ROSELLI: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
Agency: SSCIA
Originator: SSCIA
Document date: 00/00/1976
Document type: REPORT

## Page 1

JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Date:

7/7/2015

Agency Information

AGENCY:

RECORD NUMBER:

RECORD SERIES :

SSCIA

157-10014-10236

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS OF THE CHURCH COMMITTEE

AGENCY FILE NUMBER: 07-M-141

Document Information

ORIGINATOR:

FROM:

TO :

TITLE:

SSCIA

ROSELLI: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

Released under the John

F. Kennedi

Assassination Records

Collection Act of 1992

144 USC 2107 Notel.

Case#:NW 53244 Date:

26-14-2017

DATE: 00/00/1976

PAGES:

43

SUBJECTS :

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

TRAFFICANTE, SANTO

ROSSELLI, JOHN

ORGANIZED CRIME

DOCUMENT TYPE: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION : Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS: 1B; 1C

CURRENT STATUS: Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 03/21/2000

OPENING CRITERIA:

COMMENTS :

v9.1

HH 53244

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Page :

Page

08/08/95

1

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION. FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY

RECORD NUMBER

RECORDS

SERIES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

SSCIA

157-10014-10236

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS OF THE CHURCH COMMITTEE

: 07-M-141

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR

SSCIA

FROM

TO

TITLE : ROSELLI: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

DATE

: 00/00/76

PAGES

: 43

SUBJECTS : ROSSELLI, JOHN

ORGANIZED CRIME

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

TRAFFICANTE, SANTO

DOCUMENT TYPE : REPORT

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

RESTRICTIONS : REFERRED

CURRENT STATUS : POSTPONED IN FULL

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 01/21/99

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENT'S :

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

HH 53244 DocId: 32423624

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ntwah stmgiene iy

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MEMORANDUM

To: Mike Madigan

From: Ed Greissing

Date: Sept. 16, 1976

Subject: Review of CIA documents presented the SCI by Jack Anderson

The documents recently received by this Committee, from

Anderson, had previously been reviewed by the Church Committee staff.

The documents appear to be a few of those requested for FOIA review

by David Belin. It is my understanding,

after these documents were

declassified, David Belin furnished copies to both David Martin (AP)

and Jack Anderson.

The Church Committee was permitted to review the entire Oswald

201 file, the AMLASH file, Garrison files and selected Office of

The Committee primarily concerned itself with

early period of the investigation (November 1963 - October 1964), as

it believed the information

to be received from this

to be more relevant in evaluating the performance of the intelligence

agencies with respect to their investigation.

Dan Niescher, the Church Committee contact at the CIA,was the

individual responsible for the declassification of documents

relating

to the assassination of President Kennedy. During this

declassification process, Dan Niescher consulted the Committee staff

to make sure that we were aware of certain documents. In addition,

Mr. Kaleras had given the staff unlimited access to all files we

believed necessary to conduct our investigation.

Yet, the possibility still remains that the staff was not

shown everything. The CIA has maintained throughout that the Oswald

201 file was a complete compilation of the material related to the

who Lee Harvey Oswald was, and what he was

assassination of President Kennedy. Howeve doing are

their files. The Oswald 201 does not attempt to question Oswald's

connection with both pro-Caatro and anti-Castro groups.or any of

the AMLASH information.

ation relating to CIA/U.S. Government attempts to assassinate Fidel

Castro.

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~ 11

Roscellifie

/.m.

Lassreeque

17/27/16

No, I can't either confirm or deny it.

We

are prohibited

at staff level from discussing any Committee business.

I apologize for not being able to help you.

You know the

ground rules and they haven't changed. Right.

..

I can't say. I don't know. You indicated that you :

Are you still working Rosselli? You getting anywhere?

You got a pretty good source on that? On the fact that

they were having dinner together on many occasions before

he was murdered?

..

I just can't help you because of the ground rules. I'd

like to have a copy of your piece, or two,

for me and

Inderfurth here. Just drop a copy in the mail and I'll

appreciate it.

You mean people like .

Trafficante?

Well, I think . .

• people like

...

Well, I can't discuss whether or not such a meeting took

place. I can't tell you whether you're right or wrong.

...

Now when you talk about Trafficante you don't need to be

NH 53244 DocId: 32423624 Page 5

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## Page 6

cautioned. You know them as well as I do.

...

Well, as far as our rules are concerned, it wouldn't

make any difference if Trafficante was here. It wouldn't

make any difference in our ability to confirm or deny that.

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Miamu

Trafficante Made Secret Appearance

At Senate Investigation, Sources Say

By RON LaBRECQUE

sought to determine whether the

murders of the two men were con-

nected in any way with their testi-

mony or potential testimony before

crime boss. Santos Trafficante of

Tampa and Miami, made a secret,

four-hour October appearance be-

fore the Senate Intelligence Com:

mittee to answer questions about

his tole in a CIA assassination plot.

investigation

Trafficante, 62, had not previ-

ously been questioned by the com-

mittee or its staff in the two-year-

old investigation of CIA activities.

Of the three Mafia figures in-

volved in the early 1960s plot to

kill Cuban Premier Fidel Castro,

only Trafficante is still alive. Both

and John Rosselli

were murdered within the last 16

GIANCANA, WHO was a Mafia•

boss in Chicago for many years.

was killed. in June 1975. at the

were preparing to contact him. The

gun used to kill Giancana, found

from. Giancana's

traced to a Miami gunshop, but the

trail stopped there.

Investigators said the gun was

part of a shipment purchased in

1965 by the Tamiami Gun Shop.

but there are no records to indicate

where it went from there, accord-

John Rosselli

... dined with Trafficante

The murders are unsolved.

INVESTIGATORS

that Trafficante had dinner with

Rosselli at The Landings, a Fort

Lauderdale restaurant, in mid-July,

less than two weeks before Rossel-

740 NE 155th St. in North Dade,

could not be reached for comment.

Trafficante was identified as the

head of a South Florida Mafia fam-

ily in testimony in 1963 before a

stuffed in an oil drum, floated to

the surface of Dumfoundling Bay

U.S. Senate subcommittee.'

the first week of August.

HIS ATTORNEY, Henry Gonza-

Trafficante reportedly has told

police that the July dinner with

Rosselli - as well as several other

meetings previously at the Cordoba

Rosselli, whose most

Mafia days were reportedly in the

1950s and early 1960s in Las Vegas

and Los Angeles, did appear before

the committee at least three times

in the 12 months before his death.

Washington,

has. kept a tight clamp on comment

about the investigation, and only

one member, Robert

(R., Vt.), acknowledged the Traffi-

cante session, saying

Washington, according to sources,

would not comment on either the

Senate appearance or Trafficante's

speak of was in front of the com-

owned by the husband of Rosselli's

When first asked

niece, according to police - were about the Senate

appearance, he

• Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii),

social events

said. "You realize you're treading

along with Sen. Howard Baker (R.,

source said that

Tenn.) pressured for Justice

- Investigators

have centered their efforts on trac-

partment and FBI involvement in

tioned previously by the committee

the Rosselli murder case, said

cante's associates at the time of

Rosselli's disappearance, a soured

because his role in the plot had

been considered

"secondary."

Interest was renewed in the plot

Traffirante. whn the share thre

after Rosselli's death. Investigators

A PRIME interest of the commit-

tee has been possible links between

the CIA Castro plotting and the as

sassination of John F. Kennedy.

Revelations of the Senate commit-

tee were a key factor in the cre

ation of the new House of Repre

investigation,

taking a new look at the JFK mur

Trafficante reportedly has told

investigators that he first met Ros

selli about 1956. It was in the early

ment officia estimated that a 5e-

Tita opertion run. by Trafficante and

his brother netted $2 million annu-

Trafficante was a major gatt

bling figure in pre-Castro Havana,

wages teard a casimilas, it

million was bet nightly in all the

Mafia-run casinos in Havana. The

when. Castro

Rosselli was. the first of the

three Mafia figures to be recruited

by the CIA in 1960 in its plot to as

sassinate Castro.

IN A CIA memo quoted in an tu

terim report of the committee &

year ago, it was said that Traffi-

cante's role was to "serve as a cout.

and make arrange

ments there."

Rosselli told his CIA liaison that

"Trafficante

leading figure in the Cuban exile

plish the amiss: atiabie ton inem

nal CIA investigation in 1967 "sug

gests that this

been receiving funds from Traffi-

cante and other racketeers intereste

ed in securing

after the overthrow of Castro."

HH

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## Page 8

Roselli Probe

BY RON LIBRECQUE

#: +18185844165918r

Sen:-Gary Fian (D., Colo,) inade

an unsanounced trip-to

Miami Friday for a private mesting with homicide delectives to

underscore the strong interest of the Senate Select Intelligence

Cominittee in sbe Juhn. Roselli murder intestigation and to insue.

that federal agencies cooperste with local police.

The FBI was ordered Into the case last week by quornéy

General Edward Levi alter pressure from the Senate committee.

"We're not here to solve the crime," Han said, "we want to

find out if there is any connection

belween (Rosell's) death and

dis pestimony before the Committee

MARÍ SAID he also hopEd to:

- mee; with loes! Officials of the FBI

and Immigration and Naturaliza

Lion Senice, i"

Rosali, is, organized crime de:

ure wla lesifird

three times ber

fuse the Sonale Inleiligense: Coin,

mittee in the post year

Coast his

reciuitment do the ClA in a plos lo

Kill tarl Costa, Has louis

sulled in an oil

drum frating

in Dumfoundling

Eas.

Manade is dear That the Jolel

•Virance Commitice

scarined

sivui Me possibility thät Renalis

cath is roansared to his tastimo..

ny; silhough he did say there

•evidence: indleating.

" Rose)li

might have been kilied lo prevent

him toro isthing about otbai cla

To hire tim come bart"

•HUt thaT? nOt 10 494

we wanton't

Lave called bica back it some rejoi

But it souls he teaching io may

He hot wine hidications!:he had:

impon los Densedix

sho

Flast restfied, in april, zenewed In.

selligence Commitite interest in the

Chicago organized srire

• Beader, Sam (Moro) Giancars,

incanaimes shot in death in.

his!

home so. June

or 3975, just

1.88

liste shen Intelligence Commitite

investigaigs were aracking him

Accompanging Hart Friday Has

•Itichael Madigan, a' commince al.:

forty who, in June of 1975, wes

-preparing to intervien

Gianesha

shout his insolement sith Rosell:

Hide 8d

In the Cauro ploi

Giznians and Fainps Giganized

trime- ligure

Santo -Trallicsole

plaged

"zecompanying rolts". in.

the ClA-Inspired Casio

tian not another commitire sialt

member traveling with Her said

ie:17:9

The saurmititt bad also.

eitá"

subpending

Trafficeste.

the

start forerugaior said. out

Tralfi:

cante sia nestr called because they

¿Gopinilee considered Rosollis les

Limony tbe most important.

202112

•CHICAGO-AREA

investigators

thai

an internal ganglande

struggle.

Nevertheless. Hart sold The Fier.

Friday

145l6÷7059)115

death, Troubling questions" stait.

siancanad murott linger.

-Trip Co-

incidentis

-to

siring Item.

saltes

Togetheir said

3$72

presidential tempaign bianditi suri

George Messerm:

asked il de was glisted with:

fibe

conclusions

of

1ti21 fiancans's death mes noi con-

necled

1o his Extential

destinony:

the "commitlet,

Mari said:

There is

toé' absence of and corres:

Borating dvidence which piglenis

STar 1o Fage 2a Cold

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Visits Local

Officials

Pit

us tróm moving beyoso epoo

JOR.

Medigan said the widespresd re

its aer Gieneanas denth Tha

vis appetrance before the commit

see sets trininent tiere iat irve.

That further indicates, he agrend.

this Ginuchae's dents sas not dio

rectly relatid to his peat ClA asgi?

Sran

number the

salsa" Madigan sajd Fraay. We

nod some differity tracing him

LorD in Housen labere Glancasa

Had are in the impitell It had

taeo decided thel I fias going to

interview him to ere. whether

would be iworth it to call him as a

srinese, He bird not born eratsored

nand, Misdican said.

Forel!,

sita bad been subpa

mand, did terrify ser the find tima

sour doya afier Giancora wes shot

That connuttis was headed ty

Sen, Took Cauren and des since

men replacnd by a samily lurmed

committee mested by Sen. Dagiel

incage (D., FisH all) And Sea. How's

and Biker (R,

Tear.): 20 iis final

Y93.0T4

shar: foruer! committee:

strongig urged the new committee

do contique the investigation of co

ven ciA notivity as weil as coge:

Inctions estaten the Castro reses.

nation plot and she assassinaton of

Carollas Body Biontes lo the sure

two of llew jork Herhor olf Sta-

len Jalard on Aug.

4, bla prady:

weared do a poolecked chain' and

ücigiles

By two.15-jound bont

Anchore.

rchce nuid no dad besi

lates, parsibly by

atrangling. ac

cordlag to Inventichors here.

York. City detclives

that Cartie "knew Glencana bit:

licy have not. been able 10: pia:

down e motlie in his deals.

The Washingion Star, quoting en

unidentitled 'FBl source,

reportedio

that. Coralla had met with Roselil'

Ta Chiego about two moath so,

MAKI SAID ERLDAY there aTe.

Gash uncere cred questions alert

Lee Marty conchis motive" paro

ticulary seisting to the so-called

705-145110

on Castro's lite.

#& menner. or te lonner com

mitte and he isalo a memoto ol.

the new Intelligence Cormittce

did

"Rosell as very candid but bes

noircluster. icinctios"

FEN FRATA

dy they bive four 3o ida be

Twines. Rosali and Eugene M. Car-

dealer mith repained organized

Mime topstations nibo died under

drumancEs mysteriously cried:'

tenterte Rosell's dista

Carele

S7,BIS I6P10S.11

July to,

siss Met ties by

Mie sirie, la Piration mith stom

"tue died tired sor tirce years.

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Roselli Probe

BY RON LIBRECQUE

#+186544101980

Sen,-Gary Hart (D., Colo.) trade an unannounced srip to

Miami Friday for a private mesting with homicide delectives 1ọ

underscore the strong interest of the Senate Salect Intelligence

Cominittee in abe John Rosell murder intesilgation and to insure

shat federal agencies cooperate with local police.

The FBI wes ordered Into the case last weck by duorney

General Edward Levi after pressure from the Senate committee.

"We're noi here to solve the crime,

* Hart said. "we want to

'find out if there is any connettion belicen (Rosell's) death and

ris lestimony pelore the Committee".

MART SAID he also hopEd to

- mee: with local officials of the FBI

and linmigration

Lion Sonice, i.

and

Naturaliza

lesiified

three times her

the

Sandie

inteligence. Comm

Inütite in the

FaSt

¿ront his

recruitment So the ClA in a aloi lo

Kill Fior Carto. was found

seed

trio seats

"g0,

stufied in

ficating

in

Dunfoundling

225.

Hart snade it

sea; That the Totel;

liganice

Commi

із

slove the jessibility

cosmined

Chat Rosailis

death is

connected so his testimo:"

gh be sid

sad there

no

• evidence indicating

"Rove)li

might

him

have been killed do preveni

Talking about othe clA

urgebird crime paces.

"I know of no pians

Hart tid

"But thel's noi lo say

we winton't

Have cillad hira back if some remi

But i scale teachine to say

we hit wine hidication 1: he had

or vei deratire fled evidence.

imporn 101s Boarder

FUTHE USUADER of Reselli

who.

last restlied in April, jenewed In-

Telligence Commilite interesi in the

megibal Chicago gizanized. drone

Beader Sam (Mond) Giancano,

ancong. ties. shot io

death in.

his?

home: foi: June of 3975; just a

.18

/ lintié shen Intelligence Commitite

investigaiors sere gracking him

• dosa....

Accompanying Hart Friday Was

"nichath Madigan, a'comminice st-:

•sorney who, in June of 1975, wes

preparing

1o interview Giantana

about bls insolvemeni wilh Roselil:

in the Cauro plon

Gizhians and Famps ürgentzed

crime. figure Santo -Tralficable

piaged

"companying rolts. in

ihe ClA Inspired Cosiro essarana.

ron plot, ancher commitire stall

minter orgaveling wish fart said

eitd".

sutperring

Trafliceste, she

stall Jarefigator said, but Tralfi-

carte sita never caled bycause te

"Gusimiter considered Roseli's tes-

uniony ube most important.

•CHICAGO-AREA

investigators

•00p0)010

thai

Glancana's deatbe

was sint of an internal ganglande

istruggle

diesertheless, Hart told The Fier:

-sid

Friday'

that: gilb

•Rosalis

deech, Troubline questons" sinin

•The co

tenin to sirine them

selves

sagriberi

Isid

he

1472

presidential densign manager fort

Gorer SieGoverti.

¡ached it de des solicied with

¿the conclusions

ef

investigiors

that fiancars's death fies noi con

intoled lo his jutential testinors.

shofare she commitits,

Hart maid

I'chare is che'sbarace of anti corro

borating.

Evidence which erritais

Jor 10 Tige 26 CoL 6

174 53244

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HIH

53244

Visits Local

Officials

S FROM PAGE 10 ::

is from montre beyond poole

Medican said the tidespresa te

soils. ater Giencana's detth

istset

is sarcerance bolore le conunit

That Hurtser

that Girucane's dest

rectly related 1o tus pust CLA astri?

station 'E

HE FINALLY SO% Gasces

home

number ithe dej her wast

filled," Madigan sajo Friaas."

hoo some differly tracking him

1o4n in fouron labore Glancana

hao sea in the bosellell lt bao

bain decidra tost i dias going to

Torald be month it to call him a &

get and tre had bot beta subpe

nand, Mindigan said.

168 1903 51278

aned to terin for the first time

Lor deye after Giansara was shor

That sororitire was beaded by

So, Mak Cannah and des since

•anen replaced by a assily sormed

committee rested by Son. Diniel

inTayE (D. FaHai) And Ses. How-

ard Biker IR

Tean.). in its final

'that foratr! committee,

strongiy urged she new committe

do continue lhe investigation os co

sort CiA satirit is Hell as opga,

sections barteen the Castro disas.

nation plat and she erassination of

¿ohn F. Kentids

MAKT SAID FAIDAY tere ate

ash'ununastered questions slurat

Inte balty canalis motive, paro.

ticularly

relailae-to the focailed

sginis

(Hare intervinard' Roselü twice

tmember:@f.the.lormer.com

mitte and de 1alo0 a senato ol.

tine new Intellignce Committee

"Rosell sies very caodid but de:

Commeir investenon fall De

day this have sound so se

"'sweed Roseli and Eugent M. Car-

organized

Lime tersections sino died under

renia to Rosell's desta

Cariali, 37.

nas repents airs

fag hy bit wils

23, the

saine day Possib eas ist sita by

"He had liusd sor thace years

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CarattR'e body fiouted lo the bus..

sane of tien York Fierhor oif Sta-

let sland on Aug. 4, mla bedy.

waroyed in & prolocked cisin and

weighted. by

nenore. Falce mud no dad beri

vrangled Ronolilhed bees asphys

lated, parsthly by strangling, ac-

curing 10 iverigators here.

New York. Cliy deteclives

that Caratla Menew Glancana" But:

Thee have not. been

45e 10: pin:

'down e motive in his death.

The Washingion Star, quoting en

• unidentilled 'FBl source, reported.

'Unt Carnila" had met with Rosell'

In Chleago about two moathe go.

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## Page 12

Roselli Probe

BY RON ISBRECQUE"

Garj' Piart (D., Colo,) made an unannounced trip-to

Miami Friday for a private mesting with homicide delectives 1o

underscore the strong interest. of. the Senate Select Intelligence

committee wabe Juan Reselli murder investigation and to insure.

that lederal agencies cooperate with local police..

The FBI was ordered Inlo the case last week by Anorney:

General Edward Levi alter pressure from the Senale committee:

"We're not here to solve the crime.". Hart said, "we want to

fird out is there is any connettion between (Roselli's) death and:

his testimony felore the Committee"

HARÍ SAID he also hopEd 1ó:

-,

mee; with loss! Ollicials of the FBI

and

Immigration

tion Sonice. it

and sauralias

Resolli.

Or gENiREd

RiTE

crime ste

lesiifico

jese the

Sonale

three times bar

in

Inleiligense Come

P35t

dear about his

reciuitment ès the diA in a pior lo?

Kill Fidel Croco,

wigs found

seed

BrUin floating

Bay.

in

Dunifoundling

Heft snide is dea: that the intel.

•lisence

Commitice

cosmorned

aáui the rasibility that Roselis

dinih is conneered to his testimo.

ay, aithough he'did

say, there sias

•evidence indicating.

Repelli

mighe have seen killed lo prevent

him

Irtra

islking about otber, ClA

= crgenired crime paces.

a know of no plans shriver.

1ó here tim come bast." Fart icid

"But that's noi do say we wonton't?

have

called hira back it somt new;

Titis arse.

"But it

would

Traching ic say

we had time lidicaton roh: had:

or vei serufied. alari evidence

important to us" bergaida?

FU THE MURDER Of ROSel.

whor

last restified, in April, jenewed In.

telligence Commitite interest jo the

ente a Chicago diesnized, srirne

Beader Sam (liano) Giancars,

Gt.

InCana tes shot 10

death in, his"

Thome shen me

or 1975, just

.13

dine spien Intelligence

Commitite

instigaloss were wracking him

Accompanting Hart Friday Was"

richie Madigan, a commise al-1

sorts who, in June ol 1975, N'1s

артерагіов

so intersies' Giantana"

sbour his insolvement wilb Rosell

In the Casro plon

•Giantans and Famps organized

crime. figure

Santo -TralficEDie

played

"accompanying tolts" in

essassina...

the c, ani come ease siste

memies traveling with Har

•Ise isirmitire bad also "consid.

eit!".

SUNDERRiNg

Trafficeale.

the

siall jo-gingalor

caid. bur

Tralti-

conte wii never called because the

Commitier consideged Roseli's tes

timony tbe most important.

to: it

• CHICAGO-AREA

investigalors

cap0lц0n

thai

Giancena's: deetbo!

i was part of an internal ganglande

.??:

F

terertheless, Hart sold' The Her;

eld Friday

that with Rosali's

desth, Troubling questions" spoint:

DiEncanad murder linger.

"The co

incidentis

i senin -to siring them.

selves

the

3472

l presidential campaign miandies leisa

¡uhe conclusions os intactigaiois

thal Giarcans's death n'a, noi con-"

nailed 10

his potential destinong:

store the commitlet, Har said

'there is it' aborace of and corro.

borating evidence which preveris

Tura 1o Foge 28 Col S

nary di.

sinceritise:.

NW 53244

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## Page 13

Visits Local

Officials

Piz

FROM PAGEID :

?:!.

Hon

Madigan said the sidespresd te

suits diet diencing's death that

rectly. related so his psor CLA assai?

HW 53244

had sume willerty tracking him

HowD in fouron (ybore Glandesa

Died decord thel i mies going so

interviam him to see. uhtther iti

scold be worth it to call him so e

siless, We had sot been moatscred

get ard me. hid not been sube

nand," sadlean said

sia bad taus subso

anned, did iratin lei the first time

sour dayd aller Gianeona sies shor

That cornittis was headed by

Sen, Wank Canich and Res since

"Hen replaced dy a baily jurmad

commitice iested by Sen. Daniel

insaya (D. Mistsil) and Ses. How.

TraD.). in its final:

report

and Baker fe former committe

strongly urged the new comminice

so continue lie investigation of co

vart CiA Motivity is Hell as o0g0.

sactione berteen the Castro assari-

nation plot 2n1 she accessinaton of

John F. Kenttag.

MAKI SAID FRIDAY there are

Paun unuserstered questions alrat

ricularly selating-to the 1o-csilsd

"retaliatos liaone - shet Cartio

had JFK

IS BECAUSE SE CLARIP

1i. Rast interleurd Roselli twice

che.loner .com

tittie end he is also a member of.

the new Intelligence committee

*Rosell 2i2s very crodid out ben

1 commutes iarestros file for

dej' they here fourd so sick

ItAze RosEl end Eugest M. Car-

JEBIE ROCÈYLE, MO., REUQUE SULO

deal mith reported organired

"rime connections who died under

Penis to Rosell's deyta

Currela 37, Ras tered suits

Jag by bis wite es July 28, the

Me sier la planatoo aila spon

he had lied for tice years,

DooId: 32423624

Page 13

Capilla's body floated to the sure.

Sace of New York Fessor off Sta-

ters Island on Aus. 4, bla body:

winned in & poolached chain and

weighire oy two. 15-jound bont

nchors. Tehee nuio to dad berr

trangled. Bosolil hed Dier asahid

Inted, arrathly by strangllng, aca

coralag 10 Inverlicators here.

Nor York. City deirchloes

that 6352118

but:

they have not. been able

down a motive in his death. 0: pin;

The Washington Star, quoting an

waldentifled "Ful source, reported.

1 Unt Carrild had mot with Roselll'

Ma chiceso about two meathe go.

---

## Page 14

MEMORANDUM

To:

From:

Date:

Re:

Rick Inderfurth

Mike Madigan

August 13, 1976

Miami Interviews

I spoke with Senator Hart today about setting up Interviews

In Miami for Friday, August 20, In the Rosselli matter.

He will

be calling you about these arrangements.

I will try to have a subpoena for Santos Trafficante signed

by Senator Baker before he leaurs for the convention. We, how-

ever must obtain the approval of all or a majority of the

members of the Committee (under the Rules) to issue the subpoena.

Therefore, I have asked Martha to poll members on two questions:

(1) Authority to issue a subpoena for

Trafficante;

(2) Authority for Senator Hart to disclose

to the Miami police Investigators in the Rosselli

ase those portions of the classified Rosselli

related transcripts which he deems relevant to the

murder investigation.

In case we miss connections, the relevant people involved are:

B1l1 Lynch -- head of the Justice Organized

Crime Section, telephone number 739-3516 (he should

help us locate Trafficante and perhaps have a

WH 53244 DocId: 32423624 Page 14

---

## Page 15

- 2-

suggestion as to how best to serve him with a

subpoena);

(2) Detectives Wolf and Zatrepallek -- Dade

County Shertff's Office, telephone number 305-547-7456

(they are the detectives investigating the Rosselli

murder for the locals). (I have been putting them

off about whether they can have access to the

transcripts -- you need to talk to Bill Miller and

Gary about this);

(3) Paul Daly -- you may have to go

through

him if we need the FBI to locate Trafficante. :

By the time you return I will have taken preparatory stepa

to set up interviews with the Miami police people as well as

begun an effort to locate Trafficante. After talking with Gary

you will need to follow up and confirm all these next week as I

will be in Kansas City from Monday through Thursday. I will be

flying from Kansas City to Miami on Thursday night for the

interviews on Friday. You can reach me through the numbers

that either Bill Miller or Marie has. We need to talk at some

point next week to confirm all this.

WH 53244 DocId: 32123624 Paye 15

---

## Page 16

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Michael Madigan

August 13, 1976

I recently discussed with Agent Richard Taylor of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation my recollections of pre-

testimony interviews with Mr. John Rosselli prior to Rosselll's

testifying under oath in June of 1975. It is my recollection

that there were several meetings between myself, as counsel for

the Committee, and Rosselli and his attorneys. Rosselli and hia

attorneys expressed. on numerous occasions fear for the well-being

of Rosselli. They insisted and the Committee agreed that I

would conduct interviews prior to the sworn testimony at a

location away from the Senate so as to avoid any publicity.

During these interviews Rosselll, on more than one occasion,

stated that he was taking a great risk in testifying. He was

worried about retallation and particularly worrled about his

relatives: with whom he was living in Florida. I cannot recall

Rosselll specifying exactly who he was most afraid of, but he

declined to testify about Glancana (until after Giancana's death),

refused to identify any of the Cubans who were involved in

assassination plots, and was reluctant to mention Santos

Trafficante by name. In fact, I cannot recall Rosselli ever

mentioning Trafficante by name and only very vaguely responding

to questions if the questioner used the name Trafficante.

53244 DocId?32423624 Page 16

---

## Page 17

-2-

It Is my recollection that on at least one occasion, in

the presence of Senator Howard H. Baker, Jt., Rosselli told

the Senator that he, Rosselll,, was concerned for his safety and

his life and that he was risking his well-being by testifying

before the Committee. I am uncertain in my recollection as to

whether that conversation took place up in the Senate interview

room or elsewhere.

Throughout his testimony Rosselli declined to give his

exact address in Florida for reasons of safety. It is also my:

recollection that Rosselli's demeanor was visibly affected

whenever testimony of interview focused or attempted to focus

on Santos Trafficante.

HH 53244

DocId: 32423624

Page

17

---

## Page 18

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Michael Madigan

August 13, 1976

I recently discussed with Agent Richard Taylor of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation my recollections of pre-

testimony interviews with Mr. John Rosselli prior to Rosselli's

testifying under oath in June of 1975. It is my recollection

that there were several meetings between myself, as counsel for

the Committee, and Rosselli and his attorneys. Rosselli and his

attorneys expressed on numerous occasions fear for the well-being

of Rosselli. They insisted and the Committee agreed that I

would conduct interviews prior to the sworn testimony at a

location away from the Senate so as to avoid any publicity.

During these interviews Rosselli, on more than one occasion,

stated that he was taking a great risk in testifying. He was

worried about retaliation and particularly worried about his

relatives with whom he was living in Florida. I cannot recall

Rosselli specifying exactly who he was most afraid of, but he

declined tO testify about Glancana (until after Giancana's death),

refused to identify any of the Cubans who were involved in

assassination plots, and was reluctant to mention Santos

Trafficante by name. In fact, I cannot recall Rosselli ever

mentioning Trafficante by name and only very vaguely responding

to questions if the questioner used the name Trafficante.

53244

DocId: 32123624 Page 18

---

## Page 19

- 2-

It 1s my recollection that on at least one occasion, in

the presence of Senator howard H. Baker, JI., Rosselli told

the Senator that he, Rosselll, was concerned for his safety and

his life and that he was risking his well-being by testifying

before the Committee. I am uncertain in my recollection as to :

whether that conversation took place up in

the Senate interview

room or elsewhere.

Throughout his testimony Rosselli declined to give his

exact address in Florida for reasons of safety. It 18 also my

recollection that Rogselli's demeanor was visibly affected

whenever testimony or interview focused or attempted to focus

on Santos Trafficante.

1# 53244 DocId:32423624 Page 19

---

## Page 20

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Michael Madigan

August 13, 1976

I recently discussed with Agent Richard Taylor of the

Federal bureau of Investigation my recollections of pre-

testimony Interviews with Mr. John Rosselli prior to Rosselli's

testifying under oath in June of 1975. It 1s my recollection

that there were several meetings between myself, as counsel for

the Committee, and Rosselli and his attorneys. Rosselli and his

attorneys expressed on numerous occasions fear for the well-being

of Rosselll. They insisted and the Committee agreed that I

would conduct interviews prior to the sworn testimony at a

location away from the Senate so as to avoid any publicity.

During these interviews Rosselli, on more than one occasion,

stated that he was taking a great risk in testifying. He was

worried about retaliation and particularly worried about his

relatives with whom he was living in Florida. I cannot recall

Rosselll specifying exactly who he was most afraid of, but he

declined to testify about Glancana (until after Giancana's death),

refused to identify any of the Cubans who were involved in

assassination plots, and was

reluctant to mention Santos

Trafficante by name. In fact, I cannot recall Rosselli ever

nentioning Trafficante by name and only very vaguely responding

to questions if the questioner used the name Irafficante.

53244 DocIal 32423624 Pate 20

---

## Page 21

- 2-

It is my recollection that on at least one occasion, in

the presence of Senator howard H. Baker, JI., Rosselli told

the Senator that he, Rosselli, was concerned for his safety and

his life and that he was risking his well-being by testifying

before the Cormittee. I am uncertain in my recollection as to

whether that conversation took place up in the Senate interview

room or elsewhere.

Throughout his testinony Rosselli declined to give his

exact address in Florida for reasons of safety. It is also my.

recollection that Rosselli's demeanor was visibly affected

whenever testimony or interview focused or attempted to focus

or Santos Trafficante.

HN 53244

DocId: 32423624

Page 21

---

## Page 22

MEMORANDUM

• To:

From:

Date:

Re:

Rick Inderfurth

Mike Madigan

August 13, 1976

Miami Interviews

I spoke with Senator Hart today about setting up interviews

in Miami for Friday, August 20, in the Rosselli matter. He will

be calling you about these arrangements.

I will try to have a subpoena for Santos Trafficante signed

by Senator Baker before he leaves for the convention. We, how-

ever must obtain the approval of all or a majority of the

members of the Committee (under the Rules) to issue the subpoena.

Therefore, I have asked Martha to poll members on two questions:

(1) Authority

to issue a subpoena for

Trafficante;

(2) Authority for Senator Hart to disclose.

to the Miami police investigators in the Rosselli

case those portions of the classified Rosselli

related transcripts which he deems relevant to the

murder investigation.

In case we miss connections, the relevant people involved are:

(1) Bill Lynch -- head of the Justice Organized

Crime Section, telephone number 739-3516 (he should

help us locate Trafficante and perhaps have a

HN 93244

DocId.32423624 Page 22

---

## Page 23

- 2-

suggestion as

to how best to serve him with a

subpoena);

(2) Detectives Wolf and Zatrepallek -- Dade

County Sheriff's Office, telephone number 305-547-7456

(they are the detectives investigating the Rosselli

murder for the locals). (I have been putting them

off about whether they can have access to the

transcripts -- you need to talk to Bill Miller and

Gary about this);

(3) Paul Daly -- you may have to go through

him if we need the FBI to locate Trafficante.

By the time you return I will have taken preparatory steps

to set up interviews with the Miami police people as well as

begun an effort to locate Irafficante. After talking with Gary

you will need to follow up and confirm all these next week as I

will be in Kansas City from Monday through Thursday. I will be

flying from Kansas City to Miami on Thursday night for the

interviews on Friday. You can reach me through the numbers

that either Bill Miller or Marie has. We need to talk at some

point next week to confirm all this.

NW 53244 DooId: 32423624

Page 23

---

## Page 24

Rossell's Body Found in Floating Drum

for the (

THE AT

a 10 be

time tap site to the

Fer

CIA

8385

sans

DO

spbs

o Lat

to

bode

Ro

ade

---

## Page 25

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

TITE WASUINGTON POST Monday, Jun, 18, 19i8

B7

6 Attempts to Kill Castro Laid to CIA

By Juck Anderson

for before the motley invad. iale against President Ken• complele with secret trysts at

ers landed on the island. Their nedy.

glitlering Miaml Beach holels

Locked in the darkest re-

arrival was expected to louch

To set up the Castro assassi- and midnight powerboat

cesses of the Central Intelll-

off a general uprising, which nation, the ClA enlisted Rob. dashes to arcret landing spots

gence Agency is the story of

six

assassination

attempts

the Communist militia would erent will shadowy contacts,

FBi on the Cuban coast. Once, no-

have had more trouble putling

selll's boat was shot out from. i

agalnst Cuba's Fidel Castro.

who had handled other under-

For 10 years, only a few key

down without'the charismatic

under him.

cover assignments for the ClA

For the first try, the ClA

people have known the terri-

Castro to lead them.

out of his Washington public

furnished Roselll with speclil.?

ble secret. They have sworn

After the first attempt

relations office.

He later

poison capsules to allp Inlo!

never to talk. Yet we have

failed, five more assassination

moved to Las Vegas to head

Castro's food. The polson wns

learned the details from

up billionaire Howard Hughes'

sources whose credentials are

teams were sent to Cuba. The

supposed to take three days to

Nevada operations

beyond question.

last team reportedly made it

act. By the time d'astro died,

Maheu recruited John Ro

his system would throw off all

We spoke lo John McCone,

to a rooftop within shooting

selli, a ruggedly handsome

traces of the poison, so lie

who headed the CiA at the

distance of Castro before they

gambler with contacts in both

would appear to be the victim

time of the assassination at-

were apprehended. This hap-

the American and Cuban un-

of a natural il mysterlous ail.

tempts. He acknowledged the

pened around the last of Feb

derworls, Io arrange the as

ment.

Idea had been discussed inside

ruary or first of March, 1963.

sassination. The dapper, hawk-

Rosell arranged with

...;

the CIA but insisted it had

been

"rejected

Nine months later, P'rest.

faced Roselli, formerly mar-

alely." He vigorously denied

dent

gunned

Cuban, related to one of Cas.

immedi

Kennedy was

ried to movie actress June

tro's. cheis, to plant the deadly

down In Dallas by Lee Harvey

Lang, was a power in the

pellets in the dictator's food.

that the CIA had ever partici-

Oswald, a fanatic who pre-

movie industry until his con-

On March 13, 1061, Roselll de-

pated in any piot on Castro's

viously had agitaled for Cas-

viction with racketeer. Willle

Ilvered the capsules to his con.

lIlfe. Asked whether the at.

tro in New Orleans and had

Bioff in a million-dollar Holly-

tact at Miami Bench's glamor.

tempts could have been made made a mysterious trip to the wood labor shakedown. The

lous Fontainebleau Hotel.

with

his knowledge,

he re.

Cuban

Embassy in Mexico

CIA assigned two of Its most

A couple of weeks later, just

plied: "It could not have hap-

City.

trusted operatives, William

about the right time for the

pened."

Among those privy to the Harvey and James (Big Jim)

plot to have been carrico out

We have complete confl-

CIA conspiracy, there is still a ('Connell, to the hush-hush

a report out of Havana fairl

•dence,

however,

in ourn agging suspicion-unsup-murder misslon. Using phony

Castro

was Ill. But he is

sources.

ported

by the Warren Com- names, they accompanied Ro- covered before the Bay of Fig:

The plot to knock off Castro

mission's findings that Cas

selli on trips to Miami to line invasion on April 17, 1981.

began as part of the Bay of tro. became aware of the U.S. up the assassination teams.

•Four more attrmple ufo

Pies operation The Intent was plot upon his lifr and some.!

The full story reads like thei

In ellentnare the Cuban dicta-lhow recrulted Oswald lilal. script of a James Bond morie, made on Castro's life.

i 197i, Hell-Neclure Bindlesle 1.r

N :53211 DocId:32423624 Page 25

---

## Page 26

..e Washington Derry-Oo-Round

THE WASHINGTON

Castro Stalker Worked for the CIA

By Jock Anderson lich he Robert Mahen. a for. Ersolli with scadly prison!la still on the CIA payroll

The mystery man whom the her EEl agent, uno admitted capsules which

he tried linin admired to us a frin; met

shop seen figentil tie trill::

Central Intrilizonce dernestlo us that he had handird un-through a relative ol Carros to dircuss her CIl a din

assienments for the chef to plant in the dictator's Marey said he had a nich i

recruited to ascastinale Chhas Cll. He refund. however. in fond. later, marlamen armedigard" for Boselli and ril

Fidel Castro dus been laid we disure the decade This de too sri Did guered Belgian ri-lthe Friars Clul car a "1.

in the sick waid of the Los same Malcu, incidentaliy, whoifles auempted to Infiltrate rap."

Said Marrey:

•Ti

Anscles County jail.

He is hancisame. hawk faced! is now involved in a lesal hat close enough lo gun Castro

Friar's Club indictnient

itle nuer phantom hirinnaire

;down.

phony. Roselli had no more 1

John Roselli, once a

dashine Inward Hughes' Nevada oper.

All told, sir assas ination at. do isith that than I had.

figure around Hollywood and

ations.

tompls were marlo, the lait in

Rosali's laujors are n'

Las Vegas, now

a gray. 66-

Roselll as so flattered over the spring of 1063. Throush trying to eat cler t

jear-old inmate with a respira- being asked to perform a se-

out this period, Roselli worked their client, citing our stori.

cret mission for the U.S. gow. under the direct supervision ahout his secret CIA service.

Firearms Fiasco

ure" who walched over "the!

pocket and risked his neck to Jim) O'Connell.

Under pressure. from li

conccaled

interests

in

Las land the assassination teamsi

Vegas casinos of the Chicago on the Cuban coast.

Roselli's Reward

fircarms lobby, the Treasin

underworld."

Roselli

has

In James Bond fashion, he

The FBI which got wind of Department has failed in c

admitted

to, heid

whispered meetings in

the

has force a vital section of 11,

friends that he was a rum run-Aliami Beach hotels with Cu.

tried to pump Roselli for in-

1368 fcderal firearms act.

ner during the Roaring Twen.

hans willing lo make an at- formation. Rut he was sworn

The law sas passed ar

ties. Operating alone ile Eastltempt on Castro's life. Once. to silence by the ClA, and up!

Coast, he learnee how to evade he called on Chicago racket to this moment, he hasn't brothe murders of Sen. Role:

Kennedy and Dr. Martin '

Coast rivard cutters and po

¡hoss Sam Giancana to line up ken it.

The confidentiall

Meanwhile, the Justlce De.

ther King. It authorizes 1

name later became

files report that Giancana had

partment, as part of its crack-

Treasury Secretary to rem

linked with the biegest names

"zambling interest and an in-

orranized crime,

full reports of all firearms ar

in the Chicazo and Los Ange-

terest in the shrimp business tried to nail Roselli. The FBI ammunition sales.

les underworlds. He also de.

in. Cuba." However, the Chi.

discovered that his Chicago

For the tiro sears thai !'

veloped contacts in the Cuban caco gangster took

no direct

hirth records had been forged

law has been

In force,

underworld before Castro took| part in the assassination plot.

that his name was really Fi-

Treasury Departmont has i

over the lavana gambling ca.!

midnight

lippo Sacco and that he had

¡nored this sij provision. i:

dashes to Cuba with his hired

coine

to this country from

gun inclusirs has complaim

He had the

right back-

assassins in tisin powerboals.

Italy as a child. He was con-

would be a booktecpl...

ground for a hush-hush mis- Once a Cuban patrol ship|vicled for failing to register as nightmare.

federal governme

sion that the ClA was plan turned its guns on his darko an alien.

nine in 1061. As part of the

ened boat. tore a hole in the

He was also consleted for which sould have to comr

Bay ne fies invasion. the Clialholton and cank the boat fo conspiracy in rie card comestall the sales dia. bas

hoped 10 hnork dif Casiro andirelli was flahed nur of theiar.

exclusive been reluctant to spind

Casim milion it init er.t

leave Cuba läcierless.

waler be the niher brat, which i Erjar's Club.

Or Rosallis too ClA asso lennuices ant stifi to m

Rists Neck

ciales. Harves has now retired lain the frearms tiles.

Roseill was recruiled for the ported how the ClA furnished to Indianapolis and O'Connell!

HH 53244 • DocId: 32423624 Page 26

---

## Page 27

1975 JAck Modelson june Kelerse

Four and a half years ago, I broke a story that now is belatedly rocking

Washington. I reported that the Central Intelligence Agency had recruited two

Mafia figures, John Roselli and Sam Giancana, to assassinate Cuban Premier

Fidel Castro.

I tracked down Roselli and questioned him about the story. He had nothing

to say. He promised me, however, that he would give me his exclusive story

if he should ever be free to talk.

Yesterday, John Roselli told his story -- first, to the Senate Intelligence

Committee in secret session, then to me as he had promised four and a half

years ago.

Roselli is a dapper, hawk-faced man with a thatch of white hair. He has

been disciplined all his life to keep his mouth shut. His Mafia partner,

Sam Giancana, was slain before Senate investigators could serve him with

a subpoena.

So it was obviously painful for Roselli to talk. I promised I would make

clear that he revealed no names, except for the CIA contacts whose identities

the Senate already knew.

So here is Roselli's own account of a real-life "Mission Impossible" --

the attempt to kill Castro. It is a story of cash payments, poison pellets,

high-powered rifles and powerboat dashes to Cuba.

The plot against Castro, Roselli said, began in 1960 -- when Dwight

Eisenhower was President, Richard Nixon was Vice President and Allen Dulles

was the CIA chief.

Roselli was recruited in Los Angeles, he said, by Robert Maheu, then an

aide to billionaire Howard Hughes. Previously, Maheu had operated a CIA

front in Washington.

53244 DocId: 32423624 Page 27

---

## Page 28

53244

Page 2.

According to Roselli, the murdered mobster, Sam Giancana, never became

involved in the assassination plot. He knew about it; he may even have suggested

a Cuban contact; nothing more.

Roselli identified the CIA project officer, in charge of the Castro

assassination, as "Big Jim" O'Connell. Maheu put Roselli in contact with

O'Connell, as Roselli remembers it, in New York City on September 14, 1960.

Thereafter, Roselli flew to Miami and recruited the assassination squads.

At first, they plotted to poison Castro. Poison pellets were supplied by the CIA.

They were delivered to the plotters in a Miami hotel room, according to Roselli,

by Maheu.

He dramatically opened his briefcase, revealing $10, 000 in cash

and the fatal pellets.

The money was distributed tothe Cuban plotters. Roselli swore he never

took any money from the CIA, except for some incidental expenses. He paid the

big expenses, he said, out of his own pocket.

The poison pills were supposed to take three days to work. Supposedly,

this would give the poison time to work its way out of Castro's system before

he died, and his death would be attributed to natural causes.

Roselli never found out what happened to the plotters or the pellets. But

they tried again later with a stronger dose of poison. Not long afterward, reports

reached them that Castro was desperately ill. Roselli doesn't know whether the

illness was caused by the poison or a virus. But Castro survived, and the

plotters apparently did not.

Toselli said he also picked up intelligence, which he submitted to the CLA

both during the Bay of Pigs planning and the later Cuban missile crisis. After

the Bay of Pigs, Roselli said, Maheu was cut out of the plot. Thereafter,

DO 15 32425600rted t28 CLA agent named William Harvey.

---

## Page 29

There were four more assassination attempts, the plotters were smuggled

into Cuba with high-powered rifles. The last assassination squad, Roselli heard,

made it to a Havana rooftop before they were caught.

This was around March 1, 1963. Then the project was abandoned. Roselli

saw Harvey for the last time in June, 1963. Five months later, Lee Harvey Oswa

gunned down President Kennedy in Dallas. Oswald had been active in the pro-

Castro movement. Shortly before that dreadful day in Dallas, Oswald had made

a mysterious trip to Mexico where he visited the Cuban embassy. The Warren

Commission found no evidence, however, that Oswald was in the hire of Havana.

Yesterday, Roselli made no apology for his CIA role. U.S. authorities

call him a mobster.

He regards himself as a patriot.

NW 53244

DocId: 32423624

Page

29

---

## Page 30

THE WASILRCTON POST

1.I modis Soptember 12, 19160

The Calculated Rise

And Abrupt Descent

Of Johnny Roselli

lives in a sprawling white home that

•By Rudy Maxa

at first glance, resembles every othe

house in the neighborhood.

Until last month, Johnny: Roselli

But it is different: the carefully cur

lived comfortably with his sister and

tained windows, the extra lock on th

brother-in-law in a Miami suburb. A

front door, and spotlights on all side

friend estimated he earned about $25,-

of the house give it the look of a subui

000 annually from a gi shop ne

ban fortress.

Inside, the furniture i

owned in the lobby of Las Vegas' Fron

pale blue Mediterranean, the carpet i

tier Hotel.

thick white.

He shrugged last year when his at-

Roselli's killers did not ambush th

torney suggested he hire a bodyguard,

house; Roselli went to them. He lef

after the murder of Chicago mobster

Plantation at 1 p.m. on July 28 wearin

Sam Giancana, his partner in CIA plots

a golf shirt, his golf clubs in his ca

to kill Fidel Castro. If anybody wants

trunk. He told his sister he would b

to kill me at my age, the 71-year-old Ro

home for dinner. That afternoon o

selli said,

what difference does it

evening he was killed, probably by su

make? So he played golf several times

focation, perhaps after being torture

a week, sipped white wine with din-

early reports said his legs were bri

ner, and-until somebody decided

ken..

Heavily

chained,,

Roselli wa

Johnny Roselli should wind up in an

stuffed in a 55 gallon oildrum an

oil barrel in Miami's Dumfoundling

dumped into the ocean.

Bay-considered employment in the

His brother-in-law found Roselli's si

new gambling casinos beginning to :..ver-colored 1975 Chevrolet Impala se'

open in the oil-rich Middle Bast.

eral days later, parked at the Miami li

'ternational Airport.

Ten days after Roselli's disappea

In' the late 1920s Al Capone and his ance something went wrong. The o

friends chose Miami as the chic spot

drum that was meant to keep his deat

for organized crime figures to buy a

a secret floated to the surface of Dur

winter home. Just across a strip of

foundling Bay, buoyed by the gases

ocean was Cuba, a gambling and vice. Roselli's decaying body. •

• mecca. The mobsters from the north

The holes in the side of the dru:

were treated like visiting celebrities

and the placing of his Chevrolet at th

by Florida press and society;

while

airport convinced investigators b

¿some members of the local police force, corpse was meant never to be disco

began developing a taste for the finer,

ered; history was supposed to. recor

things in life.

that dapper Jobnny Roselli, facing d

In the 1940s the sheriff of Dade:

"portation proceedings that the gover:

County (which includes most of the Mi,:' ment had threatened off and on f

ami area admitted to the Kefauver or-

years, decided to disappear on an ai

ganized crime committee that, since

he had become sheriff on an annual

plane flight to who-knows-where.

salary of $12,000 five years earlier, his

personal fortune had increased from: r

"Cutting up and disposing of bodi

$2,500 to $70,000. One of the sheriff's

is not necessarily new to our depar

deputies said he collected $50,000 in

ment," says the man who is directir

bribes in nine months spent as a bag-

the search for Roselli's killers. Lt. Ga

man for Miami Beach gambling con-

Minnium, head of the Dade Coun

cessions. In 1948 a bookmaker's opera-

homicide squad, is a well-muscled mi

tion in Miami grossed $26 million. It

with an aquiline nose that separates

was the kind of place that made a rack-

pair of hard blue eyes. On the pa

eteer feel at home.

green wall of his bare office is a smi

For the last two years, Johnny Ro-

card that reads "DYNAMITE-DON

selli felt at home in Plantation a bed-

SHAKE ME UP."

room suburb north of Miami that Ro

He and another police officer

selli made his retirement haven be

count the solving of some of Da

cause he had family there. His brother-

County's more brutal murders wi

in-law, a government missile expert,

•See ROSELLI, LA, Col. 1

+32923624 Page

30

---

## Page 31

ROSELLI, From L1

• the enthusiasm of two football players

recalling their favorite bowl

The headless,

games.

handless body that

floated into a Miami canal last month

reminded Minnium of that other, simi-

larly mutilated body that turned up

last December. And who can forget

the man who got angry with his room-

mate, sliced him up

and tossed the

parts along a highway?

As it turned out, Roselli's wasn't the

first body to float into the annals of Mi-

ami crime in a drum, Minnium says.

Ten years ago a lovers' quarrel

re-

sulted in a man stuffing his girl friend

into a drum, filling it with cement and

Aqua Velva shave lotion. The drum

was found resting against a dike and

justice was eventually done.

Minnium is not pleased by such vio-

"We don't appreciate people com-

mitting murder and dumping a body

in our county, regardless of who the

people are, but especially if it's organ-

" Minnium says.

His department handled 168 homi-

cides last year and boasted an 85 per

"clearance record."

1976, the percentage was even higher,

standing at about 42 per cent.

If Charles Zatrepalek and Jullo

Ojeda have anything to say about it,

Roselli's killing is not going to dimin

ish those percentages. Both men are

28-year-old homicide detectives who

after a

work-a-day,

a velvety

junior jump! $58

A be-deviling shimmer-glimmer

you, set for champagne or a great

beat! One-piece cotton velveteen, ready

10 layer black or brown, 5-13. Come in,

write or phone.

vow with a schoolboy's sincerity tha

they won't rest until Roselli's murder

is solved. In the last four weeks, with

the help of Washington agencies, Za.

trepalek and Ojeda have reconstructed

Roselli's life in hopes of understanding

his death. For the third time in eight

years of marriage, Zatrepalek worked

out of town on his wedding anniversa-

ry; because of the "awesomeness" of

this case, Ojeda spent his Labor Day

holiday at work.

"Maybe 10 years from now" Oleda

"I want someone to look at my

file and say, 'Hey, he talked to every-

body. And maybe he'll hear some-

thing and BANG! that's the arrest!"

That Johnny Roselll was destined to

walk on the dark side of life never

seemed in doubt. As a teen-ager in Bos-

ton, when his name was Filippo Sacco,

Roselli was a runner for the numbers

racket. He helped his stepfather burn

down his home for the insurance mon-

ey. He was arrested at age 22 for steal-

ing about $25 from someone. Then be

changed his name and left for Chica.

до.

It would be 40 years until, in the late

1960s, Johnny Roselli would see his

mother again, though he sent monev

to his family through an intermediarv

in Chicago so his sisters could attend

By the late 1920s Al Capone was well

established in Chicago. Newspaper-

men, politicians and cops were on the

Capone payroll and a young man with

Roselli's street savvy had little trouble

finding suitable employment; he hired

on as a rumrunner with the Capone

gang. At age 26 Roselli was arrested

for selling morphine to an undercover

agent. He was acquitted because, after

Roselli's arrest, no one could seem to

find the arresting officer or informant

in the case. They still haven't been

In the mid-1930s Roselli, by now a

mature and charming man, lucky with

53244

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Page 31

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## Page 32

"In the 1940s the sheriff of Dade County (which

includes most of the Miami area) admitted to the

Kefauver organized crime committee that, since

he had become sheriff on an annual salary of

$12,000 five years earlier, his personal fortune

had increased from $2,500 to $70,000.".

women, friendly with men of money,

cluded a check for 6 per cent interest;

moved to Los Angeles. He wore hand-

Cohn magnanimously tore up the in-

tailored suits and, by all accounts, was

terest check.

easygoing, mild-mannered. He was

Roselli bought twin star rubies, had

married for a time to an actress, but

them set in rings and 'gave one to

they had no children. He became a

Cohn, who considered it a good luck

close friend of Harry Cohn, the legend.

charm until his death. Once, when Chi-

ary head of Columbia Pictures. The

cago mobster Willie Bioff moved to

two men sometimes vacationed. to-

Hollywood and began making life mi-

gether and Roselli always seemed to

serable for movie studios by shaking

know how to place a bet should Cohn

down executives in return for labor

care to wager on a horse.

peace, Roselli stepped in and saved

According to Bob Thomas' biogra-

• Cohn from a lengthy strike.

phy of Cohn, "King Cohn," the movie

When Cohn refused to pay tribute to

mogul once offered Roselli a job as a

Bioff and his union, Bioff tried to halt

producer. (In his book, Thomas dis-

production at Columbia by calling a

guised Roselli's identity at Roselli's re-

sudden strike. Desperate, Cohn called

quest.)

Roselli who marched into Bioff's office

"What would you pay me?" Roselli

and confronted the hoodlum who sat

asked Cohn.

"Five hundred dollars a week,"

behind his desk wearing a hat and

coat, chomping on a cigar, a gun rest-

Cohn said.

ing on the desk in front of him.

"I get that much from waitresses

"Listen, Willie, I don't know what

who take bets for me," Roselli is said to

you're trying to prove but it isn't going

have replied.

to work," Roselli told him. "This is a

Besides being a handy man with the

spite thing and you're not going to get

placing of bets, Roselli purchased a 26

away with it. You meet with Cohn and

per cent interest in a Tijuana race-

get it settled."

track with $25,000 Cohn loaned him.

Rosalli naid him hark promptly and in. " Bioff backed down and called off his

pickets. After he was sent to jail for ex-

tortion, Bioff cut a deal with the gov.

ernment and named Roselli as a Chi-

cago mobster who had helped him

shake down movie studios. Cohn testi-

fied on Roselli's bebalf, but in 1943 Ro-

selli was sentenced to 10 years in pris-

on. When he got out he returned to

Hollywood to make pictures of prison

and gangster life. But publicity about a

secret appearance before the Kefau-

ver crime committee ruined his rela-

tionship with most studios. Even Cohn

re fused to hire him-"The stockhold.

ers would scalp me," Cohn told a bitter

Roselli.

It was during his years in the Los

Angeles and Las Vegas areas that Ro-

selli met the man who would make

him a household name later in life.

Robert Maheu, the ex-FBI agent who

parlayed a Washington private eye

business into a stormy career as How-

ard Hughes' man in Las Vegas, ap-

proached Roselli on behalf of the CIA

in 1960.

(Another person Roselli met in that

era who would later surface to talk of

Roselli, Giancana and John F. Ken-

nedy was a young party girl named Ju-

dith Campbell.)

Maheu and Roselli would later tell

Frank Church's Senate Intelligence

Committee the details of their plots to

kill Castro. Maheu told investigators he

had known Roselli since the late 1950s

and, while he didn't know of his un-

derworld connections,

"it was cer-

tainly evident to me that (Roselli) was

able to accomplish things in Las Vegas

when nobody else seemed to get the

same kind of attention."*

Over dinner at the Brown Derby in

Beverly Hills 16 years ago, Maheu ex-

plained to Roselli that his government

needed his services. Roselli, who was

born on July 4, 1905, was nothing if not

patriotic. (Sam Giancana once said,

"Just wave a flag and Johnny'll follow

you to any canal.") Maheu recalled that

See ROSELLI, L5, Col. 1

NH 53244 DocId: 32423624 Page 32

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## Page 33

eature

33

ROSELLI, From LA

Roselli was hesitant at first but "felt he

had an obligation to his government;

and he finally agreed to participate" in

a plan to kill Fidel Castro. He turned

down an offer of $150,000 and even

paid for his own hotel rooms in Miami.

He later introduced Maheu to two co

conspirators, Giancana and

Santos.

Trafficante, an alleged Mafia figure

who operated out of Tampa.

While the strange alliance between

the CIA and organized crime plotted to

kill Castro, Maheu was doing someone

a favor that would almost derail the

project. Church's investigators learned

that the CIA paid for, and Maneu ar-

ranged for, a bug to be installed in

Giancana's Las Vegas apartment. Par

ties to the incident today offer two rea

sons for the placement of that bug.

One explanation was that Giancana

suspected his girlfriend had another

lover and Maheu agreed to place the

tap to ease Giancana's worries while

he stayed at work in Miami. The other

theory is that the CIA was worried be-

cause the agency had heard Giancana

was talking loosely about the Castro

plots.

Whatever the explanation, the place-

ment of the bug was a disaster. Ma-

heu's private eye left the tap unat-

tended

on the afternoon of Oct. 31,

1960, and it was discovered by a maid

who reported it to the local sheriff. Ro-

selli paid the private detective's bail

and eventually the attorney general,

acting under pressure from the CIA,

ordered that any contemplated prose-

cution be dropped because it could

jeopardize the national security opera-

tion in which Giancana and Maheu

were involved. A friend said when.

Giancana learned of the snafu, he

laughed so hard he almost swallowed

his cigar:

Today the Boom Boom Room of the

Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. Beach

seems a tame place. Five college age

thespians star in a tepid humor revue.

The drinks are weak but expensive. A

sign in the window of a children's clo

thing boutique next to the Boom Boom

*Room is cloying: "Grandma, Grandpa,

what did you bring me?"

But in 1961 the Boom Boom Room

was a swinger's paradise, the place

where big money went to talk big

deals. In March of 1961, the night fol-

lowing Floyd Patterson's knockout of

Ingemar Johansson in a Miami Beach

ring, Giancana, Roselli, Maheu and a

friend relaxed in the dimly lit night-

club. They were waiting for a man

•who was supposed to be Castro's chef.

His assignment: to slip a slow-acting,

untraceable poison into Castro's drink.

"As we left the lounge," recalls the

triend who was with the trio, "we saw

this guy-small, Cuban, with reddish

hair. He was as conspicuous as a blue-

berry in a bowl of milk. He just didn't

belong in that hotel. We said, 'Clear

¿ out, let Johnny meet him.' Sam looked

sat the guy and said,

'My God, I

wouldn't trust him. Then the pass was

made.

Giancana's instinct was correct. To

"In the late 1920s Al

chose Miami as the chic s

figures to buy a winter h

of ocean was Cuba, a gan

day Castro is eating well in Cuba whil

Giancana died from five gunsho

ounds to the head as he prepared

idnight snack of sausages June 1

1975.

History has tended to make the men

behind the plots to kill Castro look

foolish and, indeed, some of the plans

seem as silly as exploding cigars.

Psychological warfare expert Gen.

Edward Lansdale, for example,

hit

upon a pian to convince the Cuban

population that the Second Coming of

Christ was imminent and that Christ

hated Castro. Word was to have been

spread throughout Cuba that on a par-

ticular date a manifestation of Christ's

return would occur. On that date an

American submarine would surface

off the Cuban coast and ignite star-

shells which would lead the Cuban

populace to overthrow Castro. A mem-

ber of the intelligence community sar-

castically tagged Lansdale's bizarre

plan "Elimination by Illumination."

(Asked about that plan recently,

Lansdale replied,

"That's a crock.

Maybe someone was interpreting

things that way. I don't know where

they got such an idea.")

After the flurry of plots in 1960 and

1961, a CIA employee named William

Harvey was assigned to oversee the

"disabling" of foreign leaders. He con-

tacted Roselli but this time asked that

,Maheu and Giancana be kept out of

their discussions. Roselli gave the as-

sassination business another try with

Harvey supplying poison pills, weap

ons and communication equipment to

Cubans who were supposed to kill not

only Castro but also his brother and

another revolutionary upstart named

Che Guevara. Again, no luck, but Ro-

selli and Harvey struck up a friendship

that lasted until Harvey, who retired

from the CLA to practice law in Indian-

apolis, died of a heart attack recently.

In 1966 the FBI threatened to deport

Roselli unless he helped them by in-

forming against the Mafia. Roselli's

original CIA contact, Sheffield Ed

wards, told the FBI that Roselli

"wanted to keep square with the bu-

reau" but was afraid he'd be killed for

"talking." Later that year Foselli was

arrested for his involvement in a Los

Angeles gambling scheme in which a

peephole allegedly was used to survey

a card table at the Friar's Club; elec-

tronic impulses then tipped players to

their opponents' hands.

Roselli ap

enracie. 10907.078606.14.123

---

## Page 34

53244

DooId: 32423624

Page

34

THRICE

johnn

Koselli

1975: upper rig

and.

countercloi

wise from upper li

Fidel Castro in

Sam Giancuna in i

President John

Kennedy

in

Dade County. Pul

Lt.

Gary Minni:

and

the

Flori

home

where Ros

lived

before

death.

Photos by The Washington Pe

The Chicago Dally News, AP. I.

pealed to Harvey for neip and Harvey

recommended to the CIA that it try to

prevent prosecution, but Rosell was

convicted of violating interstate gam-

bling laws. He went to jail, returning

in 1974 to Plantation to

do

battle

against government efforts to deport

him.

In 1971 the CIA asked the Immigra-

tion

and Naturalization Service

to

"forestall public disclosure of Roselli's

past operational activity with the CIA"

that might occur if deportation pro-

ceedings were pursued. The

agreed to keep the CIA informed, but

at his death, Roselli and his lawyers

were still fighting deportation.

• "Bob Maheu must be running scared

-I thought about that just the other

day: 'Jesus, what's Maheu thinking?' "

said another of Roselli's brothers-in-

law, Peter Cardillo of New Jersey.

The public doesn't know what Ma-

heu is thinking, whether he worries if

pro-Castro Cubans are exacting retri-

bution for sins of 16 years ago. Maheu's

secretary in Las Vegas says she doesn't

know where her boss is or when he'll

be returning to his office. He report-

edly has some business interest in

Egypt, a part of the world that seems

to hold some fascination for the Castro

plotters; Giancana kept an apartment

in Beirut and, just before his death.

told a friend he had some sort of deal

brewing there. And Roselli longingly

eyed the opening of gambling casinos

in the land of the new oil millionaires.

other or the original neu sante, an.

refuses to talk with the press. But un-

like the others, he did not testify be-

fore the Church committee so the pub-

lic has no inkling of his thoughts on

the Castro assassination attempts.

Whether Roselli's killing was one of

retribution for a public or a private

matter, Johnny Roselli was a testa-

ment to an era that has passed. His life,

which would have remained largely

unnoticed save for the Senate's CIA

hearings, seemed straight from the

of a Mafia novel: allegedly

brought into the United States illegally

at the turn of the century, Roselli

clawed his way from the mean streets

of Boston and Chicago to the relative

glamor of Hollywood, Las Vegas and,

finally, Miami. Along the way, a simple

strain of patriotism-which impressed

the CIA enough to mention it to the

Church committee - put him in a rope-

dancer's position of sometimes receiv-

ing, sometimes taking advantage of his

knowledge of the darkest side of gov.

While some have speculated that he

was killed for talking too much to gov-

ernment investigators, Roselli

hardly a loudmouth in the league of a

Joe Valachi, who sang for televised

Senate bearings on the Mafia in 1963.

Fourteen years ago Roselli confided in

his lawyer, Washington attorney Ed-

ward Morgan, that he had been told by

Cuban sources in Miami that John

Kennedy's killing was ordered and ar-

ranged by Castro, but he lived with his

The day after Roselli's body was

scooped from its crude

brother-in-law in New Jersey, Peter

Cardillo, told me: "Down deep, in a

way, I probably hope it was connected

with '(the Castro affair). At least then

Jonsey, he would have died for a

---

## Page 35

MEMORANDUM

To:

From:

Date:

Re:

Rick Inderfurth

Mike Madigan

August 13, 1976

Miami Interviews

I spoke with Senator hart today about setting up interviews

in Miami for Friday, August 20, In the Rosselll matter. He will

be calling you about thuse arrangements.

I will try to have a subpoena for Santos Trafficante signed

by Senator Baker before he leaves for the convention. We, how-

ever

must obtain the approval of all or a majority of the

members of the Committee (under the Rules) to issue the subpoena.

Therefore, I have asked Martha to poll members on two questions:

(1) Authority to issue a subpoena for

Trafficante;

(2) Authority for Senator Hart to disclose

to the Miami police investigators in the Rosselli

case those portions of the classified Rosselli

related transcripts which he deems relevant to the

murder investigation.

In case we miss connections, the relevant people involved are:

(1) Bill Lynch -- head of the Justice Organized

Crime Section, telephone number 739-3516 (he siould

help us locate Trafficante and perhaps have a

WW 53244 DocId 32423624 Fage 35

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## Page 36

- 2-

suggestion as to how best to serve him with a

subpoena) ;

(2) Detectives Wolf and Zatrepallek -- Dade

County Sheriff's Office, telephone number 305-547-7456

(they are the detectives investigating the Rosselli

murder for the locals). (I have been putting them

off about whether they can have access to the

transcripts -- you need to talk to Bill Miller and

Gary about this);

(3) Paul Daly -- you may have to go through

him if we need the FBI to locate Trafficante.

By the time you return I will have taken preparatory steps

to set up interviews with the Miami police people as well as

begun an effort to locate Trafficante. After talking with Gary

you will need to follow up and confirm all these next week as I

will be in Kansas City from Monday through Thursday. I will be

flying from Kansas City to Miami on Thursday night for the

interviews on Friday. You can reach me through the numbers

that either Bill Miller or Marie has. We need to talk at some

point next week

• to confirm all this.

HW 53244 DocId?32423624 Page

36

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## Page 37

A 14

Wx PosT 8112/24

THURSDAY, A

The Washington post

AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

HH

3244

Who Killed John Roselli?

E'RE GOING TO tell you a little story now

W Once there was a President who was murderee

amount to a system of justice which 1) only affects

those dumb enough to get involved in it in the first

His brother was murdered too. A long time after they

place and 2) tends only to punish those who have

died some very strange facts came to light. It turned

committed what the rest of us would regard as hei-

out that while they were running the government,

nous crimes anyway. Not that these are things people

the government was trying to get two Mafia mobsters

say-they're things people can be expected to as-

to arrange the murder of someone else- the head of

sume. But we think in this case the assumptions have

a small, hostile neighbor state. It also turned out that

even less validity than they would have on a clear

one brother-the one who was President-appar-

day, which isn't much. And that is because if we

ently had a girlfriend who was the girlfriend as well

know anything, we know that the Mafia operations in

of the mobsters.

And ore of the mobsters,

whose

which Messers. Giancana and Roselli figured had be-

nickname was Momo, was prominent on the list of

come intertwined with the operations of the United

criminals the President's brother was trying to put in

States government. Never mind that the decisions of

jail. The story may sound complicated, but life is com-

the early 1960s which made this so may rank among

plicated, and the complications in this case got even

the most abominable decisions ever taken in the U.S.

more so. For when a committee of the Congress

government. The plain fact is that, given the provoca-

wanted the two mobsters to come and tell them some-

tive and suggestive history of the two men, it is not

thing about all this, only one of them—-the one

possible for either Congress or the Executive Branch

named Johnny— came. The other one, Momo, was

to look the other way or to complaisantly accept the

murdered in his house a week before they wanted

earmarks-of-a-gangland-slaying bromide.

him to testify. Johnny, however, told his story to one

committee in the Congress and then came back-qui-

After Mr. Giancana was killed, the Church Commit-

etly-to tell some more things to another committee

tee inquired of the FBI whether its proposed meeting

which was in fact looking into the murder of the

with him had figured in his murder. The FBI re-

President. Then Johnny went to Florida. Then no one.

ported that it had no evidence to this effect. The

could find him. Then some fishermen found him.

then-director of the CIA, William Colby, felt obliged

Dead. In an oil drum.

to state that the CIA had had nothing to do with the

But we haven't told you the strangest part of all

murder-and Mr. Colby likewise pronounced the

yet, the part you're really not going to believe. It is

other day that he was certain the CIA had not done in

that when the great national political community of

Mr. Roselli. The mere fact that the questions, to

solons, scribes, policemen, spies and managers of the

which these were meant to be the answers, had been

general wellbeing heard about poor Johnny, they

raised tells us, anyway, that much more in the way of

said: "Oh, my goodness." Some of them went farther,

inquiry is wanted. The newly formed Senate Select

of course. They said: "Fancy that!" But most of them

Committee on Intelligence has now asked the Justice

didn't say anything at all except: "Yawn."

Department to make an investigation of Mr. Roselli's

Forgive us for lapsing into storybookese. We do it

death. We think the Department should comply and

for a reason which is that the simple unadorned facts

that the investigation, despite FBI Director Clarence

of the John and Robert Kennedy-Fidel Castro-CIA-

Kelley's disclaimer of jurisdiction, should have the

Mafia-Momo Giancana-Johnny Roselli-Judith Exner-

Attorney General's personal attention. Such atten-

Church Committee-Schweiker Committee saga need

tion is needed because of the elaborate and not en-

to be put forward in stark outline for their magni-

tirely reassuring history of relationships between the

tude to be understood. Is it really, as the sophisticated

FBI and the CIA and the various participants in the

wisdom goes, "paranoid" on our part to brood about

whole sorry saga. We are not suggesting that any

the suggestive and possibly monstrous interconnec

agency of government-or even any of those agen-

tions between all these facts and to wonder why they

cy's fringe retainers —were the murderers.

We are

are not the object of intense press and government

suggesting that there is an overlay of potentially em-

• scrutiny? What accounts for the general indifference

barrassing information sufficiently pervasive to keep

in high places? What accounts for the eagerness with

an awful lot of people from wanting to have this

which we all seem to accept that familiar tipoff that

thing aired. We also think that the Select Committee

we shall be hearing no more about the latest crime-

should reserve the right to pursue the matter. Con-

i.e., the pronouncement that Mr. Roselli's dispatch in

gress, after all, can hardly be expected to sit idly by

an oil drum and Beyond had "all the earmarks of a

while its witnesses are being done in. Nor do we see

gangland

slaying."

Those

are the good old "ear-

how the public in general and the political establish-

marks" we only hear about when it is next to certain.

ment in particular can turn their attention away un-

that we shall hear nothing more.

til we are all satisfied that a much greater effort has

The supposition of course is that the Gang which

been made by the government-which means both

runs gangland has its reasons and its methods and

the Executive Branch and the Congress-to discover

that, disagreeable as these may be, they really lie out.

what elements were at play in this series of appalling

side the proper realm of public concern because they

crimes and scandals.

The Data From M

DR. HAROLD KI BIN one

and our best theories

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Page "37

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## Page 38

1955

1960

ROSSELLI CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

Meets Maheu at insurance friend's home.

Late July/early August. Maheu calls. Working for government. Recruit

Rosselli only. Meet Brown Derby, L.A., for lunch. Long talk about

project in Cuba. Rosselli wants

verification.

2nd meeting, L.A., discuss further details, no discussion of specific

techniques.

Plan

to meet in N.Y. for verification.

Sept. 14, 1960. First meeting in N.Y. at old Plaza Hotel. Rosselli

introduced by Maheu to O'Connell.

Rosselli "knew"' O'Connell worked

for the CIA. Rosselli agrees to work on Cuban project.

Sept. 25, 1960. Maheu and Rosselli travel to Miami to begin making

contact with Cubans to be recruited for mission.

(Between Sept. 25 and the Bay of Pigs, a series of recruitments, meetings,

and arrangements were made.

The following is an outline of events that

is not necessarily in chronological order.)

-- Meeting where Maheu is introduced to Trafficante. Meeting

where Maheu is introduced to Giancana.

Giancana was, according

to Rosselli, to only be a 'back up man." Rosselli states

Giancana had nothing to do with the actual operation. Trafficante

was used, according to Rosselli, as a translator.

-- Meeting with O'Connell, Maheu, Rosselli, and turnamtsalee

discuss the Cuban project.

-- Rosselli, in his contact with the Cubans, "invents" the cover

story that he represents some Wall Street business interests who

want to see Castro eliminated. Rosselli trusts Cubans he has

recruited because they are part of the Bay of Pigs operation.

-- Ist attempt at assassination involved the use of pills. Maheu

and Rosselli met with Cuban #1 and #2 (?).

Maheu opened up his

briefcase and gave the pills with instructions for their use to

Cuban #1. Maheu also had $10,000 he gave the Cubans for doing

the project. Rosselli did not know of the money. Rosselli states

he received no remuneration for his work on the project, in fact,

he paid out $800 for gas for a speed boat to deliver two or three

man parties for guerrilla raids into Cuba.

-- Prior to Bay of Pigs there was no discussion of using guns to

assassinate Castro.

-- Rosselli's cover name was "John Ralston."

NW 53244 DocId:32423624 Page 38

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## Page 39

-- At different times, Cuban #1, #2, or #3 would propose different

projects.

These would range from using plastic explosives to

booby trapping Castro's desk. Rosselli would relay these on

to Maheu, who, in turn, would contact the CIA. Most projects

were vetoed, but the CIA did supply a short wave radio to the

•Cubans in Florida, to try and make contact with their people

in Havana.

-- Eventually, Rosselli felt the project had failed. There was no

specific point when it was announced.

But, at sometime Rosselli

assumed the project, for whatever reason, had not succeeded.

53244

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## Page 40

DATE

1959

October

1960

1961 Feb.

Early 1961

April 1961

May 31, 1961

CHRONOLOGI

ALLEGATIONS AND REPORTS OF AN

U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN ASSASSINATIONS)

EVENT OR ITEM

Richard Bissel becomes DDP

(head of Plans Directorate)

Tap on Dan Rowan phone in Las

Vegas ( allegedly: (a) favor

to Giancana, and (b) done by

Rosselli)

Lumumba mysteriously killed

during Congolese strife.

News reports of CIA consideration

of Lumumba plot, but claim it

ras done by others, e.g. Belgians

Attempts to kill Castro before

Bay of Pigs landing by Rosselli

team

Bay of Pigs Landing

Trujillo assassinated; charge

of U.S. involvement

SOURCE ( Where Necessary)

Date and Rosselli role from

Government Opposition paper

to Rosselli motion for

reduction in sentence, 1971

Wash. Post & Star contempor-

aneous accounts

Wash. Post 2/6/75 story by

Lardener and Greider Tab A

Jack Anderson 1907, 1971

and 1975 columns;

Watergate Helms mencon

Jack Anderson column (1/19/

71) on Smathers coversation

with JFK. Agee book ( obviou

ly suspect in some respects)

last attempt by

Rosselli team in 1963, infra.

latergate mencons on Keeney

and Wilson interviews

Rest of 1961

and 1962

Sometime in

early 1960's

October 1962

Early 1963

March 1963

Sometime in

1963

November

1963

Early 1964

Possibly ongoing efforts to

Kill Castro by Rosselli team

REK quashes prosecution of

Giancana for Rowan Las Vegas tap

Cuban Missile Crisis -(date for

background reference)

Rosselli training a team in Miami

area

Rosselli's last effort to

kill Castro

RFK stopped further efforts

Diem killed in Saigon coup

JFK told Smathers later

he thought CIA involved

1by head of DDP Far Ea

ivision at the tir

oward Hunt and others if'

ay of Pigs effort begin plot

another Castro assassination

Wash. Post Greider/Lardener

story, supra., states Army

Ranger Capt

Ayres saw hir

J. Anderson 1971 columns

J. Anderson 1971 columns

J. Anderson, 1/19/71 column

articles on Colby

reported by Tad Szulc in

book on Howard Hunt (1974)

HH 53244

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## Page 41

Chronology -- 2

( more on Hunt Castro project)

May 1965

May 1965

(or later)

1966

1967

March 3

1967

Assassination alleged to have

beenplanned as part of a smaller

invasion effortand preparations

were allegedly made in Costa Rica

Hunt Castro scheme "aborted when

Dominican Republic strife broke out

(scheme also allegedly involved

McCord, Barker and Sturgis)

As Katzenbach/Helms/LBJ meeting

on Domincan Republic ended, LBJ

asked Helms if CIA had ever

been involved in assassination

(of a leader) and Helms

said

"no"

CIA

plot aql Hartiar

PRes. DuvalieR;

Rosselli indicted for alien law

and interstate gambling crimes

(Friars Club card game rigging)

First Anderson column. on Rossell1

Szulc, supra

"

Katzenbach testimony

to Senate Select Committr

1968

1968

Early 1969

1970

In response to Anderson story,

RFK tells Walinsky and Edelman

Rosselli sentenced to 5 years

sst. Atty Gen Wilsor

asks for

ustice Dept. Rosselli fil

Rosselli goes before grand jury

under immunity re:Giancana

Andeesoo col., 4/0/25

Government Opposition

to sentence reduction,

supra.

We dont have, but Anderso

referred to in Hersh N

Times story 3/I0/75

Hersh story, supra

Anderson col, 4/2/25

Government Opposition,

Keeney Watergate memcon

Government Opposition, supr

1971 Jan.18

Jan.19

Jan. 27

Eeb.1

First of three Anderson columns

Mel scheduled to go before grand

on Las Vegas skimming) calls

AG John Mitchell

Same day: Haldeman ess Dean to inquire

into Hughes/O'Brien/Maheu ties

Maheu

interviewed by Wilson

and Peterson

on Rosselli matter

Caulfield to Dean memo that Maheu was

involved in covert activity for CIA in

early 1960's

Rosselli files motion for reduction

in sentence,

citing Anderson stories

and presenting memorandum to Court

Lenzner memo to SenErvin.

on Rosselli ( and phone 10

"

HH 53244

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41

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## Page 42

DATE

1959

October

1960

1961 Feb.

Early 1961

April 1961

May 31, 1961

CHRONOLOGY

(ALLEGATIONS AND REPORTS OF ANY

U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN ASSASSINATIONS)

EVENT OR ITEM

Richard Bissel becomes DDP

(head of Plans Directorate)

Tap on Dan Rowan phone in Las

Vegas ( allegedly: (a) favor

to Glancana, and (b) done by

Rosselli)

Lumumba mysteriously killed

during Congolese strife.

News reports of CIA consideration

of Lumumba plot, but claim it

was done by others, e.g. Belgians?

Attempts to kill Castro before

Bay of Pigs landing by Rosselli

team

Bay of Pigs Landing

[rujillo assassinated; charg

of U.s. involvement

SOURCE ( Where Necessary)

Date and Rosselli role from

Government Opposition paper

to Rosselli motion for

reduction in sentence, 1971

Wash. Post & Star contempor-

aneous accounts

ash. Post 2/6/75 story

irdener and Greider Tab

Jack Anderson 1967, 1971

and 1975 columns;

Watergate Helms mencon

Rest of 1961

and 1962

Sometime in

early 1960's

October 1962

Early 1963

March 1963

• Sometime in

1963

November

1963

Early 1964

Possibly ongoing efforts to

Kill Gastro by Rosselli team

REK quashes prosecution of

Giancana for Rowan Las Vegas tap

Cuban Missile Crisis -(date for

background reference)

Rosselli training a team in Miami

area

Rosselli's last effort to

kill Castro

RFK stopped further efforts

Diem killed in Saigon coup

JFK told Smathers later

he thought CIA involved

Colby head of DDP Far East

Division at the time

Howard Hunt and others from

Bay of Pigs effort begin plot on

another Castro assassination

Jack Anderson column (1/19/

71) on Smathers coversation

with JFK. Agee book (obviou:

ly suspect in some respects)

last attempt by

Rosselli team in 1963, infra.

Watergate memcons on Keeney

and Wilson interviews

Wash. Post Greider/Lardener

tory, supra., states Arm

anger Cap

Ayres saw him

J. Anderson 1971 columns

J. Anderson 1971 columns

J. Anderson, 1/19/71 column

articles on Colby

eported by Tad Szulc ir

book on Howard Hunt (1974)

HH 53241

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## Page 43

Chronology

-- 2

( more on Hunt Castro project)

Assassination alleged to have

beenplanned as part of a smaller

invasion effortand preparations

were allegedly made in Costa Rica

May 1965

Hunt Castro scheme "aborted when

Dominican Republic strife broke out

(scheme also allegedly involved

McCord, Barker and Sturgis)

May 1965

(or later)

As Katzenbach/Helms/LBJ meeting

on Domincan Republic ended, LBJ

asked Helms if CIA had ever

been involved in assassination

(of a leader) and Helms

said "no"

1967

March 3

1967

Rosselli indicted for alien law

and interstate gambling crimes

(Friars Club card game rigging)

First Anderson column on Rosrell1

Szule, supra

Katzenbach testimony

to Senate Select Committe

1968

Early 1969

1970

In response to Anderson story,

RFK tells Walinsky and Edelmar

he shut it off;

Rosselli sentenced to 5 years

Aust, Ate len ison eke for

Rosselli goes before grand jury

under immunity re: Giancana

Government Opposition

to sentence reduction,

supra.

We dont have, but Anderso

referred to in Hersh NY

Times story 3/I0/75

• Hersh story, supra

Government Opposition,

Keeney Watergate memcon

Government Opposition, supr

1971 Jan. 18

Jan.19

Jan. 27

Feb.1

First of three Anderson columns

Mayhu (scheduled to go before grand

jury on Las Vegas skimming) calls

AG John Mitchell

Same day: Haldeman, Esks Dean to inquire

into Hughes/O'Brien/Maheu ties

Maheu interviewed by Wilson and Peterson

on Rosselli

matter

Caulfield to Dean memo that Maheu was

involved in covert activity for CIA in

early 1960's

Rosselli files motion for reduction

in sentence,

citing Anderson

stories

and presenting memorandum to Court

Lenzner memo to SenErvir

on Rosselli ( and phone 10

"

HH 53244

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43

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## Page 44

1961

After the Bay of Pigs (April 1961)

Rosselli felt "sorry for the poor bastards left on the

beach 100et for today eat it a pa chate

pate in the invasion Iwo or three weeks after the

invasion, Rosselli was contacted in Los Angeles by

O'Connell, a meeting was

arranged for at the airport

hotel in Miami.

Rosselli went there and was introduced

to Harvey. O'Connell said Harvey was now in charge of

the Cuban project.

Harvey told Rosselli he was to cease

all contact with Maheu and Giancana.

Further, Harvey

stated that the government was still interested in using

Rosselli for intelligence-gathering operations.

Rosselli

would report information from the Cubans to Harvey about

personalities and events in Cuba. Rosselli would also

relay on to his Cuban contacts requests for specific in-

formation from the CIA.

i

Sometime between the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban

missile crisis, Harvey gave Rosselli six poison capsules.

Rosselli, in turn, gave them to his Cuban contacts who

were to take them to Cuba, where another Cuban or Cubans

would use them to assassinate Castro. Rosselli never

learned the details of what happened, but the project ob-

viously failed.

At one point, Rosselli remembers hearing

over the radio that Castro was very ill. A short time

later, he recovered.

Sometime before the missile crisis, Rosselli arranged,

pursuant to Cuban #1 request, for a van loaded with rifles

and ammunition to be delivered in Florida. O'Connell and

Rosselli watched the Cuban contact pick up the van and

return it empty. Rosselli assumed that these guns were

going to be used by the two or three-man raiding parties

in Cuba

to assassinate Castro and overthrow the government.

During the Cuban missile crisis, Rosselli was in Chicago.

He contacted Harvey at Harvey's mother's home in Indian-

apolis and left his number in Chicago. Harvey then called

him, told him to go to Washington, D.C. From Washington,

D.C., Rosselli traveled to Florida where he stayed for

the duration of the Cuban missile crisis. He, at times,

would, through his Cuban contacts, attempt to verify the

location of the Russian missiles in Cuba.

Rosselli claimed

that this had been successful. After the Cuban missile

crisis, Harvey called Rosselli and told him to stop all

contacts with any and all persons involved in past Cuban

missions. Harvey never stated why the missions were being

called off.

IT 53244 DocTa:32123624

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44

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## Page 45

Rowan Tap

Rosselli said that he understood that Giancana had

asked Maheu for a tap on Dan Rowan. Maheu gave

Rosselli two stories.

The first was that he was

doing Giancana a favor and the second was that there

was a real intelligence value in that Maheu was

afraid that Giancana or Rowan might be giving out

intelligence information that would be of value to

enemies of the United States.

Rosselli had not heard

of the names Dubois or Belotti or Fred Harrison. He

admitted that Harvey had discussed the tap with him,

but both Harvey and Rosselli were mad that the opera-

tion had gone on. Giancana obviously knew about the

tap.

Maheu did ask Rosselli to get bail money for

the two tappers who were caught and thrown in jail.

Maheu suggested that Rosselli could get a hotel to

turn over the bail money.

Finally, Rosselli arranged

to have a man with a green carnation in his lapel

meet and transfer the bail money. He never received

any of this money back.

Rosselli claims that he did

not know what type of tap went on. He admitted that

he had been questioned by the FBI but he gave no

answers.

Rosselli knew that Maheu had been questioned

by the FBI.

HH 53244

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