Leslie Sharp

Against my better judgement I'm going to offer a limited response, Leslie. Again I don't speak for Greg or Bart. As you have said, the question of who didn't do it and who did are separate, if linked, issues. I have argued that the logical sequence of inquiry, the one most likely to achieve results, is to first show Oswald didn't do it to build support for finding out who did. I don't know if either Greg or Bart agrees with that. LS I believe, after sixty years, there are millions of citizens who will never be convinced Oswald wasn't the lone shooter regardless of photo images to the contrary. I appreciate that is not a popular stance among the Prayer Man movement, and I accept that similarly and at this juncture, if we capture photos of Jean Souetre and the teams who did kill JFK, we will then be confronted with cries of PHOTOSHOP! (which no doubt you know will be hurled at improved images purportedly originating in the Wiegman and or Darnell films). But most at ROKC are focused on the exoneration of Oswald, though of course not entirely, and see Prayerman as the key to that effort at the moment. There is plenty of evidence that Oswald didn't do it, was not even on the 6th floor, so even if the figure on the steps turns out to be someone else, the mission won't change. LS It's good to learn that some common sense may have permeated the thought process among some PM adherents. It's not that they feel threatened by your research about what you see as Skorzeny's role in the murder. It's a distraction, certainly irrelevant to the pursuit of Prayerman. LS The suggestion that identifying who did kill JFK is a distraction is patently absurd, imo. It is possible that our pursuits might converge if only we were dealing with a collective of reasonable minds modeled on your own. More than that, they recoil at your voluminous use of the datebook in your posts without first establishing its legitimacy. IOW, it's not only a distraction but, worse, one without a legit basis for discussion in the first place. LS Voluminous, premature use (to the point of tragic comedy) of blurry images employed in defense of a sensational hypothesis served only to distract "the community" that already knew Oswald did not kill JFK. I continue to argue it was irresponsible from the outset. Much of the vitriol, I think, comes from that. LS The vitriol is a character trait of ruffian personalities Constructive debate appears to be anathema for some.

The concern since publication of Coup has been that a datebook entry or entries might be siphoned off while the relevant supporting entries that make sense of the significance are left on the cutting room floor. The entries must be considered in their totality. New York is referenced in the Lafitte datebook in context of meetings with Ilse Skorzeny held at the office of Previews, Inc., having nothing to do with Permindex or petroleum concessions. New York is mentioned again in a lengthy entry on October 9 strictly as a location, and having nothing to do with Permindex or petroleum concessions. Madrid is mentioned numerous times because Otto and Ilse Skorzeny used the Spanish capitol as their base of operations, as ell as Ireland in 1963. There is no reference to Permindex, or financing of petroleum concessions in the datebook. Clay Shaw is mentioned in the Lafitte datebook which led Hank and his coauthors to reconsider Garrison's case against Shaw, which included his alleged role in Permindex; ergo my recent interest in Dr. von Arx especially since his name appears in 1967 documents — around the time Shaw was being investigated and Lafitte / Jean Martin miraculously resurfaced in New Orleans to serve as lead chef at the Plimsoll Club housed in Shaw's new ITM building. Hopefully in the near future, Dr. Nikolaus Fischer who appears on the Permindex records with Dr. von Arx will agree to an interview.

@Fred Litwin A recent remark on another — somewhat related — thread by @Tom Gram If Garrison really got so far that he was planning on accusing a specific CIA connected Nazi as a suspect I think there should be some evidence of it in his files, but it is possible that the relevant folder or something got destroyed, is an opportunity to share the most recent research into the firm, Permindex, which features in most exposés related to Clay Shaw's possible role in prior planning of the plot for Dallas. AS EMAILED RECENTLY TO MEMBERS OF OUR WORKING GROUP: I'm going to share the following in rough draft form because I think it may pull together significant threads we've been pursuing for months and months; in time, it will conform with standards for wider publication. I always thought Permindex either dissolved completely or at least slipped off the radar by 1967, having been run out of Rome and reestablished HQ in Johannesburg. For this exercise, it's enough that Dr. Werner von Arx was ever associated with Permindex (see link) considering his history with an arms manufacturer for The Reich. It's implausible that the earlier investors/board members we are most familiar with weren't aware of von Arx's history. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10181-10116.pdf In May 1940, a major contract with the Netherlands for over 500 anti-tank guns with accessories failed because the Wehrmacht had already occupied the country before delivery. The end for the ailing company came in early 1942: The Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG was put on the “Statutory List” – the UK’s blacklist. This list, established in 1939 after the outbreak of war, included all the companies that the British supposed to support the German Reich and its allies. And for the Waffenfabrik Solothurn as a de facto German company a place on this list was unavoidable, so it was cut off from all lucrative markets in Europe. Through stock transfers and various letterbox companies it was tried to disguise the Waffenfabrik as a Swiss company. But without success, as so easily the authorities could not be fooled. Last but not least, a large order of more than 2,000 anti-tank guns for Italy failed as the country surrendered to the Allies in September 1943. Whether a payment for the 1,500 already delivered weapons was received is more than questionable. In 1944, the last weapon rolled off the line, then the production was finally stopped. Experimental version of the MP34 with a light-weight stock made of stamped sheet metal. (Military Museum, Prague) Of the approximately 800 employees, only 200 could be kept; all others had to be dismissed. The toolmaking division was still in the development stage and too young, as it could compensate the loss of the weapons factory. The newly developed “small workshop tool set” proved to be too expensive and its sale was difficult. https://smallarmsreview.com/swiss-connection-rheinmetall-and-steyr-in-switzerland/ In the context of trade negotiations of the Allies with Switzerland in February 1945 about the future after the war, it was decided to block all German assets in Switzerland. This meant the complete inability of the Waffenfabrik to act, and so the managers tried to make the best of a bad situation. Already on March 19, 1945 the “Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Solothurn AG” (machine tools factory) was founded and whose shares were now fully in Swiss hands. But once again, the authorities could not be fooled. The premises were the same and in the background the already well-known managers of the Waffenfabrik pulled the strings. In January 1946, the machine tools factory was put on the list of German companies. According to the Washington Agreement, Switzerland was committed to the liquidation of German assets. This task was executed for both companies by the accredited notary of the machine tools factory, Dr. jur. Werner von Arx. * * * * * You may also recall the research into Ernst Imfeld, another of the signatories on the original Permindex documents. Imfeld, along with Ludwig Haupt, and Friedrich Kadgien formed IMHAUKA, a business model along the lines of SOFINDUS and World Commerce Corporation export and import operations based in Argentina and Brazil. (kudos to @Robert Montenegro for identifying Kadgien's relationship to Imfeld leading us to IMHAUKA.) Ernst Imfeld, (seen in photo at an event in Tulsa, OK) was the straw man for Permindex whose board also included Count or Prince Spadafora whose son married one of Hjalmar Schacht’s daughters and George Mandel (Mantello) who is lauded in Israel for having arranged the escape of Jews who could afford to flee the Holocaust. Records suggest it was a financially rewarding effort rather than altruism, and even the CIA didn’t trust Mandel. Imfeld and Haupt settled in Argentina & Brazil - IMHAUKA export, import, still in operation today and relevant to SOFINDUS (as referenced in the essay presented at the end of this post). Friedrich Kadgien was Goering’s head of foreign currency for The Four Year Plan. A Federico Kadgien, Buenas Aires is listed as a reference on a 1955 visa application of former SS Stuka Pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. H. Keith Thompson, Marguerite Oswald's manager in early 1964 is another of Rudel's references in 1955. After more than a decade, Rudel was finally successful in securing a visa for entry into the US in September 1963, and arrived on October 8/9 — coinciding by chance with Lafitte's OSARN OSARN entry — to attend a conference at Wright Patterson. Rudel appears in the Lafitte datebook September 13 (possibly in concert with his latest application for visa) and December 9 White + all / guns Rudel (with thanks to Brian E. for catching that December 9 entry. More on the possible identity of this White referenced by Lafitte at a future date.) https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/RUDEL%2C%20HANS_0056.pdf Subject Listing of Numbered Documents in M1934, OSS ... National Archives | (.gov) https://www.archives.gov › research › holocaust Dr Friedrich Kadgien, Ludwig Haupt, Dr Ernst Rudolf Fisher. 2/1/1946. State Dept.; Paris, London,. Asuncion, American. Embassies; Berlin, U.S.. Ludwig Haupt — the third leg of the IMHAUKA barstool, remains very elusive so this is a work in progress: In searching through my files for "Haupt", I realized the name appears in my essay on the Great Salad Oil Swindle which almost brought down the American commodities market the morning of Friday, November 22. (see photo from El Pais article linked below. A naked eye analysis suggests Tino De Angelis of Allied Crude Oil was photographed with Johannes Bernhardt of SOFINDUS). If the objective of November 22, 1963 was a coup meant to realign American democracy in the literal sense to suit an international far right agenda, the death of one man - even the president - could not make it so. Historically, attempts on the lives of presidents, including Reagan in contemporary politics, did not carry a similar weight. In 1963, other elements had to have been in play in order for the democratically elected government to collapse. Those elements would include significant damage to the stability of the US economy. Any assassination of an American president would be an obvious trigger for a sharp sell off, but the question is, could the sell off on Friday, November 22, 1963 have been helped along. Author Kent has studied in some depth the sudden and significant sale of stock in the Dallas based military contractor, Ling Timco Vought (LTV) that Friday morning. He highlights that among the directors was D. Harold Byrd, owner of the building known as the Texas School Book Depository. LTV is studied extensively in Chapter 10 of this book, and the reader is also encouraged to read Kent’s Endnote to this chapter related to that specific stock sell off that seems to represent the micro of the macro. In a rather clumsy summary, particularly for those steeped in the machinations of global markets, the vegetable oil swindle started with a “grain caper”. Assassination researcher Kenn Thomas tells us, ' $55,000,000 worth of barley, corn and sorghum was to be shipped to Austria for German and Austrian firms by half a dozen American exporters. Somehow less than half of it got there. How do you lose $30,000,000 worth of grain? You do it, it turns out with a carefully thought out international control operation with numerous dummy corporations and Swiss bank accounts and at least one German firm in Hamburg (which was a big new customer of a man named Tino De Angelis). In the course of a vast investigation of this little incident by the U.S. Senator Williams of Delaware set the probable “take by the conspirators behind it at between three and five million dollars. De Angelis was the founder of Allied Crude Vegetable Oil Refining Corporation in Bayonne, New Jersey. Of 50 companies that either lent money or deposited oil at Allied’s Bayonne plant against warehouse receipts, the Bunge and Borne, Lda was the one most attached to the success (or failure) of Allied Crude Vegetable. Sometimes dubbed as “The Octopus” by financial writers (which many readers will find highly interesting), Bunge had one of the finest communications networks outside of any government to facilitate the second by second fluctuations of the world market that made or lost millions. The American Bunge Corporation was the privately held giant, financially controlled by a group of share-holders of Bunge and Borne whose headquarters were and remain in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The founders had immigrated from Germany, and most of the board members were naturalized immigrants, second generation Argentenians of Belgian and German descent. The Bunge had everything in the early 1960s to affect the global markets to which the US economy was tied: a German influence in its home base of Argentina, supra- flexibility in world communications, tremendous assets, and a strong influence over decisions made at Allied Vegetable Oil. While no student of this scandal has ever asserted that Bunge knowingly set in motion the events that triggered the markets in the hours before Kennedy was assassinated, there is no question that through it’s American subsidiary, American Bunge, it owned 40% of Allied Vegetable Oil’s business that was in deep trouble. Bunge exported about $100 million worth of vegetable oil each year, most of which was supplied by Allied out of New Jersey. When asked in court in 1964 how much the next highest level customer held in Allied, attorney David Ravin responded, ‘less than 15%’. The Ravin & Ravin law firm served as referee in Allied’s bankruptcy, which leads us to that thinnest of threads. But first a brief summary of the role American Express played in the scandal. Before launching, it should be noted that among the directors of AE at the time were Ret. General Lucius Clay who was considered one of America's most ardent cultural Cold Warriors, and L.W. Douglas - the brother-in-law of John McCloy, future influencer of the Warren Commission report. Douglas benefitted from his family's wealth derived from the Phelps Dodge mining conglomerate with historic ties to the family of the wife of James Jesus Angleton. The afternoon of October 14, 1963, the founder of Allied Vegetable, Tino De Angelis, forged receipts of American Express Warehouse - the entity that was allegedly storing vats of vegetable oil - for $6,000,000 worth of ‘phantom oil’ to Wall Street. In the next few weeks, De Angelis sent an additional $33 million worth of forged papers, and the same time, he began check-kiting up to $17.5 million. When word seeped out that Allied Vegetable was risky, the sell off began. Around November 15, rumors swept trading floors that Bunge Corp. was behind the selling. By November 18, brokerage firm Haupt Inc., a major promoter of Allied Vegetable, noted that the day’s drop in futures had driven Allied’s debt to Haupt from 9 million to 14 million, and counting, News that De Angelis was filing bankruptcy hit the markets. One of his key legal minds, Morris Ravin, the brother of David, caught wind that the tanks in the American Express Warehouse were for the most part empty, i.e., there was no oil to support the receipts that had made investors salivate over Allied Vegetable stock, and, by pure chance Morris Ravin decided to rat and contact the Department of Justice. By Thursday afternoon, November 21, Bunge Corp filed suit and charged that American Express had “lost” 160,450,000 pounds of oil worth $14,240,000. The fact was, there was never any vegetable oil in those storage tanks in the AW Warehouse. Friday morning, November 22, the New York Stock Exchange announced that two outside brokerage firms would help meet the capital requirements to support Hauptand another firm, resulting in a slight improvement at 12:15 EST, just two hours and fifteen minutes before Kennedy was shot. The head of the Exchange called an emergency meeting with Hauptbrokerage. In a short few hours, approximately $200,000,000 were diverted from normal channels in the Allied debacle, borne out by the record. Selling “short”, the act of betting against a stock, in scattered areas of the market brought in one half billion dollars as opposed to the six billion that could have been realized as events in Dallas unfolded. The magicians of the scheme were not greedy to that extent. Instead of dropping possibly 30 points, the stock market dropped 24 points in 27 minutes as Kennedy’s body was being “handled” at Parkland. Approx. 2.6 million shares were sold off in the greatest panic of the market since 1929. Major customer of Allied Vegetable, the head of Garnac Grain, is quoted as having said upon learning that Kennedy had been assassinated, “I thought this must be a plot by the Russians or the underworld -- too many crazy things are happening at once”. How might the vegetable oil swindle that culminated the morning of November 22, be hinted at in the records of Pierre Lafitte, and does that hint merit further pursuit? The history of Nazi Johannes Bernhardt must first be considered Bernhardt, a devotee of Herman Goering and Adolph Hiter, moved his operations to Argentina as did so many Nazi elites following the war, and from there established the highly lucrative, powerful conduit for global enterprises under the eventual banner SOFINDUS. Among Johanne’s most significant investments were those that fed, literally, a large percentage of the world population. Under the company name “Progreso Agricultural,” he controlled distribution of food products coming out of South America. With time and resources, his investments in Bunge and Borne will be confirmed. Bernhardt’s known business associates in Franco’s Spain, Skorzeny and Victor Oswald, both of whom are among those relevant to our investigation, lead to Pierre Lafitte. A Lafitte datebook entry, October >>>, reveals the name or term, “Ravin”. Initially, the reference was dismissed by these authors out of hand as one among several that would never be “locked down” in this investigation. It appears in context of another apparent codeword “holdout”. In depth, aggressive search for an understanding of what or who Lafitte might have been referring to in the entry “Ravin Holdout” results in the thinnest of threads. Was Lafitte leaving behind a clue that Ravin the attorney(s) was holding out, holding fast, holding something, tied to the near economic crash - few average Americans are aware of then, let alone now - of the US economy at the same time their president had been assassinated? As early as 1962, Wall Street Journal reporter Norman C. Miller recognized there was a story to be had. His articles culminated in “The Great Salad Oil Swindle” published in 1965 that won him a Pulitzer Prize, a book these authors encourage the reader to consult. (the photo found in this link, identifying Johannes Bernhardt, includes a man who bears a strong resemblance to Tino De Angelis of Allied Crude.) https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2013/08/01/inenglish/1375364409_371574.html

@Tom Gram I hadn't planned on weighing in on a thread focused on Col. Prouty. However, your remark, If Garrison really got so far that he was planning on accusing a specific CIA connected Nazi as a suspect I think there should be some evidence of it in his files, but it is possible that the relevant folder or something got destroyed, is an opportunity to share the most recent research into the firm, Permindex, which features in most exposés related to Clay Shaw's possible role in prior planning of the plot for Dallas. AS EMAILED TO MEMBERS OF OUR WORKING GROUP: I'm going to share the following in rough draft form because I think it may pull together significant threads we've been pursuing for months and months; in time, it will conform with standards for wider publication. I always thought Permindex either dissolved completely or at least slipped off the radar by 1967, having been run out of Rome and reestablished HQ in Johannesburg. For this exercise, it's enough that Dr. Werner von Arx was ever associated with Permindex (see link) considering his history with an arms manufacturer for The Reich. It's implausible that the earlier investors/board members we are most familiar with weren't aware of von Arx's history. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10181-10116.pdf In May 1940, a major contract with the Netherlands for over 500 anti-tank guns with accessories failed because the Wehrmacht had already occupied the country before delivery. The end for the ailing company came in early 1942: The Steyr-Solothurn Waffen AG was put on the “Statutory List” – the UK’s blacklist. This list, established in 1939 after the outbreak of war, included all the companies that the British supposed to support the German Reich and its allies. And for the Waffenfabrik Solothurn as a de facto German company a place on this list was unavoidable, so it was cut off from all lucrative markets in Europe. Through stock transfers and various letterbox companies it was tried to disguise the Waffenfabrik as a Swiss company. But without success, as so easily the authorities could not be fooled. Last but not least, a large order of more than 2,000 anti-tank guns for Italy failed as the country surrendered to the Allies in September 1943. Whether a payment for the 1,500 already delivered weapons was received is more than questionable. In 1944, the last weapon rolled off the line, then the production was finally stopped. Experimental version of the MP34 with a light-weight stock made of stamped sheet metal. (Military Museum, Prague) Of the approximately 800 employees, only 200 could be kept; all others had to be dismissed. The toolmaking division was still in the development stage and too young, as it could compensate the loss of the weapons factory. The newly developed “small workshop tool set” proved to be too expensive and its sale was difficult. https://smallarmsreview.com/swiss-connection-rheinmetall-and-steyr-in-switzerland/ In the context of trade negotiations of the Allies with Switzerland in February 1945 about the future after the war, it was decided to block all German assets in Switzerland. This meant the complete inability of the Waffenfabrik to act, and so the managers tried to make the best of a bad situation. Already on March 19, 1945 the “Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Solothurn AG” (machine tools factory) was founded and whose shares were now fully in Swiss hands. But once again, the authorities could not be fooled. The premises were the same and in the background the already well-known managers of the Waffenfabrik pulled the strings. In January 1946, the machine tools factory was put on the list of German companies. According to the Washington Agreement, Switzerland was committed to the liquidation of German assets. This task was executed for both companies by the accredited notary of the machine tools factory, Dr. jur. Werner von Arx. * * * * * You may also recall the research into Ernst Imfeld, another of the signatories on the original Permindex documents. Imfeld, along with Ludwig Haupt, and Friedrich Kadgien formed IMHAUKA, a business model along the lines of SOFINDUS and World Commerce Corporation export and import operations based in Argentina and Brazil. (kudos to @Robert Montenegro for identifying Kadgien's relationship to Imfeld leading us to IMHAUKA.) Ernst Imfeld, (seen in photo at an event in Tulsa, OK) was the straw man for Permindex whose board also included Count or Prince Spadafora whose son married one of Hjalmar Schacht’s daughters and George Mandel (Mantello) who is lauded in Israel for having arranged the escape of Jews who could afford to flee the Holocaust. Records suggest it was a financially rewarding effort rather than altruism, and even the CIA didn’t trust Mandel. Imfeld and Haupt settled in Argentina & Brazil - IMHAUKA export, import, still in operation today and relevant to SOFINDUS (as referenced in the essay presented at the end of this post). Friedrich Kadgien was Goering’s head of foreign currency for The Four Year Plan. A Federico Kadgien, Buenas Aires is listed as a reference on a 1955 visa application of former SS Stuka Pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. H. Keith Thompson, Marguerite Oswald's manager in early 1964 is another of Rudel's references in 1955. After more than a decade, Rudel was finally successful in securing a visa for entry into the US in September 1963, and arrived on October 8/9 — coinciding by chance with Lafitte's OSARN OSARN entry — to attend a conference at Wright Patterson. Rudel appears in the Lafitte datebook September 13 (possibly in concert with his latest application for visa) and December 9 White + all / guns Rudel (with thanks to Brian E. for catching that December 9 entry. More on the possible identity of this White referenced by Lafitte at a future date.) https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/RUDEL%2C%20HANS_0056.pdf Subject Listing of Numbered Documents in M1934, OSS ... National Archives | (.gov) https://www.archives.gov › research › holocaust Dr Friedrich Kadgien, Ludwig Haupt, Dr Ernst Rudolf Fisher. 2/1/1946. State Dept.; Paris, London,. Asuncion, American. Embassies; Berlin, U.S.. Ludwig Haupt — the third leg of the IMHAUKA barstool, remains very elusive so this is a work in progress: In searching through my files for "Haupt", I realized the name appears in my essay on the Great Salad Oil Swindle which almost brought down the American commodities market the morning of Friday, November 22. (see photo from El Pais article linked below. A naked eye analysis suggests Tino De Angelis of Allied Crude Oil was photographed with Johannes Bernhardt of SOFINDUS). If the objective of November 22, 1963 was a coup meant to realign American democracy in the literal sense to suit an international far right agenda, the death of one man - even the president - could not make it so. Historically, attempts on the lives of presidents, including Reagan in contemporary politics, did not carry a similar weight. In 1963, other elements had to have been in play in order for the democratically elected government to collapse. Those elements would include significant damage to the stability of the US economy. Any assassination of an American president would be an obvious trigger for a sharp sell off, but the question is, could the sell off on Friday, November 22, 1963 have been helped along. Author Kent has studied in some depth the sudden and significant sale of stock in the Dallas based military contractor, Ling Timco Vought (LTV) that Friday morning. He highlights that among the directors was D. Harold Byrd, owner of the building known as the Texas School Book Depository. LTV is studied extensively in Chapter 10 of this book, and the reader is also encouraged to read Kent’s Endnote to this chapter related to that specific stock sell off that seems to represent the micro of the macro. In a rather clumsy summary, particularly for those steeped in the machinations of global markets, the vegetable oil swindle started with a “grain caper”. Assassination researcher Kenn Thomas tells us, ' $55,000,000 worth of barley, corn and sorghum was to be shipped to Austria for German and Austrian firms by half a dozen American exporters. Somehow less than half of it got there. How do you lose $30,000,000 worth of grain? You do it, it turns out with a carefully thought out international control operation with numerous dummy corporations and Swiss bank accounts and at least one German firm in Hamburg (which was a big new customer of a man named Tino De Angelis). In the course of a vast investigation of this little incident by the U.S. Senator Williams of Delaware set the probable “take by the conspirators behind it at between three and five million dollars. De Angelis was the founder of Allied Crude Vegetable Oil Refining Corporation in Bayonne, New Jersey. Of 50 companies that either lent money or deposited oil at Allied’s Bayonne plant against warehouse receipts, the Bunge and Borne, Lda was the one most attached to the success (or failure) of Allied Crude Vegetable. Sometimes dubbed as “The Octopus” by financial writers (which many readers will find highly interesting), Bunge had one of the finest communications networks outside of any government to facilitate the second by second fluctuations of the world market that made or lost millions. The American Bunge Corporation was the privately held giant, financially controlled by a group of share-holders of Bunge and Borne whose headquarters were and remain in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The founders had immigrated from Germany, and most of the board members were naturalized immigrants, second generation Argentenians of Belgian and German descent. The Bunge had everything in the early 1960s to affect the global markets to which the US economy was tied: a German influence in its home base of Argentina, supra- flexibility in world communications, tremendous assets, and a strong influence over decisions made at Allied Vegetable Oil. While no student of this scandal has ever asserted that Bunge knowingly set in motion the events that triggered the markets in the hours before Kennedy was assassinated, there is no question that through it’s American subsidiary, American Bunge, it owned 40% of Allied Vegetable Oil’s business that was in deep trouble. Bunge exported about $100 million worth of vegetable oil each year, most of which was supplied by Allied out of New Jersey. When asked in court in 1964 how much the next highest level customer held in Allied, attorney David Ravin responded, ‘less than 15%’. The Ravin & Ravin law firm served as referee in Allied’s bankruptcy, which leads us to that thinnest of threads. But first a brief summary of the role American Express played in the scandal. Before launching, it should be noted that among the directors of AE at the time were Ret. General Lucius Clay who was considered one of America's most ardent cultural Cold Warriors, and L.W. Douglas - the brother-in-law of John McCloy, future influencer of the Warren Commission report. Douglas benefitted from his family's wealth derived from the Phelps Dodge mining conglomerate with historic ties to the family of the wife of James Jesus Angleton. The afternoon of October 14, 1963, the founder of Allied Vegetable, Tino De Angelis, forged receipts of American Express Warehouse - the entity that was allegedly storing vats of vegetable oil - for $6,000,000 worth of ‘phantom oil’ to Wall Street. In the next few weeks, De Angelis sent an additional $33 million worth of forged papers, and the same time, he began check-kiting up to $17.5 million. When word seeped out that Allied Vegetable was risky, the sell off began. Around November 15, rumors swept trading floors that Bunge Corp. was behind the selling. By November 18, brokerage firm Haupt Inc., a major promoter of Allied Vegetable, noted that the day’s drop in futures had driven Allied’s debt to Haupt from 9 million to 14 million, and counting, News that De Angelis was filing bankruptcy hit the markets. One of his key legal minds, Morris Ravin, the brother of David, caught wind that the tanks in the American Express Warehouse were for the most part empty, i.e., there was no oil to support the receipts that had made investors salivate over Allied Vegetable stock, and, by pure chance Morris Ravin decided to rat and contact the Department of Justice. By Thursday afternoon, November 21, Bunge Corp filed suit and charged that American Express had “lost” 160,450,000 pounds of oil worth $14,240,000. The fact was, there was never any vegetable oil in those storage tanks in the AW Warehouse. Friday morning, November 22, the New York Stock Exchange announced that two outside brokerage firms would help meet the capital requirements to support Haupt and another firm, resulting in a slight improvement at 12:15 EST, just two hours and fifteen minutes before Kennedy was shot. The head of the Exchange called an emergency meeting with Haupt brokerage. In a short few hours, approximately $200,000,000 were diverted from normal channels in the Allied debacle, borne out by the record. Selling “short”, the act of betting against a stock, in scattered areas of the market brought in one half billion dollars as opposed to the six billion that could have been realized as events in Dallas unfolded. The magicians of the scheme were not greedy to that extent. Instead of dropping possibly 30 points, the stock market dropped 24 points in 27 minutes as Kennedy’s body was being “handled” at Parkland. Approx. 2.6 million shares were sold off in the greatest panic of the market since 1929. Major customer of Allied Vegetable, the head of Garnac Grain, is quoted as having said upon learning that Kennedy had been assassinated, “I thought this must be a plot by the Russians or the underworld -- too many crazy things are happening at once”. How might the vegetable oil swindle that culminated the morning of November 22, be hinted at in the records of Pierre Lafitte, and does that hint merit further pursuit? The history of Nazi Johannes Bernhardt must first be considered Bernhardt, a devotee of Herman Goering and Adolph Hiter, moved his operations to Argentina as did so many Nazi elites following the war, and from there established the highly lucrative, powerful conduit for global enterprises under the eventual banner SOFINDUS. Among Johanne’s most significant investments were those that fed, literally, a large percentage of the world population. Under the company name “Progreso Agricultural,” he controlled distribution of food products coming out of South America. With time and resources, his investments in Bunge and Borne will be confirmed. Bernhardt’s known business associates in Franco’s Spain, Skorzeny and Victor Oswald, both of whom are among those relevant to our investigation, lead to Pierre Lafitte. A Lafitte datebook entry, October >>>, reveals the name or term, “Ravin”. Initially, the reference was dismissed by these authors out of hand as one among several that would never be “locked down” in this investigation. It appears in context of another apparent codeword “holdout”. In depth, aggressive search for an understanding of what or who Lafitte might have been referring to in the entry “Ravin Holdout” results in the thinnest of threads. Was Lafitte leaving behind a clue that Ravin the attorney(s) was holding out, holding fast, holding something, tied to the near economic crash - few average Americans are aware of then, let alone now - of the US economy at the same time their president had been assassinated? As early as 1962, Wall Street Journal reporter Norman C. Miller recognized there was a story to be had. His articles culminated in “The Great Salad Oil Swindle” published in 1965 that won him a Pulitzer Prize, a book these authors encourage the reader to consult. (the photo found in this link, identifying Johannes Bernhardt, includes a man who bears a strong resemblance to Tino De Angelis, Allied Crude.) https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2013/08/01/inenglish/1375364409_371574.html

@Paul Brancato @Tom Gram TO CLARIFY, the Lafitte datebook is NOT the source of allegation that Lafitte was involved in the destruction of Garrison files. Hank's investigation — as presented in his Frank Olson book, A Terrible Mistake — uncovered that journalist James Phelan and his buddy Lafitte broke into Garrison's office I was contacted by Phelan's daughter after Hank passed with an admonition that we should not repeat the episode in Coup in Dallas. I knew that she had challenged Hank previously and that he stood by the story so I advised her we would publish the M/s as Hank intended. It was my understanding that there was an internal disagreement within the Phelan family about the event. @Tom Gram Your lack of interest in a yet to be "officially" authenticated record of the plot as it evolved, while accepting government documents as being without reproach, seems to me rather convoluted thinking — particularly if you believe THE government had a role in killing its commander in chief?

Who ran the Three Tramps Operation, assuming it was a diversion op? Even if it wasn't officially designated as such in November '63, it certainly morphed into a successful diversion for this community for decades. . . unless the purpose all along has been to trace the tramps to who positioned them in Dealey? @Steve Thomas

"Stunning" has lost all meaning since Trump, but this? ... this is stunning! Caveat. I haven't finished the full 2-hour interview. I'm still reeling over the 6 minute clip seen in the opening of this review. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/19/a-devastating-video-for-the-career-of-tucker-carlson/?fbclid=IwAR28TkfqL2W-t627ECi9DUJ8F04w80__Enafk9a38HKXsKn4z3s05QyLyPE

Interestng, Dave. The problem I have with this diversion from the salient information presented in the initial thread is that we're diving into "conspiracy theories" — broad speculation instead of sticking with what we know in the specifics. The assassination of John Kennedy in Dallas was a highly contained, compartmentalized operation involving carefully chosen individuals with requisite skill sets held together by the bond of loyalty developed since the war, with a common ideology as impetus. This was NOT a "military operation" by definition; it involved military trained individuals in league with non-military. It was NOT a military coup by definition. The historical context presented in Spies, Killers, Soldiers, and Ideologues… is essential to understanding the role Otto and Ilse Skorzeny played in Lancelot Project, the plan to assassinate Kennedy in Dallas. In one conversation with a Lafitte family member, Hank was told that Leon Degrelle held such anamosity toward Kennedy that he insisted on "chipping in" on the expense of the Dallas plot. Degrelle was not "military" at the time, nor was he serving in a military capacity. Let's please not use Albarelli's investigation to support a working theory filtered through confirmation bias, regardless of how sound the theory may be or how well-founded some of the research may be. The quest is to solve the cold case murder.

Hear. Hear!

I knew the Howard Hunt theory from years ago; I've spent time with a researcher in the Lake Hubbard area and know the story about the pistol ending up in the lake and somehow tied to Woody Harrelson's da, another candidate as I recall. I'm not fully up to speed with the most recent and persuasive theory. And, I'm only concerned with whether it was a deliberate diversionary tactic; I actually don't care about the identities except and unless they lead to the command, which logically, they would — unless "command" just grabbed three guys off the street or train as it were. Highly unlikely as a strategy, imo.

BARD's 2312, #2094 which is the Q&A between Prouty and McCloy. You have my attention! @David Josephs Speaking of diversions and clean up ops, McCloy endorsed Allen Dulles's introduction of Isaac Don Levine's pseudo study of the "the lone gunman" personality in the opening days of the Warren Commission. Pierre Lafitte identifies Levine in his November 28 entry, writing, Levine will deal with Marina. It was public knowledge (fairly early I believe) that Levine visited Marina at the Ford home in Richardson in early 1964; however, who knew that Levine was designated to "deal with" her six days after the assassination and four days following the murder of her husband? @Matt Allison I highly respect your research, and am asking the questions: 1) if the tramps were a diversion, who specifically ran that aspect of the operation? 2) if the tramps were as you argue not involved in any way why have so many expended extraordinary time and energy on their photos?

Graphic produced by Pete Sattler @copyright 2021. Reproduction is subject to approval by either Leslie Sharp of Mr. Sattler.

@Mark Knight @Sandy Larsen I'm trying to share an organizational chart on this thread. Our graphics expert has shrunk it to 42kb (490X317) but it's bouncing. I think you said that I've likely exceeded my quota, but I don't know how to delete previous images to make room. Any chance this org chart could be "charged to my account" for now and posted here while I look for my other images to delete?

I saw and I responded and my computer crashed! Will redo and send again. But are you saying that Prouty was responsible for the specific diversion that included the parade of three tramps? Isn't that the essence of this exercise?

@David Josephs Is this applicable to the question of who ran the three tramps diversion? Prouty?

Come on over to the crime-solving thread: Getting Down to the Nuts and Bolts ... and the Question of Cubans in "direct capacities" 🙂 Hopefully the deliberations on the thread will remain focused specifically on the Lafitte datebook entries — applying as little dot-connecting or historical propinquity as possible for now. The entries provide a solid foundation for the deliberate pursuit the cold case murder investigation. Raising the roof before the foundation dries, or the scaffolding has been set, is not very sound construction. I'm convinced this is a unique opportunity to talk the reader through Albarelli's investigation which shifted the case significantly, however uncomfortable that may have been for many. Those who resist Hank's primary source material might at least walk through the exercise out of sheer curiosity — a "hypothetical" what if Lafitte's datebook is authentic? How many before us have been assailed for theories based on far less than Lafitte's records that eventually proved credible? Note: the thread is an Oswald Free Zone except to confirm his role as the patsy in the Skorzeny / Angleton strategy. We're identifying who did kill JFK, not who didn't. @Robert Montenegro We might be able to avoid the quagmire that developed on this thread? As I've cautioned repeatedly, blowing too much air in a ballon whose creation originated with Pierre Lafitte's records, risks serious blowback and for that reason, I am avoiding this obsession with Col. Prouty for the moment. I appreciate the historical context and the significant research presented, but how it relates to the assassination strategy conceived and directed by Otto Skorzeny from his base in Berlin is a stretch for now.

Paul, that's completely off base. If we can determined the role the tramps played, and who played them, it leads up the food chain. Otherwise, it seems to me the tramps remain an isolated incident that some, including Ms. Gibson have spent an inordinate amout of time identifying by name, but to what avail?

Poignant, and well said, Ron. It's my understanding that traumatized individuals often take up the mantle of anything but the original source of their personal trauma as a coping mechanism. Had RFK Jr. persuaded his family to release his father's files on his private investigation, we might be further along.

Yes, @Ron Bulman, @David Josephs once he realized Jean Souetre appears in Lafitte's datebook, Hank relied on the clues to Souetre left by Duffy. We discussed at length the automatic blowback of sourcing anything published in the Enquirer. Hank's professional view was that Duffy was a solid reporter who took risks and if the only venue he could persuade to fund and publish his investigative work was a tabloid, then so be it. The facts are the facts. I think we've evolved and accept that being interviewed on Sputnik or RT of Al Jazeera does not automatically destroy the credibility of an investigation; however, we now have to factor in "disinformation." And yes, it's possible Duffy was an expert in the art decades ago. However, the fact that Jean Souetre's files remain either unreleased, or lost in the wind, suggests to us that Duffy was 'on to something' very early on.

I haven't watched the video yet, but I will. I think it goes without saying that many careers have been staked on similar if not more significant leads. I don't know how Holt — as the oldest Tramp — shifts the investigation unless it can be established who placed him in that scenario? That's the essence of my pushback here, @Paul Cummings

Once this sinks in at Ed forum, I'll provide additional research related to Col. Prouty's controversial association with the Willis Carto Liberty Lobby and how those associations reveal the likelihood of ongoing containment. We can now distill down these historical relationships for context, and ultimately arrive at the highly compartmentalized, deliberately contained operation in Dallas in November 1963 — the Lancelot Project, revealed in Hank Albarelli's Coup in Dallas with coauthors Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent. For now, I don't want to step on this brilliant research of yours, @Robert Montenegro

@W. Niederhut During a recent interview on Fox, RFK Jr. said, Trump is probably the most successful debater in this country since Lincoln - Douglas. (Some may argue I'm taking the statement out of context; I'll leave it with the reader to draw their own conclusion.) I think the comparison is indicative of someone disconnected from the reality. Trump does not debate. Trump dominates the stage with lies. He bullies, blusters, hurls physical insults and during at least one debate, engaged in physical menacing of his opponent. Trump is unfit for office. The MAGA cult has destroyed the GOP. Robert Kennedy's campaign of "tolerance" is only serving to normalize him and the them, and may well move the bar permanently back to the 1960s' era of racism, anti-Semitism, proto-fascism in this country. I seriously worry "the appeaser" skipped a generation in the Kennedy family.

Apologies Paul, but I was careful in my prior comment to emphasize that I wasn't suggesting that your Philip Twombly was Bruce Twombly attorney; but that given Phillip's background which appears to be elevated within the national financial milieu, there might be a chance that Philip and Bruce were related. I know how contentious "dot connecting" is among many in this community; I also know that "propinquity" is a concept employed by District Attorneys around the country when prosecuting complicated cases in particular mob related, as well as white collar crimes (one and the same in many instances). The background to why Dallas was the only city considered for Lancelot Project by Angleton and Skorzeny is laid out in the vignette I provided with the caveat that it required me to share personal anecdotes. I stand by the piece. I did not set out to derail this thread any more than those who introduced forensics and ballistics in a deliberation related to the tramps might have meant to. I'll leave it at that. So, what is your evidence that Philip Twombly ordered Chauncey Holt to Dallas to be found sleeping on a train and subsequently paraded through Dealey just after the assassination in Dallas by Dallas Police officers who reported to whom? And have you asked why Twombly only directed Holt and not the other two tramps?