\ i | L. ms QO oO za \ 7. Pa — | > | > ™ MM 105-2307 Sub II the textured finish surface of the tile so that replacing the tile would make it appear the tile was whole, and no diff- erent from any of the other tile in the ceiling. Additional. soundproofing material, fiberglass, was placed over the top of the microphone ta filter out extraneous noises and sound coming from other parts of the hotel. The microphone leads were then attached to a section of shielded microphone wire, taped and the microphone wire fed through a hole in thespar- tition between the two rooms, and brought out into room 340 through a hole made by removing one of the corresponding tiles in room 340. The hole in the partition was already existent as a result of feeding conduit and airconditioning . ducts between the rooms at the time of original construction. OD) All of the above wire work, of course, was concealed above the afore-described ceiling in the open space between the tile ceiling and the actual poured cement ceiling, a Space approximately two feet high. UU" The tile contaning the Mouse microphone was placed back into position and the area carefully checked for any fallen debris that might cause suspicion, and all such matter was.carefully removed. VA) In room 340 the microphoré wire was fed into the input side of the Mouse power supply and the outputs fed, (1) the 500 Ohm output fed into the 500 Ohm input of a _Magnecorder tape recorder, (2) the High Impedance output at- tached directly to a pair of crystal earphones. Ku) Preliminary tests of the above installation showed it to have better than average pick-up of conversations in room 342 with, of course, no extraneous noises, such as running water, radios playing or the television set turned on, any one of which would tend to decrease the intelligence of any conversation in the room to a point below usefulness. Yj U) i The above installation was made by SA ROBERT E. SUNKEL, Soundman assigned to the Miami Office, and was completed approximately two hours before the contemplated meeting. KY) -2- CONFIDENTIAL | HW 54460 DoclId: 32330453 Page 3
ro connbgNTiat Sy N MM 105-2307 Sub II series or parallel, cutting these leads might or might not dis- connect service to other rooms in the hotel. In addition, in view of subject's expressed suspicions, it was. decided not ‘to do anything with the loudspeaker at all; if both the tele- vision set and the loudspeaker were out of operation, subject's suspicions would most certainly be aroused. It is also pointed out that subject was then occupying a room in the hotel, which was known, and he would therefore most certainly be suspicious of any appointments not in room 342 which he normally would have in his own room. Therefore, the television set was not removed. RKkKKE With respect to the three points raised in Bureau airtel of February 4, 1960, the following is submitted: _.° (1) SA GEORGE E, DAVIS was aware of the kidnap. plot against MASFERRER, and the possibility that MM-635-S might be involved was considered; note MM-635-S arrived in Miami around noontime, January 27, 1960, the same day that VALDES, an unidentified aide to RAUL CASTRO, and SA HOLLOMAN, acting in an undercover capacity, were scheduled to meét at — about 7:30 P.M.. At 12:45 P.M., January 27,1960, MM-635-S advised he had just arrived from Havana and“was being detained by Immigration and Naturalization Service, Miami, for question- ing. No attempt was made by SA DAVIS to, question him at that time for obvious security reasons.. At about 1:20 P.M., Mrs. CATHERINE TAAFFE tele- phonically advised-SA ROBERT JAMES DWYER that. she had been informed by VALDES that an aide to RAUL CASTRO had arrived in Miami. She claimed the aide had met with VALDES, and was anxious to meet with the local police officer concerning the kidnaping of MASFERRER. “CONFI RYTIAN else VR ae dey HW 54460 DBocld:32330453 Page 4 a
consfenmian MM 105-2307 Sub II Miami determined from the District Director, INS, at about 4:30 P.M. that MM-635-S was still in custody of INS, had been in continuous custody since he arrived, and was due to be released within a few minutes. This information, therefore, appeared to preclude the possibility of MM-635-S being involved, inasmuch as being in INS custody, ,he could not have met with VALDES as reported by TAAFFE. X(U) . 4 At approxitiate ly 5:15 P.M., MM-635-S telephoned SA DAVIS, stating fié had just been released by INS and. was | calling from a nearby pay phone. The following interroga~ tion took place by SA DAVIS in a further effort to establish if MM-635-S might be involved in the kidnaping plot. MM- 6352S stated he was nearby, but had to leave immediately for an appointment for which he was already late due to his detention by INS, and that he was supposed to have called JOHN EK (phonetic) earlier in the afternoon, that he was - spending the night at EK's (phonetic) home. SA DAVIS asked _. MM-635-S if he was going to meet any. other Americans that evening, having in mind the local police officer the Cuban. Agents were scheduled to meet. MM-635-S answered in the neg- ative., DAVIS then brought up the matter of a meet with MM-635-S who suggested 8:00 the same evening. He was ad- vised that SA DAVIS had two other appointments that evening and would be busy at 8:00 P.M., but that MM-635-S should call him later in the evening in case of any urgent develop- ments. MM-635-S agreed. It was decided to meet personally the following morning. Qj [A . . a “The fact that MM-635-S suggested an 8:00 P.M. meet with SA DAVIS on the evening of January 27, 1960, seemed to further preclude his involvement in the kidnaping plot, as the Miami International Hotel meet was scheduled for 7:30 . P.M. The probability that he was not involved was TSA) a to SA HOLLOMAN and SA ALBAUGH, therefore, by SA DAVIS. SA DAVIS refrained from volunteering the name of VALDES to MM-635-S for reasons of security, and at no tine ¥(U) -5- cONFIDRNTIAE HW 54460 DocId:32330453 Page 5
| MM 105-2307 Sub II did MM-635-S mention this name. SA DAVIS did not participate in the arrests at the Miami International Hotel on the evening of January 27, 1960. No further contact ‘was had with MM-635-S by DAVIS until after his arrest, and this office had no reasonable i) of knowing about his involvement prior to his arrest. In mitigation of the informant's position, it is noted he has claimed he did not know the purpose of his con- tact with VALDES until after his last contact with SA DAVIS, at which time it was apparently too late for him to withdraw. It is also noted he subsequently explained to SA DAVIS he was not thinking clearly at the time he was last contacted by SA DAVIS because of loss of sleep and prolonged questioning by INS; that he would have immediately reported the facts to SA DAVIS after the meeting if he had not been arrested. U) (2) SA HOLLOMAN was aware of the informant's identity by name only ‘prior to his meeting with the subjects. He had no reason to believe the informant would be involved and had, in fact, kept in close contact with SA DAVIS prior to the meeting in order to determine whether there was any _ possibility that the informant might be in contact with VALDES. There was no indication the informanttwas involved in the . plot; therefore, when a man by the Same name came to the meeting with VALDES, SA HOLLOMAN concluded that if this was actually the informant, he must be double-crossing the Bureau. In any event, SA HOLLOMAN concluded it was too late at this | point to logically cut the informant out of the conspiracy without revealing his status to VALDES, and thereafter pro- ceeded to treat him as a subject. When the meeting had reached its conclusion he thereupon voiced the agreed signal for the agents in the next room to move in and make -the arrests. YU) nue (3) The microphone surveillance of the meetin between SA HOLLOMAN and the subjects was rendered practically ‘useless because the television in the room.occupied by \U -6- | sen HW 54460 Docld:32330453 Page 6
a C> conrihrat an. MM 105-2307 Sub IL \ HOLLOMAN and the subjects was plugged in by one of the sub- jects immediately after the latter entered. None of the conversation of the subjects, and only part of the conver-~ ’ gation of SA HOLLOMAN was understandable in the next, room. Supervisor ALBAUGH was monitoring what conversation could be understood, with one ear against the connecting door, and the other with an earphone. It was possible thereby to over- i . hear the agreed signal from SA HOLLOMAN to move in and make | the arrests. Supervisor ALBAUGH, upon entering the room oc- | cupied by HOLLOMAN and the subjects, placed one of the sub- jects (who turned out to be FERNANDEZ) under arrest and searched him for weapons. ALBAUGH did not recognize him personally, never having seen him before; however, upon re- questing his name and comparing his features with the identi- fication card in his possession, he first realized he must . be MM-635-S. At this point it was too late to do anything \ other than treat him as a subject, which was done YU) Previous inquiry at the hotel had revealed GEORG VALDES was registered alone. There was no indication as to the identity of the person or persons who might accompany him to the meeting. Other agents had been assigned to dis- creetly observe the public facilities of the hotel in an effort to identify any other Cuban intelligence agents who. might be around; however, their efforts produced no affirma-_ tive results. It was not possible to observe the room in ‘which VALDES was registered without being obvious. ae = — nee . CONGCLU OLN CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS : e~ . In consideration of the above, I believe that the overall handling of this matter by this office was one . reflecting alert and decisive action in which a difficult problem was resolved without causing a long and costly in- vestigation. . -7- contri gene cs | ar ee Set HW 54460 DBocld:32330453 Page 7 aaa - .