NATO's Secret Armies, Operation Gladio and JFK

[John Kowalski]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:50 AM, Guest Bart Kamp said:

Thanks to Malcolm Blunt. Scans by me.

Intelligence and national security by Roy Godson.

Had a look at the tiles included in this scan and found "Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police". This reminded me of a scene from the movie "JFK". Jim Garrison goes to Washington DC to meet with Mr. X aka Fletcher Prouty. During this scene someone said, and I am paraphrasing here, "that was a real barn-burner." In Canada, one of the activities the RCMP were accused of was barn-burning. After the Commission concluded its investigation the Canadian government transferred the RCMP's responsibilities for foreign intelligence to the newly-created Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

[David Andrews]

They were his working opinions, which may differ from the final text of the presented work.  For whatever reason.

Why are we all being linked to our profile biographies in your posts?  Makes me feel like Frankie Five-Angels getting handed the $100 bill by the Rosato brothers in Godfather Pt. II.

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by David Andrews

[Robert Montenegro]

5 hours ago, David Andrews said:

They were his working opinions, which may differ from the final text of the presented work.  For whatever reason.

Why are we all being linked to our profile biographies in your posts?  Makes me feel like Frankie Five-Angels getting handed the $100 bill by the Rosato brothers in Godfather Pt. II.

 

That's what my attorney told me. Private conversations have nothing to do with final product.

I sincerely apologize if I alienated you Mr. Andrews or anyone else on the forum. It was not my intention to do so.

As for linking names to profiles, it's just an old habit from my days in the United States Army. All outgoing transmissions in combat from Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) had router user information pasted to various individuals with similar cryptonyms, so you accurately transmit data across overlapping operational structures.

Hell, the way I'm being treated, with cross-examination and threats of libel suits, I'm the one who feels like Frank Pentangeli! Or maybe Willi Cicci.

"...Oh yeah, a buffer. The family had a lot of buffers!"

Edited May 13, 2020 by Robert Montenegro

[David Andrews]

In the Godfather pictures, Coppola was big on having the act of violence preceded by a disturbing little incident that ought to give one warning: the $100 bill; the light bulb out in the hall when Don Fanucci gets it from De Niro.

In his book on preventing violence, The Gift of Fear, Gavin de Becker tells us to evaluate our minor situational discomforts as predictive elements that we are half conscious of, but shouldn't dismiss.

I guess the trick in covert ops is not to leave disturbing little incidents like a breadcrumb trail.  See, this place is educational.

Edited May 13, 2020 by David Andrews

[Robert Montenegro]

2 hours ago, David Andrews said:

 

I guess the trick in covert ops is not to leave disturbing little incidents like a breadcrumb trail.  See, this place is educational.

I'm laughing internally so as not to disturb my wife's cats.

God bless you sir!

[Anthony Thorne]

Posting this again if others have new thoughts on the topic.

https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973ROME03261_b.html

Quote

APRIL 26 ISSUE OF SENSATIONAL WEEKLY NEWS JOURNAL QUOTE PANORAMA UNQUOTE CARRIED SCURRILOUS COVER STORY ENTITLED QUOTE THE FASCIST POISON UNQUOTE LINKING THE RIGHT-WING MSI, THE CIA, AND FSO PETER BRIDGES ( ASSIGNED ROME 1966 TO 1971) IN PLOT ALLEGED TO INCLUDE 1969 PIAZZA FONTANA ( MILAN) BANK BOMBING WHICH TOOK 16 LIVES AND INJURED 88 OTHERS. STORY ALLEGES PLOT AND BOMBING INTENDED TO SPARK SWING TO RIGHT IN PUBLIC OPINION TO PERMIT RIGHT-WING " CHANGE OF COURSE." CHANNELS OF FUNDS TO SUPPORT MSI IN GENERAL, AND THEREFORE CONSPIRACY ALSO, WERE NAMED AS ROME OFFICES OF FEED GRAINS COUNCIL, MERRILL LYNCH, AND CONTINENTAL ILLINOIS BANK OF CHICAGO ( LINKED IN STORY TO MICHELE SINDONA). ARTICLE IS BEING TRANSLATED AND WILL BE POUCHED TO ADDEES ASAP.

According to the interview below, Bridges started his diplomatic career with the aid of Dimitri Von Mohrenschildt, older brother of George de Mohrenschildt.

http://www.adst.org/OH TOCs/Bridges, Peter S.toc.pdf

Edited May 13, 2020 by Anthony Thorne

[Robert Montenegro]

2 hours ago, Anthony Thorne said:

According to the interview below, Bridges started his diplomatic career with the aid of Dimitri Von Mohrenschildt, older brother of George de Mohrenschildt.

By his own admission, Graham A. Martin, "President" Richard Nixon's Ambassador to Italy, was using Peter S. Bridges as a liaison to the Italian Generals looking to overthrow the Italian parliament in 1970. Howard "Rocky" Stone was the CIA Station Chief at the time of the "Borghese Coup."

"Rocky" Stone helped overthrow the Iranian government in the 1953 joint MI6-CIA "TPAJAX Project."

"Rocky" Stone's control officer for the Iranian coup was a one Major Vernon A. Walters. 

In terms of Dimitri von Mohrenschildt, in this instance, it may just be an innocent happenstance that Mr. Bridges' professor was Mr. von Mohrenschildt.

But then again, the US intelligence community during the "Cold War" is such a small group of people, who the hell knows...

I noticed that he received a scholarship from the Ford Foundation, a notorious CIA front organization that had presidents like Robert S. McNamara and John J. McCloy.

Great find, by the way, interesting stuff.

Grounds for further research...

[Anthony Thorne]

The cable mentions Sindona and the Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago. This NYT story elaborates. SIndona's financial advisor was David M. Kennedy, a Nixon administration member, and previously the chairman of the bank. 

 

Quote

 

Michele Sindona, the Outsider as Insider in Worldwide Finance

By Clyde H. Farnsworth Special to The New York Times

May 20, 1974

 

PARIS, May 17—Though still ‘'regarded as an outsider in the frenetic world of Italian finance, Michele Sindona has become one of the most powerful of Italy's multimillionaires.

Until recently little known, the 54‐year‐old son of a farm cooperative employe has quietly assembled over the last decade an empire that includes Italy's biggest private bank, shared control with the Vatican of a bank in Geneva, Italy's giant construction conglomerate the Societa Generale Immobiliare —which owns the Watergate real‐estate development in Washington—a chain of European luxury hotels including the Meurice in Paris, a string of medium‐sized American companies—Argus, Inc., the Interphoto Corporation and the Oxford Electric Corporation—and 21.6 per cent of the Franklin National Bank, which has just disclosed losses in foreign‐currency trading that may run as high as $39‐million.

Mr. Sindona also owns 53 per cent of, the stock of the Talcott Financial Gorporation, a factoring company, which he acquired in.the open market for $27‐million.

His success has been at tributed to sharp trading instincts, an intimate knowledge of Italian tax laws and a close relationship with the men who manage the investment funds of the Vatican.

As his investment adviser and “ambassador,” Mr. Sindona has the services of President Nixon's first Secretary of the Treasury, David M. Kennedy, former chairman of the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company.

Mr, Sindona came into the limelight when he acquired the Franklin stock two years ago, paying $40 a share to the Loews Corporation and its chairman, Laurence A. Tisch.

 

As the bank's largest stockholder, Mr. Sindona has proposed a plan to inject new capital, which could involve a further $50‐million infusion by him on top of the $40‐million check he handed over two years ago. He has been discussing the plan with the Controller of the Currency, James E. Smith.

Franklin's troubles and the losses of more than $30 million that Mr. Sindona has taken on his Franklin investment so far have raised ques,tions in the United States about the extent of his wealth, his general Operations and the impact of the Franklin situation on his empire.

. How much is Mr. Sindona worth? Fortune magazine placed the value of his fortune last August at $450Anillion. That was before his heavy losses in Franklin‐ and tight money could be squeezing his empire.

Bankers in Milan seemed ‘.:fairly certain he could raise the $50‐million for Franklin. "At this stage, there is no particular worry about his :assets,” said one. A Geneva banker added that “if he offered to put up $50‐million, he will.”

Interest in the lean, ascetic looking Sicilian was further aroused in the United States by the disclosure last month at the Mitchell‐Stans trial that Mr. Sindona had offered a secret $1‐million contribution to the 1972 Nixon reelection campaign.

Mr. Stans and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell were acquitted last month of all nine counts of criminal conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with a secret $200,000 cash contribution to the re‐election campaign made by another international financier, Robert L. Vesco.

Mr. Sindona runs his empire through two holding companies, Fasco International Holding, which owns his Franklin shares, and Fasco, A.G., of Liechtenstein, which owns Fasco International. Mr. Kennedy has been on the board of Fasco, A.G., and there is speculation that he may be named to head the Franklin bank temporarily.

Mr. Sindona's most important holding is probably Generale Immobiliare, an international construction company, which tumbled on the Milan Stock Exchange from 650 lire to 575 this week. (There are about 630 lire to the dollar.) Brokers in Milan said the fall reflected both the Franklin news and the general weakness of the market.

Vatican Sold Shares

In 1969 Mr. Sindona acquired one‐third of the shares of Generale Immoblliare from the Vatican's Institute for Religious Works, the body that manages the Roman Catholic Church's big investment portfolio. There were rumors in Italy at the time that Mr. Sindona had signed the final agreement with Pope Paul VI.

Mr. Sindona is also in partnership with the Vatican in the Finabank of Geneva. Classified as a foreign‐owned bank in Switzerland, Finabank does a general banking business, including portfolio management.

He also acquired another property from the Vatican, a company known as Condotte Dacqua., which supplies Rome with water. Subsequently he sold it.

Mr. Sindona was a friend of Jocelyn Hambro, managing partner of Hambros Bank until his retirement two years ago. This London merchant bank has had close ties with the Vatican for generations.

Through Banca Privata Finanzieria, a small Milan bank that Mr. Sindona acquired in 1959, he is putting together Italy's biggest bank in the private sector.

Owns Newspaper

He also owns The Rome Daily American, an English language daily in Rome.

Michele Sindona—the name is pronounced MiKAYIay SinDONa — began his rise from modest circumstances. He worked his way through law school at the University of Messina in Sicily, specializing in tax matters in country with anachronistic, highly flexible, even subjective tax policies.

He was exempted from military service during World War II and set up a law practice after the war in Milan, branching out into account ing and what later became highly profitable business of providing advice to corporations on acquisitions and mergers. Often he was paid in shares of the companies he helped merge, and as economic activity intensified in the postwar period, this process carried him into the big time.

‘Always In Motion’

He is described by one European banker who knows him as “always in motion, sharp‐eyed and hill of nervous energy.” He doesn't drink or smoke. At meetings, which he likes to keep short and sweet, he does not doodle and puts his energy into folding numerous tiny paper hats and stacking them in neat piles.

He has met rebuffs along with his successes.

His most bitter blow was a defeat three years ago at the hands of the Italian financial establishment when he fought for control of the Bastogi Company, a giant holding company.

With Hambros Bank helping him, and not at all liking the publicity, he was challenged by perhaps the most powerful man in Italy, Guido Carli, chairman of the Bank of Italy. Mr. Carli let it be known that, he didn't want Mr. Sindona, who is an im

Banca Privata, which owns small banks in Messina Milan, is shortly to merge with Banca Unione, creating an institution with deposits approaching $1‐billion., Sindona well own 51 per cent of the new bank. Italy's three biggest banks, which control 80 per cent of deposits in the country, nationalized. Mr. Sindona and Mr. Kennedy met when Continental took a small terest in Banca Privata the mid‐nineteen‐sixties along with Hambros Bank.

Mr. Sindona's other main holding in Italy is a financial company known as Edilcentro ‐ Sviluppo, which among other things owns a chain of European luxury hotels. Shortly after acquiring Edilcentro in a financial market coup last June, Mr. Sindona arranged a merger., so that it now functions under the Generale Immobiliare umbrella. placable opponent of state ownership of enterprise, at the head of Bastogi. And that turned the tide against the Sicilian financier, Who later complained that he had been rebuffed because of his humble origins.

As a Sicilian he had to face the inevitable rumors, which have never been substantiated, that he was linked with the Mafia.

Invested in U.S.

After the Bastogi affair, Mr., Sindona, already involved in investments in the United States, became interested in making a major American investment.

He had been buying and selling interests in. American companies for some years before acquiring the Franklin holdings. Some of these trades involved 10 per cent of Libby McNeill & Libby; 23 per cent of the Brown Company, a New Hampshire paper company and a block of Gulf and Western.

He acquired a controlling interest in three other companies as longer term investments and hired Daniel A. Porco, a steel company executive from Pittsburgh to be his American representative.

Known on the continent as an American ophile, he and his wife like to visit New York, where they stay at the St. Regis Hotel. Their three children are grown.

In 1972 he tried to persuade stockholders of the three companies — Argus, Inc., and the Interphoto Corporation, two photo companies, and the Oxford Electric Company—to approve a complex series of transactions under which $3‐million that Oxford was to get for divisions sold to Interphoto would be invested in the Uranya Company of Italy, a manufacturer of television and high‐fidelity equipment also controlled by Mr. Sindona.

According to material filed by Oxford with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Uranya's losses made the $3million investment essential if Uranya's “liquidation is to be averted.” And Uranya owed money to Mr. Sindona's Banca Privata.

Documents from Oxford and Interphoto said the transactions involved a “conflict of interest” and were not negotiated “at arms length.”

Eventually the issues were resolved to the satisfaction of both the S.E.C. and the American Stock Exchange, which also was involved in the affair.

Why did he buy into the Franklin National Bank?

Harold V. Gleason, the bank's chairman, told an interviewer recently that he had asked Mr. Sindona this question and got the following reply:

“I have great confidence in the United States. I feel that the United States is the home of world monetary stability. I want to plant my roots in the United States.”

Kennedy Declines Comment

TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 18 —Mr. Kennedy, interviewed here where he and his wife are tending to personal business interests, declined to discuss speculation that he would take a leading position at the Franklin National Bank.

 

 

[John Kowalski]

19 hours ago, Robert Wheeler said:

I believe we were trading comments back and forth a few months ago about George Ignatieff. George was the Canadian Ambassador to the UN in about 67/68.

In any event, although I have not looked into him much for a few months, I still think he is interesting. 

He was from one of those Russian Nobility families and ran in some interesting circles.

Ignatieff is an interesting person given the circles he moved in. No doubt that many investigative agencies have files on him.