Dept. Chief SS Paul Paterni

[William Kelly]

Testimony of Forrest V. Sorrels

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/sorrels3.htm

Sunday, November 24, 1963

MR. SORRELS. …..I went to a telephone, which is in the jail office there, up against the wall, and called my headquarters office and told Deputy Chief Paterni that Oswald had been shot by a man named Jack Rubin--that is how I understood it at that time who operated a nightclub, and that was all the information I had at that time.

Mr. HUBERT. Now, Mr. Paterni was in Washington?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes.

Mr. HUBERT. That was a long-distance call?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes, sir.

Mr. HUBERT. Do you know what time the call was made, did you use a direct line?

Mr. SORRELS. No; I called it on the security phone, which we use in connection with matters pertaining to the protection of prisoners. In other words, the Signal Corps-(Witness provided telephone number.)

Mr. HUBERT. And you can use that on any telephone?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes.

Mr. HUBERT. Is that a security matter?

Mr. SORRELS. I beg your pardon?

Mr. HUBERT. Is that a security matter, that telephone number?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes--Signal Corps.

Mr. HUBERT. I think the record should show that the witness stated the number that was called, but that we are not going to have it as a part of the record because it is a security matter.

You, Mr. Reporter, will delete the number from the transcript.

Paul J. Paterni – Deputy Chief USSS

The Chief's Office:

1) CHIEF JAMES J. ROWLEY

2) DEPUTY CHIEF PAUL J. PATERNI

Vince Notes: Paternie "member of OSS during WWII- worked with James Angleton

and Ray Rocca (liaison to WC); involved in limousine inspection with Boring,

beating Rowley and Kellerman---and the FBI--- to the punch (skull particles

bullet fragments, vehicle damage/ windshield); involved in LHO income tax

check investigation right after assassination; checked on CIA connection

of suspects Mosley and Homer Echevarria for the Chicago field office-

matter was summarily dropped by a call from headquarters telling the field office

agents who spoke to Paterni to send all memos, files, and notebooks

to D.C. and not to discuss the case with anyone!; Thomas Kelley-

liaison to WC: assigned by Paterni to go to Dallas and speak to LHO

[5H67; 7H354,403;13H65]"

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/palamara/ssrosters.html

…Boring initially claimed to the ARRB in 1996 that his activities on 11/22/63 "

were limited to going directly from his home to Andrews AFB to meet the (new)

President -and that he escorted President Johnson on his helicopter from Andrews

to the White House, after which he went directly home." ……Shortly after this took

place, Boring made his way back to the White House garage where the Presidential

limousine was being held for his inspection, where upon bullet fragments, allegedly

linked to Oswald's rifle, and skull fragments were fortuitously "discovered" by the agent,

with the assistance of Deputy Chief Paul Paterni and, to a certain extent, Agent

Kinney.

Interestingly, on the Air Force One radio tapes (in the author's collection),

ASAIC Kellerman, while aboard AF1, tells SAIC Behn at the White House:

"I'm sure the Volunteer boys [V.P. LBJ's agents] will go over his [JFK's] car

and so forth."

The ARRB wrote, regarding their interview of Boring in 1996: "When asked who directed he and Paterni to search the automobiles, he said that no one had; he said he thought it might be a good idea and had suggested it himself to Paterni, and that they undertook this search as independent action on their own initiative…[emphasis added]" After independently recalling that they had searched the cars, Mr. Boring said that he had discovered a piece of skull bone with brain attached in the rear of the follow-up car (the black Cadillac convertible called the "Queen Mary"), in the footwell just in front of the back seat bench. He said during follow-up questioning that the dimensions of this skull bone-brain fragment were approximately 1" X 2". He said that he never picked it up or touched it himself, but that he simply pointed it out to Mr. Paterni (Mr. Paterni was Deputy Chief of the Secret Service). He said he did not write a report about this, and he did not know whether Mr. Paterni had written a report or not…

Even more important and potentially significant connections relate to another high-up Secret Service official: Deputy Chief Paul J. Paterni, Chief Rowley's direct assistant who, like another deputy, ASAIC (number two man) of the WHD Floyd Boring, was a major behind the- scenes player in regard to the aftermath of the assassination. Paterni was a member of the OSS during WWII and served (in Milan, Italy)with fellow OSS men James Jesus Angleton and Ray Rocca, later liaison to the WC.53

What makes this connection even more alarming is the following: Chief Inspector Michael Torina wrote to me, stating : "Specifically, Paul Paterni (my very good friend) served from late 1930's through mid-1960s"(emphasis added)54 — meaning, Paterni was a member of the OSS at the same time as he was a member of the Secret Service before the OSS was disbanded after 1945. Paterni's plate was full in the immediate aftermath of the assassination:

1) He assigned Inspector Thomas Kelley to go to Dallas to speak to Lee Oswald— Kelley would not only end up talking to Oswald moments before Ruby silenced him forever, but Kelley would also end up, like Rocca, liaison to the WC, only this time for the Secret Service, of course (Kelley would also later testify before the HSCA—this time he was an Assistant Director)55 ;

2) He was involved (with Boring) in the critical limousine inspection at the White House garage the night of the assassination when skull fragments, bullet fragments, and vehicle damage were "noted" hours before the FBI would get their hands on the car (as we know, some skull fragments disappeared, many questions remain regarding the bullet fragments, and the limousine, which was

reported to have had a hole in the windshield, was sent away to be rebuilt).56 Apparently, Paterni (and Boring) beat Chief Rowley and Kellerman to the punch in regard to overseeing this inspection57 ;

3) Paterni was involved in the investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald's income tax check on 11/22/6358 ;

4) Paterni also was involved in matters involving Potential RS and the investigation of threats against JFK (as we know, nothing was found despite three known checks for Dallas, an impossibility)59 ;

5) Paterni checked on the CIA connections of assassination suspects Thomas Mosely and Homer Echevarria for the Chicago field office (Paterni had been SAIC of this office in the 1950s).60 The matter was then summarily dropped by Paterni's headquarters, telling the field office agents ( Noonan and Tucker, former WHD agents) to sendall memos, files, and notebooks to Washington and not to discuss the case with anyone.61

51. see The Third Alternative, p. 41 and 131.

52. see The Fourth Decade, July 1997 issue--article by Don Scott; see also R.

Winks, Cloak and Gown , p. 275.

53. J. Mader, Who's Who in the CIA ; R. Winks, Cloak and Gown, p. 363; B. Hersh, The Old Boys , p. 182.

54. Letter to author dated 12/5/97.

55. 3HSCA357.

56. CD80, pp.2-3; 5H67; 7H354, 403; 13H65; see also The Day Kennedy Was Shot by Jim Bishop (1992 edition), pp. 511-512, 546, 637; Lifton, p.359; the fragment found by Kinney, believed to be the back of JFK's skull, disappeared from the record: see The Third Alternative, pp. 95-96.

57. Manchester, p. 390 (1988 edition); see also The Third Alternative, pp.124-125.

58. Jerry Rose, "The Feds Spring Into Action," The Fourth Decade, May 1996; as Rose asks, "Why [was] Deputy Chief Paterni [willing to] indulge [sorrels] in this curiosity?"

59. 3HSCA340.

60. R.I.F. #180-10074-10079 re: "Lem" Johns: worked under Paterni from 1957-1959.

61. R.I.F.#180-10104-10331; R.I.F. #180-10087-10137; 3HSCA 371, 372-

379. THE CHIEF'S OFFICE:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/palamara.txt

[Thanks Vince]

Edited March 2, 2010 by William Kelly

[Doug Weldon]

Testimony of Forrest V. Sorrels

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/sorrels3.htm

Sunday, November 24, 1963

MR. SORRELS. …..I went to a telephone, which is in the jail office there, up against the wall, and called my headquarters office and told Deputy Chief Paterni that Oswald had been shot by a man named Jack Rubin--that is how I understood it at that time who operated a nightclub, and that was all the information I had at that time.

Mr. HUBERT. Now, Mr. Paterni was in Washington?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes.

Mr. HUBERT. That was a long-distance call?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes, sir.

Mr. HUBERT. Do you know what time the call was made, did you use a direct line?

Mr. SORRELS. No; I called it on the security phone, which we use in connection with matters pertaining to the protection of prisoners. In other words, the Signal Corps-(Witness provided telephone number.)

Mr. HUBERT. And you can use that on any telephone?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes.

Mr. HUBERT. Is that a security matter?

Mr. SORRELS. I beg your pardon?

Mr. HUBERT. Is that a security matter, that telephone number?

Mr. SORRELS. Yes--Signal Corps.

Mr. HUBERT. I think the record should show that the witness stated the number that was called, but that we are not going to have it as a part of the record because it is a security matter.

You, Mr. Reporter, will delete the number from the transcript.

Paul J. Paterni – Deputy Chief USSS

The Chief's Office:

1) CHIEF JAMES J. ROWLEY

2) DEPUTY CHIEF PAUL J. PATERNI

Vince Notes: Paternie "member of OSS during WWII- worked with James Angleton

and Ray Rocca (liaison to WC); involved in limousine inspection with Boring,

beating Rowley and Kellerman---and the FBI--- to the punch (skull particles

bullet fragments, vehicle damage/ windshield); involved in LHO income tax

check investigation right after assassination; checked on CIA connection

of suspects Mosley and Homer Echevarria for the Chicago field office-

matter was summarily dropped by a call from headquarters telling the field office

agents who spoke to Paterni to send all memos, files, and notebooks

to D.C. and not to discuss the case with anyone!; Thomas Kelley-

liaison to WC: assigned by Paterni to go to Dallas and speak to LHO

[5H67; 7H354,403;13H65]"

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/palamara/ssrosters.html

…Boring initially claimed to the ARRB in 1996 that his activities on 11/22/63 "

were limited to going directly from his home to Andrews AFB to meet the (new)

President -and that he escorted President Johnson on his helicopter from Andrews

to the White House, after which he went directly home." ……Shortly after this took

place, Boring made his way back to the White House garage where the Presidential

limousine was being held for his inspection, where upon bullet fragments, allegedly

linked to Oswald's rifle, and skull fragments were fortuitously "discovered" by the agent,

with the assistance of Deputy Chief Paul Paterni and, to a certain extent, Agent

Kinney.

Interestingly, on the Air Force One radio tapes (in the author's collection),

ASAIC Kellerman, while aboard AF1, tells SAIC Behn at the White House:

"I'm sure the Volunteer boys [V.P. LBJ's agents] will go over his [JFK's] car

and so forth."

The ARRB wrote, regarding their interview of Boring in 1996: "When asked who directed he and Paterni to search the automobiles, he said that no one had; he said he thought it might be a good idea and had suggested it himself to Paterni, and that they undertook this search as independent action on their own initiative…[emphasis added]" After independently recalling that they had searched the cars, Mr. Boring said that he had discovered a piece of skull bone with brain attached in the rear of the follow-up car (the black Cadillac convertible called the "Queen Mary"), in the footwell just in front of the back seat bench. He said during follow-up questioning that the dimensions of this skull bone-brain fragment were approximately 1" X 2". He said that he never picked it up or touched it himself, but that he simply pointed it out to Mr. Paterni (Mr. Paterni was Deputy Chief of the Secret Service). He said he did not write a report about this, and he did not know whether Mr. Paterni had written a report or not…

Even more important and potentially significant connections relate to another high-up Secret Service official: Deputy Chief Paul J. Paterni, Chief Rowley's direct assistant who, like another deputy, ASAIC (number two man) of the WHD Floyd Boring, was a major behind the- scenes player in regard to the aftermath of the assassination. Paterni was a member of the OSS during WWII and served (in Milan, Italy)with fellow OSS men James Jesus Angleton and Ray Rocca, later liaison to the WC.53

What makes this connection even more alarming is the following: Chief Inspector Michael Torina wrote to me, stating : "Specifically, Paul Paterni (my very good friend) served from late 1930's through mid-1960s"(emphasis added)54 — meaning, Paterni was a member of the OSS at the same time as he was a member of the Secret Service before the OSS was disbanded after 1945. Paterni's plate was full in the immediate aftermath of the assassination:

1) He assigned Inspector Thomas Kelley to go to Dallas to speak to Lee Oswald— Kelley would not only end up talking to Oswald moments before Ruby silenced him forever, but Kelley would also end up, like Rocca, liaison to the WC, only this time for the Secret Service, of course (Kelley would also later testify before the HSCA—this time he was an Assistant Director)55 ;

2) He was involved (with Boring) in the critical limousine inspection at the White House garage the night of the assassination when skull fragments, bullet fragments, and vehicle damage were "noted" hours before the FBI would get their hands on the car (as we know, some skull fragments disappeared, many questions remain regarding the bullet fragments, and the limousine, which was

reported to have had a hole in the windshield, was sent away to be rebuilt).56 Apparently, Paterni (and Boring) beat Chief Rowley and Kellerman to the punch in regard to overseeing this inspection57 ;

3) Paterni was involved in the investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald's income tax check on 11/22/6358 ;

4) Paterni also was involved in matters involving Potential RS and the investigation of threats against JFK (as we know, nothing was found despite three known checks for Dallas, an impossibility)59 ;

5) Paterni checked on the CIA connections of assassination suspects Thomas Mosely and Homer Echevarria for the Chicago field office (Paterni had been SAIC of this office in the 1950s).60 The matter was then summarily dropped by Paterni's headquarters, telling the field office agents ( Noonan and Tucker, former WHD agents) to sendall memos, files, and notebooks to Washington and not to discuss the case with anyone.61

51. see The Third Alternative, p. 41 and 131.

52. see The Fourth Decade, July 1997 issue--article by Don Scott; see also R.

Winks, Cloak and Gown , p. 275.

53. J. Mader, Who's Who in the CIA ; R. Winks, Cloak and Gown, p. 363; B. Hersh, The Old Boys , p. 182.

54. Letter to author dated 12/5/97.

55. 3HSCA357.

56. CD80, pp.2-3; 5H67; 7H354, 403; 13H65; see also The Day Kennedy Was Shot by Jim Bishop (1992 edition), pp. 511-512, 546, 637; Lifton, p.359; the fragment found by Kinney, believed to be the back of JFK's skull, disappeared from the record: see The Third Alternative, pp. 95-96.

57. Manchester, p. 390 (1988 edition); see also The Third Alternative, pp.124-125.

58. Jerry Rose, "The Feds Spring Into Action," The Fourth Decade, May 1996; as Rose asks, "Why [was] Deputy Chief Paterni [willing to] indulge [sorrels] in this curiosity?"

59. 3HSCA340.

60. R.I.F. #180-10074-10079 re: "Lem" Johns: worked under Paterni from 1957-1959.

61. R.I.F.#180-10104-10331; R.I.F. #180-10087-10137; 3HSCA 371, 372-

379. THE CHIEF'S OFFICE:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/palamara.txt

[Thanks Vince]

Thanks for posting this.

Doug Weldon

[William Kelly]

Fourth Decade, Volume 3, Issue 4

Current Section: The Feds Spring Into Action, by Jerry D. Rose

In this article Jerry Rose calls attention to the fact that Dept. Chief of SS Paul Paterni, is trying to locate a tax refund check made out to Lee and Marina Oswald, and finds it at 1:30 AM in the morning of Nov. 23rd. Why? he wants to know, was this so important, and how did agent Sorrels in Dallas know about this check?

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=13

In a previous article, Rose examines the checks, which were at first used to identify Oswald's signature, but Rose finds some interesting anaomilies in these checks.

Besides the tax refund, cashed at the Liquor Mart near Jaggers-Chiles-Stoval, there is Oswald's last check from JCS, dated April 10, the day Oswald is accused of taking a pot shot at Gen. Walker.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...mp;relPageId=16

What was Paterni on to when he went after the tax refund check?

Jerry Rose suspects it was early in the framing of Oswald.

Edited March 2, 2010 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

Hey Doug,

Glad somebody's following this too.

As someone who interviewed some of the people on the DC end,

do you know the exact location of the SS garage in 1963? What

street it was on? -thanks.

Thanks also to Vince Palamara for calling attention to Paul Paterni,

who indeed is an interesting character. Does anyone have anyting

on Paterni working with Angleton and Ray Rocca in OSS in Italy?

And

I had left out this passage:

Author Jim Bishop wrote: "Deputy Chief Paul Paterni of the

Secret Service and Floyd Boring, assistant agent-in-charge

of the White House detail, were on the other side of the street

in front of Blackie's Beef House, waiting for a traffic light

before crossing. They wanted to see this automobile at once.

With them were Chief Petty Officers William Martinell and

Thomas Mills of the White House medical staff."

56. CD80, pp.2-3; 5H67; 7H354, 403; 13H65; see also

The Day Kennedy Was Shot by Jim Bishop (1992 edition),

pp. 511-512, 546, 637;

Thanks to anyone with Bishop's book who can check those pages

and see if Bishop says anything more about Paterni

or Blackie's House of Beef?

At the time of the assassination, Desmond FitzGerald and Sam

Halpern, both in the loop on the Contingency Plans for a Coup in

Cuba, were having lunch at a private club.

Was Paterni in charge at SS, and was he at the White House Situation

Room at the time of assassination or was that his battle station?

There is also references to the Secret Service having a luncheon,

possibly a retirement dinner or something like that, on the weekend

of the assassination.

Were Paterni and Boring and the two WHMC corpsmen having

dinner at Blacke's House of Beef when they left to check out the

limo at the Secret Service garage?

Or was the SS garage near Blackie's House of Beef?

Can anyone give me a location of the SS garage in 1963?

I visited the SS garage with Phil Melanson when he was writting his book on

the SS, and I've been to Blackie's House of Beef, and they aren't in the same

neighborhoods.

More on Blackie's to come.

BK