Francesco/who-killed-jfk huggingface dataset:
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# SECRETEYES ONLY31 MAY 1967MEMORANDUMSUBJECT: GARRISON and the Kennedy Assassination;Gordon Dwane NOVEL1. Summary of contents.Gordon Dwane NOVEL has both claimed and denied affiliation with CIA. A thorough records check has shown no such affiliation, It seems plausible that the NBC is supporting and financing NOVEL in order to win a large audience for a later expose of GARRISON. In support of this plan NBC or NOVEL may have exaggerated his presumed relationship with Sergio ARCACHA Smith (who was also not CIA employed) into an Agency affiliation and may have staged a dramatic ambush in Nashville. The NBC program, however, is reportedly still weeks away, and meanwhile GARRISON is attacking CIA vehemently.2. Gordon Dwane NOVEL and his lawyers reportedly have claimed that he was associated with CIA, but have then denied such an association. One lawyer later reiterated the claim.3. The files of the following Agency components have been checked for any record of Gordon Dwane NOVEL, including alternative spellings. All checks were negative (CIA held no information about NOVEL before the GARRISON probe started,)a. RID.b. CI/OA.c. Office of Security,d. WH/Cuban Operations Group,e. Domestic Contact Service.f. Interagency Source Register,g. Domestic Operations Division,h. Archives,# SECRETEYES ONLY> GROUP 1> Excluded from automatic> downgrading and> declassification
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# SECRETEYES ONLY4. NOVEL remaine mysterioue, Although the prese has devoted much space to him, few facte have emerged, He has been desgribed as a 29 year old former owner of a bar in the French quarter rter of New Orleans and as an o expert in electronice, (New Orleane States - *Item*, 25 April 1967.) An FBI report (DDB-79248, 27 April 1967) terma bim a farmer electronica salgsman.5. Nothing has been printed about the source or sources of his money since he left New Orleans for Columbus, Ohio, in mid-March 1967. It is known, however, that he is at liberty on a $10,000 bond, The New Orleans States - *Item* said on 25 April 1967 that NOVEL lives In a rentefree apartment in Columbus and drives a used car with dealer's tags,6. The Washington Daily News of 27 March 1967 stated that during the weekend of 25-26 March NOVEL was in the Washington area (actually it was McLean, Virginia, a site which might have been chosen to land an air of plausibility to his claims of working for CIA). There he was given a polygraph examination by a private detective named Lloyd FURR. (Comment: As the Office of Security reported on 1 May 1967, the Washington firm REDEX is operated by FURR and Richard L. BAST, who is described as "unscrupulous and untrustworthy". BAST produces and sells, among other things, audio and counter-audio devices The fact that NOVEL was a salesman of electronica gear suggests the otherwise unsupported hypothesis that he may have had an earlier rola-clonship with REDEX, BAST, OF FURR)7. On 29 March 1967 the New Orleang FBI office reported (file 89-69) that NOVEL had made a long distange call to that office from an unknown place. Among his remarks was the comment that he bad "not furnished GARRISON with any information about 'double check' of Miami, which he inferred was a fringe Cuban operation in the Miami area but did not further identify." (Gomment: Operation Double Chok appears on pp. 95, 76, 82, 84, 88, 89, 90, 146, and 246 of *The Invisible Government*, by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross, The book erroneouslySECRETFYES ONLY
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SECRETEYES ONLYdescribes Double Chek as a cover and funding mechanism for recruiting and paying American flyers who participated at the. Bay of Pigs, The General Counsel has informad CI/R&A that in fact Double Chok was created after the deaths of the flyers for the sole purpose of making payments to their widowa.8. FBI memorandum DBB 76600, 29 March 1967, reported another long distance call by NOVEL to the New Orleans office, NOVEL said that Walter SHERIDAN, who is a Washington NBC news reporter, had the number of the telephone at which NOVEL could be reached. He also said that when he was given the polygraph test in Virginia. SHERIDAN was present, He added that he had given SHERIDAN informa- tion about polygraph tests run by GARRISON's staff,9. An & May 1967 memorandum from the Associate General Counsel states that he was given information about the GARRISON in- vestigation by a Washington lawyer named Jack Miller, that Walter SHERIDAN was the source of Miller's information, that NBC has done a thirty minute show on GARRISON, and that it plans an hour-long show "for a few weeks from now", The show is expected to "bury" GARRISON.10. In addition to his reference to Double Chek, NOVEL and his lawyern have made direct but contradictory statements about CIA.a. "I think Garrison will expose some CIA operations in New Orleans." (New Orleans Times - Picayune, 19 April 1967.1b. NOVEL reportedly stated to a representative of a well known nowe media "that he was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CLA) and that the burglary of the munitions bunker at Houma. Louisiana, was not an actual burglary," He contended that CIA bad mada arrangements with the SCHLUMBERGER Well Drilling Corporation to keep ammunition, bomb casings, and other material in that bunker. He "indicated that he (NOVEL) and Sergio/ Arcacha Smith are still employed by the CIA." NOVEL and others took bomb casings and other items from the bunker about three months after the Bay of Pigs, (Source: FBI memorandum, New Orleans office, 20 April 1967.) (Comment; Careful checking has shown that CIA did not have a contract withSECRETEYES ONLY
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# SECRETEYES ONLYSCHLUMBERGER, as NOVEL has alleged, and did not have any munitions or similar materials stored with SCHLUMBERGER or at the Houma Air Base.)c. The above "war materials pickup" was made by NOVEL and others "at the direction of his CIA contact." Part of NOVEL's job for CIA "was to operate the Evergreen Advertising Agency as a front for CIA communications". NOVEL prepared special radio commercials for use in the United States and Canada,,,to alert agents to the date of the Bay of Pigs invasion," Among code words used by NOVEL were "Star Christmas Trees" and "Holiday Trees". Hie agency placed $72.000 worth of radio time in 1960. (AP. New Orleans, 25 April 1967.) (Comment: As was previously reported, there is no record of the "Evergreen Advertising Agency". WH/COG queried a knowledgeable staff employee, now COS in [Santo Domingo], who replied in [Santo Domingo]16-10 3473, 12 May 1967, that NOVEL's allegations are not true; that he had never heard of NOVEL, his agency, or the code words, and that although "some meaningless code phrases were used on JMHOPE for psych reasons only", they were not sent out over U.S., commercial stations. The cable added that the Cuban Free Committee did contract time for routine exile broadcasts on a Now Orleans station. It is clear, however, that NOVEL's allegations do not concern such broadcasts.)d. Steven PLOTKIN, NOVEL's lawyer in New Orleans, said that he would neither confirm por deny NOVEL's claima of CIA employment. His lawyer in Columbus, Jerry WEINER. said, "It's utterly ridiculous, NOVEL is not now and never has been a CIA agent," (New Orleans States - Item, 25 April 1967.)e. On 25 April 1967 NOVEL himself said in Columbus, "The statements that I worked for the CIA arg absolutely in- correct.",,, (AP. 25 April 1967.)# SECRETEYES ONLY
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# SECRETEYES ONLY1. NOVEL'a New Orleans attorney, Steve PLOTKIN, said he "served as an intermediary between the CIA and anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans and Miami before the April, 1961, Bay of Pige invasion, Plotkin maintained, though, that Novel had little or nothing to do with the Bay of Pigs invasion and certainly had absolutely nothing to do with the assassination of President Kennedy.'" (The Washington Post, 26 May 1967.)11. On 7 May 1967 NOVEL again telephoned the FBI's office in New Orleans. He said that in the near future GARRISON would accuse the FBI of possessing originala of five letterst one from Clay SHAW to David FERRIE, one from Lee Harvey OSWALD to SHAW, one from FERRIE to Jack RUBY, one from RUBY to OSWALD, and one from Senator and former Attorney General Robert Kennedy to FERRIE, He added that GARRISON hae a typewriter which FERRIE owned in 1963 and also has two typewriters, personal and business, belonging to SHAW. He said that GARRISON's chief investigator, William GURVICH, has    a close relative, living in Russia, who was instrumental in designing the MIG. He remarked that GARRISON plans to subpoena an attorney. Inu MARTIN, allegedly associated with CIA, He said that Layton Patrick MARTENS was the "other" marine probably involved in the Houma bunker burglary. (FBI memorandum DBB 80563, 9 May 1967.) (Comment: Mr. Arthur Dooley of Cl/RhA know a Walter SHERIDAN who is believed identical with the Walter SHERIDAN of this report, who was an FBI special agent, and who worked for Senator Robert Kennedy when he was Attorney General.)12. On or about 11 May 1967 GARRISON accused two lawyers, one of them PLOTKIN, of receiving CIA money. "We know that Mr. Plotkin has been receiving money, if only through an intermediary. from the CIA," Both lawyers denied the charge. (New Orleans, AP, 11 May 1967.) GARRISON later broadened this charge to include all defense attorneys. "Every lawyer involved in this case, without ex- ception, involved in the attempts to derall the investigation, has been connected by us with the Central Intelligence Agency, Garrison said." (Washington Post, 29 May 1967.)SECRETEYES ONLY
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SECRETEYES ONLY13. On 22 May 1967 NOVEL telephoned an unidentified person in New Orleans and said that at 0200 hours on 21 May he and a friend of eleven years, Gary EDWARDS, were sitting in a radio station truck in Nashville, Tennessee. Bullets were fired at the truck. Neither man was struck by a bullet, but both were cut by flying glass. The Nashville police found the glass in the left door of the truck shattered and four or five indentations made by bullets on the right side of the truck's paneling. They said that the first report to them was made by Charles F. WALKER, president of radio station WKDA, who said that NOVEL had been wounded by a sniper and that he had come to Nashville at the request of WKDA and had agreed to disclose informa - tion that "would blow the New Orleans investigation wide open." A Nashville police detective said five shots ware fired at the truck and that traces, apparently of blood, were found. However, Nashville authorities noted that Mr. WALKER first telephoned them thirteen hours after the alleged incident. By then NOVEL and EDWARDS were allegedly in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Efforts made in Kentucky to verify NOVEL's claim that his injuries had been treated at a hospital were unsuccessful. WALKER said that just before the shooting NOVEL was on the verge of returning to Columbus. He said that NOVEL and EDWARDS left Nashville immediately after the shooting and that EDWARDS was proceeding to Washington, EDWARDS' real name, according to another but unidentified spokesman for the radio station, Gerald MUNDY, (New Orleans States-Item, 22 May 1967.)14. Several newspapers have carried the story that NOVEL is suing GARRISON for $50,000,000,15. JMWAVE was asked to show a Miami Herald photograph of NOVEL to a well placed and well informed asset, AMOT/2, without devulging NOVEL's name or making any statement about him. JMWAVE 7427, 27 May 1967, reported that AMOT/2 did not recognize the photo and could not identify the person whose likeness he saw. The purpose was to test the possibility that NOVEL had been involved in CIA activi- ties under another name,16. It is requested that the Office of the Assistant to the Director Advise CI/R&A whether it has any information about Walter SHERIDAN,SECRETEYES ONLY
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SECRETEYES ONLYGerald MUNDY Gary EDWARDS, and any association between them, as well as any information about whether Station WKDA in Nashville is affiliated or otherwise Associated with NBC17. If the surmise that NBC is building up NOVEL as a latter day David who is to slay the jolly green giant is correct, then a CIA exposure of NOVEL's claims of Agency affiliation as false might be damaging to our own interests. On the other hand, the likelihood that an NBC unti-Garrison program is still weeka away from presen tation is disturbing. A recent Harria survey (Washington Post, 29 May 1967) shows that 66% of the persons queried now believe that the assassination was not the work of one man but was rather part of a broader plot or conspiracy. The Garrison probe la termed a major contributor to the growing public doubt, GARRISON's venemous attack on CIA during his ABC interview of 28 May 1967. was preceded by a barrage of earlier charges and will predictably be followed by more.18. There may be a shadow of justification for NOVEL's claim of association with CIA. He has asserted that he know Sergio ARCACHA Smith and that ARCACHA was one of the participants in the pickup at the Houma bunker. Our recorde show that CIA never recruited or paid ARGACHA directly. He was, however, the delegate of the Frente Revolucionario Democratico (FRD, or Democratic Revolutionary Front) in New Orleans. He reported to FRD headquarters in Miami by ma 11. The FRD was created with CLA assistance, guidance, and financial. support in May 1960. Ita leader waa Dr. Jose MIRO Cardona, He or his assistants may have passed funds to ARCACHA, who may have briefed or even employed NOYEL,19. On 48 May 1967 NOVEL sent the following telegram to the DCI:"Richard Helma"Central Intelligence Agency McLean Vir"Atta UNCLE Haqre Good Guye Div. Regarding Garrison conspiracy case; code reference JACKASS, Dear Richard. Today according to the jolly green giant (Mr. Garrison) 'You are paying my legal fees in Louisiana and Ohto.'"SECRETEYES ONLY
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# SECRETEYES ONLY"Since my attorneys are crying and pressing me becauseof not being paid for my various legal wrecking moves on hisjolly big fraud, I am going to instruct them to send you chapsimmediately an itemized bill, If, and I do mean if, Garrisonis correct, I am going to instruct the same attorneys to suethe h--- out of your bad guys in the accounting department forwelching on your debts, Instead of a no comment S.O.P. reply,how about a public ha-ha.""P.S. Right now I don't think sending him to Viet Namis a good idea in view of national interest anymore. PerhapsRome he could reopen the case on Caesars assassination. Hebelieves Brutus and Cassius were framed. Like in his words,'beyond a shadow of a doubt, absolutely,'" Truly yours,Gordon Novel.UNCLE H---S.O.P, Ha-ha P.S,The partial sentence reading "...I am going to instructthe same attorneys to sue the h--- out of your bad guys in the accountingdepartment for welching on your debts", quoted out of context, wouldreinforce NOVEL's false claim to affiliation with CIA. It will be interesesting to note whether he releases this telegram to the press.AddendumIt has been noted that NOVEL probably served as an FBI informantfor an unknown period before he left New Orleans in mid-March 1967.FBI report DBB 73269, New Orleans office, 21 February 1967, isascribed to a "confidential source who in the past furnished insufficientinformation to determine reliability." This source describes the groupthat carried out the theft from the Houma bunker as consisting of hisown ex-wife (but not himself), his partner (unidentified), SergioARCACHA Smith, David FERRIE, two ex-marines, and another man,also unidentified. He also said that one of the cars used for the trip toHouma was his own 1956 Lincoln Supreme. This report contains no mention of CIA. The New Orleans States - Item of 25 April 1967 quotesNOVEL as saying that CIA ordered him to join the group, which heidentified as consisting of ARCACHA, FERRIE, several Cubans, and# SECRETEVES ONLY
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SECRETEYES ONLY9"another figure in the case". He is also quoted as saying that he made the trip in his own car, a Lingpla,Raymond A., RoggeC/CI/R&ASECRETEYES ONLY
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# CIA AGENT,## ORNEY ADMITS### S-I Uncovers Letter![logo of leans item]AY 25, 1967 PRICE 10cBy JOHN McMILLAN AND HOKE MAYGamble Novel New Orleans attorney today said his client worked for the Central Intelligence Agency here in early 1961.The public statement by Steven Plotkin followed the State-Item's discovery of a letter which Plotkin said was written by Novel and apparently directed to an official of the CIA.(Related Story on Page 1).Plotkin reported that Novel drafted the penciled letter, which was found in the 29 year-old former tavern owner's one time French Quarter apartment.![logo of Love Att]![logo of New Or States]90—NO. 297 THURSDAY, Mnedy death plot investigation disappeared from New Orleans in mid-MarchHE WAS ARRESTED APRIL 1, AT Gahanna, Ohio, on a warrant charging him with conspiracy to burglarize an oil service company's munitions bunker, at Houma in 1961Since that time, he has been free in $10,000 bond awhile fighting extradition from Ohio.Today, Plotkin said his client served as an, intermediately between the CIA and anti-Castro Cubans in New Orleans and Miami prior to the April, 1961, Bay of Pigs invasion.Novel's role as a CIA operative was first disclosed by the States-Item in a copy(Turn to Page 14, Column 4)that he wants to be taken out of this mess by an unspecified date in March of 1967.Novel, whom Dist. Atty. Jim Garrison has called an important witness in his KenAt
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# TWO GRAND JURIES PUSH CRIME PROBEBurbank, Cahn, Novel Give TestimonyThe grand juries of Orleans and East Baton Rouge Parishes continued their twin probes of organized crime in Louisiana Thursday by calling a 'string' of prominent personalities to testify.Included in the notable pa- rade were state police Supt. Thomas Burbank, Nassau County (New York) District Attorney William Cahn and former New Orleans bar op- erator James (Babin) Novel, who gained fame as the elusive witness in District Attorney Jim Garrison's presidential cor- ruption probe.Novel testified before the East Baton Rouge Jurors, while Burbank and Cahn huddled with the Orleans jurors during a lengthy testifying session in the afternoon.Prior to entering the grand Jury room, Burbank main- tained that to his knowledge there is no syndicated gambling.![photo of Thomas Burbank]![photo of William Cahn]![photo of James (Babin) Novel]***# GRAND JURIES PUSH PROBE(Continued)into the capital city from Columbus, Ohio, under, immunity from arrest. In his possession was a tape recording which he said would make his testimony sensational.WOULD TAKE TESTSurrounded by lawyers, Novel refused to talk with news- men except to say that he would take a lie detector test to back his statements to the grand jury.In a related happening Thursday in Austin, Tex., a hearing was set for Nov. 21 to decide whether Texas should extradite New Orleans contractor D'Alton Smith to face charges of offering a $25,000 bribe to Aubrey Young, a former aide to Gov. John J. McKeithen.Young was mentioned in one of a series of articles in Life Magazine which asserted that organized crime was rampant in the state. The articles trig- gered the grand Jury Investiga- tionsIn the Orleans probe, Asst. Dist. Atty. Charles Ray Ward denied Thursday that the gam- bling ring uncovered by the Nassau district attorney was still operating in New Orleans.Ward said pressure from the local district attorney's office had caused the operation to move to a neighboring parishREASON FOR SUBPENAWard emphasized that Bur- bank was subpenaed for ques- tioning to determine if any sig- nificant information has been gathered concerning New Or- leans in the state police investi- gation into organized crime.He said the state police has been conducting an extensive investigation in the city during the past 10 days.With New Orleans tough and throughout the state, strong doubt has been voiced by au- thorities over whether Novel actually has the "sensational" information he claims. Novel is said to have taped conversations in the governor's office after having been hired by Ellender to "de-bug" the governor's suite.CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE IN FULL 1998
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# 13-00000Soung has, staped that he boright in Novel to determine whether McKeithen's phones had![photo of LABOR BOARD PROBE is another development. ](placeholder)Labor Management Board of Inquiries came into the picture to question Novel at the suggestion of Baton Rouge Teamsters boss Edward G. Partin. The Board is investigating labor racketeering in the area.The board's chief counsel, Camile Gravel, and its chief Investigator, A Harry Roberts, talked with Pitcher to see if an agreement could be worked out for a meeting with Novel Also present at the Konference were Novel's attorneys.Failure of the board To Intef-view Novel, said Partin, would be continuing proof that the main endeavor has been to make me and Local 5 escape goats.Gravel said he was uncertain whether he could subpena Novel because of the immunity grant-ed him.There was an indication that Novel may also testify before the grand jury on Friday. According to Pitcher, Novel would remain under the immunity as lobg as he is in Louisiana for grand jury appearances:LONG STATEMENTNovel, presently under indictment by the Orleans Parish Grand Jury for conspiracy to commit burglary, once issued a lengthy statement saying that he knew of criminal influence and activity in Louisiana.In his desire to have Novel returned to the state to testify, McKeithen gave Plicher $3,500 from his law enforcement fond to finance Novel's re-turn.The only indictment handed down so far by the grand jury Ir Baton Rouge has been against Smith. The indictment charged that Smith committed public bribery by offering Young $25,000 to set up a meeting between Chimself and Partin, whose testimony was valuable in sending Teamsters head James R. Hoffa to prison.In New Orleans, Ward said that the reported gambling ring funcovered by Calimas was not limited to the Crescent City."It is not limited to New Orleans and probably exists in every major city in the United States,” said Ward. “These lay-off bookie operations involve every city in the United States and several in Canada, where there is any betting on pro or college sports," he added.HANDBOOK BETTINGAsked if handbook betting could be termed as organized crime, Ward replied "There is not one bit of evidence to indicate that this is part of is anyCosa Nostra or Mafia network."As a matter of fact the evidence indicates that this is the typical layoff bookie operation, necessary where ever bets are made, in which small bookies who have received bets that are too large phone the bets to a larger operator,” Ward said.Ward, who is presenting as district attorney in Garrison's absence, said that although no large-scale gambling operations are now operating in New Orleans, “this does not mean that you cannot make a bet on an athletic event in Orleans Parish and that this will not be called to a bookie by use of a telephone."You can make a bet in any city in the United States, including New Orleans, but the bookie themselves are not operating in Orleans Parish."Because there is no evidence that key bookie operations now exist in Orleans Parish, Ward concluded, "I do not expect any immediate indictments to be issued by the grand Jury."
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13-00000> [Figure: Gordon Novel in Baton Rouge]CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAMRELEASE IN FULL 1998GORDON NOVEL