last Investigation shortly after it was first published. I thought it pulled together so many of the missing elements (along with Dick Russell's The Man Who Knew Too Much) of the Kennedy assassination. I wrote to Gaeton Fonzi thanking him and asked a few outstanding questions that I had. I was surprised to hear from him a week later. This was via snail mail. We did correspond occasionally over the following years. He was a most gracious man.

I'm sad to hear about his passing. He was a true gentleman. Obit: Gaeton Fonzi, 76, of Satellite Beach, died peacefully on Thursday, August 30 surrounded by his loving family. He is survived by Marie, his wife of 55 years, four children (Irene, Guy, Maria, and Christopher) and their spouses (Jeff, Dolly, Victor and Gina), eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Mr. Fonzi’s fame as an investigative journalist earned him a place on the Senate and House Committees which investigated the JFK assassination and subsequently resulted in the publication of his book The Last Investigation in 1993 which is highly critical of the Warren Commission Report. His book was considered by many critics as among the best books on the subject and he was recognized as a respected authority on those aspects of the assassination involving anti-Castro Cubans and the intelligence agencies. Previous to his involvement investigating the assassination, Mr. Fonzi was Senior Editor of Philadelphia Magazine where he wrote over 100 major feature articles and won the magazine’s first national journalism award. During this time, he published Annenberg: a Biography of Power and was featured in Best Magazine Articles 1968. An honors journalism graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fonzi served in the US Army Infantry and rose to Captain in a Civil Affairs reserve unit. Upon moving to Miami in 1972, Mr. Fonzi became editor of Miami Magazine and senior editor of its sister publication, Gold Coast. Throughout his career, Mr. Fonzi wrote for New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Penthouse, Avenue Magazine, the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune. He won numerous awards including two local Sigma Delta Chi Awards and a National Sigma Delta Chi Award. Mr. Fonzi was an avid runner who completed numerous races and three marathons. His greatest joy was sailing with loved ones on his Mariah Jones. He has been called the best investigative reporter who ever drew breath, a man whose courage and judgment could be trusted without hesitation. So who could dispute this lifetime Yankee fan’s claim that he was indeed Joe DiMaggio. Mass to be held at 11am on Tuesday, September 4 at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, 3050 North Hwy. A1A, Indialantic, Florida. Luncheon reception at 1:00 p.m., at City Tropics Bistro, 249 Fifth Avenue, Indialantic, Fla. (321) 723-1300

Dulles?

I second this Bill. Well done!

Paul, This covers some of the things you are talking about. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2363 Harry also mentioned knowing John Lechner. Lechner name was in Richard Nagell's notebook. Lots of good info on this site about Hall. Dave

Larry, knowing what you do now, does this make you take a second look at what Guy Banister was doing and what role LHO played in New Orleans?

According to Oltmans (HSCA Tesimony) who heard it from De Mohrenschildt, the money originated from H.L. Hunt and made its way down to Oswald. Rothermel to Martino to ? According to Hall, it was in Lester Logue's office that he was offered $50,000 to kill JFK. Logue was friends with De Mohrenschildt and was also a source of funds for Hemming and Hall. Logue also knew Surrey.

Karl Allen, former deputy commander of the ANP. He later split from Rockwell's ANP and formed the White Party of America. Allen put out a newsletter and wrote about Surrey and the ANP. He claimed that Surrey also used the alias of Max Amman. There are also quite a few ads in The Storm Trooper (ANP) that list a PO Box in Dallas for ordering ANP literature. Think American Eagle Publishing. It's most interesting because Surrey, who was James Hosty's bridge partner for years, was also General Walker's partner in the American Eagle Publishing Company. General Walker seems to be clean of Nazi activities, as far as I can tell, but then these little hints keep rising up -- like the one you just mentioned. Also, in Walker's 1962 testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Military Preparedness, Normal Rockwell marched in wearing full Nazi regalia, praising Edwin Walker to high heaven, and was quickly ejected. Also General Edwin Walker personally visited KKK member, Byron De La Beckwith in Mississippi in February, 1964, to give him encouragement in his trial for the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June, 1963. This was in the courthouse at noon, with the Press taking photographs. Best regards, --Paul Trejo

Surrey was a member of Rockwell's American Nazi Party and printed out Rockwell's literature. Surrey's daughter presented flowers to Madam Nhu when she visited Dallas in 1963. There was a lot of anger after her husband was killed and most blamed JFK. Hall was questioned by Hosty (FBI), Ellsworth (BATF) and Ed Coyle (MI) after Hall and Seymour were arrested in Dallas. http://www.guardian....me-nhu-obituary http://educationforu...?showtopic=3143 Hall had dropped a trailor of weapons he got from Guy Gabaldon (See Harry Dean) at Lester Logue's. Logue (oil man) was Gerry Hemming's contact in Dallas. Anyone ever place Logue and George DeM together? [Edit: Found it. Oltmen's HSCA testimony quoting George deMohrenschildt] "I went to Dallas and stayed with George deMohrenschildt and George said "Lester Logue is one of my closest friends." Why? "Because," de Mohrenschildt replied " Mr. Logue and I did a survey on oil for Batista in Cuba." Weisberg quote - "If you'll recall what I told you about Lester Logue in connection with Madame Nhu's visit to Dallas. What do you make of the fact that. Karen Surrey (daughter of Robert Surrey) presented a bouquet of flowers to Madame Nhu in Dallas. Surrey was Walker's aide. (see Vol.23, p.515-6.)" http://jfk.hood.edu/...967/Item 08.pdf

Book review - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/04/did-the-klan-kill-mlk-a-new-book-argues-wide-conspiracy.html

I second this!

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7673

https://vdremedy.ad.brown.edu/arsys/forms/vdremedy.ad.brown.edu/AST%3ALicenseCertificates/Default+User+View/?cacheid=6a2df3c1 Made it to CNN....

A new book by Larry Hancock and Stuart Wexler. The book web site is: http://www.theawfulgraceofgod.com/ The Amazon listing is: http://www.amazon.com/Awful-Grace-God-Religious-Terrorism/dp/1582438307/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330531540&sr=1-1

Scott, here are my replies to your question and your comment: (i) I've read rumors that he was medium height and rumors that he was shorter than average, but one way to know for certain is to obtain his Police mugshots and booking record from the Watergate break in. So, I've requested that; then I'll be able to tell you for sure how tall Frank (Fiorini) Sturgis really was. (ii) I believe that we had so many cooks in the kitchen (so many people contributing to any assassination plot against JFK that they heard about). But they weren't all contributing to the same ground-crew! Probably a lot of people believed that their hit squad killed JFK, and so their cash contribution was the deciding factor. But in reallity, it was only a fraction of that money that was successful, just as it was only a fraction of the hired 'mechanics' who actually killed JFK. Although the ground-crew that actually killed JFK was professional, and so they would not have talked, this would not prevent liars and boasters from claiming that they were the ones who killed JFK. It is almost a boast today - not really a confession - for somebody to say that his crew was the crew that killed JFK a half-century ago. Would somebody have talked? Actually, plenty of people talked -- but most of them are fake. For example, I don't believe the mob killed JFK, because, as Jim Garrison said, they did not have the means to cover it up, or the proper sniper's modus operandi. Yet Sam Giancana was going to testify, and Johnny Rosselli was going to testify, and others, also. Why? For prestige, probably. But the people who put up the cash for these hit-squads would never let them sing - so they were both murdered before they could testify to the HSCA. I think we agree, Scott -- the mob lacks the discipline of a long-term chain-of-command. That's why I believe the actual assassins were from a different school -- one with more discipline and more honor. The actual JFK assassins were probably trained marksmen with military discipline. Best regards, --Paul Trejo No need to go through the trouble, I'll tell you. My father stood at 5' 10". Frank was about four inches taller then my father. Frank would have stood at 6' 2", not short at all, by no means. Now, I have a question for those who are researchers, I have searched and searched, I cannot find any public record or open testimony from those in Watergate, my father was called twice to testify on Watergate, my question is, can anyone find any information on my father's testimony or what he said at the Watergate Hearings, I would even be willing to pay you for your time and any services at any amount if that what it takes to find my father's information, can anyone please help me? Like I said, I'm no researcher and I don't know where to begin. Scott Lots of stuff here... http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Watergate_Documents And here - http://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/watergatebug.html

Sad news indeed. Doug will be missed.

Before we label anyone "top level drug/Heroin smugglers," I think it would be awesome if we knew who these other guys were first. Also, for those unaware, you can actually click on the picture (twice) to enlarge it to its original size. Zach Guy on the far left, Air America pilot...

I'd say he was Hmong and probably served under Vang Pao in the SGU. http://hmongtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=190&ArticleID=3072 http://www.ljmilitaria.com/foreignmilitary/cambodian_thailand_laotian_items_for_sale.htm