HW 53244. years ago. \ Four and a hatf years ago, I broke a story that now is belatedly rocking Washington. I reported that the Central Intelligence Agency had recruited two Mafia figures, John Roselli and Sam Giancana, to assassinate Cuban Premier Fidel Castro. | I tracked down Roselli and questioned him about the story. He had nothing to say. He promised me, however, that he would give me his exclusive story if he should ever be free to tatk. Yesterday, John Roselli told his story -- first,to the Senate Intelligence Committee in secret session, then to me as he had promised four and a half ” Roselli is a dapper, hawk-faced man with a thatch of white hair. He has been disciplined all his life to keep his mouth shut. His Mafia partner, | Sam Giancana, was slain before Senate investigators could serve him with a subpoena. So it was obviously painful for Roselli to tatk. I promised I would make clear that he revea led no names, except for the CIA contacts whose identities the Senate already knew. So here is Roselli's own account of a real-life "Mission Impossible" -- the attempt to Kill Castro. Itisa story of cash payments, poison pellets, high-powered rifles and powerboat dashes to Cuba. The plot against Castro, Roselli said, began in 1960 -- when Dwight Eisenhower was President, Richard Nixon was Vice President and Alten Dulles was the CIA chief. ‘Roselli was recruited i in Los Angetes, he said, oy Robert Maheu, then an aide to billionaire Howard Hughes. Previously, Maheu had operated a CIA ront in Washington. f Docld: 324273624 Page 2?7
Page Qe. see According to Roselli,. the murdered mobster, Sam Giancana, never became involved in the assassination plot. He knew about it; he may even have suggested a Cuban contact; nothing more. Roselli identified the CIA project officer, in charge of the Castro assassination, as "Big Jim" O'Connell. Maheu put Roselli in contact with O'Connell, as Roselli remembers it, in New York City on September 14, 1960. Thereafter, Roselli flew to Miami and recruited the as sassination squads. _ At first, they plotted to poison Castro. Poison pellets were supplied by the CIA. They were delivered to the plotters in a Miami hotel room, according to Roselli, ae by Maheu. He dramatically opened his, briefcase, revealing $10, 000 in cash | and the fatal pellets. | | | The money was distributed tothe Cuban plotters. Roselli swore he never took any money from the CIA, except for some incidental expenses. He paid the big expenses, he said, out of his own pocket. The poison pilis were supposed to take three days to work. Supposedly, - this would give the poison time to work its way out of Castro's system before | he died, and his death would be attributed to natural causes... | | ‘ Roselli never found out what happened to the plotters or the pellets. But. | they tried again later with a 2 stronger dose of poison. Not long afterward, repo rts reached them that Castro was desperately itt. Roselli doesn't know whether the illness was caused by the poison ora virus. But Castro survived, and the . plotters apparently aia not. Toselli said he also picked up intelligence, which he submitted to the CIA both during the Bay of Pigs planning and the later Cuban missile crisis. After the Bay of Pigs, Roselli said, Maheu was cut out of the plot. Thereafter, - - Roselli reported toa CIA agent named William Harvey. MW 53244 Docld:32423604 Page 28 ~
HW 535244 There were four more assassination attempts, the plotters were smuggled into Cuba with high-powered rifles. The tast assassination squad, Roselli heard, made it toa Havana rooftop before they were caught, This was around March I, 1963. Then the project was abandoned. Roselli saw Harvey for the last time in June, 1963, Five months later, Lee Harvey Oswa gunned down President Kennedy in Dallas. Oswatd had been active in the pro- Castro movement. Shortly before that dreadful day in Dallas, Oswald had made a mysterious trip to Mexico where he visited the Cuban embassy. The Warren Commission found no evidence,, however, that Oswald was in the hire of Havana, Yesterday, Roselli made no apology for his CIA role. U.S, authorities call him a mobster, He regards himself as a patriot. DocId:32423624 Page 29
THE WASHINGTON POS Teecmem rt Sunday, September 12, 1976 Soe, c - «". Bay—considered “open in the oil-rich Middle East. ‘ winter home. Just across a strip of ‘mecca. The mobsters from the north. | _ by Florida press _ some members of the local police force-..; “corpse was meant never to be disco ~~ began developing a taste for the-finer.": ered; history was supposed to. recor » “things in life. 6 , deputies: said: he collected $50,000 in ‘.-eteerfeelathome. <« - . .selli felt at home imblapialion, a bed- « * "room suburb north of Miami that, Ro- - in-law, a government missile expert, he Calculated Rise ind Abrupt Descent _ Of Johnny Roselli me, ook tom lives in a sprawling white home that is By Rudy Maxa |: « at first glance, resembles every othe: _ OTE house in the neighborhood. ._ Until last month, Johnny: Roselli ~-.-. But it is different: the carefully cur lived comfortably with his sister and: ‘tained: windows, the extra lock on th: - brother-in-law in a, Miami suburb. A °:front door, and spotlights on all side friend estimated he earned about $25,- _.of the house give it the look of a subu: 000 ant from ae Pp he ban fortress. Insite, the furniture i owned in the lobby o Vegas’ Fron- “pale blue Mediterranean, the carpet i tier Hotel. ~ ——— prick white. a Pe @ shrugged last year. when his at- ‘ Roselli’s killers did not ambush th torney suggested he hire a bodyguard, — house; Roselli went to them. He lef after the murder of Chicago mobster Plantation at 1 p.m. on July 28 wearin Sam Giancana, his partner in CIA plots a golf shirt, his golf clubs in his ca to kill Fidel Castro. If anybody wants — -trunk. He told his sister he would b to kill me at my age, the 71-year-old Ro-’ > home for dinner. That afternoon 0 — -. selli. said, what difference ‘does it‘ . evening he was killed, probably by su -* make?.So he played golf ‘several times ‘ focation, perhaps after being torture _ a week, sipped white wine with din- -} ner, and—until somebody decided. ** Ken.. Heavily chained, Roselli wa «. Johnny Roselli should wind up in an -: early reports said his legs were br: . gtuffed in a 55-gallon-oildrum an in Miami’s ‘Dumfoundling , dumped into the ocean. Me employment in the His brother-in-law found Roselli’s si new gambling casinos beginning to :.ver-colored 1975 Chevrolet Impala se" :,..” ‘gal days later, parked at the Miami hi : . -. ‘ternational Airport. ao So “ 7’! Ten days after Roselli’s disappea '” In‘the late 1920s Al Capone and his .--ance something went wrong. The 0 friends chose Miami as:the chic spot drum that was meant to keep his deat - for organized crime figures to buy a. a secret floated to the surface of Dur. - foundling Bay, buoyed by the gases -Roselli’s decaying body.-- “> The holes in the side of the dru: _and the placing of his Chevrolet at ti _airport convinced investigators b oi] barrel ———— . ’ ocean was Cuba, a gambling and vice-. -were treated like visiting celebrities and ‘society, ‘ while i ; . | * £: that dapper Johnny Roselli, facing d In the 1940s the sheriff of Dade « portation proceedings that the gover: , oo County (which includes most of the Mi- «ment had threatened off and on fc ami aréa) admitted to the Kefauver or-.° years, decided to disappear on an ai = ganized crime committee that; since ..plane flight to who-knows-where. mae aR me EEL - * salary of $12,000 five years earlier, his .. - had become sheriff on an annual =. (1°, . : “Cutting up and disposing of bodi: is not necessarily new to our depal ment,” says the man who is directir the search for Roselli’s killers. Lt. Ga: Minnium, head of the Dade Coun ersonal fortune had increased from: « F500 to $70,000. One of the sheriff's bribes in nine months spent as a bag-. . _ man for-Miami Beach gambling con- ™ p : --cessions. In 1948 a bookmaker's opera- homicide squad, is a well-muscled mi > tion in ‘Miami grossed $26 million. It - _ with an aquiline nose that separates was the kind of place that made arack-. Pair of hard blue eyes. On the pa a . o green wall of his bare office is aN * card that reads “DYNAMITE—DON For the last two years, Johnny Ro- _ SHAKE ME UP.” ae “ He and another police officer : count the solving of some of Da: County’s more brutal’ murders wi ‘See ROSELLI, L4,-Col. 1° -" selli made his retirement haven be- cause he had family there. His brother-. ae
HW 53244 ROSELLI, From L1 * the enthusiasm of two football players . recalling their favorite bowl games. The headless, handless body that floated into a Miami canal last month reminded Minnium of that other, simi- larly mutilated body that turned up last December. And who can forget . the man who got angry with his room- mate, sliced him up and tossed the ; parts along a highway? As it turned out, Roselli’s wasn’t the : first body to float into the annals of Mi- ami crime in a drum, Minnium says. Ten years ago .a lovers’ quarrel re- sulted in a man stuffing his gir! friend into a drum, filling it with cement and . Aqua Velva'shave lotion. The drum 28-year-old homicide detectives who FY ‘ | aftera . .  work-a-day, ~ avelvety & junior jump! $58 - A be-deviling shimmer-glimmer you, set for champagne or a great beat! One-piece cotton veiveteen, ready oe - to layer black or brown, 5-13.Comein, \% ots write or phone. - * Docld: 324273624 Page 31 was found resting against a dike and justice was eventually done. Minnium is not pleased by such vio- lent antics. “We don’t appreciate people com- mitting murder and dumping a body - in our county, regardless of who the people are, but especially if it’s organ- ‘ ized crime,” Minnium says. _ His department handled 168 homl- cides last year and boasted an 85 per cent “clearance record.” As of July, 1976, the percentage was even higher, standing at about 92 per cent. If Charles Zatrepalek. and Julio . Ojeda have anything to say about it, - Roselli’s killing is not going to dimin-' ish those percentages. Both men are vow with a schoolboy’s sincerity tha they won’t rest until Roselli’s murde: is solved. In the last four weeks, with the help of Washington agencies, Za. trepalek and Ojeda have reconstructed Roselli’s life in hopes of understanding his death. For the third time in eight years of marriage, Zatrepalek worked out of town on his wedding anniversa- ry; because of the “awesomeness” of this case, Ojeda spent his Labor Day holiday at work. “Maybe 10 years from now,” Ojeda says, “I want someone to look at my file and say, ‘Hey, he talked to every- body.’ And maybe he'll hear some- thing and BANG! that’s the arrest!” That Johnny Roselli was destined to walk on the dark side of life never seemed in doubt. As a teen-ager in Bos- ton, when his name was Filippo Sacco, Roselli was a runner for the numbers racket. He helped his stepfather burn down his home. for the insurance mon- ey. He was arrested at age 22 for steal- . Ing about $25 from someone. Then he _ changed his name and left for Chica- go. . - It would be 40 years until, in the late 1960s, Johnny Roselli would see his mother again, though he sent money to his family through an intermediary in Chicago so his sisters could attend college. ‘ By the late 1920s Al Capone was well established in Chicago. Newspaper- men, politicians and cops were on the Capone payroll and a young man with _ Roselli’s street savvy had little trouble ‘ finding suitable employment; he hired on as a rumrunner with the Capone gang. At age 26 Roselli was arrested . for selling morphine to an undercover agent. He was acquitted because, after - Roselli’s arrest, no one could seem to find the arresting officer or informant in the case, They still haven't been found. In the mid-1930s Roselli, by now a "_mature and charming man, lucky with © ons
"In the 1940s the sheriff of Dade County (which includes most of the Miami area) admitted to the © HW 535244 Kefauver organized crime committee that, since he had become sheriff on an annual salary: of $12,000 five years earlier, his personal fortune had increased from $2,500 to $70,000.” r . L. ' women, friendly with men of money, moved to Los Angeles. He wore hand- tailored suits and, by all accounts, was easygoing, mild-mannered. He was married for a time to an actress, but _ they had no children. He became a close friend of Harry Cohn, the legend-- ary head of Columbia Pictures. The two men sometimes vacationed. to- gether and Roselli always seemed to know how to place a bet should Cohn care to wager on a horse. According to Bob Thomas’ biogra- phy of Cohn, “King Cohn,” the movie mogul once offered Roselli a job as a producer. (In his book, Thomas dis- guised Roselli’s identity at Roselli’s re- uest.) co asked Cohn. : ‘Cohn said. ' “{ get that much from waitresses who take bets for me,” Roselli is said to have replied. sO ’ Besides being a handy man with the placing of bets, Roselli purchased a 26 per cent interest in ‘a Tijuana race- track with $25,000 Cohn loaned him. DoclId: 32423624 “What would you pay me?” Roselli . “Five. hundred - dollars a week,” - Roselli paid him back promptly and in- ! "cluded a check for 6 per cent interest; Cohn .magnanimously tore up the in--: terest check. Roselli bought twin star rubies, had them set in rings and ‘gave one to . Cohn, who considered it a good luck charm until his death. Once, when Chi- - cago mobster Willie Bioff moved to Hollywood and began making life mi- serable for movie studios by shaking down executives in return for. labor peace, Roselli stepped in and saved - Cohn from a lengthy strike. When Cohn refused to pay tribute to Bioff and his union, Bioff tried to halt production at Columbia by calling a. sudden strike. Desperate, Cohn called Roselli who marched into Bioff’s office and: confronted the hoodlum who sat behind his desk wearing a hat and coat, chomping on a cigar, a gun rest- ing on the desk in front of him. _ “Listen, Willie, I don’t know what you're trying to prove but it isn’t going ‘. to work,” Roselli told him. “This is a . Spite thing and you're not going to get away with it. You meet with Cohn and - get it settled.” , Bioff backed down and called off his: pickets. After he was sent to jail forex- ~ A . ceeeete es ON nS ORT sigan ama a :. ge mn woe Page 32 tortion, Bioff cut a deal with the Z0v- ernment and named Roselli as a:Chi- cago mobster who had helped ‘him: shake down movie studios. Cohn testi- - fied on Roselli’s behalf, but in 1943 Ro- selli was sentenced to 10 years in pris- on. When he got out he returned to - Hollywood to make pictures of prison ': and gangster life. But publicity about a ' Secret appearance before the Kefau- ‘ver crime committee ruined his rela- tionship with most studios. Even Cohn ‘re fused to hire him—“The stockhold- “ers would scalp me,” Cohn told a bitter Roselli. : It was during his years in the Los ’. Angeles and Las Vegas areas that Ro- selli met the man who would make him a household name later in: life. Robert Maheu, the ex-FBI agent who parlayed a Washington private’ eye business into a stormy career as How- ard Hughes’ man in Las Vegas, ap- . - proached Roselli on behalf of the CIA ' in 1960. : - ; _ (Another person Roselli met in that era who would later surface to talk of Roselli, Giancana and John F.. Ken- nedy was a young party girl named Ju- | dith Campbell.) . Maheu and Roselli would later tell . — Frank Church’s Senate Intelligence Committee the details of their plots to kill Castro. Maheu told investigators he had known Roselli since the late 1950s and, while he didn’t know of his un- derworld connections, “it was ‘cer- tainly evident to me that (Roselli) was able to accomplish things in Las Vegas when nobody else seemed to get the same kind of attention.” . Over dinner at the Brown Derby in Beverly Hills 16 years ago, Maheu ex- plained to Roselli that his government needed his services. Roselli, who was born on July 4, 1905, was nothing if not Patriotic. (Sam Giancana once said, “Just wave a flag.and Johnny’'ll follow you to any canal.”’) Maheu recalled that ’ See ROSELLI,L5,Col.1.*
33° ; ROSELLTI, From LA Roselli was hesitant at first but “felt he had an obligation to his government, ° and he finally agreed to participate” in - a plan to kill Fidel Castro. He turned ‘ down an offer of $150,000 and even ’ paid for his own hote! rooms in Miami. -' He later introduced Maheu to two co- " who operated out of Tampa. While the strange alliance between - a favor that would almost derail the “~~ project. Church's investigators learned that the CIA paid for, and Maheu ar- . _ ‘ranged for, a bug to be installed in -. Gjancana's Las Vegas apartment. Par- . "* ties to the incident today offer two rea- _sons for the placement of that bug. " One explanation was that Giancana — * suspected his girlfriend had another - tap to ease Giancana’s worries while “che stayed at work in Miami. The other ' theory is that the CIA was worried be- “ - eause the agency had heard Giancana - . was talking loosely about the Castro ~ plots. “ ment of the bug was a disaster. Ma- -*heu's private eye left the tap unat- _tended on the afternoon of Oct. 31, ~ 4960, and it was discovered by a maid : who reported it to the local sheriff. Ro- ” selli paid the private detective’s bail and eventually the attorney general, ‘acting under pressure from the CIA, ~ ‘' ordered that any contemplated prose- | _ eution be dropped because it could -’ jeopardize the national security opera- ~ tion in which Giancana and Maheu . ‘’. were involved. A friend said when. “ Giancana learned of the snafu, he - laughed so hard he almost swallowed __ his cigar. aa -' Today the Boom Boom Room of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. Beach seems a tame place. Five college-age thespians star in a tepid humor revue. < sign in the window of a children’s clo- ‘thing boutique next to the Boom Boom what did you bring me?” —-: : But in 1961 the Boom _ where big money went to talk big ; lowing Floyd Patterson's knockout of Ingemar Johansson in a Miami Beach ~< ving, Giancana, Roselli, Maheu and a : friend relaxed in the dimly lit night- -.'@lub, They were waiting for a man 4 ‘Who was supposed to be Castro's chef. ‘" His assignment: to slip a slow-acting, untraceable poison into Castro’s drink. ” “Ag we left the lounge,” recalls the “this guy—small, Cuban, with reddish -, hair. He was as conspicuous as a blue- ‘out, let Johnny meet him,’ Sam looked seat the guy and said, ‘My God, I ' -yyouldn’t trust him.’ Then the pass was t w made. _, conspirators, Giancana and Santos. Trafficante, an alleged Mafia figure "+ ‘the CIA and organized crime plotted to - : ~"- ill Castro, Maheu was doing someone - . 1975... ‘ Jover and Maheu agreed to place the. . behind the plots to kill Whatever the explanation, the place- . they got such an idea.”) _ 1961, a CIA employee named William - Harvey was assigned to oversee the “. The drinks are weak but expensive. A . "Room is cloying: “Grandma, Grandpa, . . » Harvey supplying poison pills, weap- ; Boom Room -: was a swinger’s paradise, the place’ ~. deals. In March of 1961, the night fol-. -. forming against the Mafia. Roselli's ~" friend who was with the trio, “we saw - “ : : berry in a bowl of milk. He just didn’t - ‘belong in that hotel. We said, ‘Clear ..- arrested for his involvement in a Los = Giancana’s instinct was correct..To- . . their opponents’ hands. Roselli ap- “In the late 1920s Al chose Miami as the chic s figures to buy a winter h of ocean was Cuba, a gan SS  ————— day Castro is eating well in Cuba while .Giancana died from five gunshot wounds to the head as he prepared a midnight snack of sausages June 19, History has tended to make the men Castro look foolish and, indeed, some of the plans . seem as silly as exploding cigars. Psychological warfare expert Gen. Edward Lansdale, for example, hit upon a plan to convince the Cuban population that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent and that Christ hated Castro. Word was. to have been spread throughout Cuba that on a par- ticular date a manifestation of Christ's return would occur. On that date an American submarine would surface off the Cuban coast and ignite star- shells which would lead the Cuban popuae to overthrow Castro. A mem- er of the intelligence community sar- , castically tagged Lansdale’s bizarre plan “Elimination by Iumination.” (Asked about that plan recently, Lansdale replied, “That's a crock. Maybe someone was interpreting 1 don’t know where things that way. After the flurry of plots in 1960 and wave “disabling” of foreign leaders. He con- tacted Roselli but this time asked that Maheu and Giancana be kept out of their discussions. Roselli.gave the as- sassination business another try with Laneemrananetnnrennanne res tet ons and communication equipment to Cubans who were supposed to kill not only Castro but also his brother and another revolutionary upstart named Che Guevara. Again, no luck, but Ro- selli and Harvey struck up a friendship that lasted until Harvey, who retired from the CIA to practice law in Indian-' apolis, died of a heart attack recently. In 1966 the FBI threatened to deport Roselli unless he helped them by in- Serena original CIA contact, Sheffield Ed-- wards, told the FBI that Roselli “wanted to keep square with the bu-, reau” but was afraid he'd be killed for “talking.” Later that year Roselli was Angeles gambling scheme in which a peephole allegedly was used to survey ‘a card table at the Friar’s Club; elec- tronic impulses then tipped players to
‘Vd V ‘SMan Aeg o8Bo1UD aUL ‘ - cOSNBo e 10}. pap aaeq pinom ay ‘Auuyor way) seat TV (aleyye ONSED ayy). WMH payauuoa sem Ht adoy Ajqeqosd | ‘Ae @ Ul ‘daap UMOG,, ‘aU POI ‘O[[!PIED . Jayag ‘Aasia~ MON UT. MeP-Utsa101qg stq ‘W1jjod epnsd sy Woy padooos sem Apog S[esoy 13338 Aep aqL : an *ya.I99S stg IIM paaty ay Inq ‘ose Aq posuel -Je pue pasepso sem SUIT SApauus yy uyor yeyy Welw Ul sdoinos ueqnD Aq pio} uaaq peg ay yey} ‘uesIOW prem -pq Aausoye uowurysem ‘JoAMeT SIY - UL paplyuoo yasoy ose sead uae}INOg ‘E961 UL EIJeA] AY} UO sdULIvaq |IeUIS pastagjay Jo} Sues oym ‘tyoeleA er. B JO angea] aq) Ul YNowpno e A[pseYy sem Tasoy ‘sloyesiseaur yUaUIUJE -A03 0} YONUI.00} SUIYILI 10} Pally SEM ay 3} payetnvads aavy BUIOs aTTTM “yuaUIUls -A03 JO apis JsayJep ay} Jo adpaymouy sty JO adeIURAPE SULYE} SAIWINIUIOS ‘Sut -Alada1 Salmtjaulos Jo uoNtsod S.Jaouep -adol & Ul WIY nd—sayIWUWOD Gong) vo Sq UOIBUTYUSeM SUL fq 8010Ud -yqDap - asofaq . paar SOY aroyn aMoy HOLY = yy pup uu AD FT 9d Aqunoy apog , ut <Apauuay uyof juapisatg 1, Ul DUDIUDID) WS ) ut O1]SD Japly y joddn wosf asin 0JI4IJUNOD = “puD Fu saddn 676] 1)JPSON AU wyol at} 03 31 UOTUeW 01 Ydnous VID 33 passaidun qoarmya—wisnoljed jo ulens ajduns e ‘Aem aug Suopy ‘turer ‘ATeury ‘pue sesaq sey ‘poomAl[oyH jo sowed SATIEIAI BY} 0} OSESIYD pue UO sog Jo $]991]8 WeaUl ay} WoIy AEM SIY pamr]o Tyasoy ‘Ainquaa aq} JO UN} ay) 3 Ayyedarit sayeas pasun ay oyu! 3ysn01q Aypagaye sJeaou eye e jo sesed ayy wWoiy Wes pewaes ‘ssulsesy VID S,27eUag BY) JO} aaes PsoTjouUN Ajadszey poutemas aaey pjnom yorqn ‘agI] SIH ‘passed sey 124} esa Ue 0} JUDUT -eysay_ © sem IJesoy Auuyor ‘19;7eUl ayeatid & Jo otjqnd & 103 voNNgINnes jo auo sem SUTITY S.]esoy JeqoyM _*syduzaqye UOTeUIssesse O13SeD 3} uo syqSnoy sty JO JUIYUT OU sey IIT -qnd aqj os saz{IWUIOD YOINYD 9Y} 910J -aq AyNS1 10U PIp ay ‘siayIO ayy OHIT un yng ‘sseid 3q3 YA HTeI 07 Sasnjor ose ‘dnoig noyew JeulsiJo 94} Jo Jaq10 -ue eh arcramael ueg ‘edu, ul “saTVUOT [IW [fo Mau ayy JO pur] aq UT soutses Suljquies Jo Suruado ayy pata Ajsursuoy Wesoy puy “a40qy | [eap JO.330S SWOS peYy dy puats) B ‘wieap sty asojaq ysnf ‘pue ynileq Ut quaunsede ue day euvourty ‘sJanold | s O.1}Sb2) BY} 10} UOTeUIISE; BUIOS Ploy 03 SUIdaS LY} PLIOM, ayy Jo yaed & “WdAB Ul 4SaJoyUI sseuTsnq amos sey A[pa ~Jodas aH ‘a01jJ0 sq oj. Suluimjal aq 1,24 uUaqyM Jo st Ssoq Joy aay MOUY 3,Usa0p ays shes sesa, Sey ut Are}aJ90s - S,nayey ‘Ode Sivas QT Jo sus Joy UOTING [a1 BuUIeXa aie sueqn) O1seD-01d° JI SOTIOM aq JOYA: ‘ZULYUTG) st nog -eW UM MOUY 3,Useop aiqnd aqL "  *Kaslaf MON] JO O[tpJeD 3910 ‘MPT -UT-S199301q S,1][aSoY Jo Jeqjoue pres « 2SUTIUIYY Haye seq ‘snsor, :Aep J9q10 ay) ysnf yeYyR noge JQsNoq) J— + paseos ZuTTUNI aq ysnul NayeWY Gog, - ‘uoreyodap sunqay nus alam ‘sIOKMEL SITY pue flasoy ‘Weap siq ye qnq ‘pauojut YID.3q) deay 0} paaide ¥ SNI 24, “pansimd aiam sdurpaed | old uoneyodap- Jt In990, 34dtu 3eq3 uVID 20} GUM Apatoe [euoresado ised Syfasoy JO ainsoposip atyqnd [1e3S910j,, es EET ee ame. Pier, 0} aofAJag uoNeZyemjyen pue won , BIST] at} Payse VID 2G} 16 UT | “wITY | Modap 0} s}Joyja yUaUIUIEAOS ysUTEse. apieq op 0} UoNEUe{d OF FLEI Ut _ Buruinjes ‘rel 0) JUam aff ‘sMeE SUTTG | “WS 31EISIOJUT SUNLIOIA JO paxdIAUOd © SEM Y[asoy Inq ‘uoINoasold yuUacaid - 02 AI} HW 3UY VID Bq} 07 papuawUIODaI _ Saarey pue diag Joy Aaareyy 0} payead Page 34 DoclId: 32423624 53244 |
HW 53244 Docld:'32423624 Page 35 MEMORANDUM - To: - Rick Inderfurth From: © Mike Madigan Date: August 13, 1976 Re: Miami Interviews I spoke with Senator Hart today about setting up interviews in Miami for Friday, August 20, in the Rosselli matter. He will be calling you about thise arrangements. | I will try to have a subpoena for Santos Trafficante signed by Senator Baker before he leavés for the convention. We, how- ever must obtain the approval of all or a majority of the members of the Committee (under the Rules) to issue the subpoena. Therefore, I have asked Martha to poll members on two questions: / (1) Authority to issue a subpoena for Trafficante: (2) Authority for Senator Hart to disclose to the Miami police investigators in the Rosselli case those portions of the classified Rosselli related transcripts which he deems relevant to the murder investigation. In case we miss connections, the relevant people involved are: (1) Bill Lynch -- head of the Justice Organized Crime Section, telephone number 739-3516 (he should help us locate Trafficante and perhaps have a
WW 53244 Docla’32423624 Page 36 -2- suggestion as to how best to serve him with a. subpoena) ; (2) Detectives Wolf and Zatrepallek -- Dade County Sheriff's Office, telephone number 305-547-7456 (they are the detectives investigating the Rosselli murder for the locals). (I have been putting them off about whether they can have access to the transcripts -- you need to talk to Bill Miller and Gary about this) ; (3) Paul Daly -- you may have to go through him if we need the FBI to locate Trafficante. . By the time you return I will have taken preparatory steps to set up interviews with the Miami police people as well as begun an effort to locate Trafficante. After talking with Gary you will need to follow up and confirm all these next week as I will be in Kansas City from Monday through Thursday. I will be flying from Kansas City to Miami on Thursday night for the interviews on Friday. You can reach me through the numbers that either Bill Miller or Marie has. We need to talk at some point next week to confirm all this.
Dir Z “THURSDAY, AL — The Washington post | AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER Who Killed John Roselli? | ERE GOING TO tell you a little story now. amount to a system of justice which 1) only affects Once there was a President who was murdered. those dumb enough to get involved in it in the first His brother was murdered too. A long time after they place and 2) tends only to punish those who have died some very strange facts came to light. It turned committed what the rest of us would regard as hei- out that while they were running the government, nous crimes anyway. Not that these are things people the government was trying to get two Mafia mobsters . say—they're things people can be expected to as- to arrange the murder of someone else—the head of sume. But we think in this case the assumptions have a small, hostile neighbor state. It also turned out that even less validity than they would have on a clear one prother—the one who was President—appar- day, which isn’t much. And that is because if we ently had a girlfriend who was the girlfriend as well know anything, We know that the Mafia operations in of the mobsters. And ore of the mobsters, whose which Messers. Giancana and Roselli figured had be- nickname was Momo, was prominent on the list of come intertwined with the operations of the United criminals the President’s brother was trying to put in States government. Never mind that the decisions of jail. The story may sound complicated, put life is com- the early 1960s which made this so may rank among plicated, and the complications in this case got even the most abominable decisions ever taken in the US. more so. For when a committee of the Congress government. The plain fact js that, given the provoca- wanted the two mobsters to come and tell them some- tive and suggestive history of the two men, it is not ~ thing about all this, only one of them—the one possible for either Congress or the Executive Branch named Johnny— came. The other one, Momo, was “to look the other way or to complaisantly accept the . murdered in his house a week before they wanted earmarks-of-a-gangland-slaying bromide. him to testify. Johnny, however, told his story to one committee in the Congress and then came pack—qui- After Mr. Giancana was killed, the Church Commit- etly—to tell some more things to another committee tee inquired of the FBI whether its proposed meeting which was in fact looking into the murder of the with him had figured in his murder. The FBI re- . President. Then Johnny went to Florida. Then no one. ported that it had no evidence to this effect. The could find him. Then some fishermen found him. . then-director of the CIA, William Colby, felt obliged | Dead. In an oil drum. . to state that the CIA had had nothing to do with the But we haven't told you the strangest part of all murder—and Mr. Colby likewise pronounced the yet, the part you're really not going to believe. It is other day that he was certain the CIA had not done in that when the great national political community of Mr. Roselli. The mere fact that the questions, to solons, scribes, policemen, spies and managers of the which these were meant to be the answers, had been eneral: wellbeing heard about poor Johnny, they - raised tells us, anyway, that much more in the way of . said: “Oh, my goodness.” Some of them went farther. inquiry is wanted. The newly formed Senate Select of course. They said: “Fancy that!” But most of them Committee on Intelligence has now asked the Justice didn’t say anything at all except: “Yawn.” Department to make an investigation of Mr. Roselli’s Forgive us for lapsing into storybookese. We do it death. We think the Department should comply and for a reason which is that the simple unadorned facts that the investigation, despite FBI Director Clarence — of the John and Robert Kennedy-Fidel Castro-ClA- _ Kelley's disclaimer of jurisdiction, should have the Mafia-Momo Giancana-Johnny Roselli-Judith Exner _ Attorney General's personal attention. Such atten- Church Committee-Schweiker Committee saga need _ tion is needed because of the elaborate and not en- to be put forward in stark outline for their magni- tirely reassuring history of relationships between the - tude to be understood. Is it really, as the sophisticated ‘FBI and the CIA and the various participants in the wisdom goes, “paranoid” on our part to brood about - whole sorry saga. We are not suggesting that any the suggestive and possibly monstrous interconnec- agency of government—or even any of those agen- tions between all these facts and to wonder why they _ey's fringe retainers —were the murderers. We are are not the object of intense press and government suggesting that there is an overlay of potentially em- utiny? | indifference parrassing information sufficiently pervasive to keep ——- in high places? What accounts for the eagerness with an awful lot of people from wanting to have this | . which we all seem to accept that familiar tipoff that thing aired. We also think that the Select Committee ‘ . L a 3 = oe a i=) ro ~ Z 2 oo ~ oO ° ° = 3 — wn rt ° 3 a o ga oO Ss o 4 2 i.e., the pronouncement that Mr. Roselli’s dispatch to gress, after all, can hardly be expected to sit idly by _ an oil drum and Beyond had “all the earmarks of a while its witnesses are being done in. Nor do we see |} . gangland slaying.” Those are the good ‘old “ear- how the public in general and the political establish: - - .- marks” we only hear about when it is next to certain,. ment in particular can turn their attention away Un- “hs \ that we shall hear nothing more. 7 a til we are all satisfied that a much greater effort has , “The supposition of course is that the Gang which — been made by the government—which means both runs gangland has its reasons and its methods and the Executive Branch and the Congress—to discover that. disagreeable as these may be. they really lieout- what elements were at play in this series of appalling 7 ane ,, side the proper realm of public concern because they crimes-and scandals. \ ! The Data From MM. ‘ iat ur_bes jes 4 4 Docid: 32423624 Page 37 we shall be hearing 10 more about the latest crime— should reserve the right to pursue the matter. Cone ™
ROSSELLI CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 1955 Meets Maheu at insurance friend's home. 1960 ~ Late July/early August. Maheu calls. Working for government. Recruit | Rosselli only. Meet Brown Derby, L.A., for lunch. Long talk about project in Cuba. Rosselli wants verification. 2nd meeting, L.A., discuss further details, no discussion of specific techniques. Plan to meet in N.Y. for verification. Sept. 14, 1960. First meeting in N.Y. at old Plaza Hotel. Rosselli introduced by Maheu to O'Connell. Rosselli 'knew" O'Connell worked for the CIA. Rosselli agrees to work on Cuban project. Sept. 25, 1960. Maheu and Rosselli travel to Miami to begin making contact with Cubans to be recruited for mission. (Between Sept. 25 and the Bay of Pigs, a series of recruitments, meetings, and arrangements were made. The following is an outline of events that is not necessarily in chronological order. ) ; -- Meeting where Maheu is introduced to Trafficante. Meeting where Maheu is introduced to Giancana. Giancana was, according to Rosselli, to only be a "back up man." Rosselli states . Giancana had nothing to do with the actual operation. Trafficant¢ was used, according to Rosselli, as a translator. -=- Meeting with O'Connell; Maheu, Rosselli, and pwe™dertxg]s-te== discuss the Cuban project. -- Rosselli, in his contact with the Cubans, "invents" the cover -story that he represents some Wall Street business interests who want to see Castro eliminated. Rosselli trusts Cubans he has recruited because they are part of the Bay of Pigs operation. -- lst attempt at assassination involved the use of pills. Maheu and Rosselli met with Cuban #1 and #2 (?). Maheu opened up his briefcase and gave the pills with instructions for their use to Cuban #1. Maheu also had $10,000 he gave the Cubans for doing the project.’ Rosselli did not know of the money. Rosselli states he received no remmeration for his work on the project, in fact, he paid out $800 for gas for a speed boat to deliver two or three man parties for guerrilla raids into Cuba. -- Prior to Bay of Pigs there was no discussion of using guns to - assassinate Castro. -- Rosselli's cover name was "John Ralston." HW 53244 Docld: 324273624 Page 36
HW 535244 DoclId: 32423624 -- At different times, Cuban #1, #2, or #3 would propose different projects. These would range from using plastic explosives to booby trapping Castro's desk. Rosselli would relay these on to Maheu, who, in turn, would contact the CIA. Most. projects were vetoed, but the CIA did supply a short wave radio to the ‘Cubans in Florida, to try and make contact with their people in Havana. Eventually, Rosselli felt the project had failed. There was no specific point when it was announced. But, at sometime Rosselli assumed the project, for whatever reason, had not succeeded. Page 39
HW 535244 _DATE 1959 October 1960 1961 Feb. Early 1961 April 1961 May 31, 1961 Rest of 1961 and 1962 Sometime in _ early 1960's October 1962 Early 1963 March 1963 Sometime in 1963 November 1963 Early 1964 DoclId: 32423624 CHRONOLOGY (ALLEGATIONS AND REPORTS OF ANY N U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN ASSASSINATIONS) EVENT OR ITEM Richard Bissel becomes DDP (head of Plans Directorate) Tap on Dan Rowan phone in Las Vegas ( allegedly: (a) favor to Giancana, and (bv) done by Rosselli) Lumumba mysteriously killed during Congolese strife. News reports of CIA consideration of Lumumba plot, but claim it was done by others,e.g. Belgians? Attempts to kill Gastro before Bay of Pigs landing by Rosselli team Bay of Pigs Landing Trujillo assassinated; charge of U.S. involvement Possibly ongoing efforts to . Kill Gastro by Rosselli team RFK quashes prosecution of Giancana for Rowan Las Vegas tap Cuban Missile Crisis -(date for background reference Rosselli training a team in Miami area Rosselli's last effort to kill Castro RFK stopped further efforts Diem killed in Saigon coup JFK told Smathers later he thought CIA involved Colby head of DDP Far East Division at the time Howard Hunt and others from Bay of Pigs effort begin plot on another Castro assassination Page 40 SOURCE ( Where Necessary) Date and Rosselli role from Government Opposition paper to Rosselli motion for reduction in sentence, 1971 Wash.Post & Star contempor- aneous accounts Wash. Post 2/6/75 story by Lardener and Greider Tab A Jack. Anderson 1967, 1971 and 1975 columns$s “ Watergate Helms memcon Jack Anderson column (1/19/ 71) on Smathers coversation with JFK. Agee book ( obviou ly suspect in some respects) rm ‘last attempt by Rosselli team in 1963, infra. ' Watergate memcons on Keeney — and Wilson interviews Wash. Post Greider/Lardener story,supra., states Army © Ranger Capt Ayres saw him J. Anderson 1971 columns J. Anderson 1971 columns J. Anderson, 1/19/71 column articles on Colby reported by Tad Szule in book on Howard Hunt (1974)
HW 535244 Chronology -- 2 ( more on Hunt Castro project) May 1965 May 1965 ‘(or later) 1966 1967 © March 3 1967 | 1968 1968 Early 1969 1970 1971 Jan.18 Jan.19 Jan. 27 #eb.1 Assassination alleged to have Szulc,supra beenflanned as part of a smaller invasion effortand preparations were allegedly made in Costa Rica Hunt Castro scheme "aborted when " a Dominican Republic strife broke out ‘(scheme also allegedly involved McCord, Barker and Sturgis) As Katzenbach/Helms/LBJ meeting Katzenbach testimony on Domincan Republic ended, LBJ to Senate Select. Committ: asked Helms if CIA had ever (or Seeder) in assassination of a leader) and Helms said "no", CIA Poisoning plot aq| Hactiay Avdetsan cok. ghlor Pees. Duvalet, bombiy Palace we ~Rosselli indicted for alien law Government Opposition and interstate gambling crimes to sentence reduction, (Friars Club card game rigging) supra. First Anderson ¢column.on Rosselli We dont have, but Anderso: referred to in Hersh NY Times story 3/10/75 In response to Anderson story, . RFK tells Walinsky and Edelman Hersh story,supra he shut it off; : CIA bebe Haitian pdoce | find ttsop cols, yor Rosselli sentenced to 5 years | Government Opposition, . Asst. Atty Gen Wilson asks for Keeney Watergate memcon Justice Dept. Rosselli file Rosselli goes before grand jury Government Opposition, supr under immunity re:Giancana s First of three Anderson columns @ oe ; Mabe" (scheduled to go before grand Lenzner memo to SenErvin. jury on Las Vegas skimming) calls on Rosselli ( and phone lo AG John Mitchell Same day: Haldeman ied Dean to inquire - into Hughes/O'Brien/Maheu ties Maheu interviewed by Wilson and Peterson on Rosselli matter Caulfield to Dean memo that Maheu was " " involved in covert activity for CIA in early 1960's Rosselli files motion for reduction ~ in sentence, citing Anderson stories and presenting memorandum to Court Docld: 324273624 Page 41
WW 53244 ‘DATE 1959 October 1960 1961 Feb. Early 1961 April 1961 May 31, 1961 Rest of 1961 and 1962 Sometime in early 1960's October 1962 Early 1963 March 1963 Sometime in 1963 November 1963, Early 1964 CHRONOLOGY. (ALLEGATIONS AND REPORTS OF ANY U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN ASSASSINATIONS ) EVENT OR ITEM Richard Bissel becomes DDP (head of Plans Directorate) \ Tap on Dan Rowan phone in Las Vegas ( allegedly: (a) favor to Giancana, and (b) done by Rosselli) Lumumba mysteriously killed during Congolese strife. News reports of CIA consideration of Lumumba plot, but claim it was done by others,e.g. Belgians? Attempts to kill Gastro before Bay of Pigs landing *y Rosselli team Bay of Pigs Landing Trujillo assassinated; charge of U.S.. involvement ' Possibly ongoing efforts to Kill Gastro by Rosselli team RFK quashes prosecution of Giancana for Rowan Las Vegas tap Cuban Missile Crisis -(date for background reference) Rosselli training a team in Miami area Rosselii's last effort to kill Castro RFK stopped further efforts ~ Diem killed in Saigon coup JFK told Smathers later he thought CIA involved Colby head of DDP Far East Division at the time Howard Hunt and others from Bay of Pigs effort begin plot on another Castro assassination Docld: 324273624 Page 42 SOURCE ( Where Necessary) Date and Rosselli role from Government Opposition paper to Rosselli motion for reduction in sentence, 1971 Wash.Post & Star contempor- aneous accounts Wash. Post 2/6/75 story by Lardener and Greider Tab A Jack Anderson 1967, 1971 and 1975 columns; - Watergate Helms memcon Jack Anderson column (1/19/ 71) on Smathers coversation with JFK. Agee book ( obviou: ly suspect in some respects) . last attempt ‘by Rosselli team in 1963, infra. Watergate memcons on Keeney and Wilson interviews Wash. Post Greider/Lardener story,supra., states Army Ranger Capt Ayres saw him J. Anderson 1971 columns J. Anderson 1971 columns J. Anderson, 1/19/71 column articles on Colby reported by Tad Szule in book on Howard Hunt (2974)
WW 53244 ( more on Hunt Castro project) May 1965 May 1965 (or later 1967 March 3 1967 1968 Early 1969 1970 1971 Jan.18 Jan.19 Jan. 27 Eeb.1 Docld: 324273624 Page 43 Chronology -- 2 Assassination alleged to have _ Szule,supra beenplanned as part of a smaller invasion effortand preparations were allegedly made in Costa Rica Hunt Castro scheme "aborted when " ". Deminican Republic strife broke out (scheme also allegedly involved McCord, Barker and Sturgis) As Katzenbach/Helms/LBJ meeting Katzenbach testimony on Domincan Republic ended, LBJ to Senate Select Committe . asked Helms if CIA had ever been involved in assassination (of a leader) and Helms said "no" Rosselli indicted for alien law Government Opposition and interstate gambling crimes to sentence reduction, (Friars Club card game rigging) supra. First Anderson column.on Rosselli We dont have, but Andersor ‘referred to in Hersh NY Times story 3/10/75 In response to Anderson story, RFK tells Walinsky and Edelman -- Hersh story,supra he shut it off3 : Rosselli sentenced to 5 years - Government Opposition, Asst. Atty Gen Wilson asks for Keeney Watergate memcon Justice Dept. Rosselli file Rosselli goes before grand jury Government Opposition, supr. under immunity re:Giancana First of three Anderson columns Mayhu - (scheduled to go before grand Lenzner memo to SenErvin jury on Las Vegas skimming) calls on Rosselli-( and phone lo AG John Mitchell Same day: Haldeman .¢a&s Dean to inquire into Hughes/O'Brien/Maheu ties Maheu interviewed by Wilson and Peterson on Rosselli matter Caulfield to Dean memo that Maheu was ° " involved in covert activity for CIA in early 1960's Rosselli files motion for reduction ~ -in sentence, citing Anderson stories and presenting memorandum to Court
HW 535244 1961 4 Docld 232423624 After the Bay of Pigs (April 1961) Rosselli felt "sorry for the poor bastards left on the beach." Rossetit Téte—iadirectlyresponsibie—fer—their d@aths since-he-trad-encouraged—many—of_them-—to partics— pate_in the-imuasioa.. Two or three weeks after the invasion, Rosselli was contacted in Los Angeles by O'Connell, a meeting was arranged for at the airport hotel in Miami. Rosselli went there and was introduced to Harvey. O'Connell said Harvey was now in charge of the Cuban project. Harvey told Rosselli he was to cease all contact with Maheu and Giancana. Further, Harvey stated that the government was still interested in using Rosselli for intelligence-gathering operations. Rosselli would report information from the Cubans to Harvey about personalities and events in Cuba. Rosselli would also _ relay on to his Cuban contacts requests for specific in- formation from the CIA. Sometime between the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, Harvey gave Rosselli six poison capsules. Rosselli, in turn, gave them to his Cuban contacts who were to take them to Cuba, where another Cuban or Cubans would use them to assassinate Castro. Rosselli never learned the details of what happened, but the project ob- viously failed. At one point, Rosselli remembers hearing over the radio that Castro was very ill. A short time later, he recovered. — Sometime before the missile crisis, Rosselli arranged, pursuant to Cuban #1 request, for a van loaded with rifles and ammunition to be delivered in Florida. O'Connell and Rosselli watched the Cuban contact pick up the van and _ return it empty. Rosselli assumed that these guns were going to be used by the two or three-man raiding parties in Cuba to assassinate Castro and overthrow the government. During the Cuban missile crisis, Rosselli was in Chicago. He contacted Harvey at Harvey's mother's home in Indian- apolis and left his number in Chicago. Harvey then called him, told him to go to Washington, D.C. From Washington, D.C., Rosselli traveled to Florida where he stayed for the duration of the Cuban missile crisis. He, at times, would, through his Cuban contacts, attempt to verify the . location of the Russian missiles in Cuba. Rosselli claimed that this had been successful. After the Cuban missile crisis, Harvey called Rosselli and told him to stop all “contacts with any and all persons involved in past Cuban missions. Harvey never stated why the missions were being called off. a Page 44
Rowan Tap - . Rosselli said that he understood that Giancana had asked Maheu for a tap on Dan Rowan. Maheu gave Rosselli two stories. The first was that he was doing Giancana a favor and the second was that there was a real intelligence value in that Maheu was afraid that Giancana or Rowan might be giving out intelligence information that would be of value to enemies of the United States. Rosselli had not heard of the names Dubois or Belotti or Fred Harrison. He admitted that Harvey had discussed the tap with hin, but both Harvey and Rosselli were mad that the opera- tion had gone on. Giancana obviously knew about the tap. Maheu did ask Rosselli to get bail money for the two tappers who were caught and thrown in jail. Maheu suggested that Rosselli could get a hotel to turn over the bail money. Finally, Rosselli arranged to have a man with a green carnation in his lapel meet and transfer the bail money. He never received any of this money back. Rosselli claims that he did not know what type of tap went on. He admitted that he had been questioned by the FBI but he gave no answers. Rosselli knew that Maheu had been questioned by the FBI. HW 53244 Docldl32423624 Page 45