George Demohrenschildt

[John Dolva]

''The General was a spy: the truth about General Ghelen and his spy ring'' gives a fairly detailed account of Ghelens relationship with Adenaour, and I suppose indirectly to Ewald Peters and his transition from the Adenour to the Erhard Chancellry.

edit add: by Heinz Ho(with two dots)hne & Hermann Zolling (ed add : first pub in German as ''Pullarch Intern'' ('71'), 1'st pub in GB (transl by Richard Barry) '72) as ''NETWORK''., '73 as above)

ps " p 230

''Ghelen now wished his secret serviceto be declared a supreme independent Federal authority...

His path was made easier by the ending of the Adenour era. In October 1963 there moved into the Palais Schumburg three men ...'' there's more, worth a read. I've only skimmed it in reaction to this post. I got a couple of Irvings but I'm for some reason doubtful of his credibility, if that is misfounded: my apologies.

edit typo

Edited March 26, 2011 by John Dolva

[Robert Howard]

The General was a spy: the truth about General Ghelen and his spy ring gives a fairly detailed account of Ghelens relationship with Adenaour, and I suppose indirectly to Ewald Peters and his transition from the Adenour to the Erhard Chancellry.

[David Andrews]

One of the sharpest criticisms of Adenauer during his tenure was that denazification of the West German govt. had not been accomplished.

Edited March 26, 2011 by David Andrews

[Robert Howard]

One of the sharpest criticisms of Adenauer during his tenure was that denazification of the West German govt. had not been accomplished.

[Robert Howard]

One of the sharpest criticisms of Adenauer during his tenure was that denazification of the West German govt. had not been accomplished.

TIME MAGAZINE

Monday, Feb. 23, 1959

WALL STREET: Alexander the Great

Nobody knew much about Alexander L. Guterma when he arrived in Wall Street five years ago. But he quickly showed himself such an expert in frenzied finance that he got control of F. L. Jacobs Co. (auto parts maker), Bon Ami Co. (scouring powder), Hal Roach Studios (Gale Storm Show), and the Mutual Broadcasting System. Last December Guterma's empire began to crumble.

The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in Jacobs stock for failure to file financial statements. Last week SEC suspended over-the-counter trading in Jacobs and Bon Ami. When space was booked in Guterma's name on a plane to Ankara, SEC quickly obtained a warrant for his arrest, said that losses to investors would reach many millions. Picked up with him was a longtime financial associate, Robert J. Eveleigh, who was found in a Manhattan call girls' apartment fortnight ago when police raided it.

Mystery Man Guterma, 43, claims to have been born in Irkutsk, Siberia, though he speaks like a native New Yorker. His story is that he went to the Philippines in 1938 by way of China, managed to escape a World War II Japanese concentration camp. The war over, Guterma flowered as a trader, also obtained a bankroll from Philippine and Italian businessmen, which he brought to Florida in 1950 to start a project growing flaxlike ramie fiber. He then moved to Manhattan and with a partner opened McGrath Securities, a firm that often floated stock in his new companies:

Shawano Development Corp., marketed widely at more than $4, now (after a 4-for-1 split) offered at 8¢.

Micro-Moisture Controls Inc., floated at $1, now selling at 1/2¢ .

Control of another Guterma company, Western Financial Corp., was sold by Guterma to Benjack Cage, the Texas swindler (TIME, Feb. 18, 1957). From $2.50 a share, the sales price in a few months dropped to 2¢.

Last week SEC was also digging into Guterma's dealings with Lowell Birrell, another Wall Street high flyer, last reported hiding out in Brazil. Birrell sold control of United Dye & Chemical Corp. (now Chemoil Industries) to Guterma's group. The stock was run up to $38.25 a share. When Guterma got out, the price sagged to 1!

[. SEC is also interested in Guterma's relationship with George A. Heaney, former president of the Huntington, N.Y. Security National Bank, which bought F. L. Jacobs notes.

At week's end Guterma said he could not understand all the excitement. Cried he: "Outrage! This is like getting a man for spitting on the sidewalk."

Son Joins Family In Death

August 05, 1985|By Bob Kowalski, Staff Writer

Marc Guterma was 14 when he survived the 1977 crash of a private airplane that killed his father, mother and four brothers and sisters from his prominent Boca Raton family, near New York`s LaGuardia Airport.

Guterma was the only passenger to survive that fiery disaster, but never stopped flying airplanes. Friday, at the age of 22, he died aboard Delta Air Lines Flight 191.

The adopted son of Boca Raton developer Alexander Guterma, Marc was one of those who died when the flight crashed during its final approach to Dallas- Fort Worth International Airport.

``If it had been me, I don`t think I would ever have gotten on a plane again,`` said Mike Stewart, a Boca Raton resident who knew Guterma before the 1977 accident and had been friends with him ever since.

``He wasn`t afraid of flying,`` Stewart said. ``It`s just like being in a car accident. You don`t stop driving.``

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Other Boca Raton residents were startled as they learned of Guterma`s death Sunday, more than eight years after the crash that killed Alexander ``Sandy`` Guterma and most of his family.

Alexander Guterma, a one-time multinational financier, was well-known locally as the developer of the Sandalfoot Cove area west of Boca Raton, the Boca Center plaza and the South Palm Beach Utilities Co.

``It wiped the whole family out,`` said state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, of the crash that killed the six Gutermas. ``We`ve lost so many people in Boca to plane crashes.``

Alexander, his wife Sondra, and children Karen, Carol, Brock, and Brandon all died April 5, 1977, when the two-engine, private airplane they were flying in crashed 2 1/2 miles short of the runway at LaGuardia Airport.

Guterma`s other son, Robert, now 33, was not on the airplane and lives in Boca Raton.

He first heard rumors about the death of his brother from neighbors on Friday. Later, the information was confirmed by a Delta official.

Robert and his wife, Emily, flew from Boca Raton to Dallas on Saturday. Since the body was positively identified Sunday evening, Guterma said they would probably fly back to South Florida today.

Guterma said that he has not been fond of flying since his parents and four brothers and sisters were killed. ``Since the first crash I have not liked flying and I have avoided it when at all possible,`` said Guterma. ``This crash just makes it worst.``

Boca Raton resident John Hoffstot knew Alexander Guterma well.

``I can`t think of anybody that I know that was killed in an auto accident,`` he said. ``I know of a half-dozen people that have gone (in plane crashes).``

In the years that followed the 1977 crash, Marc and Robert Guterma had challenged each other in a series of lawsuits over the estate of their deceased father.

They reached an agreement in 1982 to split the estate, but other lawsuits over the elder Guterma`s business interests followed and are still pending.

http://articles.sun-...n-four-brothers

Robert: It is worth pointing out that when Gulerma's plane crashed in April 1977, this was in the same general time frame

that a lot of persons who, at least some of them, would have been of interest to the HSCA. But the HSCA determined

more or less, there was no such thing as a mysterious death insofar as the JFK Assassination was concerned.

I will leave it at that.......

Excerpt of Warren Commission Testimony of GEORGE BOUHE

Mr. Liebeler.

Mr. Bouhe, would you stand and raise your right hand?

Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, in the testimony you are about to give?

Mr. Bouhe.

I do.

Mr. Liebeler.

Would you state your full name for the record, Mr. Bouhe?

Mr. Bouhe.

George A. Bouhe.

Mr. Liebeler.

What is your address?

Mr. Bouhe.

4740 Homer Street, Dallas 4, Tex.

Mr. LIEBELER, Are you presently employed?

Mr. Bouhe.

I am a semiretired accountant. I do not have a regular job since about early 1963, but I keep a number of sets of books and prepare tax returns for many people for whom I was doing that in the last 10 or more years, in addition to my regular job, which I quit on my own volition after about 10 years, on or about April 30, of last year.

Mr. Liebeler.

For whom were you employed up to that time?

Mr. Bouhe.

For 9 1/2 years I was employed as a personal accountant of a very prominent Dallas geologist, and probably capitalist if you want to say it, Lewis W, MacNaughton, senior chairman of the board of the well-known geological and engineering firm of DeGolyer & MacNaughton, but I was MacNaughton's personal employee.

Mr. Liebeler.

After you worked for the American Relief Commission, did that lead to your coming to the United States?

Mr. Bouhe.

That is correct. My association with some of the supervisors which were American executives led to numerous discussions with them, including, the now deceased Prof. Frank Colder of Stanford University, Gen. William Haskell, who later commanded the National Guard; one of my supervisors said, "Why don't you come to America?" So after the office closed sometime in August 1923, more or less, I applied for a passport to leave Russia but was refused. Then I went across the little river separating Soviet Russia from Finland in the middle of September at night, and it was cold, and got out.

Mr. Liebeler.

You went into Finland and came to the United States?

Mr. Bouhe.

Through Germany and then to the United States in April 1924.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you eventually become an American citizen?

Mr. Bouhe.

I became an American citizen on or about June 1939.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you continue your education when you came to the United States?

Mr. Bouhe.

Not regularly and not formally. I was working for 13 years for what is now the Chase Manhattan Bank, but it had previous mergers. I attended the American Institute of Banking, and that is all I did there, which is not much.

Mr. Liebeler.

Let me ask you where you learned English, Mr. Bouhe.

Mr. Bouhe.

At home. At the age of 5 to age of 7, I had a French governess. At the age of 7 to 9, I had a German governess. At the age of 10 to maybe 11, I had an English governess.

Mr. Liebeler.

You got your first acquaintance with English through the English governess, is that correct?

Mr. Bouhe.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

Your formal education in the Soviet Union was confined to the gymnasium, is that correct?

Mr. Bouhe.

That's correct, which is slightly over the high school here, but it was what is called classical, namely because they taught us Latin and Greek.

Mr. Liebeler.

When did you first come to Dallas?

(Mr. Jenner entered the room.)

Mr. Liebeler.

(continued). Mr. Bouhe, this is Mr. Jenner.

Mr. Bouhe.

On July 4, 1939.

Mr. Liebeler.

Have you lived in Dallas since that time?

Mr. Bouhe.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

It's been indicated to me, Mr. Bouhe, that you are regarded as the leader of a so-called Russian group here in Dallas and the Fort Worth area, and I would like to have you tell us briefly the nature of that group and how you came to be the, shall we say, so-called leader or its actual leader? Let's leave it that way. And particularly, Mr. Bouhe, did there come a time when you formed a congregation of a Russian church here in Dallas? Would you tell us about that?

Mr. Bouhe.

Yes; you have just mentioned some flattering remarks which I appreciate if it is true from the sources which you obtained it, but I would say that if I am so called, it means simply because of a process of elimination, because when I came in 1939, there were absolutely only three Russian-speaking people in Dallas and they were all married people, married to Americans, and so on .

So I did not, so-to-speak, associate with any Russians that might have come or gone through Dallas from 1939 to about 1950.

In 1950, approximately, a great avalanche of displaced persons came to Dallas

Mr. Liebeler.

You gathered these people together and you formed a church congregation, is that correct?

Mr. Bouhe.

That's correct. Perhaps not all of the people, because I could not bring a Mohammedan into the Greek Orthodox Church, but anybody who wanted to come and worship in the Russian or Slovenian language was welcome.

And as you said, I organized--well, I did the organization work, really.

The godfather of it all to help us with finances was a very prominent well-known man who still lives here, Paul M. Raigorodsky.

end

END

Rubirosa and the Sergio Benscome assassination

see

The President's private eye: the journey of Detective Tony U. from ...

Tony Ulasewicz, Stuart A. McKeever - 1990 - 368 pages - Snippet view

Back in 1935, Trujillo's son-in-law, Porfirio Rubirosa, whom I later came to know as Trujillo's shadow (and bodyguard), was the

prime suspect in orchestrating the assassination of a Trujillo dissident named Sergio Benscome

something re Cuba and June Cobb

END

The Arrogance of Power page 193

The [Marita] Lorenz fiasco too, turns out to have had a [Richard] Nixon connection.

CIA records released in 1994 include material on June Cobb

an American woman who had worked in Cuba alongside Lorenz

and had known of the young woman's abortion. In the spring of 1960

a CIA agent induced Cobb to return to the United States, where she was

questioned and then surveilled as she met and talked with people immersed

in the Cuba intrigues. They included Marita Lorenz and [Alexander] Rorke,

not long before Lorenz left on the murder mission to Havana.

Related documents appear in the CIA file of William Pawley. The routing,

on another, dated a week after the CIA brought Cobb out of Cuba, shows that

it originated in Nixon's office, on the desk of General Cushman.

But the idea is to get to the center of all this [the assassination] Guterma is not a central part of that, my personal belief

is that Ruby knew, or at least knew of George DeMohrenschildt, George Bouhe, who knew GDM practically lived across the street

from Ruby in 1959. In 1964 Bouhe as noted in his WC Testimony above was living at 4740 Homer Street in Dallas, Texas

Before you read the following I have discovered that there are two and probably as many as three persons listed below in MFF bio page

on James Watson.....

The James Watson who lived in the same rooming house as Oswald 1026 N. Beckley was 19 years old and worked for Trinity

Flooring Co.;

It would be a safe bet he is not the same James Watson who was married and was a petroleum engineer, who was

associated with Declan Ford, at least was used as a reference.

There is something about all of these Watson's that deserves looking into, which is going to be the focus of the next post.

WATSON, JAMES -----

Sources: CD 206, p. 140

Mary's Comments: On 11/22/63, resident of 1026 N. Beckley. In December 1963, he worked for Trinity Flooring Company, 127 Oregon St., Dallas, TX. In 1963 Dallas telephone directory, there is a James Watson at 4727 Homer (Jack Ruby had lived there). In 1961, James M. Watson had lived at 3525 Travis, Apt. 103, where Juanita Buchanan lived in Apt. 1115. Doris Anglin's address re CD 105, p. 277. Declan Ford gave James Watson as a reference when applying for passport 10/10/57 at U.S. Consul's office, Madrid. (James Watson, 5625 Daniels, Dallas. This was once address of Declan Ford.) 1961 City Directory: James W. Watson, wife Lorraine, petroleum engineer, DeGolyer & MacNaughton, 6631 Orchid Lane, Dallas.....

If you knew the various Watson's listed in the database, you would probably be very interested in this facet. The question, among others, I am trying to ascertain

at this point is whether the James Watson who woked at Trinity Flooring Co., is the son of, one of the other Watsons......

[Guest Tom Scully]

Robert, if you were trying to tie Guterma accountant Birnbaum to Igor Cassini's Martial PR firm's Martin T. Birnbaum, it shows how impressive your recall is, but I cannot find a connection. Have you been able to?

http://openjurist.org/373/f2d/250/united-states-v-i-birnbaum

373 F.2d 250

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.

Saul I. BIRNBAUM, Appellant.

I found it odd that Life mag., as late as in October, 1963, omitted all details of Guterma's background, when other work had been published with many details. The Life article was an attack on Roy Cohn, or an attempt at pro-Cohn damage control, or...whatever.

Messick did not regard Guterma as extraordinary, and that disappointed me, as I am a sucker for a kenaf related lead, because of the relationship of kenaf to DeMohrenschildt, Joe Dryer, Rionda Braga, and Michael JP Malone, Richard Kleberg, and Ernie Byfield's sister-in-law, Nina Ervesun. Cohn always intrigues me because of G. David Schine, brother-in-law of Henry Crown's son, and Schine's father, Myer, of Gloversville, NY, owner of the Ambassador Hotel in L.A., and host of vacationing Hoover and Tolson in Miami in the 40's and 50's.....

http://books.google.com/books?id=uFIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28&dq=guterma+cohn&hl=en&ei=vn-OTf25N5K6tgfBz4CnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=guterma%20cohn&f=false

LIFE - Oct 4, 1963 - Page 28

Vol. 55, No. 14 - 142 pages - Magazine - Full view

Cohn then, according to charges now against him, tried to help both Garfield and Roen by conspiring to keep the federal government from obtaining an indictment against them. COHN CONTINUED Alexander Guterma's basic tool in using other

http://www.google.com/search?q=guterma+pilot+robert+holiday+fuel&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=newspapers

Guterma Plane Crash Caused By Lack Of Fuel .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 24, 1978

... plane crash that killed Boca Raton developer Alex ander Guterma his wife ... The safety board's report blames the pilot Bob Holiday of Boca Raton who

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zqdUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jTsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3022,2662729&dq=pilot+robert+holiday+fuel&hl=en

Kennedy Greet ..Ed Patients From The Palm Beach Habilitation...

‎

Palm Beach Post - Dec 22, 1978

The report cited pilot Bob Holiday who had more than 13000 hours flying time with inadequate preflight preparation and planning and mismanagement of fuel

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vC9UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U40DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2421,5947319&dq=guterma+signed+over+toward+notes+he+owed+chesler&hl=en

Guterma Was As Big-city As You Can Get, Son Says .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

became the largest stockholder in United because of a million shares of stock Guterma signed over as pay ment toward notes he owed Chesler on the island ...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vC9UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U40DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5014,5948067&dq=not-even-members-of-his-family-knew-much-about-his-past&hl=en

Alexander Guterma .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

Not even members of his family knew much about his past He told people he was the son of a general in the Russian Army and that his mother was of Polish

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vC9UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U40DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5376,6017217&dq=the-story-of-his-life-took-another-wild-turn-in-1935&hl=en

Poje .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

The story of his life took another wild turn in 1935 when immigration officials found him that year working in Honolulu which he had entered illegally At .

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=RIL&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=%22Guterman+or-as+he+designated+himself+in+his+final+transmigration*%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

A Finagling Financier; Alexander Leonard Guterma

‎

$3.95 - New York Times - Feb 18, 1960

The contemporary epic of Sandy McSandy, Alexander Leonard McSande, ... himself in his final transmigration - Alexander ("Everyone calls me Sandy") Leonard ...

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Frank+Cormier+boyhood+cosmopolitan+travel&btnG=Search+Books

Wall Street's shady side

Frank Cormier - 1962 - 198 pages

....No one but Guterma knows his life story; even the date and place of his birth are matters of pure speculation. Guterma, if that is his name, claims to have been born in Irkutsk, Siberia in 1915, the son of a general in the Czar's army and a mother of Polish origin. His story of boyhood is one of cosmopolitan travel which somehow encompassed an elementary education at a mission school in Tsingtao, China. The earliest reliable information about Guterma goes back only to 1935 when Immigration authorities found him working in a radio repair shop in Honolulu. At the shop he was known as Alexander Guterman of Brooklyn but he told Immigration agents he was Sandy McSande, an American. The agents accused him of entering Hawaii illegally. Before any formal deportation action could be taken, Guterman-McSande stowed away on a boat bound for China.

During the next half dozen years Guterma

remained out of sight. Every sort of rumor has circulated to account for those years. It is said that

he bankrolled pirates operating off the China coast, that he was in New York City, that he ran a fleet

of Shanghai-based fishing boats which flew the Czech flag and were allowed to pass through the Japanese

blockade of the China main-land.

Shortly before Pearl Harbor, Guterma turned up in Manila as local sales manager for an American biscuit

company. Caught in the Philippines by the Japanese invasion he was tossed into a concentration camp but

apparently was able to convince the invaders he was not an American. Released, he became a businessman

in Pasay, remaining there during the rest of the war. He is believed to have operated a gambling casino

and a commissary, both well patronized by Japanese soldiers. With General Mac- Arthur's return to the

islands, Guterma was ready to aim his sales pitch at the GI's. He never got the opportunity. Tagged by

American counterintelligence as a Japanese collaborator, he was taken out of circulation for a time.

The charge did not stick, for reasons which remain a mystery. During the early postwar years Guterma

managed a stable of companies controlled by J. Amado Araneta, a wealthy Filipino industrialist. During

this period he married an American, Anita McGrath, the daughter of a shoe manufacturer operating in the

Philippines. In 1950 the Gutermas entered the United States. He applied for citizenship. The couple

settled for a few days in Los Angeles where they quickly bought and sold a house, then moved to New

York. Guterma's first big venture was the organization of a holding company, Western Financial

Corporation, which had few assets except the several hundred thousand dollars he brought from the

Philippines. Getting additional financing from a group of Filipino businessmen, Guterma bought a large

tract of Florida real estate for the cultivation of kenaf, a kind of hemp, and ramie, a variety of

cotton. Within a year, 920 acres were producing but the business enjoyed only a limited success so he

sold 1400 acres to Foremost Dairies, keeping for himself the cultivated acres and a ramie-processing

mill. His backers in the Philippines apparently were left with little except their check stubs.

Guterma's next move was to create Shawano Development Corporation, which took over his Florida

holdings. Shawano "went public" by distributing 116000 shares of common stock, duly registered with the

government, at $1.25 a share. These few shares were the harbingers of a flood of Shawano stock that hit

the market in the following years. The insignificant original offering was the only one ever registered

although 18000000 shares eventually were sold to public investors for more than $20000000. The

unregistered stock was manufactured in a series of mergers a la Birrell as Shawano picked up a Florida

dairy herd, mining claims in Nevada and Oregon, uranium deposits in Wyoming and a resort hotel in

Miami. The company later added oil wells in Kansas and Wyoming, put up by Samuel Garfield and Irving

Pasternak, a couple of big time gamblers later questioned in a federal grand jury investigation of a

nationwide college football betting pool. Shawano claimed that shares issued in these deals were exempt

from registration because they resulted from mergers. Years later SEC decided the stock was not not

exempt because the mergers, like so many negotiated by members of the Wall Street underworld, were

calculated to create securities rather than strengthen the corporation. Shawano stock was peddled to

the public by boiler rooms, one of them organized by Guterma and named McGrath Securities in honor of

his wife. The high pressure sales campaign was accompanied by rising prices which only whetted the mass

appetite for millions of shares yet to be issued. A four-for-one split added further glamour before the

plug was pulled. The company then went into bankruptcy and the stock became a penny item — if you could

find anyone willing to pay that much. Another Guterma-sponsored company was called Diversified

Financial Corporation, which he later transferred to the control of Benjack Cage, a kingsize Texan who

changed the name to Consolidated American Industries. Millions of shares of Consolidated stock were

manufactured for distribution by McGrath Securities and other boiler rooms. In the summer of 1956 the

price moved to $2.50 a share, only to collapse a few months later to 25 cents. The following year Cage

was convicted of embezzling $100000 from a Texas insurance company but fled to Rio de Janiero before

the authorities could jail him. He has been named in several federal indictments since his flight.

Micro-Moisture Controls was another Guterma enterprise to suffer the typical fate. The company was

founded in 1953 to manufacture electronic controls, including one which purportedly raised convertible

tops automatically at the first drop of rain. Thousands bought Micro-Moisture stock at $1 a share, then

watched the value of their investment drop to half a cent a share. Guterma turned up enormous profits

with stock promotions of fifth rate companies but hankered for the big leagues. He made his move in

1955, buying control of United Dye from Birrell and becoming chief executive officer. Hiding the fact that Birrell

had just looted the company of nearly $2000000, Guterma in a very few months managed to push the price of United Dye shares from ...

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=%22+Shortly+before+Pearl+Harbor%2C+Guterma+turned+up+in+Manila+*%22&btnG=Search+Books#hl=en&ds=bo&sugexp=ldymls&pq=%22araneta%2C%20a%20wealthy%20filipino%20industrialist.%20during%20this%20period%20he%20married%20an*%22&xhr=t&q=%22married+an+american,+anita+mcgrath*%22&cp=1&pf=p&sclient=psy&tbo=1&tbs=bks:1&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=%22married+an+american,+anita+mcgrath*%22&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=84abe16c47dde074&bs=1

#

Business in action

Adrian A. Paradis - 1962 - 191 pages - Snippet view

After the war he amassed half a million dollars as manager of several Philippine companies and married

an American, Anita McGrath, whose family owned a shoe manufacturing firm in Manila. Our story picks him

up in August, 1950, ...

books.google.com

#

Wall Street's shady side

Frank Cormier - 1962 - 198 pages - Snippet view

... for reasons which remain a mystery. During the early postwar years Guterma managed a stable of

companies controlled by J. Amado Araneta, a wealthy Filipino industrialist. During this period he

married an American, Anita McGrath, ...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=1&tbs=bks%3A1&q=messick+%22mad+russian%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

The silent syndicate

Hank Messick - 1967 - 303 pages - Snippet view

pg 269 - 270

...losses in 1958 and 1959. Plus, of course, the $1o9,ooo it could claim as a capital loss. And when you're making millions, it's important to have some deductions to list. Legality was wonderful. When the syndicate's old friend, Louis M. Jacobs, president of Sportservice, which operates concessions at various stadiums around the country, needed quick cash, he appealed to Moe Dalitz.

Back when the boys were trying to get River Downs Race Track on its feet, Jacobs had helped, so Dalitz was agreeable. A DI Operating Company check for $25o,ooo was issued to Sportservice Corporation at Buffalo.

Sammy Haas, back in Cleveland, wrote checks for $15o,ooo more. The checks were deposited on December 3o, 1958.

By January 1o, 1959, the crisis— whatever it was— had passed, and the money was returned. Just a friendly little gesture. But the syndicate, while never overlooking a sure bet, had its eye on the main chance.

Sam Garfield is credited with producing the man with the big idea. His man was the "Mad Russian" of high finance, Alexander L. Guterma, who said he was born in Siberia. Guterma apparently fooled Garfield; he certainly fooled Allard Roen, and he thought he fooled Moe Dalitz and the rest.

He intended to use the syndicate, and perhaps get control of its gambling empire. Instead, the syndicate used him.

In line with the plot devised by Guterma, a holding company calling itself United Hotels, Inc., was formed on April 5, 1956.

Guterma was going to sell the stock to the public, he thought. The Desert Inn crowd was supposed to turn over the physical properties of the Desert Inn, as distinguished from the casino ownership, to the holding company. Guterma put the Isle d'Capri hotel in Bay Harbors— the same town where lived— into the holding company. The Desert Inn's physical plant was valued at $4,5oo,ooo. Guterma's hotel was valued at $25,7oo.

Apparently Guterma hoped to use the little piece of stock he got in the holding company in exchange for his hotel as a spoon to gobble up the giant custard. The syndicate found a use for his hotel, but it had its eyes on other things too. Guterma gave some trouble when he discovered he was not going to make a financial killing. He even went so far as to put his 275,ooo shares of 1o-cent par value common stock— out of the 5,ooo,ooo shares authorized— on the market. A few citizens snapped it up, and the syndicate had some difficulty recovering it. But, when the time was ready, Guterma and his schemes were dumped. On May 9, 1959, United Resort Hotels, Inc., was formed. John A. Donnelly, attorney for the Desert Inn, held 3o per cent of the stock, and Roen and Bernard Rothkopf divided up the remaining 7o per cent. They entered into an agreement with stockholders of United Hotels to purchase all United Hotel stock. It was a complex transaction, involving another sale to a new partnership, Desert Inn Associates, lease-back agreements, and a lot of red tape. But in the end, Guterma and the people who bought his stock were washed out of the business, and everything was the same as before— almost. The big problem the syndicate had hitherto been unable to beat derived from the fact that when you make a lot of money you pay higher taxes. The Desert Inn had made a lot of money, legally and above-board. If the usual business practice of paying a dividend were followed, the individual members would pay income taxes on their respective shares. Already they were in a high bracket, and a dividend would push them into a higher one. The elaborate scheme involving United Hotels and United Resort Hotels served a purpose— to create a conduit to transfer dividend distribution into capital gains. The sham sale to United Resort Hotels allowed stockholders of the Desert to increase the basis of depreciable assets from $3,6oo,ooo to $9,8oo,ooo, thus reducing the amount of income to be taxed to the corporation in later years. They were able to withdraw $2,ooo,ooo from the business in January, 196o, and lesser amounts in following years. Most of what they withdrew was taxable at the minimum rate of 25 per cent instead of the 52 per cent corporate rate....

Rambling, (as if this post isn't?) Lee Forman post in 2005, mostly on Mitch Werbell, Dominican Republic, silencers, Bancroft/Dulles, etc., etc....:

Interesting Article Dean Rusk and the Washington Post

Edited March 27, 2011 by Tom Scully

[Robert Howard]

Robert, if you were trying to tie Guterma accountant Birnbaum to Igor Cassini's Martial PR firm's Martin T. Birnbaum, it shows how impressive your recall is, but I cannot find a connection. Have you been able to?

http://openjurist.or...es-v-i-birnbaum

373 F.2d 250

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.

Saul I. BIRNBAUM, Appellant.

I found it odd that Life mag., as late as in October, 1963, omitted all details of Guterma's background, when other work had been published with many details. The Life article was an attack on Roy Cohn, or an attempt at pro-Cohn damage control, or...whatever.

Messick did not regard Guterma as extraordinary, and that disappointed me, as I am a sucker for a kenaf related lead, because of the relationship of kenaf to DeMohrenschildt, Joe Dryer, Rionda Braga, and Michael JP Malone, Richard Kleberg, and Ernie Byfield's sister-in-law, Nina Ervesun. Cohn always intrigues me because of G. David Schine, brother-in-law of Henry Crown's son, and Schine's father, Myer, of Gloversville, NY, owner of the Ambassador Hotel in L.A., and host of vacationing Hoover and Tolson in Miami in the 40's and 50's.....

http://books.google....%20cohn&f=false

LIFE - Oct 4, 1963 - Page 28

Vol. 55, No. 14 - 142 pages - Magazine - Full view

Cohn then, according to charges now against him, tried to help both Garfield and Roen by conspiring to keep the federal government from obtaining an indictment against them. COHN CONTINUED Alexander Guterma's basic tool in using other

http://www.google.co...urce=newspapers

Guterma Plane Crash Caused By Lack Of Fuel .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 24, 1978

... plane crash that killed Boca Raton developer Alex ander Guterma his wife ... The safety board's report blames the pilot Bob Holiday of Boca Raton who

http://news.google.c...iday+fuel&hl=en

Kennedy Greet ..Ed Patients From The Palm Beach Habilitation...

‎

Palm Beach Post - Dec 22, 1978

The report cited pilot Bob Holiday who had more than 13000 hours flying time with inadequate preflight preparation and planning and mismanagement of fuel

http://news.google.c...d+chesler&hl=en

Guterma Was As Big-city As You Can Get, Son Says .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

became the largest stockholder in United because of a million shares of stock Guterma signed over as pay ment toward notes he owed Chesler on the island ...

http://news.google.c...-his-past&hl=en

Alexander Guterma .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

Not even members of his family knew much about his past He told people he was the son of a general in the Russian Army and that his mother was of Polish

http://news.google.c...n-in-1935&hl=en

Poje .

‎

Boca Raton News - Apr 6, 1977

The story of his life took another wild turn in 1935 when immigration officials found him that year working in Honolulu which he had entered illegally At .

http://www.google.co...f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

A Finagling Financier; Alexander Leonard Guterma

‎

$3.95 - New York Times - Feb 18, 1960

The contemporary epic of Sandy McSandy, Alexander Leonard McSande, ... himself in his final transmigration - Alexander ("Everyone calls me Sandy") Leonard ...

http://www.google.co...nG=Search+Books

Wall Street's shady side

Frank Cormier - 1962 - 198 pages

....No one but Guterma knows his life story; even the date and place of his birth are matters of pure speculation. Guterma, if that is his name, claims to have been born in Irkutsk, Siberia in 1915, the son of a general in the Czar's army and a mother of Polish origin. His story of boyhood is one of cosmopolitan travel which somehow encompassed an elementary education at a mission school in Tsingtao, China. The earliest reliable information about Guterma goes back only to 1935 when Immigration authorities found him working in a radio repair shop in Honolulu. At the shop he was known as Alexander Guterman of Brooklyn but he told Immigration agents he was Sandy McSande, an American. The agents accused him of entering Hawaii illegally. Before any formal deportation action could be taken, Guterman-McSande stowed away on a boat bound for China.

During the next half dozen years Guterma

remained out of sight. Every sort of rumor has circulated to account for those years. It is said that

he bankrolled pirates operating off the China coast, that he was in New York City, that he ran a fleet

of Shanghai-based fishing boats which flew the Czech flag and were allowed to pass through the Japanese

blockade of the China main-land.

Shortly before Pearl Harbor, Guterma turned up in Manila as local sales manager for an American biscuit

company. Caught in the Philippines by the Japanese invasion he was tossed into a concentration camp but

apparently was able to convince the invaders he was not an American. Released, he became a businessman

in Pasay, remaining there during the rest of the war. He is believed to have operated a gambling casino

and a commissary, both well patronized by Japanese soldiers. With General Mac- Arthur's return to the

islands, Guterma was ready to aim his sales pitch at the GI's. He never got the opportunity. Tagged by

American counterintelligence as a Japanese collaborator, he was taken out of circulation for a time.

The charge did not stick, for reasons which remain a mystery. During the early postwar years Guterma

managed a stable of companies controlled by J. Amado Araneta, a wealthy Filipino industrialist. During

this period he married an American, Anita McGrath, the daughter of a shoe manufacturer operating in the

Philippines. In 1950 the Gutermas entered the United States. He applied for citizenship. The couple

settled for a few days in Los Angeles where they quickly bought and sold a house, then moved to New

York. Guterma's first big venture was the organization of a holding company, Western Financial

Corporation, which had few assets except the several hundred thousand dollars he brought from the

Philippines. Getting additional financing from a group of Filipino businessmen, Guterma bought a large

tract of Florida real estate for the cultivation of kenaf, a kind of hemp, and ramie, a variety of

cotton. Within a year, 920 acres were producing but the business enjoyed only a limited success so he

sold 1400 acres to Foremost Dairies, keeping for himself the cultivated acres and a ramie-processing

mill. His backers in the Philippines apparently were left with little except their check stubs.

Guterma's next move was to create Shawano Development Corporation, which took over his Florida

holdings. Shawano "went public" by distributing 116000 shares of common stock, duly registered with the

government, at $1.25 a share. These few shares were the harbingers of a flood of Shawano stock that hit

the market in the following years. The insignificant original offering was the only one ever registered

although 18000000 shares eventually were sold to public investors for more than $20000000. The

unregistered stock was manufactured in a series of mergers a la Birrell as Shawano picked up a Florida

dairy herd, mining claims in Nevada and Oregon, uranium deposits in Wyoming and a resort hotel in

Miami. The company later added oil wells in Kansas and Wyoming, put up by Samuel Garfield and Irving

Pasternak, a couple of big time gamblers later questioned in a federal grand jury investigation of a

nationwide college football betting pool. Shawano claimed that shares issued in these deals were exempt

from registration because they resulted from mergers. Years later SEC decided the stock was not not

exempt because the mergers, like so many negotiated by members of the Wall Street underworld, were

calculated to create securities rather than strengthen the corporation. Shawano stock was peddled to

the public by boiler rooms, one of them organized by Guterma and named McGrath Securities in honor of

his wife. The high pressure sales campaign was accompanied by rising prices which only whetted the mass

appetite for millions of shares yet to be issued. A four-for-one split added further glamour before the

plug was pulled. The company then went into bankruptcy and the stock became a penny item — if you could

find anyone willing to pay that much. Another Guterma-sponsored company was called Diversified

Financial Corporation, which he later transferred to the control of Benjack Cage, a kingsize Texan who

changed the name to Consolidated American Industries. Millions of shares of Consolidated stock were

manufactured for distribution by McGrath Securities and other boiler rooms. In the summer of 1956 the

price moved to $2.50 a share, only to collapse a few months later to 25 cents. The following year Cage

was convicted of embezzling $100000 from a Texas insurance company but fled to Rio de Janiero before

the authorities could jail him. He has been named in several federal indictments since his flight.

Micro-Moisture Controls was another Guterma enterprise to suffer the typical fate. The company was

founded in 1953 to manufacture electronic controls, including one which purportedly raised convertible

tops automatically at the first drop of rain. Thousands bought Micro-Moisture stock at $1 a share, then

watched the value of their investment drop to half a cent a share. Guterma turned up enormous profits

with stock promotions of fifth rate companies but hankered for the big leagues. He made his move in

1955, buying control of United Dye from Birrell and becoming chief executive officer. Hiding the fact that Birrell

had just looted the company of nearly $2000000, Guterma in a very few months managed to push the price of United Dye shares from ...

http://www.google.co...6c47dde074&bs=1

#

Business in action

Adrian A. Paradis - 1962 - 191 pages - Snippet view

After the war he amassed half a million dollars as manager of several Philippine companies and married

an American, Anita McGrath, whose family owned a shoe manufacturing firm in Manila. Our story picks him

up in August, 1950, ...

books.google.com

#

Wall Street's shady side

Frank Cormier - 1962 - 198 pages - Snippet view

... for reasons which remain a mystery. During the early postwar years Guterma managed a stable of

companies controlled by J. Amado Araneta, a wealthy Filipino industrialist. During this period he

married an American, Anita McGrath, ...

http://www.google.co...f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

The silent syndicate

Hank Messick - 1967 - 303 pages - Snippet view

pg 269 - 270

...losses in 1958 and 1959. Plus, of course, the $1o9,ooo it could claim as a capital loss. And when you're making millions, it's important to have some deductions to list. Legality was wonderful. When the syndicate's old friend, Louis M. Jacobs, president of Sportservice, which operates concessions at various stadiums around the country, needed quick cash, he appealed to Moe Dalitz.

Back when the boys were trying to get River Downs Race Track on its feet, Jacobs had helped, so Dalitz was agreeable. A DI Operating Company check for $25o,ooo was issued to Sportservice Corporation at Buffalo.

Sammy Haas, back in Cleveland, wrote checks for $15o,ooo more. The checks were deposited on December 3o, 1958.

By January 1o, 1959, the crisis— whatever it was— had passed, and the money was returned. Just a friendly little gesture. But the syndicate, while never overlooking a sure bet, had its eye on the main chance.

Sam Garfield is credited with producing the man with the big idea. His man was the "Mad Russian" of high finance, Alexander L. Guterma, who said he was born in Siberia. Guterma apparently fooled Garfield; he certainly fooled Allard Roen, and he thought he fooled Moe Dalitz and the rest.

He intended to use the syndicate, and perhaps get control of its gambling empire. Instead, the syndicate used him.

In line with the plot devised by Guterma, a holding company calling itself United Hotels, Inc., was formed on April 5, 1956.

Guterma was going to sell the stock to the public, he thought. The Desert Inn crowd was supposed to turn over the physical properties of the Desert Inn, as distinguished from the casino ownership, to the holding company. Guterma put the Isle d'Capri hotel in Bay Harbors— the same town where lived— into the holding company. The Desert Inn's physical plant was valued at $4,5oo,ooo. Guterma's hotel was valued at $25,7oo.

Apparently Guterma hoped to use the little piece of stock he got in the holding company in exchange for his hotel as a spoon to gobble up the giant custard. The syndicate found a use for his hotel, but it had its eyes on other things too. Guterma gave some trouble when he discovered he was not going to make a financial killing. He even went so far as to put his 275,ooo shares of 1o-cent par value common stock— out of the 5,ooo,ooo shares authorized— on the market. A few citizens snapped it up, and the syndicate had some difficulty recovering it. But, when the time was ready, Guterma and his schemes were dumped. On May 9, 1959, United Resort Hotels, Inc., was formed. John A. Donnelly, attorney for the Desert Inn, held 3o per cent of the stock, and Roen and Bernard Rothkopf divided up the remaining 7o per cent. They entered into an agreement with stockholders of United Hotels to purchase all United Hotel stock. It was a complex transaction, involving another sale to a new partnership, Desert Inn Associates, lease-back agreements, and a lot of red tape. But in the end, Guterma and the people who bought his stock were washed out of the business, and everything was the same as before— almost. The big problem the syndicate had hitherto been unable to beat derived from the fact that when you make a lot of money you pay higher taxes. The Desert Inn had made a lot of money, legally and above-board. If the usual business practice of paying a dividend were followed, the individual members would pay income taxes on their respective shares. Already they were in a high bracket, and a dividend would push them into a higher one. The elaborate scheme involving United Hotels and United Resort Hotels served a purpose— to create a conduit to transfer dividend distribution into capital gains. The sham sale to United Resort Hotels allowed stockholders of the Desert to increase the basis of depreciable assets from $3,6oo,ooo to $9,8oo,ooo, thus reducing the amount of income to be taxed to the corporation in later years. They were able to withdraw $2,ooo,ooo from the business in January, 196o, and lesser amounts in following years. Most of what they withdrew was taxable at the minimum rate of 25 per cent instead of the 52 per cent corporate rate....

Rambling, (as if this post isn't?) Lee Forman post in 2005, mostly on Mitch Werbell, Dominican Republic, silencers, Bancroft/Dulles, etc., etc....:

Interesting Article Dean Rusk and the Washington Post

Robert, if you were trying to tie Guterma accountant Birnbaum to Igor Cassini's Martial PR firm's Martin T. Birnbaum, it shows how impressive your recall is, but I cannot find a connection. Have you been able to?

No, it must have just seemed that way.....

Your last post was great, I did run across some more Dallas related material, but I have a lot of irons in the fire, I just wanted to acknowledge your post.

Will update later....

Edited March 28, 2011 by Robert Howard