C.A.A. Savastano's Blog, page 23

Mythical Specters

(A look at some of the unlikely myths surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald)

Perhaps no other alleged criminal rests mired amid such controversy as Lee Harvey Oswald. Many facts, despite their proven basis in evidence, remain contended decades later. Allegations swirl often concealing the verifiable details regarding Oswald. Some dismiss all primary evidence in favor of popular speculation, yet unproven allegations from either side of the case are not compelling. Deeper inspection may offer greater clarity.  

The first considered myth asserts Oswald was a trained Communist agent. During Oswald's Soviet Union defection stay, he resided in Minsk. Supporters of Oswald's guilt stated in press reviews that Minsk was the location of a "Soviet intelligence and/or sabotage training school". The Central Intelligence Agency reviewed these claims relating to an informal inquiry by President's (Warren) Commission member Allen Dulles. "A careful review of CIA files has produced no hard information regarding Soviet intelligence or sabotage training in Minsk since 1947." The Agency memorandum offered reveals no sources corroborated this Oswald claim.i 

Seeking to prove Communist plot CIA employees secretly mistreated and tortured Russian defector Yuri Nosenko. They did this during the President's (Warren) Commission investigation. Yet despite the manipulations of some Agency officers to blame the Soviet Union, Nosenko supported no Communist plot occurred based on his prior access to Soviet files regarding Oswald. He affirmed Oswald is not a Communist, the KGB had no interest in him, and he never participated in any Communist activities in Russia.ii iii The President's Commission confirmed this lack of active Communism as well. 

Significant portions of Nosenko's information were available to the Commission, yet some officials chose to suppress this evidence. They feared it might "possibly prejudice the entire Warren Commission report."iv  Former Agency leader Allen Dulles reported the activities and concerns of the Commission to the CIA.v  This provided the Agency with access to the Commission's private ideas.  Additional prior mentions of the asserted Soviet connections were not reliable.vi No substantial evidence supports a large Soviet plot. 

A different feasible myth often professed by some advocates of a large official plot was that Lee Harvey Oswald was an FBI informant. Yet a mass of twisted rumor and forced innuendo is the likely source of this idea. "J. Lee Rankin, General Counsel of the Warren Commission explained that Waggoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas, had called him in the morning and told him about the rumor. Carr identified the source of the rumor as Dallas District Attorney, Henry Wade."vii Wade is also a former member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  

"...Chief Justice Warren and Rankin met with Carr, Wade, Assistant District Attorney William Alexander and Leon Jaworski and Robert Storey. The Texas group reported that the rumor may have originated with Alonso Hudkins, reporter for the Houston Post." "Hudkins advised Secret Service that Allan Sweatt, Chief Criminal Division, Sheriff's Office, Dallas mentioned that Oswald was being paid 200 a month since September 1962 by the FBI 'as an informant in connection with their subversive investigation'. Hudkins also reported that a number assigned to Oswald was S-172..." Rankin's memo further notes the Secret Service advised on January 24 that Chief Sweatt stated he heard the informant rumor from Assistant DA, Alexander.

"The routes that the FBI-Oswald rumor followed are peculiar. The Warren Commission was informed by Carr, who heard the rumor from Wade. Wade's assistant attributed the rumor to Alexander, who said he received it from Hudkins. However, Hudkins maintains he heard the allegation from Sweatt, who maintained he heard it from Alexander. (N.B. Neither Hudkins or Alexander testified before the Warren Commission.) Hudkins involvement in publicizing the allegation since 1963 is more confounding. In 1973 Hudkins told a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer that he invented the numbers S-172 and S-179 (also connected with an alleged Oswald informant status) and leaked the information during a phone conversation in order to determine if the FBI tapped his telephone."

"Yet in a prior article published in the March 19, 1975, Hudkins wrote that the S-172 number was 'made up' by himself, Assistant DA, Bill Alexander and Hugh Aynesworth (who was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News). Hudkins arranged a conference call, the three talked about Oswald's informant status, and 'within 30 minutes' an FBI agent visited Hudkin's office to ask him questions about the Oswald story. From this exercise, Hudkins determined the FBI had tapped one of the three's respective phones." The primary evidence supports the informant claim feasibly was manufactured and promoted by Alonso Hudkins, he is the possible original source of the rumor.

Hudkins feasibly begins the chain of events in his first claim, he "advised" the Secret Service that Oswald was an informant, and provides no evidence. Hudkins claimed that Chief Sweatt of the Dallas Police Criminal Division made the numeric and informant claims he later admits to inventing. He claimed inventing them without assistance, and then years later asserts with the help of another reporter and one assistant district attorney. His rumor plants the speculation within official documents. He reworks new details into greater allegations without verifiable proof. Hudkins promotes the story with public vigor. The informant tale is just one of Hudkins offered myths. 

Hudkins additionally prior stated to the Secret Service "he was of the opinion that Jack Rubenstein's roommate, George Senator, could possibly have some connection with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. He did not appear to have any particular reason for making this suggestion other than when reinterviewed on December 17 he stated that Ruby had a brother and a nephew who worked for Jimmy Hoffa in Detroit, Michigan and he state it was a 'wild guess' that the Hoffa organization could be behind the assassination."viii

"A Secret Service report by S.A. Bertram (12/14/63) states than on December 12, 1963 Hudkins advised that he received information from Felton West, Houston Post Washington Bureau representative, that Oswald heard of an American plot to assassinate Castro while he was in Mexico City, September 27-October 2, 1963. Allegedly, Oswald was also informed that President Kennedy and Vice President-Johnson knew of the plot...Secret Service Director Thomas Kelley talked to Felton West in Washington. West denied having informed Hudkins about any allegation involving Oswald's knowledge of an assassination plot against Castro. Director Kelley concluded Hudkins was a usually unreliable source of information."ix 

None of these various contradictory official or independent accusations enjoys the support of substantial evidence. Not just the official suppression but public speculations cloud the evidence and reliable case information. Those who seek to make the evidence conform to a selected presupposition or belief seize these ideas. They bring us no closer to new insights but prevent them in favor of unnecessary arguments. If the unreliable information from everyone is set aside, we may focus on the evidence that still eludes us.      

Sincerely, 
C.A.A. Savastano

References:

i. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Segregated Central Intelligence Agency files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File., Memo from the Deputy Director for Plans to the President's Commission General Council, p. 1

ii. Central Intelligence Agency, Russ Holmes Work File, Lee Harvey Oswald-Internal Security-R-Cuba, February 23, 1964, p. 1

iii. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File., The Oswald Case, January 1962-January 1964, p. 303

iv. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Staff Notes, Allan Dulles (sic) Role vis-à-vis the CIA-Warren Commission Relationship, 180-10142-10059, (n.d.), p. 1

v. Ibid

vi. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File, Anonymous Telephone calls to United States Embassy in Canberra, Australia, relative to planned assassination of President Kennedy, pp. 1-2

vii. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, Boxed files, Oswald in New Orleans, Re: Scheduled interview of Alonso Hudkins on November 20, November 19, 1975, pp 1-2

viii. President's Commission Document 320 - Secret Service Rowley Memorandum of 24 Jan 1964, p. 1

ix. Senate Select Comm., Boxed files, Oswald in New Orleans, November 19, 1975, p. 2

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Primary Evidence Collections Update

The CIA's Project ZRRIFLE draft documents (w/transcription) regarding the proposed covert assassination of enemy leaders. Additionally included is the reauthorization memo signed in 1963. Each offered for your review. http://tpaak.com/zrrifle-plots

Primary Evidence Collections Update

The Central Intelligence Agency Security files of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Each offered for your review.  ‪#‎MLK‬ ‪#‎CIA‬ http://tpaak.com/mlk-case-files

Primary Evidence Collections Update

Two documents are offered for your inspection regarding the Central Intelligence Agency Castro Assassination plots. The first is a list of all with foreknowledge of the plots that includes Warren Commissioner Allen Dulles. This infers that Dulles suppressed relevant information from the Commission. The second document is a brief summary and assembled pages from various internal sources regarding portions of the plots. #JFK #CIA #Assassination http://tpaak.com/cia-castro-plots

Evidence and the Big Easy

New Orleans lies beneath the heavy shroud of time. The city has been the site of various notorious crimes, disasters, and myths. The Big Easy was the birthplace of Lee Harvey Oswald and home to members of his family. Lee Harvey Oswald's uncle Charles and Aunt Lillian Murret had two daughter's Marylin and Joyce. The Murret family had deep roots in New Orleans. 

Due to President Johnson's renewed investigation of defectors in 1964, Oswald's cousin  Marylin Dorethea Murret is a noted figure. The Federal Bureau of Investigation states Murret had traveled and temporarily resided in England, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Pakistan, and India prior. Reporters Robert Allen and Paul Scott claimed Murret to have "defected" similar to Oswald, and they alleged she had Communist ties as well.i  Further Bureau investigation did not yield evidence of value regarding Communism.ii  One Central Intelligence Agency files claims she was a "defector or potential defector."iii  Yet the evidence offers that Murret legally travelled and she never defected. 

Renewed official interest in Marylin's travels recurs when she travels to Haiti and Santo Domingo in 1966.iv In 1972, schoolteacher Marylin Murret traveled to England, France, and Russia. When Murret's sightseeing trip to Russia was confirmed, the Bureau again requested authority to conduct an interview. The Special Agent in Charge of the New Orleans office chided, "The fact that she is a cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald is not in itself enough to justify an interview because of her visit to a Communist country. You should supply justification according to the criteria set out in the Manual of Instructions..."v  

Lee Harvey Oswald prior arrived in New Orleans in May 1963. He called his extended family the Murrets from the bus station asking if his aunt "could 'put him up' a few days." Despite the assertions of some, much of Oswald's time in New Orleans in 1963 was spent doing everyday tasks. He fails to obtain a printer job because he lacked the proper skills.vi Oswald's Aunt Lillian Murret was in contact, hosted, and visited with the Oswald family multiple times during this portion of 1963. He borrows fifty dollars from his Uncle Charles Murret for an apartment.vii  

He remained at the Murret house nearly a weekand spent "all day"viii job hunting, then found employment at his alternate choice, the Reilly Coffee Company. This is notable because while some might claim this job was important, it based on evidence was not. It was not even Oswald's first choice. He went apartment hunting and obtained his Magazine Street dwelling the same day as his new job. 

Federal Bureau of Investigation files state Oswald began his employment at the Riley Coffee Company May 15, 1963. Oswald terminates his employment at Reilly July 19, 1963. Oswald's tells the New Orleans Police following his arrest that he left Reilly's July 17, 1963.ix  He works there for just over two months.x It remains very unlikely that any extraneous unnoted people were frequently around him. However, even more unlikely are persons claiming they escaped all notice of the historical record and every verifiable witness. 

Oswald told his Aunt Lillian he needed "a nice apartment for a short time because the woman with whom his wife had been living in Texas had been very nice to them and that she would probably bring his wife to New Orleans and might stay for a day or two." This would be Ruth Paine, the Oswald's Texas associate. Oswald later brought his family to go "crabbing" during one visit with Marilyn Murret.xi Charles Murret states the Oswald family visited them "on about three occasions."xii Murret transported the Oswalds in his car multiple times. Each day of work, visiting, trips, and the prior extended stay consumes time from the brief months he resides in New Orleans.

After Oswald's 1963 arrest in New Orleans for disturbing the peace, another cousin "Joyce O'Brien was instrumental in securing his release on parole through a friend of the family."xiii  Joyce undertook multiple visits to the New Orleans Police Department and was not eager to pay for Oswald's release. She was disinclined after reviewing the Fair Play for Cuba literature he previously distributed. A police officer suggested that Joyce not pay the bond. The officer advised she contact an official who could release Oswald on parole without paying his bail. Murret family friend "Emile Bruneaux" (sic) (Bruno) contacted someone who had Oswald paroled.xiv xv    

Another occasion served for a family trip including the Oswalds and Murrets to Mobile, Alabama during the summer of 1963. Oswald made a brief speech to the gathered Jesuits at his cousin's school. Mr. Murret financed the entire trip; Oswald did not have the means to do so.xvi  Lillian Murret stated to the Bureau that Oswald "did not appear to have very much money."xvii  Oswald and the Murrets visit at least two additional times, once on Labor Day, and once after his aunt's scheduled operation.xviii  He is concerned with his wife, his family, his new job, his disruptive political activities, and had little time for much else. He visited his aunt then faces arrest later the same day. 

His time in New Orleans was not the spy novel romance some would claim, Oswald left New Orleans with unpaid bills. Jessie Garner, Oswald's apartment manager states "the subject (Oswald) and his wife vacated their apartment on September 25, 1963...She remarked that Oswald left New Orleans owing her 17.00 rent for the apartment."xix Notable again is Oswald's lack of funds to undertake basic costs, it does not infer he was funded at by any outside group in New Orleans. Influenced perhaps, but not funded. He is frequently at home, reading on the porch, and never gone for long periods.

Oswald briefly discussed his prior claims regarding the Fair Play for Cuba Committee with Charles Murret. Oswald denied being an officer in the group, despite prior assertions he offered to the police and Federal Bureau of Investigation.xx  Lillian Murret disapprovingly stated, "that he was 'stupid' to be used as a 'dupe'."xxi Lee Oswald told her he knew too much to be a 'dupe'."  Seemingly, he underestimated his fallibility and the potential consequences. The House Select Committee on Assassination in a brief statement regarding some of the Murrets state, "They so far have been very uncooperative".xxii  

Sincerely,

C.A.A. Savastano

References: 

i. President's Commission Document 942, FBI Letterhead Memo Re: Marylin Dorothea Murret, May 7, 1964, pp. 1-3

ii. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Federal Bureau of Investigation Subject files, I-J, Harold Isaacs, No Title, June 1, 1964, p. 1

iii. HSCA, Segregated CIA files, Personality File Action Request Re Marilyn Murret, Box 15, September 17, 1964

iv. HSCA, Segregated CIA files, Letter to DD/Plans Re Request for info on Marilyn Dorothea  Murret, January 17, 1967

v. HSCA, FBI Administrative Folder, Lee Harvey Oswald, Volume XXII, Marilyn Dorothea Murret, February 25, 1972, pp. 1-2

vi. Central Intelligence Agency, Oswald 201 File, Volume 6, CD 6, Part 1, Report of S.A. J. Engelhardt and Ernest C. Wall, December 2, 1963, p. 4

vii. Ibid, Report of S.A. Eugene Bjorn and J. Engelhardt, December 4, 1963, p. 2

viii. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oswald Headquarters file, Section 232, Special Agent in Charge of New Orleans to Director, March 1, 1967, p. 1

ix. CIA, Russ Holmes Work File,  File: Information in CIA's possession regarding Lee Harvey Oswald prior to November 22, 1963, Report of FBI SA Kaack, p. 6

x. CIA, RHWF, Information in CIA's possession regarding Lee Harvey Oswald prior to November 22, 1963, Report of FBI SA Kaack, pp. 2-3  

xi. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Vol. 6, CD 6, Part 1, Report of Special Agents E.C. Wall and J.G Engelhardt , pp. 5-6

xii. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Vol. 6, CD 6, Part 1,  Report of S.A.'s E. Bjorn and J. G. Engelhardt, December 4, 1963, p. 2

xiii. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Volume 6, CD 6, Part 1, S.A.'s Wall and Engelhardt, December 2, 1963, p. 7

xiv. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Volume 6, CD 6, Part 1, Report of S.A. J.B. Killgore, November 30, 1963, p. 1

xv. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Vol. 3, CD 75, Part 1, FBI Report of S.A. J. G Engelhardt, November 30, 1963, p. 2

xvi. CIA, Oswald 201 File, Vol. 6, CD 6, Part 1, FBI Report of S.A.'s Wall and Engelhardt, December 2, 1963, p. 6

xvii. Ibid, p. 8

xviii. Ibid, p. 7

xix. CIA, Oswald 201 file, Vol. 53 b, Report by FBI on Oswald admitting being a Marxist to Subve, October 31, 1963

xx. Oswald 201 File, Vol. 6, CD6, Part 1, Report of S.A. Wall and Engelhardt, p. 7

xxi. Ibid

xxii. HSCA, Executive Session, November 9, 1978, p. 7

Primary Evidence Collection update

A CIA memo revealing over thirty documents had been extracted from Lee Harvey Oswald's 201 file. http://tpaak.com/case-related-files

Primary Evidence Collections update

A growing list of Central Intelligence Office of Security files offered for your review. 

Who was WIROGUE-1?

(A review of the other assassin hired by the Central Intelligence Agency)

Central Intelligence Agency officer William K. Harvey hired assassins with the intention of eliminating adversarial world leaders. The first was Jose Andre Mankel (QJWIN) and other was David Tzitzichvili (Tzitzichvilli, Dzidzichvili).i ii Tzitzichvili used the alias David de Panaskhet, and the Agency assigned him the cryptonym WIROGUE-1. He was among those expressly secured for the staging of assassinations.

WIROGUE-1 was "an ethnic Georgian recruited and trained for the old REDSOCKS program."iii Tzitzichvili's family moved to Europe and he later served in the French Foreign Legion. He was briefly involved with the French Resistance in WWII. The Nazis captured him and received a death sentence. The timely arrival of the United States Army liberated the area before his sentence was passed.

"In 1950 he had managed to rob a Paris bank of a sizeable sum of money, receive a prison sentence and be released five years later for good behavior." "...as of 1960 he was essentially stateless...the Agency was involved in a reasonably major effort to resettle WIROGUE/1, possibly in Mexico, for the mission which he had been brought to the United States had been canceled. However, on 19 September 1960 two members of the Africa Division met with him to discuss 'an operational assignment in Africa Division." "He was provided a new pseudonym" and travels to Africa. Tzitzichvili is subject to the needs of multiple African Agency stations, yet he resides in Leopoldville, the capital of the Congo.

WIROGUE-1 attempted to recruit a European to be a member of an execution squad".iv v Yet this was no mere European but Jose Andre Mankel (QJWIN) himself, Mankel declined.vi vii A rather lengthy assessment of his (Tzitzichvili's) character can be summed up by saying he was able to rationalize any action if he had strong case officer direction." Tzitzichvili serves the Agency in Africa, "Headquarters noted the intent to use him as utility agent in order to (a) organize and conduct a surveillance team; (b) intercept packages; (c) blow up bridges; and (d) execute other assignments requiring positive action."viii

Subsequently during training, WIROGUE's association with another Agency operative is a possible issue. The other agent "was never involved in any assassination schemes."ix The feasible scheme was the assassination of Patrice Lamumba. The local Agency Station chief refused to authorize the assassination. Subsequently, local militants serving Mobutu Sese Seko captured and executed Lamumba.

Yet a few in the Agency had planned to utilize criminals and militants to assassinate Patrice Lamumba and Fidel Castro. Agency member John Scelso (Whitten) stated during testimony, "...setting out by stealth and surprise to kill an important foreign person was abhorrent to the standards of the clandestine service and the fact that the way--you know, what the response was in the Lamumba case. They refused to carry out the order, but they were guilty of conspiring to commit homicide."x Thus while operatives did not complete the proposed assassination, it was their feasible murderous intent.

A few Executive branch leaders twisted assigned duties to include a series of assassination plots; to accomplish what intelligence gathering could not. These plots largely focused on the Castro regime with repeated attempts to overthrow it. A few were confirmed instances of Agency operatives conspiring to murder world leaders. The similar tactics of multiple assassinations could feasibly denote other potential targets.

Each illegal plot disseminates key tactics and operations to outside groups and individuals. A compartmentalized group could accomplish what larger groups could not without detection. The Agency collaborated with the Mafia, Cuban exile groups, and paramilitary mercenaries.  A few could turn such power to advantage, perhaps even striking at those who constructed the operation.

 Sincerely,

C. A. A. Savastano

References:

i. HSCA, Segregated Central Intelligence Agency files, List of names re Kennedy Assassination investigation, Box 9, February 15, 1978

ii. CIA files, FOIA Request, Dickopf, Paul, Volume 1, April 8, 1963

iii. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Subject: WIROGUE/1, March 14, 1975, pp. 1-2

iv. Ibid

v. Nina D. Lowland, David C Humphrey, Harriet D Schwar, Adam T. Howard, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, V, XXII, Congo, US State Department, Government Printing Office, March 18, 2014, p. 67

vi. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Microfilm Reel 18 (Webster-WiRogue), Subject: WIROGUE, December 27, 1966, pp. 1-2

vii. Senate Select Committee to Study Intelligence Activities, Boxed files, Testimony of Richard Bissell, September 10, 1975

viii. N. Lowland, D. Humphrey, H. Schwar, A. Howard, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968 GPO, March 18, 2014, p. 67

  ix. Ibid, p. 3

 x. HSCA Exec. Session, Classified Testimony of John Scelso, p. 145

Contributions from C. A. A. Savastano at the Mary Ferrell Foundation

Carmine Savastano's latest research contributions have been accepted by the Mary Ferrell Foundation. #evidence #CIA https://www.maryferrell.org/php/cryptdb.php