Fred Black Jr.

[John Simkin]

James DiEugenio, review of Larry Hancock's Someone Would Have Talked (March, 2008)

http://www.ctka.net/someone_would.html

The above production flaws accentuate the tilt in the book that I noted earlier. Although it's a bit difficult to discern, the conspiracy I see Hancock postulating here is a kind of rogue, loosely knit, willy-nilly operation. A set of Cubans is at the bottom committing the crime (he points toward Felipe Vidal Santiago). The supervisor of this plot is Roselli, who Hancock terms the "strategist". Since Roselli has connections to the CIA, the implication is this is where Phillips and Morales come in. To top the machinations as depicted by Hancock -- and in a rather original stroke -- he brings in Roselli's friend and super Washington lobbyist Fred Black. He says Black is the guy who saw President Johnson right after he took office and had some blackmail material on him and this is why LBJ went along with the cover-up.

Where does this information appear to come from? Newly declassified ARRB files perhaps? Nope. It's from another rather questionable book that the author uses. This is Wheeling and Dealing, by the infamous Bobby Baker. Now again, to go into all the problems with using a book like this and with someone like Baker would take a separate essay in itself. Suffice it to say, Baker had such a low reputation and was involved with so many unsavory characters and activities that RFK pressed then Vice-President Johnson to get rid of him before the 1964 election. The Attorney General was worried some of these activities would explode into the press and endanger the campaign. Liking the protection his position with Johnson gave him, Baker resisted. He then fought back. One of the ways he fought back was by planting rumors about President Kennedy and a woman named Ellen Rometsch. The resultant hubbub, with daggers and accusations flying about, is the kind of thing that authors like Seymour Hersh and Burton Hersh make hay of in their trashy books. (I didn't think it was possible, but Burton Hersh's book Bobby and J. Edgar is even more awful than The Dark Side of Camelot. It is such an atrocity, I couldn't even finish it.) Suffice it to say, Baker was forced out in October of 1963. Researcher Peter Vea has seen the original FBI reports commissioned by Hoover about Rometsch and he says there is nothing of substance in them about her and JFK. I am a bit surprised that Hancock would try and pin the JFK cover-up on information furnished by the likes of Baker and Black.

This is all the more surprising since the author includes material from John Newman's latest discoveries about Oswald, James Angleton, the CIA and Mexico City. To me this new ARRB released evidence provides a much more demonstrable and credible thesis as to just how and why Johnson decided to actively involve himself in the cover-up.

To make his Black/Baker theorem tenable on the page, Hancock leaves out or severely curtails some rather important and compelling evidence. In 1996, Probe published a milestone article by Professor Donald Gibson entitled "The Creation of the Warren Commission" (Vol. 3 No. 4 p. 8). It was, and still is, the definitive account of how the Warren Commission came into being. And it was used and sourced by Gerald McKnight in the best study of the Warren Commission we have to date, Breach of Trust, published in 2005. According to this evidence declassified by the ARRB, there were three men involved in pushing the concept of the Warren Commission onto the Johnson White House. They were Eugene Rostow, Dean Acheson, and Joseph Alsop. (There is a fourth person who Rostow alluded to but didn't name in his call to Bill Moyers on 11/24. Ibid p. 27) This trio sprung into action right after Oswald was shot by Ruby. And they began to instantly lobby Moyers, Walter Jenkins, Nick Katzenbach, and President Johnson to create what eventually became the Warren Commission. To say that Hancock gives short shrift to Gibson's seminal account is a huge understatement. He radically truncates the absolutely crucial and stunning phone call between LBJ and Alsop of 11/25. One has to read this transcript to understand just how important it is and just how intent and forceful Alsop is in getting Johnson to do what he wants him to. (The Assassinations pgs. 10-15.) By almost eviscerating it, Hancock leaves the impression that it is actually Johnson who was pushing for the creation of a blue ribbon national committee and not Alsop! (Hancock pgs 327-328) I don't see how any objective person can read the longer excerpts and come to that conclusion. So when Hancock states (p. 322) categorically that "President Johnson was the driving force in determining and controlling exactly how the murder of President Kennedy was investigated," I am utterly baffled at how and why he can write this. The sterling work of both Gibson and McKnight show that this is a wild and irresponsible exaggeration.

[Larry Hancock]

James DiEugenio, review of Larry Hancock's Someone Would Have Talked (March, 2008)

http://www.ctka.net/someone_would.html

The above production flaws accentuate the tilt in the book that I noted earlier. Although it's a bit difficult to discern, the conspiracy I see Hancock postulating here is a kind of rogue, loosely knit, willy-nilly operation. A set of Cubans is at the bottom committing the crime (he points toward Felipe Vidal Santiago). The supervisor of this plot is Roselli, who Hancock terms the "strategist". Since Roselli has connections to the CIA, the implication is this is where Phillips and Morales come in. To top the machinations as depicted by Hancock -- and in a rather original stroke -- he brings in Roselli's friend and super Washington lobbyist Fred Black. He says Black is the guy who saw President Johnson right after he took office and had some blackmail material on him and this is why LBJ went along with the cover-up.

Where does this information appear to come from? Newly declassified ARRB files perhaps? Nope. It's from another rather questionable book that the author uses. This is Wheeling and Dealing, by the infamous Bobby Baker. Now again, to go into all the problems with using a book like this and with someone like Baker would take a separate essay in itself. Suffice it to say, Baker had such a low reputation and was involved with so many unsavory characters and activities that RFK pressed then Vice-President Johnson to get rid of him before the 1964 election. The Attorney General was worried some of these activities would explode into the press and endanger the campaign. Liking the protection his position with Johnson gave him, Baker resisted. He then fought back. One of the ways he fought back was by planting rumors about President Kennedy and a woman named Ellen Rometsch. The resultant hubbub, with daggers and accusations flying about, is the kind of thing that authors like Seymour Hersh and Burton Hersh make hay of in their trashy books. (I didn't think it was possible, but Burton Hersh's book Bobby and J. Edgar is even more awful than The Dark Side of Camelot. It is such an atrocity, I couldn't even finish it.) Suffice it to say, Baker was forced out in October of 1963. Researcher Peter Vea has seen the original FBI reports commissioned by Hoover about Rometsch and he says there is nothing of substance in them about her and JFK. I am a bit surprised that Hancock would try and pin the JFK cover-up on information furnished by the likes of Baker and Black.

This is all the more surprising since the author includes material from John Newman's latest discoveries about Oswald, James Angleton, the CIA and Mexico City. To me this new ARRB released evidence provides a much more demonstrable and credible thesis as to just how and why Johnson decided to actively involve himself in the cover-up.

To make his Black/Baker theorem tenable on the page, Hancock leaves out or severely curtails some rather important and compelling evidence. In 1996, Probe published a milestone article by Professor Donald Gibson entitled "The Creation of the Warren Commission" (Vol. 3 No. 4 p. 8). It was, and still is, the definitive account of how the Warren Commission came into being. And it was used and sourced by Gerald McKnight in the best study of the Warren Commission we have to date, Breach of Trust, published in 2005. According to this evidence declassified by the ARRB, there were three men involved in pushing the concept of the Warren Commission onto the Johnson White House. They were Eugene Rostow, Dean Acheson, and Joseph Alsop. (There is a fourth person who Rostow alluded to but didn't name in his call to Bill Moyers on 11/24. Ibid p. 27) This trio sprung into action right after Oswald was shot by Ruby. And they began to instantly lobby Moyers, Walter Jenkins, Nick Katzenbach, and President Johnson to create what eventually became the Warren Commission. To say that Hancock gives short shrift to Gibson's seminal account is a huge understatement. He radically truncates the absolutely crucial and stunning phone call between LBJ and Alsop of 11/25. One has to read this transcript to understand just how important it is and just how intent and forceful Alsop is in getting Johnson to do what he wants him to. (The Assassinations pgs. 10-15.) By almost eviscerating it, Hancock leaves the impression that it is actually Johnson who was pushing for the creation of a blue ribbon national committee and not Alsop! (Hancock pgs 327-328) I don't see how any objective person can read the longer excerpts and come to that conclusion. So when Hancock states (p. 322) categorically that "President Johnson was the driving force in determining and controlling exactly how the murder of President Kennedy was investigated," I am utterly baffled at how and why he can write this. The sterling work of both Gibson and McKnight show that this is a wild and irresponsible exaggeration.

From what we now know of his phone calls, contacts and activities immediately following the assassination (starting with the calls that night from Johnson’s aide to a variety of law enforcement people, including orders not to file any charge of conspiracy against Oswald) it seems to me that Johnson immediately began to suppress any suggestion of a conspiracy. His motive for doing that is debatable and I present two scenarios: i) that Johnson was manipulated by events and ii) that Johnson had some level of pre-knowledge and was a willing or at least partially willing participant.

For the second, speculative, scenario which does mention Fred Black, I use sources other than Baker’s book on the Baker scandal (certainly I would not consider him a reliable source on his own sins. More importantly, I discovered and present independent documentation of a possible connection between the Baker scandal, Fred Black and Johnson. That documentation is in the form of a Presidential Diary entry showing a meeting between Baker, Black, Johnson and a senior officer of the firm that was at the heart of the Baker influence pedaling scandal – the meeting occurred in Vice President Johnson’s office and there is no question that it connected Johnson to Black and presented the possibility of blackmail if the matter had been discussed with Black’s close personal friend, Johnny Roselli.

I present Johnson’s efforts to first simply accept the Hoover FBI report with no independent investigation at all. Then I describe his effort to convene a Texas Court of Inquiry which would certify the FBI report. Both those efforts occurred well before Johnson was forced into the concept of a Congressional committee and much of it is recorded in meetings and telephone calls in his own office diary. Johnson, in dialog with Hoover, was certainly responsible for the FBI’s marching orders but I will certainly revisit the wording in this area and see if I can improve it. My view is that Johnson was very heavily involved in ensuring that the “lone nut” view was presented to the American public and that the FBI “conclusion” of Oswald acting as the sole participant ended up as the official history of the murder.. It was inaccurate of me to suggest that he personally controlled all the elements of the investigation.

[Guest Tom Scully]

With threads titled "Walter Jenkins" and "Nancy Carole Taylor" displayed on this forum's front page in the last 12 hours, I was inspired to do a little digging; resulting in 3 items I found interesting enough to post for your reactions.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/25/us/fred-...-s-scandal.html

Fred B. Black, 80; Lobbyist Was Part Of 1960's Scandal

By BRUCE LAMBERT

Published: Monday, January 25, 1993

Fred B. Black Jr., an aerospace lobbyist who became ensnared in a political scandal in the early 1960's, died Friday at a nursing home in Wheaton, Md. He was 80 and lived in Bethesda, Md.

He died of heart failure, his family said.

Mr. Black was widely known in Washington as a friend of politicians in his role as a consultant for military contractors in the post-World War II arms and space races.

His downfall stemmed from his secret partnership with Robert G. Baker in the Serv-U Corporation, a vending machine business. Mr. Baker was Secretary of the Senate and a longtime aide to Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1963 a rival vending company's lawsuit against Serv-U disclosed the Baker-Black partnership. That prompted a Senate investigation into Mr. Baker's dealings with a lobbyist, and both men were also prosecuted on charges of income tax evasion.

In 1964, Mr. Black was convicted of evading $91,000 in taxes and sentenced to up to four years in prison. The conviction was later overturned, and Mr. Black was acquitted in a second trial.

In 1982, he was prosecuted on charges involving a scheme to launder more than $1 million in Colombian cocaine money. He served seven years in prison.

Mr. Black was born in Webb City, Mo., and grew up in nearby Carterville. He went to Washington as an acquaintance of Harry S. Truman, then a Senator from Missouri.

His marriage to the former Nina Lunn ended in divorce. He is survived by....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OakRA...caine&hl=en

http://books.google.com/books?q=Hessler%2C...nG=Search+Books

Tax evasion, drug trafficking, and money laundering as they involve ...‎ - Page 196

....This needs to be stopped," said US District Judge Thomas F. Ho- gan as he sentenced William G. Hessler,

48, who pleaded guilty last month to not reporting to the Internal Revenue Service a $450000 cash deposit

that prosecutors said represented the proceeds of a cocaine distribution ring that smuggled the drug from Columbia and sold it in the United States.....

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?pz=1&...nge=1989%2C2009

Drug Convictions Upheld

- Washington Post - ProQuest Archiver - Apr 14, 1988

[Fred B. Black Jr.] was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $25000. ... Fred B. Black Jr. and three other men who were part of the largest cocaine ...

http://openjurist.org/846/f2d/1384

846 F2d 1384 United States v. C Tarantino

....Fred B. BLACK, Jr., Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America

As Amended April 12, 1988.

....1. Burns

22

Strickland was introduced to Burns by Black, Tr. 123-29, with whom Burns had had numerous prior dealings. Tr. 5391-93. At their first meeting in Miami, Burns asked Strickland if he was in town to buy cocaine. An extensive discussion of the cocaine trade ensued. Burns stated that he had confidence in Strickland because of their mutual friendship with Black....

.....Burns introduced Strickland to Armando Marulanda, a major Colombian importer. Marulanda offered to sell Strickland ten kilos of cocaine on credit, with a $2,000 per kilo commission to Burns. Marulanda's extension of credit to Strickland was a turning point in Strickland's cocaine trade. Never before had he been able to obtain such large quantities on consignment. Tr. 182-91. Burns thus was essential to the expansion and success of the conspiracy, and he benefitted directly by receiving commissions on each sale by Marulanda to Strickland.

24

Burns apprised Black of these transactions. Tr. 323-34. Strickland's purchases from Marulanda and Marcos Cadavid, an associate of Marulanda's, escalated over the course of the next months, which increased Burns' commissions. Tr. 197-213.

25

Soon after the first transaction, Strickland introduced his partner and co-conspirator, Steve Kupits, to Burns. Strickland stated that he and Kupits were distributing the cocaine "in different parts of the country." Burns responded: "Fine, no problem." Tr. 195-96. Burns knew of and endorsed the nationwide scope of the conspiracy.

26

Burns also was directly involved with the other conspirators. When Ribera, one of Strickland's distributors, took over Strickland's customers in the D.C. area while Strickland took an extended "vacation," Burns dealt directly with Ribera. Under Strickland's prodding, Burns "fronted" cocaine to Ribera, i.e., gave him cocaine on consignment. Burns also supplied Ribera with a courier to transport cocaine to the conspiracy's distributors in California. Tr. 1769-72, 1791. Burns himself directly provided the California conspirators with three kilos of cocaine. Tr. 2223-25. Burns also dealt with the Texas conspirators working with Kupits. Tr. 272-75. There was even evidence linking Burns to Tarantino's plan to launder money by investing it in a Haitian casino, Tr. 472, and Black's plan to launder money through investments in a New Jersey casino (the "Gateway Project"). Tr. 353-55.

....27

....2. Black

30

Strickland met Black after Black indirectly received a $13,000 loan from Strickland. At their first meeting, Strickland informed Black that he was a marijuana dealer, upon which Black suggested that Strickland meet Burns (who later proved to be a major cocaine broker). Tr. 128. Black urged Strickland to transform the loan into an investment in Black's Gateway Project, and to increase the amount of the investment to $70,000. Black also stated he could help Strickland "clean up" his money, that is to say, to disguise its illegal source. Tr. 129-30. Strickland soon invested a total of $140,000 in the Gateway Project, all of it in cash. Tr. 5025-26. Later, Black asked Strickland to "come out of retirement" to generate an additional $800,000, and a further cash payment by Strickland of $500,000 followed shortly. Tr. 362-69.

31

Black claims that he was unaware of the illicit source of Strickland's funds. Brief for Black at 24-28. The jury was entitled to infer, however, that Black was well aware that Strickland's investment represented his cocaine profits: according to Strickland's testimony, (1) Black knew from the first that Strickland was involved in the drug trade; (2) Black introduced Strickland to Burns, a major cocaine broker; (3) Black knew of the developing relationship between Strickland and Burns (Black told Strickland he had heard from Burns that "things are going well with you two" (Tr. 323-24)); (4) Black touted the Gateway Project as a good way for Strickland to "clean up" his money (Tr. 129-30); (5) Strickland provided huge sums of cash to Black (Tr. 362-69), a fact that should have at least aroused suspicion (cf. United States v. Nicholson, 677 F.2d 706, 709 (9th Cir.1982), holding that large cash transactions without documentation, combined with refusal to describe investment, established sufficient circumstantial evidence to infer conspiracy); and (6) Black twice arranged for attorneys to represent conspirators arrested on cocaine charges (Tr. 668-69, 672).

32

Black was also involved in a series of financial transactions that the jury was entitled to conclude were "washes." Black offered to issue a check for cash provided by Strickland in order to permit Strickland to show a legitimate source of income. Black twice issued a Dunbar Corporation check for $3,000 in exchange for $3,000 cash (proceeds of cocaine sales) provided by Strickland. Tr. 338-43. Black also washed $60,000 to permit the financing of a land development project of Strickland, Kupits, and Maddux. Tr. 343-48.

33

Two final pieces of evidence are decisive in establishing Black's involvement in the conspiracy, if credited by the jury. First, in 1980, Black asked Strickland if he was still dealing in drugs. Strickland said he was not, because of a capital shortage. Black offered to arrange the necessary financing. Tr. 426-28. Second, in 1981, Black asked Strickland whether the Texas federal grand jury's investigation centered on the land development plan only, or if it also concerned the drug network. Because of the two $60,000 washes he provided in connection with that project, he feared he might be indicted. Tr. 397-403....

....3. Tarantino

...Tarantino's second level of involvement was his role in attempting to launder the proceeds of the conspiracy's cocaine sales. Strickland first met Tarantino in connection with Black's casino project (the Gateway Project; see supra at 1395). At first, Strickland concealed from Tarantino the source of the funds he was investing in the Gateway Project. But when Tarantino met Strickland in Las Vegas in 1980, he told Strickland he was aware that Strickland and Burns had been selling drugs. He thanked Strickland for his help in supporting the Gateway Project, and later advised him to make further investments in the casino. Tr. 437-38, 1208, 375-76. At a subsequent meeting in New Jersey concerning the Gateway Project, Tarantino introduced Strickland to Croughn as a man who could "sell a lot of coke." Tr. 438-40. Tarantino at least knew of, and arguably urged and facilitated Strickland's investment in the Gateway venture. Given Tarantino's knowledge of the nature of Strickland's business, he also would have known that Strickland's investments in Gateway were made to clean up his money. Tarantino knew of and condoned this aspect of the conspiracy's goals.

41

Tarantino managed a separate casino project in Haiti. He encouraged Strickland to invest in this project as well and credited the proceeds of Strickland's sales to Croughn to the Haitian project. Tr. 470, 475-77. Strickland invested $300,000 in the Haitian project, thinking it a good laundering device. Tr. 470-71.

42

Tarantino was familiar with other major players in the conspiracy. He knew Black through the Gateway Project. Tr. 434-36. He was acquainted with Bell, and was working with him on a separate investment project. Tr. 538-538A. Tarantino and Kohn, the conspiracy's bookkeeper, also had extensive discussions concerning the Haitian and other potential investment projects. Tr. 521, 3302-10....

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/03/us/willi...conviction.html

William Bittman, 69; Won Hoffa Conviction

By DAVID STOUT

Published: Saturday, March 3, 2001

William O. Bittman, who won a conviction against the Teamsters leader James R. Hoffa as a young federal prosecutor and became one of Washington's best-known lawyers, died on Thursday at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 69.

The cause was cancer of the esophagus, said his son Robert J. Bittman, who was a deputy to the independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

William Bittman was a 32-year-old assistant attorney general when he prosecuted Mr. Hoffa on fraud and conspiracy charges in 1964, and the case helped to propel Mr. Bittman into the front rank of Washington lawyers.

Mr. Bittman also secured a conviction of Robert G. Baker, the onetime Senate aide, on tax charges. After Mr. Bittman became a defense lawyer, he represented the Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt and won an acquittal of Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan....

.... In any event, Mr. Donovan was vindicated.

But the case that made Mr. Bittman's career was the one against Mr. Hoffa, and he was surprised when he got it.

The charges against Mr. Hoffa and six other defendants -- that they had arranged millions in fraudulent loans from the union's pension fund and diverted some of it for their own use -- were based on five years of research by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The documents filled 50 filing cases in the United States attorney's office in Chicago, where the trial was held.

Five days after the trial began, the chief prosecutor became seriously ill and had to withdraw. Mr. Bittman replaced him and had to immerse himself in a sea of information. Twelve weeks and 120 witnesses later he was victorious, winning praise from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. (Mr. Hoffa, who had also been convicted in a separate jury-tampering case, was sentenced to five years for pension fraud.)

Early in 1967, Mr. Bittman won a conviction of Bobby Baker, the former secretary to Senate Democrats who was accused of using his connections to bilk savings and loan executives out of $100,000 and of conspiring with associates to avoid taxes.

Mr. Bittman's role as the first defense counsel for Mr. Hunt, one of the Watergate defendants, threatened his career for a time. Prosecutors accused him of wrongly concealing a copy of a memorandum written by Mr. Hunt to White House aides, reminding them of a supposed commitment to provide money and eventual pardons to low-level Watergate suspects in return for silence about the role of more prominent figures.

Mr. Bittman said that he had copied the memorandum for his own protection and that he believed it to be protected by the lawyer-client relationship. After a review, prosecutors said they had insufficient grounds to proceed against him....

....Mr. Bittman changed law firms after representing E. Howard Hunt. He had been a partner since 1974 in Pierson, Ball & Dowd, which merged with the Washington firm of Reed Smith in 1989.

Mr. Bittman's prosecution of Bobby Baker had a lasting effect, Robert Bittman recalled. Mr. Baker's lawyer was Edward Bennett Williams, who had represented many high-profile defendants and did not lose often.

After losing the Baker case, Mr. Williams was decidedly cool to Mr. Bittman, Robert Bittman recalled yesterday. This made for some awkwardness, since Mr. Williams happened to live across the street from the Bittmans at the time.

''My dad didn't dislike Ed Williams,'' Robert Bittman said. ''Ed Williams disliked my dad.''

[Guest Tom Scully]

Another interesting coincidence I was not aware of, prior to reading this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Mar12.html

Socialite Nina Lunn Black Dies

By Louie Estrada

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page C11

Nina Lunn Black, 80, a Washington socialite who as a honey-blond beauty in the 1940s had a short-lived movie career, died of congestive heart failure March 1 at her home in Washington..

....Before too long, Ms. Black, who was born in Wheeling, W.Va., returned to Washington, where she had been raised in a politically connected family. Her grandfather was Wallace H. White Jr. (R-Maine), a former Senate majority leader.

Regarded by her intimates as charming, witty and beguiling with an effervescent personality, she gained a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s as a colorful host and guest in Washington's clubby dinner-party circuit.

She frequently appeared at embassy galas, and often held parties in her home.

In the early 1960s, she lived across the street from then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Spring Valley neighborhood. ...

....Her third husband, Fred B. Black Jr., whom she married in 1954, was a prominent Washington lobbyist. They would divorce, then remarry and divorce again before he was convicted in 1985 of income tax evasion.

Ms. Black lived in Palm Beach, Fla., in the 1970s and in Scottsdale, Ariz., for about eight years until returning to Washington in 1992. ....

Cozy....small town dynamic, super power actors during a time of cold war against an overhyped communist threat.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,939326,00.html

The Home: Ormes & the Man

Friday, Nov. 17, 1961

For 18 years Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, though millionaire ranch owners back in Texas, put up, when in the capital, in a modest, nondescript house on the edge of Rock Creek Park. The house would do for a Texas Senator, but they could entertain only six or eight people at a time, and as their daughters, Lynda Bird (now 17) and Lucy Baines (14), grew up, the need for more room and closet space for all the L.B.J.s in the family became critical. And, as Vice President of the U.S., Lyndon felt the need of something a little more impressive.

Lady Bird Johnson now has something impressive: a twelve-room, French château-style house in Washington's Spring Valley section. Its previous owner, party-giving Perle Mesta, grandly dubbed it Les Ormes (The Elms), decorated it with all kinds of French furniture, tapestries and bric-a-brac. The Washington word was that Perle had been asking $200,000. The Johnsons paid something closer to $160,000, and Englished its name to The Elms......

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituari...hter_socialite/

Virginia Warren Daly, 80, justice's daughter, socialite

By Patricia Sullivan

Washington Post / March 10, 2009

....Renowned Washington hostess Perle Mesta described Mrs. Daly in 1956 as "a charming and lovely American girl" in an effort to arrange a romance for her with Prince Napoleon Murat, a descendant of the French emperor.....

Edited November 22, 2009 by Tom Scully

[John Simkin]

With threads titled "Walter Jenkins" and "Nancy Carole Taylor" displayed on this forum's front page in the last 12 hours, I was inspired to do a little digging; resulting in 3 items I found interesting enough to post for your reactions.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/25/us/fred-...-s-scandal.html

Fred B. Black, 80; Lobbyist Was Part Of 1960's Scandal

By BRUCE LAMBERT

Published: Monday, January 25, 1993

Fred B. Black Jr., an aerospace lobbyist who became ensnared in a political scandal in the early 1960's, died Friday at a nursing home in Wheaton, Md. He was 80 and lived in Bethesda, Md.

He died of heart failure, his family said.

Mr. Black was widely known in Washington as a friend of politicians in his role as a consultant for military contractors in the post-World War II arms and space races.

His downfall stemmed from his secret partnership with Robert G. Baker in the Serv-U Corporation, a vending machine business. Mr. Baker was Secretary of the Senate and a longtime aide to Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1963 a rival vending company's lawsuit against Serv-U disclosed the Baker-Black partnership. That prompted a Senate investigation into Mr. Baker's dealings with a lobbyist, and both men were also prosecuted on charges of income tax evasion.

In 1964, Mr. Black was convicted of evading $91,000 in taxes and sentenced to up to four years in prison. The conviction was later overturned, and Mr. Black was acquitted in a second trial.

In 1982, he was prosecuted on charges involving a scheme to launder more than $1 million in Colombian cocaine money. He served seven years in prison.

Mr. Black was born in Webb City, Mo., and grew up in nearby Carterville. He went to Washington as an acquaintance of Harry S. Truman, then a Senator from Missouri.

His marriage to the former Nina Lunn ended in divorce. He is survived by....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OakRA...caine&hl=en

http://books.google.com/books?q=Hessler%2C...nG=Search+Books

Tax evasion, drug trafficking, and money laundering as they involve ...‎ - Page 196

....This needs to be stopped," said US District Judge Thomas F. Ho- gan as he sentenced William G. Hessler,

48, who pleaded guilty last month to not reporting to the Internal Revenue Service a $450000 cash deposit

that prosecutors said represented the proceeds of a cocaine distribution ring that smuggled the drug from Columbia and sold it in the United States.....

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?pz=1&...nge=1989%2C2009

Drug Convictions Upheld

- Washington Post - ProQuest Archiver - Apr 14, 1988

[Fred B. Black Jr.] was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $25000. ... Fred B. Black Jr. and three other men who were part of the largest cocaine ...

http://openjurist.org/846/f2d/1384

846 F2d 1384 United States v. C Tarantino

....Fred B. BLACK, Jr., Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America

As Amended April 12, 1988.

....1. Burns

22

Strickland was introduced to Burns by Black, Tr. 123-29, with whom Burns had had numerous prior dealings. Tr. 5391-93. At their first meeting in Miami, Burns asked Strickland if he was in town to buy cocaine. An extensive discussion of the cocaine trade ensued. Burns stated that he had confidence in Strickland because of their mutual friendship with Black....

.....Burns introduced Strickland to Armando Marulanda, a major Colombian importer. Marulanda offered to sell Strickland ten kilos of cocaine on credit, with a $2,000 per kilo commission to Burns. Marulanda's extension of credit to Strickland was a turning point in Strickland's cocaine trade. Never before had he been able to obtain such large quantities on consignment. Tr. 182-91. Burns thus was essential to the expansion and success of the conspiracy, and he benefitted directly by receiving commissions on each sale by Marulanda to Strickland.

24

Burns apprised Black of these transactions. Tr. 323-34. Strickland's purchases from Marulanda and Marcos Cadavid, an associate of Marulanda's, escalated over the course of the next months, which increased Burns' commissions. Tr. 197-213.

25

Soon after the first transaction, Strickland introduced his partner and co-conspirator, Steve Kupits, to Burns. Strickland stated that he and Kupits were distributing the cocaine "in different parts of the country." Burns responded: "Fine, no problem." Tr. 195-96. Burns knew of and endorsed the nationwide scope of the conspiracy.

26

Burns also was directly involved with the other conspirators. When Ribera, one of Strickland's distributors, took over Strickland's customers in the D.C. area while Strickland took an extended "vacation," Burns dealt directly with Ribera. Under Strickland's prodding, Burns "fronted" cocaine to Ribera, i.e., gave him cocaine on consignment. Burns also supplied Ribera with a courier to transport cocaine to the conspiracy's distributors in California. Tr. 1769-72, 1791. Burns himself directly provided the California conspirators with three kilos of cocaine. Tr. 2223-25. Burns also dealt with the Texas conspirators working with Kupits. Tr. 272-75. There was even evidence linking Burns to Tarantino's plan to launder money by investing it in a Haitian casino, Tr. 472, and Black's plan to launder money through investments in a New Jersey casino (the "Gateway Project"). Tr. 353-55.

....27

....2. Black

30

Strickland met Black after Black indirectly received a $13,000 loan from Strickland. At their first meeting, Strickland informed Black that he was a marijuana dealer, upon which Black suggested that Strickland meet Burns (who later proved to be a major cocaine broker). Tr. 128. Black urged Strickland to transform the loan into an investment in Black's Gateway Project, and to increase the amount of the investment to $70,000. Black also stated he could help Strickland "clean up" his money, that is to say, to disguise its illegal source. Tr. 129-30. Strickland soon invested a total of $140,000 in the Gateway Project, all of it in cash. Tr. 5025-26. Later, Black asked Strickland to "come out of retirement" to generate an additional $800,000, and a further cash payment by Strickland of $500,000 followed shortly. Tr. 362-69.

31

Black claims that he was unaware of the illicit source of Strickland's funds. Brief for Black at 24-28. The jury was entitled to infer, however, that Black was well aware that Strickland's investment represented his cocaine profits: according to Strickland's testimony, (1) Black knew from the first that Strickland was involved in the drug trade; (2) Black introduced Strickland to Burns, a major cocaine broker; (3) Black knew of the developing relationship between Strickland and Burns (Black told Strickland he had heard from Burns that "things are going well with you two" (Tr. 323-24)); (4) Black touted the Gateway Project as a good way for Strickland to "clean up" his money (Tr. 129-30); (5) Strickland provided huge sums of cash to Black (Tr. 362-69), a fact that should have at least aroused suspicion (cf. United States v. Nicholson, 677 F.2d 706, 709 (9th Cir.1982), holding that large cash transactions without documentation, combined with refusal to describe investment, established sufficient circumstantial evidence to infer conspiracy); and (6) Black twice arranged for attorneys to represent conspirators arrested on cocaine charges (Tr. 668-69, 672).

32

Black was also involved in a series of financial transactions that the jury was entitled to conclude were "washes." Black offered to issue a check for cash provided by Strickland in order to permit Strickland to show a legitimate source of income. Black twice issued a Dunbar Corporation check for $3,000 in exchange for $3,000 cash (proceeds of cocaine sales) provided by Strickland. Tr. 338-43. Black also washed $60,000 to permit the financing of a land development project of Strickland, Kupits, and Maddux. Tr. 343-48.

33

Two final pieces of evidence are decisive in establishing Black's involvement in the conspiracy, if credited by the jury. First, in 1980, Black asked Strickland if he was still dealing in drugs. Strickland said he was not, because of a capital shortage. Black offered to arrange the necessary financing. Tr. 426-28. Second, in 1981, Black asked Strickland whether the Texas federal grand jury's investigation centered on the land development plan only, or if it also concerned the drug network. Because of the two $60,000 washes he provided in connection with that project, he feared he might be indicted. Tr. 397-403....

....3. Tarantino

...Tarantino's second level of involvement was his role in attempting to launder the proceeds of the conspiracy's cocaine sales. Strickland first met Tarantino in connection with Black's casino project (the Gateway Project; see supra at 1395). At first, Strickland concealed from Tarantino the source of the funds he was investing in the Gateway Project. But when Tarantino met Strickland in Las Vegas in 1980, he told Strickland he was aware that Strickland and Burns had been selling drugs. He thanked Strickland for his help in supporting the Gateway Project, and later advised him to make further investments in the casino. Tr. 437-38, 1208, 375-76. At a subsequent meeting in New Jersey concerning the Gateway Project, Tarantino introduced Strickland to Croughn as a man who could "sell a lot of coke." Tr. 438-40. Tarantino at least knew of, and arguably urged and facilitated Strickland's investment in the Gateway venture. Given Tarantino's knowledge of the nature of Strickland's business, he also would have known that Strickland's investments in Gateway were made to clean up his money. Tarantino knew of and condoned this aspect of the conspiracy's goals.

41

Tarantino managed a separate casino project in Haiti. He encouraged Strickland to invest in this project as well and credited the proceeds of Strickland's sales to Croughn to the Haitian project. Tr. 470, 475-77. Strickland invested $300,000 in the Haitian project, thinking it a good laundering device. Tr. 470-71.

42

Tarantino was familiar with other major players in the conspiracy. He knew Black through the Gateway Project. Tr. 434-36. He was acquainted with Bell, and was working with him on a separate investment project. Tr. 538-538A. Tarantino and Kohn, the conspiracy's bookkeeper, also had extensive discussions concerning the Haitian and other potential investment projects. Tr. 521, 3302-10....

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/03/us/willi...conviction.html

William Bittman, 69; Won Hoffa Conviction

By DAVID STOUT

Published: Saturday, March 3, 2001

William O. Bittman, who won a conviction against the Teamsters leader James R. Hoffa as a young federal prosecutor and became one of Washington's best-known lawyers, died on Thursday at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 69.

The cause was cancer of the esophagus, said his son Robert J. Bittman, who was a deputy to the independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

William Bittman was a 32-year-old assistant attorney general when he prosecuted Mr. Hoffa on fraud and conspiracy charges in 1964, and the case helped to propel Mr. Bittman into the front rank of Washington lawyers.

Mr. Bittman also secured a conviction of Robert G. Baker, the onetime Senate aide, on tax charges. After Mr. Bittman became a defense lawyer, he represented the Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt and won an acquittal of Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan....

.... In any event, Mr. Donovan was vindicated.

But the case that made Mr. Bittman's career was the one against Mr. Hoffa, and he was surprised when he got it.

The charges against Mr. Hoffa and six other defendants -- that they had arranged millions in fraudulent loans from the union's pension fund and diverted some of it for their own use -- were based on five years of research by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The documents filled 50 filing cases in the United States attorney's office in Chicago, where the trial was held.

Five days after the trial began, the chief prosecutor became seriously ill and had to withdraw. Mr. Bittman replaced him and had to immerse himself in a sea of information. Twelve weeks and 120 witnesses later he was victorious, winning praise from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. (Mr. Hoffa, who had also been convicted in a separate jury-tampering case, was sentenced to five years for pension fraud.)

Early in 1967, Mr. Bittman won a conviction of Bobby Baker, the former secretary to Senate Democrats who was accused of using his connections to bilk savings and loan executives out of $100,000 and of conspiring with associates to avoid taxes.

Mr. Bittman's role as the first defense counsel for Mr. Hunt, one of the Watergate defendants, threatened his career for a time. Prosecutors accused him of wrongly concealing a copy of a memorandum written by Mr. Hunt to White House aides, reminding them of a supposed commitment to provide money and eventual pardons to low-level Watergate suspects in return for silence about the role of more prominent figures.

Mr. Bittman said that he had copied the memorandum for his own protection and that he believed it to be protected by the lawyer-client relationship. After a review, prosecutors said they had insufficient grounds to proceed against him....

....Mr. Bittman changed law firms after representing E. Howard Hunt. He had been a partner since 1974 in Pierson, Ball & Dowd, which merged with the Washington firm of Reed Smith in 1989.

Mr. Bittman's prosecution of Bobby Baker had a lasting effect, Robert Bittman recalled. Mr. Baker's lawyer was Edward Bennett Williams, who had represented many high-profile defendants and did not lose often.

After losing the Baker case, Mr. Williams was decidedly cool to Mr. Bittman, Robert Bittman recalled yesterday. This made for some awkwardness, since Mr. Williams happened to live across the street from the Bittmans at the time.

''My dad didn't dislike Ed Williams,'' Robert Bittman said. ''Ed Williams disliked my dad.''

Tom, thank you very much for posting this. I have added this information to my web page on Black.

[Guest Tom Scully]

Another interesting coincidence I was not aware of, prior to reading this:

http://www.washingto...-2005Mar12.html

Socialite Nina Lunn Black Dies

By Louie Estrada

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page C11

Nina Lunn Black, 80, a Washington socialite who as a honey-blond beauty in the 1940s had a short-lived movie career, died of congestive heart failure March 1 at her home in Washington..

....Before too long, Ms. Black, who was born in Wheeling, W.Va., returned to Washington, where she had been raised in a politically connected family. Her grandfather was Wallace H. White Jr. (R-Maine), a former Senate majority leader.

Regarded by her intimates as charming, witty and beguiling with an effervescent personality, she gained a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s as a colorful host and guest in Washington's clubby dinner-party circuit.

She frequently appeared at embassy galas, and often held parties in her home.

In the early 1960s, she lived across the street from then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Spring Valley neighborhood. ...

....Her third husband, Fred B. Black Jr., whom she married in 1954, was a prominent Washington lobbyist. They would divorce, then remarry and divorce again before he was convicted in 1985 of income tax evasion.

Ms. Black lived in Palm Beach, Fla., in the 1970s and in Scottsdale, Ariz., for about eight years until returning to Washington in 1992. ....

Cozy....small town dynamic, super power actors during a time of cold war against an overhyped communist threat.

http://www.time.com/...,939326,00.html

The Home: Ormes & the Man

Friday, Nov. 17, 1961

For 18 years Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, though millionaire ranch owners back in Texas, put up, when in the capital, in a modest, nondescript house on the edge of Rock Creek Park. The house would do for a Texas Senator, but they could entertain only six or eight people at a time, and as their daughters, Lynda Bird (now 17) and Lucy Baines (14), grew up, the need for more room and closet space for all the L.B.J.s in the family became critical. And, as Vice President of the U.S., Lyndon felt the need of something a little more impressive.

Lady Bird Johnson now has something impressive: a twelve-room, French château-style house in Washington's Spring Valley section. Its previous owner, party-giving Perle Mesta, grandly dubbed it Les Ormes (The Elms), decorated it with all kinds of French furniture, tapestries and bric-a-brac. The Washington word was that Perle had been asking $200,000. The Johnsons paid something closer to $160,000, and Englished its name to The Elms......

http://www.boston.co...hter_socialite/

Virginia Warren Daly, 80, justice's daughter, socialite

By Patricia Sullivan

Washington Post / March 10, 2009

....Renowned Washington hostess Perle Mesta described Mrs. Daly in 1956 as "a charming and lovely American girl" in an effort to arrange a romance for her with Prince Napoleon Murat, a descendant of the French emperor.....

Former Pittsburgher Entertains At Newport .Mrs. George Mesta ...

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat...id...sjid...

Mrs. George Mesta, Widow of Late Industrialist, Nov. One of Most Popular Hostesses at Exclusive Summer Colony in Rhode Island . By EVELYN INTO the very .

RUSSIAN CUSTOMS REVIVED AT FETE; Annual Allaverdy Ball Is...

‎

New York Times - Mar 10, 1934

...Many of the subscribers gave large super parties at the ball. Among those who had tables were :

......Mrs. Adrian Iselin 2d, Mrs. William J. L'Engle, Mrs. George Mesta. Mrae. Tamara Islavina and Mrs. Vincent Plubbell. Princess Ketto Mikeladze was chairman of

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=IS&GSfn=t&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=36&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=9571&df=all&

Tamara G. Islavina Birth: 1876 Death: 1959

Her Serene Highness, Princess of Georgia.

(The 1940 U.S. Census is now searchable for four U.S. states, including New York. The census record indicates that George Bouhe's mother has moved from White Plains in Westchester, NY, and is in 1940 a border in a $60 per month, Madison Ave., Manhattan residence in which Tamara G. Islavina is listed as head of household. The census records do not do a particularly good job on the spelling of names, but I have a high degree of confidence in the reliability of this information. See:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10541entry251800 )

1940 United States Federal Census about Elsa Boule

Name: Elsa Boule Age: 57 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1883 Gender: Female Race: White Birthplace: Russia Marital Status: Widowed Relation to Head of House: Lodger Home in 1940: New York, New York, New York

View Map Street: Madison Avenue

Household Members: Name Age Tamaoa Sslavina 63 Elsa Boule 57 Peter Zouboff 45 Michael Tauneloff 45 Alice Pedige 50