HW 54756 Trip Report Some of the points are listed below. Through FELIPE DE DIEGO, Turner was able to get some information on Operation 40. De Diego had gone to intelligence school at Fort Benning prior to the Bay of Pigs. He has gained more recent notoriety following his indictment in connection with the Ellsberg break-in. He told Turner about Operation 40, a spin-off group of the 2506 Brigade which was to coordinate the political transition after the removal of Castro in the invasion. Turner stated that Operation 40 was the intelligence branch of the 2506 Brigade and broughtalong assassins. since it was belfeved that some of the Cuban leaders would have. to be eliminated permanently. Members of this group included COLONEL PIEDRA, who was also said to be in contact with CARLOS BRINGUIER, and JOAQUIN SANJENIS, who reputedly was with the CIA and is alleged by Frank Sturgis to be his (Sturgis'") CIA contact officer. E. HOWARD HUNT is also supposed to have been in charge of this group. In connection with our interest in determining whether ONI would have any significant information pertinent to the investigation, we inquired about LUIS BALBUENA, a Cuban said to have been an ONI consultant at Guantanamo Docld: 32245514 Page 5
HW 54756 Trip Report Page 4 Base. Turner believes Balbuena sat on the council of anti-Castro Cubans at Guantanamo (along with ALBERTO "EDDY" BAYO, among others) and that the naval contingent there must have been somewhat knowledgeable of the CIA activities that were then taking place. He specifically mentioned JACK MODDESSETTE, the coordination officer of ONI at Guantanamo as the person most likely to be helpful. Moddessette is now in Texas: Turner said Bernard Fensterwald is the person who connected Moddessette with ONT. Turner also believes ONI was involved or knowledgeable about the CIA training camp at the Old Algiers ammo dump near New Orleans. (The CIA has: denied that there were any CIA-sponsored camps in Louisiana although one of the CIA's own documents, a debriefing interview with Grayston Lynch, reveals that the Old Algiers camp was indeed backed by the ~ CIA. This document was reviewed by Team 3 members at the CIA). ONI involvement in this camp should be checked out. BERNARD BARKER would also probably be helpful in substantiating ONI involvement, according to Turner. SEYMOUR "SY" ELLISON, Melvin Belli's former law partner, was also mentioned by Turner (which complemented the — Melvin Belli interview John Hornbeck had with Belli Docld:322745514 Page 6
HW 54756 Trip Report Page 5 later that afternoon.) According to a person who Turner considers reliable, Ellison had received a phone call immediately after Ruby shot Oswald with a message to relay back to Belli. The call was apparently from a Las Vegas lawyer, with whom Ellison was familiar, trying to reach Belli. Belli was travelling so the caller told Ellison that "one of our boys" has gotten involved in the case and they wanted Belli to handle Ruby's defense and that Belli could net a million dollars. The caller later called Ellison again to say that it was not one of their men after all. With respect to Belli, Turner also mentioned JUDY DOWES. Dowes hired Belli to help her brother out of a Mexican jail in 1968.° She was alleged to have been heavily involved with the soldier-of-fortune types in Miami. BRADING/BRADEN. Following the assassination, Turner did a motor vehicle check to track down JIM BRADEN and . located him at an office in Beverly Hills. A colleague. of Turner's, McNabb, went to the office to check it out and found that he was receiving mail there. (This information was turned over to Peter Noyes who sub- sequently investigated the Braden. connection rather thoroughly. Braden is alleged to have been connected with Los Angeles Police Department intelligence and IRS intelligence.) DoclId: 322745514 Page ?
@ @ e HW 54756 Trip Report Page 6 FRED LEE CRISMAN. Turner was interested in Crisman because of his physical similarity to one of the tramps and his association with the Old Orthodox Church and Thomas: Beckham, He found that Crisman had been living with a retired Army Colonel named WHITE, who is involved with. Wide World Advertising in Seattle, Washington. To Turner, it seemed that Crisman was involved in an intelligence operation. Jim Garrison received an. anonymous letter during the course of his investigation which pointed to Crisman and claimed that Crisman was travelling between Seattle and New Orleans all the time. (See Crisman portion of Turner file for copy of letter.) It was further alleged (source unknown) that Crisman carried a diplomatic passport that he claimed to have received through a Congressional committee. He also reportedly was connected with SERGIO ARCACHA SMITH. He had been in the Air Force. Crisman died in 1975. Beckham, with whom Crisman was connected, was a courier for the anti-Castro groups and acquainted with David Ferrie. MCNABB , a soldier of fortune who works with Turner, has notes on CRISMAN/WHITE. McNabb lives in St. Helena, California. CARLOS HERNANDEZ. Turner believes that Hernandez is most likely the person known as "A" from the Senate DoclId:32245514 Page &
HW 54756 Trip Report ‘Page 7 the Castro government. Ayres was called in to brief Artime on everything he knew.. The meeting allegedly took place ata VIP safehouse on a golf course near Coral Gables. The briefing was interrupted by two Cuban visitors and Artime escorted them to the library. Ayres overheard an argument between the two men regarding money that was supposed to be hidden on the island. A pirate's lair on Point Mary is the point where the money was supposedly hidden. Turner spoke briefly regarding OSMIT MOODY, stating that he used Howard Hughes money for the Triple A group in the early 1960's as was the apparent owner of the island on which money and arms were hidden. CARROLL JARNIGAN. A witness that Turner feels may merit another look. Jarnigan is a lawyer from Texas, a graduate of SMU, a chess champion, "brilliant" accord- in to Turner. Jarnigan wrote a letter to the FBI after the JFK assassination describing an event alleged to have taken place on October 3, 1963 at Jack Ruby's club where Jarnigan had taken a girlfriend, While they were waiting to be seated, a homosexual arrived, wearing a windbreaker and identified as Oswald. Jarnigan said the man said he had just gotten in from New Orleans and was overheard talking about Robert Kennedy. FBI dis- missed the story although Jarnigan took a lie detector DoclId: 3232745514 Page 3