Pierre Lafitte datebook, 1963

[Leslie Sharp]

3 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

"Non-discloure (sic) agreements are standard in the real world and an automatic requisite of the legal department of the private for-profit organization that was heavily invested in the documentary series based on this datebook.  I think it's best you stay in your lane."--LS

This is bordering on self-parody. 

 In other words, if independent examination of the datebook uncovers rank fraud...that is not going to be disclosed, due to commercial considerations.

And independent observers---like me---calling for immediate transparency regarding the datebook...are outside our lane?

How is anybody calling for immediate transparency regarding fantastic JFKA claims made upon an unseen, hidden-from-public, possibly improperly sequestered datebook...outside their lane? 

These are bare minimum standards that are being asked for. 

 

What are you talking about?  In other words, if independent examination of the datebook uncovers rank fraud...that is not going to be disclosed, due to commercial considerations.

[Leslie Sharp]

@Greg Doudna You have repeatedly said you have been blocked and refused access to the datebook, as beyond your ability or out of your control to accomplish expert examination, and that there was nothing further you could do.

Can you cite where I've said I have been repeatedly blocked and refused access to the datebook?

I've said "repeatedly" that without sufficient exemplars, the examination remains incomplete.

Have you come across Valery Aginsky, or perhaps Oliver Thorne?

[Leslie Sharp]

. . . I had learned through my Olson research that Pierre [Lafitte] and his family lived in New Orleans during the 1960s and that Pierre had been briefly employed by the William Reily Coffee Company where alleged JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had also briefly worked in May and June 1963. I had been warned several times by writer Peter Janney, and other close friends who were also writers, to stay clear of the Kennedy assassination. “It’s a black hole that draws you in deeper and deeper, until you cannot extract yourself,” said Janney. He was right. But that’s another story that can be discussed at another time. 

What is important here is that I eventually gained conditional access to several of Lafitte’s datebooks and a precious handful of his letters. I would guess that you can imagine my surprise when I was able to make out Lee Harvey Oswald’s name in the 1963 datebook. Over a short period, I found other names connected to Oswald’s. Some identified only by initials: “O,” “OS,” “JA” and “T.” To make a long and convoluted story short, I was able to study Lafitte’s 1963 datebook. And as expected, although for entirely different reasons than my initial expectations, it was remarkable for its contents. Perhaps “remarkable” is not a strong enough word. 

There, in a worn, but well-preserved, leather-bound datebook, was a stunning parade of names: Angleton, Oswald, Joannides, Labadie, Martin—some under aliases, some coded, some not, some as bold as day, others scribbled in a hurried or tired hand, some of which I had no idea about, or even a clue as to who they were. Occasionally, I depended on expert assassination researchers like Steve Rosen, Malcolm Blunt, Dick Russell, and Stuart Wexler, and my cowriters Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent, to identify but a handful and for making sense of certain entries. At the start, I was near completely unfamiliar with the names R. G. Storey, Charles Willoughby, and Ilse Skorzeny. Through the datebook, the story of Lafitte’s involvement in the events of 1963 rolled out page by page. As hopefully will become clear to readers of this book, Lafitte played what, no doubt, was a crucial role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

One thing, however, should be made clear: I, as the author of this book, do not own any of Lafitte’s datebooks or letters. Fortunately, I have been granted the right to reproduce certain selections from the 1963 datebook. But, there are contents in those datebooks that the Lafitte family do not want published. Rene Lafitte was adamant about this and would not agree to anything else. It took considerable effort to convince her and others that I be allowed to reproduce her insightful comment about JFK’s death recorded in a November 23, 1963 entry: “Rene says, coup de grâce.”

Rene was a beautiful, petite woman who remarkably resembled actor Geneviève Bujold. Indeed, she was a former and successful fashion model. She was from a prominent French family and had been well educated in France, England and Brussels. She spoke and moved with an unearthly grace. She told me, “I fell hopelessly in love with Pierre from the moment I met him. He [radiated] mystery and grace, at the same time. His eyes always sparkled with joy and adventure. His smile conveyed that he understood more about the mysteries of life than anyone. The French say, ‘L’amour est l’emblème de l’éternité, il confond toute la notion de temps, efface toute la mémoire d’un commencement, toute la crainte d’une extrémité.’”

Rene explained: “I’m sharing parts of the datebooks with you because [there’s] a story that should be told. Pierre did many things in his life, inexplicable things, things I didn’t understand but always trusted him to know that they were wise and well chosen. The story of President Kennedy’s death may be one of those stories.” 

Significantly, Rene was not only well aware of Pierre’s entries in his datebooks—and in a few cases helped early on in deciphering his handwriting because, as she explained, Pierre had had a “mild stroke” in 1962 that affected his handwriting, which she said at one time was “near beautiful”—but in many cases she lived alongside Pierre during the instances he wrote about. Rene clearly remembered Otto Skorzeny: “He was imposing; his presence dominated a room, any room.” Ilse Skorzeny: “She was all business. Maybe the woman behind the man, meaning the brains.” Lee Harvey Oswald: “I only saw him a few times. Pierre didn’t care for him. A confused young man. Pierre always said: ‘He’s always desequilibre.’’' Marina Oswald: “We felt sorry for her. She had no idea what was going on. He seemed to stick to her like glue but shared nothing with her.” Jean Souetre: “Oh, he was very handsome, but a modest person, and very serious about his beliefs.” Thomas Eli Davis, Jr.: “You couldn’t help but like him.” Charles Willoughby: “A dedicated soldier. A little too dedicated, with a sky-is-falling mindset.”  

When I first received an email message out of the blue from Ralph Ganis in North Carolina, I was skeptical, but intrigued. Ralph explained that he had exclusive papers that were “incredibly connected to JFK’s murder.” Ralph asked me about the chapter on Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. he had read in a book I had written, A Secret Order. The book had been my first book-length foray into the JFK assassination. I had been fascinated by what I learned about Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. I instinctively knew there was far more to Davis’s story and that it was closely connected to the events of Dallas, November 22, 1963. I was also fascinated with certain events in Mexico City concerning Lee Harvey Oswald: a well-known poet and author Elena Garro, and her daughter; Warren Broglie at the Hotel Luma and its cast of unsavory characters, seemingly right out of a Humphrey Bogart film; Charles William Thomas, CIA and State Department employee; and, last but far from least, CIA Mexico City asset, Viola June Cobb, with whom I became a very good friend. In fact, June is the godmother of my grandson, Dylan Jackson Albarelli Centellas. June helped Dylan learn his ABC’s and to count past one hundred. [Here in the interest of full disclosure, I should also state that my mother’s family was quite close to Robert C. Hill, former ambassador to Mexico, Spain, El Salvador, and several other South American countries. Robert’s brother, Richard “Uncle Dick'' Hill was a renowned veterinarian in New Hampshire. A wonderful man.] 

At the time that Ralph contacted me, I had read Dick Russell’s book, The Man Who Knew Too Much, at least four times, marking it up so much that I had to buy two additional copies. From Russell’s amazing research and work, combined with what I had discovered at this juncture, I knew we were tantalizingly close to uncovering the real story behind the assassination, but I wasn’t the least confident, nor did I feel like we were wading into hubris. Nonetheless, during my first few conversations with Ralph, I didn’t mention anything about what I had learned from Lafitte’s datebooks and from my hundreds of hours talking to and interviewing June Cobb. 

When Ralph Ganis and I eventually met in North Carolina, where I would soon move for two years to work on this book, he allowed me access to his Otto Skorzeny archives. There were thousands of pages. I spent over a week at his home carefully reviewing and reading through several hundred documents. We stayed up late into the night discussing the secrets these papers held. We wallpapered several rooms of Ralph’s house with link-analysis charts that, within days, resembled the assiduous maps created by artist Mark Lombardi. Stepping back and viewing these graphic displays of previously unknown global networks, we could clearly see that the narrative they spelled out was a virtual game changer that could provide a real accounting of who had killed President John F. Kennedy and explain the rationale, as well as exposing a huge and sophisticated cabal that controlled many of the world’s events.     

In a renewed discussion with Ralph about Thomas Eli Davis, Jr. and arms trafficker Victor Oswald, two intriguing characters in the JFK assassination, I revealed the existence of Lafitte’s datebooks to Ralph. I told him what the 1963 datebook had to say about Davis, and many other subjects directly related to the JFK assassination. I explained to him how difficult it had been to gain access to the datebook and the applicable terms and conditions, and we decided that we would negotiate for further use of the datebook. I believe it was at this moment that we fully realized the actual dimensions and importance of the story that lay before us. It was exhilarating and frightening at once. I began writing a few days later. 

Eventually, out of the blue, Ralph decided it was better that only he alone write a book about Otto Skorzeny. It was a set-back timewise, but the book you have before you exclusively gives all the answers one may have about who killed JFK. I should say here that our [Albarelli, Sharp, Kent] approach to the Kennedy assassination may differ greatly from that of other serious researchers and writers. Our motive for writing this book did not turn on hubris, achieving grand recognition, or hero worship of President Kennedy. As with my book on Frank Olson, our motive was simply to present facts related to solving what was a long-seated mystery. We are quite aware of the contentiousness at play in tackling subjects widely regarded as “conspiracy theories.”

I am also quite cognizant of the rules of what has become a sort of JFK assassination parlor game. We are not members of the perceived elite group of writers who have staked out the assassination as their exclusive terra ferma. We have no axe to grind politically. We worship at no politician’s altar. We respect JFK as a man and admired his foresight and caring for the less unfortunate, and, like many before us, recognize that he played an extremely dangerous game in regard to his sexual antics and womanizing. We condemn JFK for nothing. . . .
— H. P. Albarelli Jr.   

[Ron Bulman]

On 4/25/2023 at 8:18 PM, Leslie Sharp said:

For instance, WaPo publisher Phil Graham's mistress Robin Webb who was a stringer for Newsweek in Paris had been recruited by the magazine's Washington correspondent Ben Bradlee who had been directly involved in Newsweek's buyout by the Post and later assumed editorial control over both.

Then we have the datebook, 60 years ago today.  George, OS talk . . . to Stockdale about P Graham.  This is from the abbreviated notes on page 575.  I think the full quote mentioned Olson.  

Then seven days later owner, publisher, editor of the Washington Post commits suicide with a shotgun.  After some unusual behavior in previous weeks.

Philip Graham, 48, Publisher, a Suicide (nytimes.com)

[Greg Doudna]

Let's see if I have this straight: 

Fact #1: Nobody alleged Skorzeny carried out the JFK assassination in a direct way before Ralph Ganis". {{Bold reflects an edit of an original "was connected to the JFK assassination before Ralph Ganis". A 1984 article by Mae Brussell argued for a possible worldwide post-ww2 Nazi connection to the JFK assassination in which activities of international post-ww2 Nazis are described including Skorzeny.}} 

Fact #2: there is no evidence Skorzeny and Lafitte knew, met, or had anything to do with each other outside of the Lafitte datebook itself (and a decades-later reported and wholly unverified claim that Ilse Lafitte claimed to remember knowing Skorzeny, reportedly told by her in the same sentences as equally unverified claims in which she claimed to relate multiple social meetings with Lee and Marina Oswald, Thomas Eli Davis, and French assassin Souetre). 

Fact #3: In Ganis's book on Skorzeny, The Skorzeny Papers (2018), there is not a single mention of Lafitte. In my paperback edition of Ganis, 2020, the name of Lafitte does not even appear in the index. Also, in Albarelli's two earlier books, A Terrible Mistake (2009) and A Secret Order (2013), I notice Skorzeny is not in either of the indexes of those books. 

Fact #4: This sequence (I found exact dates hard to nail down, due to lack of a published timeline, but this is ca. 2010's). Lafitte dies; followed by Albarelli meeting Ganis; followed by Ganis telling Albarelli about Skorzeny; followed by Albarelli not telling Ganis immediately but later telling Ganis he (Albarelli) had previously seen Skorzeny's name in the Lafitte datebook just before meeting Ganis; followed by publication of the Lafitte datebook (Coup in Dallas, 2021) with multiple entries in the Lafitte datebook referring to Skorzeny.

Prima facie the Skorzeny references in the Lafitte 1963 datebook appear to date the writing of those Skorzeny references in that datebook to the time Albarelli met Ganis, ca. half a century later than 1963.

Prima facie, it appears Lafitte is not the author of the multiple Skorzeny written references in Lafitte's datebook, since the allusions to Skorzeny appear to postdate Lafitte's death.

Provisional conclusion: at least some of the writing in the Lafitte 1963 datebook was written later than Lafitte. 

Suggested means of testing or falsification of provisional conclusion: analysis of handwriting; analysis of ink; recheck known public domain information (e.g. Mary Ferrell Foundation site) for any known references or discussions to Skorzeny as suspected involved in the JFK assassination prior to Ganis.

Suggested method in the absence of a credible, objective vetting/analysis of the datebook's writing for authenticity: distinguish and segregate what is known of the various characters independently of the datebook, from what is derivative from the datebook. Avoid mixing and conflating those two categories unless and until authenticity of the datebook is checked on the basis of physical examination by reputable questioned-document examiners.  

Prima facie there are credible grounds to suspect this may be a forged document, although there appears to be no knowledge or information concerning the identity of the forger, who was witting and who unwitting to the forgery, if that was the case. 

Those who believe the datebook entries dated 1963 are authentically from pre-Nov 22, 1963 may wish to make inquiry whether the entire datebook has been photographed, in a verified dateable record, since only some of the pages of the datebook are reported published in Coup in Dallas, and no authentication has been done. Unless there is a verified dated set of photographs of the entire datebook, there is no protection against tampering or additions, future "sensational discoveries" emerging from the remaining unpublished portions. Alternatively, if any of the unpublished pages did happen to have authentic writing of Jean-Pierre Lafitte, that could be checked against the handwriting of the sensational JFK assassination-related entries on the pages for which photographs have been published.

Fact #5: there are also many specific claims as to facts published in the Albarelli books which are difficult or impossible to verify, independently of the datebook. For example, I see in A Secret Order (2013) claims that Lafitte murdered Frank Olsen (p. 107); was tasked by Gottlieb to use botulism-toothpaste to kill Patrice Lumumba in the Congo (p. 149); in 1961 was traveling to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa doing assassinations for the CIA (p. 322); was QJ/WIN (p. 438); was very close to mobster John Roselli (p. 438) ... Are any of these claims true? None can be verified by anyone here, so far as I can tell. You cannot find any of these things verified on the Mary Ferrell Foundation site's documents, or anywhere else online to my knowledge. One might reasonably suspect these claims are all fabrications out of whole cloth (not saying Albarelli himself did the fabricating). (At A Terrible Mistake, 801, I see Albarelli credits "several retired CIA and FBI officials who asked to be unnamed" for some of his information on Jean-Pierre Lafitte.)    

~ ~ ~

p.s. on page 576 of Coup in Dallas, the Nov 20 entry is transcribed as "Lanny-Filiol ... call Storey ... DeM ... Frank B...."

However the photograph of the Nov 20, 1963 entry has only the first three of those four names. The fourth, "Frank B", is non-existent in the photograph, and instead (where "Frank B" would be) there is something different: "Rifle into building..."

Is that a typo, or is that a relic of an earlier composition draft by the author(s), prior to the writing of that entry in the datebook, inadvertantly surviving into the published book? 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Benjamin Cole]

22 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

Let's see if I have this straight: 

Fact #1: nobody ever considered suggesting Skorzeny was connected to the JFK assassination before Ralph Ganis.

Fact #2: there is no evidence Skorzeny and Lafitte knew, met, or had anything to do with each other outside of the Lafitte datebook itself (and a decades-later reported and wholly unverified claim that Ilse Lafitte claimed to remember knowing Skorzeny, reportedly told by her in the same sentences as equally unverified claims in which she claimed to relate multiple social meetings with Lee and Marina Oswald, Thomas Eli Davis, and French assassin Souetre). 

Fact #3: In Ganis's book on Skorzeny, The Skorzeny Papers (2018), there is not a single mention of Lafitte. In my paperback edition of Ganis, 2020, the name of Lafitte does not even appear in the index. Also, in Albarelli's two earlier books, A Terrible Mistake (2009) and A Secret Order (2013), I notice Skorzeny is not in either of the indexes of those books. 

Fact #4: This sequence (I found exact dates hard to nail down, due to lack of a published timeline, but this is ca. 2010's). Lafitte dies; followed by Albarelli meeting Ganis; followed by Ganis telling Albarelli about Skorzeny; followed by Albarelli not telling Ganis immediately but later telling Ganis he (Albarelli) had previously seen Skorzeny's name in the Lafitte datebook just before meeting Ganis; followed by publication of the Lafitte datebook (Coup in Dallas, 2021) with multiple entries in the Lafitte datebook referring to Skorzeny.

Prima facie the Skorzeny references in the Lafitte 1963 datebook appear to date the writing of those Skorzeny references in that datebook to the time Albarelli met Ganis, ca. half a century later than 1963. Because, Ganis is the first verified introduction of Skorzeny suggested to be associated with the JFK assassination. 

Prima facie, since the first known evidence of Skorzeny entering the world of JFK assassination discourse is in the ca. 2010's via Ganis and that postdates Lafitte's death, it appears Lafitte is not the author of the multiple Skorzeny written references in Lafitte's datebook, since the allusions to Skorzeny appear to postdate Lafitte's death.

Provisional conclusion: at least some of the writing in the Lafitte 1963 datebook was written later than Lafitte. 

Suggested means of testing or falsification of provisional conclusion: analysis of handwriting; analysis of ink; recheck known public domain information (e.g. Mary Ferrell Foundation site) for any known references or discussions to Skorzeny as suspected involved in the JFK assassination prior to Ganis.

Suggested method in the absence of a credible, objective vetting/analysis of the datebook's writing for authenticity: distinguish and segregate what is known of the various characters independently of the datebook, from what is derivative from the datebook. Avoid mixing and conflating those two categories unless and until authenticity of the datebook is checked on the basis of physical examination by reputable questioned-document examiners.  

Prima facie there are credible grounds to suspect this may be a forged document, although there appears to be no knowledge or information concerning the identity of the forger, who was witting and who unwitting to the forgery, if that was the case. 

Those who believe the datebook entries dated 1963 are authentically from pre-Nov 22, 1963 may wish to make inquiry whether the entire datebook has been photographed, in a verified dateable record, since only some of the pages of the datebook are reported published in Coup in Dallas, and no authentication has been done. Unless there is a verified dated set of photographs of the entire datebook, there is no protection against tampering or additions, future "sensational discoveries" emerging from the remaining unpublished portions. Alternatively, if any of the unpublished pages did happen to have authentic writing of Jean-Pierre Lafitte, that could be checked against the handwriting of the sensational JFK assassination-related entries on the pages for which photographs have been published.

Fact #5: there are also many specific claims as to facts published in the Albarelli books which are difficult or impossible to verify, independently of the datebook. For example, I see in A Secret Order (2013) claims that Lafitte murdered Frank Olsen (p. 107); was tasked by Gottlieb to use botulism-toothpaste to kill Patrice Lumumba in the Congo (p. 149); in 1961 was traveling to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa doing assassinations for the CIA (p. 322); was QJ/WIN (p. 438); was very close to mobster John Roselli (p. 438) ... Are any of these claims true? None can be verified by anyone here, so far as I can tell. You cannot find any of these things verified on the Mary Ferrell Foundation site's documents, or anywhere else online to my knowledge. One might reasonably suspect these claims are all fabrications out of whole cloth (not saying Albarelli himself did the fabricating). (At A Terrible Mistake, 801, I see Albarelli credits "several retired CIA and FBI officials who asked to be unnamed" for some of his information on Jean-Pierre Lafitte.)    

~ ~ ~

p.s. on page 576 of Coup in Dallas, the Nov 20 entry is transcribed as "Lanny-Filiol ... call Storey ... DeM ... Frank B...."

However the photograph of the Nov 20, 1963 entry has only the first three of those four names. The fourth, "Frank B", is non-existent in the photograph, and instead (where "Frank B" would be) there is something different: "Rifle into building..."

Is that a typo, or is that a relic of an earlier composition draft by the author(s), prior to the writing of that entry in the datebook, inadvertantly surviving into the published book? 

Greg D is tough...

...but then Greg is a cakewalk to the daily and permanent Niagara of ridicule and feculent invective that will be the world of JFKA researchers if the datebook gets notoriety...and then is revealed as a fraud. 

Trust..but verify. 

Job One is to authenticate the datebook. 

 

[Tom Gram]

4 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Let's see if I have this straight: 

Fact #1: nobody ever considered suggesting Skorzeny was connected to the JFK assassination before Ralph Ganis.

Fact #2: there is no evidence Skorzeny and Lafitte knew, met, or had anything to do with each other outside of the Lafitte datebook itself (and a decades-later reported and wholly unverified claim that Ilse Lafitte claimed to remember knowing Skorzeny, reportedly told by her in the same sentences as equally unverified claims in which she claimed to relate multiple social meetings with Lee and Marina Oswald, Thomas Eli Davis, and French assassin Souetre). 

Fact #3: In Ganis's book on Skorzeny, The Skorzeny Papers (2018), there is not a single mention of Lafitte. In my paperback edition of Ganis, 2020, the name of Lafitte does not even appear in the index. Also, in Albarelli's two earlier books, A Terrible Mistake (2009) and A Secret Order (2013), I notice Skorzeny is not in either of the indexes of those books. 

Fact #4: This sequence (I found exact dates hard to nail down, due to lack of a published timeline, but this is ca. 2010's). Lafitte dies; followed by Albarelli meeting Ganis; followed by Ganis telling Albarelli about Skorzeny; followed by Albarelli not telling Ganis immediately but later telling Ganis he (Albarelli) had previously seen Skorzeny's name in the Lafitte datebook just before meeting Ganis; followed by publication of the Lafitte datebook (Coup in Dallas, 2021) with multiple entries in the Lafitte datebook referring to Skorzeny.

Prima facie the Skorzeny references in the Lafitte 1963 datebook appear to date the writing of those Skorzeny references in that datebook to the time Albarelli met Ganis, ca. half a century later than 1963. Because, Ganis is the first verified introduction of Skorzeny suggested to be associated with the JFK assassination. 

Prima facie, since the first known evidence of Skorzeny entering the world of JFK assassination discourse is in the ca. 2010's via Ganis and that postdates Lafitte's death, it appears Lafitte is not the author of the multiple Skorzeny written references in Lafitte's datebook, since the allusions to Skorzeny appear to postdate Lafitte's death.

Provisional conclusion: at least some of the writing in the Lafitte 1963 datebook was written later than Lafitte. 

Suggested means of testing or falsification of provisional conclusion: analysis of handwriting; analysis of ink; recheck known public domain information (e.g. Mary Ferrell Foundation site) for any known references or discussions to Skorzeny as suspected involved in the JFK assassination prior to Ganis.

Suggested method in the absence of a credible, objective vetting/analysis of the datebook's writing for authenticity: distinguish and segregate what is known of the various characters independently of the datebook, from what is derivative from the datebook. Avoid mixing and conflating those two categories unless and until authenticity of the datebook is checked on the basis of physical examination by reputable questioned-document examiners.  

Prima facie there are credible grounds to suspect this may be a forged document, although there appears to be no knowledge or information concerning the identity of the forger, who was witting and who unwitting to the forgery, if that was the case. 

Those who believe the datebook entries dated 1963 are authentically from pre-Nov 22, 1963 may wish to make inquiry whether the entire datebook has been photographed, in a verified dateable record, since only some of the pages of the datebook are reported published in Coup in Dallas, and no authentication has been done. Unless there is a verified dated set of photographs of the entire datebook, there is no protection against tampering or additions, future "sensational discoveries" emerging from the remaining unpublished portions. Alternatively, if any of the unpublished pages did happen to have authentic writing of Jean-Pierre Lafitte, that could be checked against the handwriting of the sensational JFK assassination-related entries on the pages for which photographs have been published.

Fact #5: there are also many specific claims as to facts published in the Albarelli books which are difficult or impossible to verify, independently of the datebook. For example, I see in A Secret Order (2013) claims that Lafitte murdered Frank Olsen (p. 107); was tasked by Gottlieb to use botulism-toothpaste to kill Patrice Lumumba in the Congo (p. 149); in 1961 was traveling to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa doing assassinations for the CIA (p. 322); was QJ/WIN (p. 438); was very close to mobster John Roselli (p. 438) ... Are any of these claims true? None can be verified by anyone here, so far as I can tell. You cannot find any of these things verified on the Mary Ferrell Foundation site's documents, or anywhere else online to my knowledge. One might reasonably suspect these claims are all fabrications out of whole cloth (not saying Albarelli himself did the fabricating). (At A Terrible Mistake, 801, I see Albarelli credits "several retired CIA and FBI officials who asked to be unnamed" for some of his information on Jean-Pierre Lafitte.)    

~ ~ ~

p.s. on page 576 of Coup in Dallas, the Nov 20 entry is transcribed as "Lanny-Filiol ... call Storey ... DeM ... Frank B...."

However the photograph of the Nov 20, 1963 entry has only the first three of those four names. The fourth, "Frank B", is non-existent in the photograph, and instead (where "Frank B" would be) there is something different: "Rifle into building..."

Is that a typo, or is that a relic of an earlier composition draft by the author(s), prior to the writing of that entry in the datebook, inadvertantly surviving into the published book? 

👏

[David Josephs]

4 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Prima facie the Skorzeny references in the Lafitte 1963 datebook appear to date the writing of those Skorzeny references in that datebook to the time Albarelli met Ganis, ca. half a century later than 1963. Because, Ganis is the first verified introduction of Skorzeny suggested to be associated with the JFK assassination.

How exactly does discovery of documents 50-60-80 years later create a pre-post date for the information found in either man's possession?

Consider Skorzeny's papers do not make reference to Lafitte for good reason - Skorzeny, being the great intelligence officer he was, is not the same as Lafitte or White in his note taking and steers clear of implicating key players in his circle.

Let's supposed the Lafitte datebook is never found.  The activities of Lafitte and others named may never be known since as you say, he is not mentioned in Ganis' book and therefore was probably not in the papers Ganis purchased at auction.

@Greg Doudna are you of a mind that Ganis had secured every document the man every generated?  That it was not remotely possible papers that sensitive and related to Lafitte were destroyed or are sequestered elsewhere and never seen.   One man's public body of work needn't address what you want, simply because you want it.  

How does that have any bearing on notes written in 1963 and not discovered until the mid-2010's which now do include a connection between the two men at the very least.  If both sets of papers are authentic, there is no conflict related to when Skorzeny is "introduced" into the JFK web...  Lafitte was recounting the activities contemporaneously.

You are aware that the archives has released documents, NEW documents which had not been seen in 60+ years.  
You are aware there are private collections of documents copied from NARA which do not appear anywhere online?
You are aware that Oswald's diary was examined and determined to have been written in only a few sittings, so even in 1963 they were able to tell this was not contemporaneously written, one would think they'd be better at it 60 years later.

How can you conclude Skorzeny references were added circa 2010 simply because you and I were not aware of Skorzeny and his role? or that Skorzeny maintains Lafitte's anonymity ? or that Lafitte name Skorzeny among all the other players contemporaneously?

Nothing you've offered precludes mention by Lafitte of Skorzeny in 1963 in a notebook which appears to loosely illustrate some of the activities which took place leading up to 11/22.

You are aware you can read reams of official JFK documents not mentioning Joannides involvement in the JFK assassination and cannot read one outlining his direct involvement - yet somehow we know based on who, where and when he was that there is a strong indication his fingerprints are all over portions of the assassination and/or the cover-up at the very least.

But because the docs had not yet surfaced we have to conclude any NEW docs with Joannides mentioned are frauds?
.   I must not fully understand your argument then Greg.

5 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

no authentication has been done

That's simply not true Greg, so why do you keep repeating it? 

5 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Fact #1: nobody ever considered suggesting Skorzeny was connected to the JFK assassination before Ralph Ganis.

In 1984 Mae Brussel wrote:  you CAN read between the lines, right?

In 1952 Otto Skorzeny, who had been released from American custody in 1947, moved to Madrid. He created what is known as the International Fascista. The CIA and the Gehlen BND dispatched him to "trouble spots." On his payroll were former SS agents, French OAS terrorists and secret police from Portugal's PDID. PDID are the same initials as the Los Angeles police intelligence unit, Public Disorder Intelligence Division. The California PDID was exposed on May 24, 1983 as spying on law abiding citizens at an expense of $100,000, utilizing a computerized dossier system bought by the late Representative Larry McDonald's "Western Goals." (McDonald was a national leader of the John Birch Society, which was exceedingly active in Dallas preceding the Kennedy assassination. Western Goals has offices in Germany run by Eugene Wigner that feed data to the Gehlen BND.)
    On the board of Western Goals are such Cold Warriors as Edward Teller, Admiral Thomas Moorer and Dr. Hans Senholt, once a Luftwaffe pilot.
    SS Colonel Skorzeny's CIA agents participated in terror campaigns waged by Operation 40 in Guatemala, Brazil and Argentina. Skorzeny was also in charge of the Paladin mercenaries, whose cover, M.C. Inc., was a Madrid export-import firm.
    Dr. Gerhard Hartmut von Schubert, [formerly] of Joseph Goebbels' propaganda ministry, was M.C. operating manager. The nerve center for Skorzeny's operations was in Albufera, Spain. It was lodged in the same building as the Spanish intelligence agency SCOE under Colonel Eduardo Blanco and was also an office of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
    The Albufera building was the kind of intelligence nest that was duplicated in New Orleans in 1963. That summer Lee Harvey Oswald handed out pro-Castro literature stamped with the address 544 Camp Street, a commercial building. This was a blunder, because Oswald actually was under the control of an anti-Castro operation headquartered there. His controller, W. Guy Banister, was connected with military intelligence, the CIA and a section of the World Anti-Communist League that had been set up by Willoughby and his Far Pacific intelligence unit in Taiwan.
    In The Great Heroin Coup, Henrik Kruger disclosed that the International Fascist was "not only the first step toward fulfilling the dream of Skorzeny, but also of his close friends in Madrid, exile Jose Lopez Rega, Juan Peron's grey eminence, and prince Justo Valerio Borghese, the Italian fascist money man who had been rescued from execution at the hands of the World War II Italian resistance by future CIA counterintelligence whiz James J. Angleton."
    A subcommittee on international operations of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prepared a report "Latin America: Murder, Inc." that is still classified. The title repeated Lyndon Johnson's remark, three months before he died, "We were running a Murder, Inc. in the Caribbean." The report concluded: "The United States had joint operations between Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The joint operations were known as Operation Condor. These are special teams used to carry out 'sanctions,' the killing of enemies."
    Jack Anderson gave a few details in his column "Operation Condor, An Unholy Alliance" August 3, 1979:

"Assassination teams are centered in Chile. This international consortium is located in Colonia Dignidad, Chile. Founded by nazis from Hitler's SS, headed by Franz Pfeiffer Richter, Adolf Hitler's 1000-year Reich may not have perished. Children are cut up in front of their parents, suspects are asphyxiated in piles of excrement or rotated to death over barbecue pits."

5 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Fact #2: there is no evidence Skorzeny and Lafitte knew, met, or had anything to do with each other outside of the Lafitte datebook itself

Not that anyone has ever seen...  You are aware there are still thousands of unseen documents.. pretty sweeping statement for someone with such a narrow focus.  Generalized blanket statements do little for credibility Greg.

5 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Fact #3: In Ganis's book on Skorzeny, The Skorzeny Papers (2018), there is not a single mention of Lafitte.

So what?   We have a photo of a mystery man and STILL have no idea who he really is...

Why does one spy-asset mentioning Skorzeny, in context, automatically require Skorzeny to expose Lafitte if all he was doing for the assassination was coordination and Skorzeny was not in the habit of writing or mentioning these deep cover assets?   

Two different men Greg.  Universal rules needn't apply, and your speculations should not be presented as "Prima facia" anything:  "based on the first impression; accepted as correct until proved otherwise". I've shown here the process of "proving otherwise" to you as others here have, yet you appear to only turn a deaf ear and power forward.

  

Aint gonna learn what you dont wanna know

 

[Jeremy Bojczuk]

Benjamin Cole writes:

Quote

Greg [Doudna] is a cakewalk to the daily and permanent Niagara of ridicule and feculent invective that will be the world of JFKA researchers if the datebook gets notoriety...and then is revealed as a fraud.

That's a good point. With the sixtieth anniversary coming up, some elements of the media will be on the look-out for anything that might discredit JFK assassination research in general and critics of the lone-gunman theory in particular. A JFK-related equivalent to the Hitler diaries hoax would do the job perfectly, just as Best Evidence did a few decades ago.

Until this document is published in full and has been examined and declared authentic by accredited experts, there is no reason to place any trust in what it contains.

And there's no good reason not to get it fully examined as soon as possible. If it's authentic, it would be probably the most important single piece of documentary evidence in the case. If it's a fraud, the sooner it is exposed as a fraud, the better. It really should have been thoroughly examined by experts long ago. The fact that it wasn't, does tend to raise suspicion.

On the subject of suspicion, Greg Doudna's Fact#4 is an eye-opener. If Greg's conclusion is correct, and parts of the document really were added after the death of the supposed author of the document, that's the end of the matter, isn't it?

To the group of chancers who have claimed to have been the gunman on the grassy knoll, or the gunman in the storm drain, or the gunman on the sixth floor, or any of these gunmen's getaway drivers, or Oswald's girlfriend, or one of the three tramps, we could add the author or authors of the datebook.

The JFK assassination does tend to attract claims like that. Until the datebook is properly examined and declared authentic, you can't blame people for assuming that it's probably a fraud, can you?

[Greg Doudna]

David Josephs is correct on this: in a 1984 article Mae Brussell argued for a worldwide post-ww2 Nazi connection to the JFK assassination in which activities of many international post-WW2 Nazis are described including Skorzeny. Skorzeny is not claimed by name to have direct involvement in the JFK assassination in that article, but it is suggested based on some propinquity arguments that the international Nazi movement/domestic American fascists (e.g. General Walker, etc.) may have been involved in the assassination of JFK as well as "the mob, the CIA and fanatical exiles, each with its own reason for gunning for Kennedy". The Mae Brussell article: http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae Brussell Articles/Nazi Connection to JFK Assass.html.

I have updated my above to reflect this, and thank David Josephs for bringing that reference to attention.

[Greg Doudna]

(Has anyone else noticed that there is no "strike through" option in editing like there used to be?)

[Greg Doudna]

David Josephs, what most convinced you that the writing in the Lafitte datebook is genuine pre-Nov 22, 1963 writing of Lafitte, and that forgery can be excluded?

Edited July 28, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Greg Doudna]

Book: Charles Hamilton, Great Forgers and Famous Fakes (1996)

"... Well-executed forgeries and fakes have fooled dealers and collectors for more than a century. This thoroughly documented book, containing hundreds of examples that show how to identify the best that the most skillful forgers have produced, will provide the expert and the amateur with tools for self-protection. Great Forgers and Famous Fakes is also a chronicle of the careers of America's most adroit and colorful manuscript forgers, telling who they were and how they swindled their victims. The fascinating stories of forgers and their works include: -the poet who forged hundreds of Robert Frost manuscripts -the multimillionaire industrialist and founder of RCA who got his start as a forger-and years later got fooled by his own fake -the American Nazi who forged John Howard Payne's "Home, Sweet Home" -a round-dozen forgers of Abe Lincoln's handwriting..." (https://www.amazon.com/Great-Forgers-Famous-Fakes-Manuscript/dp/0944435408 )

About the author:

"Charles Hamilton, world's foremost handwriting expert, forensic document examiner, and literary historian made full use of his more than half a century in the manuscript field to detail the secrets of forgers and famous fakes using over 400 illustrations. Hamilton, the author of eighteen books, passed away in 1996. His recent books are William Shakespeare & John Fletcher, Cardenio or The Second Maiden's Tragedy, The Hitler Diaries; and In Search of Shakespeare."

One of the Amazon reviews...:

"With lots of righteous anger, Charles Hamilton, an earlier incarnation of America's Most Wanted Bill Walsh, tears through an ever-growing list of forgers who dare dump their wares on an unsuspecting, greedy public and stupid scholars. Hamilton's list of rogue forgers is really just small time criminals, some of who are pretty good at copying someone's handwriting and style. Some of the forgers are incredibly lazy, and mostly depend on 'the art of the con' to see them through. Since his caseload is pre-1980, there is no discussion of modern forgeries, with obvious advanced sophistication. The almost certain downfall of all the forgers is that they work alone, and suffer 'pride of authorship,' so they cannot look at their work with a critical eye, and avoid short-comings and missteps. Hamilton died in 1996, and I understand that he was more flamboyant in reality, than he appears in this scholarly/technical work. A good read, but, I'm sorry, Charlie, but I found myself rooting for the forgers."

Another article: "The Forged Texts of the Middle Ages: why Europe's holy men turned to counterfeiting" (2021)

"The desire to deceive – and be deceived – is universal, and the forging of documents as old as writing itself. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, local priests – the experts in literacy – forged inscriptions in the names of earlier pharaohs and kings, claiming rights of preferential treatment. And scarcely a society can be found since in which such skulduggery was not practised in some form or another. But few regions in world history can rival medieval Europe for the sheer scale of forging. As modern scholars have established, over half of the surviving texts in the names of the Merovingian rulers of early medieval France and Germany (c481–752) are fakes; a third of those in the names of the Lombard rulers of northern Italy (568–774) are suspect; and similar figures hold true of the nearly 2,000 documents of pre-Conquest England. The vast majority of these texts were forged in the Middle Ages, in most cases between the 10th and 13th centuries. Those responsible were not a small cadre of recalcitrant rogues, but leading figures within the church – men such as Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg and Gilbert Foliot, abbot of Gloucester and later bishop of Hereford. . . . (https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/the-forged-texts-of-the-middle-ages-why-europes-holy-men-turned-to-counterfeiting/ )

[David Josephs]

28 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

David Josephs, what most convinced you that the writing in the Lafitte datebook is genuine pre-Nov 22, 1963 writing of Lafitte, and that forgery can be excluded?

Which is it Greg?  Forgery or a Fraud.  One suggests it was written by someone other than Lafitte for the purpose - I believe you called it out - of making some sort of profit, or compensation for such an amazing artifact.  Considering the artifact is not in the ownership possession of the people who wrote the book, the only one potentially making a profit from someone actually paying for it - would be his wife Renee who has had the book for decades.  Hank's book or not, that artifact would have been considerably more valuable in 1964, 1978, 1992 or 1997.  

You seem to think it may have been written post 2012.. when I was under the impression the physical characteristics do indeed support a contemporaneous 1963 writing throughout the year.  Even so, your evidentiary arguments for a post 2012 creation are tautological. 

Skorzeny's papers are not an indictment of the validity of Lafitte simply because Ganis' book does not mention him from his examination of a slice of Skorzeny's document history.  The ongoing lack of Joannides' mention is a prime example.
You think we'll find reference to Joannides in JJA's papers?  Dulles?  Barnes?  Phillips? Doesn't mean they did not interact, plot, implement, discuss... whatever.   Documents, like the space telescope, only show us a tiny sliver of the observable "Universe".  What is not seen over here, may very. well be where we've never looked.

It doesn't appear to me that "money" for the artifact was the motivation for its release.   I've seen nothing to suggest the datebook is for sale.

The other reason for a modern day forgery in our case might be pure dis-information - "The Hitler Diary" comes to mind.

Fair?

This document is: 179-40006-10049 and is a copy from the Blunt collection which basically proves WC lawyer Slawson - who went to Mexico but was snowed by the same people who perpetrated the fraud - seems more concerned the CIA might not like what they write about the "Oswald/Duran calls" than what really happened.

Would you consider this decent evidence there was something very wrong with the calls/transcripts from the 27th-1st?

"we must go FURTHER towards 'fudging' the contents of these calls". Go FURTHER??  Eliminate "Odessa" from the first set of calls on the 27th (and the fact the call was in Spanish and not Russia, which Oswald did not speak) which leaves us only the most incriminating and specific identification of Oswald. 

"should be eliminated" - and these are the  lawyers ffs.

 

 

The other - fraud - suggests Lafitte wrote it but not when you claim and based on information he knew or made up to connect people and events which are not actually connected culminating in the 11/22 assassination.  It being contemporaneous has no bearing on the potential for Lafitte's fraud.

Fair?

I say, can the narrative it suggests be proven by other means, by other evidence - or lack there of?

I am not past seeing this as a fraud Greg, your post simply makes little sense and offers speculation as conclusion

 

9 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Fact #2: there is no evidence Skorzeny and Lafitte knew, met, or had anything to do with each other outside of the Lafitte datebook itself (and a decades-later reported and wholly unverified claim that Ilse Lafitte claimed to remember knowing Skorzeny, reportedly told by her in the same sentences as equally unverified claims in which she claimed to relate multiple social meetings with Lee and Marina Oswald, Thomas Eli Davis, and French assassin Souetre)

It sure would be nice if you started your Speculative "FACTS" with:  "I have not seen any evidence....,  or I cannot make the connection between...." for as I show above... evidence you've not seen is without a doubt much more voluminous than that which you have.  Same for me Greg and I've probably seen scores more documents re: JFK than you have and in places you've never bothered to look.

Finally - stay with one or other subject... are we talking about Lafitte on your Lafitte notebook thread, or the books Hank previously published - 

10 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Are any of these claims true? None can be verified by anyone here, so far as I can tell. You cannot find any of these things verified on the Mary Ferrell Foundation site's documents, or anywhere else online to my knowledge

There are other sources for documents than "online" - and even those which are online are not necessarily complete... as I once again showed in the document above

[Ed Berger]

@Greg Doudna writes:

Quote

[Lafitte] was very close to mobster John Roselli (p. 438) ... Are any of these claims true? None can be verified by anyone here, so far as I can tell. 

Interestingly, we can establish some circumstantial evidence that Pierre Lafitte did, at the very least, swim in some of the same circles as Roselli. One of the sections in CiD discusses Lafitte's business entanglements—this time entailing a securities fraud involving Canadian Javelin, a very suspicious Newfoundland-based company (as an aside, I had conducted an in-depth study of Javelin a full year prior to reading CiD, so frankly I was caught very off guard by its appearance in the book). Below I've attached two newspaper clippings, the first from the Bangor Daily News, dated March 10 1962, and the second from the Times Argus, same date. Both mention Lafitte in conjunction with the affairs of one Ralph Loomis, a holder of Canadian Javelin stock. 

This FBI document shows that Canadian Javelin's chief, John C. Doyle (an insider of the Teamsters Pension Fund shenanigans, a whole other host of misdeeds) established something of a sister company to Javelin, called the Jubilee Iron Corporation. Javelin and Jubilee even shared the same New York City offices. 

The FBI recounts that one of the holders of Jubilee stock was John Roselli, who had purchased through L.J. Forget & Company Ltd. after he had been "vouched for" by George Pallay, a resident at the infamous Desert Inn. Pallay, the document notes, was a close friend of Javelin/Jubilee chief John Doyle, indicating a relationship between each of these parties prior to the purchase of Jubilee stock. Another  FBI document states that Pallay had known Roselli for many years. 

There are, of course, problems here. Lafitte being involved in scheme around Canadian Javelin stock doesn't necessarily mean that he knew Javelin's John Doyle (though any involvement with Javelin is in my mind very suspect, since Javelin's entire existence is born out from the legacy of figures from the World Commerce Corp in Newfoundland). Another is the fact that Lafitte gets in trouble over Javelin and related things in 1962; Roselli buys into Jubilee in 1965—a not insignificant lapse of time. But by the same token, we have the FBI reporting on the one hand that Doyle was very close to Pallay, and that Pallay in turn had known Roselli for years. 

One thing that stands out in my mind as a way to tighten this web is to try and verify something stated in CiD: that Lafitte brought Harold Meltzer into the fold for his schemes with funny stock activities.