\ . ™ a 7 RETURN Ty arn f=) ONE TL Sackgrourc Lise Cin Do N eo Ly wy SN ot Reproduce ll January 1977 MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, SE Division "ATTENTION : Division Security Officer '. FROM aoLaf AS Le 2 SUBJECT : Appearance. As. Witness. In Behalf of the United States Government 7 REFERENCE =: USAV. Gerald P. Hemming, Et Al. (76-371-CR-CA)~ . 1. During the period of my employment as ‘a Special Agent at the Drug Enforcement Administration (May 1974 - Jan 1977), I conducted an : fo ' interview of Gerald Patrick Hemming (DPOB Y March 1937, at Los Angeles, j ; . California) on 23 May 1975 at DEA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. | t My report concerning that interview has become part of the case file | ! _in USA v. Gerald P. Hemming, Et Al., Case Number 76-371-CR-CA, : Southern District of Florida, Miami, Florida, === sit _ 2. Upon my entrance on duty in SE Division on 5 January 1977, I orally informed the Division Security Officer, Billy Hix, about the information in paragraph 1 above. Mr. Hix asked me to submit the information in writing.as soon as I was settled in the Division. On 7 January 1977, howev j gent’ Robert Fredericks telephonically contacted | BC/SE/X/LA, and told her that the United States Attornery$’Southern District of Florida, had requested that I appear at the U.S. Courthouse, Miami, Florida on 10 January 1977: to confer with the Assistant United States Attorney, Karen L. Atkinson, regarding my appearance as a witness in behalf of the U.S. Government in the trial of Gerald. P. Hemming. ee ets Te £ és 3. During the afternoon of 7 January 1977 I conferred with Mr. Hix - who advised me to contact the Office of the General Counsel. I talked m _ to Mr. Edmund Cohen who advised me to get in touch with the Office of. . Security, External Activities Branch (OS/EAB). I completed an Outside Activity Approval Request (Form 879), obtained the concurrence — of DC/SE, Mr. John Stein, and submitted the Form 879 to OS/EAB. OS/EAB sent me to Central Cover Staff (Mr. Blandford) and then to the Office of the General Counsel. After discussions with Mr. Cohen, I called oer pares
14-00000 dnd e Background Use Oni Be Net Reproduce S/A Fredericks in Miami at Mr. Cohen's suggestion. S/A Fredericks was not available. Mr. Cohen then advised me to return to my office and he would contact me with furthér instructions. Mr. Cohen retained the Form 879. Subsequently, Mr. Cohen advised me that I should travel to Miami as requested and that €IA would reimburse me for expenses connected with my activities in behalf of the U.S. Government. He further advised me that being in an overt cover status I should state, if asked under oath, that I am currently a CIA employee. 4. On 10 January 1977 I traveled to Miami where I met and conferred wieg AUSA Kavu Ackinsoa, and DEA S/A Robert Fredericks. _. They: informed’me that Gerald P. Hemming's case had been severed and -his trial would not begin on 11 January. AUSA Atkinson told me she ; wanted me as a rebuttal witness if Gerald P. Hemming presented the ' ; defense that he had been working at the direction of DEA. She said ' they would not call me until and wmless that defense was presented. She also said that she felt that any attempt to question me concerning my current place of employment was irrelevent and she would object to any such line of questioning. She said she would only ask me where I was employed at the time I interviewed.Hemming. I returned to: Washington D.C. the same day. — @ er: ee  RBTURNTO Gig
14-00000 RETURN TO CIA CLASSUFY AS APPROPRIATE OUTSIDE ACTIVITY APPROVAL REQUESTOO Not Reproduce COMPLETE AND FORWARD ORIGINAL AND 2: COPIES TO EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES BRANCH “DIRECTOR OF SECURITY; ATTN: EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES BRANCH |" 7 yon 79 (Staff, division or office head and security officer, where assigned THRU: , SE Division Sa curity Officer NAME AND GRADE OF EMPLOYEE (Print or ROOM NO. AND BLOG. type) = . 12/3 | BD0/su HQ 5829 1. FULL DESCRIPTION OF OUTSIDE ACTIVITY FOR WHICH APPROVAL IS REQUESTED INCLUDING NAMES OF ORGANIZATIONS OR INDIVIDUALS - CONCERNED, DATES. LOCALE. Etc. (fefer to HR 10-7 before completing) : On 7 January 1977 et approx.. 30 hrs. I was intormed by my supervisor, that she had been telephonically contacted by a Mre Fredericks of Dai in lami, Florida (Ofc 305-591-1902, Res 305-595-1698) and told that DA wants me to travel to Miami, to attend a pre~trial conference on Honday 10 January in order to prepare for possible appearance as a witress fer the DEA against Gerald Patrick UETMING. I. consulted with the SE Division Security Officer who advieed me to contact the OGC. At approx. . 1:50 hrs this depe I talked to the OGC who advised me to contact the Office of Securi tye External Activities sranch. tot 2. REMARKS BY REQUESTOR IN ENGAGING IN THE REQUESTED ACTIVITY, I WILL MAKE ‘NO REFERENCE TO OR DISCUSS MY CIA ASSIGNMENTS OR DUTIES. I (WILL, WILL NOT) BE IDENTIFIED AS EMPLOYED BY CIA FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: I was a CIA ones yee from Jan 69 to May i or to transferring to DEA. I was under cover at that time. I have not yet d en n put under cover since my new: 20D (33an77) « oO 05 3. COMMENTS AND CONCURRENCE GF STAFF, OLVISION OR OFFICE HEAD coum PALA Hp DATE $ 1GNATURE or “OPERATING OFFICIAL FOR COMPLETION BY EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES BRANCH AND; — OF ORIGINAL TO EMPLOYEE “a 14 Yeni | 1977 SECURITY APPROVAL HAS BEEN ‘odehere (ED, BEMeSP) FOR THE ACTIVITY CONTEMPLATED BY THIS REQUEST. _ (FOR) CHIEF, SECURITY SUPPORT DIVISION CLASSIFY AS APPRGFRIATE “Fons P ; 5 3- 879 EorT IONS ees 3\pd ne m ce ¥
14-00000 wo ah | nae in OPERATIONAL CONTACT REPORT ° \ ’ : oan — ” (7 | 40 Project Title EMBRYO we Asset ID none Code Name none - a Saree aida rin te taal Sich Landledibe, et 8 I ie DETAILS OF CONTACT Place Washington, D.C. - Beckground Use Onk Participants Gerald Patrick HEMMING _ No Not Reproc ce” & SA GUE Cover N/A o5 ~ 2. NEXT MEETING a N/A. ‘3. ALTERNATE MEETING _ . ee E REPORTING 4. INTELLIGENC On May 23, 1975 Gerald Patrick HEMMING walked in to Drug Enforcement Administration Headquarters, 1405 I Street, N.W., Washington, D.C, 20537 and asked to see Mr, Conein, who is fe Acting Chie#, Special Operations and Pield- Support Staff. > HEMMING: told CONEIN that Mitchell ‘Livingston Nf WERBELL III had given HEMMING CONEIN's name as 4-DEA official Oo whom HEMMING could talk. HEMMING told CONEIN that he wanted to provide information on dr trafficking between Colombia. ‘and. Florida.  CONEIN asked 3 to. conduct a debriefing of HEMMING since SA| lwas working on the collection of narcotic intelligence: concerning. Colombia and Florida. . " HEMMING stated that he is presently employed at TECPOLE Security, 801 Madrid, Suite 105, Coral Gables, Florida, telephone - 305-443-9681 or 305-446-8379. (HEMMINC . stated he believed ‘that 443-9681 was being tapped, he did not say who he believed was tapping the telephone) He stated that he has extensive experience in paramilitary air operations, having served in CASTRO's rebel army and then with several anti-Castro groups operating from Florida in the 1960's. He claimed extensive * ‘Knowledge and experience in all types of air operations. turion oe ee Oe » Saeed wah a mamma oun oe ap hgeite ones cle yore ae ee wbome oe arate Twit Tose 2 SFP arse et FR ORS la Ey
14-00000 nde ee met eethen 2 oe Ce mound Use Oy , — \Oe Not Reproduce In August 1974 HEMMING was approached by Armande BOLET, a Cuban veteran of the 2506 Brigade whom HEMMING had worked with in anti-Castro activities, and by John VARESE (nfi), to help them:organize and run air smuggling operations for ‘\ Thomas and:William O'DONNEL. The O'DONNEL brothers, using “ “he cover of their construction firm in the Ft. Lauderdale area; (AMERICAN EASTERN DEVELOPMENT) were involved in maritime smuggling of marijuana from Colombia to Florida. During an unspecified four years. (probably 1970-74) the O'DONNEL's had averaged approximately six-seven loads of marijuana per year at. three-four tons for each loads smuggled into Florida. of these. 24-28 loads of marijuana they had to jettison into the sea only five loads for security reasons. The rest of the loads had been successfully delivered into Florida. , fhe source of the marijuana in Colombia is Dr. Arturo ROMANO-Fedullo of Barranquilla, Colombia. Besides.running the smuggling for ROMANO, William O'DONNEL handles the laundering of the money accumulated by drug trafficking through banks |. in.Grand Cayman, Switzerland, and Curacao. og yy Armando BOLET convinced the O'DONNEL's that they should add’ air smuggling to their narcotic trafficking methods and. that they showld also try cocaine in.addition to marijuana. - BOLET told the O'DONNEL's -that there were many experienced | a men available in Florida who could be used toa smuggle drugs into. Florida by aicz. ROLET was especially interested in cargo parachute drops and parachute jumps by individuals carryiny loads of cocaine. BOLET recruited HEMMING to help organize these activities. A common technique-.used by BOLET and HEMMING wasyto fly an aireraft into Florida legally, but to have a parachutist jump onto-.a pre-selected. drop zone. in southern “Plorida prior to landing:the- aircraft. This way, police .. authorities never found. any contraband on: the aircraft? and the ..dropped narcotics would not bev lost™because. the: parachutist carried Laem on his person, ~Ifvhe missed: the drop zone: he could: simply fold up-his.parachute:and walk'to-the location of the “+ reception See eee joLET ‘uses a DC=3ttail number N1099" and a Navajo chieftain: tail number -N7678L"in his smuggling. operations. “ HEMMING: had a falling out with the O'DONNEL group and decided to leave thems: He is now assaciated with,/Carlos CARABALLO who operates. a charter fishing business and traffics ‘in drugs. HEMMING decided to inform on the O'DONNEL's for revenge and in.order to try to eliminate the competition.
14-00000 Ieee ree Me kee Show, ; ae _. ‘Gerald Patrick HEMMING LX ! Thomas O'DONNEL v* ; yo william O'DONNELL ~* ; Arturo ROMANO-Fedullo ~. "* STURN TO CIA @ackground Use Only Naddis 310145 [Do Not Reproduce FBI # 100 269 BS Naddis 327615 Naddis 326518 Naddis 67658 Carlos CARABALLO ~*~ Naddis 270732 Armando BOLET Naddis 279217 7 ; Naddis 273842 John VARESE Naddis 23174 . Naddis 47225 Naddis 156721 | ; % 4 4 - 4 ‘ i . g | : ‘ : Co. . ol ; tel = ee re en hee eae Oe eit =
7 ABTUANTO CIA St — Background Use Cniy so a are: Vy Do Not Be roduce AES- 90S - SY/- 4 701 = aan | aD 90 2 LE plerrr CAc2, ytd Conet tute 1 Th BIb~CA- “cA GSudgg 7 Sect fi Lopdecialee JOs- £49) - L402. love: WESIs Nesp *) reanoten Sohn Hate oil H410 ; | - , slen (ess KNITS Se ee fg Breen .