CLAIMED AGENCY AFFILIATION BY CONSPIRACY CASE FIGURE.
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: OSBORN, HOWARD J., D/SEC, CIA
To: DD/SPT, CIA
Document date: 5/1/67
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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SECRETT

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Support

SUBJECT

8 Claimed Agency Affiliation by

Conspiracy Case Figures

1. Thia memorandum la for your information only.

2.' On the afternoon of 24 April 1967, the Federal Bureau of

Investigation advised thin Office of claimed Agency affiliation by a

fugitive witness in the New Orleans investigation into a conspiracy to

assassinate the late President. According to the FBI information,

received from a new, media source, Gordon Dwane Novel, the

fugitive witness, had indicated he in currently employed by the CIA

and the alleged burglary of a munitions bunker al Houma, Louiviana,

In 1961, involved CIA and was not a burglary. According to Novel,

the Schlumberger Well Service had an arrangement with CIA wherein

it leased a bunker in which ammunitios, bomb caming. and other

material would be stored for CIA. According to Novel, it was

intended to ship the material out of the U.S. in Schlumberger bowen

labeled "machinery". Again according to Novel, following the Bay

of Pigs invasion, the Schlumberger interesta became upset and

wanted out of their contract with CIA. Three monthe after the

invasion, "tate: Novel, arrangements were made for the material

stored in the bunker to be removed by Novel and his group. At the

time the material was removed, he states, an individual involved

also took some of Schlumberger's low grade powder and fuses and

other material. Novel has reportedly supplied someone with the

names of the others involved with the burglary. He specificially

told the media source that he and one Arcacha Smith are still

employed by CIA and that should he be returned to New Orleans

to face charges of burglary of the bunker, he would offer this as hie

defense.

3. The following day, 25 April, a story in the New Orleans

assassination conspiracy probe, noting that at least one figure in

do Ni Reprodues

2r: 100-1

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the case intende to use his CIA connections as part of his defense

and that "still others linked to the Garrison investigation have been

named as acting for the super-secret espionage organization--as

informers, as couriers and munitions carriers". It named Novel as

having the strongest ties to CIA, and quotes him as calling the alleged

bunker burglary as "the most patriotic burglary in history". He

reportedly has told associates, states the newe item, that the alleged

theft was a war materials pickup made at the direction of his CIA

contact. According to Novel, the late David William Ferrie, and

othere were involved in the bunker incident. He stated that the

explosives were picked up and consolidated soon after the bunker

incident and eventually taken by boat to Cuba for use in a diversionary

operation in connection with the Bay of Pigs invasion. (Thia statement

conflicts with Novel'e reported statement to the F Bl's media source,

paragraph one above, which dates the bunker theft as three months

after the Bay of Pigs. District Attorney Garrison alto has charged

the bunker incident took place three months after the Cuban invasion. )

The newspaper also quotes Novel as contending that he operated the

Evergreen Advertiming Agency in New Orleans as a front for CLA

communications in an elaborate use of commercials to alert agents

4 Novel, according to the press report, has said "I think

Garrison will expose some CLA operations in Louisiana", but did not

elaborate. His attorney, however, would appear to place little faith

in Novel's claims. In a Columbus, Ohio, interview, Jerry Weiner,

attorney for Novel, when told of the press reports of Novel's state-

ments, said: "It's utterly ridiculous. Novel is not now and has never

been a CLA agent. "

5. There is no record of any utilization of Gordon Dwane Novel,

Sergio V. Arcacha Smith, or the Evergreen Advertising Agency. (In

addition to Office of Security records, WH/Cuba, RID, and CI Staff

were checked for possible indication of operational involvement.)

6. Inquiries with WH/Cuba, the Office of Logisties, and

several Agency officers involved with munitions storage in the New

Orleans area at the time of the Bay of Pigs fall to develop any

indication of past operational activity of the nature described by Novel.

Officers who handled project munitions storage in the area have indi-

cated that all the munitions were stored at a reactivated Naval depot

2

IS ALY

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ECHER EVES UNG MONKI

and completely under Agency control. Munitions in transit were

guarded, and there is no knowledge of utilization of commercial

storage facilities of the Schlumberger interests or any other

commercial firm. (The Office of Logistics has had dealings in the

past with Schlumberger-related firme, but has avoided activities

with the Schlumberger firm because of its foreigr ownership and

questionable personalities in the firm. DCS has had an interest in

the past in some personalities affiliated with Schlumberger, but

reportedly unrelated to any matters ae alleged by Novel.)

7. As noted above, Novel has claimed to the press that the

munitions from the bunker were to be usedfor a diversionary

operation at the time of the Bay of Pig®. Agency officers familiar

with the operation at the reactivated Naval depot, the Belle Chasse

Ammunition Depot, have indicated that such a diversionary opera-

tion was based at Belle Chasse, but that the operation was cancelled

before a landing was made. Any number of participating Cubans

would be aware such a diversionary operation was planned.

8. The CI Staff, in a detailed staff study of the Garrison

Investigation, has noted past CIA contact with only two figures named

in the inquiry, Clay L. Shaw and Carlos Bringuier, in both cases the

contact was limited to Domestic Contact Service activities. The

study specifically notes there have been no documented Agency

utilization of Novel, Ferrie or Arcacha Smith, those named by Novel

in his statements to the press about the bunker incident.

9. During the course of our inquiries into Novel's charges,

one tenuous link was developed which conceivably could be exploited

and distorted in attempts to link this Agency with Novel and others.

An interlinking with a personality I+portedly from Ramparts Magazine

might also indicate a connection between Novel's charges and the con-

certed efforts of home to smear the Agency. Thie situation is

described in an attachment to this memorandum.

Howard J. Osborn

Director of Security

1 Att

i

Late to N

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SECRET EYES ONLY

A. NOVEL Le Polygraphed BEL

bloyd 'Furrion Garrison's Charges.

Gordon Dwane NOVEL, already a fugitive witness in the

Garrison inquiry, is reported in the Washington press of 27

March 1967 as having been polygraphed the previous day on the

case under investigation by Garrison. According to the press

reports, NOVEL submitted to a polygraph examination

conducted at McLean, Virginia by Lloyd FURR. In statements

to the press, FURR indicated there was no indication of

deception to NOVEL's charges that Garrison's case is a

"fraud".

B. Lloyd FURR's Relationship to Richard Le BAST and REDEX.

Lloyd FURR, a former District of Columbia policeman and now

a private detective, is a self-proclaimed polygraph "expert"

and sound device specialist. He has received publicity in the

past for planting sound devices for the late Fulton Lewis, JI.

in the St. Mary'« County vice case in 1953 and in 1958 when he

discovered listening devices being used against Bernard Goldfine.

In 1964, information was received that a Washington, D. C.

firm, REDEX, operated by FURR and Richard L. BAST, waB

attempting to sell electronic equipment to Communist China via

an agent in Hong Kong. (TSD had unclassified contact with

FURR in 1962 to see equipment offered for sale by FURR.)

C. Richard L. BAST and REDEX.

Richard L. BAST, a Washington, D.C. private detective, gained

noteriety in 1965 by turning up a missing witness, previously

unlocated by the Department of Justice, in connection with the

Bobby Baker case.

He is known to operate at least four

enterprises: 1) CAPITAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, a

private detective agency; 2) REDEX VIETNAM, INC., a firm

which imports a variety of commudities ranging from liquor to

automobiles into South Vietnam, including, of late, U.S. - recruited

"go-go"' girls for a Saigon nightclub he is planning; 3) REDEX

CORP., a firm which sells almost anything to anybody abroad,

other than South Vietnam; and 4) CONSOLIDATED ARMAMENTS,

INC., a firm which sells small arma lu foreign governments and

private individuals abroad. BAST also produces and distributes

both positive audio and counteraudio devices in the U.S. and

SERET

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overseas. BAST, described as "unscrupulous and untrust-

worthy", in know? to have attempted to contract with another

private detective for planting a remote-controlled bomb in the

headquarters of the Haiti Secret Police, and has been reported

to have undertaken similar extreme assignments for exile

groups from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (Based on

derogatory information on file, DCS, in March 1967, decided

against previouely contemplated contact with BAST as a

source of information on Asia.)

D. BAST, REDEX, and William W. TURNER of RAMPARIS

CA Staff has provided information that during January 1967,

William W. TURNER, who identified himself as a free-lance

writer, visited the offices of the Asia Foundation, requesting

information for a magazine article. He stated that he had

been asked by Sol Stern of New York to gather information for

an article in the New York Times. During his visit, however,

it became obvious that TURNER was primed to ask

questions

about the financing of the foundation, rather than its actual

purpose of activities. When TURNER concluded the interview

he left a calling card with the firm name "REDEX-PACIFIC.

He explained he had to have new carde printed. TURNER,

reportedly dismissed from the FBI in 1961, is noted to have

authored an article in the November 1966 issue of RAMPARTS

Magazine in which he describes alleged wiretapping, sur-

reptitious entry, etc., performed by him while with the FBI.

Sol Stern, whom he claimed to represent, is assistant

managing editor of RAMPARTS Magazine.

E. Role of FURR and BAST in CIA Meeting of Exile

(The foregoing has attempted to detail the contact uf NOVEL

with FURR, FURR's connection with BAST, and a possible

connection between BAST's organization and RAMPARTS.

The following indicates the only CIA involvement in the chain

which might be exploited in subsequent attempts tu link CIA

iu the entire affair in quertion.)

15-4

On 29 April 1963, Robert E. Owen, then Chief, WE/3 and

now of Paris Station, directed a memorandum to the Chief,

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WH/6 in which he documented a conversation he had on

27 April 1963, with Raymond CASSAGNOL, an anti-Duvalier

exile from Haiti. In the memorandum he relates that the

conversation took place in the home of Richard L. BAST

whom Owen had met through a neighbor, Lloyd FURR.

The memorandum relates CASSAGNOL's background, family,

political stance, etc.

Reported as significant by Owen ie a

statement by BAST that the following week BAST would be

sending a shipload of arms to a CASSAGNOL-affiliated group

in the Dominican Republic. Owen noted: "Raymond

CASSAGNOL gives appearance of thinking well of Richard

BAST. According to CASSAGNOL, his brother, Jacques,

also knows BAST and respects him. Thus BAST, in spite of

certain personal shortcomings from the intelligence standpoint,

does represent an established channel to at least one segment

of the Haitian opposition to Duvalier. Since according to his

own statement, BAST is supplying arms to CASSAGNOL'

groups, further transactions of this type via BAST presumably

would not be difficult to arrange." He also provided a detailed

information on what he learned of BAST, noting that BAST had

mentioned Dominican distrust of State and AID and the fact that

"CIA double-crossed them'' (the Dominicane).

An FBI report on BAST dated 19 June 1963 reports that Owen,

"Foreign Service Reserve Officer, USDS"' (his cover) had

reported 16 May 1963 his attendance at dinner at BAST'e home

on 27 April 1963. Owen told of his meeting with CASSAGNOL,

BAST'e intention to sell arms to the Dominican Republic and

Haitian exiles, etc. He also reports that on 7 May 1963, BASI

asked him to perform some translation work. The translation,

he stated, related to BAST giving a power of attorney to one

Luis MORENO Martinez of the Dominican Republic to prepare

documentation for legal establishment of REDEX CORPORATION,

C POR A, a DR branch of BAST's firm.

According to Owen,

40% of the stock was to be held by the head of the DR National

Security Agency, the head of the DR secret police, and an

individual well-connected with Dominican Republic police and

intelligence groups. BAST is also noted to have told Owen

of an offer BAST had made to "bug" the office of the Dominican

SECRETUGS GLY

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SECKENEVES ONLI

Secretary of State for the Armed Forces on behalf of Juan

Bosch, BAST did not indicate to Owen i had performed

the job.

(There is no record of a clearance having been issued for

utilization of Richard L. BAST or REDEX. )

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