Lumpkin, Gannaway, and the DPD-Army Intelligence network

[Bill Simpich]

Thanks Steve!   Let me start with three points.

1.  The FBI always keeps more than it gives to local officials.

2.  The Communists of Dallas and Fort Worth were certainly a prize for agencies to fight over.  The FBI had at least two Fort Worth Communists., plus Lowery and some of the Dallas Communists.  Gannaway was right in thinking that Joe Molina of the TSBD worked with a lot of Communists - because he did.  It's well-documented.  It's inevitable that those two agencies had a tug of war over the Communists.

3.  Anyone who read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram knew that an American defector had returned from the USSR to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I can't put my hands on my copy of Larry Sneed's book, but online access shows that it is filled with good comments and leads.

One problem in reading the interviews in that book - of course - is who do you believe?  When Cunningham excuses himself for losing the list of the theater patrons after Oswald's arrest, he passes off this loss as "unimportant".

Whether you believe the killing was done by a lone gunman or multiple gunmen, that kind of comment is beyond the pale.  Who was Oswald trying to meet?  How did he conduct himself during that time?  Any inquiry that might shed light on an Oswald confederate on 11/22 is vitally important.

Sneed's book is good at pointing out these men did not work in a vacuum.  Cunningham was in a continuing poker game with Jack Revill - the Forgery Bureau and the Special Service Bureau had a special relationship.

Here's some insight into Revill, who headed the intelllgence unit..  Jack is described in Sneed's book as vice-chair of the national LEIU (Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit).  They shared intel from all over the country.  Any re-defector from the Soviet Union would have been on the top of their list.

 

Jack had an office at Fair Park where he had 12-13 assistants and the ability to communicate with federal, state and local officers around the country, leaving no paper trail that I am aware of.

 

In early 1964, Revill picked up Loran Hall and Bill Seymour for running narcotics to raise money for the Minutemen - from reading the report, it doesn't even sound like they were arrested - they were probably informants.  

 

On 7/5/66, Jack Revill made two copies of an FBI report he had access to without permission.  From the heading of the file, it was apparently Mafia-oriented.

 

Revill got it from another Dallas officer - who apparently went inside the FBI agent's briefcase to get it.    At a minimum, the Dallas officer lifted it from the agent's desk.

 

The Dallas officer was VJ Brian - a key witness to the finding of the shells - Hoover was furious. 

 

Revill and Brian were demoted on the spot.   

 

Cunningham says in Sneed's book that this was a sting to bring down Revill.

 

Turning to Westphal... like Westbrook and Hill, Westphal was at all the important crime scenes on 11/22.  My memory is vague, but I remember Westphal's memory as very convenient as to "who was where when", I'll get into it at a later date.  I don't give him a pass.

None of these men distinguished themselves by trying to find out "what happened" in the deaths of JFK, Tippit, and Oswald.  Sneed's book has them patting themselves on the back saying "yes, we lost JFK, and we lost Oswald, but we did a great job that weekend."  Losing JFK was not solely on their shoulders - that was the primary job of the Secret Service.  Losing Oswald was squarely on the Dallas police.   No one on the force was punished.  No one.

 

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

3 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

 

In early 1964, Revill picked up Loran Hall and Bill Seymour for running narcotics to raise money for the Minutemen - from reading the report, it doesn't even sound like they were arrested - they were probably informants.  

 

 Sneed's book has them patting themselves on the back

Bill,

 

Yeah, that's the thing about memoirs and oral histories... lots of back patting.

The Hall/Seymour bust actually took place in October of '63. I think that's the one that involved Lester Logue, but I've never gotten it straight in my mind if they were in Dallas twice that late fall. I think they dropped the trailer off, and then came back for it. I know the WC tried to pin the Odio incident on them - but that didn't work.

I hadn't put two and two together and connected Revill to that bust.

(slapping myself in the forehead)

Ah, duh!

 

Steve Thomas

[David Boylan]

Not to distract from this great thread but it was indeed the Oct arrest. Quoting:

 

"It was at Clint Wheat's house that Hall, Howard, and "Juarito" a.k.a. Celio Castro Alba, picked up a trailer of weapons and a large supply of medical supplies to bring to Miami for anti-Castro activities.[53] According to Howard the weapons consisted of a ". 30 caliber, there was a scope weapon, [54] and there was M-1s, standard M-1 Girands an M-14, modified, strictly semi..."[55] Some of these weapons were supplied by Urquiaga Arms Company owned by Juan Urquiaga, the former top arms ordinance man for Fidel Castro. The trailer carrying these weapons was left at Lester Logue's house in Dallas on October 10, 1963. Logue, an oil geologist, was a friend of Hall's. Hall admitted that it was in Logue's office that he was offered fifty thousand dollars to assassinate JFK but he declined. He added that Lester Logue had nothing to do with the offer and left the room after the offer was made.[56]"

"Hall and William Seymour traveled from Miami the following week to retrieve the trailer of weapons and medical supplies. It was on this return trip that Hall and Seymour were arrested for drug possession — a bottle of Dexedrine. While in custody, Hall was questioned by an FBI agent whom he identified as "Hostel or something", a Military Intelligence agent, and a "CIA guy." The "CIA guy" was probably ATF Agent Frank Ellsworth who was working closely with FBI agent James Hosty and Military Intelligence agent Ed Coyle on a gun smuggling case. He claimed that the MI Agent attempted to recruit him. Hall remained in jail for two days before being released. Hall had called Dr. Robert Morris who in turn called Lester Logue.[58] Logue secured an attorney for Hall.[59]"

Hall was going to have John Thomas Masen convert these M-1s to full auto.

 

[Jon Pickering]

Would our scholars venture an estimate from research, or naked opinion, the number of military reserves personnel 'moonlightin' as part of JFK's SS detail in Dallas on Nov 22 - ie., whom among them were 'double-dippers', so to speak. Perhaps a similarly-based assay of FBI on any portion of the case - before, during, and, after - would, as well, edify. Merci avant

Edited November 6, 2019 by Jon Pickering

[Steve Thomas]

22 minutes ago, David Boylan said:

Not to distract from this great thread but it was indeed the Oct arrest. Quoting:

 

"It was at Clint Wheat's house that Hall, Howard, and "Juarito" a.k.a. Celio Castro Alba, picked up a trailer of weapons and a large supply of medical supplies to bring to Miami for anti-Castro activities.[53] According to Howard the weapons consisted of a ". 30 caliber, there was a scope weapon, [54] and there was M-1s, standard M-1 Girands an M-14, modified, strictly semi..."[55] Some of these weapons were supplied by Urquiaga Arms Company owned by Juan Urquiaga, the former top arms ordinance man for Fidel Castro. The trailer carrying these weapons was left at Lester Logue's house in Dallas on October 10, 1963. Logue, an oil geologist, was a friend of Hall's. Hall admitted that it was in Logue's office that he was offered fifty thousand dollars to assassinate JFK but he declined. He added that Lester Logue had nothing to do with the offer and left the room after the offer was made.[56]"

"Hall and William Seymour traveled from Miami the following week to retrieve the trailer of weapons and medical supplies. It was on this return trip that Hall and Seymour were arrested for drug possession — a bottle of Dexedrine. While in custody, Hall was questioned by an FBI agent whom he identified as "Hostel or something", a Military Intelligence agent, and a "CIA guy." The "CIA guy" was probably ATF Agent Frank Ellsworth who was working closely with FBI agent James Hosty and Military Intelligence agent Ed Coyle on a gun smuggling case. He claimed that the MI Agent attempted to recruit him. Hall remained in jail for two days before being released. Hall had called Dr. Robert Morris who in turn called Lester Logue.[58] Logue secured an attorney for Hall.[59]"

Hall was going to have John Thomas Masen convert these M-1s to full auto.

 

David,

hmmmmm...

Hosty, Ellsworth and Coyle.... the same three guys meeting the morning of the 22nd to discuss the Miller/Whitter case.

hmmmmm

 

Steve Thomas

[Jon Pickering]

Is there a pole longer than ten foot anyone would care to touch my last post with. It went as follows:

'Would our scholars venture an estimate from research, or naked opinion, the number of military reserves personnel 'moonlightin' as part of JFK's SS detail in Dallas on Nov 22 - ie., whom among them were 'double-dippers', so to speak. Perhaps a similarly-based assay of FBI on any portion of the case - before, during, and, after - would, as well, edify.'

 

 

[Paul Brancato]

1 hour ago, Jon Pickering said:

Is there a pole longer than ten foot anyone would care to touch my last post with. It went as follows:

'Would our scholars venture an estimate from research, or naked opinion, the number of military reserves personnel 'moonlightin' as part of JFK's SS detail in Dallas on Nov 22 - ie., whom among them were 'double-dippers', so to speak. Perhaps a similarly-based assay of FBI on any portion of the case - before, during, and, after - would, as well, edify.'

 

 

I can’t answer your question. Have you read through the thread started by Steve Thomas called ‘revolt of the Colonels’? If you google that it will come up, as well as a thread by Bill Kelly on his website exploring the same subject. 

I think it’s pretty clear that the DPD Intelligence Wing was full of Reserve Army Intelligence Officers. 

I’m with you on this. The most under-researched area is MI, and the closely connected Dallas Police. Bill Simpich is focusing his considerable research skills on the DPD. 

[Jon Pickering]

Thank you - hope you can agree with the following, as well.

Now that we know MI (military intel/ counter intel) were a guiding force before, during, after, (and, as I allege, behind) the Nov 22 murders in their capacities within pivotal positions at DPD, then time has come to examine the SS and FBI personnel who were also in close proximity to the event, for being under military command as their status as reserves would dictate, at the same time they occupied pivotal positions within their respective 'civilian' agencies at each stage and every phase of the case. 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Jon Pickering

[Guest]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you, for the next few years.

Good luck and I look forward to read your conclusions with supporting evidence.

[Jon Pickering]

Looks like WE have but a bit of work remaining to convince the ignorant and stupid the U.S. military assassinated an American president - at least once. But, don't forget to keep microanalysing - it's proven most useful as a tool to keep sincere attention to the case turned away from solution. Hey, but maybe after the martial solution has been fully realized by a critical mass of researchers and the public we can turn ourselves over to the task of exposing self-important 'researchers'/flies as military, themselves. Mind your manners, bub.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Jon Pickering

[Bill Simpich]

The Dallas police claimed they had no knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination.   But Gannaway's intelligence unit tracked subversives, just like the FBI did.  Is it credible that they didn't know the Fort Worth Communist Party members?  Because these Communists knew about Oswald years before 11/22/63, and told the FBI.

If anybody on the Dallas force knew about Oswald, it was Pat Gannaway and his ex-partner George Butler, who knew a lot about Ruby.  Researcher Harold Weisberg believed that Butler was running the downtown jail the morning of Nov. 24 when Oswald was shot by Ruby.  Butler knew all about Ruby, he had questioned him at length in 1950.   

As for Oswald, the FBI knew about Oswald for several years before 1963, their sources included "Communists in Fort Worth".  Those sources were almost certainly known to the Dallas police as well, and Gannaway and Butler in particular.   Oswald's return to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in mid-1962 was reported in the newspapers, and the local Russians and Cubans like Sylvia Odio knew about him before Nov 22, 1963.  Butler was busy investigating those very individuals.

This document says that in 1947, Gannaway was working on confidential investigations on the vice squad with his partner Lt. George Butler.  

"He is extremely well informed as to the criminal activity in this city...knows or can determine the associates of practically all characters in the city."

1946-1947:  "The Kefauver Committee conspicuously failed, as Ruby's lawyer Luis Kutner alleged, to expose the extent of the Chicago mob's takeover of Dallas gambling in 1946-47, when Ruby himself moved from Chicago to Dallas.  (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 162)

 

1948:  Butler was working in the narcotics division and following mobsters.  His partner was WilliamPatrick (Pat) Gannaway. 

Pat Gannaway and Butler arrested Paul Jones at the end of the operation.

Ruby was interrogated behind closed doors at a Kefauver Committee hearing by Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police in 1950.

Kefauver congratulated Butler in 1950 for stopping corruption from reaching Dallas.  (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 152 -  Butler contradicted this statement in 1958)  George Butler, told the FBI (HSCA Volume 9, p. 520😞

Ruby was not involved in the bribery attempt. In fact, he [Butler] had never heard of Ruby until after the investigation and trial had been completed. He stated the way Ruby came into the picture was a number of individuals who were involved in the bribery attempt and in particular Paul Roland Jones began "hanging out" at Ruby's club after the sentence. [unquote]  

Bill Turner wrote that Jones told the FBI he believed Butler was first in earnest and wanted a payoff, desisting only when he learned the Texas Rangers were wise to the negotiations."  

According to Michael Benson, Butler was an associate of Haroldson L. Hunt.   His source was probably  Bill Turner, who wrote that Butler made a point of driving H.L. Hunt to his speaking engagements.

 

1955:   Butler transferred from the field of racketeers and mobsters and into the juvenile division.  (Stated in the 1958 testimony, below)

 

1958: With RFK asking the questions, Butler testified at the Investigation of improper activities in the labor or management field. Hearings before the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field

Butler testified mainly about how the mob moved in during the late 40s with their coin-operated machines into Dallas and had an 18  million dollar enterprise - hardly what he testified in 1950.

Gambling and prostitution were endemic in Dallas during this period, so Butler was putting on RFK or RFK was letting it happen for political reasons.  This document shows mobster Pat Manning promising Butler that gambling was all the mob wanted, and he would prevent other stuff from happening.

 

In 1961 - Lt. George Butler also provided information to W. Penn Jones Jr. According to Jones, Butler told him that 50% of the Dallas Police Department were also members of the Ku Klux Klan.  More to the point, he also wanted Jones to start a statewide Klan newspaper with him!  (Bill Turner, Ramparts, June 1967)

On June 23, 1961, four days after John Fain receives the mailing list from New York with FPCC subscriber and Dallas resident Ernest Larson on it , Fain asks his informants T-3 and T-4 aka DL-16-S and DL-20-S about Oswald.   These informants know Oswald is a defector simply by reading the local newspapers.

In November 1961 - DL-16-S and Dallas CP head Bill Lowery (DL-2-S) are both questioned by the FBI about the Minutemen - here is Bill Lowery ID'd as DL 2-S  - and Gannaway's office had a file on Lowery and other CP members going back to at least 1955 - they do not know anything about them at that time.  (In 1965, DL 16-S and DL 20-S were interviewed at the same time as Gen. Walker's attorney regarding a Klan plot.)

DL 16-S and DL 20-S are questioned again after Oswald's return in mid-1962, and say that Lee and Marina are not involved in any Communist activities in Fort Worth.

During the 1962-63 period, Trudy Castorr of Dallas (wife of Col. Castorr) discusses at great length how Butler was also pals with Sylvia Odio and got deep inside information from the whole Dallas Cuban crowd.  Trudy Castorr made a point of giving him letters from Lucille Connell about Odio.  It turns out Sylvia Odio was the cousin of Marcella Insua, the daughter of Joaquin Insua (an FBI informant and the head of Catholic Cuban Relief in Dallas).  

These two informants say in 1961 that what that they know is what they read in the paper about LHO defecting to the USSR.   They knew much the same in 1962.

 

By January 1964, even the FBI was concerned about Butler:  "We are also instructing SAC, Dallas, to request the that the head of the Dallas Police Department determine whether Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police Department is involved in a scheme to furnish FBI data to (right-wing activist Earl) Lively as alleged by (Dallas CP chief - and FBI informant - Bill) Lowery.

Who are DL 16-S and DL 20-S?   It is not credible they were not known to the Dallas police - and Gannaway's Special Services unit in particular.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Jon Pickering said:

Looks like WE have but a bit of work remaining to convince the ignorant and stupid the U.S. military assassinated an American president - at least once. But, don't forget to keep microanalysing - it's proven most useful as a tool to keep sincere attention to the case turned away from solution. Hey, but maybe after the martial solution has been fully realized by a critical mass of researchers and the public we can turn ourselves over to the task of exposing self-important 'researchers'/flies as military, themselves. Mind your manners, bub.

My manners are minded already. 

And I am not your bub.

i look forward to seeIng your work or are we just getting spectator talk from you?

[Bill Simpich]

Posted the above by mistake but that's ok - it might return focus to the question of whether the Dallas police knew about Oswald before 11/22.

This is not evidence, but it made me laugh - from Jack Ruby's brother:   "...I blame everything on the stupid Dallas police...they knew Oswald was in town, why didn't they grab him?"

In a highly informative 1978 article by reporter Earl Golz, he wrote that the Texas Rangers (Department of Public Safety - DPS) said had a file on Oswald before 11/22, mostly news clippings, and not much hard intelligence.

Gannaway's aide Bill Biggio at Fair Park was in charge of communications - Golz wrote Hill "thinks" he told Biggio about the Hidell and Oswald ID and that Biggio "immediately" passed it on to the Department of Public Safety (DPS - the Texas Rangers).   

However, Bill Biggio claimed that he called DPS with Hidell information and that DPS told him they had information on both Oswald and Hidell.

Hill tried to split the difference, claiming:  "in all probability Army intelligence got their information from DPS who had it probably ten minutes after we got back here with them."

Gannaway went a step further, saying that If Army Intelligence in San Antonio or Dallas "had any information on Oswald, we didn't know about it."  Revill echoed Gannaway.

Two Army Intelligence sources claimed in 1978 that it had not only no record of "Hidell" before the assassination, but no record of Oswald either!  We now know this information was false, because the file number for "Lee Harvey Oswald" in Army hands was unearthed - the file itself was destroyed in 1973.

It is stunning to me how poorly the law enforcement intelligence/DPD/sheriff's/state police side of this case has been documented in books - not counting all the hard working researchers that have been educating us, of course.   What books are out there on Dallas law enforcement:  Walt Brown's book is good.  Judy Bonner's is more of a fiction piece.  Penn Jones did a lot.  Of course Sylvia Meagher.  But what has been done since the flood of new documents in the 90s?

I have always felt that we need a far more in-depth search of documents sitting in Texas warehouses.  Where are the full records of Gannaway , Revill and company from the state fairgrounds at what Phil Melanson called "the spooky little unit" at Fair Park physically separated from the rest of the police department?  Only a few can be found at NARA.  As we now know, Lumpkin, Gannaway, Col. Crichton, and 50-100 Dallas police officers were members of the 488th, the 4150th, and the 112th - army intelligence and the army reserves.  Crichton was involved in everything from oil intelligence to the Marina Oswald interview to running for governor in 1964.  And Lumpkin had ruled the roost at the Special Services Bureau before Gannaway did.

Some of the records are right at our fingertips and I didn't know it.  For example, transcripts of radio transmissions of Bill Decker's sheriff's department  - KKE 891 - are part of CE 705 - mistakenly labeled as "police communications" (KKB 364) when other evidentiary items are also inside.

The Texas Rangers log of their radio communications on KKQ 395 are also within CE 705 - although they ignored the request to provide the communications themselves, they only coughed up the log book.

A few questions, if anyone can weigh in:

Where are the radio transmissions and/or transcripts from the WHCA (for which the ARRB found almost nothing) - which should be linked to Gannaway and friends in the underground bunker at the fairgrounds?  

Where are the radio transmissions and/or transcripts from Lumpkin and the lead car (Unit 5)?  The ARRB asked for motorcade field transmissions were allegedly monitored at Love Field, with Army Signal Corps responsible for relaying these transmissions to the White House Situation Room - as well as personnel  and military intelligence files on records on Crichton, Whitmeyer, James Powell and William C. Bishop - did they get anywhere on this?  

Or the Texas Rangers, besides the aforementioned log book itself?

Or Gordon McClendon's KLIF radio?  (I think David Von Pein collected them and others - have they been transcribed by anyone?)

Or the FBI?  On 3/3/64, the Warren Commission asked state and local law enforcement for their transmissions, but not the FBI!  The week before, Hoover had reminded all FBI agents to be discreet with their radio transmissions.  The FBI followed up with the cops, the sheriffs and the rangers for their materials, but, again, I don't see the FBI offering its own!

Or the Secret Service?  The sheriff's unit  sought Secret Service 473 in radio calls on 11/22.

Or the champions - the National Security Agency?   (The ARRB got totally stonewalled by the NSA and the Secret Service.  The NSA found less than 400 relevant documents.   The Secret Service destroyed documents with impunity.) 

Has anyone ever studied Jim Bowles' (DPD communications czar) opus on the DPD radio transmissions?

 

 

[B. A. Copeland]

3 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

A few questions, if anyone can weigh in:

Where are the radio transmissions and/or transcripts from the WHCA (for which the ARRB found almost nothing) - which should be linked to Gannaway and friends in the underground bunker at the fairgrounds?  

Where are the radio transmissions and/or transcripts from Lumpkin and the lead car (Unit 5)?  The ARRB asked for motorcade field transmissions were allegedly monitored at Love Field, with Army Signal Corps responsible for relaying these transmissions to the White House Situation Room - as well as personnel  and military intelligence files on records on Crichton, Whitmeyer, James Powell and William C. Bishop - did they get anywhere on this?  

 

Hey Bill! I was wondering, as I read you insightful posts, if  this topic has any relevance (or not) to your quoted portion above:

A very excellent topic posted by Vince sometime ago.

[Steve Thomas]

7 hours ago, B. A. Copeland said:

Hey Bill! I was wondering, as I read you insightful posts, if  this topic has any relevance (or not) to your quoted portion above:

A very excellent topic posted by Vince sometime ago.

B.A.,

In one document, Mayo is listed as the Chairman of the Commission. In another, Smith is listed as the Director of the Commission.

I got to wondering what their respective roles might have been.

Statement by Colonel John W. Mayo, Chairman of City-County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission at the Dedication of the Emergency Operations Center at Fair Park.

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/fallout/docs/may241961a.jpg

WRR was a city-owned radio station.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/25119-old-dallas-civil-defense-emergency-operations-center/?tab=comments#comment-383820

 

Notice the top right hand corner. Letter also by Boise Smith WRR transmitter building.

In the Batchelor's Exhibit CE5002 https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh19/pdf/WH19_Batchelor_Ex_5002.pdf

Boise Smith is listed as a Deputy Chief of Police (along with Lumpkin, Stevenson and Batchelor) and as the Director of the Civil Defense and Disaster Commission. As such, he reported directly to Curry.

I ran across this statement by Mayo before the Senate Committee on Armed Services in 1960. This would have been before the Fair Park building was dedicated. I guess he should be included in the list of Colonels.

 

Assistance to Civil Defense by Reserves: Hearing Before a Subcommittee of ...

By United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services - 1960 - ‎Civil defense

Hearing Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, United ... Chairman, City-County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission, Dallas, Tex.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=cmEjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=Dallas+City-County+Civil+Defense+and+Disaster+Commission&source=bl&ots=aKpwnwOsXd&sig=ACfU3U1DtRiJ-VVQfxisF4xMlxwrn7zFqw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjh6MKaltrlAhUDVt8KHVWCB6IQ6AEwBXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Dallas%20City-County%20Civil%20Defense%20and%20Disaster%20Commission&f=false

 

Steve Thomas