by Joan Mellen
p. 150: LaBiche and Centola are close to DeLoach. FBI. To: Mr. Tolson. From: C. D. DeLoach: February 28, 1967. 124-10027-10216. HQ file. 62-109060-4649. NARA. Centola even took his son to meet Deke. Interview with Lawrence Centola Jr., June 14, 2000.
p. 150: “Wilson-Franklin Roosevelt persuasion”: “An Affable Shaw Is Host To Press” by Gene Roberts. The New York Times. April 4, 1967.
p. 150: “two other occasions”: Joe Biles notes this phrase in In History’s Shadow: Lee Harvey Oswald, Kerry Thornley & the Garrison Investigation (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., Writers Club Press, 2002), p. 45.
p. 151: “go to hell”: Memorandum. To: Jim Garrison. From: Stephen Jaffe. Re: Reverend Raymond Broshears. NODA. NARA.
p. 151: “You could be the patsy”: Interview between Phelan and Russo. May 24, 1967. Transcribed June 16, 1967. NODA. NARA. Tape is 541HC-91. NARA.
p. 151: Phelan: Phelan sends copies of his interviews with Russo to the FBI in Washington. FBI. Airtel. To: SAC, New Orleans. From: Director, FBI. 124-10259-10224. 89- 69-1991. NARA.
p. 151: “a casebook in the obstruction of justice”: Interview with Lou Ivon, October 9, 2000.
p. 151: “too close to Garrison”: Interview with Richard N. Billings. August 2, 2000. See also, Dick Billings/Nancy Haskell. Notes on Phone Conversation with H. McCombs. Tues. 3/7/67. AARC. Billings learned that Life correspondent Holland McCombs was helping Aynesworth in sabotaging the Garrison case: See Holland McCombs to Richard B. Swenson. May 13, 1967. NARA. When the DA of Dallas County, Henry Wade, remarked, “I have never felt . . . that Oswald acted alone . . . I haven’t criticized Garrison any, because I know what he’s up against,” McCombs was indignant: “It’s rather relieving to see that such a professional as the District Attorney of Dallas County, a man who has been involved in it all, can set aside facts and evidence and simply feel things”: To: Billings and Haskell—LIFE—New York. From: Holland McCombs— Dallas. May 18, 1967. AARC.
p. 151: Aynesworth attempted to join the Agency: See: Director, Domestic Contact Service, Chief, Houston Field Office. 25 January 1968. Case 49364. Ref: Headquarters Memo 22 Jan 1968, same subject. Signed: Ernest A. Rische. 100-300-17. NARA. CIA discusses its relationship with Aynesworth: CIA Memorandum. To: Director, Domestic Contact Service. From: Chief, Houston Field Office. 25 January 1968. Subject: Case 49364. 100-300-17. NARA. See also: To: Chief, Contact Division Via Chief, Houston Office. From: Resident Agent, Dallas. 10 October 1963. Possibility of Hugh Grant Aynesworth Making Trip to Cuba. Signed by J. Walton Moore. CI has “requested a brief summary of your relationship with Mr. Aynesworth,” whose name “has been surfaced in connection with the Garrison investigation,” the document reads.
p. 151: Aynesworth is stabbed in the neck and the report is placed in a Lee Harvey Oswald file: Memorandum. To: SAC. From: ASAC Kyle G. Clark. Subject: Lee Harvey Oswald, aka IS-R-CUBA. July 2, 1964. 100-10461-6985. NARA. This is a domestic security file (100). Clark is in the Dealey Plaza news photo where Buddy Walthers picks up the bullet. Kyle Clark bends over and looks at it. If this information went to an informant file, Aynesworth had to know a lot about Oswald prior to the assassination.
p. 151: informants in place inside Jim Garrison’s office: D. K. Rodgers, Criminal Intelligence Division to Captain W. F. Dyson, Administrative Services Bureau. Dallas Police Department. March 3, 1967. Int. 2965-80A. Courtesy of Gary Shaw.
p. 152: Aynesworth was working for the CIA: Lonnie Hudkins confided this to Harold Weisberg. Interview with the late Harold Weisberg, July 27, 2000.
p. 152: Aynesworth provides information to CIA about Brown & Root: CIA 104-10435-1001. Agency file: Russ Holmes Work File. From: C/Houston Office. To: D. DCS. Title: Memo: James Garrison/ George Brown—Possible Attempt to Embarrass Agency. December 27, 1967. NARA.
p. 152: Aynesworth informs to the FBI about Jim Garrison: See URGENT. To: Director. From Dallas. 124-10237-10364. 89-69-2030. NARA. See also: Memorandum for: ADDP C.CI/R & A (Mr. Rocca). Subject: Garrison and The Kennedy Assassination. WH/COG 67-194. Reference: CI/R & A. Memorandum. Dated 26 April 1967. NARA.
p. 152: Aynesworth said he intended “to make a complete report of my knowledge to the FBI as I have done in the past”: Western Union Press Message. Lyndon B. Johnson Library.
p. 152: they met at Aynesworth’s Texas home: Edward Wegmann to Hugh Aynesworth, January 25, 1968. Papers of Edward F. Wegmann. Dymond even planned to use one of Aynesworth’s articles to request a subpoena duces tecum: Investigative Report. June 12, 1967. Date information received: April 27, 1967. Reported by Aaron M. Kohn. MCC.
p. 152: “ sex orgy”: Report of Hugh Aynesworth to Edward Wegmann. April 12, 1967. Papers of Edward Wegmann. Interview with Burton Klein, May 25, 1998.
p. 152: Aynesworth sends the Shaw lawyers Garrison’s press releases: See Edward Wegmann to Hugh Aynesworth. February 8, 1968; January 19, 1968. Papers of Edward Wegmann.
p. 152: “closest thing to the key”: Jim Garrison interviewed by Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992), p. 650. For the full story of Nagell’s career, see The Man Who Knew Too Much.
p. 152: “I f you find out what I had to do with Oswald”: Interview with Richard Popkin, June 10, 1999.
p. 153: Oswald under CIA surveillance, and the testimony of Jim Southwood: Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (revised 2003 edition), pp. 455-457. Russell added this new material to his revised edition.
p. 153: CIA recruits Nagell in 1955: Richard Case Nagell, “Man in the Middle: The Inside Story.” Addendum to article in Family (Overseas). January 28, 1970. AARC.
p. 153: For Nagell’s account of Oswald’s CIA activities in Japan, see Memo of Conversation with Richard Case Nagell by Bernard Fensterwald. May 31, 1978. AARC.
p. 153: “Oswald’s manager”: Richard Case Nagell to Arthur Greenstein, September 30, 1967. AARC.
p. 153: “the Ferrie-Banister group”: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 58.
p. 153: “Leopoldo” and “Angel”: Nagell quoted in Family (Overseas) June 20, 1969 by Thomas Lucey. AARC.
p. 154: ruin Kennedy’s rapprochement with Cuba: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 369.
p. 154: warn Oswald: whether Nagell actually warned Oswald is a point which Nagell himself contradicted on several occasions: See Richard Case Nagell to Bernard Fensterwald, August 12, 1974.
p. 154: “upset and visibly shaken”: Richard Case Nagell to Bernard Fensterwald, August 12, 1974.
p. 154: “domestic-inspired, domestic-formulated”: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 58.
p. 154: his CIA handler had vanished: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 438.
p. 154: the letter from Nagell to Hoover of September 17, 1963, is not extant. This description is from Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 442. Nagell’s notarized affidavit of 1967 describing his letter to Hoover appears in Russell, pp. 56-57.
p. 154: Oswald’s social security card: Oswald’s social security card and Uniformed Service identification are pictured in The Man Who Knew Too Much.
p. 154: “to Robert Kennedy”: Richard Case Nagell to Senator Kennedy, January 8, 1967. AARC.
p. 154: “foreknowledge”: letter of Richard Case Nagell to Milton Greenstein at New Yorker magazine. November 14, 1968. NARA.
p. 155: pronounced him crazy: Report of SA David Reid. February 4, 1964. Field Office File No. EP 65- 951. Title: RICHARD CASE NAGELL. Character: ESPIONAGE— S. NARA.
p. 155: a letter from “Don Morgan”: Office of the District Attorney from Don Morgan. March 23, 1967. NARA.
p. 155: Martin’s history with the Agency: No-3-68. 3 January 1968. To: Director, Domestic Contact Service. Att’n: Operational Support Staff (Musulin). From: Chief, New Orleans Office. Subject: William Richard Martin. Signed by Lloyd A. Ray. NARA.
p. 155: “his hands full”: Memorandum. April 18, 1967. To: Jim Garrison. From: William R. Martin. Subject: Richard Case Nagell. Federal Prisoner No. PMBA-166006- H. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Mo. NARA.
> p. 155: “distorted memos”: Richard Case Nagell to Bud Fensterwald, May 8, 1975. AARC.
p. 155: William Martin proved to be of no help: Interview with Louis Ivon, May 27, 1998.
p. 156: Martin had admitted: Martin’s second visit to Richard Case Nagell: Memorandum. May 11, 1967 (transcribed). To: Jim Garrison. From: William R. Martin. Re: Richard Case Nagell. A-166-6-H. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield Missouri. NODA. NARA.
p. 156: Martin told Nagell he was “a former CIA officer”: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 644.
p. 156: Martin knew Fitzgerald and Barnes: Richard Case Nagell to Bernard Fensterwald, August 2, 1971, quoted in The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 644.
p. 156: Martin’s purpose was to learn what Nagell thought: The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 424. The correspondence between Martin and Nagell is available at AARC. See: William Martin’s conciliatory letter: William R. Martin to Richard Case Nagell, April 25, 1967. Nagell refuses all further communication: R. S. Nicholas, Chief, Classification & Parole, To William R. Martin, April 28, 1967.
p. 156: William Martin describes his failure to obtain the tape: William R. Martin to Richard Case Nagell, June 20, 1967. NARA. Ten days later Nagell replied to Martin: “since the physical evidence referenced therein is no longer available, for whatever cause, I see no purpose in continuing with the preparation of my case”: Richard Case Nagell to William Martin, July 30, 1967. AARC. Martin replied on August 7th. AARC.
p. 156: the FBI had the correspondence in its possession: FBI 124-10228-10488. 105-15823-579- 589. The date, June 20, 1967, is obviously incorrect on the riff: there is later correspondence represented in this 27-page document.
p. 156: Nagell eventually promised not to “panic” and permitted Martin to visit: Richard Case Nagell to William R. Martin, May 24, 1967; “visit me as soon as possible”: Richard C. Nagell to William Martin, May 31, 1967. See also: William R. Martin to Richard Case Nagell, June 1, 1967.
p. 156:William Martin was a professional spy: Memorandum: July 9, 1971. Re: Matters Concerning the Garrison Investigation. AARC.
p. 156: willingness to cooperate: To: Director, Domestic Contact Service. Att’n: Operational Support Staff (Musulin). From: Chief, New Orleans Office (Lloyd A. Ray). 3 January 1968. William Richard Martin. 104-10515-10022. 89T01357A. NARA.
p. 156: “the ghoul”: Richard Case Nagell to Arthur Greenstein, September 17, 1967. AARC.
p. 156: “Hairy de Fairy . . . Dirty Dick”: Richard Case Nagell to Arthur Greenstein, October 8, 1967.
p. 156: Helms gave the order: Noel Twyman, Bloody Treason: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Rancho Santa Fe, California: Laurel Publishing, 1997), p. 639; Conversation with Gary Shaw.
p. 156: “Clay will be slurred as fruit”: Richard Case Nagell to Arthur Greenstein, October 8, 1967.
p. 156: Shaw of more importance than Ferrie: Conversation with Bernard Fensterwald, December 5, 1973.
p. 156: “hated” John F. Kennedy: Richard Case Nagell to Arthur Greenstein, September 30, 1967.
p. 157: Nagell had met Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City in July of 1963: See Richard Case Nagell to Richard H. Popkin, June 30, 1975. NARA.
p. 157: Nagell was visited “by CIA agents”: Department of State telegram. Madrid. 01109252147Z. March 1969. Subject: Nagell, Richard C. NARA. (A CIA release).
p. 157: Ronald Lee Augustinovich: Memorandum. January 2, 1968. To: Jim Garrison. From: Lynn Loisel. Re: Call from Private Detective Smedly with Information Regarding CIA. NODA, NARA. Augustinovich told his story to Jimmy Alcock. January 15, 1968. To: Jim Garrison. From: Jim Alcock. Re: Ronald Lee Augustinovich. See also Statement of Calvin Barton Bull. February 5, 1968. Re: Addendum to Original Statement. NODA. NARA. Bull provided a 160-page report supposedly kept under Augustinovich’s mattress.
p. 157: “a pilot in New Orleans was silenced”: Statement of Calvin Barton Bull. Re: Material in Plain Folder Owned by Ronald Lee Augustinovich. February 6, 1968. NODA. NARA.
p. 157: Alcock flew to Miami: Memorandum. April 15, 1968. To: Jim Garrison. From: Jim Alcock, Executive Assistant District Attorney. Re: Ronald Lee Augustinovich. NODA. NARA.
p. 157: Donald Norton. “Donold”: Norton renders his name as “Donold,” rather than “Donald,” the spelling used by both the CIA and the Garrison office. See Interview in Jim Garrison’s Office with Donald P. Norton. Notes taken by Richard N. Billings. Courtesy of Lyon Garrison. See also: Ten pages of handwritten notes written February 9, 2003, Barnesville, Georgia. From: Donald. P. Norton to Joan Mellen: “Personal Comments of Donold P. Norton Re: The “Billings Transcript of Notes of an Interview in Jim Garrison’s office on July 16, 1967, with Donald P. Norton. See also: “CIA Link Claimed with Three in Garrison Probes,” The Montreal Star. August 7, 1967, p. 5.
p. 157: CIA attempts to kill an article in the Vancouver Sun: To: Director, DCS Attn: OSS (Musulin). From: Chief, Seattle Office. Subject: D. T. Norton—Alleged CIA Man for the Garrison Investigation. Ref: Musulin/ Bakony Telecon 10 August 1967. NARA. The article was: John Taylor, “Fantastic Tale Links CIA with Oswald, Clay Shaw,” Vancouver Sun. August 5, 1967. p. 1.
p. 158: working at Leslie Welding. Daily chronology of Lee Harvey Oswald provided by Mary Ferrell. October 13, 2001.
p. 159: “a corner of the operation”: “a corner of the operation . . . we don’t need him”: Jim Garrison at the New Orleans round table conference.
p. 159: “boiler plate denial”: CIA denies knowing Norton: CIA 100-300-17. August 21, 1967. To: Nancy G. Gratz WH/COG/ CIGS. JMWAVE document. See also: CIA 104-10435-10032. RUSS HOLMES WORK FILE, CIA. From: DC/CI/R & A. Title: Memo: Garrison investigation of Kennedy assassination: Donald P.(Or T.) Norton. August 14, 1967. Signed by Donovan E. Pratt. DC/CI/R & E. CIA stated: “we have searched our files exhaustively and we do not find that this man worked for us at any time and there’s no sign”: “Garrison’s conspiracy Probe,” Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge). May 22, 1967. p. 10-A.
p. 159: Dymond: Irvin Dymond contacts Lloyd A. Ray, who contacts the Director of the Domestic Contact Service regarding Donald Norton. CIA NO-342-67. OGC67- 1795. September 7, 1967. To: Director, Domestic Contact Service. Att’n: Operational Support Staff (Musulin). From: Chief, New Orleans Office. Subject: Case 49364—Garrison investigation. NARA.
p. 159: “we have means of getting this information on to Dymond”: Memorandum. 18 September 1967. OGC 67-1787. Memorandum For: Executive Director— Comptroller. Subject: Garrison Investigation. 104- 10428-10024. JFK. Russ Holmes Work File. Signed Lawrence R. Houston. Six offices received copies of this memorandum, beginning with the DDP (Clandestine services).
p. 159: had ever worked: CIA Memorandum. Subject: Garrison Investigation of Kennedy Assassination: Donald P. (Or T.) Norton. 14 August 1967. From: DC/CI/R & A. 104-10435-10032. Russ Holmes Work File. NARA.
p. 159: Norton’s bodyguard is assaulted: FBI. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, Seattle. October 13, 1967. 124-10071-10314. 89-69-3549, 3550. Includes Reisig’s statement to police officer John Fisk, September 20, 1967. FBI 124-10071-10320. 89-69- SEE COMMENTS. To: Director, FBI. From: SAC, Seattle. Includes Louis W. Ivon to Honorable J. J. Atherton. September 28, 1967 (89-69-3561).
p. 160: Nagell said he had written to Rankin: Richard Case Nagell to Richard H. Popkin, July 9, 1975. NARA.
p. 160: A copy of Nagell’s letter to J. Lee Rankin appears in the revised edition of The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 7.
p. 160: “purely social”: Commission Document 197.
p. 160: why he was questioned: Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 183.
CHAPTER 11
p. 161, Epigraph: “those CIA bastards”: “I’ve got to do something”: Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power (Simon & Schuster: New York, 1993), p. 103.
p. 161: Jim Garrison reads about the CIA in The New York Times: “C.I.A. Maker of Policy or Tool? Agency Raises Questions around World,” New York Times, Monday, April 25, 1966, The phrase about splintering the CIA is on p. 20. Copy annot
ated by Jim Garrison courtesy of Lyon Garrison.
p. 161: profound warfare with the Agency: The following books were particularly helpful: David Kaiser, American Tragedy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Belknap Press, 2000); Francis Winters, Year of the Hare: America in Vietnam, January 25, 1963–February 15, 1964 (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1999); John Newman, JFK and Vietnam (New York: Warner Books, 1992); Richard Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power; May, Ernest R. and Philip D. Zelikow, The Kennedy Tapes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1977); Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–63 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988); Arthur M. Schlesinger, One Thousand Days (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965), and Robert Kennedy and His Times (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978); Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1997); Richard J. Walton, Cold War and Counterrevolution: The Foreign Policy of John F. Kennedy (New York: Penguin, 1972); Evan Thomas, Robert F. Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).
p. 161: President Truman . . . “operational”: “U.S. Should Hold CIA to Intelligence Role,” Washington Post, December 22, 1963, p. 1.
p. 161: “the State Department for unfriendly countries”: Quoted in Michael R. Beschloss, May-Day: Eisenhower, Khrushchev and the U-2 Affair (New York; Harper & Row: 1986), p. 126.
p. 161: “malignancy” on the body politic: Arthur Krock, “In the Nation: The Intra-Administration War in Vietnam,” New York Times, October 3, 1963, Op Ed page, section one.
p. 162: first “solo flight”: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. Testimony of Richard Helms, September 12, 1975, Record number: 157-10011- 10058. SSCIA box 247, folder 3. 58 pages, NARA.
p. 162: President Eisenhower attempts to control the C.I.A.: See Burton Hersh, The Old Boys, p. 407.