Whitter's statement to HSCA still classified?

[Steve Thomas]

Who approached Nonte in the first place?

Steve Thomas

[Bill Simpich]

In his book Tipping Point, Larry Hancock says it was John Masen who approached George Nonte - and that Nonte immediately reported Masen to Army Intelligence, who then worked with the FBI to set up a sting operation on Masen.   

Carol Hewett says that Masen was a gun-runner who worked with two other gun-runners, Whittier and Miller, who were known contacts of the gun-runner Jack Ruby.  She adds that Ellsworth testified at his deposition that Dallas was the assembly point for weapons to be used in a November invasion of Cuba.  Hewett and the LaFontaines are the only researchers I know that have supported Ellsworth's claim.

From Tipping Point:

October 24: Dallas area weapons and explosives dealer John Thomas Masen (under observation by the FBI and ATF for prior dealings with ultra-right groups such as the Minutemen) found the DRE shopping list to be extensive, including machine guns and heavy weapons. In response Masen reached out to an Army contact (George Nonte) with whom Masen had been privately doing business with in a specialty area of historic, black powder weapons. Nonte immediately reported Masen and the offer to Army intelligence, and became the primary source for a sting to be run against Masen by Army intelligence and the FBI. [ 152 ] Separately, not included in that sting, the ATF was also investigating Masen for his dealings with the Minutemen. Masen proceeded to meet with DRE representatives who told him the weapons were to be used for attacks into Cuba. The FBI and ATF immediately began to monitor Masen and the DRE.

Commentary: Unable to source weapons from Nonte, Masen turned to other avenues, and became involved with a weapons theft from the Army National Guard in Terrell Texas. The weapons from that robbery were very possibly brokered with the help of Jack Ruby. Given the involvement of three separate agencies investigating Masen as well as that of the Army 112th Regional Intelligence group, this is an extremely complex story. Readers are referred to Someone Would Have Talked, which explores the matter in great detail, citing both Army, FBI, and ATF records on the affair. [ 153 ]

 

[Steve Thomas]

Just a little background information.

TEXAS STATE GUARD

by William C. Wilkes and Mary M. Standifer

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qqt01

 

“In 1961, during the Berlin Wall crisis, the Forty-ninth Armored Division and other nondivisional units of the Texas National Guard were called into federal service for a year, leaving seventy-one National Guard armories vacant. The oversight of these armories was consigned to 148 officers and 365 enlisted men in the TSGRC, who were called to active duty and formed into seventy-one Texas State Guard Security Units. The guardsmen served in this capacity until August 10, 1962, when they resumed their TSGRC status. In 1965 the Texas legislature abolished the TSGRC and reestablished the Texas State Guard, with Maj. Gen. John L. Thompson, Jr., as commanding general.”

 

Facebook posting by an unknown author.

https://www.facebook.com/TexasStateGuard/posts/1576889535692221

 

Texas State Guard

September 27, 2017 ·

How about a little bit of HISTORY of the Texas State Guard?

 

The federal legislation permitting the establishment of state militias was not renewed after the war, and in August of 1947, the Texas State Guard was demobilized and inactivated. The State Legislature, however, realized the benefit of having such an organization available, and passed legislation in May 1947 reorganizing the Texas State Guard on an inactive status ready for immediate mobilization in case of emergency. The Texas State Guard Reserve Corps was activated in January 1948 and again organized as infantry with additional civil and domestic missions.

With the advent of the Cold War, The Texas State Guard Reserve Corps (TSGRC) was given additional duties — those specific to statewide radio communications and civil defense. By 1951, the TSGRC had 50 fixed radio stations and over 100 automobiles throughout the state – almost all were funded at the personal expense of the operators and heavily used during many natural disasters. With the federalization of the Texas National Guard during the Berlin Crisis in 1961, 71 Texas National Guard Armories were left vacant and a great amount of state property unprotected. To address this, elements of the TSGRC were organized as Texas State Guard Security Units. These units were assigned to the 49th Armored Division and the 11014th Transportation Company, manning their respective armories until these units were returned to their state mission one year later.

 

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qqt01

Texas State Guard. By William C. Wilkes and Mary M. Standifer

 

TEXAS STATE GUARD. The Congress of the United States, on October 21, 1940, amended the National Defense Act to authorize local ad interim defense units during the absence of the National Guard in federal service. By the end of 1940 173 companies, comprising approximately 500 officers and 6,000 enlisted men, had been unofficially organized in Texas. On February 10, 1941, the Forty-seventh Legislature authorized the Texas Defense Guard. The name was changed to Texas State Guard in May 1943.

 

Fifty battalions were planned and activated to protect public utilities, transportation arteries, and war plants; to maintain law and order; to suppress subversive activities; and to repel invasion if necessary. Battalions consisted of four to six lettered companies with headquarters and service companies and a medical detachment. For the entire state there was a camouflage company and a training and research unit. Total authorized strength was 23,075 officers and men. No pay was provided except for active duty. By regulation, each unit was to be sponsored by a civic or patriotic club.

 

“The guards drilled in schoolyards and on vacant lots with makeshift weapons until July 1941, when the War Department issued them some surplus rifles. The rifles were recalled in May 1942, and shotguns issued shortly afterward. In 1943 the shotguns were replaced with a full issue of Enfield Rifles, and the units were issued trucks, jeeps, half-tracks, and machine guns. “

 

(Enfield rifles would come up in various parts of the JFK story – see Nancy Perrin Rich's WC testimony and Buell Wesley Frazier's rifle seized by the DPD).

 

Steve Thomas