A Farewell to Justice
Page 79
p. 194: “why don’t you quit working with the CIA”: Taped conversation between Jack Martin and Aaron Kohn, June 11, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 194: “excellent pipeline”: Richard Townley interviewed by Robert A. Wilson of Southern Research, April 19, 1967, Papers of Edward F. Wegmann.
p. 194: Townley visited Russo three times: See Memorandum, June 19, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, Re: Conversations between Perry Russo, Richard Townley of WDSU television, Walter Sheridan of NBC News and James Phelan of the Saturday Evening Post, NODA, NARA. See also Memorandum, June 14, 1967, To: Louis Ivon, From: Sal Scalia, Re: Conversation between Perry Russo and Richard Townley, NODA, NARA. Perry Russo’s affidavit is dated June 21, 1967, NODA, NARA. Townley also contacted Russo’s cousin, Jerl Kershenstine: Signed affidavit by Jerl Kershenstine, State of Louisiana, Parish of Orleans, June 21, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 194: “tremendous amount of pressure”: Perry Russo interviewed by the Washington Post. The interview is by their Atlanta correspondent. Russo was also wired for this interview, NODA, NARA.
p. 194: “ruined for life”: Memorandum, June 14, 1967, To: Louis Ivon, From: Sal Scalia, Re: Conversation Between Perry Russo and Richard Townley, NODA, NARA.
p. 194: “I want you to understand”: Dialogue courtesy of the NODA tape. Russo was wired.
p. 195: CIA was working closely with the Shaw defense team: Interview with Jefferson Sulzer, January 15, 2000. Sulzer’s statement that the CIA was helping Clay Shaw is corroborated by Helms’ former executive assistant, Victor Marchetti. Marchetti testified to Helms’ question to Karamessines, “Are we giving that guy down there all the help he needs?” under oath, From: Snyder, William A. K. Jr., To: Office of General Counsel, Title: Federal Express: Letter: Dear Lee: July 10, 1984, and CIA 104-10412- 10022, RUSS HOLMES WORK FILE, Transcript of Proceedings, Deposition of Victor L. Marchetti, E. Howard Hunt Jr. v. Liberty Lobby, Case no. 80-1121- Civ-JWK, July 9, 1984.
p. 195: Russo defended himself in an interview on WWL-TV, and in other venues. HSCA 004634, 180-10099-10354, NARA.
p. 195: “setting up chickens”: AIRTEL to Director, From: SAC, New Orleans, March 22, 1967, appended to a Domestic Intelligence Division Informative Note, March 31, 1967, NARA. The report itself is dated March 27, 1967.
p. 195: the wedding of David Ferrie and Perry Russo: Interviews Regarding Oswald’s Neatness, undated, Papers of Edward F. Wegmann.
p. 195: “absolutely correct”: A candidate for this anonymous caller is Richard Murphy of Mobile, Alabama, whose family was connected with the United Fruit Company. Murphy had keys to Shaw’s house and often stayed there. His lover, Charles Liner, also visited. Both knew Shaw and Ferrie. The FBI knew that when Shaw was arrested, Murphy “allegedly became excited . . . and received two or three telephone calls.” They were “extremely close”: Memorandum by Jim Garrison of the telephone call from Ellen Ray, Papers of Jim Garrison, NARA. The FBI knew of Richard Murphy (FBI, February 27, 1967). But this document was obviously completed after March 1st, since it refers to the arrest of Clay Shaw, 89- 69-113, NARA.
p. 195: “what do you expect from a pig?” Interview with Eberhard Garrison, January 9, 1998.
p. 195: “lair of the CIA”: Quoted in “The Investigation: Where It Stands Today” by Roger Young. New Orleans magazine, July 1967, p. 55.
p. 195: Novel’s lie detector test: Testimony of Les Whitten, in the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, Ohio, In Re: Grand Jury Investigation of Conspiracy To Murder John F. Kennedy, Bill of Exceptions, NARA. In Novel’s suit against Playboy and Garrison, Whitten invoked the “Newsmen’s Privilege Act,” exempting him from disclosing any information he had obtained from Novel.
p. 195: Novel tells the Bureau they can always reach him through Walter Sheridan: FBI, To: Bureau and Dallas, From: New Orleans, March 27, 1967, 124-10237-10297, 89-69-1829, NARA.
p. 195: “I was doing everything in my power”: Interview with Gordon Novel, January 30, 2000.
p. 195: on behalf of the Shaw defense team, Salvatore Panzeca and Robert A. Wilson visit Novel: “Gordon Novel, Columbus Ohio,” Papers of Edward F. Wegmann. Also, Interview with Salvatore Panzeca, June 4, 2000.
p. 196: According to Novel, Mr. Weiss was Director of Security at the State Department: Interview with Novel, January 30, 2000. Jim Garrison forwarded the letter to the Special Agent in Charge in New Orleans, Robert E. Rightmyer, and the FBI went on to check on Weiss: FBI, To: Director, From: Dallas. 124-10259-10094, 89- 69-3108, NARA. He has “avoided one subpoena not to reveal Double-Chek [a CIA proprietary in Miami] activities,” Novel writes, because he feared that Garrison “is aware of Double-Chek’s involvement.” The entire letter is adolescent gibberish, Novel as Tom Swift, or James Bond, even as he would call Jim Garrison “a Cajun James Bond”: FBI, To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, Memphis, May 22, 1967, 124-10259-10097, 89-69-3111, NARA.
p. 196: “That was cute”: Interview with Gordon Novel, January 16, 2000.
p. 196: Novel files a damage suit against Jim Garrison: FBI, To: Director, From: SAC, New Orleans, May 10, 1967, 124-10259-10021, 89-69- 3026, NARA.
p. 196: “a man of honesty”: States-Item, May 24, 1967.
p. 196: James A. Comiskey refuses permission: “Novel Bids to Remain in Ohio for Suit,” States-Item, June 7, 1967; “Court Rejects Novel Pleas,” by Gordon Gsell. Times- Picayune, June 8, 1967.
p. 196: According to CIA, Double-Chek, invoked by Novel, existed “for the sole purpose of making payments to widows”: OGC 67-1085a. Lawrence R. Houston. Memorandum for C/CI/R & A, Subject: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination: Gordon Dwane Novel, Reference 31 May 67 Memo for C/CI/R & A. Same subject. 104-10312-10017, Agency file: DDP Files, NARA.
p. 196: “supporting and financing Novel”: CIA Memorandum, Subject: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination: Gordon Dwane Novel, 104-10012-10028, Agency file: 201- 289248, NARA.
p. 196: Walter Sheridan calls Governor Rhodes of Ohio: Interview with Victor Marchetti, May 15, 1998.
p. 196: “it would be deplorable”: For the extradition of Gordon Novel, and the Department of Justice instruction to Louis LaCour to offer no assistance to Jim Garrison: FBI, March 27, 1967, To: Director, From New Orleans, 124-10237-10293, 89-69-1824, NARA. LaCour sent Joe Sylvester of the Bureau a copy of the Unlawful Flight Warrant sent to him by Jim Garrison: Louis C. LaCour to Joseph Sylvester, March 27, 1967, 89-69-1835, includes James L. Alcock to Honorable Louis LaCour, March 27, 1967, Re: Gordon Novel, Affidavit no. 198-066, Revised Statute; 15:257, NARA. In Washington, discussion of ways and means of turning down Garrison’s request proceeded for the extradition of Gordon Novel: FBI, Memorandum, To: Mr. Tolson, From: C. D. DeLoach, March 27, 1967, 62-109060-4921, NARA. See also To: Director, From: New Orleans, Urgent, 124-10167-10239, 89-69-1702, NARA. Ohio found the Louisiana extradition warrants irregular. See John McElroy, Assistant to the Governor, to the Honorable John J. McKeithen, May 29, 1967, NARA. Novel in turn reassured the FBI: he was “solidly against Jim Garrison’s hypocritical investigation”: Memorandum to Mr. Tolson, From: C. D. DeLoach, March 27, 1967, 62-109060-4921, Refers to 62-109060-4932. See also FBI, To: SAC, From: SA J. Peter Chase, 89-69-1809, NARA.
p. 196: Martens had also told Jim Garrison that Ferrie was pro- Kennedy: Interview with Layton Martens, March 12, 1967. Present are Alvin Oser, Jim Alcock, Milton Brener, and Martens, Brener’s client.
p. 196: “arrogant perjury”: Jim Garrison to Jonathan Blackmer, November 8, 1977, HSCA.
p. 196: as he admitted to Sheridan. Tapes of Sheridan’s interviews for the “White Paper” are available in the papers of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, NARA.
p. 196: there had been no “letters of marque”: Martens went on to claim that Ferrie and Arcacha had used him, Memorandum, To: Louis Ivon, From J. S. (Jack) Martin, Subject: Investigation of Layton Martens, Thursday, 4th April 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 196: Dean Andrews: Garrison persisted in attempting to extract the identity of Clay Bertrand from Andrews, wh
o was interviewed both at Tulane and Broad and before the Orleans Parish grand jury on March 16, 1967, AARC. Present were James Alcock, Richard Burnes, and John Volz. See also: Memorandum, April 4, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: William Gurvich, Special Aide, Subject: Dean Andrews—Interview 3/2/67, NODA, NARA.
p. 197: Andrews talks to the FBI: FBI. To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, New Orleans, April 6, 1967, 124- 10259-10197, 89-69-1958, 1959. See also To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, New Orleans, April 12, 1967, 62-109060- 5090; To: Director, From: New Orleans, May 7, 1967, 124-10237-10414, 89- 69-2089.
p. 197: “married and the father of four children”: Memo of a meeting, April 19, 1967, between Robert A. Wilson, Dean Andrews, and Richard Townley at the Press Club, Papers of Edward F. Wegmann, NARA.
p. 197: “soft voice”: To: Lang for Billings, From Byers (in New Orleans), March 5, 1967, Papers of Richard N. Billings, box 4, folder 47.
p. 197: Ferrie had sent Thomas Lewis Clark to Andrews: Statement of Thomas Lewis Clark, WM, age 19, March 15, 1967, NODA, NARA. See also Fenner O. Sedgebeer, grand jury testimony, March 16, 1967, and Thomas Lewis Clark, grand jury testimony, March 16, 1967.
p. 197: Prentiss Davis was familiar with the name “Clay Bertrand”: Statement of Prentiles [sic] M. Davis, March 9, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 197: “If Giant gets past that”: Harold Weisberg to Joan Mellen, October 18, 2001.
p. 197: he wanted “to live”: Transcript of interview between Dean Andrews and Bob Scott, February 1967, WNAC, Boston, NODA, NARA.
p. 197: “I love to breathe”: Quoted in Harold Weisberg, Oswald in New Orleans (New York: Canyon Books, 1967), pp. 138–139.
p. 197: Shaw was Bertrand: Interview with Harold Weisberg, July 27, 2000.
p. 197: “if I said anything”: See Mark Lane, A Citizen’s Dissent (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), p. 56. See also “The Inquest” by William Turner, Ramparts 5, no. 12 (June 1967): 24. Here Andrews says, “They told me if I said anything I might get a bullet in the head.” p. 197: John Cancler: Cancler was a longtime FBI informant; his number was NO 1378-C. See AIRTEL, To: Director, From: SAC, New Orleans, April 14, 1967. Cancler’s handler was Delbert W. Hahn. See also FBI, To: Director, FBI, From: New Orleans, August 30, 1967, 124- 10236-10468, 89-69-3470, NARA.
p. 198: a denial he would later repudiate: Fred Leemans retracts his “White Paper” statements on January 6, 1969, NODA, NARA.
p. 198: Ivon went along: Interview with Louis Ivon, October 9, 2000. Ivon was “honorable”: Interview with Gordon Novel, September 1, 2000. “I have no beef with him,” Novel also remarked, interview with Novel, January 16, 2000.
p. 198: Lies were of no interest: “We would never suborn perjury,” Garrison says in the Playboy interview, op. cit., p. 64.
p. 198: Loisel meets with Exnicios and Beaubouef: March 10, 1967, Partial transcript of the tape made by Exnicios, NARA.
p. 198: Exnicios: In his Newsweek story, Aynsworth suppressed his discovery that Exnicios had a history of the corrupt use of recorded conversations. Only the previous year Exnicios had threatened Frank Langridge, his opponent in the district attorney campaign in Jefferson Parish, with disclosure of a previously recorded conversation. Langridge recorded the threat. See also: “offered bribe”: FBI, To: Director, From Dallas: 124-10237-10364, 89- 69-2030, April 26, 1967, NARA.
p. 198: Dymond has the tape: Investigative Report—CONFIDENTIAL, April 19, 1967, date information received: April 7 and 10, 1967, MCC. Kohn makes no reference to the fact that Beaubouef has sworn out an affadavit repudiating the tape.
p. 198: Beaubouef would argue that he had signed the affidavit saying he had not been bribed only under duress. But Clyde Merritt, the lawyer who notarized Beaubouef’s statement, reported that “at no time did he seem to be nervous”: Clyde Merritt interviewed by Ross Yockey on the affidavit signed by Beaubouef, May 11, 1967, Notes of Ross Yockey, AARC.
p. 199: Klein and Beaubouef go to Washington courtesy of the CIA: Conversation between Morris Brownlee and Richard Townley, May 22, 1967, taped for the district attorney of Orleans Parish, NODA, NARA.
p. 199: wasted trip: Beaubouef’s Washington itinerary: Richard H. Lansdale, Associate General Counsel, 8 May 1967, Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Further on the Garrison Investigation Matter, NARA. Copies went first to the Counter Intelligence Staff, then to D/DCS (Domestic Contact); Director of Security; and Mr. Goodwin—Asst To DCI.
p. 199: The trajectory of information, from the FBI to Angleton: CIA, To: J. Edgar Hoover, From: James Angleton, Attn: Mr. S. J. Papich, Subject: Alvin R. Beaubouef, OGC60- 0924, Reference: Memorandum from FBI Office, Houston, Texas, 27 April 1967. Subject: Assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy . . . Miscellaneous Information concerning. . . . See also tape between Rick Townley, John George (George Wyatt), and Morris Brownlee, transcribed May 22, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 199: Klein was “either unwilling or unable” to offer specifics: To: Joseph I. Giarrusso, From: Presley J. Trosclair Jr. Subject: Reporting Information Gathered During an Inquiry into Allegations that Alvin Roland Beaubouef, WM, age 21 . . . was offered a bribe and subsequently threatened by Patrolmen Lynn Henry Loisel and Louis William Ivon, Office of the Deputy Superintendent, New Orleans Police Department, June 12, 1967, NARA.
p. 199: Beaubouef had called him: Burton G. Klein to Mr. Thomas O. Collins Jr., May 17, 1967, NARA. The third party had been Irvin Dymond: Interview with Burton Klein, May 25, 1998.
p. 199: “the whole conversation”: Beaubouef interviewed by Presley Trosclair, June 2, 1967, Office of the Deputy Superintendent. Statement of Alvin Roland Beaubouef, NARA.
p. 199: the front page story: “DA’s Men Cleared of Plot Case Bribe. Beaubouef Claim Refuted,” States-Item, June 14, 1967, p. 1. See also “Pair Cleared in Bribe Probe” by Robert Ussery. Times-Picayune, June 15, 1967.
p. 199: Exnicios offered the tape to Sheridan for five thousand dollars: Investigative Report, June 5, 1967, MCC.
p. 199: Kohn in the office with Garrison, Alcock and Burnes, June 29, 1967. Tape is available at NARA.
p. 200: Liars wilted: Interview with Numa Bertel, August 5, 2002.
p. 200: Spindel was a “countermeasures technician,” according to Jim Hougan: Interview with Jim Hougan, August 9, 2002. Spindel telephones Kohn: Investigative Report, July 16, 1967. MCC. References to tapes from Spindel: FBI. August 2, 1967. To: Director, From: SAC, New Orleans, 124-10236- 10432. 89-69-3427, 3428. See also: To: Director, From: New Orleans, August 2, 1967, 124-10236-10395. 89- 69-3384. NARA. Kohn informant Herbert Huber, running guns to Cuba, had already told Kohn, “Garrison is on the real track of them murderers of President Kennedy,” but Kohn didn’t want to hear that. See Investigative Report, May 31, 1967, etc. Investigative Report, May 31, 1967, Reported by Aaron M. Kohn, MCC.
p. 200: “convincing witness”: “Garrison’s Case” by Richard Popkin. New York Review of Books, September 14, 1967, p. 21.
p. 200: “sound”: Gurvich praised the investigation, telling Ross Yockey it was “worth conducting,” Ross Yockey before the Orleans Parish grand jury, July 12, 1967, AARC.
p. 200: Sheridan phones Gurvich in New York: Interview with Joe and Shirley Wershba, July 14, 2000.
p. 200: Moyers laughed: Bill Moyers to the president, June 27, 1967, NARA.
p. 200: “Bobby was ‘extremely grateful’”: “Garrison’s Chief Assistant Hints Investigation Lacks Substance,” Newsday, June 16, 1967, p. 40B.
p. 200: “we’ll shoot them with red pepper guns”: Interview with Louis Ivon, January 12, 2000.
p. 200: Gurvich before the grand jury: June 28, 1967, and July 12, 1967, AARC.
p. 201: Baldwin and Gurvich visit Healy: Investigative Report, August 10, 1967, MCC.
p. 201: Healy and the FBI: See, for example, To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, New Orleans, April 14, 1967, Record number: 124-10048- 10267, HQ, 62-109060-5061, 3 pages, NARA. Healy put the resources of the Times-Picayune at the disposal of the Bureau: FBI AIRTEL, To: Director, FBI, Fro
m: SAC, New Orleans, April 14, 1967, 124-10259-10221, 89-69-1988, NARA.
p. 201: Hoke May himself was an FBI informant: AIRTEL: To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, New Orleans, April 20, 1967, 124-10237-10354, 89- 69-2016, 2017, NARA. See also Joe Sylvester reports what Hoke May told him to William Branigan: To: Mr. R. E. Lenihan, From: Mr. W. A. Branigan, April 21, 1967, 62-109060-5104, NARA. See also: To: ASAC Sylvester, April 20, 1967, 89-69-2015. For May’s history with CIA: CIA. Chief, SRS. M. D. Stevens. Oswald Case, May, Hoke Smith, #167314, July 5, 1967, NARA.
p. 201: Louisiana would not have a specific statute forbidding the obstruction of justice until the 1980s. The statute is La. R.S. 14:130.1— Obstruction of Justice.
p. 201: Bobby Kennedy went public: Washington Star, July 19, 1967. See also “Sheridan Due Before Jury in ‘Bribe’ Quiz,” States-Item, July 19, 1967.
p. 201: Hemming spins what amounts to a metaphor of a face-to-face meeting between Bobby Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald: Interviews with Gerald Patrick Hemming, November 15, 2000; June 5, 2005.
p. 202: compromising photographs of Jim Garrison: FBI, To: SAC, From: SA Delbert W. Hahn, September 8, 1967, 124-10071-10263, 89-69-3483, NARA.
p. 202: Andrews returns to the grand jury: June 28, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 202: “we could subpoena you”: Memorandum, August 3, 1967, To: Louis Ivon and James L. Alcock, From: Sal Scalia, Re: Highlights of taped conversation between J. Alcock and Wesley Liebeler on 8/2/67, NODA, NARA.
p. 202: Andrews names Eugene Davis as Clem Bertrand: Investigative Report, June 29, 1967, Reported by Aaron M. Kohn, MCC. Contains WWL-TV transcript of June 28th interview with Dean Andrews. Eugene Davis was himself a confidential informant of the FBI, and a Potential Criminal Informant beginning on April 28, 1960: To: Director, FBI and SAC, Dallas, From: SAC, New Orleans, June 21, 1967, 124-10251-10109, 89-69-3297, NARA. The New Orleans field office showed no alias for Davis, “and no information showing he utilized name Clem Bertrand,” as indeed he had not. It was at this point that Davis told the FBI that a man named “Phil Schultz” was Bertrand: Memorandum to SAC, New Orleans, From: SA Kevin J. Harrigan, July 13, 1967, Subject: NO 1189-C. 89-69-3316, NODA, NARA. Davis called the identification of himself as Bertrand “false and malicious and damnable”: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, “C. Bertrand Label Denied by Orleanian,” June 30, 1967. He also denied that he had ever heard the name “until this investigation”: Interview with Eugene Davis, July 24, 1967, Office of the District Attorney, Interrogation by William R. Martin. Frank Meloche is also present, NODA, NARA. Davis met an untimely death, bludgeoned to death in his apartment: “Quarter Bar Owner Is Found Slain at Home,” Times-Picayune, June 1, 1984, section 1, p. 17.