Leslie Sharp

I found very little on the Browns and Newall. I'm interested in all things ARAMCO. Another significant Texas thread.

Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Red Sea?

LOLOLOL. I Know N.u.t.h.t.h.i.n.g!!

Newman has told others that his office was broken into and his Cobb file(s?) was stolen; apparently he had filed one particular document or group of documents in another area and planned to release them to the public at some point. To my knowledge that has yet to happen. Also, my understanding is that June handed over those files to John with the understanding they would be returned; for some reason she failed to make photocopies so the originals were invaluable. He never returned the originals to June. Why would anyone break into John's office and not steal additional research, or did they? Are we to understand the break-in was specific to June's files? If so, why wasn't Albarelli's place broken into as well?

C/PW Seymour Bolten/Trouchard? (actually, Trouchard may be Kent) (62-63) (64 - SAS/SO/SB) C/PW George Joannides/Newby (63-64) aka Henry Boysen Ops Officer - Deputy COS - August 61 Frederick Inghurst - deputy COS (re Joannides personnel file) - field contracting officer Shackley's chief of operations Raymond L. Pochron (?) was C/CI/JMWAVE during 1962 Winfred Jimerson (Sforza?) was C/CI/JMWAVE from late 1962 to mid-1963 CI officers Lewis Nicklas, George Watts, Here's the CIA flowchart for JMWAVE: COS and DCOS, w/secretaries and communicators Branches: Support, Ops Branch of FI and Special Ops, CA Branch, External Ops Branch, Reports Section, Technical Services Section C/Miami, chief of operations, Morales (Ult Sac, p. 57) Bill, do you read anything into his recruitment of Augustin Guitart in context of the Odio incident? Pure coincidence?

I've never seen evidence that he was. He was reposted to Cordoba Argentina in I believe late '64/ early '65. He passed away only recently. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/readingeagle/name/carl-trettin-obituary?id=54013075

Thanks, John. I'm sensitive to the fact that a number of sources claiming Louis Mortimer Bloomfield was attorney to the Bronfman dynasty are controversial, e.g. the Torbitt Doc, EIR, and (for some) Mae Brussell so I just pulled together several benign links to establish that 1) Bloomfield was in law practice with the Montreal-based Phillips & Vineberg from 1930-1970, and 2) the firm's founding partner Philip Vineberg was both a friend and attorney for the patriarch Sam Bronfman as well as a number of members of the family according to additional sources. [ArchiviaNet] CAIN No. 264041 TITLE: Louis M. Bloomfield fonds [textual record, graphic material] PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 5.87 m of textual records. 14 photographs : b&w. DATES: 1883-1984. ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Louis M. Bloomfield, born in Montreal in 1906, received his B.A. from McGill University in 1927 and his L.L.M. from the University of Montreal in 1930. He was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1930 and created a K.C. in 1948. Bloomfield practised international law with Phillips, Bloomfield, Vineberg and Goodman, 1930-1970. I am still surprised that Father, surrounded as he was by the ablest accountants and lawyers, could have embarked on such a poorly structured venture. The reason, of course, was that it was very difficult to tell Sam Bronfman that he was wrong. No one ever wanted to be on the receiving end of his violent, epithet-laden outbursts. Even Philip Vineberg, a brilliant lawyer whom Father trusted and respected, was a little afraid of him. "If your father wants to do it this way, who's gonna say no?" he asked me. — "Good Spirits: The Making of a Businessman" by EDGAR M. BRONFMAN G. P. Putnam's Sons (C) 1998 Edgar M. Bronfman All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-399-14374-2 https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bronfman-spirits.html https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vineberg-70 In 1971, Leo Kolber was appointed after Sam’s death, along with Philip Vineberg, who had become the Bronfman’s chief legal adviser. — "From Shirtsleeves to Shirtless”: The Bronfman Dynasty and the Seagram Empire, Graham D. Taylor, Prof History, Trent University https://thebhc.org/sites/default/files/taylor_0.pdf Setting aside controversial representations — some of which are flagrantly antisemitic — can we agree that from these innocuous citations it's reasonable to conclude Bloomfield also provided legal services to the Bronfman empire on behalf of his firm, even if only occasionally?

John, if I can step in here to ask if you could clarify whether Bloomfield provided legal services to the Bronfman Dynasty regarding either their vast business investments or their personal affairs or both?

Are you thinking of Admiral Arleigh Burke, or maybe General Georg Decker?

@Robert Reeves RR, thanks for reminding us of Mae's deep dive into Sheffield Edwards. Her prescience is virtually unmatched and I think had elements within the community not maligned her work, we would've been further down the road in a significantly different direction much earlier. She was the embodiment of "a beautiful mind" imv. And thanks for clarification of the date of Sheffield's "retirement." I agree with you. It's puzzling those records were withheld for decades. To what end? When I read September I thought it was less relevant, but June 29 comports with a very brief note in a record maintained by Pierre Lafitte on July 9 indicating his wife was unhappy followed by the name Katie*, and the name Sheffield. Hank Albarelli was informed by Mrs. Lafitte that the Edwards and she and Pierre had developed a close friendship as confirmed by another entry on December 23, "dinner with the Edwards." We can only speculate that she had spoken with Sheffield's wife in early July and was 'unhappy' — perhaps at the news or perhaps that Sheff's wife was upset? *Sheffield's wife was Sarita Barber Edwards, not "Katie". We've yet to determine why the name appears with Sheffield, but for now we speculate it was a nickname. Notes about the relationship between Sheffield Edwards, Office of Security, and Pierre Lafitte — the elusive "special employee" of several three-letter agencies throughout the Cold War: In June 1952, according to a letter by George White, the CIA officially recruited Lafitte as a “special employee” after he was summoned to Washington, D.C. to meet with CIA officials, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb and James Jesus Angleton. Wrote White: “Expecting to be at CIA only a day, Lafitte was held over for a few days. I hope to hell they know what they are in for. I suspect even to that crew that he’s one of a kind.” While at CIA headquarters, Lafitte also met Agency Security Chief, Sheffield Edwards, Frank Wisner, and Richard Helms. Subsequently, Lafitte undertook a number of covert domestic and international assignments for the CIA, including a trip to the Republic of Congo in December 1960, which, as noted, coincided with the January 1961 CIA-assisted assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Lafitte’s work for the CIA lasted until about 1978. Longtime CIA MK/ULTRA czar Dr. Gottlieb was more guarded about his words on Pierre Lafitte. “I’m not even sure he exists in the epistemology of the CIA,” said Gottlieb. “He gives whole new meaning to the label ‘spook.’” Gottlieb continued: It’s widely known that he worked with George [White] in New York and San Francisco. That’s no secret at all today. But… he did… he did a lot more than that. He traveled extensively for the Agency… I would encounter him in unexpected places, completely… I’d see him but I wasn’t privy to what he was doing. Often I would ignore his presence as he would mine. . . . These activities—and the personnel involved in them—were carefully vetted by CIA Counterintelligence head Jim Angleton. White became a “CIA consultant,” and Gottlieb was soon informed that Angleton and CIA Deputy Director of Plans Frank Wisner were very interested in retaining the services of Pierre Lafitte, for “special projects.” Lafitte’s unique skill set was understandably intriguing to these men, and soon Lafitte was engaging in meetings with officers at the top echelon of the Agency. On the evening of June 23, 1952, Lafitte’s wife Rene telephoned White at home and informed him that Pierre was being held overnight in Washington D.C. for meetings with Wisner, Office of Security head Sheffield Edwards, and Wisner’s Chief of Operations Richard Helms. Thus began Lafitte’s long-term relationship with operatives at the core of CIA’s clandestine operations. There would be dinners with Angleton who would become a close friend, coded communications, and Agency-assisted passports issued to Lafitte in the coming years. . . . The letters WIN indicate the broad program cryptonym, and often individuals were given numbers after these three letters. For example: QJ/WIN-1, QJ/WIN-2, QJ/WIN-3 and on. An October 1976 CIA memorandum concerning a “review of the ZR/RIFLE file” reveals the following: In 1959, [Harold Meltzer] furnished information to our QJ/WIN California office but has not since cooperated with us. N.B. he has the background and talent for the matter we discussed but it is not known whether he would be receptive.’ [This the review took from a December 1960 CIA document.] YAZBECK lived in Beirut and worked for QJ/WIN’s office intermittently during the past 10 years (dates not given-possibly during 51-61.) YAZBECK’s chief bodyguard from 50-58 (not named) was a convicted murderer. The bodyguard was murdered. States that YAZBECK has an available pool of assassins. Harold Meltzer first came to the attention of the CIA after mobster Johnny Rosselli had a conversation about him in 1959 with Agency Security Office chief Sheffield Edwards. Earlier the same year, according to a letter from FBN supervisory agent and CIA contractor George Hunter White to Garland Williams, also a FBN supervisor and a close friend to White, White and Charles Siragusa had discussed Meltzer with Rosselli during a meeting in Miami. It appears that Meltzer was not initially recruited by the CIA to perform assassinations, but instead was slated to help spot and recruit potential candidates for the Agency’s ZR/RIFLE and QJ/WIN programs. However, Meltzer’s skills as a hitman for Rosselli were notorious in mob circles. That the CIA, as exposed in the above quoted memorandum, maintained a “QJ/WIN California office” is intriguing and, of course, summons up all sorts of theories about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Regarding Robert Maheu's service to the agency, this document refers to "Office of Security" without naming Edwards specifically. It's significant in context of Lafitte because as early as 1957, Maheu was involved with Allen Hughes and John Joseph Frank in selling a quantity of electronic and X-ray detection equipment to the Dominicans in 1955-56. Frank would be charged with failure to register as a foreign agent. The names Hughes - Frank - Murphy (Gerald Murphy who was also named in the Frank indictment in context of the murder of a Columbia University prof purported but never confirmed to have been carried out by Trujillo's own diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa - who met with Giancana in Paris in June 1963) appear in Lafitte's January 4, 1963 datebook entry indicating that regardless of prior problems with the US government, they were still 'in play' in some capacity. Since Herbert Itkins — de Mohrenschildt's rep and known for his influence and lucrative dealings in both Haiti and the DR at the time — also appears frequently in the Lafitte datebook, we can guess Hughes-Frank-Murphy were not far behind? https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/157-10005-10159.pdf

Great contribution, RR. Can you readily put your hands on the record that indicates Sheffield Edwards quit the agency September 30? His obit indicates 1963, but I'm curious about the specific date.

Before Roger Stone's "LBJ Did It" consumes this thread entirely — and with the indulgence of Robert Montenegro who has generously provided the most comprehensive database of its kind to date — the influence of Clark Mollenhoff's reporting warrants review from a broader perspective than has been promoted thus far: . . . Sy Hersh notes that Clark Mollenhoff’s reporting included reference to Delaware Senator Williams’ access to an account of [Ellen] Rometsch’s life in D.C. over a period of more than two years, and that having been born in East Germany, she still had relatives on “the other side of the iron curtain.” Mollenhoff had added, either parenthetically or based on information provided him by his sources within the government, “The possibility that her activity might be connected with espionage is of some concern for security investigators because of the high rank of her male companions.” Thus, Mollenhoff revealed to the public that in July, the FBI had started investigating the possibility that Ellen was a Soviet spy, and that “with less than a week’s notice, she and her husband were sent back to Germany . . . at the request of the State Department.” Hersh observes that Mollenhoff, who had covered labor corruption during the 1950s, had been an enthusiastic supporter of Bobby Kennedy’s work as general counsel of the Senate Rackets Committee. Writes Hersh, “The two men had grown apart—the specifics of their dispute could not be learned for this book—and the increasingly conservative [emphasis added] Mollenhoff had begun to write extensively, and critically, of the Kennedy administration’s decision in late 1962 to bypass Boeing and award the TFX contract to General Dynamics. Writes Hersh, Mollenhoff’s reporting “was taken most seriously by Bobby Kennedy.” Indeed, reporter Mollenhoff’s conservative leaning was apparent in public settings when in October of 1962 when he participated on a panel, “Washington Cover-Up” at Georgetown University alongside the president of the Ukraine Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and Georgetown economics professor Lev Dobriansky, evidenced in a photo in The Ukraine Weekly, and in ensuing years Mollenhoff was not shy about his commitment to anti-communism. A brief mention in an article dated Saturday, April 20, 1974 in The Ukraine Weekly, under the headline, “Anti-communist League Holds 7th Conference In Washington,” provides a window into his public support of the World Anti-communist League (WACL). Hosted in D.C. by the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF), the conference boasted some twenty-five speakers representing both free nations and countries under Communist suppression, including autocrat General Anastazio Somoza of Nicaragua and the Hon. Jaroslav Stetsko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine and head of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) since its inception as well as leader of the Organization of Ukranian Nationalists (OUN). The US affiliate of Stetsko’s ABN, The American Friends of Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations is infamous among Kennedy researchers for its leading member Spas Raikin being tapped to meet Lee Harvey Oswald and his Russian wife Marina as they arrived from the USSR. Among the US speakers at the 1974 WACL conference were prominent Republicans including future congressman John McCain, conservative journalist William F. Buckley, and Prof. Dobriansky. The lengthy article in The Ukraine Weekly continues to describe the events, “The first reception, hosted by three members of the American press, John Chamberlain, King Features Syndicate columnist, Robert Hurleigh, Mutual Broadcasting System columnist, and Clark Mollenhoff, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and Washington Bureau Chief of the "Des Moines Register and Star" was held at the National Press Club.” Of interest to researchers in pursuit of significant domestic and foreign intrigues in the decades following the assassination implicating yet another web of ideologically aligned forces, at the time of the 1974 WACL conference attended by Mollehnhoff and Dobriansky, the Cowles Communication / Des Moines Register board included Ret. General George Olmsted, close friend to Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke who resigned from the navy before President Kennedy had served a full year as president to join Texaco, one of four Rockefeller concerns to secure exclusive drilling rights in Saudi Arabia. Olmsted was the force behind the financial empire that within the decade would be caught up in the BANK OF CREDIT AND COMMERCE (BCCI) scandal. Later in this investigation, the network of WACL and Stetsko’s ABN, tied to the assassination of Ukranian Stepan Bandera who led the OUN said to be most closely aligned with Mussolini’s fascism before his assassination, and their affiliation with General Charles Willoughby and General Edwin A. Walker — both named frequently by Lafitte — will assume greater significance. For now, in light of the Ellen Rometsch scandal widely exposed by Mollenhoff who was first to compare it to the Profumo Affair and the possibility that more than blackmail was in play, it is important to draw attention to several Lafitte entries: NYC Rest guide ad. Talk of Ella R. photographs . . . in NY at Previews —Lafitte datebook, September 17, 1963 Meet with Willoughby at (Ella R) others at 49 East 53rd St. NYC —Lafitte datebook, October 15, 1963

@Roger Odisio I was just today reviewing the June 12, 1963 murder of NAACP's Medgar Evers and wondering once again why his death is seldom mentioned in context of the assassinations of the period. His assassin, Byron de la Backwith of KKK and Indignate White Citizens Council was visited in jail by Gen. Edwin A. Walker whose "Operation Alert" with evangelist Billy Hargis set a standard for Gen. Michael Flynn's ReAwken America Tour From there, a quick glance at most recent coverage of Gen. Walker provides a segue to your astute insistence that the assassination of Kennedy is perhaps more relevant than ever (particularly the forthcoming 'do or die for democracy' election cycle) and should be permitted on all JFK assassination related threads. Unless we understand fully (and call them out vociferously) the ideological forces driving the animus against Kennedy and Johnson's civil rights agenda — an animus we see today only thinly veiled in the backlash against The 1619 Project and similar — we'll continue to slouch toward all out civil war. Kennedy's assassination and cover-up reverberates within every element of the MAGA movement. March 7, 2024 OPINION: AN OLD FRIEND REVEALS A TRUTH By WYATT EMMERICH The Email from Chris Gordon stated: “Wyatt, I just picked up Peter Adams from the airport. He's speaking tomorrow for History Is Lunch about his new book on Gen. Edwin Walker. ' . . . There were so many bizarre interconnections between unlikely events involving [General Edwin A.] Walker and many other historical figures of that time. Give yourself a treat. Google History is Lunch Mississippi and listen to Peter Adams’ 40-minute talk. . . Fear and paranoia from rapid social and cultural change has now merged with the perfect vehicle to promote crazy conspiracy theories. This will not end well.' https://www.grenadastar.com/columns-local-content-opinion-state/opinion-old-friend-reveals-truth-65ea0a4228933 Peter Adams’s The Insurrectionist is the first comprehensive biography of Major General Edwin A. Walker, a figure who, in the 1950s and 1960s, became a leader of a far-right political movement known for its elaborate conspiracy theories, authoritarianism, and uncompromising white supremacy. Sixty years before the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Edwin Walker was charged with insurrection and seditious conspiracy. He was arrested on orders from the attorney general after leading a deadly riot against federal marshals as they protected the first African American student attempting to register at the University of Mississippi. Those who flocked to Walker’s side believed an invisible government working with coconspirators in the Kremlin and United Nations would soon enslave America under a one-world dictatorship. Walker’s deep state conspiracy theory has echoed through American political culture into the age of QAnon, finding a new home among today’s far-right extremists. https://lsupress.org/9780807179925/the-insurrectionist/

This highly impressive database — evidence of Robert Montenegro’s superior skills and commitment in a similar spirit of Daniel Brandt’s Herculean effort some decades ago — is invaluable as a tool for moving beyond three-letter acronyms to identify individuals active within the Military-Industrial Complex pre & immediately-post the coup in Dallas. However, making the leap that all on the list are “responsible for the murder of President Kennedy” without clear parameters of the term “responsible” is just that, a leap. I would suggest inserting the caveat to each category: With skills and in a position to . . . as well as applying a process of prioritization. Otherwise, the categorization of so many suspects might read: Men with Power; Men with Money; Men with Influence; Men with Power and Money to Buy Influence; Men Who Would Do Anything for Money, Power, and Influence, Men Who Hated Kennedy, Men Willing to Kill Kennedy, etc. It should go without saying that informed researchers recognize this database as presented provides enormous potential for future historians who are trained in document analysis. However, regardless of the unparalleled quality of the specific research and subsequent database, propinquity is not irrefutable evidence to indict individuals posthumously in the murder of President Kennedy. Massive lists have and likely will continue to inadvertently neutralize the fact that a tightly held cabal (some of whom are buried in this and similar lists) actively participated in Lancelot Project — the successful plot to assassinate Kennedy in Dallas and well-laid plans for the subsequent (and ongoing to date) cover-up. If AI is the endgame of this project, how might the omission of key figures (from this or any database) in the triumphant assassination plot, execution, and cover-up affect the outcome of the analysis? Can artificial intelligence figure out the sins of omission in a database? To address these concerns, in due time and with no agenda other than to advance the cold case investigation into who killed JFK, a new EF thread will provide a supplement to incorporate and hierarchize individuals exposed by Pierre Lafitte in his privates papers provided to investigative journalist Hank Albarelli — a number of whom overlap with characters identified by Otto and Ilse Skorzeny as revealed in the collection of papers secured by Major Ralph Ganis — establishing irrefutable circumstantial evidence (beyond but not exclusive of government records) of their specific roles in the assassination and ensuant Coup in Dallas. As recommended to preserve the integrity of this database: 1.With skills and in a position to Neutralize legitimate security for Presidential motorcade: 2. With skills and in a position to Engineer and manipulate patsies: 3. With skills and in a position to Designate patsies for post-assassination "narrative" control: 4. With skills and in a position to Coordinate the hit-team: 5. With skills and in a position to Provide the technical logistics for assassination team: 6. With skills and in a position to Plan the assassination: 7. With skills and in a position to Recruit and train the hit-team: 8. With skills and in a position to Cover up assassination plot and control mass-media narrative: 9. With skills and in a position to provide Security/coordinators for assassination fireteam/shooters: 10. With skills and in a position to serve as Fireteam/Shooters: 11.With skills and in a position to Finance and back assassination plot:

Returning to Raymond Gallagher’s exceptional research and subsequent astute insight into Bard Odum’s role, combined with that of author Bill Simpich the following is a truncated version of just how enmeshed the FBI agent was in guaranteeing that Oswald alone would be charged with Kennedy’s death: there was no conspiracy, there was no “coup” other than a blow to the president’s head. After transferring the rifle from the “scene of the crime” to DPD headquarters, after witnessing the arrest of Oswald at the Texas Theatre, and following a stop off to interview a witness in the Tippit shooting, Odum either cooled his heels the rest of the afternoon, or pursued leads that were not documented or have not been released. We do know from records that he ended up with shells and slugs from the Tippit scene in his pocket. We also know with certainty that within twenty-four hours of the assassination, Odum was pulled into yet another attempt to cement Oswald’s guilt. Again, author Bill Simpich: “[Wallace] Heitman had a close colleague—Bardwell Odum . . . while Heitman specialized in working with the Russians and the Cubans as a valued CIA liaison for the Dallas office, Odum was a senior criminal specialist and a favorite of Dallas FBI chief Gordon Shanklin. Heitman was the man who met Eldon Rudd on the tarmac the night of the assassination. Rudd was delivering documents provided to him by CIA Mexico City chief Win Scott—a photo of the Mystery Man that Scott allegedly believed was Oswald. . . .” Simpich reminds us that J. Walton Moore, agent in charge of the CIA’s Dallas office, was a college roommate of Wallace Heitman. It was Moore that introduced George de Mohrenschildt to the returned “defector,” Oswald, and Moore and de Mohrenschildt shared a friendship with Texas oilman and former WWI Col. Lawrence Orlov who is named in the Lafitte datebook. CIA agent Heitman’s buddy, SA Odum was teamed up that evening with James Hosty, the agent assigned to Oswald since his return from the Soviet Union and infamous for having destroyed an alleged note from Oswald. Odum was the only agent to later claim that Hosty’s story about the Oswald note was erroneous. Ruth Paine soon changed her assessment of the note to align with Bard’s by insisting that the note was yet “another lie” told by Lee. When the photos arrived from Mexico City, after cropping any vestiges of the embassy building behind the image of a man in the photo that they intended to present to Marina for identification, the Hosty/Odum team proceeded to the motel in Garland, north of downtown, to confront her. Enter Marguerite Oswald who ran interference that night, and refused to allow Odum to interrogate either of them. Despite those seeming early unpleasantries, a photo of the Bard facing Marina who is cradling her newborn (seen in the photograph section of this book) attests to the FBI agent’s persistence. It also reveals that Ilya Mamantov was no longer her translator. The woman in the middle of the photo has been identified as a skilled Russian translator. Apparently Ilya had served his purpose. Over the ensuing months, while CIA’s Heitman relentlessly pursued a very vulnerable Marina, pressuring her to confirm the latest official version of the investigation, whatever version that was, Bardwell would have cordial visits with Ruth Paine and Michael at least ten more times. In fact, Ruth referred to Bardwell as her “primary contact”; Freudian slip perhaps, or, it is also possible that both she and Michael were always kept in the dark. Researcher Gallagher additionally draws attention to Ruth’s testimony which indicates that Agent Odum was involved in the seizure of Lee’s wedding ring—a ring that in the following decades would serve as centerpiece of the Sixth Floor Museum, ensconced in a plexiglass case positioned dead center in the passageway through the main floor. The ring has been a nuanced symbol advancing the myth of the lone gun assassin in the minds of millions upon millions of visitors to the Dealey Plaza over decades. Odum also pursued employees at the Texas Employment Commission responsible for placing Oswald in several jobs. One of those TEC employees made a permanent move from the area she had lived in for decades within months of Odum’s interviews. Some suggest she was terrified. Also, it was Odum who ordered construction of a replica of the alleged bag that concealed the alleged weapon, from materials found in the depository shipping room, to show to Wesley Buel Frazier, the Paine's neighbor and Lee's ride to work the morning of November 22. There can be little doubt that Bard was hell bent on perpetuating the case against the patsy, Lee Oswald. Researcher/author Simpich also references records that indicate the confusion facilitated by Odum around the identification of a Minox camera discovered in the Paine’s garage, discrepancies that were fueled by Michael Paine’s sudden realization that the camera was his. Simpich then reminds us of perhaps the most intriguing fact relevant to the pursuit of the real caretaker: SA Odum and Oswald had shared the same Irving barber, Cliff Shasteen. Absent the official records of Odum’s work schedule throughout 1963 to determine who he may or may not have been assigned, Shasteen provides perhaps the single most solid clue in support of the hypothesis that he was the Oswald caretaker named by Lafitte beginning in March 1963. Two final aspects of Odum’s approach to the investigation convince us of his crucial contribution to the diversion created by the arrest and indictment of the patsy. In 2002, researchers Tink Thompson and Gary Aguilar tracked down Odum to ask about a FBI summary memo of interviews of those who witnessed the “magic bullet,” the projectile that was alleged to have penetrated both John Kennedy and the man sitting in the jump seat of the limousine in front of the president, Texas Governor John Connally. The memo includes a statement by O. P. Wright, a former policeman working at Parkland Hospital when the bullet (known as Warren Commission Exhibit #399) was discovered. Wright insisted that the bullet in question was pointed tip and not rounded as is the bullet housed in the National Archives. During the 2002 interview, Odum disavowed the memo, insisting that he was never in possession of the “magic” bullet, despite FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s memo indicating unequivocally that his agent in Dallas, Bardwell Odum was included in the provenance of what was the most phenomenal piece of evidence in support of the lone gunman theory central to the function of “the patsy.” The ease with which Odum challenged his ultimate superior, FBI Director Hoover who he had served for over two decades, is telling.

Warren Commissioner John J. McCloy asked Day: "There was never any doubt in your mind what the rifle was from the minute you saw it?" Day replied, "No, sir; It was stamped right on there, 6.5, and when en route to the office with Mr. Odum, the FBI agent who drove me in, he radioed it in, he radioed in what it was to the FBI over the air."61 The HSCA added that "Later that day, the rifle's six-round cartridge clip was removed by Lieutenant Day in the Dallas Police Crime Laboratory."62 Evica further points out that Day waited until he got to his office to dictate a detailed description of the rifle, which remained in his possession from the moment it was found. That description and four others are missing from the Commission's public record: 1) Weitzman's FBI description, 2) Day's dictated memo, 3) Day's description to FBI Special Agent Bardwell D. Odum, 4) Odum's broadcast, and 5) Dallas police Detective C.N. Dhority's description.63 Five descriptions that would have prevented the "folklore" of a planted rifle were not made public. https://www.assassinationresearch.com/v1n2/gtds.html

AIR FORCE COL. HERSCHEL V. WILLIAMS "In addition to his legitimate reason for dealing closely with Ilse Skorzeny at Previews, Col. Williams was apparently in frequent communication with Otto." In what has been reported as a vicious competition for status and financing, Donovan’s OSS won out over Frenchy Grombach’s The Pond. Ironically, later Donovan’s World Commerce Corp. would assume a structure and profile similar to that of Grombach’s organization, serving as cover for what was tantamount to a semi-private/government front for espionage and global intel operations. The minor thread in the tapestry, from Grombach to our investigation, can best be condensed in a vignette of his history in New Orleans. “Frenchy” was the son of the French Consul in New Orleans, and as a young man, he was infamous for his boxing skills, shared with the son of an executive of Southern Cotton Oil Co. in New Orleans, Herschel V. Williams. Years later, former OSS agent and Air Force Col. Williams was hired as a senior executive of NYC Previews Inc., the international real estate firm that provided Otto Skorzeny’s wife Ilse a cover as she maneuvered the globe in the decade leading to the assassination in Dallas.The Hawley’s banking operation in Connecticut attracted to the board founded by their common ancestor in the mid-1800s, the famed aviation pioneer, Igor Sikorsky, a native of Kiev [now the capital of Ukraine]. Of significance to our inquiry into Tom and Carolyn Hawley Davis, in 1963, Igor was the honorary chairman of the Tolstoy Foundation, an aid organization that he helped found in 1939. On the board of the foundation in ’63 was Herschel V. Williams, a Sr. VP of Previews, Inc. where Ilse Skorzeny enjoyed cover, as well as Paul Raigorodsky, the Russian born oil geologist based in Dallas, known as the known as the "Czar of the White Russian community.” Raigorodsky had served as head of the Office of Petroleum Coordination for War during the war, reporting to Donald Nelson (a corporate alumni of Sears & Roebuck) who was chief of the WPB; Nelson in turn, reported to Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes who was succeeded by Thomas Proctor’s good friend and future law partner, Paul McNutt, as High Commissioner of the Philippines. At the time, Raigorodsky’s father-in-law was the vice chairman of the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve Board in the 1920s. Raigorodsky and H. V. Williams have already been mentioned, but for the purpose of understanding the significance of the petroleum geologist as a pivotal character in Dallas in the lead up to the assassination as well as William’s role in real estate venture Previews, Inc., it is important to first absorb the context of these Connecticut connections, including those with the Hawley’s bank. It was Raigorodsky who testified before the Warren Commission that Jean de Menil of Schlumberger, Ltd. was in direct discussions with George de Mohrenschildt related to operations in Haiti the summer of 1963—around the time that the Hawley’s daughter Carolyn was living with her husband, Tom Davis, in Southern California as he staged a recruitment for the invasion of the island. When interviewed by authorities, Carolyn explained that she and Tom were traveling on her credit card; she also stated that she was employed by a “typewriter firm.” Bridgeport-based Underwood Typewriter (a military contractor during WWII) had a plant in Van Nuys, CA, just thirty minutes from Ventura where the Davis’s said they resided when questioned by authorities at the Tahiti Village motel in Downey, CA. Carolyn’s family bank board in Bridgeport included Dennis. S. Sammis, senior vice president of Underwood Corp. (see additional implications of the aforementioned detail in Endnotes to this chapter.) Thus exemplifies the milieu and events surrounding the twenty-six-year-old bride, Carolyn Hawley Davis—steeped in three centuries of New England banking and social standing—as she stepped off that plane in Madrid with her new husband, twenty-seven-year-old jack of all trades, a convicted felon and soldier-of-fortune from Texas, Thomas Eli Davis. *** While Tom and Carolyn Davis were preparing for their September 1963 jaunt to Mexico City where they had lived periodically, Lee Harvey Oswald was standing in line with William Gaudet. Both men were there to secure a visitor’s visa allowing them into Mexico. Many familiar with assassination research will be familiar with the name Gaudet as the man who boarded the same bus in the Crescent City as Oswald on September 26 en route to Mexico City. As we learned, Lafitte entered the name Gaudet in his datebook following the words, “Oswald – Mex City”. A 1951 State Department Policy Planning memo, directed from PP staffer Robert Joyce to Nitze, expressed horror at the virulence of the “first strike” advocates in Washington at that time. Joyce honed in on a prominent advocate of war: “A Lt. Col. Herschel Williams I have long thought has played an important role in what might be called Air Force thinking in the ‘drop it now’ school.” Williams “now considers himself somewhat of a geopolitician. He has a new and rich wife, [the daughter of a prominent Missouri Senator], and I understand entertains lavishly in Washington along the lines which he and his wife regard as a political salon. He does not disguise his extreme hostility to the Department of State and what he regards to be the Department’s soft policy with regard to the Soviet Union. I have been advised he is listened to with attention and respect by some of his superiors in A-2. I am also advised that he is a close personal friend of Mr. Stuart Symington, who apparently has a high regard for Williams’ views on the world situation. From my short meetings with Williams, I consider him to be an ignorant, conceited, and wrong-headed man.” Joyce continued: “I know for a fact that Herschel Williams is a close friend and more or less constant companion of Mr. James Burnham, the author of The Struggle for the World, The Coming Defeat of Communism, and other books. I am also advised that Mr. Burnham sees quite frequently Isaac Don Levine. [sic] As you know, Messrs. Burnham and Levine are former Marxists who are now among the leading and more extreme of the hate-Stalin-and-do-something-about-it-at-once school. In short, I believe there is a great deal of evidence that there is a James Burnham-Herschel Williams-Air Force-Symington nexus…” The following day, Nitze sent an internal State Department memo in which he quoted a contact of his, Professor George Taylor, who had recently attended a dinner party held at the home of Freda Utley, a right-wing writer who was also a business associate of Otto Skorzeny. Taylor described the guests at the party as being a group of militant ex-communists who were “united by a sense of righteous urgency for immediate war with the Soviet Union.” Another guest at the Utley party was identified by Taylor as “an Air Force Lt. Col. named Williams.” Taylor told Nitze that “great adulation was paid to Williams by the ex-communists present. They listened to his words as authoritative. They praised him as the one man within the circles of government who understood the situation.” Professor Taylor described Williams as “a very articulate man of about 40, endowed with a college sophomore comprehension of communism and a set of blood-curdling clichés.” Williams was also appointed to the board of the Tolstoy Foundation, alongside numerous intelligence-connected ultraconservatives including the kingpin of the Dallas White Russian community, oil industry expert Paul Raigorodsky, Jean de Menil of Schlumberger, and Igor Sikorsky, all of whom are pursued in Chapters 9 and 10. The Tolstoy Foundation was known as one of the most far-right post-war refugee organizations devoted to cultivating a particular kind of Russian émigré. Tolstoy board member Vadim Makaroff had even led a campaign of vilification in 1951 against the extremely conservative David Martin of IRC who we met previously, accusing him of being a “hidden Communist” due to Martin’s policy of reaching out to certain left-wing assets. In addition to his legitimate reason for dealing closely with Ilse Skorzeny at Previews, Col. Williams was apparently in frequent communication with Otto. — Coup in Dallas . . . by H. P. Albarelli Jr, with Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent

My response to Aaron Good: Thanks for this, and I didn’t realize you were supportive of the laudable FourDiedTrying project. I wasn’t aware of the 1962 document so thanks for drawing my attention to it. I believe Skorzeny was under indictment for a fraudulent nickel deal in either Belgium or his home country by then so it’s possible VÖST wanted to distance themselves? Or perhaps they were victim of the Skorzeny scheme? Have you or Prof. Scott ventured to speculate the identify of the officer referred to in the doc? Have you cross-referenced with Willoughby’s files? I’ll forward this to a researcher knowledgable. Is it apparent to you from this document that the officer was active duty in 1962? I read a hint of Gen. Walker in the reference to “n***r states”. You may be aware that according to a Walker-related document buried in bureau files, in January 1963 he had sent circulars to various European fascists calling for worldwide action. At the same time, he had written personal letters to OAS in France as well as ideologically aligned friends in Madrid and in Lausanne. We know from Willoughby’s itinerary that he planned a trip to the latter in the fall of ’63 where he would meet Yaroslav Stetsko of the OUN. Is it reasonable to consider that the officer in the September 1962 document was from either or both the Willoughby and Walker camps. In spite of ‘retirement’ they both appear to have extracted loyalty among active duty as well as retired. For instance, among the army attachés assigned to track Skorzeny’s arms deals in the early 1950s was Col. Charles Askins, the renowned marksman who served in the Texas Border Patrol before and following WWII. Askins is identified in the Lafitte datebook as having been given the “ok” by Gen. Willoughby for Lancelot Project. And of course there is Wittington, or perhaps Alderson . . . for another discussion. In context of Skorzeny’s having purportedly cut a deal with Mossad in exchange for assassinating Krug, Rexist leader Leon Degrelle — who was residing in exile in Madrid — was under threat of extradition by the Israelis around this time. There has been speculation that he was convinced Pres. Kennedy would cave and turn a blind eye. (For related text, see reply **) Are you familiar with Amit Meir’s remarks that he considered Skorzeny for a back door entreé to Nasser? The ‘operation’ never came to fruition and Meir indicates he never used Skorzeny again. Photos of Meir in Tucson with Angleton are provocative to say the least. If I could clarify, the “disputed” authenticity of the Pierre Lafitte datebook which Hank serendipitously became aware of and eventually gained access to, seems to originate with individuals who have never laid eyes on the physical instrument. The question, and even skepticism, of authentication is reasonable and was anticipated, but to “dispute” authentication without cause is unprofessional — and in our view, rife with potential interference with the progression of the cold case murder investigation.

Nov 14, 2023 By: Aaron Good A recently discovered document found in West German archives reveals that during or just before the month of September 1962, a US military officer met with notorious Nazi assassin and terrorist Otto Skorzeny. The US officer spoke with Skorzeny in Madrid, Spain to complain about the foreign policy of US President John F. Kennedy. The document was discovered within the Otto Skorzeny file of Germany's BND archives. German researcher and filmmaker Dirk Pohlmann found the report and shared it with his friend, the great Swedish academic Ola Tunander---who then forwarded it to Peter Dale Scott and me. It raises very interesting questions about Skorzeny, a man who was already a suspect in the eyes of some JFK assassination researchers. This is a scan of the document: Here is a working English translation: Subject: Skorzeny, Madrid With respect to the documents in Madrid, an excerpt from a report from an [outsider] whose sources have significant business in Spain via the Trading Company of Otto Skorzeny. The report is dated Sept. 21, 1962. Until recently, Skorzeny was the general representative of the VÖST [Note: this appears to refer to a Nazi manufacturing company, Voestalpine]. This position was terminated without justification. It’s assumed, that either the Socialist Party of Austria or even the [Socialist Union] was behind this. Materially, Skorzeny should be fine without the position with the VÖST. Recently he’s supposed to have purchased property in Ireland and has had his villa in Mallorca for a while, although he lives in his [flat] in Madrid. According to the source, Skorzeny has continued contact with American military, particularly contact with flight officers [probably closer to say air force officers] of the US Army. In these circles [i.e., among US military officers], one is distraught over the politics of the current president and his close advisors. The advisors are “wusses” who do not believe in the supremacy of the west over the east. The election of Kennedy was a catastrophe, which was achieved by bribery and corruption which cannot be undone in one legislative session, etc Similarly, the officers are critical of the millions spent on Poland solely for elections or given to “n****r states” [i.e., African nation-states] whose diaspora in the US could be courted as voters. According to Skorzeny, American foreign policy is a chain reaction of stupid decisions that isn’t a real foreign policy – rather, it’s foreign policy based on domestic politics (as is common for America). The September 21, 1962 date is notable. It is likely that the meeting took place in that month, an eventful month for Skorzeny. On September 11, 1962, a German scientist named Heinz Krug vanished after a day spent at his office. Krug was one of many former Nazi rocket scientists who were working for Nasser's Egypt. In 2016, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported "that Krug was murdered as part of an Israeli espionage plot to intimidate the German scientists working for Egypt." According to Dan Raviv and Yossi Melmanm, the authors of the article, [T]he most astounding revelation is the Mossad agent who fired the fatal gunshots: Otto Skorzeny, one of the Israeli spy agency’s most valuable assets, was a former lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s personal favorites among the party’s commando leaders. The Führer, in fact, awarded Skorzeny the army’s most prestigious medal, the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, for leading the rescue operation that plucked his friend Benito Mussolini out from the hands of his captors. But that was then. By 1962, according to our sources—who spoke only on the promise that they not be identified—Skorzeny had a different employer. The story of how that came to be is one of the most important untold tales in the archives of the Mossad. As detailed by Professor Chris Simpson in Blowback: America’s Recruitment Of Nazis And Its Effects On The Cold War, Skorzeny was assisted in a mysterious jailbreak before he could be tried for war crimes. He was then used by the CIA to get close to the Egyptian insurgent officers led by Gamal Nasser. Allen Dulles tasked the Nazi spymaster Reinhard Gehlen with helping the Egyptian officers on intelligence and security matters. Gehlen then deployed Otto Skorzeny to assist Nasser and company. According to Raviv and Melmanm it was years later---in early 1962---that Mossad recruited Skorzeny. During the strange evening when he was recruited, Skorzeny became suspicious about two new friends that he and his wife (the niece of Hjalmar Schacht, aka "Hitler's banker") had met in a bar in Madrid. Surmising that they were not who they claimed to be, Skorzeny pulled a gun on them and said, “I know who you are, and I know why you’re here. You are Mossad, and you’ve come to kill me.” The Israeli spies explained that they were not there to kill him, but that if he killed them, Mossad would send spies who would indeed kill him. However, they merely needed Skorzeny to do some jobs for Mossad. In exchange, they agreed to have Skorzeny's name removed from an Israeli list of Nazi war criminals. This was how a Nazi assassin went from being a war criminal awaiting trial, to being a CIA asset, to being a Mossad agent, to killing a German scientist at the behest of Israel, to finally having a friendly chat with a high-ranking, right-wing US Air Force officer about how President Kennedy was a disaster for giving too much away to black people and for not recognizing the supremacy of the West over the East. For those who have been following the release of the Four Died Trying film series, it is also worth noting how the treason-minded US military officer in question here also had complaints about "millions...given to 'n****r states' [i.e., African nation-states] whose diaspora in the US could be courted as voters." When Four Died Trying moves to the next major assassination after President Kennedy---the murder of Malcolm X in 1965---viewers will learn about how US foreign policy elites were alarmed at Malcolm X and his campaign to tie African liberation to the struggle of black Americans. As mentioned above, some respected JFK researchers believe that Skorzeny was a key figure in the Dallas assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While the book Coup in Dallas relies on some source material of disputed authenticity, it contains much interesting material on Otto Skorzeny. Regardless of the extent of Skorzeny's actual involvement in the Dallas plot, this newly discovered 1962 memo shows how deadly serious the Cold War national security state was in terms of opposing the foreign policy of President Kennedy https://www.fourdiedtrying.com/post/why-did-a-high-ranking-us-military-officer-meet-with-a-nazi-assassin-in-1962-to-complain-about-jfk

RUTH and BARD . . . A Review Leslie Sharp replied to Leslie Sharp's topic in JFK Assassination Debate ...Ruth sat on the November 9 Kostin letter until after the assassination. Why? Had she phoned the number Hosty left with her on November 1 and shared that a former defector was attempting to redefect with wife and child, would Hosty have moved post-haste to interview Oswald? Did she prompt Od...

Dallas… Dallas, ah goodness, I’m not sure what to say… I wasn’t there anywhere near as often as Pierre… not at all. But Pierre would say it was… Dallas was like the arms and legs of the American secret service, your CIA…. —Rene Lafitte Rene says oil smooths the way to silent, and sometimes deadly, change. —Lafitte notes The lay of the land… lay of the land, Dallas —Lafitte datebook, November 19, 1963 A thorough exposé of world class American Fascist and renowned modernist architect Philip Johnson — designer of the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, the Hunt oil dynasty's Thanksgiving Tower and Carolyn Rose Hunt's Crescent Court — juxtaposed with Carlson's interview of Putin who insists without challenge that Poland started WWII. Philip Johnson had been a bit more coarse when writing about Hitler's invasion, arguing that Poland was asking for it. begin min. 6:45

Mr. LIEBELER. Did you say that you also started working at a new job that same day? Mrs. ODIO. No, sir. Mr. LIEBELER. But you had been working on the day that you did move? Mrs. ODIO. I started working initially the 15th of September, because it was too far away where I lived in Irving. I started the 15th of September, I am almost sure of the 15th or the 9th. Let me see what day was the 9th. It was a Monday. It was the 9th, sir, that I started working at National Chemsearch. (Special Agent Bardwell O. Odum of the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered the hearing room.) Mr. LIEBELER. This is Mr. Odum from the FBI. As a matter of fact, Mr. Odum was the man that interviewed you. Mrs. ODIO. I remember. He looked very familiar. Mr. [LIEBELER]. What is the name? Mr. [sic] ODIO. I interview so many people, it slips my mind at the moment. Agent Odum left the hearing room…

@David McLean Scott McLeod is intriguing, particularly his personal friendship with Sheffield Edwards.* If I haven't already shared, McLeod (a former FBI agent) was posted in Ireland at the time the Skorzenys were lobbying for permanent residence visas. His ambassadorship proposed by Pres. Eisenhower was challenged by only one Senator, John F. Kennedy. What did Kennedy know? I wasn't aware of Schacht's role with Onassis, but it 'makes sense.' Is it any accident Jackie fell under Onassis' spell. We've latterly learned that Lafitte was a private chef on one of Niarchos' private yachts sometime in the '50s; it would make sense if it was late in the decade following Lafitte's sting op in Las Vegas. Does this suggest Lafitte met Al Ulmer at some point? Ulmer was posted in Madrid when Otto began operations under cover of World Commerce; Otto's 'handler', AF attaché Wittington reported to Ulmer; of huge significance yet to be exposed sufficiently was Win Scott's role as Chief of Western Division special operations - covering Europe - at the same time his future business partner Ulmer was keeping tabs on Skorzeny in Madrid. We have at least one document regarding Otto's Madrid activities with Win Scott's signature. At the same time, Col. Charles Askins - expert marksman and former Texas Border Patrol - was posted as army attaché in Madrid and assigned hands-on surveillance of Otto's arms deals. Col. Askins had served with Harlon B. Carter who became head of the Border Patrol and advanced to SW region chief of Immigration and Naturalization Services in 1963, placing him in command of tracking potential assassins traveling in and out of Dallas the week of the assassination. Askins appears in the 1963 datebook maintained by Pierre Lafitte on September 12, October 2, and October 8. Harlon Carter left INS in 1967 for an active role in the National Rifle Association and in 1977 led what is now referred to as the Revolt at Cincinnati when the once benign sportsmen's association morphed into the most powerful lobbying effort on behalf of the arms and munitions industry — under the guise of Second Amendment rights. *Sheffield Edwards and wife were close personal friends of Pierre and Rene Lafitte; his name and ref. to his wife appear in Pierre's 1963 datebook.