(5) killed a man in the La Strada Lougne, a Bourbon St. nightclub that he owned. His trial has been postponed due to his having a serious heart condition, The investigators did not talk-to Nick Karno relative to this matter, The investigators talked with Eugene Davis several times during October and November of 1977, He is cordial and states that he is willing to help in this investigation, He was not interviewed but in general conversation he denied knowing or ever having seen Lee Harvey Oswald, He does not know any thing about Clay Shaw and can not understand why Andrews named him as Clay Berttrand, Gene Davis now owns Wanda's Bar located at 704 Iberville St. in the French Quarter, This bar is a homosexual hangout, Eugene Davis stated that there were rooms above the Court of Two Sisters Patio but they were used as storerooms and Nick Karno had an apartment up there that no one could use except Karno, | ; - As stated above Gene Davis denies knowing Clay Shaw or Lee Harvey Oswald or anything about their activities, He also deneis knowing Jack S,. Martin. In an interview with Thomas Beckham on November 8, 1977 the reporting inves- tigators were told that Eugene "Gene" Davis attended parties with Shaw, Beck- ham, Ferrie and Martin in David Ferrie's apartment, Beckham was asked to _ get phony. degrees and certificates for Gene Davis in 1963, He did and gave them to Jack S, Martin to give to Gene Davis, The investigators will speak with Mr, Davis further and any additioanl information will be reported. End of Memo — Docld: 3227655275 Page 4
‘ o, (3) The restaurant goes thru the entire block and was at that time and still is one of the better places to eat in the French Quarter, It is a favorite with the tourist trade which the doorman attempts to introduce to the people wlking on Bourbon St.. It is not a neighborhood type bar and very few people would just hang around in any part of the business, Anyone not dressed for ani€vening meal would not be allowed to come into the place. . It was not a black tie affair but people in work clothes would not be allowed in. Mr, D'AvySworked only at night and was paid in cash by Gene Mavis, Ten dollars a night. One night while he was working the door a young man that he later realized was Lee Harvey Oswald came up to him and asked him if he knew where Clay Bertrand was, D'Avy replied that he did not know and inquired of Mrs, Margaret Tannebaum if anyone by that name worked in the place, Gene Davis was Standing nearby and told DtAvy that he would speak with the young man, Oswald and Bavis then went into the restanrant for a while, Later as Oswald was leaving D&éAvy heard Gene Davis tell a waitress (unknown name but tall and blonde), " See that young man there. He just returned from behind the Iron Curtain," That was the first time that D'Avy saw Oswald. He can not put a time or date to this meeting. The second time that D'Avy saw Oswald was sometime near Nov, of 1963. D'Avy missed Gene Davis the night before and did not. get paid, He went to the Court of Two Sisters in the day sometime after noon and asked where he could find Gene Davis. A waiter told him that Gene Davis was in the storeroom, The. waiter had to tell D'Avy how to get to the storeroom because he had never been there before. D'Avy went into the restaurant and up a spiral staircase anto a porch that was-on the second floor of a building that ran alongside of the Patio where customers ate, He walked to the last two doors near the Bourbnn St. side ( the staircase was on the Royal St, side). He knocked on the door and someone aaid to come in, He walked into the second room from the Bourbon St. side and saw Gene Davis in that room with Oswald laying on an iron posted bed wearing black pants, David Ferrie was looking out of a window towards the back of the rooms, Ferrie was sitting on the bed as if they ahd been talking and stopped when he came in, To his left was another room and thru the door he could see that it was a kitchen and there were two army type cots set up 'with covers on them as if some one was using them as beds, In this room he saw two Americans, The man he saw best looked like the photograph of the first tramp. The other:man looked like the second tramp. No one except Gene talked and he only said " see you later!, That was the only other time that he saw Oswald, D'Avy stated that Oswald looked " different" the second time. He couldn't elaborate any furhter on the description but he insisted that that he looked different. Mr. D'Avy stated that he had seen Ferrie around there four of five or more times, He usually had a Cuban guy with him when he came there, He never saw who Ferrie talked to because of his position out front, He only saw him come in and leave, Docld: 3227655275 Page 5
wn (4) Jose "Pepe" Mayoral was the head waiter and is now back in Miami, Fla. Pepe was good friends with Harold Snadoz Jr, Mr. D'Avy would take Jose Mayoral and Harold Sandoz around to the Cuban bars on Decatur St, after they got off of work, The placd that they would go to that he can remember best is the Casa de Las Marinas located at 601 Dectur St. He also seems to remem- ber the Las Americas as a place they went. It is located in the 400 Blk of Decatur St. Dtavy didnt know many cubans but he says that after the Bay of Pigs invasion that a lot of them came to work at the restaurant. Ditavy remembers seeing Sergio Arcacaha Smith, Thomas Beckham, and Clay Shaw but. never talked to them and can not put them together in the business, He identifies the photo of Fred Lee Crisman as a man that came around almost every wekk during 1963 and Gene Davis used to introduce him as "my daddy" in a joking manner, Crisman said that he was from Baton Rouge.. D'Avy did not remember the name he only recognized the face, He said that he remem- bers Fred Crisman had a white ca r and he used to park it in the no parking zone in front of the netrance and would give D!Avy four or five dollars for watching it for him, One night a car parked in the zone with a Texgs license tag and he went to the street side and politely told the driver that this was a restricted zone, The driver unpolitely slapped him in the face and laughed at him then drove off, He hea rd the girl on the passenger side ask " why did you do that Jack", He could not remember what the other people in the car looked like, He states that this was the only time that he saw the guy and when he saw photos of Jack Ruby he recognized him, Mr. DtAvy stated that he called Mr. Jim Garrison in 1967-68 cand took a trip to New Orleans and told him about the above related incident involving Oswald and Clay Bertrand. He did not tell Mr. Garrison about the upstairs meeting bedause he was afraid at the time, At that time he took a polygraph examina- tion adminstered by the D.A.'s office and passed and would do the same again for this investigation, He was not called to testify in the Clay Shaw trial, Eugene " Gene" Davis was named by New Orleans Attorney Dean Andrews as the Clay or Clem Bertrand that called him on Nov, 22, 1963 and asked him to re- present Lee Oswald in Dallas, Texas, Then District Attorney Jim Garrison charged and convicted Dean Andrews for perjuring himself when he testified before the Orleans Parish Grarid Jury for identifying Davis and Bertrand, as being the same person, Dean Andrews testified before the Wanren Commission and claimed not to know who the man was that retained him to represent Oswald. The owner of the Court of Two Sisters Nick Karno is a close associate of Carlos Marcello and is alledged to have his names on businesses in the French Quarter that are actually Marcello's, Nick Karno is presently fighting trial dates which his attornies have been sucessfully putting off since Karno was indicted by the Orleans Parish Grand Jury for murder in 1974. He shot and Docld: 3227655275 Page 6