"Cookie"?

[Pat Speer]

Before his death, at the urging of his daughter, a man I knew well made a few tapes, talking about his life. One of the experiences he recounted on the tapes is a bit bizarre. It involves running guns to Castro in 1958. He claimed that a friend of his contacted him and asked him if he was willing to do dangerous work for good pay. He agreed and the two men were taken by a third man, to an armory (evidently in Florida). He says that to his surprise the armory was unlocked and that they just went in and removed all the guns. He says they took these guns to a small boat, which they then took to Cuba. He says they dropped the guns on a beach and that a bearded man and a small pack of soldiers arrived, inspected the guns, and paid them. He says he believes the bearded man was Castro himself. Anyhow, on their way back Batista's Navy took a few shots at them, and damaged their boat. He says they got picked up by the Coast Guard, but that their small vessel sank under the waves. He was surprised that the Coast Guard asked so few questions about what they were up to. After making it back to Florida, he took his money, flew home, and never talked about the incident again until making the tape. He says he'd been embarrassed because Castro turned out to be a communist.

Anyhow, he says the gun-runner was named "Cookie." I'm wondering if anyone knows of anyone selling guns to Castro named Cookie. I'm also wondering whether or not this story sounds credible to those who were involved back then. If Mr. Hemming or others care to comment I'd appreciate it. This man was someone I trusted, and not someone whom most would call a braggart or a story-teller. On the tapes, he sounds downright disgusted with himself for helping someone who turned out to be a communist.

Edited June 26, 2005 by Pat Speer

[Chris Cox]

was just reading Novel's quote about the "most patriotic theft" in Lane's book. There were many of these.

I was a daughter of a gunrunner at this time. His work was also in Cuba. His weapons came from armories Ohio, South Carolina, Texas etc. They were picked up here dropped there, flown point to point, stashed about from US to offshore.

The operation was risky, deniability everpresent. It's most significant to look at the period 1957 to 1959 to get a picture. You'll see there's a pattern. Very important to revolution and military and State Dept play big part.

You'll know this operation when you see the word "stolen" in gov't documents. Customs and FBI were aware of this and cat and mouse ensued. I'd like to know more about your source too as there are a few of us comparing notes, I believe these operations are very significant and have a bit of a paper trail that's helpful.