Loran E. Hall

[David Boylan]

Surrey was a member of Rockwell's American Nazi Party and printed out Rockwell's literature....

David, this is extremely interesting...what's your source?

Karl Allen, former deputy commander of the ANP. He later split from Rockwell's ANP and formed the White Party of America. Allen put out a newsletter and wrote about Surrey and the ANP. He claimed that Surrey also used the alias of Max Amman. There are also quite a few ads in The Storm Trooper (ANP) that list a PO Box in Dallas for ordering ANP literature. Think American Eagle Publishing.

It's most interesting because Surrey, who was James Hosty's bridge partner for years, was also General Walker's partner in the American Eagle Publishing Company.

General Walker seems to be clean of Nazi activities, as far as I can tell, but then these little hints keep rising up -- like the one you just mentioned.

Also, in Walker's 1962 testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Military Preparedness, Normal Rockwell marched in wearing full Nazi regalia, praising Edwin Walker to high heaven, and was quickly ejected.

Also General Edwin Walker personally visited KKK member, Byron De La Beckwith in Mississippi in February, 1964, to give him encouragement in his trial for the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June, 1963. This was in the courthouse at noon, with the Press taking photographs.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Karl Allen, former deputy commander of the ANP. He later split from Rockwell's ANP and formed the White Party of America. Allen put out a newsletter and wrote about Surrey and the ANP. He claimed that Surrey also used the alias of Max Amman. There are also quite a few ads in The Storm Trooper (ANP) that list a PO Box in Dallas for ordering ANP literature. Think American Eagle Publishing.

Thanks, David, for the interesting lead. Robert Allen Surrey was a staunch supporter of General Walker, no matter how bad matters became. Membership in the Nazi Party says a lot about a person; it is a guarantee of racist hatred, for example. By contrast, membership in a segregationaist Christian congregation (like General Walker and Reverend Billy James Hargis) can be a middle-class practice of polite company, to avoid all conflict of every kind. That is, fund-raising in the South in the 1960's was almost impossible if one's colored people didn't know their place.

But it is impossible that General Walker could be ignorant of Robert Allen Surrey's involvement in the Nazi Party of America, because they worked together closely for about a decade, and even traveled together. Walker operated his publishing company out of his home on 4011 Turtle Creek Blvd in Dallas, and Robert Allen Surrey could be found there most of the time, Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm year after year. He even worked there after hours and on weekends. He practically lived with General Walker.

So, Robert Allen Surrey's membership in the Nazi Party must also reflect on General Edwin Walker. Now it makes a little more sense that only hours after the JFK assassination, that General Edwin Walker would have a conversation with a formerly Nazi newspaper in Munich, Germany, at 7am Saturday, 23 November 1963.

The paper was the Deutsche NationalZeitung and General Walker seemed to be unable to control his glee - he simply had to tell somebody in Germany that JFK's shooter was also the guy that shot at Walker on 10 April 1963. (Even though the FBI and the Press would not know this fact until December 6th, when Marina would confess it!)

All this suggests to me that during 1959, 1960 and 1961, when Walker was commanding the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany, he was making contacts with German citizens -- former Nazi officers, like Dr. Gerhard Frey, and who knows who else?

The OVERSEAS WEEKLY newspaper made up a file on Walker's behavior -- Walker would not go to Officer's parties or gatherings on the base, but would leave the base and associate with unknown others on the weekends. Possibly these were members of the homosexual underground in Germany, as Walker was almost certainly a closet homosexual his whole life. But possibly they were also former Nazi officials who wanted to get back into politics. Or both.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited May 29, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

OK, getting back to the original topic -- Loran Hall -- I suspect him in a JFK conspiracy based on two witnesses: Sylvia Odio and Harry Dean.

1. Both Sylvia Odio and Harry Dean claim to have seen Loran Hall in September, 1963, in connection with Lee Harvey Oswald.

2. Harry saw Loran Hall earlier in the month, in a meeting in Covina, California, with some of the more extreme and dedicated John Birch Society characters, including Congressman John Rousselot, ex-General Edwin Walker, war hero Guy Gabaldon, Lorenzo Pacillo (alias Loran Hall) and Alonzo Escruido (alias Larry Howard).

3. At that meeting General Walker announced that he had selected Lee Harvey Oswald as the patsy of their plot to kill JFK in Dallas on 22 November 1963, because Oswald was a Communist. Oswald had been in the NOLA newspapers, on radio and on TV, praising the FPCC; he was perfectly framed. Harry remembers that they all had a good laugh about using a Communist to kill a Communist.

4. Harry saw Congressman Rousselot give a bag full of money to Guy Gabaldon. Gabaldon would be in charge of the Mexico part of the plot, in which he would pretend to be a CIA agent. Loran Hall and Larry Howard would report to Guy Gabaldon, and convince Lee Harvey Oswald that he would be working on an important, undercover job for the CIA in Dallas. Whatever else Oswald had to do in Mexico, one of his tasks would be to attend a meeting with his supposed "CIA agent," Guy Gabaldon.

5. BACKGROUND: Loran Hall was born in Cuba in 1930, and with people like Harry Dean, Gerry Patrick Hemming, Frank Sturgis and David Ferrie, fought with Castro to topple Batista. But when Castro showed his Communist colors, they all escaped from Cuba and joined the Counter-revolution in the USA. Loran Hall and Gerry Patrick Hemming both joined a group called "Interpen". As for Larry Howard, he was a Chicano from East Los Angeles, a former US soldier, and also a member of Interpen. As for Guy Gabaldon, he was a real-life war hero (also a Chicano from East Los Angeles) who is glorified in the Hollywood movie, From Hell to Eternity (1960). Loran and Larry worshipped Guy Gabaldon.

6. Sylvia Odio (some said) saw Loran Hall at her front door with Larry Howard and Lee Harvey Oswald on or about 25 September 1963, around 6pm.

7. Sylvia's formerly wealthy parents were still in a Castro prison because of their leadership in the JURE Cuban Counter-revolutionary group, and she had raised her two sisters in the USA, and lived in constant fear in Dallas. She had never seen Hall or Howard before in her life. (She had seen Oswald before, at a rightist political rally -- he shared some ideas with the group.)

8. The three travelers said that they drove into Dallas from New Orleans, and said that they were also members of JURE (though they weren't). They introduced themselves as "Leopoldo", "Angelo", and "Leon," and admitted these were their "war names." "Leopold" said he knew Sylvia's father (though he only knew about Sylvia's father).

9. They asked her for support for the Cuban cause -- at least to translate a fund-raising letter into English for them.

10. Sylvia did not let them into her house, but asked "Leopoldo" many questions in Spanish, which he answered well. They spoke for 20 minutes. Oswald and "Angelo" were polite and stood silently, saying nothing but 'hello' and 'goodbye'. Sylvia gave them no money or promises -- but if they truly knew her father, she would help them. She wrote to her father that night - knowing that she would get a reply from the Cuban prison no sooner than two months.

11. Sylvia told several friends about the strange visit. Then, a few days later, "Leopoldo" called her again to ask about "Leon" Oswald. He was formerly a Marine, he said, and an expert marksman. He is unpredictable, too. More importantly, Leon said the Cubans have no guts, since they should have killed JFK after the Bay of Pigs humiliation; so, what did she think of that?

12. This came out of nowhere for Sylvia, who was already a nervous wreck because of her parents. She just hung up, and told her friends -- but not the police -- she was frightened.

13. After the JFK assassination, when Lee Harvey Oswald was paraded around television and the media, many people remembered what Sylvia Odio said. It was through her friends -- not Sylvia -- that the Warren Commission first heard about her story. But the Commission decided to ignore it, because they believed Oswald was a 'loner,' and was on a bus, not in a car, on his way to Mexico at that time.

14. After the JFK assassination, Harry Dean, who had already told the FBI what he had seen in early September, reminded them again of his experiences. Yet he received the same silent treatment in November 1963 that he had received in September.

CONCLUSION: We have two eye-witnesses who can associate Loran Hall with Lee Harvey Oswald in September, 1963, namely, Sylvia Odio and Harry Dean. If we are truly interested in knowing the accomplices of Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of JFK, we should look deeper into the case of Loran Hall.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited July 4, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

The HSCA interview of Loran Hall is available at the Mary Ferrell site.

http://www.maryferre....do?docId=60422

http://www.maryferre....do?docId=60423

..

FWIW.

James

Thanks to James Richards in a post from five years ago, I finally read the HSCA interview of Loran Hall. (I was frustrated because I couldn't find it in the published volumes of the HSCA.) But the HSCA interview clarifies why my post above is simply incorrect when I said that Loran Hall and Larry Howard were the two Cubans who accompanied Lee Harvey Oswald to visit Sylvia Odio on (or about) 25 September 1963.

Not only does Loran Hall deny (on second thought) that he ever visited Sylvia Odio, but he admits he had confused her with another wealthy Cuban woman, whom he, along with Larry Howard and William Seymour, had visited to seek funds for a new raid on Cuba.

Loran Hall is believable because Sylvia Odio never said she saw Loran Hall and Larry Howard -- only a Cuban, a Chicano and Lee Harvey Oswald. And when the FBI showed Sylvia photographs of Loran Hall and Larry Howard, she was certain that they weren't the two men who had accompanied Lee Harvey Oswald on that late afternoon visit to her house in late September 1963.

How can Sylvia Odio be certain that this was really Lee Harvey Oswald? Because she had seen Oswald at Cuban Exile political meetings in Dallas, where Oswald's face and name became familiar to her. Too bad the FBI tried so hard to squash her testimony and make her sound insane in 1963 -- she probably had a lot to share.

Nevertheless -- her believable testimony confirms that Oswald did not travel to Mexico alone -- and he did not take a bus to Mexico (and there is no believable witness who saw Oswald on that bus). In other words -- according to Sylvia Odio, Lee Harvey Oswald had accomplices. Further, these accomplices were Cuban Exiles and extreme rightists and mercenaries.

I cannot find sufficient eye-witness information to contradict Sylvia Odio - yet I am still convinced that Harry Dean is also correct to link Loran Hall to Lee Harvey Oswald in late September 1963 -- and in Mexico City. I am still convinced that Loran Hall and Larry Howard guided Lee Harvey Oswald to meet Guy Gabaldon in Mexico on 27 September 1963.

I remain convinced because the type of personnel are the same -- Cuban Exiles and extreme rightists and mercenaries -- of which there were countless from Miami through New Orleans through Dallas to Los Angeles -- and to Mexico City.

Naming Loran Hall will also invoke the name of Gerry Patrick Hemming, another rightist mercenary who was linked to Loran Hall through his organization, Interpen, and so with the Cuban Exiles and also with the CIA financiers of such groups that would make raids on Cuba during the early 1960's. Hemming had long claimed to know more about the JFK plot than he could safely tell.

Now -- I do admit the possibility that Loran Hall was lying when he said he was not in Dallas on 22 November 1963, or that he was not involved any deeper in the JFK plot than he swore under oath that he was. But I think Loran Hall told the truth about Sylvia Odio when his testmony (and that of Larry Howard as well as William Seymour) agreed with the testimony of Sylvia Odio herself.

What is criitical now, IMHO, is to look deeper into any possible contact between Loran Hall and ex-General Edwin Walker.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited July 4, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Michael Hogan]

.....Not only does Loran Hall deny (on second thought) that he ever visited Sylvia Odio, but he admits he had confused her with another wealthy Cuban woman, whom he, along with Larry Howard and William Seymour, had visited to seek funds for a new raid on Cuba.

Loran Hall is believable because Sylvia Odio never said she saw Loran Hall and Larry Howard -- only a Cuban, a Chicano and Lee Harvey Oswald. And when the FBI showed Sylvia photographs of Loran Hall and Larry Howard, she was certain that they weren't the two men who had accompanied Lee Harvey Oswald on that late afternoon visit to her house in late September 1963.

.......What is criitical now, IMHO, is to look deeper into any possible contact between Loran Hall and ex-General Edwin Walker.

Paul, you might find this HSCA memorandum from Robert Tanenbaum re Richard Magison to be of mild interest: http://digitalcollec.../id/31176/rec/9

[Paul Trejo]

.....Not only does Loran Hall deny (on second thought) that he ever visited Sylvia Odio, but he admits he had confused her with another wealthy Cuban woman, whom he, along with Larry Howard and William Seymour, had visited to seek funds for a new raid on Cuba.

Loran Hall is believable because Sylvia Odio never said she saw Loran Hall and Larry Howard -- only a Cuban, a Chicano and Lee Harvey Oswald. And when the FBI showed Sylvia photographs of Loran Hall and Larry Howard, she was certain that they weren't the two men who had accompanied Lee Harvey Oswald on that late afternoon visit to her house in late September 1963.

.......What is criitical now, IMHO, is to look deeper into any possible contact between Loran Hall and ex-General Edwin Walker.

Paul, you might find this HSCA memorandum from Robert Tanenbaum re Richard Magison to be of mild interest: http://digitalcollec.../id/31176/rec/9

Yes, Michael, there is some mild interest in the six pages of the research papers of John Armstrong.

The link contains three documents: (i) a 1977 HSCA memo from Kenneth D. Klein about an interview with Richard Magison; (ii) a partial memo, no date, about who might have shot at General Walker; and (iii) one FBI document of 1975 with statements from Richard Magison (Margeson).

Document (i) shows allegations that:

(1) Richard Magison was a long-time, close friend of Larry Howard;

(2) Larry Howard served in Korea between 1951-1955, so he 'might' have served with General Walker there, but no evidence was cited;

(3) William Seymour 'might' have been Lee Harvey Oswald (although William Seymour is well-known to researchers);

(4) 'Pat,' who worked in a building that 'might' have been a CIA building, possibly 'might' have been Loran Hall;

(5) Magison was aware that Larry Howard went to Mexico at least four times from 1962 to 1963. Magison claims that "when Howard came back to California after the end of operation Mongoose, he said that they were going to do 'something very bad that will make the U.S. invade Cuba;'"

(6) Magison adds that in 1959-1960 Howard bought a green Nash Rambler (that Rambler again)! That's all he knew about that;

(7) Magison was a JFK conspiracy researcher himself, and wanted a job at the HSCA.

Document (ii) shows allegations that:

(1) 'Acker, Hargraves, Hemming and Vidal' served with Rolando Masferrer at the Florida Keys, and was paid a half million dollars by Jimmy Hoffa to kill JFK;

(2) Vidal was the one who shot at General Walker; as proved by the fact that Vidal drove a 1957 black and white Chevy -- the same make and model of one of two cars that fled the Walker scene. No further 'proof' was offered.

Document (iii) shows allegations that:

(1) In late 1963, Larry Howard in his East Los Angeles home entertained a hit man from Texas named 'Tex;'

(2) Magison met 'Tex' man at Howard's home, and described him as a white male, in his late 20's, 5'6" to 5'9", slender build, 135 pounds, with former military service and a rotten disposition;

(3) Larry Howard introduced the man as 'Harvey Lee';

(4) Tex had arrived from New Orleans in late 1962 or early 1963;

(5) After the JFK assassination, Magison later recognized that 'Tex' was Lee Harvey Oswald.

So, these are the John Armstrong papers, Michael. The strongest evidence within them is that a close and personal friend of Larry Howard (who served with Gerry Patrick Hemming and Loran Hall in Interpen) offers proofs that Larry Howard was prone to blab.

Here are the main points I learned from the John Armstrong papers:

(I) Magison saw his friend Larry Howard go to Mexico at least four times from 1962 to 1963. But Magison fails to provide exact dates, which considerably weakens his data.

(II) Magison claims that when Larry Howard returned to East Los Angeles "after the end of operation Mongoose, he said that they were going to do 'something very bad that will make the U.S. invade Cuba;'"

(III) It is possible that Lee Harvey Oswald visisted Larry Howard at his East Los Angeles home in 1963, since the physical description of Oswald is fairly close; although again Magison fails to provide exact dates, which considerably weakens his data.

(IV) I found it interesting that while in 1975 Magison claimed to have met Lee Harvey Oswald as 'Tex' at the home of Larry Howard, Magison does not repeat that claim in 1977.

(V) The second, partial document is largely worthless.

Magison, who wanted to be an HSCA researcher, just threw out items of interest, fishing for a bite; the Green Rambler, for example. He was not hired as an HSCA researcher probably because he lacked discipline -- failing to perceive that the necessity of exact dates would marginalize all his data.

If any of Magison's testimony is correct, it might supplement Harry Dean's theory that Larry Howard (along with Loran Hall) was given responsibility to take Lee Harvey Oswald to Mexico on 26 September 1963. But without the exact dates, Magison supplies very little hard information.

Still, the John Armstrong papers do show that researchers in 1977 were also looking at the connections between Loran Hall, Larry Howard and General Edwin Walker. Thanks for the post, Michael.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited July 4, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Happy Independence Day, everybody. To help celebrate today in EDUCATION FORUM style, I'm posting the full text of Loran E. Hall's "confession" to the NATIONAL ENQUIRER in September of 1968. I find it very interesting that Harry Dean's manuscript corresponds very closely to Loran Hall's confession (with some notable differences). Enjoy.

- - - - - - - - - begin Loran Hall article - - - - - - -

NATIONAL ENQUIRER -- 1 September 1968

KEY WITNESS IN GARRISON PROBE SAYS: I WAS OFFERED $50,000 TO KILL JFK

by Loran Hall

I turned down a $50,000 offer to kill President John F. Kennedy only five weeks before he was shot dead in Dallas, Texas.

It came from right wing radicals who also had Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King on their kill list -- a list which members of the CIA helped form.

I have given New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who is probing President Kennedy's assassination, a full list of names, dates and places which I firmly believe will help him prove there was a plot to kill President Kennedy.

I have told him that at meeting after meeting which I attended before President Kennedy's assassination, the killing of President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King was openly discussed.

And these people were deadly serious.

They were lunatic, fanatical right wingers -- Klansmen and Fascists -- who had the means, the men, and their own twisted reasons for wanting to kill our leaders.

I know from my own experience as an Anti-Castro guerilla leader that among them were CIA men -- for the CIA was deeply involved in our Anti-Castro activities.

I have told Garrison that there was a plot to kill President Kennedy. But I believe that the biggest plot of them all was the plot the U.S. Government set to cover up the assassination.

The Government knows Lee Harvey Oswald was not the lone assassin.

He was the patsy, the guy who gave his life so that members of a sniper team could escape. I doubt if he even fired a shot. The Government's cover up enabled the radical right wingers to continue killing -- with Martin Luther King's death certainly the result, and Bobby Kennedy's very probably.

Two attempts have been made on my life because I know too much about the activities of these right wingers.

I hope that by telling all I know to Garrison and The ENQUIRER, these militants will figure there is no longer any point in trying to silence me.

I became involved with the radical right wing when I joined the Anti-Castro guerrillas in 1962 because I've a taste for adventure and a dislike of Communism.

I led my own group, La Sambra, on raids from Florida on Cuba and also smuggled arms and ammunition to guerrilla groups on the island.

We were always short of money, and I toured the country to speak at meetings to raise funds.

I was frequently at meetings of radical right wingers on the West Coast, and in Texas and Florida, in 1962 and 1963.

The right wing groups had several CIA men in them. They were a good source of funds.

These radical right wingers who include ex-military officers hate everyone.

The ex-officers had their taste of glory and now their sole thing is that they don't think the American people can rule the country themselves.

They think that just the elite -- themselves -- can run it.

These people hated President Kennedy because he wanted to co-exist with the Russians, which would have done away with the need for war machinery, [and] because he failed to back up the Bay of Pigs invasion. They even planned how to kill him: A sniper team with from six to nine men that were willing to give their lives for America to hit the President from ambush.

Their idea was that one man might die in the ambush to let others escape. He would be the patsy.

They didn't stop at planning to hit only the President.

They drew up a kill list.

Martin Luther King was on it. King was beginning to get things accomplished for the black people by co-existing and being non-violent. These people were worried by this. They wanted unrest in the country.

They wanted, and still want, to see a revolution between the colored people and the whites. They want complete white supremacy, and they needed open warfare so that they could head that white supremacy.

Bobby Kennedy was on the kill list. If they hated anymore more than John Kennedy it was Bobby, who was then attorney general. They figured he was even more dangerous to them than John, that he would be [an] even stronger opposition to their plans for power.

Chief Justice Earl Warren was another they wanted to kill, along with Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.

They were Kennedy men and therefore regarded by the right wingers as dangerous.

The CIA men that I knew were frequently the people who brought up the kill list at meetings. They helped form it.

They were present at West Coast meetings where I was offered men and guns to do the killings.

I turned down their suggestion fast. I had to take part in the discussions simply because I was there, and I needed money from these people. But I wanted nothing to do with those plans.

The offer of $50,000 to kill John Kennedy was made in Dallas, Texas, on October 17, 1963.

I was in Dallas for two reasons: I had a meeting with right wingers to discuss funds for La Sambra guerrilla raids. I also had to pick up a trailer load of guns, ammunition and medical supplies for La Sambra.

Before I met with the right wingers, cops picked me up on a fake charge of possessing dangerous drugs.

A copy checking my license plate found ordinary pep pills in my car. He booked me for possessing dangerous drugs and took me in.

Within an hour after I was arrested, they had CIA, FBI and intelligence investigators in to see me. I don't know why. I wasn't a wanted man. I wasn't carrying a gun. Friends fixed a $5,000 bond, and I got out of jail and booked into the YMCA.

The next day I got a call from an attorney saying that the charge had been dropped but that I was to get out of the State by midnight that night.

No reason was given for dropping the charge so quickly, although I never had dangerous drugs.

Later, after the President's death, I figured out why -- I was being set up for the Kennedy killing. Not as a conspirator or a patsy, but as a smoke-screen. My arrest was for the records, to show that Loran Hall, Anti-Castro fighter, was in Dallas just before the President was killed.

Anyone investigating the assassination would come up with my name, and figure this guy might have a reason for the killing, because Kennedy didn't back the Anti-Castro movement.

They would waste time investigating me while the real killers covered their tracks. That's what in fact happened, as I'll explain later.

Anyway, on October 17, before I left town on the DA's orders, I went to the right wing meeting in an office in Dallas.

The man who owned the office was a conservative, but not a radical, and were were discussing how to raise money for the Cuban raids.

One of them, a fascist, stood up and said: "Hell, I'd rather donate to a $50,000 pot to kill Kennedy."

Then he turned to me and said: "You kill Kennedy and the $50,000 is yours."

I ended that conversation quick. I told him to forget it. I wasn't interested. I said I might break the Neutrality Act in attacking Castro, but I wasn't a traitor.

The man who owned the office sided with me and nothing more was said. I didn't want the opportunity to find out if the offer was genuine. I believe it was.

I wasn't really shocked by the offer. I'd heard the killing of Kennedy discussed so many times at radical meetings.

I'm certain of one thing -- the radicals could have raised the $50,000 all right.

I took off for Florida after the meeting, the trailer loaded with equipment for the Cuban raid. I finished with the Cuban fighting in early November, 1963, when Coast Guard and Customs confiscated my car and equipment for breaking the Neutrality Act.

I moved back to California and went to work for a hospital supply group.

I was in my apartment in Monterey, California on 22 November 1963 when President Kennedy was killed. I immediately thought of all the talk and plans I'd heard at the radical meetings about killing him.

I was scared. I didn't go forward to tell what I knew to the Warren Commission which probed the President's death. I wasn't asking for trouble.

But the smokescreen part of the operation -- set up by my arrest in Dallas back in October 1963 -- started working.

Mrs. Sylvia Odio, an exiled Cuban and member of an Anti-Castro group, testified to the Warren Commission that she was certain Lee Harvey Oswald was one of the three men who visited her in her Dallas apartment in September 1963, seeking funds for Anti-Castro activities.

But that didn't tie in with "evidence" the Commission had that Oswald was in Mexico City at that time.

So, someone had to be found to knock down Mrs. Odio's evidence. They didn't want Oswald connected with Cubans because that could knock down the "one assassin" theory. The FBI came up with my name through my arrest in Dallas around that time.

They tracked me down in Johnsondale, California.

The FBI men obviously wanted to rule out Lee Harvey Oswald having visited Mrs. Odio. I told them nothing. But in the official Warren Commission report it comes out like this:

"Hall has been identified as a participant in numerous Anti-Castro activities. He told me FBI that in September of 1963 he was in Dallas, soliciting aid in connection with Anti-Castro activities. He said he had visited Mrs. Odio. He was accompanied by Lawrence Howard, a Mexican-American from East Los Angeles, and one William Seymour from Arizona. He stated that Seymour is similar in appearance to Lee Harvey Oswald. He speaks only a few words of Spanish, as Mrs. Odio had testified one of the men who visited her did. While the FBI has not yet completed its investigation into this matter at the time the report went to press, the Commission has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was not at Mrs. Odio's apartment in September of 1963."

The truth is I've never seen Mrs. Odio. I never approached her for funds, with or without Howard or Seymour.

And if we weren't there, it just had to be Oswald and two Cubans. Which makes the whole Warren Commission report even more full of holes.

With witness after witness to the assassination being killed off, I kept out of the way.

On 17 February 1967 the newspapers announced that Jim Garrison had started his investigation and on March 1 he charged New Orleans civic leader Clay Shaw with conspiring to kill Kennedy.

He kept probing. And he came up with my name because I had attended the radical right wing meetings.

He subpoenaed me in December 1967, claiming I was in Dallas until the assassination, and associated with men he contends completed the assassination.

I figure he was trying to pin me with a conspiracy charge. I knew plenty, but I wasn't going to face a conspiracy rap.

I denied everything, and fought the subpoena. I proved I was in California on 22 November 1963, the day President Kennedy was shot, and a Bakersfield, California judge quashed the subpoena on 24 January 1968. But that court case brought me back out into the open again. And some people figured I better be silenced for good.

On 16 March 1968 I was driving alone in my car from Kernville to Bakersfield in California when someone in a 1954 Mercury tried to run me off the road. There was only the driver, whom I couldn't recognize, in the car.

He made a deliberate attempt to run me off the road at a point where there was a ravine with a 180 foot drop. He threw the right rear end of his auto into my left front.

I swerved into the side of the road, jammed on my brakes, and the front of my car hit a rock. If the rock hadn't been there, I would have gone straight over into the ravine. The guy didn't stop. I was scared as hell. I was even more scared when Dr. Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee on 4 April 1968. The killing again fitted the pattern set in these discussions with the militant madmen.

I started carrying a gun with me at all times.

Then, on Sunday 28 April 1968 I was driving on the San Bernardino Freeway about 65 miles per hour when a car alongside me had a blowout.

I swerved to keep from hitting him and my steering power failed completely. I slammed on the brakes, and by a miracle I didn't wreck the car, although I hit the retaining fence before I stopped.

I checked the car and found that somebody had taken a wrench and broken three of the steering mounts, leaving only one bolt. When I swerved the car suddenly, the stress broke the remaining bolt.

The three other bolts were sheared off. It couldn't have been accidental. They were deliberately broken. I'd had the car fixed and checked after the first accident, and everything was okay.

I was not injured in either of the accidents. I didn't report them to the police officially. But I spoke to two policemen I knew, and they said they didn't want to get involved. I figured that the only way was to tell everything I knew, so that the main reason for silencing me would be ended.

I figured Garrison was the best man to tell after he assured me there would be no conspiracy charge. I went to New Orleans voluntarily on 5 May 1968 and told him everything. I spent 18 hours with Garrison and his investigators.

Evidence that Garrison showed me, but that I cannot reveal, convinced me that I was right in believing the radical right wingers certainly killed President John Kennedy and Martin Luther King. And that the CIA were in it up to their necks.

The triggermen were different, but the planning was done by the same people.

The shooting of Bobby Kennedy on 5 June 1968 set me thinking again. I'm sure, from what I heard at these meetings back in the early 1960s, that it is part of the same operation.

I'm not saying that accused assassin Sirhan Sirhan was hired to kill. I think it highly likely, because so many of these militants are on the West Coast, that he was deliberately filled with hate for Bobby Kennedy. These militants could have poisoned Sirhan's mind so that he finally killed Bobby Kennedy -- and they were able to strike another name off their kill list.

I am not naming the militants here because I fear I might jeopardize Jim Garrison's chance of blowing this plot wide open. I do say that Lee Harvey Oswald, or his killer, Jack Ruby, never attended any of the "kill list" meetings I attended.

I hope now I can fade back out of the spotlight. I'll still be taking plenty of precautions in case other attempts are made on my life. But I feel much safer now that my knowledge is not secret.

- - - - - - - - - end Loran Hall article - - - - - - -

Clearly the grammar of this "confession" was cleaned up by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER editors, because the HSCA testimony of Loran Hall shows that his grammar was just so-so. That HSCA testimony also clearly reveals that Loran Hall couldn't tell a genuine CIA agent from a phony if his life depended on it. That ought to be borne in mind as one peruses this "confession".

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited July 6, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

BUMP

Edited July 6, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Hi Paul,

Regarding Odio, Hall, Howard, Seymour etc.

Each was being protective of their positions; Odio was protecting JURE and the 3 allegedly JURE anti-Castro visitors alike were in fear of hurting their organization.

Two of the three visitor suspects, Hall & Howard, became enemies because of Loran Hall's original report to FBI regarding them being at Odio's,

Larry Howard threatened to kill Hall if he did not change that confession. Larry Howard and I talked of this when the FBI report became public via the Warren Commission.

Loran Hall knew Larry Howard would kill him, so he did change his original statement regarding the Odio visit.

(When I feared becoming political manager for Gabaldon's US Congressional run, I recommended Loran Hall, Gabaldon said later that he lost because of Loran Hall.)

In those years everyone always operated under fear as a guide to protect and survive.

Did Odio mispronounce (Lorenzo as Leopoldo)? Did she also do likewise with (Alonzo as Angelo), either intentionally, or mistakenly because of fear and to protect JURE and herself? Even when it came down to photo identifications?

Loran Hall used Lorenzo Pacillo as a war name (or vice versa). Larry Howard used Alonzo Escruido as a war name (or vice versa).

What I can say regarding the Minutemen plans is, they were a deadly serious army with intent beyond just the threatening stage with a list of officials to be permanently removed. It was not possible for me to know of any of the ground-crew of willing participants / suspects among the Minutemen.

Harry

Hello Harry,

You're remarks have turned everything upside down in my research. If I go by the sworn testimony of Loran Hall and Sylvia Odio, they never met each other in their lives.

However, there is one rotten apple in the official testimony -- Loran Hall reversed his original testimony when the going got rough. That is where your arguments begin, and I must confess that you can build a strong case on that obvious fact. (Also, it is odd that the first person that the FBI picked up after Sylvia Odio's original testimony was Loran Hall. Also, it is odd that Loran Hall accused the FBI of simply inventing a story that included Larry Howard and Bill Seymour -- out of thin air -- since Loran claimed he told them "nothing at all.")

Let's revew the facts and your theory again in slow motion.

(1) In mid-September 1963, you attended a meeting in California with some wealthy right-wing fanatics, and at that meeting were Cuban Exile Loran Hall, East Los Angeles rightist, Larry Howard, East Los Angeles rightist and war hero, Guy Gabaldon, ex-General Edwin Walker, Congressman John Rousselot and yourself (and perhaps a few silent partners).

(2) You heard Walker announce that a patsy had been found for the JFK plol, namely, Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been exposed in the newspapers, radio and TV as a Communist. (Everybody had a good laugh about this.)

(3) You witnessed Congressman John Rousselot hand Guy Gabaldon a suitcase full of money. Gabaldon was to go to Mexico to impersonate a CIA agent. Hall and Howard were to bring Lee Harvey Oswald to Mexico to obtain instructions from Gabaldon, as from the CIA itself.

(4) On or about 25 September 1963, Sylvia Odio and her sister Annie claimed that two men -- a Cuban and a Mexican -- brought Lee Harvey Oswald to their home in Dallas, Texas, for about 20 minutes. (Odio recognized Oswald because he had attended JURE meetings in Dallas.)

(5) On or about 26 September 1963, Oswald went into Mexico, taking the fake 'FPCC' credentials that he, Ed Butler and Carlos Bringuier had forged in New Orleans in the month of August. These failed to get him passage into Cuba, as hoped.

(6) On or about 28 September 1963, Hall and Howard took Oswald to visit Guy Gabaldon, fake CIA agent, and obtained fake orders to cooperate with a secret plot in Dallas. Gabaldon also gave Oswald some money at that point.

(7) After the JFK assassination, and near the end of the Warren Commission Hearings, i.e. September 1964, the claims of Sylvia Odio came to the attention of the Commission. Based on Odio's careful description of the most talkative of the three visitors to her home in late September 1963, the FBI promptly picked up Loran Hall.

(8) Loran Hall told the FBI at that time that he and Larry Howard and William Seymour (who looked like Oswald) were really the ones who visited Sylvia Odio that day, and so Sylvia must have mistaken Seymour for Oswald.

(9) At this point, Harry, you witnessed Larry Howard lose his temper at Loran Hall, and threaten to kill him.

(10) However -- the Warren Commission was in a hurry to end the Hearings, and also they wanted no evidence that Oswald had accomplices. So they accepted Loran Hall's story, pubicly accused Sylvia Odio of insanity, and closed the case.

(11) Loran Hall and Larry Howard both heaved a big sigh of relief, and forgot all about 1963.

(12) However -- in 1968 Jim Garrison had revived the JFK case, and the FBI once again went after Loran Hall. Larry Howard again threatened to kill Loran Hall if Howard's name were brought back into the spotlight.

(13) When Loran Hall told the NATIONAL ENQUIRER that somebody was trying to kill him -- he probably knew exactly who it was -- Larry Howard.

(14) And if Larry Howard was threatening to kill his war companion, Loran Hall, we can only imagine the vicious threats he must have sent to Sylvia Odio and her family. So, naturally Sylvia Odio would be unwilling to identify the photographs of Loran Hall and Larry Howard. (After all, her parents were in a Cuban prison; her family had already been through hell, and the US Government had already betrayed her once before on this very topic.)

(15) So, Loran Hall quickly volunteered to testify for Jim Garrison. Loran Hall was a very cooperative witness for Jim Garrison for 18 hours of questioning. This was very satisfying to Jim Garrison, who apparently believed everything Loran told him.

(16) Loran told Garrison exactly what he told the NATIONAL ENQUIRER (in brief terms), i.e. that the real conspirators were CIA agents. That was apparently what Garrison wanted to hear. Garrison published widely that he no longer suspected the friendly witness, Loran Hall.

(17) Now the heat was off of Larry Howard again, so Loran Hall could return home in safety and try once again to forget the entire year of 1963.

Now -- even though this scenario contradicts the sworn testimony that the FBI has on file -- I must admit that Harry Dean's interpretation of the events smacks of more realism and common sense than the story we read from Loran Hall in the pages of the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.

Given that, I suggest that we are somewhat closer to the goal of identifying the ground-crew, i.e. the people who worked closest with ex-General Edwin Walker to make a patsy out of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Given that, then I further suggest that the eye-witness testimony of Harry Dean is the final living witness we have of the JFK conspiracy in its formation.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo, MA

<edit typos>

Edited July 8, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[David Boylan]

Paul,

This covers some of the things you are talking about.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2363

Harry also mentioned knowing John Lechner. Lechner name was in Richard Nagell's notebook. Lots of good info on this site about Hall.

Dave

[Paul Trejo]

Paul,

This covers some of the things you are talking about.

http://educationforu...?showtopic=2363

Harry also mentioned knowing John Lechner. Lechner name was in Richard Nagell's notebook. Lots of good info on this site about Hall.

Dave

Dave, your informative post of 24 November 2004 went into some depth about the main players and organizations of the most extreme right-wing groups in the USA in the early 1960's. (Actually, I read it with interest on the FORUM last year.)

I'm seeking General Walker's connections in 1963. Walker's name was mentioned in your article there, mainly in connection with Loran Hall and Larry Howard. I find evidence of Walker's participation in the John Birch Society -- but that citified group is far removed from the Aryan Churches and so on.

I can also find evidence of Walker's close participation, and eventual membership in the Christian Crusade Church of segregationist preacher Reverend Billy James Hargis, perhaps as early as 1959, and also closely related to Walker's Pro-Blue indoctrination program. Hargis was himself a member of the segregationist American Council of Churches founded by segregationist preacher Reverend Dr. Carl McIntire. The racism of Walker's associates is open and brazen. Walker's violence at Ole Miss on 30 September 1962 was equally brazen and open.

It is not surprising, as Loran Hall himself admitted, that he would learn about the most radical rightists in the USA in the early 1960's as he solicited funds for his Cuban raid operations. As Gerry Hemming once said, among such groups the talk about assassinating JFK was a daily matter.

It is one thing to talk, however, and another thing to act. And it is one thing to suspect, and another to have eye-witness evidence. It is easy to suspect open and brazen racists; but the evidence is crucial. For example, the group central to your exposition was the Christian Defense League, which was officially founded in 1964 -- and 1964 is too late for direct involvement in the JFK assassination.

I think it is well-established that Walker, Hall, Howard, Oswald, Hemming, Banister, Ferrie and so on, all moved in the most rightist circles in 1963, and in 1963 that meant dealing with rank racists every single day. Yet this only gives us a high-level sketch -- while Harry Dean has given us an eye-witness account of the actual JFK plotters in the actual act of plotting.

Walker, Hall, Howard and Gabaldon, along with the John Birch Society -- specifically -- these are the subjects of interest. Their immediate connections include Guy Banister, David Ferrie, Sergio Arcacha-Smith, Ed Butler and Carlos Bringuier. The key groups that link them are the CRC, the DRE, INCA, La Sambra and Alpha-66, along with Minutemen mercenaries, which operated in the Florida Keys and at Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. Here is where Hemming vaguely recalled meeting both Walker and Oswald.

There were interesting items in your article, Dave -- lots of names and connections that describe an era in USA culture that we should not forget -- partly because some of it still persists as a subculture today. Perhaps the single most interesting item in your article, for me, was Larry Howard's "hearing" about Lee Harvey Oswald in June, 1963 (when Oswald was in New Orleans). I will track that down.

We have Walker connected with Larry Howard at his very home address. I am struggling to find direct connections between Walker and Oswald anytime between April 1963 and November 1963. Of course, Walker loudly denied any such connection. But these rightists associations just might have a clue to break this wide open.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited July 7, 2012 by Paul Trejo