Leslie Sharp

http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/jfk/NARA-Oct2017/2018/104-10163-10019.pdf Paul, coincidentally we've recently been reviewing this document with focus on #12. and reference to Skorzeny. We are also revisiting some of the Lafitte entries that suggest there may have been at least one other highly significant operation in play during 1963. In the book, we speculate it might have been hints of AMWORLD, but Larry Hancock dissuaded me of the possibility, although not completely (sorry Larry!). Skorzeny's associations - at least claimed in this document - with elements within this particular cast of characters begs us to continue to pursue the long finger he may have had on any number of machinations. As you noted, (paraphrasing) the disgruntled Cubans and the Nazis or poopoo sympathizers were not necessarily distinct from one another.

Benjamin Cole writes, "I always come back to, "Who could manipulate LHO on that day?" " [Pierre] Lafitte indicates that the plans were ramping up and reaffirms that Walker was a key component. The date, October 25, appears to be particularly pivotal because Lafitte has been advised that O says done - Oswald set in place, and he makes a note - call Walker & others. By November 5th, a meeting was scheduled with the plot’s designated man on the ground in Dallas, Jack Crichton. Lafitte writes tech building, then, Walker. The entry ends with O. says Lancelot = Go. phone booth. . . . and H. P. Albarelli Jr. writes in his opening chapter of Coup titled, "WWII, Special Ops, and Assassinations", . . . Returning now to the assassination of [Admiral] Darlan which serves as template for the future set-up of Lee Harvey Oswald as “the perfect patsy” on November 22, 1963, soon after the execution of Francois Darlan’s assassin, Fernand Bonnier, there were scattered and persistent reports that the young Frenchman had been a patsy of sorts and that he was not an avid monarchist but was only an impressionable, somewhat naïve, youth, who had been manipulated toward murderous ends by skillful others. This belief stems from the fact that Bonnier’s “friend,” Henri d’Astier, while active in La Cagoule, on several occasions joined Filliol in carrying out a devious tactic for ridding La Cagoule of suspected double-agent members by manipulating them into veiled assassination efforts during which it would be highly likely that they would be captured or killed. Filliol dubbed this manipulation “the pigeon way.” Here, one is easily reminded of the quote by CIA official Miles Copeland: “You can sometimes gain points in the war of dirty tricks by killing an expendable person on your own side and blaming it on the other when considering this type of lethal deception.” And in mid-November 1963, Pierre Lafitte, in New Orleans, would jot down in his datebook: “On the wings of murder. The pigeon way for unsuspecting Lee [Oswald]. Clip, clip his wings,” no doubt a reference to Jean Filliol’s tactic of manipulation within his assassin camps.

From his perch in Dresser headquarters in the Republic National Bank building, [Neil] Mallon, who served on the board of Republic National, was the ideal conduit for his friend Allen Dulles, and his fellow board member at Republic National, Algur H. Meadows, which leads us to the second location under scrutiny. 5646 Milton — The Meadows Building -Mexico C.- Algur-Mex City Ilya- —Lafitte datebook, September 27, 1963 Dallas—Meadows B. w/ T. —Lafitte datebook, November 10, 1963 Located on Milton Street across from Southern Methodist University between Greenville Ave. and North Central Expressway, the nine-story professional office building was the headquarters of its namesake, Algur H. Meadows, and his General American Oil Company of Texas. But before considering the alarming significance of Lafitte’s entries . . . Algur Hurtle Meadows Algur Meadows, known to close associates as “Al,” was the first Dallas businessman to join financial forces with poopoo SS Otto Skorzeny who had managed to avoid severe punishment just five years earlier when he was among those Nazis tried at the Dachau Trials following the war. Ten years prior to JFK’s assassination, Al Meadows launched what would become a close, mutually rewarding friendship with [Otto] Skorzeny when his company, General American Oil of Texas entered into a highly lucrative Spanish oil venture with the blessing of Skorzeny’s friend Francisco Franco. At the time, Meadows was emerging as one of the nation’s most “successful independent oilmen.” . . . . . . An Oil Deal in Spain From a 1952 article in the Dallas Morning News, “the Spanish government granted rights to begin oil exploration to several Dallas oilmen.” In addition to Al Meadows’ General American Oil of Texas, the report notes that other relevant members of the syndicate included the Howard Corp. [whose assets and profits went undisclosed in official filings of Republic National Bank], and Delta Drilling of Tyler, TX, the company that was slated to do the actual drilling in Spain. Jack Crichton was Delta’s man on the ground. According to correspondence with Ilse, Otto Skorzeny’s financial banking partner, Hjalmar Schacht—widely referred to by historians as “Hitler’s Banker” as head of the Reich’s central bank—invited Otto to attend the initial meeting with the Texas oil men. Information disclosed in Skorzeny’s papers indicates that German banker Schacht arranged the finances for the venture and was actually on hand to greet the Dallas contingent of oilmen. To date, the identity of the individual or individuals who served as liaison between the Dallas contingency and Schacht has yet to be determined, but considering that Howard Corp. (an off the books entity of Republic National Bank) was a member of the Texas syndicate in Spain, we can assume someone within the Howard Corp./Republic Bank cabal was directly involved. This places poopoo banker Hjalmar Schacht in the middle of the Dallas oil and finance community as early as 1952. November 7, 1963 11:30 meet Warsaw with T. Hjalmar / Ilse - Get $ The Spanish venture was actually the brainchild of the engineering/geological firm of DeGolyer & MacNaughton, discussed in-depth early in this chapter. Both men would serve on the board of Republic National over the years. Also strongly investing in the scheme was Clint Murchison’s Delhi Oil Corporation, a firm referenced in the prelude to this chapter. Recall that it was Delhi-Taylor Oil that occupied the Fidelity Union Tower along with insurance magnate Carr P. Collins, and designed by architect T. E. Stanley who figures prominently as we approach 3707 Rawlins and our exposé on Ilse Skorzeny’s front, Previews, Inc. . . .

Skorzeny seems to have had a wide network of contacts, possibly agents. I speculated, perhaps to Hank, that DeMohrenschildt may have been a member of Skorzeny’s network. If not him, then perhaps others in the White Russian community in Dallas. Yes Paul, there are a number of interlocking relationships between the White Russians, and those who knew Skorzeny and engaged in business enterprises with him as early as 1952 including Jack Crichton who this forum will recognize as having established the 488th Intel Unit in Dallas. The primary mission of the 488th was to provide intelligence for America's oil interests, particularly those of Texas independent oilmen. But first, the following background of the godfather of the Dallas White Russian community, Paul Raigorodsky should be studied. As you know, Raigorodsky was a close associate of de Mohrenschildt for years through the oil industry. From Coup: Raigorodsky told WC lead counsel Albert Jenner, “when I wouldn't go with George in the deal, he asked me to give him any suggestion as to who may be interested, so I suggested John De Menil because the Schlumberger Co. is a worldwide organization and they deal with every country in the world—you know what I am trying to say?” Eventually de Menil decided to forego the opportunity, citing the somewhat weak business pitch by de Mohrenschildt. Raigorodsky’s friend de Mohrenschildt would from time to time use the attorney services of one Herbert Itkin, a fact detailed in a previous chapter which described activities in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Relevant to this investigation, the name Itkin appears in the Lafitte datebook on both October 26 and October 27, 1963. The entry of the 27th includes the name Gali Sherbatov in the October 27th entry, initials L. O. ‘Orlov’ and ‘Harvey’. [Orlov being Col. Lawrence who was an independent oil man, and Harvey, William King of the CIA.] . . . The Significance of the Tolstoy Foundation Paul Raigorodsky counted among his close friends Col. Herschel V. Williams, an ad man, Hollywood screenwriter, and real estate executive who worked alongside Mrs. Otto (Ilse) Skorzeny at the global real estate concern, Previews Inc. After the war, while employed by Previews, Williams joined the board of the Tolstoy Foundation along with Russian-born Raigorodsky, and Schlumberger’s Jean de Menil. The Tolstoy Foundation, according to their official history, was established to respond to the needs of the Russian refugees of World War II who for various reasons were handicapped in providing for themselves and to create a center for Russian culture in America to serve the American born generation of Russian descent. Cofounded by Russian American Igor Sikorsky, aviation pioneer and creator of the Sikorsky helicopter, the foundation was confronted with the serious issue of repatriation by early February 1945. They made the decision to take on the task of bringing these refugees to Canada and the US “They arrived by boat or plane and their expenses were initially paid by the International Relief Organization (IRO). In 1946, the Tolstoy Foundation initiated a subcommittee of the American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service under the name of the United Relief Committee in Aid to ‘Displaced Persons of Central and East European Origin.’” It was through this subcommittee that Estonian born Ilya Mamantov and his wife Alexandria entered the US only to find themselves two decades later as central characters in the drama that unfolded on the weekend of November 22, 1963 in Dallas. Sikorsky served as chairman of Tolstoy when he was nominated to the board of the Connecticut National Bank, Bridgeport, founded by the in-laws of Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. Bridgeport, “America’s arsenal” was also home of de Menil’s Schlumberger Research Center.

Thanks Paul. The significance of the Gluc letter is that he identified Litt, Lamy, Filliol long before any of these characters were on the radar as having been in Dallas. Lafitte identifies Litt in a significant Oct 9 entry, and on Nov 13 he notes, Lamy coming hotel and the name Souetre appears at the bottom of the same page; and Nov 20 he states that Lamy - Filiol were at the hotel, in an entry that also refers to [Robert G.] Storey and {Judge] Duvall, and [George] de M. [Mohrenschildt]. He also notes "rifle into building - yes / / DPD." Of course it will be argued that someone had access to the Gluc correspondence, took a blank 1963 day planner that they had held on to for decades, and concocted a hoax that included names they had stumbled across. However, because we are certain of the provenance of this exclusive record, we argue that the Gluc letter is independent corroboration of Lafitte's notes related to the three known assassins, and, it could be asserted, vice versa.

My source for the photos in the upper right corner that are identified as DST Michel Mertz is a relatively well-recognized assassination forum and Facebook participant. Out of courtesy, I'll refrain from identifying him. He insists that the publication that carried those photos received them directly from French intelligence. I believe he failed to realize that he had shared direct evidence that Mertz's physical identify was deliberately misrepresented. Others might see a resemblance between the man standing (two upper right photos) and the man in the bottom center and bottom left corner photos; however, I believe if one compares the upper right corner photos (man in suit) with the photo of Souetre in the bottom right corner (in light colored sweater), there can be no doubt that the publication misrepresented Souetre as being DST Michel Mertz. (note: The photo of Souetre in the bottom right corner is extracted from a photograph taken by Dr. Lawrence Alderson in the early 1950s and later shared with researcher/author J. Gary Shaw who interviewed Alderson at length.)

Dick Russell, author of the seminal work, The Man Who Knew Too Much, writes in his analysis of the Pierre Lafitte datebook which serves as a cornerstone of Albarelli's Coup in Dallas: SOUETRE. This clearly is Jean Rene Souetre, whose name appears in a number of entries between April 25 and December 4. It appears that Souetre was part of a “kill squad” who showed up for meetings in New Orleans, Madrid, and Mexico City prior to the assassination. Souetre’s name first appeared in the “assassination literature” following a 1977 release of CIA documents, which stated that “he had been expelled from the U.S. at Fort Worth or Dallas 48 hours after the assassination . . . to either Mexico or Canada.” According to what the FBI told a Souetre acquaintance whom I interviewed, he’d been “flown out that afternoon by a private pilot . . . in a government plane.” Souetre was a known hitman for the OAS, a terrorist group in France that had targeted President de Gaulle. A relevant excerpt from Coup: How do we know that these experienced assassins, who emerged from the ranks of La Cagoule to deal directly with Otto Skorzeny, coalesced in 1963 specific to our investigation of events in Dallas? Some of the answers reside in a series of obscure post-assassination letters addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from a Mr. Paul Gluc, 112 General Leclerc Avenue, Boulogne Billancourt (92) France. According to one of the letters, Mr. Gluc, a self-described benevolent detective, was employed by French automobile manufacturer Régie Renault and lived in a populous suburb five miles from the centre of Paris. A detailed account of this strange and revealing correspondence over a span of nine years, and the subsequent FBI memo traffic that attempted to discredit its significance and impugn the character of the author, is available to the reader in the endnotes to this chapter. For now, the following excerpts serve to not only validate the aforementioned history of assassins directly associated with one another, and by inference with Otto Skorzeny, but they also provide Gluc’s independent confirmation of certain entries in the 1963 datebook of Pierre Lafitte essential to the investigation of the assassination of John Kennedy. Mr. Director, only you can clear OTTO SKORZENY of guilt of being (an) agent in the Dallas operation with (the) passive complicity of Allen W. Dulles. —Paul Gluc, March 14, 1975 The 1975 letter was Gluc’s fourth and final correspondence with the FBI. The first letter, dated March 18, 1964, just four months after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and later claimed by the FBI to be either lost or misplaced, was hand-written in English to “Mr. Hoover, director of the FBI.” It reads: I understand you are very close to the solution of all the mysteries of President Kennedy’s assassination, but I suspect you are without key information. This information concerns the holders of many of the missing cards, Jean Souetre, as well as Jean Paul Filiol, both known to have been in Dallas on 22 November 1963. . . . Included in this knowledge are Mme. Lamy and M. Litt, all mentioned before, and extremely distasteful individuals. . . . I am anxious to spell this out for you by coming to Washington, D.C. The letter was signed: “Mr. Gluc.” Author Albarelli is grateful to Mr. Gluc’s son, Thierry Baudin for providing a photocopy of the carbon copy of his father’s first letter to Director Hoover, the contents of which suggest Hoover's Bureau had every reason to misplace it. With his letter, Gluc has provided us independent corroboration that Filiol, Lamy and Litt were known associates and that they were in Dallas, and as noted, he did so as early as March 1964. We also see, perhaps for the first time outside of cryptic reports that revealed a smattering of facts, that the FBI was made aware of the possibility that known assassin Jean Souetre had been in Dallas. Yes, Gluc could have simply picked up on the obscure rumors about Souetre being expelled from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but there was no known trail in the public domain of the presence of Filiol, Lamy and or Litt in Dallas that would tie the three to Jean Souetre.

Perhaps these photos will prompt a renewed discussion related to confusion surrounding the physical identities of Jean Rene Souetre and Michel Mertz. Clockwise: 1. Upper left corner, Jean Souetre. 2. The caption to the left of the two photos in the upper right corner (translated loosely from French): This poor quality photograph is a unique piece. It is the agent of the DST Michel Mertz, from two different angles, infiltrator of the OAS environment to protect de Gaulle. He was in Dallas November 22 where he pretended to be Souetre. His presence in Texas is proof that the French services knew that Kennedy was going to be assassinated that day. The photos are purported to have been provided by French intelligence; as noted in the caption, the publication asserts that the man is Michel Mertz. 3. Lower right corner, Jean Souetre. 4. Bottom row center, Michel Mertz 5. Bottom left corner, Michel Mertz (this is my first photo link. please advise if you aren't able to view.) 375703930_Souetre-Mertzidentityconfusion.pdf

Duplicate post

World Commerce Corporation and Otto Skorzeny, future strategist for the assassination of President John Kennedy. " . . .quango, an acronym for ‘quasi-autonomous nongovernmental organization, a term coined in the 1970s inspired by remarks of the president of Carnegie Corporation in 1967 describing “a genus of organization which represents a noteworthy experiment in the art of government.” " . . . At first [Gen. Wild Bill] Donovan appears to have played no formal part in the establishment of either BACC or WCC, although his law firm, at that time known as Donovan Leisure Newton Lombard & Irvine, acted as "legal advisers.” (A few amateur historians have written that Allen Dulles’s law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell, served as advisers to BACC and WCC, but we found no hard evidence of that. Additionally, it has been written that Dulles encouraged Donovan to participate in BACC and WCC, but again no hard evidence of that was found.) This leads us to speculate that Donovan may have initially been the “face” of WCC rather than the inspiration as those listed in early documents for WCC include Harry Beaston Lake and W. W. Cumberland, both investment bankers at the firm Ladenburg Thalmann, 25 Broad St. NYC. In 1879, American banker Ernst Thalmann, teamed up with Adolph Ladenburg, the scion of a German banking family. As confirmed in “History of Ladenburg Thalmann,” by World War II the firm was providing banking services for British Security Coordination (BSC), including acquisition of foreign currency which was required in small denominations by a plethora of British covert wartime agencies as well as escape packs for Allied aircrew. The SOE turned to the BSC, and the close links between the BSC and Donovan's OSS meant that there was continual collaboration between all three entities in support of this task. Harry Lake and Bill Donovan shared an address at the exclusive One Sutton Place for a number of years. It should be noted that Lake was on the board of the American Moroccan Corporation, which will have greater relevance as we pursue the role of Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. in Chapter 5. In a convenient web of other addresses, Donovan’s law partner, George Stanley Leisure lived at 640-660 Park, sharing a prestigious address with J. Russell Forgan, another founding board member of World Commerce. Leisure was on the board of financial investment giant Empire Trust whose web extends over time to those active on the ground in Dallas that managed the immediate aftermath of the assassination. Forgan’s company, Glore Forgan was heavily invested in J. Peter Grace’s W. R. Grace & Co., a global maritime shipping concern. Grace, the first Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a.k.a. the Knights of Malta, in America, sat on Forgan’s board for decades. Of note, at the height of the war, the man at the official helm of the SOE, Roundell Palmer, the 3rd Earl of Selborne, was also in charge of economic warfare, placing him in close proximity to decisions involving the services Ladenburg Thalmann provided. Reporting directly to Lord Selborne was Viscount Frederick Leathers, a former Minister of Transport who was placed in charge of war support. For those more familiar with the esotericism that pre-occupied the shadows of power at the time, both in the US and Britain, both men were alleged members of the Prieuré de Sion, a neo-chivalric fraternal order with alleged roots in the Crusades, established legally in 1956 in France. In an instance of continuity, Viscount Leathers later appears in the roster of board members of the World Commerce Corporation. Brown explains that among those legal advisers [Donovan and Leisure’s firm] was Lt. Col. Otto C. Doering, Donovan’s second in command at the OSS. Donovan only became an official director of WCC in October 1947. At the same time, Edward R. Stettinius, Secretary of State from November 1944 to July 1945, who had substantial holdings in WCC joined the board. According to Brown, in due course a number of other people prominent in intelligence and special operations joined the firm, as directors, officer, or shareholders. They included J. Russell Forgan of the Glore Forgan group of merchant bankers (and future career ambassador David Bruce’s successor as chief of OSS Europe; Lester Armour (former deputy chief mission to Moscow who would inherit the chairmanship of the Swift Armour packing company of Chicago); W.K. Eliscu (a member of Donovan’s OSS staff); Lieutenant Colonel Rex L. Benson (staff member of the British Secret Intelligence Service and chairman of merchant bankers Robert Benson and Company of London. Here it should be noted that Benson was the lead SOE interrogator of Otto Skorzeny after his surrender. Brown adds that the WCC board also included several persons who had been prominent in the Canadian intelligence services. In addition, Brown tells us that people with intelligence connections, but not formally members of any intelligence service, took an interest in the corporation.They included Nelson Rockefeller (son of John D., and former coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, an organization with intelligence responsibilities and associations in South America); John Jay McCloy (former undersecretary of the War Department and high commissioner in Germany) Richard Mellon (of Gulf Oil corporation); and Sir Victor Sassoon. The list of WCC board members and “interested parties'' reflects America and Britain’s future power brokers that would influence matters on a global scale as the Cold War escalated. With so many powerful corporate titans interested in the WCC, in hindsight the holding company emerges as a quango, an acronym for ‘quasi-autonomous nongovernmental organization, a term coined in the 1970s inspired by remarks of the president of Carnegie Corporation in 1967 describing “a genus of organization which represents a noteworthy experiment in the art of government.” Were the founders of the WCC following European models established under fascist regimes for the control of and profit from global supply chains and markets, and did that agenda require the services of the sophisticated intelligence apparatus established by Donovan and Stephenson being shuttered by democratically elected government officials after the war? A former employee of WCC recounts, “The idea was to take advantage of the organization and international contacts that were set up during the war… The goal was to set up various companies, mostly in Central and South America.” And as British writer and wartime intelligence officer Roald Dahl argued in support of the creation of WCC, “we all needed jobs in civilian life.” It is believed that BACC/WCC was initially funded in part with about $10 million that was in the accounts of the OSS London office at the time of Germany’s surrender. Eustice Mullins writes: “This money could not be ‘returned’ to the U.S. Government without stating where it had come from. As proceeds from dealings in gold and jewels, an inquiry could provoke a Congressional investigation.” Follow the Money and the Arms About the same time that Donovan and Stephenson began seriously organizing BACC, word began to leak out in certain Washington, D.C. quarters about nefarious activities of certain OSS officials and agents who had been involved in the wartime looting of enormous amounts of gold, gems, diamonds, antiquities and art. Some credible reports centered on what appeared to be a large number of OSS officials who had stolen millions in gold from captured poopoo stockpiles and hidden warehouses. Some prestigious banks in Europe and North Africa were said to have amassed millions of dollars in gold and diamonds. Eventually these reports linked up to post-war accounts concerning former SS officer Otto Skorzeny, and a few of his fellow officers, who had been given substantial amounts of gold, some of which had come from OSS-looted coffers. Substantial amounts of gold also flowed from other sources. There can be little doubt that these rumors either influenced, or made their way into Col. Richard Park’s report. — Coup in Dallas

Thanks for this great photo, Ron.

" . . . As noted, five months before that call, in an entry made on June 7, 1963, Lafitte identifies John “Wilson-H” with Ruby and vice versa. Does that suggest that JW-H had an extended relationship with Trafficante and or Lafitte beyond his timely imprisonment in 1959? The entry also refers to a shipment, and to $ [dollars]. While we can’t be certain of the product in question, it is safe to consider that the two men were involved in a significant transfer, either or weapons, drugs or precious commodities. And, it still cannot be ignored that among those pointing Warren Commission investigators to Ruby’s Mafia connections within days of his murder of Oswald, was Hudson’s unsolicited call with his rendition of the Ruby-Trafficante history in Cuba, prying open the pandora’s box of mob involvement. Nor can the near mirror image of Lafitte’s October 30th entry compared with Ruby’s notebook on October 29th be discarded as inconsequential. Another piece of this particular puzzle captures our attention: back in March 1963, Lafitte included a note written horizontally on the page, “McWillie – Tue with Davis – Oswald. According to extensive testimony, Lewis McWillie, who served as what amounted to Trafficante’s consigliere in Havana, played host to Jack Ruby in 1959 during the now infamous trip that was reported to authorities, strictly by chance, by Wilson-Hudson. Mention of McWillie in the entry in the spring of 1963, adds further credence to the argument that his boss, Trafficante continued interacting with Pierre Lafitte well into the early ’60s."— Coup in Dallas . . . by H. P. Albarelli Jr. with Leslie Sharp et al.

Excerpt from Hank Albarelli's Coup in Dallas: The Decisive Investigation into Who Killed JFK with Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent, Introduction by Dick Russell, Afterword by Charles R. Drago: " . . . Captain Gannaway’s observation was especially ironic considering how closely aligned his protestations were with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgard Hoover vs. the task force on organized crime headed by US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. RFK had already widened his investigation into Dallas mob connections by calling for federal grand jury hearings a month before Geddie’s interview with Gannaway. According to investigative journalist Mark North, author of Act of Treason: The Role of J. Edgar Hoover in the Assassination of President Kennedy, who uncovered a deeply buried case against a Dallas bookmaker by the name of John Eli Stone, “Robert Kennedy, knowing he could not get indictments in Dallas because of the pro-Mob mind-set, had chosen the smaller conservative city [Wichita Falls, Texas].” North observed that, “ . . . reporters were there when Philip Bosco [a Joe Civello bookmaker] was called into the Grand Jury room. From Bosco, RFK had the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of the Pearl Street Mafia. But true to omertà, Bosco took the Fifth against self-incrimination. He was brought before Judge Sarah [sic] Hughes, who ‘exempted him from criminal prosecution . . .’” According to North, after Bosco again refused to answer, and again took the Fifth, a reluctant Judge Hughes scheduled a contempt of court hearing to, in North’s words, “placate RFK’s prosecutors.” North’s investigation into the deeply buried facts surrounding the 1963 case, revealed that the prosecutor was meaning to also prosecute the Civello mob. (Note: Mark North chose to refer to the Civello crime family in Dallas as Pearl Street Mafia because it originated in the Pearl Street Market district.) The records that North unearthed revealed that on October 21 the grand jury reconvened in Wichita Falls, and by the afternoon it had issued a sixteen-count indictment for violation of federal gaming statutes against Dallas bookmakers John Eli Stone and brother James, along with Isadore “Izzy” Miller, as well as Albert Meadows who had been arrested for violation of federal gambling laws. Writes North, “. . . the Dallas media understood the lethal nature of the threat that the prosecution posed. Exposure and verification of the Joseph Civello mob’s long-term criminal operation in Dallas was what city officials had long been denying. A major scandal was in the making. . . and RFK’s assault was gaining momentum.” North concluded, “Reporters were describing the trial as ‘a full-scale investigation into gambling and racketeering in the North Texas area. It was lethal prosecution in the making.’” Those indicted in Wichita Falls on October 21, including Isadore Miller along with his brother, and John, and Jim Stone, all bookmakers and gamblers for whom Jack Ruby “ran book” were, according to North, the closest to Ruby in the lead up to the assassination. He also reveals that following the indictments, Ruby understood that he would be next. “According to codefendant Izzy Miller, Ruby was prescribed a ‘drug for nervousness.’ Ruby was close to the breaking point. In addition to his criminal association with Stone and Bosco, he had been in regular communication with a key Marcello lieutenant in New Orleans . . .” North determined that with Joe Civello’s arrest and prosecution, the frightening dimensions of the epidemic of crime created by him and his Mob associates had been revealed; in fact, national media interests had labeled Civello an anonymous officer of an invisible government. McWillie - Tues with Davis - Oswald —Pierre Lafitte datebook, March 23, 1963 Crime syndicates across the country relied on certain elements within law enforcement to turn a blind eye, and Dallas was no exception, as evidenced by the remarks of Pat Gannaway, the head of the division that was purported to be dedicated to uncovering and impeding organized crime. It is well documented that for decades, a number of noted Dallas business and social elite enjoyed the pastime of gambling and the attendant vices. Of particular interest are the oilmen identified during inquiries of the House Select Committee on Assassinations when they learned from Jack Ruby’s Havana gambling friend Lewis McWillie that Billy Byars, H. L. Hunt and Sid Richardson all gambled at Benny Binion’s legendary Top of the Hill Terrace located west of Dallas when it was managed by McWillie between 1940 and 1958. McWillie was also asked about Murchison and Toddie Wynne Sr. and their friendship with Civello capo Joe Campisi. According to Scripps Howard investigative reporter Seth Kantor who was one of the more skilled reporters of his day, “Ruby’s special Las Vegas connection was Lewis McWillie, the syndicate gambler Ruby had visited in Cuba in 1959. Ruby had made a series of calls in 1963 to McWillie, who was closely associated with Meyer Lansky’s hoodlum empire and was installed in Las Vegas as pit boss at the Thunderbird casino.” Kantor continues, “On May 10, 1963, Ruby had a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson Centennial revolver shipped to McWillie, according to records of Dallas gun dealer, Ray Brantley.” Brantley will be of particular interest to certain researchers that are aware Dallas police officer Joe Cody was reported to have been contacted immediately following Jack Ruby’s murder of Lee Harvey Oswald because the gun used on Oswald was licensed to Cody. That gun’s history traced directly to Ray Brantley, the same Dallas gun dealer that Ruby had used to ship a revolver to Lewis McWillie."

Hello Ron Bulman There is a good deal of general biographical information on Robert Storey now online. Effective search terms would be SMU or Texas Bar Association. He was known internationally as a kind of roving ambassador for American interests. His obituary is online. Relevant excerpts from Hank Albarelli’s “Coup in Dallas . . . “ with Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent: “ . . . The Howard Corp. which held approximately $15 million in assets, generating millions in profits annually represented a potential for channeling far more substantial funds for the CIA than the Hoblitzelle Foundation, far earlier, perhaps as early as the close of WWII when agency asset Robert Storey returned to Dallas to resume his law practice and join the boards of Republic and Lakewood, a bank that he would soon preside over as president in spite of having no experience in banking. As noted earlier, both Storey and Houston lawyer Leon Jaworski had served under Judge Robert Jackson during the war tribunals which included the trial of SS Otto Skorzeny. The details of that trial have been elaborated on previously in this book. Following the war, Robert Storey’s colleague, Jaworski returned to Houston and resumed the practice of law from his offices located in the Bank of the Southwest. He would soon be elected to the bank board and was retained as Legal Counsel for Schlumberger, Ltd., whose headquarters were also located in the Bank of the Southwest building. The reader will recall details of Schlumberger in the chapter focused on jack of all trades Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. Dallas offices of both Schlumberger, Ltd. and attorney Leon Jaworski were located in the Republic National Bank building. . . . . . . Writes Henry T. King, Jr., a former member of the US prosecuting team in Nuremberg: “In the evidentiary phase of the Nuremberg trials Jackson’s approach offered fairness to the defendants. Jackson wanted the primary Nuremberg case against the Nazis to be substantiated by their own documents. He wanted less reliance on the testimony of witnesses and this approach precipitated a critical dispute with William J. Donovan, his presumed deputy, who wanted the case to be based on greater use of witnesses. Jackson prevailed, and Donovan went home.” 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. . . . 300 North Ervay — Republic National Bank and Howard Corp The following from The Handbook of Texas, compiled by the Texas State Historical Association and available online, offers an introduction to a little known fact behind the phenomenal success of Republic National Bank of Dallas from the 1940s thru the early 1970s: “In what some consider his most important management decision, [Fred] Florence [as head of Republic National Bank], organized a wholly owned subsidiary, the Howard Corporation, in 1946 to receive the petroleum properties of Republic National in exchange for its authorized capital stock. The company, which took its name from Howard County, Texas, where some of the oil properties were located, acquired numerous shares of Teléfonos de México, invested in twenty Texas banks, Highland Park Village, and six other shopping centers, and undeveloped real estate, and paid huge dividends. By 1948 Republic was the largest bank in Texas. Howard's stock was transferred to a separate trust in 1955, but in 1973 the Federal Reserve Bank required Republic to divest itself of the Howard Corporation's non-banking assets in order to form a holding company known as the Republic of Texas Corporation.” The veil of secrecy was lifted from ‘The Howard Corp” et al by officers of the Republic National Bank of Dallas. —Al Altwegg, Business Ed., Dallas Morning News, Feb 1964 In the early ’60s, Business Editor of the Dallas Morning News, Al Altwegg began to delve into the shadowy Howard Corp. Under a March 10, 1963, headline, “The Howard Corp. Unique in Banking,” Altwegg reported that as early as 1959 someone had raised the question of whether or not Republic National Bank was in violation of the National Bank Holding Act. The trustees of Howard Corp., which included the president of Republic, James W. Aston, reporting directly to Chairman Karl Hoblitzelle, managed to convince Texas banking authorities that there was no violation of the state’s laws prohibiting branch banking. Republic’s scheme was to purchase majority shares in various banks around the area under what seem to have been shell corporations within the Howard Corp, trust, thereby skirting scrutiny because each corporation held the controlling shares independent of Republic Bank. Those thirteen “non-branch banks” included Lakewood State Bank, whose president at the time of the assassination, Robert G. Storey, Jr., was an alleged CIA asset after the war and looms large in our story. Duvall, a US Army Major during WWII was serving under Judge Robert H. Jackson at the same time Jackson had seconded Col. Robert G. Storey to search for evidence to support the charges against poopoo war criminals. Judge Jackson had known Storey through the American Bar Association before the war, and when he heard that Storey had uncovered valuable documents related to Russia, he tasked his friend with the search for evidence to be presented in the war crimes trials. That search resulted in the discovery of forty-seven crates of poopoo records. Now we see Storey and Duvall named side by side in private records of the manager of a conspiracy, two days before the assassination, followed by reference to DeM which we can safely assume was George de Mohrenschildt. During an interview with the FBI, Judge Duvall revealed that he had met the de Mohrenschildts in January 1963, and several months later had dined with the couple in Dallas. He reported that over dinner, de Mohrenschildt had asked if he might assist his new friend, the recently repatriated defector to Russia, Lee Harvey Oswald with his dishonorable discharge. In one of the more odd twists of fate in this saga, Judge Duvall was also approached in the immediate aftermath of Jack Ruby’s shooting of Oswald. It seems that the man, an acquaintance of Judge Duvall for over two decades had worked as a bookkeeper for Ruby in early 1963, alleged that he had seen Jack Ruby and Oswald together in Ruby’s Carousel Club. Bob Storey passed away in 1981. Judge Duvall followed him a year later. . . . . . . The parent company of the bank, Republic National Corporation headed by Fred Florence, who as mentioned earlier was the inspiration behind The Howard Corp just after the war, purchased controlling shares of Lakewood State Bank, a bank organized in 1941 by banker J. F. Parks, Sr. along with the Storey family of Greenville, Texas. Robert Jr. would be named to the board of RNB in 1949. . . . . . . By 1965, with the official US entry into the Vietnam War, LTV’s F-8 became the first US Navy aircraft to routinely battle North Vietnamese MiGs. According to an online source, “The F-8 entered combat in April 1965, the F-8s from USS Hancock (CV-19) quickly established the aircraft as an agile dogfighter, though despite its "last gunfighter" moniker, most of its kills came through the use of air-to-air missiles . . . The US Marine Corps also operated the Crusader, flying from airfields in South Vietnam. Though primarily a fighter, F-8s also saw duty in ground attack roles during the conflict.” These military contracts were overseen under the roof of the Republic National Bank building, the home of LTV’s corporate headquarters. At the time, LTV employed 20,000 Americans, the majority located at the plant in Greenville, Texas, forty miles north of Dallas. Greenville was the hometown of Col. Robert G. Storey, Jr., and the town sheriff for over a decade happened to be the father-in-law of Officer J. D. Tippitt. Following a series of divestitures and spin-offs over the next four decades, remnants of LTV survive in Greenville through L-3 Technologies, contractor for the Department of Defense, selected US government intelligence agencies, aerospace companies, and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers. . . .”

From my recent FB post: Why is there still confusion over the real/physical identities of Jean Rene Souetre (who sometimes used the alias Michel Mertz) and Michel V. Mertz (who sometimes used the alias Jean Souetre)? Clockwise: upper left Jean Souetre; side by side photos captioned Michel Mertz; Jean Souetre c. 1953; Michel Mertz; Michel Mertz with rifle. Souetre-Mertz identity confusion.pdf The caption for the side by side images which purportedly originated from official French intelligence files reads (rough translation): This poor quality photograph is a unique piece. It is the agent of the DST Michel Mertz, from two different angles, infiltrator of the OAS environment to protect de Gaulle He was in Dallas November 22 where he pretended to be Souetre. His presence in Texas is proof that the French services knew that Kennedy was going to be assassinated that day.

I’m happy to see you here Leslie. It’s curious to me that Judyth Baker made no reference to either Jack Crichton or Otto Skorzeny, important clues in Coup in Dallas. Well, no one wants to entertain the possibility that Skorzeny was part of this, or that Jean Souetre might actually have worked with Skorzeny in Spain or actually been in Dallas on Nov 22, 1963. Everyone seems to think the French Connection was disproven many years ago, and that is understandable, because when the story broke it was quickly subverted with endless questions about aliases and the Houston dentist, and by jailed Christian David, who named his own set of French assassins that didn’t pass close inspection. I hope I have that right. Others think Souetre was more of a PR person for OAS, that he never actually visited the US, per Bud Fensterwald, to meet Walker and Bannister. And of course Walker and Oilman Hunt get a free pass too these days. And I’ll add that the CIA’s eventual admission that QJWIN was Jose Maria Andres Mankel is taken as gospel, despite the clear evidence that the moniker referred to an operation, or at least several operatives, one of whom may have been Jean Pierre Lafitte, and another Skorzeny himself. Aliases abound. Mankel was someone, but there is no independant corroboration for that individual. Paul Brancato Thank you for the welcome, Paul. I’m relieved to have the opportunity to discuss Coup on this forum. I too was surprised that Judyth Baker failed to emphasize the numerous breakthroughs discovered during Hank’s final investigation, particularly the Skorzenys — both Otto and his wife Ilse who played a vital role in the operation. That said, I’ve come to realize that the material in Coup is triggering a wide spectrum of reactions, apparently based on the reader’s own perspective, and usually filtered through their independent research and personal experience. I think Judyth focused on how this detail fits in with her personal story in her analysis of Coup. I’ll provide a detail response in a few days. Thus far, aside from the question of authenticity of the Lafitte datebook, the greatest resistance has been to the idea that a poopoo element (albeit technically “former” poopoo) was directly involved, and that Jean Souetre—who trained with Hitler's Favorite Commando, Otto Skorzeny— was indeed a Kennedy assassin. We agree that aliases abound. Pierre Lafitte is known to have adopted at least twenty over the years. With reference to Mankel, Hank writes, Lastly, in regard to other CIA recruited QJ/WIN participants that Pierre Lafitte interacted with, there was Edward Lawton Smith, a Canadian born in Nova Scotia on April 5, 1921 and who came to the United States sometime in the early 1950s, and, on occasion, worked in Europe with QJ/WIN-2, Jose Marie Mankel, an alias used sometimes by Lafitte. 848 - Harvey - … White – Smith (Canada) —Lafitte datebook, January 24, 1963 The following is the interview of Dr. Larry Alderson, a Houston dentist who befriended Souetre while in the military in the ‘50s, by J. Gary Shaw who (as we all know) worked closely with Bud Fensterwald up until Bud’s untimely death. With Gary’s permission, I also attach a photo of Souetre taken by Alderson. Under a separate post I'll provide a composite of images of Jean Rene Souetre (who often used the alias Michel Mertz) and Michel Victor Mertz (who often used the alias Jean Souetre). (also for Ty Carpenter ) Excerpt, “Coup in Dallas . . . “ [Dr. = Dr. Larry Alderson; GS = Gary Shaw. unedited text.] “ . . . Pleasantries aside, Shaw launched in: GS: I won’t take but a minute, but I’m an architect, as the girl has probably told you, in Cleburne, Texas. But among the things that I do as a maybe hobby, is looking into the events surrounding November 22, 1963 and the killing of President Kennedy. One of the things I learned just recently is that a fellow by the name of Jean Souetre, who’s a Frenchman, knew you or received mail from you and he was in Dallas… in Ft. Worth on the morning, and in Dallas that afternoon, and was later on expelled from the United States for reasons as of yet unknown. Dr: How did you find this out? GS: From a CIA document that was recently declassified. You’ve probably been reading somewhat about this. My interest lies in a photograph I have of Souetre and… Dr: Swetra… [pronouncing] GS: How is it? Dr: Swetra… GS: Swetra, okay… and see if I could identify it as it being he. Could you help with that? Dr: Sure. Be happy to. GS: Okay. Maybe you could even give me a little information about his, I don’t know how well you knew him or anything. Dr: Very well. GS: Very well? Dr: Your information is very correct, but there were a few more things involved but all I’m getting is second and third hand because I have not seen him in many, many years. As a matter of fact, I have not seen him in quite a bit before that time but… he was flown out of Dallas and I don’t know why and don’t know by whom. GS: Do you not even know why he was there? Dr: I don’t have the vaguest idea, according to the CIA when they interviewed me, he was on his way to see me. I don’t know how they knew this or I don’t know whether they had even come in contact with him. GS: What kind of individual was he? Dr: I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. He’s a career soldier. From what I can gather he was in the French Underground Movement in Algiers. I do know he did leave the French Air Force. When I knew him I was a Security Officer with him in France and lived with him. So, I knew him quite well. He was very well educated. He was very outgoing, forward, dynamic. He was from a very poor family therefore, in France you don’t have a thing if you’re from a poor family unless you have a military career behind you. GS: Right. Dr: So, he was very interested in this and this was why I never did really understand why he left it. But he very definitely left, I presume, his wife... I have not heard from her in, well, many years. She was a very well-to-do, beautiful, Southern French wine-family type situation. And the last time I heard, I heard from her and she was the one that had told me that he had left the French Army and had gone into the underground trying to save Algiers. So evidently he was rather committed or felt committed to leave his career, which was the only career he had. And the next time I heard from him, quite truthfully, was when the CIA, or the FBI rather, had me tailed for about two months following the investigation. And I knew I was being trailed and followed. [Italics added.] GS: And didn’t know why? Dr: And didn’t know why. It got interesting after a while, and they finally called and made their show and came in and interviewed me and they were trying to find Jean under any circumstances under any conditions. They just wanted to talk and, you know, and I never heard from him. GS: Right. What did he look like? Do you… can you give me just a … Dr: He was good looking, tall, rather angular, last time I saw him. He had kind-of curly hair, dark brown, good looking guy, handsome guy. GS: What did he do? Did he have any trade other than professional soldier? Dr: Not at all, he was a professional soldier. That’s why I say, in France, you know, either you’re left a trade or left something in life or you have nothing. There’s no happy-middle-class-in-between in France. And he was from the lower class, he didn’t belong to the happy-middle in-between class which didn’t exist, so that is why his whole life was French Air Force. And he was a very prominent upcoming French Security Officer. When I knew him, he was a lieutenant. GS: Well, it’s a strange set of circumstances. I’ll read you the dispatch if you like. Dr: I’d be interested in seeing it. If you want me to look at a picture, I’d be happy to identify a picture for you. GS: Okay. Dr: I’d be interested in seeing it. I’ve never heard from the investigation, except I contacted the, I guess, defunct Committee that doesn’t exist anymore or, whether they do exist I really don’t know, they’ve been through so much hassle the last year or so. GS: Right. Dr: They felt that Jean knew who or he himself had assassinated Kennedy. And what they wanted to know was who in Washington [D.C.] had him flown out of Dallas. [Italics added.] GS: You don’t know? Dr: I don’t have the vaguest idea. GS: Well, it’s a strange affair. When I saw your name and saw that you were still in Houston, I felt the best thing to do was call. Was it in a service connection that you knew him? Was it in Germany? Dr: No, it was in France. Matter of fact, he was in the, I don’t remember, Second French Air Force Headquarters, whatever it was, in which is uh, just outside of France. GS: Well this thing reads like this: Jean Souetre, also known as Michal Roux, I guess that is the way you pronounce that, also known as Michal Mertz on 5 March 64, the FBI advised the French had the Legal Attaché in Paris and also the [redacted word] had questioned the Bureau in New York City concerning subject [Souetre] stating that he had been expelled from the U.S. at Ft. Worth or Dallas 18 hours after the assassination. He was expelled to either Mexico or Canada. In January he received mail from a dentist named Alderson living at 5803 Birmingham, Houston, Texas. Subject is believed to be identical with a captain who is a deserter from the French Army and is active in the OAS. Dr: That’s true. GS: The French are concerned because of De Gaul’s [sic] planned visit to Mexico. They would like to know the reason for the expulsion from the U.S. and his destination. Bureau files are negative and they are checking in Texas and with the INS. That’s basically it. Dr: Well, you know you will find another report because that’s not the one that was filed. You will find one in the FBI files which was my interview. [Italics added.] GS: Okay, I’m running your name down with the Archives. I doubt that I will find it in the National Archives. It is probably a withheld report, because we have not come across it yet. Dr: The last contact I had with the CIA was in France when I was working with them. So, the only contact I had in this country was with the FBI. [Oddly, Shaw does not ask Dr. Alderson the nature of his CIA connections in France.] GS: I see…. Well, you have been helpful. I think what I’d like to do if you don’t mind is send you these photographs and let you look at them. Dr: Are they fairly recent? GS: No, they were taken in 1963. Dr: Okay, the only one I had was taken long before that, but he could have aged. GS: Do you have a photograph of him? Dr: Yes. GS: Well, I would be interested in seeing that too. Dr: Yes, be happy to. Mail it down if you got it. 10600 Fondren, Suite 102. Gary Shaw’s dogged pursuit of records related to Jean Souetre, Michel Roux, Michael Mertz and Christian David, as well as Thomas Eli Davis, resulted in FOIA suits against the Dept. of State, the FBI, CIA, the DEA and INS under the auspices of the DOJ. Essentially, plaintiff Shaw who was represented by assassination investigator/attorney—and his good friend—Bud Fensterwald, (himself a plaintiff), took the government to task for failure to perform the search requests in good faith. In February 1983, Shaw v. US Dept. of State, 559 F. Supp. 1053 (D.D.C. 1983,) the court ruled: Having considered defendants' motions, plaintiffs' oppositions thereto, the supporting affidavits and the entire record herein, and based upon in camera review, it is, this 28th day of February 1983, hereby ORDERED, that defendants' motions shall be granted; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that judgment shall be entered in favor of defendants the Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Department of Justice and against the plaintiffs Gary Shaw and Bernard Fensterwald, Jr. Both Shaw and Fensterwald, without benefit of the evidence revealed in the records of Pierre Lafitte, had astutely suspected that the failure of Texas officials to hold Souetre or possible accomplices for questioning revealed a potentially explosive breakthrough in the investigation into the assassination.”

Of course I remember "Ronnie Wayne". I followed your contributions closely. Thanks for the welcome. It was a bit of a journey, but thanks to a gracious Ed Forum administrator, "here I am."

Hello Paul, Joe and Andrej, I can confirm that the Lafitte datebook entry dated November 20 reads in full: Lamy—Filiol—at hotel (names) —Call Storey, Duval, DeM.— —Rifle into building— yes/ok/DPD (Duvall) I can provide the relevant narrative, on request, for those who may not be interested in ordering the book. (apologies for formatting glitches. I think I have a learning curve ahead of me on this forum.)