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Nixon and the Mafia


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I cam across an interesting passage in Tony Ulasewicz's book, The President's Private Eye (1990)

I was back in Washington at the request of J. Fred Buzhardt, the Special Counsel to the President appointed by Nixon after John Dean sold out and jumped ship in May 1973. At the time of his appointment, Buzhardt, a West Point classmate of Alexander Haig, Jr. (they graduated a year apart), was general counsel to the Department of Defense. I met with Buzhardt in John Dean's old office. Buzhardt said he wanted to know my real feelings about Nixon and where I was going to stand when the impeachment hearings began. He said he couldn't find anything in any White House files that was stamped with my initials or any memos I prepared, or any hint that I had incriminating evidence against the President in my pocket. Since I never signed or initialed anything, there was nothing there to find. But lurking in the background was an apparent feeling on the part of General Alexander Haig, who took over as White House Chief of Staff after Haldeman was booted out, that I knew something about Nixon supposedly getting part of a storehouse of cash that was left in Vietnam after the United States scrambled out of there. Although appointed by President Nixon himself, Haig, I began to think, was actually turning against the President in the final days before Nixon resigned.

In June 1974, Haig ordered the US. Army's Criminal Investigation: Command (CIC) to conduct a high-priority, classified investigation to determine whether Nixon had stuffed his pockets with cash contributions from leaders of Southeast Asia and the Far East. Haig even went so far as to ask for confirmation as to whether Nixon had connections with organized crime and had received payoffs from the Mafia. The State Department was contacted to see if I had a passport and, if so, whether I had used it to head for Vietnam. I didn't go, but if I had I certainly wouldn't have left a trace of how I got there and back. The Army CIC spent over a month trying to verify my nonexistent trip to Southeast Asia to pick up booty for the President. The investigation went nowhere, of course, but the timing of Haig's efforts to undercut the President meant that Haig - and perhaps others - wanted the President discredited long before this.

Later in the book Ulasewicz describes visiting Nixon at his home in California to discuss his "problems". Ulasewicz was a key figure in the Watergate case as he had been employed since 1969 to carry out dirty tricks against Nixon's opponents. He also ran Operation Sandwedge. This was the operation that considered the fire-bombing of the Brookings Institute. I am convinced it was also involved in the most important of all the covert operations, the plan to persuade George Wallace to withdraw from the 1972 election.

As Ulasewicz points out in his book, he was shocked when the Senate Watergate Committee did not ask him about Operation Sandwedge (Jack Caulfield had already exposed this operation in his testimony). Howard Baker and Sam Ervin were both involved in making sure that Ulasewicz did not testify about Operation Sandwedge. That includes Ulasewicz's work on the investigating/smearing of Edward Kennedy and Larry O'Brien. For some reason, Howard Hunt decided to get himself involved in all of this. Watergate has never made any sense. But Operation Sandwedge does? And this was really about dirty politics. This was about killing people.

Ulasewicz was also involved in paying off the Watergate conspirators. He gave Dorothy Hunt $154,000 (she was asking for $450,000). Ulasewicz told Nixon this would go on for ever. But it didn't. This came to an end when she was killed in the plane crash. Strangely he does not mention her death in his book.

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In Tony Summers' book, he investigated rumors that Nixon was tied to Lansky, via a piece of the action on the Paradise Island toll bridge in the Bahamas, and found a lot of evidence indicating this was so. In Giancana's daughter's book, she discusses a fling she had with Bebe Rebozo, supposedly without his knowing her true identity. Nixon's long-time campaign strategist, Murray Chotiner, reportedly had mob ties. Nixon commuted Hoffa's sentence, but inserted a secret condition that Hoffa couldn't return to union activity, which allowed Fat Frank Fitzsimmons and the mob to retain total control of the Teamsters. There is much to indicate Nixon's involvement with the mob.

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An article by Jeff Gerth which first appeared in Penthouse Mag the summer of 1974 called "Richard Nixon and Organized Crime" is reprinted in my old boyfirend Harvey Yazijian (and SId Blumenthal's) "Government By Gunplay."

This book came out in 76 and so is likely very hard to get.

I have not read this article in MANY years, but I remember when it first came out in Penthouse thinking it was an excellent piece. It thoroughly convinced me that Nixon had come up thru the ranks due to his Mob connections.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is also reprinted here by Gerth:

"Organized Crime will put a man in the White House someday and he won't even know it until they hand him the bill"

- Ralph Salerno

former New York Police Department expert on Organized Crime

and co-author of "The Crime Confederation"

The book is full of such excellent articles, including one called "The Shooting Of George Wallace", by William Turner.

Dawn

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An article by Jeff Gerth which first appeared in Penthouse Mag the summer of 1974 called "Richard Nixon and Organized Crime" is reprinted in my old boyfirend Harvey Yazijian (and SId Blumenthal's) "Government By Gunplay."

This book came out in 76 and so is likely very hard to get.

I have not read this article in MANY years, but I remember when it first came out in Penthouse thinking it was an excellent piece. It thoroughly convinced me that Nixon had come up thru the ranks due to his Mob connections.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is also reprinted here by Gerth:

"Organized Crime will put a man in the White House someday and he won't even know it until they hand him the bill"

- Ralph Salerno

former New York Police Department expert on Organized Crime

and co-author of "The Crime Confederation"

The book is full of such excellent articles, including one called "The Shooting Of George Wallace", by William Turner.

Dawn

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The book is full of such excellent articles, including one called "The Shooting Of George Wallace",  by William Turner.

This is probably the article where William Turner claims that Tim Gratz was involved in setting up Arthur Bremer. Does anyone have a copy of this article?

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John wrote:

This is probably the article where William Turner claims that Tim Gratz was involved in setting up Arthur Bremer. Does anyone have a copy of this article?

John, I had the same thought. Course we don't know that TURNER said that. All we know is that Sprague so implies. Sprague could be wrong or even fabricating. But it will be interesting to read Turner's chapter.

Apparently no one on the Forum knows how to contact Turner himself?

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John wrote:

This is probably the article where William Turner claims that Tim Gratz was involved in setting up Arthur Bremer. Does anyone have a copy of this article?

John, I had the same thought.  Course we don't know that TURNER said that.  All we know is that Sprague so implies.  Sprague could be wrong or even fabricating.  But it will be interesting to read Turner's chapter.

Apparently no one on the Forum knows how to contact Turner himself?

____________________________

The Turner article states that " J. Timothy Gratz disclosed that Segritti met with him in Madison and urged him to reruit persons to perform mischief against Democratic candidates. Segretti's machinations were so suspicious Gratz said that he got in touch with CREEP headquarters in Washington".

There is nothing about Tim setting up Bremmer in this article.

Dawn

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