A Farewell to Justice

by Joan Mellen

  p. 47: Peña talked to Jim Garrison at length: New Orleans conference. September 21, 1968. Round Table Discussion.

  p. 32: This was a conference convened by Jim Garrison and included both independent researchers and Garrison investigators.

  p. 47: Smith was “involved in CIA operations”: FBI To: Director, FBI. Attention: Intelligence Division, W. O. Cregar. From: SAC, San Juan. United States Senate Select Committee (SSC) On Intelligence Activities. Re: Interview of SAC Warren C. de Brueys by SSC Staff members and Senator Richard S. Schweiker. Observations and Comments of SAC de Brueys. January 20, 1976. FBI. 124- 10273-10172. HQ. 62-116395- 1300X. 20 pages. NARA.

  p. 47: Roache admits he knew de Brueys: Ibid. To: Files. From: Paul Wallach. December 3, 1975. Telephone Conversation with Wendall C. Roache.

  p. 47: Church Committee summary: Theophais E. Pappelis: Attached to SSCIA 147-10011-10101. Affidavit of Theophanis Pappelis. Two pages. SSCIA Box 337, Folder 5 (VI-C- 3-W) (Pappelis). NARA.

  p. 47: De Brueys had “a working relationship with the New Orleans INS office”: SSCIA. Record number; 157-10011-10101. Affidavit of Theophanis Pappelis. 12/12/75. Two pages. SSCIA Box 337, Folder 5 (VI-C-3-W) (Pappelis). NARA. This is a 3/30/05 release.

  p. 47: Wendall C. Roache is investigating David Ferrie in 1961. His name on this FBI document appears as “Windle G. Rosch.” Urgent. February 20, 1967. Teletype. To: Director and SAC-S Dallas and Miami. From: New Orleans. 105-8342-519.

  p. 47: “Garrison had something”: Memorandum To Files. From: Paul Wallach. Date: December 3, 1975. Re: Telephone Conversation With Wendall Roache. NARA.

  p. 47: “I’ve been waiting twelve years”: Memorandum. To: Files. From: Paul Wallach. Date: December 2, 1975. Re: Telephone conversation with Wendall C. Roache. SSCIA. 157- 10005-10009. 2 pages. NARA.

  p. 47: Oswald claims to be Cuban: To: Files. From: Paul Wallach. Date: December 9, 1975. Re: Ronald L. Smith. NARA.

  p. 48: some time before April 10th: SSCIA. 157-10014-10138. Miscellaneous Records of the Church Committee: 07-M-43A. Title: Committee Report: The Intelligence Agencies and the Assassination of President Kennedy. 00/00/75. Classified “Top Secret,” this report has been released only in part; it runs to 170 pages. The Defense Intelligence Agency in 2000 indicated that it had no objection to declassification. There was no New Orleans Police Department record of Oswald’s arrest, although there should have been unless he was in on a “drunk charge”. Smith testified that he would not have interviewed Oswald if he merely was drunk, however.

  p. 48: New Orleans INS surveilled Cuban groups: To: Files. From: Paul Wallach. Date: December 3, 1975. Re: Telephone conversation with Wendall Roache. NARA.

  p. 48: Robert K. Tanenbaum sees footage of a training camp in which Oswald, Ferrie and Phillips appear together: Interview with Robert K. Tanenbaum, August 14, 2000. See also: Testimony of Robert K. Tanenbaum, September 17, 1996. ARRB. NARA. Others who saw this footage were HSCA staffer Jackie Hess, and one Colonel William Bishop, who had served as a military intelligence aide on the staff of General Douglas Macarthur during the Korean war. Bishop said he had seen Oswald in a film of a training camp that summer. See also Tanenbaum’s novel, Corruption of Blood (New York: Signet Books, 1996), which he says offers an all-but-documentary description of that footage.

  p. 48: “maintained extensive relations”: Arcacha and Customs: CIA 100-200-17. May 2, 1967. Secret. JMWAVE 6938. Priority: Director. This JMWAVE document misspells de Brueys as “De Bruce.” NARA.

  p. 48: “pertinent intelligence information”: Lawrence R. Houston to Honorable J. Walter Yeagley. 16 December 1966. OGC 66-2615. NARA.

  p. 48: customs house broker: Valdes so listed his occupation in his application to the rental agents Latter and Blum for his apartment at the Patios. The date was August 13, 1962. Courtesy of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 48: “BC”: Interview with Chuck Schulze, June 21, 2001. Schulze admired Valdes’ orchids.

  p. 49: Gretchen Bomboy: Interview with Gretchen Bomboy, December 29, 2002.

  p. 49: for portraits of Mary Sherman, see the obituary in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol. 46- A, No. 8, December 1964 and Michael Bonfiglio, “In Memoriam: Mary Stults Sherman, M.D., Journal of Surgical Oncology 9:1-14 (1977).

  p. 49: Alton Ochsner a longtime CIA asset in New Orleans: See, for example, CIA. 31 May 1968. Subject: Ochsner, Edward William Alton, aka Ochsner, Alton. 1998 CIA release. Other documents from CIA (HSCA 000072, for example) list Ochsner as a financial contributor to INCA.

  p. 49: “like a little Jewish accountant”: Interview with Victoria Hawes, January 15, 2000; December 8, 2001.

  p. 50: Juan Valdes throws flowers over onto Mary Sherman’s patio area: Interview with Don Lee Keith, December 13, 2002.

  p. 50: “pest”: Don Lee Keith interview with Larry Jennings. Notebook of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 50: Mary Sherman’s maid remembers Juan as a dinner guest: Don Lee Keith interview with Detective Robert Townsend, NOPD. June 15th and June 25, 1979. Papers of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 50: that Valdes called the police seemed odd: Don Lee Keith Interviews with Detective Robert Townsend, June 15 and 25, 1979. Courtesy of Mr. Keith.

  p. 50: for the best narrative of the bizarre murder of Mary Sherman, see “A Matter of Motives: A Retrospective Autopsy of a Mystery Murder and the Investigation Thereinto” by Don Lee Keith. (Unpublished). Courtesy of Mr. Keith.

  p. 50: For the burns on Mary Sherman: See Autopsy Protocol. Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office. No. S64-7-288. Date & Time of Death: 7- 21-64 at 5:25 A. M. Signed by Lloyd F. LoCascio, M.D., Assistant Coroner.

  p. 50: a stub: Conversation with Teresa Neaves, August 1, 2004.

  p. 51: a sex-related murder: According to Ralph Slovenko, the perpetrator was most likely a male: Slovenko told Keith: “I cannot recall ever having heard of a woman mutilating the genitalia of another woman”: A Matter of Motives manuscript.

  p. 51: Helen Wattley heard him come in: Report of Offenses Against Persons. Item No. G-12994- 64. District No. Sixth. Date of Report: 7-23-64. Date Reported: 7-21-64. New Orleans, La. Department of Police. Courtesy of Don Lee Keith. The Hawes couple do not appear on the police report as residents, nor does Tulane department of psychiatry secretary, Irene Dempsey, who also lived there. And of course nowhere does the word “Ochsner” appear. A lesbian angle was pursued, but Hayward later changed his mind: “But, you know, I was wrong on something else, about us having the proof on the victim being a lesbian. Funny, I’ve spent all these years positive that we had come up with cold, hard facts on that matter. Why, in my head there wasn’t any doubt at all. That was one of the aspects of this case that has stayed with me in my mind the strongest. But I checked and checked, and apparently we never did turn up anything that could substantiate that she was.”

  p. 51: Valdes fails to show up for his polygraph: Don Lee Keith interview with Detective Frank Hayward, June 1979.

  p. 51: for speculation about the Public Health Service hospital and an accident which may have befallen Mary Sherman there, see Edward Haslam, Mary, Ferrie & The Monkey Virus: The Story of an Underground Medical Laboratory (Albuquerque, New Mexico: Wordsworth Communications, 1995, 1997), p. 42, and especially p. 109.

  p. 51: she worked at laboratories until midnight: Don Lee Keith interview with Allan Davis, public relations man for the Ochsner foundation and clinic. June 3, 1979. Courtesy of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 52: a blank vaccination card: See International Certificate of Vaccination or Revaccination Against Smallpox. June 8, 1963. Cadigan exhibit No. 23. Warren Commission Volume XIX, p. 296. The FBI interview with Dr. Charles A. Stern regarding this vaccination card yielded no insight. Commission Exhibit No. 2012. November 25, 1963. Warren Commission Volume XXIV, p. 429.

  p. 52: David Chandler confirms she was doing cancer research: Notebook of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 52: valuable drugs: Don Lee Keith interview with Chris Blake. 1979. Courtesy of Mr. Keith.

  p. 52: Dr. Sherman knew Dr. Martin Palmer: Gu
rvich Conference. August 29, 1967. Tape #2, p. 9. Papers of Edward F. Wegmann. NARA.

  p. 52: “I’ll never forget him”: Sylvia Gilliam interview with Mr. Quartler, June 25, 1979. Papers of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 53: “Latin playwright”: “Valdes Called in Plot Probe”: Times- Picayune, May 25, 1967.

  p. 53: William Martin interviews Juan Valdes at Tulane and Broad: Memorandum. July 28, 1967. To: Jim Garrison. From: William R. Martin. NODA. NARA.

  p. 53: the FBI does a name check on Juan Valdes: FBI. 124- 10039-10143. Agency file number: 62- 109060-5306. From: Director, FBI. To: Subjects: Valdez, Juan M. Plotkin-Alvarez, Sapir, Name Checks. Undated. Two pages. NARA.

  p. 53: Butler mentions that he knew Valdes: Don Lee Keith interview with Allan Davis.

  p. 53: Mary Sherman contributed to INCA: See “A Matter of Motives.” Keith quotes “an older physician” who remarks, “some of us didn’t mind our names being connected with INCA . . . including Dr. Mary Sherman.”

  p. 53: Mary Sherman donated money to a training camp: Interview with Jim Olivier, October 6, 2000. Based on an interview between Garrison and Olivier.

  p. 53: Mary Sherman took care of the trainees: Marc St. Gill interview with Ricardo Davis. Diary of Richard N. Billings. AARC.

  p. 54: Ferrie worked on medical briefs: Suzanne Ormond interview with Ferrie family friend Jack Nelson. c. 1979. Papers of Don Lee Keith.

  p. 54: Ferrie’s mice: Memorandum. 15 February 1967. To: Jim Garrison. From: William Gurvich. Subj: David William Ferrie—1957 Incident. NODA. NARA.

  p. 54: Mary Sherman and David Ferrie have a close personal connection: Hoke May interview with Don Lee Keith, c. 1979.

  p. 54: rumors that Ferrie had killed Sherman: Notes of Don Lee Keith, “Agency-inspired.”

  p. 54: Garrison wonders if Sherman’s death is connected to her association with David Ferrie: Playboy interview: Jim Garrison, Playboy, vol. 14, no. 10 (October 1967), p. 176.

  p. 55: “the Cuban threat runs so clearly”: Jim Garrison to Richard N. Billings. December 26, 1966. Available both at AARC and NARA.

  p. 55: “in the picture”: Interview with Cubans by Mr. Jim Garrison, Mr. Fowler, et al., December 26, 1966. Harry Connick collection of the papers of Jim Garrison at NARA.

  p. 55: CIA claimed to have “conceived, created and funded” DRE. In fact, CIA only funded the DRE; if to the tune of about $50,000 a month. CIA money poured freely into their hands, delivered in brown paper bags at $10,000 dollars a shot: See CIA. To: Director. Memo: Garrison’s Charges Against CIA. September 15, 1967. 104-10435-10025. Russ Holmes Work File. NARA.

  p. 55: Washington Post reporter Jefferson Morley has written on Joannides: See Miami New Times. “Revelation 19.63.” Available at http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2001-04-12/feature.html.

  p. 55: Lee H. Oswald to V. T. Lee: Oswald’s letter to Vincent T. Lee is in Warren Commission Report, pp. 407-8. Warren Commission Hearings Vol. X, 90-1; Vincent T. Lee Exhibit, No. 5, No. 9. Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. XX, 524, 533.

  p. 56: Luis Fernández- Rocha quickly discerned: Interview with Dr. Fernández- Rocha, January 7, 2004.

  p. 56: fellow FBI informant: Arnesto Rodriguez is an FBI informant: FBI. To: Director. From: SAC. NO. March 3, 1967. 124-10253- 10075. 89-69-1568. NARA. Oswald visits Arnesto Rodriguez: Rodriguez conversation with Earl Golz of the Dallas Morning News, March 7, 1967. Transcript of tape. AARC. Rodriguez denies he made a tape: Warren Commission exhibit (CE) 2121.

  p. 56: Arnesto Senior’s CIA operating approval was issued in 1960. See Audio Surveillance Project. NARA. Emilio worked alongside Desmond Fitzgerald at JMWAVE.

  p. 56: AMJUTE: Memo for Chief Security Support Division. April 7, 1960. Subject; Rodriguez (y Gonzalez), Arnesto Napoleon #214833. OA [Operational Approval] B/3. “For use in Audio Surveillance Work in Cuba by WH Divison Under Project JMARC.” Signed Fred Hall for Director of Security. NARA.

  p. 56: “Emilio”: Intelligence Medal of Merit. Medal of Merit: See personnel file of Emilio Rodriguez. Document ID number:1993.07.21.16:40:55: 900280. Recseries; JFK. Ag- fileno: 80T01357A. JFK Box # JFK45. Vol/ Folder: F17. Title: Withheld. Document date: 7/10/1978. Number of pages: 60. “When diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba were broken subject was on vacation in the United States,” the CIA document describing his award reads. “He immediately left for Cuba to assume his duties, knowing that the risk was even greater now, but he was aware that his services at this point were very important. He arrived in Cuba the following day. He was harassed numerous times and lived under continuous strain subject to arrest by the Cuban G2. On four different occasions he was actually taken into custody by the Cuban authorities and questioned at length. Despite this danger and risk he remained until June 1961 and did an outstanding job. The request for award is based particularly on his successful activity during this period on our behalf and under extreme hazardous conditions.”

  p. 56: Bringuier as a CIA and FBI informant: a frequent FBI informant: See NO 100-166-1. December 17, 1963. Report of Special Agent John T. Reynolds. Sending a memo to Jim Garrison, he simultaneously furnished it to the Bureau. This memorandum is attached to FBI Airtel February 21, 1967. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, New Orleans. 124-10256- 10180. 89-69- 1437A, 1438, 1439. NARA. Bringuier also reported to CIA: See: “Soviets Are Spying on Alaskan Pipeline,” The Miami Herald. May 17, 1976, p. 7-A. As late as October of 1968, Bringuier was reporting to the Bureau: FBI. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, New Orleans. October 11, 1968. 124-10246-10434. 89-69-4171, 4172. NARA.

  p. 56: de Brueys remembers Bringuier: Warren de Brueys testimony before HSCA in Executive Session.

  p. 56: what leftist: Interviews with Bob Heller, June 28, 2002; Hugh Murray, June 27, 2002.

  p. 57: the FBI already had a copy of the pamphlet: FBI. To: Director. From: SAC, New Orleans. 124- 10248-10191. 89-69-138. NARA.

  p. 57: the FBI Cuban informants do not report on Oswald’s “pro-Castro” activity: See: FBI From: SAC, NO. To: Director, FBI. November 15, 1963. Record Number: 124-10220- 10324. HQ. Agency file number: CR 105-107224-159. two pages. NARA. Yet the Bureau and Special Agent Warren de Brueys in particular were ever on the watch for pro-Castro groups: FBI. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, New Orleans. Subject: Nationality Group Coverage—Cuba. January 29, 1963. 105-99459; 210-119. See also: To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, New Orleans. July 27, 1962. Record number: 124- 10220-10316. HQ. Agency file number: CR 105-97459-210-71. NARA. This latter document lists the names of the FBI’s informants in New Orleans, those in charge of pro-Castro, and those involved in anti-Castro matters. The FBI had watched for the establishment of a branch of Fair Play “on a continuing basis”: FBI. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, New Orleans. Subjects: Nationality Group Coverage, Summary, ACA, FB, BKG, Assoc Polit Act. Record number: 124-10220- 10328. HQ. CR 105-97459-210-119. NARA.

  p. 57: “large quantities of propaganda”: FBI. To: Mr. D. J. Brennan. From: Mr. S. J. Papich. 9/13/63. Subject: Fair Play for Cuba Committee. IS—Cuba. 97-4196-861. NARA.

  p. 57: Joseph Burkholder Smith: Memorandum. May 8, 1978. To: G. Robert Blakey. From: Gaeton Fonzi. Re: Interview with JOSEPH BURKHOLDER SMITH. Memo courtesy of Gaeton Fonzi.

  p. 57: CIA admits it infiltrated Fair Play for Cuba: CIA. Record Number 104- 10310-10152. Record series; JFK-MISC. Agency file: CIA-DDP Files. NARA.

  p. 57: “Dave Phillips ran that for us”: Deposition of E. Howard Hunt. November 3, 1978. HSCA #180- 10131-10342. Agency file: 014872. 87 pages. NARA.

  p. 57: Veciana knew Phillips as “Maurice Bishop”: Miami HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi confirmed this identification through interviews with Phillips’ CIA associates, among them Ross Crozier, a CIA DRE handler, prior to Joannides. “Bishop” was indubitably David Atlee Phillips: To: Bob Blakey. From: Gaeton Fonzi & Al Gonzales. Re: Interview with Ross Crozier. Re: DRE. Courtesy of Gaeton Fonzi.

  p. 58: CIA had Oswald under surveillance: Interview with Isidro Borja, January 5, 2004.

  p. 58: “a sort of PR operatio
n”: Interview of William George Gaudet, May 13, 1975, in Waveland, Mississippi, by Bernard Fensterwald and Allan Stone. AARC. Gaudet was open about being a CIA asset: See, for example, John William Miller Interview with William George Gaudet. CD 558. Here Gaudet confides in the Bureau. His FBI affiliation appears only in pencilled notes on documents collected by the ARRB. Gaudet was also a PCI, Potential Security Informant, for the FBI. So the notation appears on Draft 1/03/96. January—1996. ARRB Note sheet. Re: Assassination Records Designations. To: John A. Hartingh, Inspector- In-Charge. JFK Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation. From: David G. Marwell, Executive Director. These are source files for New Orleans FBI field office informants. See p. 2: 134-649A (-27). 3/12/68 (Gaudet- PCI), the latter in right margin. Under the list of serials for NO 1213-S, who was Arnesto Rodriguez. Document courtesy of Malcolm Blunt. Gaudet was both a CIA and an FBI agent: Peña confirms that Gaudet is a “CIA-FBI agent”: Interview of Orestes Peña with Martin J. Daly and William Brown. January 20, 1978. HSCA 014118. NARA.

  p. 58: Matt O. Wilson: Transcript of interview with Matt O. Wilson. 30 January 1968. The interviewer is Stanley R. Primmer. Courtesy of Lyon Garrison. DRE filed a report to its CIA sponsors on the incident: Memorandum. February 21, 1978. To: Blakey. From: Fonzi and Gonzales. Re: Isidro Borja—military leader DRE. Courtesy of Gaeton Fonzi.

  p. 58: “same job as I was”: Undated telephone call from Harry Dean to the district attorney of Orleans Parish. NODA. See also letter to Jim Garrison from Harry Dean, February 20, 1967. NODA. NARA.

  p. 58: FBI taking photographs: Summary. HSCA. Orestes Peña. January 20, 1978. Interview by Martin J. Daly and William Brown. 180-10097-10491. 014118. 10 pages. NARA.

  p. 58: “being used by these people”: Department of Police. Interof- fice Correspondence. To: Major Presley J. Trosclair Jr. From: Sgt. Horace J. Austin & Patn. Warren Roberts. Subject: Interview of four male subjects at the First District Police Station, on Friday, August 9, 1963, after their arrest from Canal Street. CE 1413.

  p. 59: Bringuier asks Kent Courtney for legal advice: Interview with Carlos Bringuier, January 5, 2000.