Leslie Sharp

@Andrej StancakHowever, the JFK assassination is still an open criminal case and it should be possible to ask the law-enforcement institutions (e.g., the FBI) to solicit the datebook from Lafitte's family on evidentiary grounds. As it is related to the JFK assassination, the NARA should eventually get hold of it. Either it is a piece of evidence in a criminal case and it then needs to be taken seriously and consequantially, or it is not a piece of legally relevant evidence. I've given serious consideration to the question of subpoenas and have in fact sought legal counsel related to the possibility of a civil suit. Please see my previous comment that lists three specific instances that in my view warrant similar consideration. Perhaps a class action civil suit for a long list of repositories of possible evidence is in order. Would you like to spearhead the effort? 1) Why hasn't the Robert Kennedy family allowed access to the files he accumulated during his private investigation into who killed his brother? Isn't RFK Jr. now in the prime position to advance interest in this cold case investigation? Coup was edited by the same editor, published by the same publisher on the same date as Robert's Fauci book. I think Albarelli would have been especially impressed by that particular High Strangeness and Synchronicity.2) Why haven't expert(s) on Win Scott published the remaining diaries in his private collection? A single reference is made in Our Man in Mexico to Scott's post as the Western European division of Office of Special Operations "overseeing all espionage operations collecting intelligence in the friendly nations of West Germany, France, and Great Britain.: We know now that the machinations of Madrid-based Otto Skorzeny crossed Win's desk in the early years of the Cold War. 3) Why hasn't the DC attorney(s) made available to the "community" writ large the Shaw/Fensterwald records and research on Jean Rene Souetre provided to the HSCA? Until then, this datebook remains private property. We are, however, considering publication of a facsimile of the datebook as a summpluent to Hank's Coup in Dallas because as an American who is watching the possible death knell of our democracy because we didn't "solve this cold case murder investigation decades ago," this evidence should be in the public domain. I've remained faithful to Hank's commitment to his sources; they have abandoned the datebook; I trust he will understand the position I'm now in and will support this next step. If the facsimile project progresses, the question becomes: have I actually weakened its impact, its admissibility as "metaphorical" evidence?

@Andrej Stancak Finally, I am not convinced that deciphering of the handwritten records from the comparatively poor quality records was accurate enough. Here is an example of one record which I find to be the most relevant from the perspective of my reasoning of who was behind the shooting and fabricating evidence to frame Lee Oswald: We worked with (and continue to) the original datebook. Can you expand on why this particular entry may be relevant to your perspective — your reasoning of who was behind the shooting and fabricating evidence to frame Lee Oswald?

Great find, Ron. fwiw, I've long thought that Hank became intrigued by Hunter White much much earlier than he indicated in ATM. Hank was hired as investigator for Carter's Office of Personnel early in the administration, 1977. This WaPo article on Hunter White came out in September. Hank would have been in a position to develop long-term relationships in DC during those four years.

@Andrej Stancak It feels wrong that Lafitte's family and Albarelli could decide which records to show to the public and which not. What if anything in unpublished parts of the datebook would be of greater importance than the published records? What if any of the records would shed new light on Lafitte's role in the assassination case? Also, the unpublished entries could help to verify the integrity of the datebook as such. I appreciate your remarks, and it's understandable that anyone following the assassination research would have a subjective feeling about what is right or wrong in this field of inquiry: I've asked myself: 1) Why hasn't the Robert Kennedy family allowed access to the files he accumulated during his private investigation into who killed his brother? 2) Why haven't expert(s) on Win Scott published the remaining diaries in his private collection? A single reference is made in Our Man in Mexico to Scott's post as the Western European division of Office of Special Operations "overseeing all espionage operations collecting intelligence in the friendly nations of West Germany, France, and Great Britain.: We know now that the machinations of Madrid-based Otto Skorzeny crossed Win's desk in the early years of the Cold War. 3) Why hasn't the DC attorney(s) made available to the "community" writ large the Shaw/Fensterwald records and research on Jean Rene Souetre provided to the HSCA? 4) How many private archives sit idle?

We used the original as the source for what you see published in Coup in Dallas. You are welcome to your own interpretation, but the entry reads as I've presented. DUUM is Latin for the French word "deux". Lafitte (fluent in French, btw) is noting that two rifles are in the building. on November 20.

@Doug Campbell Yes. and Yes, as have more than a dozen respected researchers and authors in addition to all interested attendees at the Chris Gallop day-conference in November 2022, and all interested attendees at the David Denton Historic Group in Dallas, November 2022.

@Greg Doudna Would you please respond to my question: Have you crossed paths with Valery Aginsky?

Tragicomic (with a strong dose of hilarity!)

Levine will deal with Marina. the Lafitte datebook, November 28, 1963

Looks great, Pete.

Benjamin, You must have missed my response on Monté's AECASSOWARY thread: It reads in part: fyi, simply because information in the Lafitte materials has not been available to the general public in the form of documents until 2023."--RM I believe Monté is referring to the broader issue of government documents released in 2023. Specific to the datebook entries as I've shared previously, Dick Russell provided a limited analysis of the 1963 Lafitte datebook. (His full analysis can be found in the Front Matter of Coup in Dallas.) Dick focused on the following names that appear in Lafitte's datebook, six of which did not surface in public records — news reports, interview notes, FOIA responses, government citations, etc. — until the mid-to-late 1970s, with the remaining names surfacing in the 1990s. Dick writes, Let me here offer my insights into some of the names and dates in the datebook, and their potential significance in revealing the identities of the perpetrators behind what’s been called “the crime of the century.” I should add that the datebook also contains references to individuals whose names have not appeared before in assassination-related documents. From the datebook, it can only be concluded that Lafitte was directly involved with a number of people covertly connected to the assassination. SOUETRE. This clearly is Jean Rene Souetre, whose name appears in a number of entries between April 25 and December 4. It appears that Souetre was part of a “kill squad” who showed up for meetings in New Orleans, Madrid, and Mexico City prior to the assassination. Souetre’s name first appeared in the “assassination literature” following a 1977 release of CIA documents, which stated that “he had been expelled from the U.S. at Fort Worth or Dallas 48 hours after the assassination . . . to either Mexico or Canada.” According to what the FBI told a Souetre acquaintance whom I interviewed, he’d been “flown out that afternoon by a private pilot . . . in a government plane.” Souetre was a known hitman for the OAS, a terrorist group in France that had targeted President de Gaulle. WILLOUGHBY: Until my first book came out in 1992, assembling circumstantial evidence linking retired General Charles Willoughby as a possible “mastermind” of the assassination, no one had raised such a possibility before. The datebook cites the far-right General Willoughby numerous times, specifying: “Nov 22 – Willoughby backup – team [with a strikethrough of the word team] squad – tech building – phone booth/bridge.” Prior to that, an April 12 entry states: “Willoughby soldier kill squads.” SILVERTHORNE: That same datebook entry says: “Silverthorne – Ft. Worth – Airport – Mexico.” The name of Silverthorne did not appear publicly until the late 1970s, when CIA officer William Harvey’s handwritten notes about the agency’s QJ/WIN assassination program were released. Silverthorne was a pilot who traveled “for a certain federal agency” to “countless countries” for “reasons best left unsaid,” according to author Albarelli’s 1996 interview with him. ANGLETON: Listed in the datebook by his last name as well as initials (JA and JJA), the then-head of Counterintelligence for the CIA appears to have been involved in “high-level gathering in DC'' during which “Lancelot planning” was discussed. The Lancelot reference is to a plot to kill JFK. The datebook’s final mention of James Angleton,(December 5, 1963) states: “JA – CLOSE OUT LANCELOT.” Angleton’s name was not generally known until the mid-1970s, when he was forced out of the CIA following revelations that he’d organized an illegal domestic spying program. GEORGE W.: The several references in the datebook, including one (August 29) regarding “shipment of LSD for New Orleans & Dallas – Texas laws?” are clearly referencing George White. He was a key operative in the CIA’s top-secret MKULTRA program to control human behavior using drugs, hypnosis, and other means. He worked undercover for the same narcotics agency as Lafitte. White’s name never came to light until 1977 during a congressional investigation. TOM D.: Also referred to in several entries, this was Thomas Eli Davis, Jr., first mentioned in 1978 in the assassination literature as having trained anti-Castro Cubans and had been acquainted with Jack Ruby. The September 27 entry about Mexico City says: “Oswald – Comercio Hotel – meet with Tom D. at Luma.” It was stated by the Warren Commission that Oswald had been to the Comercio; the Hotel Luma was first mentioned in my 1992 book as a meeting point. The September 29 datebook implies (“Tom at embassy – done”) that Davis, who resembled Oswald, had impersonated him in visiting either the Cuban or Russian embassies in Mexico City. CRICHTON: The name of Jack Crichton, who was connected to Military Intelligence and arranged the first translators for Marina Oswald after the assassination, appears several times in datebook entries in advance of the assassination. A. L. EHRMAN: This July 30 entry clearly refers to Anita L. Ehrman, a foreign correspondent whose body was found that day in her Washington apartment. The only other reference to this appears in my 1992 book, citing a notebook seized from Richard Case Nagell by the FBI on September 20, 1963 but not released until 1975. That entry says: “ANITA L. EHRMAN. 7-30-63 WASHINGTON, D.C.” Nagell was involved with Oswald in an assassination plot. (Dick was careful to close with, 'assuming the datebook is authentic, the aforementioned stands.')

I'm asking you to explain the coincidence.

(Duum), Latin for the French word two (2), is noted under a phrase referring to rifle(s)* into building on the same date that Warren Caster brought two rifles into the depository building. Instead of sticking around on November 22 to watch the motorcade of the president of the US pass directly in front of his office at 411 Elm, Caster opted to keep an appointment with Vernon Payne at North Texas U in Denton? *David, can you see if you identify an s?

A detective you're not.

@Greg Doudna Have you crossed paths with Aginsky and/or Thorne?

I think even you will admit that yours is an embarrassingly unscientific argument, and possibly an unconscious projection of an early experience during your own education or career? You seem obsessed with conmen; growing up in Texas there was no greater religious conmen than the radio evangelists Herbert and Garner T. Armstrong. I've been reticent to provide an essay on East Texas which addresses the socio-political-religious ethos and how that spirit fueled the assassination of John Kennedy. Specifically, and briefly, it can be argued that the heart of the Texas branch of the Military - Industrial Complex was East Texas = Lone Star Steel, Le Tourneau Mfg., Delta Drilling, and the munitions plant at Daingerfield. Big Sandy was/is a pivot point in the geographic setting. Armstrong found it fertile soil for his satellite college, and you apparently were drawn there for some reason. I can also walk you through the possible implications of Armstrong's friendship with King Leopold in context of Jack Crichton and the Katanga Freedom Fighters if you're interested. Crichton joined the Hunt Foundation the summer of 1963. Crichton of deGoyler Macnaughton (whose employee Declan Ford was posted in Madrid for the life of the project) and Empire Trust, along with Al Meadows of the Howard Corp. (RNB Callas), Joe Zeppa of Delta Drilling (who was with GHWB and Al Ulmer the morning of the assassination) joined SS Otto Skorzeny in Madrid to pursue an "oil scheme" with the blessing of Spanish fascist dictator Franco. Of particular interest to us, you've defended Ruth Paine without considering the possibility she played a conscious role in helping maneuver Oswald via Marina into place as indicated in Lafitte's record; you've interviewed Curington but haven't pursued Paul Rothermel; in the process I contend you've missed several key moments involving the Hunts; to my knowledge, you've not written about Bard Odum, likely caretaker for LHO when de M left town; I don't think you've pursued Everett Glover who actually served as conduit between Ruth and LHO - Glover appearing twice in Lafitte's records. So, linking examples of fraud stories over the decades is not an argument; it's a deflection.

Latin for French word deux: 2. and coincidently the same number of rifles brought into the building by Warren Caster on November 20. Incidentally, Caster lived out his years in ABQ; as did DAP's brother.

I've realized that what isn't in an obit is often important; case in point FBI SA Bard Odum. His obituary makes no mention of the K assassination or his role in the investigation — the crime of a career. The late Raymond Gallagher wrote a great monograph on Odum titled the Ubiquitous Bard. He was "everywhere" in the first 48 hours and the subsequent investigation yet was never called before the WC. I was also going to ask whether you asked Ruth Paine about "Hart", or have you seen the photo of Odum with Marina holding the baby with translator standing by? But I digress ... The Lafitte ledger sheet reads: ... Rothermel says no on gas ——— guns but T says ok.... This led us to consider that H. L. and/or Bunker Hunt were privy to if not involved in something that Lafitte played a direct role in as well. Rothermel was the acting rep. for the Hunts. If the "kill teams" referenced in the datebook are Bunker and his daddy's private militia AVG, then the Lafitte ledger sheet makes sense ... and yet may not be specific to the Lancelot Project. I'm sure you're aware that Paul Rothermel and Hunt were locked in a legal battle related to wiretapping during the silver debacle; and yet, apparently Rothermel never talked out of school. Falling from a roof, a-la Win Scott is interesting, regardless.

Latin for deux. 2.

Greg, I will answer your queries one by one, beginning with the last: p.s. on page 576 of Coup in Dallas, the Nov 20 entry is transcribed as "Lanny-Filiol ... call Storey ... DeM ... Frank B...." However the photograph of the Nov 20, 1963 entry has only the first three of those four names. The fourth, "Frank B", is non-existent in the photograph, and instead (where "Frank B" would be) there is something different: "Rifle into building..." Is that a typo, or is that a relic of an earlier composition draft by the author(s), prior to the writing of that entry in the datebook, inadvertantly surviving into the published book? Greg, good sleuthing, and Iwon't make excuses, but suffice to say: Hank's unexpected (and personally destabilizing) death, complications with access to the datebook in the early months, Covid, and life, impacted bringing a perfectly edited version of our M/s across the finish line under pressure of the last available pub date. Frank B here does not appear in the November 20, and yes, a relic of the pre-final edit of the M/s. I am looking at the original text as I type. November 20 reads: Lamy - Filiol at hotel (names) Call Storey - Duvall DeM.— Rifle into building — yes/ok/DPD — (DUUM) (I'm anxious to get with David J. to determine whether the last word or acronym, or string of letters is DUUM. If so, I believe I have an interpretation.) Reference to Brandstetter appears in the October 21 entry: Frank B. here - others Jack - 1/day - MC

Ed, I'm impressed you understood the Javelin angle to this investigation. Like you, Hank and I looked under the rocks, chased characters that danced between the raindrops (John Wilson- Hudson was a favorite), kicked tires no one was willing to - or perhaps better said, bee hives. Hank was contacted by a woman who knew the Lafitte children having spent summers at a resort together. When Hank asked about the Loomis case, she immediately recognized the m.o. Lafitte had defrauded her own father in an exotic flower scheme. She later provided me with a caricature of Lafitte that I'm unable to post on EF due to the size of the file. I've attempted to get some guidance from our hosts, so hopefully I can add more visuals soon. One in particular may be of interest: Thomas Grattan Proctor, featured in Coup, in a full blown Heil Hitler salute. Not to switch gears, but in the event Greg Doudna remains interested in this thread, I want to call attention to the appearance of 'Rothermel' in the Lafitte records. @Greg Doudna, did you discuss Paul Rothermel at length when you interviewed John Curington?

I agree with your caution, Michael, and have stressed repeatedly that the information in the datebook is specific to individuals, e.g., Skorzeny, Rudel, (and in Hank's notes) Leon Degrelle, all of whom remained active and committed to their Nazi ideology; adding in fascist sympathies of others: Willoughby, Walker, Angleton, Harvey, Dalzell, Hunter-White, Tom Proctor, Tom Davis, et al, named in the Lafitte material, we have concluded that ideology provided the glue for an assassination set for Dallas and no other city — a city whose powerbrokers had worked with Skorzeny in the past; a city known for its arch-convervative capitalism and virulent anti-communism; a city that was home to the Republic National Bank of Dallas referred to by Albarelli as the Southwest headquarters of the agency. Many of them were not fascists but were ardent anti-communists who supported democracy and disliked the SS. Hank's dissolution with Major Ganis came about when this argument was posed: Skorzeny was a friend of democracy and doing America a favor by taking out Kennedy. I too push back when it is suggested fascists support democracy. Consider what unfolds as we speak.

It is even possible someone (not you) has planted an incredible "the Nazis did the JFKA" storyline (utterly zany-sounding to the general public and M$M), that can be discredited shortly before the 60th anniversary, and effectively diffuse and ridicule interest in the aging case. @Benjamin Cole You've ignored the facts I've provided, so this will be my final exchange with You on the question of the datebook. Judging from your pushback on the fact that active Nazis Otto Skorzeny, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, and Leon Degrelle surfaced in Hank's investigation, it's clear to me that you're filtering these facts thru your defensive lens. In context of your positions related to current events, I realize why you attempt to derail this line of inquiry on every thread.

Benjamin, I hope this will help clarify: I have provided access to screenshots of the full datebook to a select number of researchers / authors, including Monté. All have agreed to / or signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Once the facsimile of the datebook is in the public domain, hopefully by the 60th anniversary, that aspect of the NDA is rendered mute; the parties understand that information related to Hank's sources, and his professional and personal history with this project, remains under the original confidentiality agreement. I'm sure you understand that there are dozens of investigative journalists with "works in progress" who feel no obligation whatsoever to provide "you," the Royal you of this community with their research until they are ready to do so. Mine are unique circumstances: my first responsibility, legally and professionally, is to honor Hank's commitments and to advance his last investigation; I'm also a dedicated researcher of some thirty years with a long-standing philosophy that information related to the assassination in Dallas belongs in the public domain, full stop. For that reason, having wrestled with the question for four years, I decided to pursue publication of a facsimile of the datebook. However, there remain a number of issues to be ironed out. In the meantime, with all due respect, any efforts to goad me, or (presumably) Monté, into breaching Non-Disclosure Agreements is futile. fyi, simply because information in the Lafitte materials has not been available to the general public in the form of documents until 2023."--RM I believe Monté is referring to the broader issue of government documents released in 2023. However, specific to the datebook entries and as I shared recently on a previous thread ('Getting down to the nuts and bolts . . .' ), Dick Russell provided a limited analysis of the 1963 Lafitte datebook. (His full analysis can be found in the Front Matter of Coup in Dallas.) Dick focused on the following names that appear in Lafitte's datebook, six of which did not surface in public records, e.g., news reports, interview notes, FOIA responses, government citations, etc., until the mid-late 1970s, with the remaining surfacing in the 1990s. Dick writes, Let me here offer my insights into some of the names and dates in the datebook, and their potential significance in revealing the identities of the perpetrators behind what’s been called “the crime of the century.” I should add that the datebook also contains references to individuals whose names have not appeared before in assassination-related documents. From the datebook, it can only be concluded that Lafitte was directly involved with a number of people covertly connected to the assassination. SOUETRE. This clearly is Jean Rene Souetre, whose name appears in a number of entries between April 25 and December 4. It appears that Souetre was part of a “kill squad” who showed up for meetings in New Orleans, Madrid, and Mexico City prior to the assassination. Souetre’s name first appeared in the “assassination literature” following a 1977 release of CIA documents, which stated that “he had been expelled from the U.S. at Fort Worth or Dallas 48 hours after the assassination . . . to either Mexico or Canada.” According to what the FBI told a Souetre acquaintance whom I interviewed, he’d been “flown out that afternoon by a private pilot . . . in a government plane.” Souetre was a known hitman for the OAS, a terrorist group in France that had targeted President de Gaulle. WILLOUGHBY: Until my first book came out in 1992, assembling circumstantial evidence linking retired General Charles Willoughby as a possible “mastermind” of the assassination, no one had raised such a possibility before. The datebook cites the far-right General Willoughby numerous times, specifying: “Nov 22 – Willoughby backup – team [with a strikethrough of the word team] squad – tech building – phone booth/bridge.” Prior to that, an April 12 entry states: “Willoughby soldier kill squads.” SILVERTHORNE: That same datebook entry says: “Silverthorne – Ft. Worth – Airport – Mexico.” The name of Silverthorne did not appear publicly until the late 1970s, when CIA officer William Harvey’s handwritten notes about the agency’s QJ/WIN assassination program were released. Silverthorne was a pilot who traveled “for a certain federal agency” to “countless countries” for “reasons best left unsaid,” according to author Albarelli’s 1996 interview with him. ANGLETON: Listed in the datebook by his last name as well as initials (JA and JJA), the then-head of Counterintelligence for the CIA appears to have been involved in “high-level gathering in DC'' during which “Lancelot planning” was discussed. The Lancelot reference is to a plot to kill JFK. The datebook’s final mention of James Angleton,(December 5, 1963) states: “JA – CLOSE OUT LANCELOT.” Angleton’s name was not generally known until the mid-1970s, when he was forced out of the CIA following revelations that he’d organized an illegal domestic spying program. GEORGE W.: The several references in the datebook, including one (August 29) regarding “shipment of LSD for New Orleans & Dallas – Texas laws?” are clearly referencing George White. He was a key operative in the CIA’s top-secret MKULTRA program to control human behavior using drugs, hypnosis, and other means. He worked undercover for the same narcotics agency as Lafitte. White’s name never came to light until 1977 during a congressional investigation. TOM D.: Also referred to in several entries, this was Thomas Eli Davis, Jr., first mentioned in 1978 in the assassination literature as having trained anti-Castro Cubans and had been acquainted with Jack Ruby. The September 27 entry about Mexico City says: “Oswald – Comercio Hotel – meet with Tom D. at Luma.” It was stated by the Warren Commission that Oswald had been to the Comercio; the Hotel Luma was first mentioned in my 1992 book as a meeting point. The September 29 datebook implies (“Tom at embassy – done”) that Davis, who resembled Oswald, had impersonated him in visiting either the Cuban or Russian embassies in Mexico City. CRICHTON: The name of Jack Crichton, who was connected to Military Intelligence and arranged the first translators for Marina Oswald after the assassination, appears several times in datebook entries in advance of the assassination. A. L. EHRMAN: This July 30 entry clearly refers to Anita L. Ehrman, a foreign correspondent whose body was found that day in her Washington apartment. The only other reference to this appears in my 1992 book, citing a notebook seized from Richard Case Nagell by the FBI on September 20, 1963 but not released until 1975. That entry says: “ANITA L. EHRMAN. 7-30-63 WASHINGTON, D.C.” Nagell was involved with Oswald in an assassination plot. (Dick was careful to close with, 'assuming the datebook is authentic, the aforementioned stands.')