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Has anyone in their research ever come across the name Ronald Von Klaasen?

On the 'JFK' director's cut DVD, Oliver Stone in his commentary mentions that the guy who plays Oswald's boss at the photo mapping place was Ronald Von Klaasen who he describes as 'the real deal' and someone who was around at the time.

This photo below shows Howard K. Davis on the left and Ronald Von Klaasen on the right (circa 1963). I have Googled the name and several possible spelling variations but have come up with nothing.

Interestingly enough, in the film 'JFK', there is an actor named Ronald Von Klaussen who is credited as playing the First Hobo. The same actor was also in the Stone film 'Nixon' and played James McCord.

Anyway, I was hoping someone was familiar was the name Ronald Von Klaasen who was mixed up in the anti-Castro cause.

BTW, the original identification came from Howard K. Davis himself.

James

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Has anyone in their research ever come across the name Ronald Von Klaasen?

On the 'JFK' director's cut DVD, Oliver Stone in his commentary mentions that the guy who plays Oswald's boss at the photo mapping place was Ronald Von Klaasen who he describes as 'the real deal' and someone who was around at the time.

This photo below shows Howard K. Davis on the left and Ronald Von Klaasen on the right (circa 1963). I have Googled the name and several possible spelling variations but have come up with nothing.

Interestingly enough, in the film 'JFK', there is an actor named Ronald Von Klaussen who is credited as playing the First Hobo. The same actor was also in the Stone film 'Nixon' and played James McCord.

Anyway, I was hoping someone was familiar was the name Ronald Von Klaasen who was mixed up in the anti-Castro cause.

BTW, the original identification came from Howard K. Davis himself.

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

James:

Ron Von Klausen was a paratrooper during the Korean War [1950 - 1953] and was attached to the U.N. Partisan (Guerrilla) Army, and operated behind Communist lines while covertly based on an island off of the North Korean Coast.

He grew up in New York City, and was a close friend of Oliver Stone's parents. Even today he lives one floor below Mrs. Stone's [Oliver's Mom] condo in Central Park West. Ron practically raised Oliver as a kid.

When I got Howard K. "Davy" Davis and Hargraves signed up with Camelot Productions, Davy received a call out of the blue from Ron, not having spoke with him since the mid-1960s. Ron was ranting about how this JFK movie was going to damage CIA, and was something to stay away from !! Davy called me, and queried as to what the heck was this dude from the past up too?? I told him that Ron was most likely helping out one of his old CIA bosses in an attempt to discourage us from working on the flick.

Interpen's first encounter with Ron was when Hunt and Barker came around the 30th of November Headquarters [Nov. 1961] with cash in hand to put Carlos Rodriguez Quesada, et al. back on the "Company payroll" -- and thereby extort an agreement from that group that they would abandon our training camps, expell us, and return to their post-Bay of Pigs status as a dormant non-entity.

The MR-30/11 took the cash and then ignored threats and continued working with us. Shortly thereafter Ron came by the HQ [private home] and displayed his assassin's .22 cal Hi-Standard [w/ silencer]; and less than subtlely hinted dire consequences should we not back off. Within a couple of hours he discovered that amongst our cadre were Korean veterans who had been [like Davy] US Army Rangers. Thereafter he was quite amicable and hinted that he would "straighten out" the "Leg" CIA assholes who had misinformed him [a "Leg" or "Straightleg" is a non-paratrooper.]

Ron had been with Lansdale's group of instructors training the Brigade 2506 troops just before the Green Beret contingent arrived in Retalhuleu & Base Trax, Guatemala during late 1960. The boss of that group was Frank Egan, and his numbers 2 and 3 were Filipino Col. Napoleon Valeriano [a/k/a Col. Vallejo and a veteran of WWII ant-Jap guerrilla warfare with Col. Wendell Fertig on Mindannoa -- along with Marine Col. Jack Hawkins [Dep/C/WH-4 during JM/ATE (B.OP.) -- and before Hawkins was exfiltrate via US Submarine to Australia and then on to Iwo Jima.] and number 3 was Charles Bohannan, of similar WWII vintage.

The Brigade Cubans in Guat. nicknamed that group "Los Halcones Negros" after the popular comic strip ("The Blackhawks") due to their racial/ethnic diversity.

Oliver Stone held a closed door briefing/interrogation during January, 1991 [at Larry Howard's Assassination Museum, West End Marketplace, Dallas -- and during which, Oliver slipped in a question as to our identifying the Gringo BOP instructor known as "El Tigre". We all hesitated, and ultimately stated that we would only give out with his initials -- "R.V.K." !!

Shortly thereafter we discovered that Ron had been in the movie business for over 30 years (oftentimes w/ Stone), and had worked on the "Flipper" TV series at the same time I was working for IvanTors/Paramount making "Daring Game" w/ Lloyd "Bud" Bridges, Perry Lopez, et al. !![1966-67]

Ron had worked as an assassin for CIA proprietaries since the end of the Korean War. [The UN Partisan Army was an OPC project organized/directed by Frank Wisner, Sr.] Ron developed a strong dislike for "JFK" consultants Dale Dye & Stanley White [both had worked in the Philippines on "Platoon" w/ Stone.] -- mainly because Stan was [and still is] a full-time Homocide/Robbery Dectective Sergeant with L.A. County Sheriff's Dept.; and moreover, they both hung with the local Narcs who had been hired as security on the Dallas Set after threats and penetrations.

In the Stone flick "Wall Street", Ron is the airport mechanic who tips Charlie Sheen as to where Mike Douglas' character "Gekko" is flying off to.

Ron had a falling out with Davy during the 1980s shortly after the R.I.C.A. Association was created at great expense to HKD. [RICA is the acronym for "Ranger Infantry Companies (Airborne) which were organized during 1951 and disbanded after the Korean truce/armistice.] It seems that due to heavy classification of files, most UN Partisan Rangers went unrecognized as real Rangers -- and thereafter, their individual DD-214 (Mil/Separation Document)

fails to include their authorization for both Ranger status and the "Ranger Tab". Ron's TDY attachment to one of the R.I.C.A. Companies during the war

and graduation from the Camp Drake (Japan) Ranger School has gone unrecognized,

and HKD denied him membership in the R.I.C.A. Veterans Association.

Ron keeps his Hollywood S.A.G. card currently, and is never without film work.

Mayhaps in the near term I will give out with some more "Obscene" comments as to my sit-down with LHO at MCAF Santa Ana (LTA) during January 1959 -- at the coffee shop just outside the main-gate [LTA has since been renamed MCAS Tustin]. And Shanet, et al.: I have affidavits (sworn statements) from Cubans that were side-kicks with my old buddies "Che" and "Barba-Roja" -- showing the interaction between Soviet GRU [not KGB} operators !! in the planning and financing of the JFK hit. Che left Cuba because of his anger over both the Missile Crisis and JFK. [for every KGB illegal in the USA, there were 100 sov/military (G.R.U.) agents haunting our missile silos, SAC bomber bases, and penetrating the entire US Intel-Community !! Their retired/active "Moles" are in imminent peril today.

Tim Gratz: Pay no mind to some of these "MacArthyite Commie/Symps"; they have nothing to offer but sniveling and whining whilst wandering about "Neverland"!

'Nuff said for now -- ever onward droolers !!

"illigitimati non carborundum"

GPH

_____________________________________

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Mr. Hemming, did I miss something? Are you now saying you believe it was the Russian military behind the hit?

Also, I'm curious about the .22 caliber assassin's rifle you described. Was it designed to be fired with sub-sonic ammunition? Was this common practice?

Your response appreciated

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Pat, I will let Gerry speak for himself but he has told me he believes the GRU was behind it, the KGB found out about it and was trying to stop it (the latter part is of course consistent with the thesis of Dick Russell's book).

Query whether this theory of GRU involvement is consistent with Trento's scenario that hard-liners in the Kremlin plotted the overthrow of both Kennedy and Khruschev?

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I refuse to buy any argument that doesn't explain the 99% probability (it would be great to know the exact odds, if only I knew a statistician) that both Robertson and Conein of the CIA were standing on the corner of Main and Houston. Not to mention a CIA man on the lightpole (later to be photographed in Laos, with the same grin) along with some jovial cohort.

Russian moles, out of their holes for the show?

Ron

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Thanks, Gerry.

That certainly fills in some blanks regarding Ron Von Klassen.

BTW, I take it the Stanley White you mention is the same guy as the one who popped up in the film 'JFK' - the big guy who is seen in Banister's office and on the 6th floor during the shooting?

Cheers,

James

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I tend to agree with Ron. There's just too much evidence that CIA and/or anti-Castro Cubans were involved. The Robertson likeness is convincing to the point that it merits a full-fledged investigation into his whereabouts on that day.

Gerry, since in the past you've hinted that the hitters were anti-Castro Cubans, and have even thrown out some names, are you now of the belief that these men were working for the Russians, even though they DESPISED the Russian influence on Castro? Are you saying they were duped by the Russians into thinking they were working for an anti-Castro group? What about Oswald? Was he duped as well? I find your change of heart on this matter very dis-heartening. I don't think this scenario of anti-Castro Cubans, who were financed by the mob and the ultra-right wing, and sometimes by the CIA, taking orders from the GRU, makes ONE BIT of sense. When one takes into account Oswald's involvement, this scenario becomes LUDICROUS; why would the GRU pick a shooter (or a patsy) who would immediately be linked back to Russia and Cuba? Were they trying to start a war? Why not just start a provocation in Berlin? Or elsewhere? Were they specifically trying to provoke an invasion of Cuba? Why? So they could justify an invasion of Berlin? Well, that's like trading Queens, isnt it? They could have done that without killing Kennedy and under-taking all the risks associated with killing him.

A scenario involving the GRU could only make sense if they used Castro double-agents to pretend to be anti-Castro, and then used THEM to kill Kennedy, thereby discrediting the anti-Castro movement. Now THAT would make sense, and might have even worked. Ironically, Oswald's involvement, on any level, destroys the likelihood of such a plan. That would be like using a gun registered in your name as a throw-down. Dumb.

If you're really going to push this crazy theory, then I can only conclude you're just playing games with us.

Edited by Pat Speer
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Well put, Pat. There are so many fundamental problems with that theory that it's difficult to know where to start.

President Kennedy had a memorable meeting with Nikita Kruschev in Vienna in 1961 where NK bullyed the young American politician. Kruschev considered Kennedy to be a "boy" and entered into the meeting with every intent to test his mettle. Afterward, an ashen-faced and shaken Kennedy told his advisors that he had never been talked to in such a way in his entire life.

Kennedy would not directly involve U.S. forces in the BOP in 1961.

In October of '62, when under great pressure by the hawks in his administration to invade Cuba, or at least bomb the missile sites, Kenndy chose a less aggressive stance (and wisely so) in a naval blockade.

Kennedy was also engaged in back channel communication with the Soviet leader to help ensure things did not get out of hand. He promised not to invade Cuba, removed Jupiter missiles from Turkey, he signed the nuclear test ban treaty, was initiating a withdrawal policy in Vietnam (NSM 263), and was in favor of detente and of moving toward peaceful co-existence with Castro's Cuba (the Jean Daniel meeting).

Do you honestly believe that this was a man that the Soviets feared so much that they felt it was worth risking a nuclear exchange to blow his head off in broad daylight on the streets of an American city? And as Pat so clearly pointed out, then used (or set-up) a man who had been sheep-dipped as a Communist to carry out said ludicrous plot?

As I stated earlier, there are several other serious problems with this theory, but this one is perhaps the most fundamental. I appreciate learning from those who educate me on other points-of-view, but at this point with this particular theory, logic simply precludes further travels down such a diversionary path.

Edited by Greg Wagner
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Pat wrote:

When one takes into account Oswald's involvement, this scenario becomes LUDICROUS; why would the GRU pick a shooter (or a patsy) who would immediately be linked back to Russia and Cuba?

May not be ludicrous, may indeed be brilliant if in fact Oswald was, as many believe, an agent or asset of U.S. intelligence. To frame such an individual for the operation would surely generate a cover-up. The plotters were not concerned with what the public knew but rather with what the government knew.

If Oswald was indeed a CIA operative, I think that clears anyone in the CIA. It would be ludicrous to use someone who could be traced to you when there were certainly other potential patsies not linked to the US government

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Per the Internet Movie Data Base these are Von Klaasen's acting credits:

Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) .... 65 Precinct Sergeant

Nixon (1995) .... James McCord, Watergate Burglar

JFK (1991) .... Hobo #1

Wall Street (1987) (as Ronald Von Klaussen) .... Airline Mechanic

The Protector (1985) .... Boat Captain

... aka Wei long meng tan

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

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Ron wrote:

I refuse to buy any argument that doesn't explain the 99% probability (it would be great to know the exact odds, if only I knew a statistician) that both Robertson and Conein of the CIA were standing on the corner of Main and Houston.

Resemblances can be deceptive and I have a recent anecdote to demonstrate that.

Last Sunday the Key West Citizen ran an article stating in part that Joe Kennedy was a friend of Ernest Hemingway and had been Hemingway's house guest at Hemingway's house on Whitehead Street (which was one block from my first address in Key West BTW). The article included a photograph of several people standing on a wharf next to a huge fish they had just caught. One person next to the fish was Ernest Hemingway. Also included in the photo was Sloppy Joe Russell the owner of Hemingway's favorite Key West watering hole, Sloppy Joe's. Well, standing on the other side of the big fish was a man who certainly looked like Joe Kennedy did in the 1930s.

The only problem is that I was unaware of any reference in any Kennedy biography or Hemingway biography for that matter that the two knew each other. Neither was my friend Mark Howell of the Key West Citizen. (The paper never checked the article with us.) Nor as I aware of any historical reference that Joe Kennedy had ever been in Key West.

I called the JFK library in Boston, talked to a historian there and he confirmed that he was certain that Joe Kennedy had never met Ernest Hemingway. He was even familiar with the photo and was aware of the look-alike. Mark had done a story on this photo earlier. Also included in the photo was Walker Evans, a famous photographer who spent extensive time with Hemingway. But no one apparently knows who the Joe Kennedy look-alike is. (We also checked with the photo archivist at the JFK library.)

I'll try to see if I can find a way to post the photo. Unless you knew to the contrary, you would probably swear that that was Joe Kennedy standing next to the big fish, flanked by Ernest Hemingway and Sloppy Joe Russell.

We haven't found anyone yet who can identify the Kennedy look-alike. We just know it was not Joe Kennedy, despite the resemblance.

So based apparently on this photo someone placed an article in The Citizen stating that Joe Kennedy and Ernest Hemingway were fishing buddies!

And as I have said before I used to work at a resort that employed a man (first name Terry) who looked just like G. Gordon Liddy. Some of the younger desk clerks did not know who Liddy was. When I showed them a photo of Liddy on the Internet their mouths almost opened in amazement because Terry's resemblance to Liddy is so uncanny.

Edited by Tim Gratz
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Tim,

Nice try, but we're talking about two strong resemblances, CIA associates Robertson and Conein in the same photo, not one. If the photo with the Joe Kennedy lookalike also included a lookalike of a Joe Kennedy acquaintance or associate like, say, Frank Costello or Sam Giancana, then your analogy would be apt and you would have demonstrated something.

Ron

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Arguing photographic evidence can be a frustrating exercise and ultimately it ends up going nowhere.

If one really wants to get into whether or not Robertson was in Dealey Plaza, one needs to track down the mercenaries who served under Mike Hoare in the Congo in 1965. Many of them are still alive.

One can then ask what Robertson told them when he and his Cubans joined their efforts. The photographic evidence can then be used to support that information.

FWIW.

James

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Ron I understand your point and I certainly do not think that resemblances should be dismissed out-of-hand. At the same time I think we do have to acknowledge that there are similarities. Brings back a memory. Once, in our home paper years ago there was an item stating that my father (who is MUCH better looking than me) looked just like Charleton Heston. I just don't think the converge of Roberston and Conein resemblances demonstrates, without other confirming evidence, that they were both in Dealey Plaza, given the real possibilities of look-alikes. As I recall Gaeton Fonzi once remarked that the HSCA spent $87,000 on experts trying to identify the tramp photos, and without an absolute resolution.

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