v9.1 AGENCY : RECORD NUMBER : RECORD SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : ORIGINATOR : FROM: TO: TITLE: DATE: PAGES: SUBJECTS : DOCUMENT TYPE : CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : CURRENT STATUS : DATE OF LAST REVIEW : OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : HW 54756 DoclId: 3227442715 JFK Assassination System Identification Form Agency Information HSCA 180-10070-10273 NUMBERED FILES 004825 Document Information HSCA BOLDEN, ABRAHAM 01/19/1978 7 FBI; LEADS AND INFORMATION BOLDEN, ABRAHAM SUMMARY Unclassified 3 Redact 01/05/1996 Box 100. Page 1 Date: 10/1/201 Released under the John Kennedy Wss5assination Records oOllection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note). ase#: NU 54756 Date: 1O-31-2017
e . Identifying Information: _ KENNEDY INVESTIGATION. INTERVIEW SCHEDULE Do Name Chr han BLlon oS «Date SY Wie. Address 76325. =P ccceg tesco ST Too ‘Place KE aE Ey Pm, , city/state__Checegr, E> a Telephone_ FES #F32- Date of Birth f L/P 3s M ors 77 Social . Security, So _. Spouse BARBARA a a i Ce , . _ Children LEE 2. physical Description: | 7 ae oe “Height CS _ color Byes ~ gnslanix Boake a - Weight _ | re So, Special Characteristics_ | | Ethnic Group s/Ge , ; BERR? 28 ce - Personal Histoxy: Ae .- -) Present Employment: MWITIOMAC LEAL CO. Address ~APos 5, Peoria, CH go, Ll. Telephone Criminal Record oe “1. Arrests | / 2. Convictions % __Additional_Personal, Information: a ey a Relative (s) : Name. _ Address “be Area “frequented: hase wie ay a oo - Cc. “WW 54756 Remarks: ‘Investigator Docld:322442715 Pageate Form #4-B
HW 54756 - “matervteverVhc DocId: 32244215 Page —a | SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS NAME Abraham Wendell Bolden - Date 1-19-78 Time ‘Address 7632 Ss. Sangamon St. Place Mid City Holiday. Inn: - -  §. Holstead & Madison Sts. oS Chicaco, Illinois . Chicago, qi. oo _Anterview: “On 1/19/78 the writers interviewed Mr. “Bolden at the aa city Holiday Inn, Chicago, Illinois. - Bolden had been a "Secret Service Agent. in 1963, stationed. in Chicago and it. was © “believed that he could, furnish information relative to a con- _spiracy ‘to assassinate President ‘John F. Kennedy in Chicago. ‘on. 2 November 1963. A brief background | on Abraham Bolden is “necessary to} understanding our need to talk to. him at this time. “He was” - out of East St. Louis, Illinois and joined the Secret Service in 1959 _(Bisenhower was President). He worked counterfeit cases in Chicago. and in the summer of 1961 he was assigned to the White House Detail. “He was the first negro agent assigned to this detail, Bolden spent only three’ months in this detail. and was / evidently shocked at what. he’ ‘saw. | ‘He complained to his supervisor, Harvey Henderson, and ‘to - James ‘Rowley, then head of Secret Service about ‘the general, 7 laxity and the heavy. drinking among. the agents who were cass signed to protect the President. He also resented the slurs ° “against blacks which were called to his. attention from time (Signature (fyped) a a = Date Transcribed_ » 1-24=+78...: Sretemipermarrrnec mmemn avant apumcmeetrreeneanaapartmnetnami res sere ah a memmeae ren romesees An
HW 54756 Interview/A. W. Bolden/1-19-78 Page Two to time, eg., the separate housing facilities for black agents on southern trips. He was transferred back to Chicago. While attending a refresher course in Washington in mid-May, 1964, Bolden was returned to Chicago on a subter- fuge and subsequently arrested and charged with soliciting a bribe, obstruction of sustice and conspiracy in an alleged attempt to sell SS file information to a Chicago counterfeiter. His first trial, in July 1964, resulted in a mistrial; his second trial, a month later, in a conviction. He was sen- tenced to serve six years. He appealed-and in June, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The writers found Bolden not at all bitter about the 1964 case although we did not dwell on it. We questioned him about the events which allegedly took place in Chicago just prior to and on 2 November 1963. Bolden told us that around October 30, 1963, he recalled a long teletype message coming in to the Chicago office from the FBI. It was unusual, he told us, for the FBI to cooperate on any cases with the SS. But Mary Cooney, a clerical person working in the office at the time, and now believed to be deceased, took this message to the ARSAIC, Maurice Martineau. Prior to the telex, there was a phone call -from the FBI. Bolden doesn't know if it was local FBI (Chicago) or Washington -Hdq. calling. Docld: 3227442715 Page 4
HW 54756 Interview/A.W. Bolden/1-19-78 Page Three There were only about 13 agents in the Chicago SS office at the time and the substance of the teletype and the telephone call alleging a threat against the life of the President on an upcoming trip (2 Nov) to Chicago was quickly disseminated. Surveillance was undertaken by the agents on two of the four subjects identified with the threat. Because Bolden was black, he and another black agent, Conrad Cross, were excluded from the "north side" Chicago surveillance because it was a predominantly white neighborgood. _ Through a series of blunders, the surveillance was "blown" by Lloyd. Agent Jay Lawrence Stocks and the two subjects were appre- hended and brought in to the Chicago SS office. Bolden's awareness of the progress of this surveillance came partly from office gossip and partly from his monitoring the SS radio channels in his car. In any event, he said Agent stocks was subject of some earthy comments from his fellow agents. | Bolden recalls that James Rowley called from Washington and suggested that Martineau use a COS file number. Bolden explained that a CO (for Central Office) number was issued only in or from Washington Headquarters and an "Ss" for Secret or Sensitive was given when they wanted to seques- ter information contained in the file. He explained that Docld: 3227442715 Page 5
HW 54756 Interview/A.W. Bolden/1-19-78 Page Five and shirt with open collar. His hair was dark and he had a crew cut which is described as " Detroit style." The writers showed Bolden our Committee "mug" book containing 1 through 71 and 73-81, and he stated that the facial structure of photo #74 was Similar to that of the subject being questioned by agents in the office. Picture #74 is listed as “unidentified - possibly Jim Braden." It is directly underneath Thomas Vallee's picture in the mug book. Vallee, #76, was not recognized by Bolden at all, although he was familiar with the case.which was described in the article written by Edwin Black in the Chicago Independent, a now-defunct publication, dated November 1975. On page ten of this article entitled "The Plot to Kill JFK in Chicago, November 2, 1963 - Twenty Days Before Dallas," the writer is checking all arrests in the city of Chicago. He says: "Then we checked every arrest in the entire city on those ‘days. Who arrested them? Why? Any weapons? It took weeks. In the process, we'd develop leads: Look for Cuban names. Look for the name 'Bradley.' Look for the name 'Braden.' Nothing came of it." .(underscoring ours). Bolden recalls that one of the two men had a.Spanish- sounding name. He said.the SS agents took their pictures with a Polaroid camera. The agents' notes. were typed up and the memos were then taken to O'Hare Airport and given to a crew member (pilot?) of a commercial flight to Washington. Docld: 322744715 Page ?
HW 54756 Interview/A.W. Bolden/1-19-78 Page Six where he believes an SS employee met the flight and delivered the material to Headquarters. The two suspects in Chicago were turned over to the Chicago Police who took them away in a patrol wagon. He recalls that at least one of the two had a Spanish-sounding name. Bolden recalls Tom Mosely's name mentioned in the office around that period (Nov 1963). He said when Agent Tom Kelley arrived in Chicago from Dallas on or about 11/26/63, he men- tioned a John Heard or Hurt. They searched the office card files for a similar sounding name. He also recalls that he and Conrad Cross were sent to check out a mixed Black- Spanish neighborhood on Rockwell Street to determine where a certain person who resided there was on 11/22/63. They were unable to locate the person, who..had: moved; and Bolden could not recall the subject's name. The PRS had a record of the person from a previous threat. Bolden was critical of the activities of PRS, saying they did not do a thorough job. He did not further elaborate. ‘Bolden, whose 43rd birthday coincided with our interview, was accompanied by his wife, Barbara. He told the writérs that he is now working for the National Lead Company, 1800 5S. Peoria Street, Chicago, as night supervisor in quality ‘control. He is also a minister in the Islamic Faith and teaches a course in religion in Chicago. DoclId: 3227442715 Page 6
HW 54756 Interview/A. W. Bolden/1- ~19- 78 . Page Seven | Bolden told the writers that he made notes of some of. a . the things that he uncovered ain ‘connection with the events of October 30 - November 2, 1963, but that when he was arrested in 1964, this notebook was seized by ‘the we (Secret service). He said that he would have no le okseetton to testifying in Washington under oath relating to the. matters which he discussed with us in this. interview. Boléer Bolden related to the interviewers that he was. the informant who supplied the information for Edwin Black” S.. | article in the Chicago Independant, Nov. ;1975 | Docld:327744915 Page 9