104-10310-10250 , ee HIGHLY SENSITIVE ACTIVITIES a Barly in the Kennedy administration, "the White House" o urged Richard Biss ell to create an Executive Actica capability; i.e€.,; @ general stand-by capability to carry out assassinations. The Executive Action program came to be known as @RRIFLE. Its Sf principal asset was an agent, oaury, ‘who had been recruited earlier by Arnold Silver for use in a special operation in the Congo oy (the assassination of Patrice Lure ) to be run by Justin O'Donnell. q O'Donnell made a suey of the scene, decided he wanted no part - x . of. in an assassination attempt, and asked to be released, -which Bissell granted. | The project rame, ZRRIFLE, first appears in the files in. May 1961, although the first recorded approval is dated 19 February 1962. The new DD/P (Helms) on that date authorized William we Hervey, by memorandun, to handle the project on a special basis. Accounting for expen nditures was to be by general category and on “Harvey's ce rvification. ZRRISLE was not exercised in the Congc, because Lumumba was removed from the scene by other parties. It did, however, find eo . . ‘ . f «as . a. wane, “# épplicaticn against Fidel Castro in a conspiracy to assassinate * or to incaracitate him that was already under way under other auspices. ord d eto ewes ce) a » } rey —} you +:
13-00000 a After Bill Fatevey left Task Force W and was winding up his headquarters responsibilities in MPYRSOS HH preparation for assignment to Rome, he wrote a memorandum to the Chief, FI Staff, dated 27 June 1963, stating that the original justification for | “employing QIWIt no longer existed and raising the question of QIWIN ts termination. The records show that QJWIN was terminated | by the Luxembourg Station on 21 April 1964. There is no indication in the file that the Executive Action EEWS0 Capability of | ZRRIFLE/QIWIN was ever used. ve ~ - . wr
13-00000 1 ir e, a SECRET EYES gy ae ‘Fidel Castro During the erica beginning about March 1960 and extending through June 1965, the Agency engaged in a series of schemes to a - bring about the death or incapacitation of Fias) Castro. These are those of which this office is aware. _ | Miscellaneous Schemes Prior to August 1950 A scheme was discussed involving contamination of the air | of the radio studio where Castro broadcast his speeches with an . aerosol spray of a chent cal that produces 3 reactions similar to ve “ those of ISD. ‘Nothing came of the idea, because the ckemical a - could not be relied’ upon to be effective. ; oy _ . A full box or Castro! s | fevorite brand of cigars was ne ttn botulinus. “The scheme was "abandoned, because there was no way a : of assuring that. only Castro would smoke them. . f& third scheme was related to a trip Castro plannea to make -ous. of Cuba. Thalliun salts, a ‘chemical used by women as _ : YY a depil®tory, were to be dusted into his shoes » thus causing his symbolic beard to fall out. Cast tro did not make the planned trip. ‘Gambling Syndicate ~ _Phase 1 ‘The Director of Security Sives a. reasonably : full account of | this episode in his. contribution. In brief, the Agency chsh ioteeo nto £ ra “ used US eirininal elenents that controlled the gambling casinos in Cuba in an attempt to assassinate Castro. He was to be | poisoned by tablets of botulinum placed in his food or drink. Baa bi RES tld
13-00000 . were John Roselli (involved with Willie Bioff in an | attempted a . shakedown of the “movie. industry), > San Giancana (reportedly Capone! s O'Connell remained in the operation for a brief period while the ‘The Agency contacted the criminal element s through Robert Maheu, then a cleared contact of the Office of Securit ty and later (for The Mafia members known. to have been involved in the operation -a time) a ‘prominent figure in the entourage of Howard Hughes. | successor. in Chicago) >» and Santos ‘Prafficante (the kingpin of. Cuban ganbling). Those inside Cuba who were to administer the _ poison. reportedly got cold feet. This phase ended with the failure of the Bay. of Pigs operation. Drew Pearson knew many of: t 32 details. Gambling Syndicate -~ Phase 2 | The gambling syndicate operation remained dormant until , “November 1962 vtien Bissell instructed Willian Harvey to take _ charge of it. Harvey was busy on other things at the time and . was “unable to: give” it any attention until. February 1962. After va Harvey took over the Castro orération he ran “it as one aspect of ZRRIFLE ; however, he personally handled the Castro operation. . a Cc. "and aid not use any of the assets being developed in ZRRIFLE. Harvey and James O'Connell, the Office of Security case # officer for Phase 1, met Roselli in New York City in April 1962. transfer to Harvey was being accomplished. ,) i wet fuer tat A tert eo C/D rey or} rr woven]
13-00000 - Fhase 2 again davolved the adninistration of botulinu, but the Cuban gerdling elenent was eliminated because the casinos had - been closed by then. Roselli worked instead through Tony Varona; a Cuban exile leader who had becoue disenchanted by his prior dealings with the Agency. In return for his cooperation, Varona requested about $5,000 worth of arms, annunition, and related equizzent, which were given to him. He claimed that he had L dispatched a tean to Cuba with the pills in June 1962. Nothing yo happened. ID SYNE CRUE ESSN ERX ESE IeRTeE RNG ANTS SSYMEM Varona reported in Septe pber, 1962 that "he was ready to send in another team of three men to. penetrate | — Castro's bodyguard. They never actually left. Barvey gave Roselli vod ~ $2, 700° in December 1962 for passing to Varona for the expenses of “the three militia nen. ‘Harvey and Roselli, agreed in. 1, January 1963 that the operation was hopeless Uf and called it off. -- Scheme's in Early 1963 At about the time of the Donovan-Castro negotiations for the ? release of the Bay of Pigs prisoners a plan was devisea to have — Donovan present @ conteminated skin aiving suit to Castro as a WAM gift. This scheme progressed to the point of actually buying £ a diving suit and readying it for delivery. Toe technique involved dusting the inside of the suit with a fungus that would produce a disabling and chronic skin diseas (Madura foot) and conteminating - the breathing apparatus with tubercle bacilli. The vlan wes mate aN ence
13-00000 | abandonea because it was Gvertaken by events: Donovan had already given Castro a skin diving’ suit on his.own initiative. Desmond FitzGerald origiratea a scheme. for doing }31 away with Castro by means of.an explosives-rigged sea shell. The idea was to take an unusual ly spectacular sea shell that would be certain to eaten Castro! s eye, load it ae an explosive triggered to blow when the shell was lifted, and subnberge it'an an / area where Castro often went skin diving. The scheme was abendoned, primarily because the midget submarine that would have had to be used in eaplacement of the shell had too, ‘short an. Be ce operating range for such an operation. | - “project AMTASE ~ Rolandé Cubela ‘Rolando Cubela was a major in the Cuban army, the highest Cuban military rank. He was once close to Castro but had become : disaffected. He was first met in Mexico City in Maren 1961. | He attended the Helsinki Youth Festival in August 1962 and was | met there and subsequently in Stockholg, Copenhegen, and Paris... ‘He was: recruited and was given secret writing and demolitions training. “On a trip to Paris in October 1963 he asked for high-level assurance of US support. Des Fitz zGerald met with hin) there, ostensibly acting as a personal emissary of Robert Kennedy, \ At the request of SAS, Dr. Gunn rigged a ball point™ pen to serve . aD esa hypederaic syringe. Cubela was to load it with Black Leaf ho. SE KE yee
13-00000 LES RET par 3 GRty N. : ‘Nestor Sanchez gave the pen to Cubela in Paris on 22 November © ? Cc 1963. Ironically, at the very nozent President Kennedy was shot . in Dallas a CIA officer was meeting sith a Cuban agent in Paris ‘and giving hin ag assassination device for use against Castro, Cubela did not think much of the pen device and asked instead z to be. supplied with a powered rifle with telescopic sight. He re later amended this request to include a silencer. . The Agency ‘contrived to put Cubela in touch with Manuel Artime, and Artime gave Cuoela a silenced pistol and a silenced rifle.. The Agency also put down two caches in Cuba for Cubela, one with rifles and : one without. . | vO an _ ‘The Agency decidea to terminate all contacts vith Cubela and i o™ a the members of his group in June 1955, primarily because they were oose-nouthed, and it had by then become apparent that ‘Cube la’ a ” had no. ‘notion of carrying out any of his. grandiose schemes for ‘ getting Castro. Cubela was arrested in Cuba in March 1966, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. It is likély that Cubela told Castro the full story. ny ” o Y pa ONY 2h SECRET og BERS USE