Leslie Sharp

From A Secret Order by H. P. Albarelli Jr., published 2013,Trine Day: ‘. . . It is not clear that [COS Mex City] Winston Scott ever saw June Cobb’s October 5, 1964 report, but on November 25, 1964, about a year before Charles William Thomas had his initial conversation with Elena Garro de Paz concerning Lee Harvey Oswald, CIA officer “Willard C. Curtis,” a pseudonym used by the CIA Chief of Station Winston Scott, wrote a memorandum for the files bearing the subject line “June Cobb.” The memorandum explained that through two trusted covert sources — Manuel Alonzo Calvillo, a Mexican code named LI-CHANT/1, and Alonso Rudolph Wichtrich, executive Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and code-named LIHUFF/1 — Curtis had been informed that the former wife of Octavio Paz “rents a room to an American communist whose name is June Cobb.” [so far so good; I believe Mary Haverstick has relied on the same records Albarelli accessed for the passages seen here and published years before AWIK.] ‘ . . . Continued the memorandum ... [reminding the reader that the author is COS Win Scott who by November 1964 was heavily into clean up mode for THE Agency and particularly his operation in MC. ] “The former Mrs. PAZ is, however, afraid of Miss COBB [beginning to paint a picture of a crazed drug addled commie?]. She said COBB broke the legs and smashed the ribs of a pet cat when she got mad at the cat. Mrs. Paz is afraid COBB will ‘break her arms and legs’ one day if she gets angry.” . . . ‘ Albarelli continues . . . ‘ . . . If Cobb’s alleged [emphasis added] animal cruelty wasn’t enough, according to the [Win Scott] memorandum the informants also reported, “June COBB is [now get this] promiscuous and sleeps with large numbers of men [inferring orgies?] sometimes spends several nights (consecutive) [gasp] with a man in his apartment.” The document continues: “Mrs. PAZ believes COBB may have been ‘planted’ on her by communists.” . . . ‘ I’ve taken the liberty of editorializing, first to make a mockery of the hypocrisy of Win Scott who was known to have carried on his own affair while his wife wrestled with mental health issues, but also to remind Mary Haverstick that June Cobb was known to his station, and his station was either complicit or grossly incompetent and June knew. In a recent conversation, I was admonished that obviously Hank mistakenly failed to realize what an evil, “nasty,” dangerous woman was Viola June Cobb. When I put two and two together — she lectured him on “How Intelligence Agencies Work” — beginners manual, CIA 1.01 including (drum roll please) “agents use aliases; doubling is tradecraft,” I realized why the call — from someone developing her own theories sans facts to conclude he had been snookered or worse by a femme fatale — lasted less than ten minutes. He did not suffer fools. Contrary to the claim that the “cat terrorizing incident” is a scoop, the docs have been available for over a decade. Further, rather than buy into the orchestrated attack on Cobb — it’s obvious the Win Scott memorandum was a cya, meant to undercut the credibility of the agency’s own (relatively recently recruited) asset — why not dig a little deeper? Ask why Scott’s history as the Western Europe division Chief of Special Operations in the early 1950s has been completely ignored? Would that deep dive reveal that Scott was reviewing reports on Otto & Ilse Skorzeny’s activities in Madrid? Are we now to believe that Jerrie (or, June?) Cobb was Otto’s commandant in the QJ/WIN programme?

@Greg Doudna please acknowledge that you have seen the photo I've parked momentarily on my FB page; and retract your defamatory accusation that Hank Albarelli lied about his source. Renee Chagnot b. Nov 24, 1904 -- Selancour FR d. June 21, 2000 -- US https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2126475874356938&id=100009836370242&mibextid=Nif5oz

@Greg Doudna @Michael Griffith This is a photo of Hank Albarelli's good friend and godmother to his grandson, Viola June Cobb, approx 85 yrs., taken with brothers Jasper Jr. and Tom in Houston. Michael, you might want to share the photo with Mary? In their 2017 coverage of Trump's anticipated release of ALL of the files in accordance with the JFK Records Act -- a legal duty and promise he failed abysmally to fulfill -- NBC News noted that Viola June Cobb had passed away on October 17, 2015 as confirmed by both her sister-in-law and an official with the Manhattan nursing home where June spent her final days. RIP. I knew that Hank sent June weekly care pkgs. from FL, but I’ve only latterly been told that he personally saw to it June’s living conditions were safe and comfortable.

Catherine Taaffe was the first and only licensed and accredited female arms dealer at the time. As such, I think we all agree she would have been vetted, photographed, and tracked by the responsible government agencies. Have those specific records and photos been compared against the purported evidence provided by Haverstick? Did someone within said agency put their signature to records with a photo of Jerrie The Pilot --- a woman prominently in the news --- juxtaposed over the biographical data of licensed arms dealer Catherine Taaffe which included marriage to an AF officer? How did this work? Was her AF officer in on the doubling? Did he put his career on the line? Anyone who has been interviewed to vouch for a friend or colleague's security clearance recognizes the serious implications. Did long-time hardened gunrunner Jesse Vickers know Jerrie The Pilot as Catherine The Arms Dealer? Would he risk dealing with triplets Cathy-Jerrie-June? Taaffe assumes a cameo appearance in Coup in Dallas, published November 19, 2021, ample time for anyone in pursuit of the truth — and Taaffe — to at least be curious, and to consider how Vickers who is prominent in Taaffe govt. docs might provide clues to Dallas. The name Vickers appears on a critical date, in revelatory context of the unfolding Dallas plot, in the 1963 datebook maintained by Pierre Lafitte. This is but another anomaly found in AWIK. How could famed female pilot Jerrie Cobb get by actively impersonating an arms dealer and a sometime intel agency asset and still pursue a high profile career in aviation. To coin a phrase, someone woulda talked. And there's more . . .

I'm following this closely because Hank Albarelli knew Viola June Cobb personally. To my knowledge he didn't know Jerrie Cobb The Pilot other than what he read in the papers or what June or his contacts might have divulged in confidence. Therein rests the conundrum. I'm seeing some discrepancies, or the appearance of same, in certain of the timeline presented in AWIK vs. ASO. Btw, Hank refers to June as a blonde in her early years. I agree, only photos I'm familiar with are medium brown, proving nothing. It's my understanding that the Scott family finally regained possession of at least some of Winston's confiscated personal material. I would very much want to learn of the contents of his diaries from the early 1950s when he served as chief of Western European division of the Office of Special Operations. Cam Cleveland opined (according to Jeff Morley), "He was the chief of the most important division in the agency. . . He really had things going his own way. He was a big deal in the Agency." For our purpose, in that role he was reporting officer for docs coming out of Madrid, including Otto Skorzeny-related. He might have notes to confirm whether the two ever met.

@Greg Doudna ’ . . . Following June Cobb’s June 7 interrogation and polygraph session in Washington, CIA Security Office officials made the determination, after thorough review of her interrogation transcript, “that there were many present and future Security ramifications involving [Cobb]and that as much investigation and research as possible would be done and plans would be made for [Agency interrogator Ralph True] to re-interview and interrogate [Cobb].” These additional interrogation and polygraph sessions were conducted on October 11 and 12, 1960 at a covert location in Boston, Massachusetts. COBB INTERROGATION IN BOSTON June Cobb, accompanied by her case officer, Jean Pierson, flew to Boston by air on October 10, arriving 9:50 P.M. . . . [CIA official Paul T.] Auden also requested that the field office “obtain an adjoining room whereby you [are] to install KING coverage before October 9.” . . . The next day, Cobb and Pierson traveled by taxi to the Hotel Bellevue, where Ralph True interviewed and polygraphed Cobb that day and the next, October 11 and 12, 1960. . . . Ralph True’s subsequent report on the two day session (dated October 17, 1960) began by noting that June Cobb was extremely concerned “about what she felt was a break of security regarding herself.” . . . ‘ COBB IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY ASSESSED FOR CIA JOB On November 9, 1960, June Cobb’s agency handler, Jean Pierson —whose real name may have been Elizabeth Vetter . . . alerted agency officials . . . that she and a CIA psychiatrist . . . had traveled to New York City two days earlier to assess June Cobb’s suitability . . . Dr. Burris and Pierson met with Cobb at the Statler Hilton [November 7] . . . ‘ — H. P. Albarelli Jr., A Secret Order: Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity in the JFK Assassination If I understand this, within hours of June Cobb being vetted and interrogated and vetted again over 48 hours by the CIA in Boston, June Cobb was installed in a bugged room in a Manhattan hotel by the same CIA, writing notes to a handler she had just spent two days with, and focused on wording for a forthcoming speech by the Democratic presidential candidate along with the dean of Harvard Law School. By the first week of November, June Cobb’s “suitability” is still in question.

@Michael Griffith Have I asked if you’re familial with the name Francis Raven?

I’ve never been comfortable with the whitewash of Goodwin’s egregious blunder. Adding to misgivings was his close friendship with neighbor Norman Mailer who would later perpetuate attention on the perfect patsy in “Oswald’s Tale.” It was Mailer who had inspired “Oswald’s Game” by Jean Davison published on the 20th Anniversary. Davison was provided significant space on the original Morley forum jfkfacts as was the late Prof. John McAdams who virtually single handedly captured the hearts and minds of conspiracy deniers . . . on Morley’s own turf. It was a democracy (and some eventually concluded a boiler room to collect free research) but the deliberations never solved the cold case murder investigation. What if all that energy and attention had been directed toward identifying who actually killed John Kennedy in Dallas? Instead? The patsy was chased some more. Many here insist we should now celebrate that we finally know with certainty the patsy had been used by numerous government agencies... those were the most dominate headlines for the 60th. Jefferson Morley garnered headlines. Bottom line, are we slouching toward “Oswald shot Kennedy from the Sixth Floor sniper’s nest”?

In conversations related to Mary’s work, I recently opined, how could anyone familiar with June’s story have overlooked some of these sensational documents? Or did they? Did Hank miss that June had a sexual liaison with both Jack and Bobby? Had he planned to include that in his proposed book? Did he intend to protect June’s reputation. Is this claim verifiable, unfounded, pure gossip, or recently manufactured? One document hound reminded us of the E. Howard Hunt incident. Under oath he admitted to engineering at least one false document to slip into government files. I’m being facetious to a degree, but apropos of insults on this forum hurled at Albarelli and his own primary source material and by extension his coauthor, have documents attributing portions of a draft speech for Kennedy been carbon-dated? @Greg Doudna This is not meant to diminish Haverstick’s herculean effort, but surely forum members recognize that Coup does not make 1/10 the extraordinary leaps we read in AWIK. I hope to take this up with Mary soon. I’m anticipating she might respond similar to Hank, take it or leave it; I know where the research led me and I stand behind it.

@Greg Doudna I thought so. If this is exemplary of your reading and comprehension skills, perhaps Mary’s book would be better represented on the forum. I’ll end your distraction from her work with this: any and all in my sphere with whom I’ve shared the full pdf of the Lafitte datebook . . . and there are many ... signed the same NDA that Monte signed. It remains in place to protect the additional details not yet thoroughly considered before Hank left. Coup is a work in progress. Monte made clear in several posts he is not standing behind provenance or authenticity of Hank’s primary source. Does that disturb you? It doesn’t me, and he and I remain colleagues and friends.

@Greg Doudna my most recent gmail notice for this thread indicates you recently posted the following: Mary Haverstick, please be careful. Here is a young man who was brutally intimidated by Ms. Sharp with legal threats, then in some making nice invo....... Clicking on the EF link in my inbox, I’m led to your recent extracts from Haverstick’s book. I’m not finding the rest of your Sir Galahad warning to Mary, but I’m taking a leap of logic — you’re referring to Robert “Monte” Montenegro, a two tour Afghan vet who I brutally intimidated. Coincidentally, as happens, when I saw your note in my mail I had just hung up from a near two hour convo with Monte regarding topics relevant to this thread, in particular QJ/WIN, Otto and Ilse Skorzeny, Frank Wisner, Heinz Felfe, Frenchy Grombach in Poland, etc. To be clear, the “legal” threat was a simple cease and desist to protect copyrighted material not yet in the public domain. Had I not intervened, and had our publisher come across the posts, I suspect the ramifications might have been more severe. I think you need to let go of this particular bone you’ve been gnawing on for months. You position yourself as beyond reproach, so kindly post the full text of your noble warning to Mary Haverstick — or point me to the complete post if it’s buried in your comments — so that I can finish tearing it to shreds. Or did you think twice and shred it yourself?

@Jonathan Cohen your prerogative, but not exactly a substantive argument. now, back to discussion of Mary Haverstick’s research into Viola June Cobb.

@Jonathan Cohen June Cobb was not an assassination plotter. Apparently you aren’t familiar with the terms “tied” and “varying degrees.” The five were restricted to a particular situation on different levels. The agency is infamous for discrediting characters to the same degree they are infamous for inflating importance. You only need study the files of the perfect patsy to recognize the methodology. John Wilson-Hudson was a player, implicated in operations from the mid-‘50s “tied” to events under consideration in fall of 1963. Read the documents, then go find the facts. June Cobb was an observer and filed her observations to memory. Read the documents, then go find the facts, Jonathan. now, back to the subject at hand: Mary Haverstick’s research into Viola June Cobb.

Documents of keen interest are those June Cobb handed over to John Newman personally. I’ve not spoken to John directly but it’s my understanding his office was broken into and June’s file was stolen; I’ve heard that he had stored one doc. in an area the thieves failed to look and that he planned on sharing its contents publicly. Perhaps Dr. Newman considered June’s generosity as intended for him exclusively and that it is his prerogative whether, if ever, he releases that surviving document. I would ask him, if I had direct access, if the break-in was directed solely at Cobb’s files? If not, what other documents were stolen? Was there a pattern? @Michael Griffith I hope you recognize this is not intended to hijack the focus of this thread. The questions posed of Dr. Newman’s history with Viola June Cobb are directly germane to Mary Haverstick’s research.

Your point is well taken. We were ready to meet the 2019 pub deadline, and following Albarelli’s untimely passing and in spite of being justified in doing so, I pushed to meet at least a 2021 pub date to avoid any hint of exploitation of the 60th. Had all interested parties been on board, we could have released Hank’s investigation in 2020.

@David Boylan Notice the subtle derision: “affair” “hazy” “despondent”. Similar was introduced into records related to John Wilson-Hudson, Eugene Dinkin, Tom Davis, William Dalzell, to name but four in addition to June Cobb, who were tied to the plot to kill Kennedy in Dallas to varying degrees. Albarelli frequently said, read the documents, then go find the facts.

@Michael Griffith Pls let me know you received my email to pass along to Mary? I trust she'll be open to a phone call.

In the 1970s, 'Tarzan of the Amazon' MikeTsalickis "employed his aerial services and SIL friend Jerry [sic] Cobb’s piloting skills to penetrate the tribe's forbidding forest with drilling supplies." -- Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil by Gerard Colby with Charlotte Dennett. Anyone who has read and absorbed the material presented in the exhaustive study by Gerald Colby with Charlotte Dennett of the Rockefeller's in the Amazon of course appreciates the ideological implications that Jerrie Cobb was flying for Cam Townsend's Summer Institute of Linguistics which is still headquartered in Dallas. SIL's sister org., Wycliffe Bible Translators had been contracting MAF pilots since 1946. In 1989, apparently having finally succumbed to temptation, Jungle Mike Tsalickes ended up in prison for his part in the then largest cocaine bust in US history. The bust went down in Pinellas County in 1988.

Thank you Michael. Will do.

Get off the stage, Greg. I'll respond to you directly in due course.

As would I.

@Greg Doudna i’ll respond to your wild assertions shortly. This now transcends logic. We’re entering new territory. @Michael Griffith if you’re in contact with Mary, would you ask if she is willing to take my phone call?

@Benjamin Cole you're satisfied knowing everything there is to know about the patsy down to his preferred underwear metaphorically speaking but show no curiosity, no interest at all in who fired the shots in Dealey, who hired them, who strategized the triangular crossfire, who managed things on the ground pre and post the murder, who first spread the story of Oswald the commie, all the way to who authorized the hit. As long as you can point the finger at the 24 yr old kid accused of the assassination who had been run by THE C.I.A., THE government -- a mantra Libertarians seem to rejoicee in-- you seem satisfied. End of cold case murder investigation.

@Ron Bulman As Meek has stressed, she has never deviated from her story during several recent interviews. And prior to his interviews, to my knowledge no one has ever asked her directly about CIA, so the suggestion he threw softball questions is unfounded. I've asked if Ruth would be willing to discuss the presence of FBI SA Bard Odum in their lives pre and post assassination.

@Steve Thomas Brilliant. Maybe they will gnaw one another's ankles raw.