Rosselli
Chronology
Significant
JFK Record 157-10014-10236
BK Notes: This record is significant for a number of reasons, although it should be read with a transcript of Rosselli's Church Committee testimony (That I haven't seen yet).
The official documents spell the name as both Rosselli and Roselli, sometimes in the same document, I use the version in the document, but when writing my analysis I will resort to the version Jack Anderson used, as he apparently got it directly from Roselli.
Without having read the Church Committee transcript yet, this record documents the chronology of Roselli's association with the CIA, beginning during "Eisenhower administration when Richard Nixon was vice president and Allen Dulles head of the CIA."
While the early CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro have received the most publicity - my analysis will focus on the post Bay of Pigs - April 1961 era after William Harvey, just back from the Berlin Tunnel operation, took over the Cuban project - Task Force W and Harvey replaced James O'Donnell as Roselli's case officer. That is also the time when the planning for Castro's assassination switched from poisoning him to blowing him up and shooting him with high powered rifles.
BK Notes: This record is significant for a number of reasons, although it should be read with a transcript of Rosselli's Church Committee testimony (That I haven't seen yet).
The official documents spell the name as both Rosselli and Roselli, sometimes in the same document, I use the version in the document, but when writing my analysis I will resort to the version Jack Anderson used, as he apparently got it directly from Roselli.
Without having read the Church Committee transcript yet, this record documents the chronology of Roselli's association with the CIA, beginning during "Eisenhower administration when Richard Nixon was vice president and Allen Dulles head of the CIA."
While the early CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro have received the most publicity - my analysis will focus on the post Bay of Pigs - April 1961 era after William Harvey, just back from the Berlin Tunnel operation, took over the Cuban project - Task Force W and Harvey replaced James O'Donnell as Roselli's case officer. That is also the time when the planning for Castro's assassination switched from poisoning him to blowing him up and shooting him with high powered rifles.
As this record documents in the Chronology, Roselli utilized the alias of "John Rawlston," also known as "Colonel Rawlston" or Colonel Roselli at the Florida JMWAVE training base where Roselli acknowledges to Jack Anderson that he supported a number of anti-Castro Cuban commando teams that operated two high speed boats, infiltrating Cuba with high powered rifles. Roselli himself paid for the gas and on one occasion had his boat shot out from under him. Roselli told Anderson he did not know what became of the anti-Castro Cubans he sent ashore, but none of them returned or reported back.
Besides Roselli, two other rich Americans - William Pawley and Clare Booth Luce financially assisted their own teams of anti-Castro maritime commandos, and both became entwined in the assassination story in their own ways.
U.S. Army Ranger Bradley Ayers, who was cross posted to the CIA from the Army with another Army officer - Captain Roderick, were assigned by General Brut Krulak to train the Cubans in small arms, small boat maneuvering, and general operational procedures. Ayers said that Roderick trained Roselli's team in sniper tactics at the remote Point Mary off Key Largo, Florida.
After the Oct. 1962 Cuban Missile crisis when Desmond Fitzgerald replaced William Harvey as head of Task Force W - Covert Cuban projects run out of the basement of the CIA HQ, Harvey's biography ("Flawed Patriot" written by a former CIA agent who died before the book was pyblished) says that Fitzgerald did not know about some of Harvey's covert ops that did continue outside of Fitzgerald's control, possibly including contact with Roselli. Harvey and Roselli formed a close personal bond, and remained friends, clearly outside of agency protocol until Roselle was killed.
Since Ayers was a US Army officer who was assigned to the CIA, he never signed a CIA security oath and was permitted to publish his memoirs without prior CIA approval, as Victor Marchetti had to run his manuscript past CIA censors before it was published. Like they are doing with the JFK documents, they redacted large portions of Marchetti`s book, redactions that have since been filed in.
Ayers' first book The War That Never Was, was published by Bobs-Merrell, an Indiana publisher who maintained a fourth floor office at the Texas School Book Depository and hired William Harvey as their attorney for legal matters. Harvey ensured that certain items were edited out of the first hard cover edition.
There is an on-going FOIA suit requesting William Harvey's official travel dates while he was posted as CIA Chief of Station in Rome at the time of the assassination. There is also an FOIA request for Roselle`s CIA operational file, not included under the JFK Act.
Since Ayers was a US Army officer who was assigned to the CIA, he never signed a CIA security oath and was permitted to publish his memoirs without prior CIA approval, as Victor Marchetti had to run his manuscript past CIA censors before it was published. Like they are doing with the JFK documents, they redacted large portions of Marchetti`s book, redactions that have since been filed in.
Ayers' first book The War That Never Was, was published by Bobs-Merrell, an Indiana publisher who maintained a fourth floor office at the Texas School Book Depository and hired William Harvey as their attorney for legal matters. Harvey ensured that certain items were edited out of the first hard cover edition.
There is an on-going FOIA suit requesting William Harvey's official travel dates while he was posted as CIA Chief of Station in Rome at the time of the assassination. There is also an FOIA request for Roselle`s CIA operational file, not included under the JFK Act.
In addition, former CIA pilot Tosh Plumbly testified to the Church Committee that he flew Roselli to Dallas' Red Bird airport from Florida on the day before the assassination. I know this because I wrote the history of Somers Point, N.J. and corresponded with former Somers Point mayor John McCann, Jr., who died in federal prison of cancer after being convicted of cocaine trafficking. McCann had also hired CIA pilots to fly cocaine from Columbia via Panama, personally paying off Panamanian dictator Noreaga for the right to refuel without drug sniffing dogs pestering him. I believe McCann when he testified that Noreaga had his - McCann's CIA file he must have obtained from sources in the CIA. And I believe Plumbly when he testified he flew Roselli to Dallas from Florida in November 1963. Both McCann and Plumbly testified before the Church committee.
Someone else must think these Church Committee testimonies are significant because many of the tapes have disappeared or been erased.
From these SSCIA Church committee records, we find direct associations between the CIA-Mafua plans to kill Castro and the assassination.
We also now have the knowledge that Roselli also pushed the story that one of his commando teams that infiltrated Cuba had been captured by Castro, tortured and sent back to Dallas to kill JFK. This fits quite clearly into the Phase One - Castro Cuban Commie cover-story that was built into the original plan to kill Castro that was redirected to JFK at Dealey Plaza.
Rather than a Castro plot, more likely it was one of the CIA-Mafia plans to shoot Castro with a high powered rifle that was redirected to JFK. And the first class Army Ranger trained snipers supported by Roselli, trained by Capt. Roderick at Point Mary, are primary suspects, and their names are listed among the CIA JMWAVE records released or redacted under the JFK Act.
Roselli was also associated with John Martino, the Atlantic City gambler and electronic casino security expert who worked for Traficanti at his casino in Havana and expressed foreknowledge of the assassination. Roselli and Martino had shared an apartment in Florida together, and Martino's foreknoweldge of the Dealey Plaza operation possibly stemmed from Martino.
Going forward, the legally unresolved and cold case murders of Sam Giancana, John Roselli and Eugene M. Carrafa are among the cold cases related to the assassination of President Kennedy that, if reopened and investigated properly today, could help resolve the murder of JFK.
According to this document, Eugene M. Carrafa, a Maryland associate of Giancana, disappeared on the same day (July 28) as Roselli, and was later found floating in New York harbor, strangled and chained to two anchors, much like Roselli was killed.
Official local and federal investigators, armed with these newly released records, should reopen all three of these cases.
Rather than a Castro plot, more likely it was one of the CIA-Mafia plans to shoot Castro with a high powered rifle that was redirected to JFK. And the first class Army Ranger trained snipers supported by Roselli, trained by Capt. Roderick at Point Mary, are primary suspects, and their names are listed among the CIA JMWAVE records released or redacted under the JFK Act.
Roselli was also associated with John Martino, the Atlantic City gambler and electronic casino security expert who worked for Traficanti at his casino in Havana and expressed foreknowledge of the assassination. Roselli and Martino had shared an apartment in Florida together, and Martino's foreknoweldge of the Dealey Plaza operation possibly stemmed from Martino.
Going forward, the legally unresolved and cold case murders of Sam Giancana, John Roselli and Eugene M. Carrafa are among the cold cases related to the assassination of President Kennedy that, if reopened and investigated properly today, could help resolve the murder of JFK.
According to this document, Eugene M. Carrafa, a Maryland associate of Giancana, disappeared on the same day (July 28) as Roselli, and was later found floating in New York harbor, strangled and chained to two anchors, much like Roselli was killed.
Official local and federal investigators, armed with these newly released records, should reopen all three of these cases.
Released
under the John F. Kennedy Assassinations Records Collection Act of 1992
(144 USC 2107)
(144 USC 2107)
Case #NW
53244
Date: 06-14-2017
Date: 06-14-2017
RIF: 157-10014-10236
RECORD
SERIES: MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS OF THE CHURCH COMMITTEE
AGENCY
NUMBER: 07-M-141
ORIGINATOR:
SSCIA - Church Committee
DATE:
1976
PAGES: 46
SUBJECTS:
ANTI-CASTRO
ACTIVITIES,
SANTO
TRAFFICANTE,
JOHN
ROSSELLI,
ORGANIZED CRIME
DOCUMENT
TYPE: REPORT
CLASSIFICATIONS:
Unclassified
RESTRICTIONS:
1B; 1C
CURRENT
STATUS: POSTONED IN FULL - Released Redact(ed)
DATE OF
LAST REVIEW: 03/21/2000
ROSSELLI:
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
MEMORANDUM
To: Mike
Madigan
From: Ed
Greissing
Date:
Sept. 16, 1976
Subject:
Review of CIA documents presented the SCI by Jack Anderson
The
documents recently received by this Committee, from Jack Anderson, had
previously been reviewed by the Church Committee staff. The documents appear to
be a few of those requested for FOIA review by David Belin. It is my
understanding, after these documents were declassified, David Belin furnished
copies to both David Martin (AP) and Jack Anderson.
- BK Notes: Former WC and Church Committee attorney David Belin requested CIA records on Castro plots in order to make a case for Castro retaliation, not to determine the truth. -
The
Church Committee was permitted to review the entire Oswald 201 file, the AMLASH
file, Garrison files and selected Office of Security files, Garrison files and
selected Office of Security files. The Committee primarily concerned itself
with the early period of the investigation (November 1963 – October 1964), as
it believed the information to be received from this time period to be more
relevant in evaluating the performance of the intelligence agencies with
respect to their investigation.
Dan
Niescher, the Church Committee contact at the CIA, was the individual
responsible for the declassification of documents relating to the assassination
of President Kennedy.
During this declassification process, Dan Niescher
consulted the Committee staff to make sure that we were aware of certain
documents. In addition, Mr. Kaleras had given the staff unlimited access to all
files believed necessary to conduct our investigation.
- BK: KEY PARAGRAPH -
Yet, the
possibility still remains that the staff was not shown everything. The CIA has
maintained throughout that the Oswald 201 file was a complete compilation of
the material related to the assassination of President Kennedy. However,
information relating to who Lee Harvey Oswald was, and what he was doing are
not included in their files. The Oswald 201 does not attempt to question
Oswald’s connection to both pro-Castro and anti-Castro groups or any of the
AMLASH information. The most notable subject missing was information relating
to CIA/US Government attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.
PAGE
5-6: Portions of unnamed testimony.
PAGE 7:
Miami
Herald, December 24, (1976)
Trafficante
Made Secret Appearance At Senate Investigation, Sources Say
By Ron
LaBrecque
Florida’s
reputed organized crime boss, Santos Trafficante of Tampa and Miami, made a
secret, four-hour October appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee
to answer questions about his role in a CIA assassinations plot, investigation
sources have disclosed.
Trafficante,
62, had not previously been questioned by the committee or its staff in the
two-year-old investigation of CIA activities.
Of the
three Mafia figures involved in the early 1960s plot to kill Cuban Premier
Fidel Castro, only Trafficante is still alive. Both Sam Giancana and John
Rosselli were murdered within the last `6 months. The murders are unsolved.
Investigators
also said that Trafficante had dinner with Rosselli at The Landings, a Fort
Lauderdale restaurant, in mid-July, less than two weeks before Rosselli
disappeared. Rosselli’s body, stuffed in an oil drum, floated to the surface of
Dumfounding Bay the first week of August…….
PAGE 8 –
9 – Repeated PAGES 10-13
Rosselli
Probe
By RON
LaBRECQUE – Miami Hearld
Sen.
Gary Hart (D. Col.) made an unannounced trip to Miami Friday for a private
meeting with homicide detectives to underscore the strong interest of the
Senate Select Intelligence Committee in the John Rosselli murder investigation
and to insure that federal agencies cooperated with local police.
The FBI
was ordered into the case last week by Attorney General Edward Levi after
pressure from the Senate committee.
“We’re
not here to solve the crime,” Hart said, “we want to find out if there is any
connection between (Rosselli’s) death and his testimony before our committee.”
[NOTE:
They investigated the possible connections between Rosselli’s murder and the
similar murder on the same day (July 28) of Eugene M. Carrafa, 37, of
Rockville, Md., whose body was found in New York harbor, Carrafa having been
strangled and weighted down by anchors, much like Rosselli. Carrafa was an
associate of Sam Gancana.]
PAGE 14
- 15
MEMORANDUM
To: Rick
Inderfurth
From:
Mike Madigan
Date:
August 13, 1976
Re:
Miami Interview
Hart
interviews in Miami on Rosselli matter and subpoena for Santos Trafficante,
signed by Sen. Baker….need approval of majority of committee….
Detective
Wolf and Zatrepallek – Dade County Sheriff’s Office, 305-547-7456 (are the
detectives investigating the Rosselli murder for the locals)
PAGE 16 –
Repeated – 18 -22
MEMORANDUM
FOR THE RECORD MEMO
– Senate
investigator said Rosselli feared for his life because of his testimony.
Michael
Madigan
August 13,
1976
……my
recollections of the pre-testimony interviews with Mr. John Rosselli prior to
Rosselli’s testifying under oath in June of 1975…..Rosselli and his attorneys
expressed on numerous occasions fear for the well-being of Rosselli….He was
worried about retaliation and particularly worried about his relatives with
whom he was living in Florida…..he declined to testify about Giancana (until
after Giancana’s death), refused to identify any of the Cubans who were
involved in assassination plots, and was reluctant to mention Santo Trafficante
by name….Rosselli told the Senator (Baker) he was concerned for his safety and
his life and that he was risking his well-being by testifying before the committee….Throughout
his testimony Rosselli declined to give his exact address in Florida for
reasons of safety. It is also my recollection that Rosselli’s demeanor was
visibly affected whenever testimony or interview focused or attempted to focus
on Santos Trafficante.
PAGE 24 –
Newspaper
Report
Rosselli’s
Body Found in Floating Drum
8/9/76
UNINTELLIGABLE
– Ink Runs
PAGE 25
The
Washington Merry-Go-Round THE WASHINGTON
POST –Monday, Jan. 18, 1971
By Jack
Anderson
6
Attepts to Kill Castro Laid to CIA
Locked
in the darkest recesses of the Central Intelligence Agency is the story of six
assassination attempts against Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
For 10
years only a few key people have known the terrible secret. They have sworn
never to talk. Yet we have learned the details from sources whose credentials
are beyond question.
We spoke
to John McCone, who headed the CIA at the time of the assassination attempts.
He acknowledged the idea had been discussed inside the CIA but insisted it had
been “rejected immediately.” He vigorously denied that the CIA had ever
participated in any plot on Castro’s life. Asked whether the attempts could
have been made with his knowledge, he replied: “It could not have happened.”
We have
complete confidence, however, in our sources.
The plot
to knock off Castro had been part of the Bay of Pigs operation. The intent was
to eliminate the Cuban dictator before the motley invaders landed on the
island. Their arrival was expected to touch off a general uprising, which the
Communist militia would have had more trouble putting down without the
charismatic Castro to lead them.
After
the first attempt failed, five more assassination teams were sent to Cuba. The
last team reportedly made it to a rooftop within shooting distance of Castro
before they were apprehended. This happened around the last of February or
first of March, 1963.
Nine
months later, President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald,
a fanatic who previously agitated for Castro in New Orleans and had made a
mysterious trip to the Cuban embassy in Mexico City.
Among
those privy to the CIA conspiracy, there is still a nagging suspicion –
unsupported by the Warren Commission findings – that Castro became aware of the
U.S. plot upon his life and somehow recruited Oswald to retaliate against
President Kennedy.
To set
up the Castro assassination, the CIA enlisted Robert Maheu, a former FBI agent
with shadowy contacts, who had handled other undercover assignments for the CIA
out of his Washington public relations office. He later moved to Las Vegas to
head up billionaire Howard Hughes’ Nevada operations.
Maheu
recruited John Rosselli, a ruggedly handsome gambler with contacts in both the
American and Cuban underworlds, to arrange the assassination. The dapper,
hawk-faced Rosselli, formerly married to movie actress June Lang, was a power
in the movie industry until his conviction with racketeer Willie Bioff in a
million-dollar Hollywood labor shakedown. The CIA assigned two of its most
trusted operatives, William Harvey and James (Big Jim) O’Connell, to the
hush-hush murder mission. Using phony names, they accompanied Roselli on trips
to Miami to line up the assassination teams.
The full
story reads like the script of a James Bond movie, complete with secret trysts
at glittering Miami Beach hotels and midnight powerboat dashes to secret
landing spots on the Cuban coast. Once, Roselli’s boat was shot out from under
him.
For the
first try, the CIA furnished Roselli with special poison capsules to slip into
Castro’s food. The poison was supposed to take three days to act. By the time
Castro died, his system would throw off all traces of the poison, so he would
appear to be the victim of a natural if mysterious ailment.
Roselli
arranged with a Cuban, related to one of Castro’s chefs, to plant the deadly
pellets in the dictator’s food. On March 13, 1961, Roselli delivered the
capsuls to his contact at Miami Beach’s glamorous Fontainebleau Hotel.
A couple
of weeks later, just about the right time for the plot have been carried out, a
report came out of Havana that said Castro was ill. But he recovered before the
Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961.
Four
more attempts were made on Castro’s life.
Bell-McClure
Syndicate
PAGE 26
The
Washington Merry-Go-Round THE WASHINGTON POST -
Tuesday, Feb, 19XX
By Jack
Anderson
The
mystery man whom the Central Intelligence Agency recruited to assassinate Cuba’s
Fidel Castro has been laid up in the sick ward of the Los Angeles County jail.
He is
handsome, hawk-faced John Roselli, once a dashing figure around Hollywood and
Las Vegas, now a gray, 66-year-old inmate with a respiratory ailment.
Confidential
FBI files indentify him as “a top Mafia figure” who watched over “the concealed
interests in Las Vegas casinos of the Chicago underworld.”
Roselli
has admitted to friends that he was a rum runner during the Roaring Twenties.
Operating along the East Coast, he learned how to evade Coast Guard cutters and
police patrols.
His name
later became linked with the biggest names in the Chicago and Los Angeles
underworlds. He also developed contacts in the Cuban underworld before Castro
took over the Havana gambling casinos.
He had
the right background for a hush-hush mission that the CIA was planning in 1961.
As part of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA had hoped to knock off Castro and
leave Cuba leaderless.
RISKS
NECK
Roselli
was recruited for the job by Robert Maheu, a former FBI agent, who admitted to
us that he had handled uncover assignments for the CIA. He refused, however, to
discuss the details. His is the same Maheu, incidently, who is now involved in
a legal battle over phantom billionaire Howard Hughes’ Nevada operations.
Roselli
was so flattered over being asked to perform a secret mission for the U.S.
government that he paid all his expenses out of his own pocket and risked his
neck to land the assassination teams on the Cuban coast.
In James
Bond fashion, he whispered meetings in Miami Beach hotels with Cubans willing
to make an attempt on Castro’s life. Once, he called on Chicago racket boss Sam
Giancana to line up a contact. The confidential files report that Giancana had “gambling
interests and an interest in the shrimp business in Cuba.” However, the Chicago
gangster took no direct part in the assassination plot.
Roselli
made midnight dashes to Cuba with his hired assassins in twin powerboats. Once
a Cuban patrol ship turned its guns on his darkened boat, tore a hole in the bottom
and sank the boat. Roselli was flushed out of the water by the other boat,
which escaped into the shadows.
In
earlier columns, we reported how the CIA furnished Roselli with deadly poison
capsules which he tried through a relative of Castro’s chef to plant in the
dictator’s food. Later, marksmen armed with high powered Belgian rifles
attempted to infiltrate close enough to gun Castro down.
All
told, six assassination attempts were made, the last in the spring of 1963.
Through-out this period, Roselli worked under the direct supervision of two
secret CIA agents, William Harvey and James (Big Jim) O’Connell.
ROSELLI’S REWARD
The FBI which got wind of the
assassination plot, has tried to pump Roselli for information. But he was sworn
to silence by the CIA, and up to this moment, he hasn’t broken it.
Meanwhile, the Justice
Department, as part of its crackdown on organized crime, tried to nail Roselli.
The FBI discovered that his Chicago birth records had been forged, that his
name was really Filippo Sacco and that he had come to this country from Italy
as a child. He was convicted for failing to register as an alien.
He was also convicted for
conspiracy to rig card games at Los Angeles’ exclusive Friar’s Club.
Of Roselli’s own CIA associates,
Harvey has now retired to Indianapolis and O’Connell is still on the CIA payroll.
Both admitted to us a friendship with Roselli but refused to discuss their CIA
activities. Harvey said he had a “high regard” for Roselli and called the Friar’s
Club indictment a phony. Roselli’s lawyers are now trying to get clemency for
their client, citing our stories about his secret CIA service.
FIREARMS FIASCO
Under pressure from the firearms
lobby, the Treasury has failed to enforce a vital section of the 1968 federal
firearms act.
The law was passed after the
murders of Sen. Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. It authorizes the
Treasury Secretary to require full reports of all firearms and ammunition sales…….
PAGE 27
1975 Jack Anderson Press Release
(handwritten)
Typewritten:
Four and a half years ago, I
broke a story that is now belatedly rocking Washington. I reported that the
Central Intelligence Agency had recruited two Mafia figures, John Roselli and
Sam Giancana, to assassinate Cuban Premier Fidel Castro.
I tracked down Roselli and
questioned him about the story. He had nothing to say. He promised me, however,
that he would give me his exclusive story if he should ever be free to talk.
Yesterday, John Roselli told his
story - - first to the Senate Intelligence Committee in secret session, then to
me as he had promised four and a half years ago.
Roselli is a dapper, hawk-faced
man with a thatch of white hair. He has been disciplined all his life to keep
his mouth shut. His Mafia partner Sam Giancana, was slain before Senate
investigators could serve him with a subpoena.
So it was obviously painful for
Roselli to talk. I promised I would make clear that he revealed no names,
except CIA contacts whose identities the Senate already knew.
So here
is Roselli’s own account of a real-life “Mission Impossible” - - the attempt to
kill Castro. It is a story of cash payments, poison pellets, high-powered
rifles and powerboat dashes to Cuba.
The plot
against Castro, Roselli said, began in 1960 - - when Dwight Eisenhower was
President, Richard Nixon was Vice President and Allen Dulles was the CIA chief.
Roselli
was recruited in Los Angeles, he said, by Robert Maheu, then an aide to
billionaire Howard Hughes. Previously, Maheu had operated a CIA front in
Washington.
According
to Roselli, the murdered mobster, Sam Giancana, never became involved in the
assassination plot. He knew about it; he may even have suggested a Cuban
contact; nothing more.
Roselli
identified the CIA project officer, in charge of the Castro assassination, as “Big
Jim” O’Connell. Maheu put Rosselli in contact with O’Connell, as Roselli
remembers it, in New York City on September 14, 1960.
Thereafter,
Roselli flew to Miami and recruited the assassination squads. At first, they
plotted to poison Castro. Poison pellets were supplied by the CIA. They were delivered to the plotters in a Miami hotel room,
according to Roselli, by Maheu. He dramatically opened his briefcase, revealing
$10,000 in cash and the fatal pellets.
The
money was distributed to the Cuban plotters. Roselli swore he never took any
money from the CIA, except some incidental expenses. He paid the big expenses,
he said, out of his own pocket.
The
poison pills were supposed to take three days to work. Supposedly, this would
give the poison time to work its way out of Castro’s system before he died, and
his death would be attributed to natural causes.
Roselli
never found out what happened to the plotters or the pellets. But they tried
again later with a stronger dose of poison. Not long afterward, reports reached
them that Castro was desperately ill. Roselli doesn’t know whether the illness
was caused by the poison or a virus. But Castro survived, and the plotters
apparently did not.
Roselli
said he also picked up intelligence, which he submitted to the CIA both during
the Bay of Pigs planning and later Cuban missile crisis. After the Bay of Pigs,
Roselli said, Maheu was cut out of the plot. Thereafter, Roselli reported to a
CIA agent named William Harvey.
There were
four more assassination attempts, the plotters were smuggled into Cuba with
high-powered rifles. The last assassination squad, Roselli heard, made it into
Cuba with high-powered rifles. The last assassination squad, Roselli said, made
it to a Havana rooftop before they were caught.
This was
around March 1, 1963. Then the project was abandoned. Roselli saw Harvey for
the last time in June, 1963. Five months later, Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down
President Kennedy in Dallas. Oswald had been active in the pro-Castro movement.
Shortly before that dreadful day in Dallas, Oswald took a mysterious trip to
Mexico where he visited the Cuban embassy. The Warren Commission found no
evidence, however, that Oswald was in the hire of Havana.
Yesterday,
Rosellli made no apology for his CIA role. U.S. authorities call him a mobster.
He regards himself as a patriot.
Page 30 –
34
THE
WASHINTON POST – Sunday, September 12, 1976
The
Calculated Rise And Abrupt Descent Of Johnny Roselli
By Rudy
Maxa
Until last
month, Johnny Roselli lived comfortably with his sister and brother-in-law in a
Miami suburb. A friend estimated he earned about $25,000 annually from a gift
shop he owned in the lobby of Las Vegas’ Frontier Hotel.
He
shrugged last year when his attorney suggested he hire a bodyguard, after the
murder of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana, his partner in CIA plots to kill
Castro. If anybody wants to kill me at my age, the 71-year-old Roselli said, what
difference does it make? So he played golf several times a week, sipped white
wine with dinner, and – until somebody decidied Johnny Roselli should wind up
in an oil barrel in Miami’s Dumfoundling Bay – considered employment in the new
gambling casinos beginning to open in the oil-rich Middle East……
PAGE 35 –
REPEAT OF August 13, 1976 Rick Inderfurth – Mike Madigan – memo re: Miami
Interviews with Gary Hart.
PAGE 36
-
THE
WASHINGTON POST – THURSDAY AUGUST 12, 1976
Who
Killed John Roselli? – Editorial
PAGE 37
ROSSELLI
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
1955 -
Meets Maheu at insurance friend’s home.
1960 –
Late July / early August. Maheu calls. Working for government. Recruit Rosselli
only. Meet Brown Derby, L.A. for lunch. Long talk about project in Cuba.
Rosselli wants verification……
2ND
meeting, L.A., discuss further details, no discussion of specifics techniques.
Plan to meet in N.Y. for verification.
Sept.
14, 1960. First meeting in N.Y. at old Plaza Hotel. Rosselli introduced by
Maheu to O’Connell. Rosselli “knew” O’Connell worked for the CIA. Rosselli
agrees to work on Cuban project.
Sept.
25, 1960. Maheu and Rosselli travel to Miami to begin making contact with
Cubans to be recruited for mission.
(Between
Sept. 25 and the Bay of Pigs [April 17], a series of recruitments, meetings and
arrangements were made. The following is an outline of events that is not necessarily
in chronological order.)
---
Meeting where Maheu is introduced to Trafficanti. Meeting where Maheu is
introduced to Giancana. Giancana was, according to Rosselli, to only be a “back
up man.” Rosselli states Giancana had nothing to do with the actual operation.
Trafficanti was used, according to Rosselli, as a translator.
---
Meeting with O’Connell, Maheu, Rosselli, [note, “and two Admirals to” is
crossed out] discuss the Cuban project.
---
Rosselli, in his contact with the Cubans, “invents” the cover story that he
represents some Wall Street business interests who want to see Castro
eliminated. Rosselli trusts Cubans he has recruited beause they are part of the
Bay of Pigs operation.
--- 1st
attempt at assassination involved the use of pills. Maheu and Rosselli met with
Cuban #1 and #2 (?). Maheu opened up his briefcase and gave pills with
instructions for their use to Cuban #1. Maheu also had $10,000 he gave the
Cubans for doing the project. Rosselli did not know of the money. Rosselli
states he received no remuneration for his work on the project, in fact, he
paid out $800 for gas for a speed boat to deliver two or three man parties for
guerrilla raids into Cuba.
---
Prior to the Bay of Pigs there was no discussion of using guns to assassinate
Castro.
---Rosselli’s
cover name was “John Ralston.”
--- At
different times, Cuban #1, #2, or #3 would propose different projects. These
would range from using plastic explosives to booby trapping Castro’s desk.
Rosselli would relay these on to Maheu, who, in turn, would contact the CIA.
Most projects were vetoed, but the CIA did supply short wave radio to the
Cubans in Florida, to try and make contact with their people in Havana.
---
Eventually, Rosselli felt the project had failed. There was no specific point when
it was announced. But, at sometime Rosselli assumed the project, for whatever
reason, had not succeeded.
C H R
O N O L O G Y
(ALLEGATIONS
AND REPORTS OF ANY U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN ASSASSIANTIONS)
DATE EVENT OR ITEM SOURCE (Where
Necessary)
1959 Richard
Bissell becomes DDP (head of Plans
Directorate)
October 1960
Tap on
Dan Rowan phone in Las Vegas (allegedly: (a) favor to Giancana, and (b) done by
Rosselli) SOURCE: Date and Rosselli
role from Government Oposition paper to Rosselli motion for reduction in
sentence, 1971.
1961 Feb. Lumumba mysteriously killed during Congolese
strife. - Wash. Post & Star
contemporaneous accounts. News reports of CIA consideration of Lumumba plot,
but claim it was done by others, e.g. Belgians?
Wash. Post 2/6/75 story by Lardener and Greider Tab A
Early
1961 Attempts to kill Castro before Bay of Pigs
landing by Rosselli team.- Jack Anderson
1967, 1971 and 1975 columns; Watergate Helms memcon
April
1961 Bay of Pigs Landing
May 31,
1961 Trujillo assassinated; charge of
U.S. involvement – Jack Anderson column (1/19/71) on Smathers conversation with
JFK. Agee book (obviously suspect in some respects)
Rest of
1961 and 1962 - Possibly ongoing efforts to kill Castro by
Rosselli team - last attempt by
Rosselli team in 1963, infra.
Sometime
in early 1960’s - RFK quashes
prosecution of Giancana for Rowan Las Vegas tap – Watergate memcons on Keeney
and Wilson interviews
October
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis – (date for background reference )
Early
1963 - Rosselli training a team in Miami
area - Wash. Post Greider/ Lardener
story, supra., states Army Ranger Capt Ayers saw him.
March
1963 – Rosselli’s last effort to kill Castro – J. Anderson 1971 column
November
1963 – Diem killed in Saigon coup JFK told Smathers later he thought CIA
involved – J. Anderson, 1/19/71 column
Colby
head of DDP Far East Division at the time. – articles on Colby.
Early
1964 – Howard Hunt and others from Bay of Pigs effort begin plot on another
Castro assassination – reported by Tad Szulc in book on Howard Hunt (1974)
PAGE 41
(more on
Hunt Castro project)
Assassination
alleged to have been planned as part of a smaller invasion effort and
preparations were allegedly made in Costa Rica – Szulc, supra
May
1965 - Hunt
Castro scheme “aborted when Dominican Republic strife broke out (scheme also
allegedly involved McCord, Barker and Sturgis) – Szulc
May 1965
(or later) As Katzenbach/Helms/LBJ
meeting on Dominican Republic ended, LBJ asked Helms if CIA had ever been
involved in assassination (of a leader) and Helms said “no.”
1966= CIA
poisoning plot against Haitian Pres. Duvalier; bombing place in ’68. – Anderson col.,. 4/7/75
1967- Rosselli
indicted for alien law and interstate gambling crimes (Friars Club card game
rigging) – Government Opposition to sentence reduction, suprs.
March 3
1967 – First Anderson column on Rosselli – We don’t have, but Anderson referred
to in Hersh NY Times story 3/10/75
In
response to Anderson story RFK tells Walinsky and Edelman he shut it off; - Hersh story, supra.
1968
Rosselli
sentenced to 5 years – Government Opposition,
Early
1969 - Asst. Atty Gen Wilson asks for Justice Dept.
Rosselli file – Keeney Watergate memcon
1970 - Rosselli
goes before grand jury under immunity re: Giancana – Government Opposition, supa
1971- Jan. 18 –
First of three Anderson columns.
Jan. 19 –
Maheau (scheduled to go before grand jury on Las Vegas skimming) calls AG John
Mitchell. – Lenzner memo to Sen. Ervin on Rosselli (and phone )
Same
day: Haldeman asks Dean to inquirer into Hughes/O’Brien/Maheu ties
Jan. 27 –
Maheu interviewed by Wilson and Peterson on Rosselli matter.
Feb. 1 –
Caulfield to Dean memo that Maheu was involved in covert activity for CIA in
early 1960’s.
Rosselli
files motion for reduction in sentence, citing Anderson stories and presenting
memorandum to Court
PAGE 43
REPEAT OF PREVIOUS CHRONOLOGY
PAGE 44
1961 After the Bay of Pigs (April 1961)
Rosselli
felt “sorry for the poor bastards left on the beach.” [Crossed out: Rosselli
felt indirectly responsible for their deaths since he had encouraged many of
them to participate in the invasion.] Two or three weeks after the invasion,
Rosselli was contacted in Los Angeles by O’Connnell, a meeting was arranged for
at the airport hotel in Miami. Rosselli went there and was introduced to
Harvey. O’Connell said Harvey was now in charge of the Cuban project. Harvey
told Rosselli he was to cease all contact with Maheu and Giancana. Further,
Harvey stated that the government was still interested in using Rosselli for
intelligence-gathering operations. Rosselli would report information from the
Cubans to Harvey about personalities and events in Cuba. Rosselli would also
relay on to his Cuban contacts requests for specific information from the CIA.
Sometimes
between the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis [October 1962]
Harvey gave Rosselli six poison capsules. Rosselli, in turn, gave them to his
Cuban contacts who were to take them to Cuba, where another Cuban or Cubans
would use them to assassinate Castro. Rosselli never learned the details of
what happened, but the project obviously failed. At one point, Rosselli
remembers hearing over the radio hat Castro was very ill. A short time later,
he recovered.
Sometime
before the Cuban missile crisis, Rosselli arranged, pursuant to Cuban #1
request, for a van loaded with rifles and ammunition to be delivered to
Florida. O’Connell and Rosselli watched the Cuban contact pick up the van and
return it empty. Rosselli assumed that these guns were going to be used by the
two or three-man raiding parties in Cuba to assassinate Castro and overthrow
the government.
During
the Cuban missile crisis, Rosselli was in Chicago. He contacted Harvey at
Harvey’s mother’s home in Indianapolis and left his number in Chicago. Harvey
then called him, told him to go to Washington D.C. From Washington, D.C.,
Rosselli traveled to Florida where he stayed for the duration of the Cuban
missile crisis. He, at times, would, through his Cuban contacts, attempt to
verify the location of the Russian missiles in Cuba. Rosselli claimed that this
had been successful. After the Cuban missile crisis, Harvey called Rosselli and
told him to stop all contacts with any and all persons involved in past Cuban
missions. Harvey never stated why the missions were being called off.
Rowan
Tap
Rosselli
said that he understood that Giancana had asked Maheu for a tap on Dan Rowan. Maheu gave Rosselli two
stories. The first was that he was doing Giancana a favor and the second was
that there was a real intelligence value in that Maheu was afraid that Giancana
or Rowan might be giving out intelligence information that would be of value to
enemies of the United States. Rosselli had not heard of the names Dubois or
Belotti or Fred Harrison. He admitted that Harvey had discussed the tap with
him, but both Harvey and Rosselli were mad that the operation had gone on.
Giancana obvioiusly knew about the tap. Maheu did ask Rosselli to get bail
money for the two tappers who were caught and thrown in jail. Maheu suggested
that Rosselli could get a hotel to turn over the bail money. Finally, Rosselli
arranged to have a man with a green carnation in his lapel meet and transfer
the bail money. He never received any of this money back. Rosselli claims that
he did not know what type of tap went on. He admitted that he had been
questioned by the FBI but he gave no answers. Rosselli knew that Mahu had been
questioned by the FBI.
Early
1961 – Attempts to kill Castro before Bay of Pigs landing by Rosselli team.
April
1961 – Bay of Pigs Landing
Rest of
1961 and 1962 – Possibly ongoing efforts to Kill Castro by Rosselli team.
Last attempt by Rosselli team in 1963, infra.
Early
1963 – Rosselli training a team in Miami area. Wash. Post Greider/Lardener
story, supra., states Army Ranger Capt. Ayres saw him.
March
1963 – Rosselli’s last effort to kill Castro.
Sometime
in 1963 – RFK stopped further efforts.
August 9
1976 - Rosselli’s body discovered in oil drum in Dumfounding Bay,
Florida.
