i 7) UNCLASSIFIED petro sam plbehee wT Comers metas rec ke oa Fay SECRET aw CONFIDENTIAL oe Be oa ae £ cemFIOFSTIAL xl SECRET OUTING AND RECORD Shxel omen miter ante ait meets ee Semeetnpantree e  eemeethntr ties pe te tt mye June 1961 COMMENT {umber Sack comment te thew hom when eee © lee derece cotvem after euch commen | ore IRTERS AL USE OHLY RETURN TO CIA * Backgrou: oe Usa’ Only _ ,20 Not Reprocuce 272.262. [] UNCLASSIFIED SM err a a a
14-00000 MEMORANDUM FOR: Ceputy Chie’, Wf Divieran — ” Bo SUBJECT : Neeting with Norman nOTHMAN ard David M. M2COXNELL REFERENCE’ : Your Grail Directive of Thursday, 29 June 1961 : ~ 1. On Thursday, 29 dune 1961, [met with Norman ACTHMAN so David McCONNELL in the office of the Dep: ty Attorney General to “)-5 | evaluate, per your directive, Mr, ROTHMAN'S claim to cpevatioanal: - assets inside Cute and elsewhere in the Caribbeas area. the - .: ~- moeving- travet from -I60c Fo 1830 hours. it was agreed by thé” participants of this mooting that Mr. ROTHMAN would return ta . Miami.on Friday, 30 June, and that Mr. McCOKNELL would telephone -- me at the office of the hepaty Attorney General on Weds.eeday.g> - _«- S§ Jaly, for our evaluation of Mr. ROTEMAN's S operational potential | in Caban affairs. ' 2. Mr. McCONWELL requested to aeet with me crivately in the conference room. He advised me that he was a leading political figure in the Democratic Party machine in North Carolina, that he Ws acquainted with nymero.s Government figures in dashingteon (including Robert Fen.ecy, General Taylor, ani leneral var Fleety,- that he was & corporate tax Lawyer who was doing very wel. in his homé town of Charlotte, North Caroiina. and that ne was concerned over the embarrassment to the Kennedy adndiistration causeld by the Cuban "fiasco." He further advised me that-hee imterest in this case was that of an American anxious to fignt Comm nism an the Western Heatephere and to enaure that the [.S. Government made maximum use of operational potential aa represented tn the person and claims of Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. M:CONNELL noted that, _ according to. RGTEMAN's story, ROTHMAN had assets ard capabiiities. - whicn would enable him (ROTHMAN) to destroy the arms dungs on the plantation of ex-President CARDENAS cf Mexicc, to set up operational bases in the Yucatan at a coat cf $50 to $1,0%, tc sahctage targets in Cuba identified by the U.3, Government, and uw previde positive intelligence on the activities of Chinese Commanist groups in the Weatern Hemisphere. x ne wlewebtets ‘ ‘hte ean ade tee ae ale bar tdies tpn b ear de Hekate ND een Need Abe ble) Ob Aa,
an | Aighteluh in Ravana, agd . During ‘the interview Mr, ROTRMAN, when- questioned in Miami,.Plorida. . on these points of potential: ‘Lgated thy: me. ‘MCCONNELL above, made the following atatements: a ‘ ; wo . . 1 ag ”. Guba and other targeta in the Wes‘ ‘interested in working against CASTRO who.xecuted three of * a6 four to five months age with these Mexicas e ntter Folamate dtandtgs | ode I. aged the peinte listed by Mr. McQONKEL. to debrief? y which can be used agdinst : 3. . ROTHMAN on his claims of asge ern Hlexisphere. ‘Mr. ROTEMAK ptt Meat. oe ea eeodunans gen, born on 26 December 19th, - told me that ho was ‘an- ‘american ‘et at New York city, ‘that he runs the bar in the’ Bel Air Rotel, ; : Miami, Florida, that he'was formerly the owner of *Sans Souci, ® . Tae that he iived at 425 Surfside Boulevard’: y ae . Be ARE acoder ork He isa ‘dedicéted anti-Gemmuat st: and is particularly | Desa, a -hia‘eloae, dear friends.: When asked for the namea of these _ friends, Mr. ROTHMAN was not dbié to give thése in full. . After ten mimtes, he naned these’. friends as Rogelic GONZALEZ ae (war: name « "Francisco"); Sert MARIN} and Eftgento FERNANDESZ.: b He has an operational capability te destroy arms dumps which he claims are located or the finca of ex-President ‘ ith agent asseta located : CARDEXRAS of Mexico. He has contact wi in Mexico through certain Mexican friends whom he refused ‘to identify. He added that he had made contact as racantly n friends. ‘e. He ie very familiar with the terraic and people cf the Tucatan peninsula. when asked for the date of hia last vwieit to the Tocatan, he said that he had been there for two days at some time in 1959. He added that he had constructed an air atrip at some point in the Tucatan which was capable of taking two B-26's and two P-Si‘s. He eaid that no one knows of the location or existence of this particular atr strip. . When asked who had built the strip and when 4t was built, Yr. ROTEMAN said that the strip hed bees built by Indian soe coe men eennesonmed Ms theoit- use pointed-out to him that certainly these Indian friends would know of its extatence, he said that they weré loyal to him and that mo one in the provincial or national governments of Mexico knew of thie strip. when asked if a plane had evar landed on thie strip, Mr. RUTHMAN said that one B-26 had landed there. hen asked how he managed to provide fuel and maintenance for aircraft located at this ataip, Me. RCTHMAN was not able, or chose not, to give an exact reply,
: ae 4 cate nt? RAEN TP * = ‘Ke would be able to Produce mre AMANO iM hd gia *. “@. Mr. ROTHMAN said that he had the, personnél. ana: - <d. He ia well acquainted with Sanchez ARAOHIO.' He said that he meeta frequentiy with ARAW20 and. considers hina good personal friend. when questianed; Mr. ROTAMAN | said. that he had last met Mr. ARAHGO six. weeks ago. He waa ‘not. - able to give the home addreas of Mr. ARANOO. ‘Ee said. thiat . ay request. . capabilities: te attack or. sabotage any target of our chobeing. ae ic Guba... He eaid Uiat he had a basic plan for the assassina-- ; tion, of Fidel CASTHO. He said.that his plan called for an air attack With nepals against CASTRO at 4. time -whea the: Prine Minister was addréssing one of his rallies in Havana ‘He eaid that he- had one hundred pilots who had participated in the invasion of Cuba and who were now asking employment _ ‘aa flyérs for the Congolese Air Force. He refused to, identify any of the pilots by name. When it was pointed out to his . that tne Danes of those pilots asxing eaplcyment in tHe Congo” were : tacesds-he paid that those pilots =r he was particularly interested were: not making application for such employment. f. He aaid that he had mary agents going in and out of Cuba. When asked how many agenta he controlled, Mr. ROTHMAN was not able toe give an exact figure. When he vag asked how many agents he sent into Cuba during the last year, he was not able to give an exact figure. When asked how aany agenta he was in contact with this date, Mr. ROTHMAN gave the figure of six. When I asked how these agents were able ta. travel back and forth in view of the diffigulties in making frequent visite to Cuba, Mr. ROTHMAN said that his agente were in the tourist travel bureaus or in export-~ieport businesses,and entered the States wia third countries. When asked eat what date he had last had contact with these agents, Mr. ROTHMAH wae mt dle to give ah exact date. Sr. ROTAMAR eaid that with these. unnaned asseta abore, he had the eapability to make money exchanges between the United States ami Cuba, and offered to be of servise to the 0.5. Government in any requirement along this line. g@- He eaid that he knew of many Chinese Commrists going inte Canada from Cuba. When asked to identify the source of this information and the namés‘of these Chinese, Mr. ROTHMAN said that he had not brought any record information with hina and did not feel he could be asked to produce his factual data at this time. Ce ~ Rp Mate) tale aie dea? Na "Pk eat, tl lh cant potted eg ai ender s . ye Fae.
14-00000 s : © cananpmttly ASEr Seagiue caa) gZENDerteremner ears Command ot groups 12 3 his last vieit to'L two yeare ago. Whee ‘these Chinese Come te do se. he (Mr. RCTS) would He eaid that.he had purdl which was ‘the first boat; ° i. He ‘said that he was a close friend’ of “John Abbes u Garcia, Chief of the Dominican Republic Security. He said . ‘that hie last vieit to the Dominiaan Republic was in 1959, ‘Re said that he had acces@ to people in the Dominican Republic. ‘He did not identify further these assests nor did he identify . the. means of communication to thea. l, At the conclusion of the interview with Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. NcCORMELL asked to see me privately. During this interview, Hr. NeCONHELL again exphasiazed that his interest in this case was . simply that of ¢ good American whe was interested in fighting Communiem . Mr. MeCONNELL said that, in his opinion, an individual with Mr. ROTHMAN's character, and background certainly ahould be . woeful in the gleres-off fight against Comsuniaw., He felt that, 4% might be to the national interest to mke use of Mr. ROTHMAN . againat CASTEG and against Comumisa in the Western Hemisphere, and give precedense to this use over any intent to prosecute Mr. ROTHMAN for violations of Federal lawa. Again Mr. McCONNELL . nawed his acquaintances in the Departamt of Defense, in the — _ a - Departaent of Justice and in the White House. He added, st this time, that he wae entertaining the thought of entering the adainis- tration in in some official capactty
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