The Men Who Murdered President Kennedy...REDUX-REDUX!

[Leslie Sharp]

@Robert Reeves RR, thanks for reminding us of Mae's deep dive into Sheffield Edwards. Her prescience is virtually unmatched and I think had elements within the community not maligned her work, we would've been further down the road in a significantly different direction much earlier. She was the embodiment of "a beautiful mind" imv.

And thanks for clarification of the date of Sheffield's "retirement." I agree with you. It's puzzling those records were withheld for decades. To what end?

When I read September I thought it was less relevant, but June 29 comports with a very brief note in a record maintained by Pierre Lafitte on July 9 indicating his wife was unhappy followed by the name Katie*, and the name Sheffield.  Hank Albarelli was informed by Mrs. Lafitte that the Edwards and she and Pierre had developed a close friendship as confirmed by another entry on December 23, "dinner with the Edwards." We can only speculate that she had spoken with Sheffield's wife in early July and was 'unhappy' — perhaps at the news or perhaps that Sheff's wife was upset?

*Sheffield's wife was Sarita Barber Edwards, not "Katie". We've yet to determine why the name appears with Sheffield, but for now we speculate it was a nickname. 

Notes about the relationship between Sheffield Edwards, Office of Security, and Pierre Lafitte — the elusive "special employee" of several three-letter agencies throughout the Cold War:

In June 1952, according to a letter by George White, the CIA officially recruited Lafitte as a “special employee” after he was summoned to Washington, D.C. to meet with CIA officials, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb and James Jesus Angleton. Wrote White: “Expecting to be at CIA only a day, Lafitte was held over for a few days. I hope to hell they know what they are in for. I suspect even to that crew that he’s one of a kind.” While at CIA headquarters, Lafitte also met Agency Security Chief, Sheffield Edwards, Frank Wisner, and Richard Helms. Subsequently, Lafitte undertook a number of covert domestic and international assignments for the CIA, including a trip to the Republic of Congo in December 1960, which, as noted, coincided with the January 1961 CIA-assisted assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Lafitte’s work for the CIA lasted until about 1978.
    Longtime CIA MK/ULTRA czar Dr. Gottlieb was more guarded about his words on Pierre Lafitte. “I’m not even sure he exists in the epistemology of the CIA,” said Gottlieb. “He gives whole new meaning to the label ‘spook.’” Gottlieb continued:
It’s widely known that he worked with George [White] in New York and San Francisco. That’s no secret at all today. But… he did… he did a lot more than that. He traveled extensively for the Agency… I would encounter him in unexpected places, completely… I’d see him but I wasn’t privy to what he was doing. Often I would ignore his presence as he would mine. 
. . . These activities—and the personnel involved in them—were carefully vetted by CIA Counterintelligence head Jim Angleton. White became a “CIA consultant,” and Gottlieb was soon informed that Angleton and CIA Deputy Director of Plans Frank Wisner were very interested in retaining the services of Pierre Lafitte, for “special projects.” Lafitte’s unique skill set was understandably intriguing to these men, and soon Lafitte was engaging in meetings with officers at the top echelon of the Agency. On the evening of June 23, 1952, Lafitte’s wife Rene telephoned White at home and informed him that Pierre was being held overnight in Washington D.C. for meetings with Wisner, Office of Security head Sheffield Edwards, and Wisner’s Chief of Operations Richard Helms.
    Thus began Lafitte’s long-term relationship with operatives at the core of CIA’s clandestine operations. There would be dinners with Angleton who would become a close friend, coded communications, and Agency-assisted passports issued to Lafitte in the coming years. 
. . . The letters WIN indicate the broad program cryptonym, and often individuals were given numbers after these three letters. For example: QJ/WIN-1, QJ/WIN-2, QJ/WIN-3 and on. 
An October 1976 CIA memorandum concerning a “review of the ZR/RIFLE file” reveals the following: 
In 1959, [Harold Meltzer] furnished information to our QJ/WIN California office but has not since cooperated with us. N.B. he has the background and talent for the matter we discussed but it is not known whether he would be receptive.’ [This the review took from a December 1960 CIA document.] YAZBECK lived in Beirut and worked for QJ/WIN’s office intermittently during the past 10 years (dates not given-possibly during 51-61.) YAZBECK’s chief bodyguard from 50-58 (not named) was a convicted murderer. The bodyguard was murdered. States that YAZBECK has an available pool of assassins.
Harold Meltzer first came to the attention of the CIA after mobster Johnny Rosselli had a conversation about him in 1959 with Agency Security Office chief Sheffield Edwards. Earlier the same year, according to a letter from FBN supervisory agent and CIA contractor George Hunter White to Garland Williams, also a FBN supervisor and a close friend to White, White and Charles Siragusa had discussed Meltzer with Rosselli during a meeting in Miami. It appears that Meltzer was not initially recruited by the CIA to perform assassinations, but instead was slated to help spot and recruit potential candidates for the Agency’s ZR/RIFLE and QJ/WIN programs. 
However, Meltzer’s skills as a hitman for Rosselli were notorious in mob circles. 
    That the CIA, as exposed in the above quoted memorandum, maintained a “QJ/WIN California office” is intriguing and, of course, summons up all sorts of theories about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. 

Regarding Robert Maheu's service to the agency, this document refers to "Office of Security" without naming Edwards specifically.  It's significant in context of Lafitte because as early as 1957, Maheu was involved with Allen Hughes and John Joseph Frank in selling a quantity of electronic and X-ray detection equipment to the Dominicans in 1955-56. Frank would be charged with failure to register as a foreign agent.  The names Hughes - Frank - Murphy (Gerald Murphy who was also named in the Frank indictment in context of the murder of a Columbia University prof purported but never confirmed to have been carried out by Trujillo's own diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa - who met with Giancana in Paris in June 1963) appear in Lafitte's January 4, 1963 datebook entry indicating that regardless of prior problems with the US government, they were still 'in play' in some capacity.

Since Herbert Itkins — de Mohrenschildt's rep and known for his influence and lucrative dealings in both Haiti and the DR at the time — also appears frequently in the Lafitte datebook, we can guess Hughes-Frank-Murphy were not far behind? https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/157-10005-10159.pdf

Edited March 17 by Leslie Sharp

[Robert Reeves]

2 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

And thanks for clarification of the date of Sheffield's "retirement." I agree with you. It's puzzling those records were withheld for decades. To what end?

Sheffield Edwards retirement date is only of interest after the assassination of JFK. Because the man was up to his eyeballs in shenanigans prior to the assassination - via his illicit 1960 outreach to the mob -- under instructions of Dulles. Sheffield Edwards had set in motion the illicit elimination of Castro. There are many others who've held official roles in the CIA mid/upper hierarchy and were involved in the assassination plot to remove Castro -- their retirement date isn't a 50 year secret, though.

Does not compute!!

Unless you have the foresight of what is to come, aka JFK gets whacked. So then who called the decision to classify Sheffield Edwards retirement date for 50 years?!?!?! Some panel within the CIA or an individual call.

I think the people in the know had certain players retire, Lansdale, Sheffield Edwards, etc. So to not implicate the Agency. The plan worked out. JFK died. No real investigation ever really dug deep enough into any of these people.

--------------------------------

@Chuck Schwartz @Joe Bauer @Leslie Sharp

About Mae Brussell. It's really affecting to see other people who really admire Mae Brussell. I think she paid a heavy price for her indomitable fight for justices in the assassinations, and many other causes. I can remember Mae describing one of her daughters (Bonnie) being killed by a hit-and-run driver. How at the time Mae was receiving many specific threats to her & the family, she believed she had paid the ultimate price for her attempts to uncover the truth. It didn't stop her. The courage of the very early researchers into the JFK assassination is impressive.

Mae Brussell had already compiled a large collection of documents prior to the assassination of JFK regarding Operation Paperclip. She knew something gigantic was soon to happen. And she would be ready to expose the truths. And there is the problem. The mainstream media hasn't ever really done its job.

 

 

[Ron Bulman]

51 minutes ago, Robert Reeves said:

I think the people in the know had certain players retire, Lansdale, Sheffield Edwards, etc. So to not implicate the Agency. The plan worked out. JFK died. No real investigation ever really dug deep enough into any of these people.

--------------------------------

Reading through this, I've wondered about the possibility before myself.  Pretty much everybody on the forum knows Dulles, Cabbell, Bissell and Walker were forcibly retired not too long before, by JFK.  All still useful in some respects with lots of contacts. 

But, it seems like there was at least one more relevant upper-level CIA person who retired less than a year before the assassination.  I can't remember the name or position, first thought Barnes, no.  You say Lansdale, Edwards, etc.  Any idea who I might be thinking about?  Anyone else? 

[Robert Morrow]

4 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

Reading through this, I've wondered about the possibility before myself.  Pretty much everybody on the forum knows Dulles, Cabbell, Bissell and Walker were forcibly retired not too long before, by JFK.  All still useful in some respects with lots of contacts. 

But, it seems like there was at least one more relevant upper-level CIA person who retired less than a year before the assassination.  I can't remember the name or position, first thought Barnes, no.  You say Lansdale, Edwards, etc.  Any idea who I might be thinking about?  Anyone else? 

This does not answer your question... but I would like to add:

1) The Kennedys were a sure lock to force J. Edgar Hoover to mandatorily retire on January 1, 1965, when Hoover reached the mandatory federal retirement age of 70.

2) Gen. Edward Lansdale was pretty much forced out of the military on 10/31/1963 just 3 weeks before the JFK assassination.

3) The Kennedy Administration forced Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of Vietnam, to "retire" on 11/1/1963 because of an American backed CIA coup that unfortunately ended in his death on 11/2/1963 along with his brother.

4) John J. McCloy was JFK's arms control negotiator with the Soviets. Because McCoy, a classic hardline cold warrior was not getting the job done, JFK brought in Averell Harriman to replace McCoy and within a period the USA/Soviet nuclear test ban treaty was accomplished.

5) JFK book Gen. Lyman Lemnitizer from being head to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a job with NATO, where I am sure he did many shady things.

[Leslie Sharp]

2 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Reading through this, I've wondered about the possibility before myself.  Pretty much everybody on the forum knows Dulles, Cabbell, Bissell and Walker were forcibly retired not too long before, by JFK.  All still useful in some respects with lots of contacts. 

But, it seems like there was at least one more relevant upper-level CIA person who retired less than a year before the assassination.  I can't remember the name or position, first thought Barnes, no.  You say Lansdale, Edwards, etc.  Any idea who I might be thinking about?  Anyone else? 

Are you thinking of Admiral Arleigh Burke, or maybe General Georg Decker?

[Robert Montenegro]

On 3/17/2024 at 7:02 PM, Robert Reeves said:

Sheffield Edwards retirement date is only of interest after the assassination of JFK. 

 

On 3/17/2024 at 8:46 PM, Robert Morrow said:

This does not answer your question... but I would like to add:

1) The Kennedys were a sure lock to force J. Edgar Hoover to mandatorily retire on January 1, 1965, when Hoover reached the mandatory federal retirement age of 70.

2) Gen. Edward Lansdale was pretty much forced out of the military on 10/31/1963 just 3 weeks before the JFK assassination.

 

No one "retires" from those liaisons—retirement documents in the intelligence community are just pieces of paper.

 

There is no shedding of uniforms after a certain rank and time-in-service is accomplished—too much programming has taken place once you reach Colonel and above.

  

[Robert Montenegro]

On 3/7/2024 at 6:37 PM, Leslie Sharp said:

However, making the leap that all on the list are “responsible for the murder of President Kennedy” without clear parameters of the term “responsible” is just that, a leap. I would suggest inserting the caveat to each category: With skills and in a position to . . .  as well as applying a process of prioritization.

 

I would have to come to the hard defense of this manifesto I put together by saying until kingdom come and the Almighty lays waste to all ignorance and hidden things, this list, at least on a cultural "superego" level, will have to do.

 

With that said, I stand by what I have done here.

 

If anything, it makes for a jolly-good horrorshow reflection of our national security state that such monsters were in strategic positions of power in 1963...

 

[Robert Montenegro]

On 3/14/2024 at 1:49 AM, Leslie Sharp said:

Before Roger Stone's "LBJ Did It" consumes this thread entirely — and with the indulgence of Robert Montenegro who has generously provided the most comprehensive database of its kind to date — the influence of Clark Mollenhoff's reporting warrants review from a broader perspective than has been promoted thus far:

. . . Sy Hersh notes that Clark Mollenhoff’s reporting included reference to Delaware Senator Williams’ access to an account of [Ellen] Rometsch’s life in D.C. over a period of more than two years, and that having been born in East Germany, she still had relatives on “the other side of the iron curtain.” Mollenhoff had added, either parenthetically or based on information provided him by his sources within the government, “The possibility that her activity might be connected with espionage is of some concern for security investigators because of the high rank of her male companions.” Thus, Mollenhoff revealed to the public that in July, the FBI had started investigating the possibility that Ellen was a Soviet spy, and that “with less than a week’s notice, she and her husband were sent back to Germany . . . at the request of the State Department.” 

Hersh observes that Mollenhoff, who had covered labor corruption during the 1950s, had been an enthusiastic supporter of Bobby Kennedy’s work as general counsel of the Senate Rackets Committee. Writes Hersh, “The two men had grown apart—the specifics of their dispute could not be learned for this book—and the increasingly conservative [emphasis added] Mollenhoff had begun to write extensively, and critically, of the Kennedy administration’s decision in late 1962 to bypass Boeing and award the TFX contract to General Dynamics. Writes Hersh, Mollenhoff’s reporting “was taken most seriously by Bobby Kennedy.”

Indeed, reporter Mollenhoff’s conservative leaning was apparent in public settings when in October of 1962 when he participated on a panel, “Washington Cover-Up” at Georgetown University alongside the president of the Ukraine Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and Georgetown economics professor Lev Dobriansky, evidenced in a photo in The Ukraine Weekly, and in ensuing years Mollenhoff was not shy about his commitment to anti-communism. A brief mention in an article dated Saturday, April 20, 1974 in The Ukraine Weekly, under the headline, “Anti-communist League Holds 7th Conference In Washington,” provides a window into his public support of the World Anti-communist League (WACL). 

Hosted in D.C. by the American Council for World Freedom (ACWF), the conference boasted some twenty-five speakers representing both free nations and countries under Communist suppression, including autocrat General Anastazio Somoza of Nicaragua and the Hon. Jaroslav Stetsko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine and head of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) since its inception as well as leader of the Organization of Ukranian Nationalists (OUN). The US affiliate of Stetsko’s ABN, The American Friends of Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations is infamous among Kennedy researchers for its leading member Spas Raikin being tapped to meet Lee Harvey Oswald and his Russian wife Marina as they arrived from the USSR. 

Among the US speakers at the 1974 WACL conference were prominent Republicans including future congressman John McCain, conservative journalist William F. Buckley, and Prof. Dobriansky. The lengthy article in The Ukraine Weekly continues to describe the events, “The first reception, hosted by three members of the American press, John Chamberlain, King Features Syndicate columnist, Robert Hurleigh, Mutual Broadcasting System columnist, and Clark Mollenhoff, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and Washington Bureau Chief of the "Des Moines Register and Star" was held at the National Press Club.”

Of interest to researchers in pursuit of significant domestic and foreign intrigues in the decades following the assassination implicating yet another web of ideologically aligned forces, at the time of the 1974 WACL conference attended by Mollehnhoff and Dobriansky, the Cowles Communication / Des Moines Register board included Ret. General George Olmsted, close friend to Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke who resigned from the navy before President Kennedy had served a full year as president to join Texaco, one of four Rockefeller concerns to secure exclusive drilling rights in Saudi Arabia. Olmsted was the force behind the financial empire that within the decade would be caught up in the BANK OF CREDIT AND COMMERCE (BCCI) scandal. 

Later in this investigation, the network of WACL and Stetsko’s ABN, tied to the assassination of Ukranian Stepan Bandera who led the OUN said to be most closely aligned with Mussolini’s fascism before his assassination, and their affiliation with General Charles Willoughby and General Edwin A. Walker — both named frequently by Lafitte — will assume greater significance.

For now, in light of the Ellen Rometsch scandal widely exposed by Mollenhoff who was first to compare it to the Profumo Affair and the possibility that more than blackmail was in play, it is important to draw attention to several Lafitte entries:

NYC Rest guide ad.
Talk of Ella R. photographs
. . . in NY at Previews
—Lafitte datebook, September 17, 1963

Meet with Willoughby at
(Ella R) others at
49 East 53rd St.
NYC
—Lafitte datebook, October 15, 1963

 

 

 

Ironclad information—thank you, Leslie.

[John Kowalski]

On 3/4/2024 at 10:48 AM, Robert Montenegro said:

Louis Mortimer Bloomfield (PERMINDEX)

Robert:

What evidence do you have of his connection to Kennedy's assassination?

[Joe Bauer]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:48 AM, Robert Montenegro said:

William Alexander "Rip" Robertson Jr. (Operación 40 executive/ ZRJEWEL commander/ Joint Advisory Commission Korea/ American Committee for Aid to Katanga Freedom Fighters/ CIA liaison, South African Institute for Maritime Research/ CIA paramilitary officer, Special Activities Division, Special Operations Group)

Again...Facial Recognition Technology can now prove ( or disprove? ) Robertson was photographed in the Dealey Plaza bystander crowd as JFK drove through just seconds before he was obliterated.

I've been posting how Facial Recognition Tech has vastly improved it's ability for accuracy. 99.5% according to researchers like New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill. 

Her new book "Your Face Belongs To Us" details the huge impact of this technology on everyone. Both here and abroad. I'm posting a link to a recent interview of Kashmir Hill discussing her new best seller book.  She highlights a company called "Clear View AI" that is a leader in this field of facial identification.

Police departments and agencies across America use this Clear View technology now. They rave about it's accuracy success.

The story of Facial Recognition Technology is a fascinating yet ominously frightening one. The technology is being used everywhere and abused. The average American doesn't even know about this technology and the power and potential rights violation danger of it's use.

This interview of Ms. Hill begins about 5 minutes in.

Ms. Hill has been threatened because of her research. Wait until you read about the owners of Madison Square Garden's use of Clear View AI technology to immediately identify and then toss perceived enemies out of their premises within seconds of their entering.

A billionaire grocery store owner in New York City uses Clear View tech to ID potential shop-lifters. Right wing rally organizers use it to toss leftists from their venues.

Homeland Security uses it.

Ms. Hill states there is a private "FRT" company out there that the general public can use to ID anyone. It is called "PimEyes." 

Eventually someone is going to submit some of more ominous suspect JFKA character photos like Rip Robertson, Bill Shelley and others to one of these FRT companies for analysis.

I understand there is also body type and gait technologies that are now equally advanced.

The 3 Tramp pic with the suited man walking through them would be the first to submit for analysis in that venue.

 

Your Face Belongs to Us - C-SPAN.org

Edited April 1 by Joe Bauer

[Robert Montenegro]

2 hours ago, John Kowalski said:

Robert:

What evidence do you have of his connection to Kennedy's assassination?

 

At the expense of looking like I am groping in the dark, I must admit that I place Maj. Bloomfield's name on this list as a matter of fleshing out the "battlespace" that the murders of President Kennedy operated within.

 

That is to say, the superstructure of Western intelligence and how it operated in the time period leading up to the events of President Kennedy's murder.

 

In terms of hard evidence, we, as researchers are forced to infer at the moment when it comes to Maj. Bloomfield.

 

We know that he was an attorney for PERMINDEX (an entity identified in CIA documents as being a gargantuan front for arm-trading), where he specialized in covering-up the true motives of the corporate structure of PERMINDEX 's revolving door of WWII-era fascists & Western intelligence assets.

 

It should be noted, that most of the researchers that dare look at Maj. Bloomfield, and see his connections to Israeli gun-running operations, think that he is some willing asset to the Mossad—this argument is a non-starter.

 

Just because you sell weapons to a fledgling nation-state, does not mean you have any loyalties to that country, it just means you are an opportunistic worm, willing to make a buck wherever possible—enter stage right, Maj. Bloomfield.

 

Once again, I would stress that until we get the final word on PERMINDEX , we will never get the full scope of their officer's goals and mission parameters.

 

In the meantime, I choose to make highly informed estimates.

 

In other words, I am forced into the realm of "educated guesses."

 

So, to answer your question, Mr. Kowalski, I am up the creek until we, as a research community, are allowed to see all of the documents.

 

We have barely begun to scratch the surface of what PERMINDEX was...   

 

When it comes to PERMINDEX, I would suggest the mind-numbing research of Edmund Burger and Michele Metta, then allow common sense to dictate your next move.

   

[Robert Montenegro]

4 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Again...Facial Recognition Technology can now prove ( or disprove? ) Robertson was photographed in the Dealey Plaza bystander crowd as JFK drove through just seconds before he was obliterated.

 

Well, Mr. Bauer, at the expense of sounding like an immediate disqualifier, I am of the belief that every single photograph, strip of film footage and audio-recording of the murder of President Kennedy, has been altered in some fashion by powerful interests that want to suppress some aspect of the operation or another—whether it be firing sequences, or the presence of some operative who got a little careless about operational security, and stood in front of a pedestrian's camera.

 

As for AI recognition, I do believe it would be a brillant tool to not only identifying persons in and around the fire-zone of President Kennedy's murder, but also voice stressor technology.

 

Techniques are being developed right now to sense whether or not someone is lying, based off of the tone, pitch and syntax of speech.

 

That would be an invaluable resource, if we could say, funnel audio of District Attorney Henry Wade, Clay Shaw, or Mr. Oswald thru a series of filters, to see if the men were lying, based on the response of acoustic spectrometer analysis.

 

Scary and fascinating times we live in, with technology like that at a civilian's fingertips...

 

     

[John Kowalski]

2 hours ago, Robert Montenegro said:

When it comes to PERMINDEX, I would suggest the mind-numbing research of Edmund Burger and Michele Metta, then allow common sense to dictate your next move.

   

Bloomfield was not an attorney for Permindex, his role with this company was to represent the interests of some of its shareholders. I read Metta's book and wrote a book review. His book does not prove that Permindex had any connection to to Kennedy's assassination.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/the-canadian-archives-michele-metta-and-the-latest-on-permindex

[Joe Bauer]

2 hours ago, Robert Montenegro said:

As for AI recognition, I do believe it would be a brilliant tool to not only identifying persons in and around the fire-zone of President Kennedy's murder...

RM... WHAT IF ... Facial Recognition technology analysis finds the Dealey Plaza photo is a 99.5% match to other Robertson photos? 

Just for speculative discussion ... what would you think of Robertson's presence in Dealey Plaza that day and right during the shooting of JFK?

[Robert Montenegro]

17 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Just for speculative discussion ... what would you think of Robertson's presence in Dealey Plaza that day and right during the shooting of JFK?

 

I believe, based on what we know about Special Activities Division officer William A. Robertson's unredacted military service history, that he was providing the "mechanics" (meaning the shooter teams that actually fired shots at President Kennedy) with security intelligence support operations.

 

You name it, you can have it, escape & evasion routes, physical security of the shooters, getaway drivers & vehicles, cover & deception for shooters (like cover stories & false identification), suicide devices (in case murder team members are captured), communication relays for shooter teams (and jamming equipment), etc.—this is the kind of coordination and support that SAD officer Robertson was providing to the mechanics that murdered President Kennedy.

 

And I do not believe he was alone—I name off a small team of personnel that were in strategic positions within and without the intelligence community, that were also acting as coordinators in this plot.

 

William Robertson was providing this type of function for commando teams on a global scale—that program was awarded the cryptonym ZRJEWEL.