104-10312-1038 SECRET £8 OCT 7973 MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination: Gordon Dwane Novel (201 -834822) Reference: . CI/R&A Memorandum of 31 May 1967, subject as above SUMMARY At a meeting on 23 October 1968 the president of an answering service, Miss| | provided CIA representatives with information about a client, Gordon Novel, who has received much publicity in the course of the Garrison investigation. Novel told Miss that persons associated with Garrison and with Ramparts Magazine had planned an article in which Novel would be linked to the answering service and the service, ‘to CIA. Central Cover Staff has used the firm's services for fifteen years. Novel told Miss not to worry because he had let Garrison and company know that would sue if such a story were printed, and the story had been killed. - Miss¢ | provided additional information about Novel, who in the past 8s falsely implied and even claimed association with CIA. DETAILS with Miss founder and president of a Washington answering service ca | Miss| offices are at_____)N. Ww. 2. Miss has been a contact of CCS for fifteen years. Records checks run shortly before the meeting disclosed no derogatory 1. At 1030 hours on 23 October 1968 Mrs,| of Central Cover Staff os and the undersigned met by prearrangement ‘information.
13-00000 3. The meeting had been requested because Miss had told Mrs [fn Gordon Novel was one of her clients and that she had information about Novel which was of possible interest to _ this Agency. Novel is a salesman of audio detection gear who has . been prominently involved in the Garrison investigation and has sought for obscure reasons to create the false impression that he is employed by or associated with CIA. 4. Throughout the meeting Mied i completely cooperative. She volunteered assista formation, and she responded most helpfully to all requests. 5. Novel became a client of( lon 15 March ° 1968. His account remains active. His number at the answering service is 296-6662. The sheet on which he listed the basic information required by[__ CS contaiins the following information: a. Gordon Novel is president of International Dynamics Corporation, “electronic manufacturer and investment holdings: military and industrial counter-intrusion equipment", 518 1/2 G St. S.E., Washington D.C., 20003. Novel listed the home office of International Dynamics Corporation, as 787 1/2 . Harrison Ave., New Orleans, La., 486-5477. b. His instructions to the service were as follows: (1) Nature of and reason for calls were to be “ascertained. . . . (2) No information was to be given to anyone calling for Ramparts or Playboy. (3) Calls or inquiries from news media were to be considered as emergency matters and relayed to him immediately by collect call or telegram to (614) 267-4633. (Comment: A number in Columbus, Ohio, See sub-paragraph e, below.) : c. He listed his clients as the U.S. government, foreign governments, and industrial security representatives. 2 SECRET
13-00000 SECRET d. He listed anticipated callers as the following: (1) Mr. Willard Robertson. (Comment: Robertson is a Volkswagen distributor for the New Orleans area and a member of Truth and Consequences Inc., a private association of Garrison supporters who have donated funds to Garrison's office... An FBI report of 10 October 1967 stated that Robertson wanted another businessman to file charges of theft or fraud against Novel in connection with a $2,700 diamond ring in order to get Novel in jail and "under the floor".) . (2) Mr. Elmer Gertz. (Comment: No prior record in Garrison case. Traces to be run.) (3) Mr. Phillip Gabriel. (Comment: As above.) (4) Mr. Walter Sheridan. (Comment: Has appeared in prior reports on this subject. He is an NBC investigator who was associated earlier with the deceased Senator Robert Kennedy. Sheridan was a principal source of the information used in NBC's anti-Garrison TV show of 19 June 1967, after which Garrison charged Sheridan with bribery. ) e. Novel listed the following as an emergency contact: Mrs. Abby Novel, 226 E. Oakland St., Columbus, Ohio. | (614) 267-4633. (Comment: Miss| believed that Abby Novel is Subject's mother. e New Orleans States-Item of 22 February 1968, however, referred to Subject's wife as Abby, nee Mulligan, a former Playboy bunny. ) f. As references in Washington Novel listed a firm of lawyers: Miller, McCarthy, Evans, and Cassidy at 1701 K St. He noted that he banks at Riggs National, Dupont Circle. SECRET
13-00000 6. Novel told Miss that he had been associated in © some way with Senator Robert Kennedy. (Comment: The reference may have been to Walter Sheridan, who served as an investigator for Robert Kennedy when the latter was Attorney General.) 7. Novel asked Miss{ |whether she could make arrangements for party or conference calls to pass from the caller through the rented number in Washington to Novel's actual location and then to record the calls in Washington. She said no. 8. Novel listed his own current address as 566 E. Main St. : Suite A, Columbus, Ohio. 9. In mid-September 1968 Novel mentioned to Miss . that District Attorney Garrison is associated with a fnu Burnham (no prior record in this context, although Richard V. Burnes is an assistant DA for Garrison), a fnu Roper (no prior record in this context), and William Turner (a staff writer for Ramparts who has been closely associated with Garrison and his investigation). Novel also told Mis that he has a penetration of Garrison's office. (Comment: He has made this claim earlier.) Through the penetration he learned that he was to appear prominently ina Ramparts article which would list him as a client o f band would also list | jas a cover or front for CIA operations dealing with internal (i.e., domestic) affairs. Novel told Mise(____jnot to be concerned because he had sent word back to Garrison that if such an article appeared, would sue. He later learned that the idea of publishing such an article had been dropped. He told this story to ith the air of one who had done her a favor, Miss had the impression, however, that Novel himself did not e allegation about her firm and CIA. 10. Novel told Miss |that he is working on a real estate deal involving a planned resort area in Michigan. It is noted that two of the telephone calls listed below were from a fnu Cork or Corke in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. ll. The following are the telephone calls listed by[.d a. s placed to Novel's number:
13-00000 SECRET a. On 30 August 1968 Mr. fnu Gabriel, Sr., called from New Orleans, 522-5075. No further information. (Presumably identical with the Phillip Gabriel of paragraph d (3) above.) b. 4 September 1968. As above. c. 4 September 1968, from Amy Helmuth, Reno, Nevada, 358-0331. No further information. d. ? September 1968. Office of Mr. Cork, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 343-5704. No additional information. e. 5 September 1968. Caller, J.J. Harris, said that there had been no word from London. No more information. (Comment: One Jones Harris is an assistant of Richard H. Popkin, a journalist who has made repeated trips to New Orleans, who is strongly pro-Garrison, and who wrote a book called The Second Oswald.) f. 5 September 1968. Call from Mr. Gabriel of . New Orleans. g- 5 September 1968. Call from Mrs. fnu Hellman of Reno, Nevada, asking Mr. Novel to call Mrs. Francis. h. 5 September 1968. Call from Mrs. fnu Francis, Reno, 358-0331. i. 6 September 1968. Call from Mr. Gabriel, New Orleans. j- 10 September 1968. Call from Mrs. Francis, Reno, Nevada. , k. 10 September 1968. To Amy Helmuth, Reno, 358-0331. She was to call Jo Capurro. 1. 11 September 1968. Call from Mr. Gabriel, ~ New Orleans, 522-5075. m. 19 September 1968. Re a meeting with Mr. Cork, Washington, 343-5704. - SECRET
13-00000 a n. 26 September 1968. Call from Mr. Wallace, American Aircraft, Washington, NA 8-1462. o. As above. p. 4 October 1968. Call from Mr. Williams, Hunington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio, 469-7500. q. 8 October 1968. As above. r. 10 October 1968. Call from Amy Hellman, Reno, 358-0331. (Comment: Helman and Helmuth seem to be. identical, ) s. 12 October 1968. Call from Mr. Wallace, Spy Shop, Washington, NA 8-1462. (Comment: See sub- paragraph n, above.) . t. 14 October 1968. Mr. Logan. No further information. (Comment: An FBI report of 11 May 1967 says that a source of the Bureau's New Orleans office was in contact with a landlady who told Andrew Sciambria, an investigator for Garrison, that William Wayne Dalzell had been placed in contact with a CIA agent in New Orleans, a man named Logan, by a former New Orleans attorney named Grady Durham. Ramparts, January 1968, p. 53, says that a CIA man named Logan was closely linked to a group called "The Friends of Democratic Cuba''.) u. 15 October 1968. Mr. Wallace of NA 8-1462. v. 15 October 1968. Mr. Raft. 882-5292. w. 15 October 1968. Mr. Wallace. ‘x. 17 October 1968. Amy Hellman, Reno, 358-0331. 'y. 22 October 1968. Mr. Deiton, Kansas City, 221-5862. SECPET
13-00000 0 Siprer 12. Miss| [said that she believed that she could obtain additional information about Novel by writing to a friend of hers, Mr. Aaron M. Kohn, who is the managing director of the Metropolitan Crime Commission in New Orleans. She asked whether there was any objection to her doing so. She was told that there was no objection as long as her inquiry was couched within the frame of reference of her own business and had nothing to do with CIA. She then penned a note to Mr. Kohn, inquiring about Novel as a customer of her service and readit aloud. She was assured | that there was no objection. She added that Mr. Kohn had done fine jobs of cleaning up first Denver, then New Orleans. (Comment: Kohn is a firm antagonist of Garrison.) Miss cautioned that she may not get a reply for several weeks. She will give CIA any information about Novel that Kohn may provide. 13. Novel's motives remain obscure. As was reported earlier, there is a clear possibility that he remained an ally of Garrison after their seeming antagonism developed. If so, his efforts to link himself publicly with CIA could be part of Garrison's attack upon the Agency. This theory would also explain Novel's relationship to a Garrison crony like Willard Robertson. Another possibility is that the feud is genuine. (Novel has made very strong accusations against Garrison in major radio broadcasts; these include charges of _ occasional homosexuality and possible direct involvement in the | alleged murder of David Ferrie.) Mis formed a clear impression that Novel's dislike of Garrison is genuine. If so, his persistent attempts to link himself to CIA may be part of a campaign to create for International Dynamics Corporation an aura of prestige as a result of supposed ties to the federal government. He listed the U.S. government with¢ jas one of his clients. His | relationship to Willard Robertson might then be explained by his repeated assertion that he has a penetration in Garrison's entourage. Donovan E. <t 7s DC/CI/R&A Distribution: Orig - DDP 1 - C/CCS SECRET