Lee Shepherd's post on Facebook today about Richard Case Nagell

[Douglas Caddy]

Was double-agent Richard Case Nagell the most important witness (other than Oswald) of the JFK? CIA chief Tracy Barnes, who worked under Ted Shackley at JMWAVE, handled Nagell’s development and sent him to New Orleans in the summer of 1963 to monitor a group of Cuban exiles plotting against Castro. There Nagell befriended a man named Lee Oswald whom he knew previously from contact in the Far East. Nagell said the conspirators believed that if they set up Oswald as the villain, the murder would result in a full-scale war against Cuba. As part of his double agency status, Nagell informed his Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) contact in Mexico City, who ordered him to warn the patsy, and stop the assassination plot if necessary by “killing Oswald.” This information and details of the plot were relayed to the CIA and select individuals in the FBI, but Nagell claimed both departments buried the file and ordered him to remain silent. It was the KGB — not the CIA or FBI — that attempted to prevent the murder of President Kennedy. After all, Russia would be the big loser in the affair. The Assassination Records Review Board thought Nagell important enough to call him as a witness but 24 hours later on November 1, 1995 Nagell was found dead in his apartment in the Echo Park section of L.A. Cause of death; heart attack. The ARRB wanted to know more about documentation found in the trunk of Nagell’s car in September 1963 that listed several CIA employees by their real names. David Atlee Phillips and James McCord had also been cited in cryptic comments by Nagell as having played some role in the CIA’s relationship with Oswald. LBJ knew all about Nagell and the FBI and Secret Service interrogated Nagell on several occasions after the assassination but no mention is made of him in the Warren Commission’s 26 volumes.

 

 

 

All reactions:

8David Breeden, Steve Jenkins and 6 others

 

[Pete Mellor]

In 1963 Tracy Barnes was head of CIA's Domestic Operations Division.

Alan Kent writes an interesting Essay, A Well Concealed 'T',  in Albarelli and Leslie Sharp's 'Coup In Dallas' that examines the possibility that the 'T' regularly referred to in Pierre Lafitte's diary may likely be D.O.D.'s Tracy Barnes, who worked closely with James Angleton at Langley.  Angleton strongly suspected by many to be the 'general manager' of the Dallas plot.

[Paul Brancato]

I am curious whether Joannides had contact with Nagell

[Michael Griffith]

Yes, Nagell was a very important witness. His credible story has far-reaching implications. I find it amazing that no federal body showed any interest in why Nagell's purple trunk in his locker in Arizona was found to be missing after he died, nor any interest in who ransacked his son's house after Dick Russell called him to inform him of Nagell's death.