‘My friend was a secret CIA agent – and I think she was the second JFK shooter’

[Leslie Sharp]

@Nick Bartetzko to your point, I’ve known a number of authors who are not “withholding,” but instead are protecting information and sources until the material can be published in full and accurate context. It’s my understanding the circumstances of “Final Charade” fall into that category. Getting it right isn’t an easy task, getting it out there can be dangerous. And authors who accept those risks earn every dime of that 12-16% Royalty.

That said (underscored), I’ve lobbied privately for decades (beginning with Virginia M. who had custody of Mae Brussel’s files) that private archives belong in a non-governmental fully accessible public repository so that families and estates can pick up the phone, make a one-stop call and say “come get this stuff because that’s what our loved one would want ...he or she just didn’t get around to making the arrangements.”  We’ll do the rest. Santa Fe NM is under consideration for just such a venue with volunteer support staff. We shall see what unfolds in 2024. (If anyone is interested in discussing this project, I’ll launch a dedicated thread — providing our hosts approve.)

PS. If “the community” hadn’t devolved into a fractious, compartmentalized org. — created in the image of the very intel agencies it pursued — filled with green-eyed competitors and infiltrated by the likes of the Dirty Trickster himself, this case might have been solved — fully solved — by at least the mid-90s.  Study the trajectory, consider the current crisis in our democracy instigated by the 45th president, the recent exploitation of the JFK Records Act... the dots are there for the connecting. 
 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Ron Bulman]

On 11/25/2023 at 5:38 AM, Benjamin Cole said:

From the Pugibet datebook: undated, but in the month of July, in the maginalia:  "J'aurais aimé avoir un centime pour chaque nickel que j'avais"

Ben, what is the Pugibet datebook?  The way I understand the story he made a death bed confession to a cousin.  Who then told an antiquities dealer/purveyor of information who contacted a researcher.  No mention of a datebook I've read of.  When and where did you read the datebook to quote from it?

[Michael Griffith]

Haverstick found a woman who had known the CIA June Cobb very well, and the woman identified two photos of Jerrie Cobb as the woman she had known as June Cobb. The woman’s name was Fortuna Calvo-Roth. She was a reporter at a Spanish-language weekly in NYC that the CIA had used for communications between agents and their handlers. I quote from Haverstick’s account of Fortuna’s identification of Jerrie Cobb as June Cobb—and note that she explains the issue of how Cobb wore her hair:

          When I reached out to Fortuna Calvo-Roth, she was retired and still living in Manhattan after having become the first female editor of a major magazine at Vision, among other accomplishments. Admittedly, I didn’t say up front that a goal from the interview was an identification. It just seemed too far-fetched to bring up double identities, even in the form of a question. Instead, I explained that I was researching a number of fascinating women who had worked with Fidel Castro, and that I was especially interested in his American assistant, June Cobb.

          I designed a sheet of images for the identification featuring nine headshots, mostly of women who had worked with Castro. I included a photo of Jerrie, and in fact I used two. I also included two of another American woman accused of spying in Cuba, Marjorie Lennox. As for June, I used just one image—the picture June had sent to Newman. It was the clearest image by far and had unimpeachable sourcing. . . .

          As Fortuna reminisced about the trip, I asked if she’d come into contact with Castro or any of the women who worked in his office. She hadn’t. I then asked if she’d run into June Cobb, who’d worked for Fidel as a secretary of some sort in Havana. She said she hadn’t run into June Cobb in Cuba, but that she knew June well and saw her regularly, but always in New York.

          And there was my moment. I brought out my photo sheet and asked if she saw a picture of June on it, or if she recognized any of the women.

          She didn’t recognize the other women, but she did recognize June. She pointed first to one, then to the other photo of Jerrie Cobb.

          But Fortuna was perplexed, because June never wore her hair that way. She held her hands over Jerrie’s hair to better isolate the face. Yes, this looked like June, she said, but she never styled herself that way. I asked how June typically looked, and she said June always wore her hair in a chignon, an elegant French bun. June evidently wore the chignon without fail, and Fortuna couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t wearing it in the photos. We lingered over the photo sheet for some time, and while Fortuna was sure Jerrie was June, the hair just “wasn’t right.”

          I turned her attention to the photo June had sent to Newman. “Was this June?”

          No, she said very quickly and certainly. That was not June. (pp. 63-64)

The more I read Haverstick’s book (I’m on Chapter 8), the more I believe that Haverstick has uncovered some historic information about the JFK case.

 

[Paul Brancato]

Reading over the comments here makes me wonder what we are doing. Didn’t we used to invite authors onto the Forum? Is she not worthy? Poll - how many of you have now read this interesting book? 

[Leslie Sharp]

@Michael Griffith Mary H. established — presumably without realizing it — that John Newman and Hank Albarelli knew the same woman, Viola June Cobb.  I repeat that it is inexplicable to me she didn’t contact Hank, and I hope to discover the reason if I have an opportunity to speak with her directly. 

I found this passage in the book intriguing as well, Michael. Numerous photos of Hank’s friend and godmother to his first grandson Dylan, depict her with loose flowing usually shoulder-length light to medium brown hair.  I think I’ve seen one photo where her hair is in a French bun, very popular in the late ‘50s early ‘60s.  Ella Rometch’s most seductive photo captures the iconic seductress hairstyle of the day as well.

I’ve also watched videos of Jerrie Cobb The Pilot and her hair is often pulled back, length well below her shoulders but loose flowing and distinctly blonde — more Oklahoma school girl than international femme fatale.   Hair color can be easily manipulated but it takes a lot of training/programming to disguise Jerrie’s diction, speech pattern and uniquely Oklahoman accent.  Hank said June worked at perfecting her colloquial speech habits. I don’t detect the same in Jerri’s videos. She appears entirely content and confidant in her own skin.  note: both June and Jerrie could have deliberately fashioned a chignon specifically for a particular audience, including Fortuna.

Which leads me to the single most important identifier for our purpose: the coincidence both women from Oklahoma were pilots.  A pilot’s license can be faked and brandished about, but getting into the cockpit with the intention to take off? No. 

I recognize Mary H. avoids stating emphatically that “Hank’s June Cobb” (for lack of a more suitable mechanism to distinguish his friend June from Geraldyn Cobb The Pilot) earned her pilot’s license and flew planes, but I refer again to pg. 377 of his book, “A Secret Order” and June’s emphatic statement that she “felt distrust for things mechanical and mathematical” ... primary requisites for piloting a plane.  When I reread that quote  — positioned opposite a photo of June Cobb, not Jerrie Cobb — I recognized Hank’s innate mischievousness. 

Scars and hair similarities are non sequiturs; analyzing their body types from a female perspective, Jerrie would have trouble fooling June’s friends; the alleged pilot coincidence should probably be struck from the list; Jerrie did not live significant years in Ponca City; June and Jerrie were on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum; as Fortuna confirms, Jerrie Cobb posing as June, never (to her knowledge) met with Castro. Etc. etc.

Hank’s friend June Cobb was not Babushka Lady. If she was the head QJ/WIN, he concealed it to his death. To what end? If Jerrie posing as June was the head QJ/WIN, why would Mary H. essentially airbrush Otto and Ilse Skorzeny from her saga.  Of note, if indeed Jerrie Cobb maintained an address in Dallas in 1963, the possibilities expand exponentially considering the “lay of the land” leading up to November 22.

All that said, this book should be studied for the deep dives into the cloak and dagger and spy craft on the international stage — far beyond Cuba — that has remained hidden below the radar, and specifically those nickel deals that happen to also serve as further validation of the authenticity of Hank’s primary source material for his final active investigation.  
 

I hope someone from the Forum will issue Mary Haverstick an invitation to join this conversation, and please add my name. @Paul Brancato

Edited November 28, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Nick Bartetzko]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:20 PM, Leslie Sharp said:

@Nick Bartetzko to your point, I’ve known a number of authors who are not “withholding,” but instead are protecting information and sources until the material can be published in full and accurate context. It’s my understanding the circumstances of “Final Charade” fall into that category. Getting it right isn’t an easy task, getting it out there can be dangerous. And authors who accept those risks earn every dime of that 12-16% Royalty.

That said (underscored), I’ve lobbied privately for decades (beginning with Virginia M. who had custody of Mae Brussel’s files) that private archives belong in a non-governmental fully accessible public repository so that families and estates can pick up the phone, make a one-stop call and say “come get this stuff because that’s what our loved one would want ...he or she just didn’t get around to making the arrangements.”  We’ll do the rest. Santa Fe NM is under consideration for just such a venue with volunteer support staff. We shall see what unfolds in 2024. (If anyone is interested in discussing this project, I’ll launch a dedicated thread — providing our hosts approve.)

PS. If “the community” hadn’t devolved into a fractious, compartmentalized org. — created in the image of the very intel agencies it pursued — filled with green-eyed competitors and infiltrated by the likes of the Dirty Trickster himself, this case might have been solved — fully solved — by at least the mid-90s.  Study the trajectory, consider the current crisis in our democracy instigated by the 45th president, the recent exploitation of the JFK Records Act... the dots are there for the connecting. 
 

 

@Leslie Sharp I think your idea of a central public repository is a great idea and I would be interested in learning more. I do understand the complexities of protecting sources, having legal contracts in place, book deals, etc. Some of my post was a response in frustration because, imo,  we’ve lost valuable research and historical information because researchers didn’t properly care for the research they had accumulated.

You mentioned trajectories and I have yet to see a really good trajectory analysis that takes into account wound abrasion, clothing distortion, using Z186 and Z224 as key frames and body positioning at those frames, accessibility of the body from certain potential firing points, descriptions of X-ray findings and autopsy corpsman descriptions of the internal chest cavity, etc. I don’t have the skillset to do that, but I think reasonably specific firing points could be established using “reverse engineering “.

I must say that the description of Hank’s book is fascinating, but the concept of using Pierre Lafitte in such an important capacity is well, unbelievable. Until there is solid verification of the authenticity of his notebook, I will remain very skeptical. 
 

Thanks for taking the time to post and reveal his work. 

[Ron Bulman]

On 11/30/2023 at 1:47 AM, Nick Bartetzko said:

I must say that the description of Hank’s book is fascinating,

Have you read it?  It's not expensive.

[Nick Bartetzko]

40 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

Have you read it?  It's not expensive.

I have not read it and haven’t bought a new JFKA book in years. Have spent many hundreds of dollars over decades and am frankly a bit burned out. I have been planning on selling or donating virtually all of them and didn’t want to add any more to the collection. The one exception would definitely have been Lifton ‘s Final Charade. But I’ll take a look now over at Amazon since you mentioned it. 

[Pete Mellor]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:41 PM, Leslie Sharp said:

Pete, is there a specific reason you think "anything on Cobb . . . "?

 

I hear and read that a lot, but I've yet to track the original source of said skepticism. I assume someone tilled the soil of doubt; seems to me it would be useful to follow the breadcrumbs. Who knows what might have motivated someone to exclude her knowledge of characters and events from that period.   Why did Win Scott jump to mind? 

Apologies Leslie, over a week to reply, I've been busy away from this Forum.

Well, many reasons June Cobb is somewhat of another enigma in this case of multi-enigmas.  It is certainly well known her penetration of close association of Castro's office c1959-60, working with other agency figures as Juan Cordova and known by Dave Phillips. Cobb was also close to Marita Lorenz as well as Fidel.  I assume she was part of the early CIA/Mafia assassination plots to take out Castro.  Phillip's said something about Cobb in Cuba that she was in a lot of beds.  Was she ever part of Harvey's ZR/Rifle?  Who knows?  Maybe Larry H.

Even earlier in 1957-58 Cobb is in New Orleans assisting in the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics cocaine bust,  bringing down a drug lab in Columbia.

So, in '63 the agency has her in M.C., where Dave Phillips just happens to be at the same time.  No surprise Win Scott jumps to mind.  Such a shame Jim Angleton got his paws in Win's filing cabinet! 

Cobb is a real Mata Hari.  She was also described as a blonde, which doesn't fit with her well known photograph.  

[Leslie Sharp]

I'm following this closely because Hank Albarelli knew Viola June Cobb personally. To my knowledge he didn't know Jerrie Cobb The Pilot other than what he read in the papers or what June or his contacts might have divulged in confidence.  Therein rests the conundrum.

I'm seeing some discrepancies, or the appearance of same, in certain of the timeline presented in AWIK vs. ASO. 

Btw, Hank refers to June as a blonde in her early years. I agree, only photos I'm familiar with are medium brown, proving nothing.

It's my understanding that the Scott family finally regained possession of at least some of Winston's confiscated personal material.  I would very much want to learn of the contents of his diaries from the early 1950s when he served as chief of Western European division of the Office of Special Operations.  Cam Cleveland opined (according to Jeff Morley), "He was the chief of the most important division in the agency. . . He really had things going his own way. He was a big deal in the Agency."

For our purpose, in that role he was reporting officer for docs coming out of Madrid, including Otto Skorzeny-related. He might have notes to confirm whether the two ever met. 

[Paul S. Vines]

Definitely an intriguing story..I have no bow wow in the pow wow of whether its true or not..But this much ,i know for certain..NOONE on either side of the fence  , Lone assassin or Conspiracy believer  , has figured this case out for certain.