Leslie Sharp

6 hours ago, Kathy Beckett said:

Moved to Mainstream vs MAGA

@Charles Blackmon @Benjamin Cole @Kathy BeckettThis is directly related to the assassination in Dallas. The word "MAGA" does not surface nor does Donald Trump.  Yes, Ginni Thomas contributed to events that culminated on January 6, but that is tangential to Harlan Crow's family dynasty linked directly to the "scene of the crime" that was Dallas. 

Trammell Crow was business partners with Dallas oilmen, several of whom have been identified as having close association with Otto Skorzeny who worked with Angleton to affect the coup in Dallas.

Why is this being categorized other than assassination related? If I remove reference to Ginni and Clarence, would you be willing to leave the thread as titled, and my original content in tact?

15 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I'd read a little about the autism aspect.  But I did not know vaccines have not been regulated for decades.  Why the hell not?  As a kid I got shots that left scars on my arm, being given a sugar cube to dissolve in my mouth.  My grandkids are vaccinated (not for covid).  No one has been making sure these are safe for decades?

That's RFK Jr.'s argument as well, and it's tragic he has been associated with the MAGA movement simply because he was outspoken about the Covid vax when in fact he had been writing and speaking about vaccines in general for years.  I think he's being exploited and there will be blowback from both sides.  MAGA will be furious if he dilutes his position, and some Dems will be/are furious he's danced with Carlson, Stone, and Trump on the issue. 

Did you see that Franken may throw his hat in the ring?  Where is Wellstone when we need him?!

1 hour ago, Ron Bulman said:

I'd just posted this in the water coolers thread, before I saw your thread here.  I remember Tramell Crow real estate mentioned in various deals over the years.

Clarence Thomas reportedly received years of gifts from GOP donor, stirring scandal (msn.com)

The main thing I remembered about Robert G Story was him being the top assistant attorney at the Nuremberg trials (to Supreme Court chief justice . . . ?).

Yes, Judge Robert A. Jackson.

Storey appears in the Lafitte datebook, November 20, just two days before Kennedy is assassinated: " . . . ‘Call Storey’ followed by the name ‘Duvall,’ and the initials ‘DeM’ penned by the project manager of the plot to murder Kennedy, reveals a darker side to the esteemed jurist. There can be little doubt that the Duvall mentioned is Judge Jesse C. Duvall of Fort Worth, TX. Judge Duvall had served as prosecutor during the Dachau trials at the conclusion of WWII. Among the defendants was SS Otto Skorzeny. . . "

Other relevant excerpts.  

. . . Following the assassination in Dallas, Robert Storey and Leon Jaworski found themselves reunited at the formation of the Warren Commission investigation, Jaworski working directly with the federal commission’s legal team on behalf of the interests of the State of Texas, and Storey as direct liaison between the authorities of the City of Dallas and Allen Dulles, recently “retired” Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and de facto head of the commission. 

. . . Without a shadow of doubt, Bill Harvey was among those most prominent on the mind of the project manager for the assassination throughout 1963, as evidenced by notes made on twelve dates. As with a number of characters named by Lafitte in this record, the notes are cryptic but studied in full, they leave clear indication that Harvey was critical to whatever Pierre was working on. Some may challenge the fact that William King Harvey does not dominate these pages; however, it is the opinion of these authors that a voluminous record now in the public domain in support of his role in the assassination stands on its own. The notes of Lafitte merely serve as confirmation, and for that reason, we choose to provide the dates and text of all twelve entries in the Endnotes and let the reader and researcher take it from there.

 Involved in the OPC’s “Free Jurist” program, overseen by Harvey was Colonel Robert Storey, who at the very least was already “acquainted” with Skorzeny from his stint as head of the Nuremberg Trials documents division. Storey, along with his close friend, Houston attorney and lead counsel for Schlumberger Oil Services, Leon Jaworski, would play an important part in the investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy, heading up an independent Texas investigation. Both Storey and Jaworski subsequently played a role authorized by Earl Warren in investigating Texas aspects of the assassination. The two men also had a Texas attorney present during all Warren Commission sessions to monitor the proceedings. Banker and oil industry expert Robert Storey was among the contact who Pierre Lafitte made note to call as planning for the assassination of President Kennedy neared the final stages. Storey is considered at length in the chapter, “Lay of the Land.”

. . . For the purpose of this investigation, also serving the US prosecution team under Jackson, were attorneys Robert G. Storey and Leon Jaworski. It is significant to note that both men became esteemed Texas attorneys and advanced lucrative practices with special emphasis on their oil industry expertise. Later, the two Texans not only served as assisting lawyers to the Warren Commission investigating JFK’s assassination, but they were appointed to the formal group created by Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr that produced its own report on the assassination, essentially a “ringing endorsement” of the Warren Commission Report. Readers shall encounter the significance of Jaworski and Storey in a later chapter.

. . . The official address of the Remington Arms Co. was the Hawley’s Connecticut National Bank building, 888 Main St., Bridgeport, CT. A similar pattern of interlocking interests emerged in Houston. Schlumberger Ltd., and the Bank of the Southwest, along with the oil firm’s counsel, Leon Jaworski, shared the bank’s office building in the posh area of Post Oak. It will be remembered, Jaworski (also on the bank board) was a member of the legal team at the Nuremberg Trials alongside fellow Texan and good friend, Robert G. Storey, both of whom feature in the Dallas chapter of this book. As will be revealed, Pierre Lafitte was familiar enough to reference Storey in his datebook at a critical juncture in the lead up to the assassination. 
 

. . . A little-known fact is that Dallas real estate magnate, Mattie Caruth Byrd, married to David Harold Byrd who owned 411 Elm that housed the Texas School Book Depository, officed next door to Remington Arms in the Meadows Building. Mattie was the daughter of W. W. Caruth Sr. whose homestead provided the land for Southern Methodist University where Nuremberg trial attorney Robert G. Storey built his reputation as a legal expert for the oil and gas industry. Other names ceremoniously inscribed on the buildings at SMU include oilmen Algur Meadows, Buddy Fogelson, and Jake Hamon (president of the National Petroleum Institute in ’63), each with their own stake in Skorzeny’s scheme in Spain. Caruth Sr. was on the small board of Ralph Rogers’ Texas Industries, a cement and gravel business with operations in Chico, Texas where Thomas Eli Davis died. 

***

"Ah, Dallas, the LAY OF THE LAND" . . . "Oil smooths the way for silent, and sometimes deadly, change" — Rene Lafitte
 

3707 Rawlins, Oak Lawn neighbors, Dallas [— two blocks from Lucas B&B, Ruby's Vegas Club, and a short walk to the Stoneleight Hotel]
Previews Inc., global real estate firm co-founded in the late '30s by Archbold van Beuren, OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan's future chief of security, employed Ilse Skorzeny —wife of Hitler's favorite Commando, the infamous Ott Skorzeny — throughout the Cold War and into 1963, allowing her unfettered global travel in pursuit of the couple's interests both business and political. Previews opened a Dallas office in the spring of that year in spite of having a regional office in Fort Worth. Among the tenants at 3707 Rawlins in the Oak Lawn neighborhood were several independent oilmen, among them Weslie Rogers demonstrates a network that "smoothed" the way, witting or not ...

Weslie G. Rogers Oil Companies Oklahoma oilman Weslie G. Rogers was the other primary tenant at 3707 Rawlins when the professional office building opened its doors. Rogers listed six oil and gas related businesses on the building marquis compared with Barron Kidd’s seven. Although Rogers maintained a large spread near Holdenville, OK, the family spent most of its time in an exclusive residential enclave in North Dallas. Their close neighbors included: Buck Wynne Jr., of the Wynne family dynasty, whose real estate investments involved Clint Murchison, TRAMMELL CROW [emphasis added], and Leo Corrigan among others; Jack Ruby’s banker, Michaux Nash, who did business with one of the principals in the Algur Meadows 1963 petrochemical scheme in Longview, TX, that caught Otto Skorzeny’s keen interest; and Jake Hamon, the notorious independent oilman involved with the Skorzeny-Meadows scheme since 1952, president of the American Petroleum Institute and a close friend of—among others in the industry both national and international—Paul Raigorodsky and Clint Murchison. . . . 
 

Robert G. “Bob” Storey, Jr.

Career highlights of Robert Gerald Storey, Jr., known to close friends as “Bob,” were achieved through the legal profession, but particularly significant to this saga was his role in the development of modern Dallas that included inspiration for an international merchandise mart, not unlike the New Orleans International Trade Mart envisioned by Clay LaVerne Shaw. Bob Storey’s concept came to fruition when developer Trammell Crow built the Dallas Trade Mart, Kennedy’s ultimate destination as the limo turned onto Elm. Crow is notorious as having been involved with Clint Murchison and attorney/ real estate developer Angus Wynne in their Great Southwest Corporation and the Six Flags project where, in another masterful move, Marina and Marguerite Oswald were secreted away and interrogated in the days following the assassination. 

Storey also established the Southwestern Legal Foundation on the campus of his beloved Southern Methodist University, where he served as the Dean of the Law School for many years. But it’s Storey’s position among the elite of the oil industry, both national and international that confirms Rene Lafitte’s astute observation that “oil soothes the way.” His idea for an International Oil & Gas Education Center under the aegis of his Southwest Legal Foundation housed on the Campus of Southern Methodist University, placed him in the cat bird’s seat of the petroleum industry . . . — Coup in Dallas ... by H. P. Albarelli Jr. with Sharp and Kent.

" . . . But one of the most extraordinary associations in the annals of crime is the carefully guarded relationship between the federal government and one of the most amazing underworld figures of the age." — Bob Considine, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, April 24, 1955

5 hours ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

Paul, I agree with you -  given the new book, " Coup in Dallas".

I agree with Paul as well, Chuck, and offer additional insight in my comments following Paul's astute observation back in 2018, now that Coup — Hank's last investigation — has finally been published.

And I highly recommend anyone interested in Otto and Ilse Skorzeny to read Major Ralph Ganis's The Skorzeny Papers: Evidence for the Plot to Kill JFK.  Hank said repeatedly (criticism from "the community" aside) that in time, the information provided in Ganis's book would be invaluable to students of WWII and Cold War history.

On 1/13/2018 at 7:47 PM, Paul Brancato said:

It’s amazing to me how little interest is shown by posters here on this subject. I think Garrison was so effectively lampooned by guys like Phelan that we wrote him off. I would say that the French/Corsican connection suffered a similar fate, with all the deliberate name confusion i.e. Souetre/Mertz. Yet if we follow more recent revelations about Shaw, such as his real connection to CMC/Permindex, we can begin to see threads that tie these two theories together. Hank Albarelli, who brought us the info on Jean-Pierre Lafitte, has apparently zeroed in on Otto Skorzeny. I’m very curious what else he has found, whether William Harvey is in the mix, or Souetre. Readers dismiss the National Socialist connection too readily because, in my opinion, they haven’t really looked at the post war enlistment of National Socialists by the CIA. If Skorzeny was the mastermind it could only be because he was hired and protected. It looks to me like the conspiracy was above top secret, and defied organizational boundaries. 

@Paul Brancato Such prescience, Paul.  And knowing what we now know ... having access to more information gained from Hank's dogged pursuit of Lafitte's role in the plot for Dallas, we realize that N-zai SS officer Otto Skorzeny worked in symbiosis with Willoughby and Walker, and Angleton and his assigned team — Barnes and Harvey specifically with Sam Kail in the mix. Otto was not simply a hired tactician.  

Had Hank not learned that Rexist Party leader Leon Degrelle who was still politically active in 1963 was anxious to chip in funds for Project Lancelot, and that Hans Ulrich Rudel — who was attempting to launch a new fascist party in German, and along with Skorzeny had facilitated the escape of thousands of N-zis via the rat lines — appears in the 1963 datebook maintained by Lafitte, we might relegate Skorzeny to simply doing the bidding of his American masters.  Alas, that was not the case.

@Tom Gram @Michael Griffith @Greg Doudna (see previous comment for context)

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.[Note: I believe Dick Russell is mistaken and that Ehrman was found on the 29th.] 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. 

_____________________________

I believe that this datebook [maintained by Pierre Lafitte] fills in many gaps about what really happened on November 22, 1963, and in the months leading up to it. This will be particularly evident to students of the assassination.  — Dick Russell, author of thirteen [and counting] books including The Man Who Knew Too Much, On the Trail of the JFK Assassins, and They Killed Our President! with Jesse Ventura.

. . . 

In summary, it is possible from this datebook to piece together many things about the assassination that could be merely educated guesses until now. I believe, presuming the datebook is verified as having been written by Lafitte in 1963, that this constitutes probably the strongest evidence that has ever come to light of a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. — Dick Russell

35 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Has anyone ever asked former Florida Senator Bob Graham what he knows about half brother Phil Graham’s death? Bob certainly suspected something amiss with 9/11. Phil Graham had some kind of public meltdown shortly before his death. Do you recall that? Something about JFK’s girlfriends? 
what was Ilse Skorzeny doing in Miami? Any idea? 
who is Ella?

The Ellen Rometsch "Affair" with JFK was about to break nationally. Lafitte's datebook indicates he was intricately involved, including arranging for passports, and aware if not responsible for setting up acting classes for her.

The inference is that Ilse Skorzeny knew the Stockdale's well enough from her frequent visits to Phoenix Park  to visit them in Miami when they returned to the States.

The Ehrman death is most likely a critical key to the mystery, considering Lafitte notes that Otto and Stockdale were discussing Graham on July 28, Graham had been Anita's editor at the WaPo, and Anita is in the datebook on July 30.  Reports indicate that although she was found on the 29th, it was likely she died on July 28.

A. L. Ehrman had reported on the ground from Algeria during the final months of the war for independence.  Those who have read Coup carefully will recognize the potential significance of that, considering OAS assassins were involved in the murder of Kennedy in Dallas.

PS. Graham's melt down occurred in Phoenix, AZ at a media convention.   I've never read a transcript of what precisely he shouted to the crowd other than it was related to JFK,  peccadilloes, and the crowd they ran with. (see Sy Hersh.)  I've read that Graham himself had his own secrets. We know that Anita Ehrman was in the press pool for Jackie's trip to Japan, her father was well connected in the social and business world of NYC, and it's entirely possible she knew Jack and Jackie personally through her stint in Japan and that she was then introduced to their friends, including the Bradlees who in turn landed her a job at WaPo.  

Is it pure coincidence Lafitte references George Hunter-White on the same day as Ms. Ehrman, in DC? And, I've not noted previously, SA Milton Kaack is referenced on the same day.

Research in progress ...

9 hours ago, David McLean said:

Note that the given month and date in Date of Birth, Oct 13, is the date In 1307 Phillip IV of France ordered the arrest of Jacques de Molay and other Knights Templar, followed on November 22 by Pope Clement then ensconced in Avignon issuing a papal bull  condemning the order throughout Christendom (Wikipedia’s summary).  Whew…

I like how you think!  

It's entirely plausible to speculate Jean Pierre Lafitte opted for that birthdate deliberately.  Thus far, to our knowledge Pierre didn't have an official birth certificate and we know that he reinvented himself throughout his life.

I don't suppose you've also tracked the deaths by blows to the head of significant historical figures over the centuries, beginning with the Merovingian king Dagobert? Years ago, prompted by a deep dive into de Molay because my father was the head of the de Molays in our small town, I came across a series of what I think of as esoteric  assassinations that involved fatal blows to the head. (AND the guy standing closest suffered severe injuries to the arm. Nothing new under the sun?) Ó'Cinnéide is Gaelic for "Helmet Head" and as you likely know, the O'Kennedys were High Kings of Ireland for an extended period.

And, taped inside the 1963 Lafitte datebook is a Lincoln penny with a clean hole through the top of his head. . .  and a Reich coin and a Hitler stamp, all to suggest Pierre had an esoteric bent.

10 hours ago, David McLean said:

 

Q — is this the Lafitte in question?  Good discussion, me thinks we are getting somewhere giving flesh to names and places and connections while not denying older findings and hypotheses, thanks to all

Thank you, David, and alas someone on the forum realizes that aspects of the Lafitte story comport with much of what is now accepted fact in the case. I believe that because Hank uncovered evidence of international support and direct involvement in the Dallas plot, Coup demands the community do a rethink and that's unsettling. He also insisted that the batch of records within the Skorzeny Papers purchased by Major Ganis represent a seismic shift in resolving the cold case murder investigation because they reflect a trajectory from WWII, the Cold War, to Dallas.

Yes, this is "the" Pierre Lafitte" who maintained a residence in Armonk, NY.  

Re. Armonk: there are many high strangenesses and synchronicities in Hank's investigation, but the Anita Ehrman coincidence continues to intrigue.  A.L. Ehrman, mentioned in a July 30 Lafitte datebook entry, was a former Hearst News reporter who landed a job at the Washington Post but worked only six months before leaving for reasons not yet determined. She was found dead in her DC apartment on July 29. George Hunter-White and Rene are both noted in the July 30 entry as well, with a notation they were in DC. Anita covered the Algerian war for independence from France on the ground in Algeria.

Following her death, Anita's family established a foundation and a local recreation center in her honor, in Armonk, NY, a short drive from the Armonk address you see here. Her father was a principle partner in Lehman Bros. for decades, and sat on the board of Wirt Davis's Dallas bank which morphed into Republic National Bank of Dallas.

Phil Graham, editor of the Washington Post, died by suicide on August 3, just five days after Anita was found dead. Grant Stockdale allegedly threw himself off a building on December 2, ten days after the assassination. It's difficult to ignore the string of deaths and the 1-2 degrees of separation  reflected in the following excerpt. [note: Hank and I had not made the Erhrman connection before he passed away.]

Among the[ Amb. Grant] Stockdales’ guests, in the spirit of céad míle fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) at Phoenix Park, Dublin, were Otto and Ilse Skorzeny. The Skorzenys had purchased a 155-acre estate named Martinstown House, in Curragh, County Kildare in June 1959. Stockdale was acutely familiar with the "former" N-azi SS officer who often visited with various American businessmen in meetings held in the American Embassy in Ballsbridge, Co. Dublin, including military officers and intelligence officials, as well as various embassy staff members throughout 1960, 1961, and 1962. Former embassy personnel vividly recall Skorzeny coming to the embassy on a near “weekly basis.” Evidence also reveals that the Skorzenys were occasional dinner guests joining the ambassador and his wife, and that Ilse Skorzeny was a frequent visitor to Miami, Florida. As we learn in a later chapter in pursuit of the Skorzenys’ time in Ireland, the SS officer had been an active participant in aiding arms trafficking to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). 

When the Serve-U Corporation scandal involving Democratic operative Bobby Baker [whose girlfriend Carole Tyler died in a plane crash in May of 1965] finally exploded, under pressure from his close friend President Kennedy, Grant Stockdale reluctantly resigned his post in Ireland in July 1962.

Stockdale’s Friends, Phil Graham and Frank Wisner

Just three weeks before the first clear reference to Ellen Rometsch in his diary, Lafitte writes on May 26:

L.O. – Wisner

Vosjoli   DC   JA

Then on June 16, Lafitte first acknowledges Ella by name in an entry that reads, “Ella acting classes – who?”  

Four days later, on June 20, Lafitte makes a note to cable OS (Otto Skorzeny), preceded by the name Wisner. The note reads in full:

Wisner - cable / OS

NYC / Wash D C

On July 28, 1963, the project manager of the assassination of President Kennedy makes a note that George [Hunter-White] and/or Otto Skorzeny would talk to [Grant] Stockdale about P. [Phil] Graham and the prospects that Graham would end up at Chestnut Lodge, in a duplicate fashion of Frank Olson’s journey toward death some ten years earlier. [Two days later, Lafitte makes a note, " A.L. Ehrman"]

George / OS talk

to Stockdale about P. Graham

(George says Chestnut Lodge) - dupe –

Operation Mockingbird

Philip Graham, a wartime graduate of the US Army’s Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, served as an intel officer in the US Airforce in the Pacific theater during the war. In 1940, he married Katherine Meyer, the daughter of Eugene Meyer who owned The Washington Post. After the war, and following graduation from Harvard Law School, Graham replaced his father-in-law as publisher at WaPo and eventually became co-owner of the newspaper, serving as president and chief executive officer as well as chairman of the board of directors of Newsweek magazine. 

Over time, in his capacity as a rising star in print media, Graham developed a close friendship with Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas, and a young senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy. In fact, it is said that he was instrumental in shaping the Kennedy-Johnson 1960 Democratic ticket. He was also known to be close with a good many other Senators, especially his high school chum George Smathers, as well as Representatives and federal officials. Among them were division heads at the CIA, including Frank Wisner of the Office of Policy Coordination. By the 1960s, any upheaval in Phil Graham’s life, personal or professional, would become the business of Frank Wisher.

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. — author Dick Russell from his limited analysis of the datebook of Pierre Lafitte published in Coup in Dallas.
 

During his lengthy investigation of the 1953 death of CIA research scientist Frank Olson which culminated in his 2009 book "A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments," Albarelli discovered a treasure trove of information in the diary and letters of Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent and CIA contractor George Hunter White. Through White’s papers, Albarelli became aware of the importance of operative Pierre Lafitte who was the "special employee" of White during the Greenwich Village LSD-laced adventures that White ran as a part of the CIA's MKULTRA program. Both White and Lafitte defied agency protocol and maintained personal records of their exploits, confident that the norms did not apply to those involved in their level of operations. Those private papers were roadmaps for Albarelli’s investigation. 

Lafitte, who resided with his family in New Orleans in 1963 under the name Jean Martin, was far more than a sidekick to White. He had been an actual FBN employee during the Cold War, serving the CIA and FBI during his long and bizarre career. By 1952, Lafitte was of such value that he was soon meeting with some of the CIA’s top officials, developing personal friendships along the way, including that with CIA head of Counterintelligence James Angleton who would become his patron, a relationship that would have dire consequences for John Kennedy and America in 1963.

Over the years, Lafitte was able to skillfully juggle his contact with White and others within Angleton’s circles at the CIA, including his protégé Tracy Barnes who warrants an entire essay as presented in the Appendix of this book; the notorious CIA officer William King Harvey; and organized crime members including Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante, Jr. This combined history compelled Albarelli to advance his investigations to events in Dallas. — Coup in Dallas

" . . . But one of the most extraordinary associations in the annals of crime is the carefully guarded relationship between the federal government and one of the most amazing underworld figures of the age." — Bob Considine, Minneapolis Tribune, April 1955
 

" . . . But one of the most extraordinary associations in the annals of crime is the carefully guarded relationship between the federal government and one of the most amazing underworld figures of the age." — Bob Considine

 

13 minutes ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Pretty certain.  Let me check.  I know Rene called George about Lafitte on occasion.

Are you referring to the following?
 

Lafitte, operating under the alias Jean Pierre Martin, visited Martino in prison on at least one occasion in 1961. This is known only because of a notation made by George Hunter White: “Pierre to see Martino Cuba—call Rene.” [Rene being Pierre’s wife.] A subsequent notation by Lafitte reads: “Siragusa re Martino Cuba.” This pertains to former OSS officials and Federal Narcotics Bureau agent Charles Siragusa, who was approached by the CIA in 1960 about contracting American Mafia figures in Cuba, and elsewhere, to help three CIA employees imprisoned with Martino to escape. It is thought that perhaps Siragusa contacted White and Lafitte for help with this request. 

@Paul Brancato that's a direct quote which also appears on pg. 437 of Albarelli's "A Terrible Mistake."

4 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

In the paragraph about Lafitte visiting Martino in prison I think you might have made a mistake - did George Hunter White make that note about ‘calling Rene’? 

Pretty certain.  Let me check.  I know Rene called George about Lafitte on occasion.

Are you referring to the following?

Lafitte, operating under the alias Jean Pierre Martin, visited Martino in prison on at least one occasion in 1961. This is known only because of a notation made by George Hunter White: “Pierre to see Martino Cuba—call Rene.” [Rene being Pierre’s wife.] A subsequent notation by Lafitte reads: “Siragusa re Martino Cuba.” This pertains to former OSS officials and Federal Narcotics Bureau agent Charles Siragusa, who was approached by the CIA in 1960 about contracting American Mafia figures in Cuba, and elsewhere, to help three CIA employees imprisoned with Martino to escape. It is thought that perhaps Siragusa contacted White and Lafitte for help with this request. 

@Michael Griffith as promised, this is the first of several rebuttals found on the EF thread, "the attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle" in response to Steve's assertion that Lajos Marton and Laszlo Varga could not have possibly been with Jean Souetre in mid-late November 1963: 

@Steve Thomas Before outlining in detail those [who were] in authority who could effect the release or escape of recently incarcerated known assassins in 1963, the following excerpts — resulting from a simple word search of Coup in Dallas for the term “escape” — reflect lax prison conditions (as evidenced in the prison attire in undated photos of Lajos Marton & Laszlo Varga which have been presented in this discussion as proof they couldn’t have crossed the MX – US border), porous prison systems and international borders, and apparent weak attempts to recapture escapees. [relevant phrases in bold.]         

·       Following their arrest, Souetre and Brousse were transferred, first to the prison de Maison Carrée in France, then back to Algeria, where they and the others arrested with them were tried before a military tribunal on December 17, 1961. The press referred to this group as Souetre’s “First Algerian Marquis.” 

Four days later, they were sentenced to three-to-four years in a detention camp at Saint Maurice l’Ardoise; however, the sentence was suspended and replaced with an administrative detention of indeterminate length. Apparently, the terms of confinement were somewhat generous because, in January 1962, Souetre was allowed to marry Josette Marcaihou of Aymeric. Four days later, they were sentenced to three-to-four years in a detention camp at Saint-Maurice l’Ardoise]. However, the sentence was suspended and replaced with an administrative detention of indeterminate length. Indeed, the camp’s commander, General Claude Clement, attended the ceremony. [under dispute.] Souetre and his new wife enjoyed a confined honeymoon, but days later the newlywed soldier escaped the camp along with seventeen others. After his escape, Souetre quickly assumed a leading role in planning the OAS attack on General de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart. De Gaulle escaped unharmed. Very much involved in the August 22, 1962 attempt to kill de Gaulle were Souetre’s close associates Laszlo Varga, Lajos Marton, along with Hungarian Gyula Sari, and Corsican born Francois Duprat, identified as one of the lead architects of Holocaust denial in France.

About a month after escaping, Souetre emerged in Feb–March 1962 living in Spain, and from there he often traveled to Portugal. On several occasions at this time Souetre approached CIA officials and tried to persuade them to provide the OAS with backing as the best and most “viable alternative to communism” in France. As we have seen, there are at least two declassified CIA documents that purport to outline these meetings. Meanwhile, his new bride, provided false identity papers, had joined him in Madrid but because of his continued OAS activities, she soon left him, returning to France where she filed for a divorce. Due to her use of false documents in Spain, her divorce was interrupted by her falsification of papers. Having paid the fine for the offence, she was released, the divorce was finalized, and Josette Marcaihou disappeared from history. 

·       Brousse -- Influential member of the Committee of the Association of Mayors of France and Overseas, in charge of the Youth and Sports Commission, member of the steering committee of the Council of European Municipalities, he joined Algerian War and became head of the SAS of Masséna. Opposed to the Algerian policy of France, he was the animator of the first "French Algeria" maquis, in the territories of Mostaganémois, with as companions Sheikh Si El Hadj Tekouk Ben Tekouk Senousssi, Captain Souetre, commandos of the air, and René Villard, Algerian civil leader of France-Resurrection. Arrested, placed in solitary confinement, he escaped and went into exile. 

·       Pierre Lafitte would also cross paths with Filliol—who like Lafitte would use at least twenty aliases—when in 1944 he was associated with the SS Waffen Charlemagne Division, a French unit aiding the National Socialists in their occupation of France. It is reported by surviving members of Lafitte’s family that he was with the SS Brigadefuhrer Krukenenberg in April 1945, just prior to its being moved to Berlin to defend Hitler in his final bunker days, but independent confirmation of this remains elusive. There is no evidence that Lafitte was ever captured, let alone brought to trial; however, at the end of World War II, Filliol was tried in absentia and sentenced to death. His sentence was never carried out because he escaped to Spain and fascist dictator General Francisco Franco refused to extradite the killer. 

·       The New York Times article is a bit off about General Giraud not having popular support. Indeed, Giraud was a national hero who had served in the French army for forty-six years, through both world wars. American diplomat Robert Murphy said of Giraud, “This extraordinary old soldier had a brilliant service record as a young officer in North Africa. He knew the country well, and he knew Arabs well and was generally respected by them. Giraud was somewhat of a specialist in escape.”    

·       Lafitte, operating under the alias Jean Pierre Martin, visited Martino in prison on at least one occasion in 1961. This is known only because of a notation made by George Hunter White: “Pierre to see Martino Cuba—call Rene.” [Rene being Pierre’s wife.] A subsequent notation by Lafitte reads: “Siragusa re Martino Cuba.” This pertains to former OSS officials and Federal Narcotics Bureau agent Charles Siragusa, who was approached by the CIA in 1960 about contracting American Mafia figures in Cuba, and elsewhere, to help three CIA employees imprisoned with Martino to escape. It is thought that perhaps Siragusa contacted White and Lafitte for help with this request. 

·       Of those named by Trafficante, readers are already familiar with Loran Eugene Hall, understood to have known alleged assassination bagman John Martino; Lucien Rivard, whose 1965 daring escape from prison in Canada would make headline news in the US as a known narcotics smuggler operating out of Havana; and Leslie Bradley, trained pilot and self-described soldier of fortune who had been arrested for plotting and participating in an invasion of Nicaragua meant to embarrass Fidel Castro. According to FBI documents, “Cuban authorities charged that the [Nicaragua] plot was hatched on orders from the United States (CIA) to discredit the Castro regime.” The lesser-known individual identified by Trafficante as “Hudson,” was also involved in that failed plot. Deitsch writes that Hudson was an alleged “British Journalist,” sometimes called Carlos Juan Wilson-Hudson who “reportedly worked for Batista.” We know with certainty that he was known to Pierre Lafitte as J. Wilson-Hudson a.k.a. JW-H. Before delving into this obscure character identified by Trafficante as being present in Trescornia when Ruby visited the prison, it is important to place that imprisonment in context.

·       A February 26, 1962 exposé “Neo-National Socialists Linked to Algeria French” by correspondent Waverley Root, then living in Paris, published in The Washington Post, reveals that European extremists—known as Ultras—in Algeria were “now tied in with the worldwide clandestine neo-National Socialist organization which has existed ever since the end of the war, built around a core of Hitlerites who escaped post war justice. The head of this international National Socialist underground has always been believed to be Madrid’s man of mystery, Otto Skorzeny, the SS trooper who rescued Mussolini from his captors.” More chilling, Root continues, “Skorzeny is reported to maintain contacts with former National Socialists scattered throughout the world, especially in Latin America and the Middle East. They have not given up hope that National Socialistsm may yet triumph throughout the world, and they seem prepared to lend their aid in any desperate venture of like political ideology which might achieve a Rightest authoritarian government anywhere.” (emphasis added.)

Root’s informed sources said that “two of four defendants in the trial escaped and made their way to Spain.” The trial he refers to was the result of the arrest of those involved in the 1957 bazooka attack on General Raoul Salan. The far-right extremists were convinced that the general wasn’t fully on their side to halt the movement toward independence from France in Algeria. All charged with the attack had been found guilty. Among them was Doctor René Kovacs, who was sentenced to death in absentia following his escape. A physician by training, Kovacs was born in Algeria of [notably for our purposes] Hungarian parents. Along with his aide, Joseph Ortiz, a restaurateur, and fellow far-right extremist, the two fled to Spain. 

11 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

I'm reading slow, a few pages at a time trying to take it in.

I think I told you that a skilled woodworker who has been studying the assassination for four decades said, it's like working a fine piece of wood ... you gotta make a first pass, then another, then another.

On 4/1/2023 at 12:22 AM, Bob Ness said:

Yeah that's really interesting.

I agree, Bob!

Relevant to current efforts to dislodge the remaining records of the Kennedy assassination, I've recently posited the question prompted by Hank's 2013 article titled "Joannides & Lafitte in New Orleans, 1963" which he shared with a highly regarded journalist:

IF THE GOVERNMENT RECORDS CURRENTLY IN DISPUTE REFLECT SUCH AN OPERATION LED BY GEORGE JOANNIDES AND INVOLVING OSWALD — a virtual smoking gun in the opinion of some — AND IF SAID RECORDS HAVE BEEN UNDER LOCK AND KEY AND BURIED SIX FEET UNDER SINCE FOR SIXTY YEARS, HOW COULD A LOWLY CHEF IN NEW ORLEANS KNOW THAT JOANNIDES WAS EITHER PERSONALLY IN NEW ORLEANS IN AUGUST 1963, OR WAS CONFERRING WITH PARTIES THAT WERE AT ANTOINE'S IN NEW ORLEANS IN AUGUST of '63, AND THAT WHATEVER HE WAS DISCUSSING INVOLVED OSWALD AND WAS RELEVANT TO THE INTERESTS OF J.C. KING, CHARLIE SIRAGUSA, AND GEORGE HUNTER-WHITE?

On 4/1/2023 at 7:25 AM, Paul Brancato said:

Thanks Leslie. It helps, while pondering Lafitte and the authentication controversy surrounding his notes, to see the context. George Hunter White’s letter can surely be verified. Lafitte is not a figment of Albarelli’s imagination, he is a real character whose missions remain cloaked. I imagine that Morley et al would be interested in what Lafitte files remain unreleased. 

Also, @Paul Brancato, the significance of this post/Hank's 2013 article is that it conforms with the hypothesis that Joannides was running Oswald in August in New Orleans, or as Jeff Morley intimated last December, a possible smoking gun. See Will Sommer here ...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jfk-assassination-investigator-jarring-claim-155305099.html

On 3/31/2023 at 10:11 PM, Ron Bulman said:

Fascinating.

. . . and complicated, Ron!!

@Michael Griffith

In fairness to Jeff, at the time, he asked Hank to see the datebook and/or more entries in addition to those Hank highlighted in the Joannides & Lafitte in New Orleans, 1963 piece. As with any pro, Jeff was skeptical and wanted proof.

In fairness to Hank, he said (paraphrasing), uh, nope, don't think I'll be sharing other entries for the time being. 

Although Hank was given access to a great deal of information from the Lafitte collection — allowed to take notes and screenshots — as far as I know he didn't take possession of the physical instrument until late 2018 when his source allowed him to provide it to examiners in London for authentication and ink and paper analysis.

@Greg Doudna (Are you familiar with Valery Aginsky?) 

Hank and I then met in Dallas on his return trip from London where he showed me the datebook with the excitement of a kid offering a box of chocolates.

On reflection, although Hank seldom if ever spoke critically about colleagues, I realize he was leary that the more he referred to the Lafitte material, the greater the risk to his long-range plan for a major publication vis a vis Coup. I also know first hand that his pledge to certain in the Lafitte family that he would respect the terms and conditions under which he was allowed to view the evidence in the first place was utmost in his mind. As is the nature of any serious investigative reporter, Hank knew that some might go knocking on the door of his source(s).  Not only would that sew distrust with his sources who might pull permission entirely, it would compromise the time and effort he had invested since the late 1990s. This was, in his mind and I concur, an exclusive and he was clearly justified in protecting the material and the sources until he could publish a complete manuscript.  His concern was that the evidence would be cannibalized or distorted to suit a working hypothesis of another investigator. He was possibly the only investigator to fully understand the backstory behind Lafitte's records having tracked Pierre from the Olson murder to Dallas.

As I remarked, "you can't have Joannides without the full cast of characters and events revealed in the Lafitte datebook." 

6 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Leslie, I hope the paperback version now in development will address the issues raised by Jeff Sundberg, especially the issue that two of the culprits identified in the hardback book as JFKA participants were actually in prison at the time. Now, I realize this does not automatically invalidate everything else in the book, but it needs to be addressed. 

I'll be happy to respond once you've provided a constructive contribution to the topic of this thread ... Hank's article — which he emailed to Jefferson Morley in December 2013, and is posted in full here — that revealed Lafitte's knowledge of George Joannides in New Orleans in August 1963, which now apparently aligns with Morley's working hypothesis, nay "The Smoking Gun?" that Joannides initiated an operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald, in New Orleans, in August of 1963.

Would you focus and answer the following: If the government records currently in dispute reflect such an operation led by Joannides, and if said records have been under lock and key and buried six feet under since November 1963, how could a lowly chef in New Orleans know that Joannides was either personally in New Orleans in August 1963, or was conferring with parties that were, and that whatever he was discussing involved Oswald, and was relevant to the interests of JC King, Charlie Siragusa, and George Hunter-White?

On 4/1/2023 at 11:32 AM, Leslie Sharp said:

On 4/1/2023 at 7:25 AM, Paul Brancato said:

Thanks Leslie. It helps, while pondering Lafitte and the authentication controversy surrounding his notes, to see the context. George Hunter White’s letter can surely be verified. Lafitte is not a figment of Albarelli’s imagination, he is a real character whose missions remain cloaked. I imagine that Morley et al would be interested in what Lafitte files remain unreleased. 

The Lafitte-related materials in Hank's archives are meant for the softcover of Coup in Dallas under development when Hank passed away. That project is in process, so Hank's Lafitte files won't be accessible to other investigators until we have published.  The files also relate to a documentary project in play when he passed away so once again, they are the exclusive property of the Coup project.   We are also planning to publish a stand alone facsimile of the the Lafitte datebook with brief narrative for each entry, e.g., Coup Lite for those who find the first edition too heavy a read.

(Yes, Hunter White's letters are in the public domain, Hoover Inst. Stanford.)

There have been a number of news items focused on Lafitte over the years: a lengthy, fascinating series co-authored with James Phelan and published in True magazine;  Bob Considine published a piece on Lafitte's initial arrest complete with mug shot; Lafitte's own testimony in one of the most significant Chicago mob/drug-related trials of the decade is available online; ironically, Dorothy Kilgallen mentions him in a brief gossip piece [prompting us to ask whether she might have planned on catching up with Jean Martin on that planned trip to NOLA]; and then there's the infamous Time magazine coverage of his extradition from New Orleans to New England in 1969 tied to a prior indictment. So, yes, he was a real character — operating under cover using a myriad of disguises.  A force of nature who tragically played a pivotal role in Dallas, arriving at the Stoneleigh just days before the murder of John Kennedy.

Thanks to Hank Albarelli, Lafitte's mission, his part in the death of Frank Olson is no longer cloaked, nor is his role as project manager of the plot to assassinate Kennedy in Dallas.  I'm especially keen in developing his history with — obviously James Angleton — but more so Jean Souetre and Otto Skorzeny since Lafitte's family insist Lafitte was in a Charlemagne unit at the close of the war. We had come to the conclusion that Pierre was far more politically inclined than met the eye initially, raging about the Nxazi spirit in one of his notes and his enthusiastic OSARN posts in the diary, etc.

thanks for your continued interest, @Paul Brancato

3 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Thanks Leslie. It helps, while pondering Lafitte and the authentication controversy surrounding his notes, to see the context. George Hunter White’s letter can surely be verified. Lafitte is not a figment of Albarelli’s imagination, he is a real character whose missions remain cloaked. I imagine that Morley et al would be interested in what Lafitte files remain unreleased.