Opium Lords
Israel, the Golden Triangle, and the Kennedy AssassinationBy Salvador Astucia
PART II THE CONSPIRACY
3
The Importance of Jim Garrison
In 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison prosecuted New Orleans business man Clay Shaw for conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Garrison suggested in his book, On the Trail of the Assassins, that Shaw received instructions from Louis M. Bloomfield.1 In addition, Garrison discovered that Shaw and Bloomfield were board members of two trade organizations, Permindex and Centro Mondiale Commerciale, both expelled from Italy in 1962 for subversive intelligence activity.2
Clay Shaw was a tall distinguished man with silver hair and a polished manner; born in Kentwood, Louisiana on March 17, 1913. During the 1930s, he worked in New York City as an executive for Western Union Telegraph Company and later as an advertising public-relations consultant. By 1963 Shaw had become a wealthy real estate developer in New Orleans. He was director of the International House—the World Trade Center, a "nonprofit association fostering the development of international trade, tourism and cultural exchange."3
Researcher Jim Marrs wrote in his renowned book about the Kennedy assassination, Crossfire, the following description of Shaw’s military background:
By 1941, Shaw was with the U.S. Army and, while his official biography states simply that he was an aide-de-camp to General Charles O. Thrasher, Shaw later admitted he was working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as a liaison officer to the headquarters of Winston Churchill. It was here that Shaw may have become entangled in the murky world of intelligence.
Although there is precious little reliable information on exactly what Shaw’s wartime experiences included, he did retire from the U.S. Army in 1946 as a major—later he was made a colonel—with the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, France’s Croix de Guerre, and Belgium’s Order of the Crown.4
It is significant that Shaw received France’s Croix de Guerre while serving as a Colonel in the US Army in the 1940s. There is strong circumstantial evidence that Shaw may have also served as a Colonel in the French espionage organization, Service de Documentation Exterieure et de Contre Espionage (SDECE), under the aliases of a Colonel René Bertrand and Colonel Beaumont. This would tie Shaw directly to professional assassin Christian David who revealed in the late 1980s that French Corsican assassins were hired to kill President.
Jim Garrison proved that Clay Shaw often used aliases Clay Bertrand or Clem Bertrand. Danish journalist, Henrik Krüger, wrote in his 1976 book, The Great Heroin Coup, that a Colonel René Bertrand, alias Colonel Beaumont, worked for SDECE in the 1940s. According to Krüger, Colonel Bertrand used his influence in 1949 to get French gangster Jo Attia’s prison sentence reduced from life to four years. Attia had been convicted in France for illegal possession of weapons and involvement in the death/murder of another gangster, Pierrot le Fou. Attia had saved Colonel Bertrand’s life during World War II and evidently asked Bertrand to return the favor by getting his sentence reduced.5
Jo Attia was one of France’s most colorful criminals, and was the first gangster in that country to become an international spy. It was Jo Attia who, according to Krüger, introduced heroin trafficker Christian David to international espionage. Jo Attia also worked with French Corsican crime family, the Guerini brothers.6 Christian David told an interviewer—in Nigel Turner's documentary, The Men Who Killed Kennedy—that Antoine Gurenini, of the Guerini crime family, offered him the contract to kill President Kennedy; but David refused because it was too dangerous. Christian David and Jo Attia were both involved in the 1965 kidnapping and murder of Moroccan political activist Mehdi Ben Barka. They were also closely associated with, according to Henrik Krüger, the men who killed Patrice Lumumba of the Congo.7
Given that Clay Shaw was a Colonel in the US Army in the late 1940s, that he admitted to working for the OSS, and given that he was awarded France’s Croix de Guerre, and given that Shaw resided in New Orleans which has a strong French heritage, and given Shaw’s known propensity to use aliases, it is possible that French SDECE officer, Colonel René Bertrand, alias Beaumont, was actually Colonel Clay Shaw. This "missing link" about Shaw’s background connects the dots to many of Jim Garrison’s discoveries about Shaw’s past, his links to international espionage, and his involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy. In addition, Henrik Krüger wrote that Colonel Bertrand, alias Beaumont, is one of the names most associated with SDECE espionage involving assassination, kidnapping, and other notorious scandals.8
Dean Anderson Linked Clay Shaw to Oswald
A major discovery in Garrison’s investigation was linking Clay Shaw to Lee Harvey Oswald per the testimony of New Orleans attorney Dean Andrews. Garrison had known Andrews well for years. They went to Tulane Law School together, although they did not attend the same classes. They both practiced law in New Orleans for years, although Garrison was the District Attorney and Andrews had a private practice.9
Andrews told FBI and the Warren Commission that a "Clay Bertrand" had contacted him on November 23, 1963 to provide legal representation to accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Clay Bertrand turned out to be an alias used by Clay Shaw. Jim Garrison wrote the following description of statements made by Andrews to the authorities:
In my reading I had learned that, at the time of his first FBI interview shortly after the assassination, [Dean] Andrews had described Clay Bertrand, his New Orleans caller, as a man approximately six feet two in height. He had gone on to say that Bertrand was a man who called him from time to time to help young friends of his who had become involved in minor scrapes with the law. Then—and later in more detail—he explained that in the summer of 1963, when Lee Oswald was living in New Orleans, Bertrand had called him and asked him to help Oswald with some citizenship problems his wife, Marina, was having. Oswald, consequently, had met with Andrews several times in his office.
It had readily become apparent to me, however, that the more Andrews realized that his having received a phone call to defend Lee Oswald was a potential danger to him, the foggier the identity of Clay Bertrand became in his mind. By the time Andrews appeared before the Warren Commission in July 1964, Bertrand’s height had shrunk from six feet two all the way down to five feet eight inches. Apparently in response to subtle pressure from the FBI agents, Andrews told them, "Write what you want, that I am nuts. I don’t care." The agents obligingly wrote in their final report that Andrews had come to the conclusion that the phone call from Bertrand had been "a figment of his imagination." This not only allowed the Bureau to conclude its investigation into Andrews but harmonized with its announced conclusion that Lee Oswald had accomplished Kennedy’s assassination alone and unaided.
(Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 92 - 93)10 Garrison read Andrews’ multiple testimonies in the volumes of the Warren Report. In early 1967, he decided to meet Andrews for lunch at Broussard’s Restaurant (in New Orleans). This is their exchange as documented by Garrison in his book, On the Trail of the Assassins, later depicted almost verbatim in Oliver Stone’s famous movie, JFK:
Andrews:
We’ve been friends since law school days. Why do you want to treat me like I have leprosy?
Garrison:
Because you keep conning me, Dean. You admitted to the Warren Commission that on the day after the assassination—while you were a patient at Hotel Dieu hospital—you were called on the phone and asked to fly to Dallas and to be Lee Oswald’s lawyer. When the Warren Commission asked you the caller’s name, you replied that it was ‘Clay Bertrand.’
Andrews:
That’s right.
Garrison:
Now, when I tell you I want to know who Clay Bertrand is, you tell me he’s a client of yours but you really don’t know what he looks like because you never see him.
Andrews:
Scout’s honor, my man.
Garrison:
That might be good enough for the Warren Commission, Dean but it’s not good enough for me.
Andrews:
Pipe the bimbo in red. [He pointed to beautiful young lady.]
Garrison:
… She’s pretty. Could we get to the point? Just who is Clay Bertrand? Where do I find him? I want to talk to him.
Andrews:
God almighty. You’re worse than the Feebees (FBI). How can I convince you that I don’t know this cat, I don’t know what he looks like, and I don’t know where he’s at. All I know is that sometimes he sends me cases. So, one day, this cat Bertrand’s on the phone talkin’ to me about going to Dallas and representing Oswald. [He put his hand over his heart.] Scout’s honor, man. That’s all I know about the guy.
[Andrews continued eating his "Crabmeat Louie." Garrison grabbed Andrews by his fork-hand thereby preventing him from taking another bite.]
Garrison:
Dean, I think we’re having a communication problem. Let me see if this will clarify it for you. Now stop eating that damn crabmeat for a minute and listen to me. I am aware of our long friendship, but I want you to know that I’m going to call you in front of the Grand Jury. If you lie to the Grand Jury as you have been lying to me, I’m going to charge you with perjury. Now am I communicating with you?
Andrews:
[stunned] Is this off the off the record, Daddyo? [Garrison nodded.] In that case, let me sum it up for you real quick. It’s as simple as this. If I answer that question you keep asking me, if I give you the name you keep trying to get, then it’s goodbye, Dean Andrews. It’s bon voyage, Deano. I mean like permanent. I mean like a bullet in my head—which makes it hard to do one’s legal research, if you get my drift. Does that help you see my problem a little better?
Garrison:
Read my lips. Either you dance in to the Grand Jury with the real moniker of that cat who called you to represent Lee Oswald, or your fat behind is going to the slammer. Do you dig me?
Andrews:
[He stood up suddenly.] Do you have any idea what you’re getting into, my man? You want to dance with the government? Is that what you want? Then be my guest. But you will get sat on, and I do mean hard.
[Andrews dropped his napkin on to of his Crabmeat Louie.]
[mumbling] Thanks for lunch. It’s been lovely.
[He stormed out. Garrison noted that he had "jigged" into the restaurant when they met, snapping his fingers to an imagined tune. He was not jigging when he left.]
(Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 91 - 95) Dean Adams Andrews, Jr., testified before the Warren Commission on July 21, 1964. His sworn testimony was taken by Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant counsel of the Warren Commission, at the Old Civil Courts Building, Royal and Conti Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana. Liebeler grilled Andrews extensively about the discrepancy between what he told the FBI and the Commission regarding Clay Bertrand’s height; however, once Liebeler realized this was a sensitive area, he quickly changed the subject and asked if Bertrand was homosexual. The following are excerpts from that testimony:
Liebeler:
I am advised by the FBI that you told them that Lee Harvey Oswald came into your office some time during the summer of 1963. Would you tell us in your own words just what happened as far as that is concerned?
Andrews:
I don't recall the dates, but briefly, it is this: Oswald came in the office accompanied by some gay kids. They were Mexicanos. He wanted to find out what could be done in connection with a discharge, a yellow paper discharge, so I explained to him he would have to advance the funds to transcribe whatever records they had up in the Adjutant General's office. When he brought the money, I would do the work, and we saw him three or four times subsequent to that, not in the company of the gay kids. He had this Mexicano with him. I assume he is a Mex because the Latins do not wear a butch haircut.
(portions deleted from original)
Liebeler:
Did there come a time after the assassination when you had some further involvement with Oswald, or at least an apparent involvement with Oswald; as I understand it?
Andrews:
No; nothing at all with Oswald. I was in Hotel Dieu, and the phone rang and a voice I recognized as Clay Bertrand asked me if I would go to Dallas and Houston--I think--Dallas, I guess, wherever it was that this boy was being held—and defend him. I told him I was sick in the hospital. If I couldn't go, I would find somebody that could go.
(portions deleted from original)
Liebeler:
Now what can you tell us about this Clay Bertrand? You met him prior to that time?
Andrews:
I had seen Clay Bertrand once some time ago, probably a couple of years. He's the one who calls in behalf of gay kids normally, either to obtain bond or parole for them. I would assume that he was the one that originally sent Oswald and the gay kids, these Mexicanos, to the office because I had never seen those people before at all. They were just walk-ins.
(portions deleted from original)
Liebeler.
Do you have a picture in your mind of this Clay Bertrand?
Andrews.
Oh, I ran up on that rat about 6 weeks ago and he spooked, ran in the street. I would have beat him with a chain if I had caught him.
Liebeler.
Let me ask you this: When I was down here in April, before I talked to you about this thing, and I was going to take your deposition at that time, but we didn't make arrangements, in your continuing discussions with the FBI, you finally came to the conclusion that Clay Bertrand was a figment of your imagination?
Andrews.
That's what the Feebees put on. I know that the two Feebees are going to put these people on the street looking, and I can't find the guy, and I am not going to tie up all the agents on something that isn't that solid. I told them, "Write what you want, that I am nuts. I don't care." They were running on the time factor, and the hills were shook up plenty to get it, get it, get it. I couldn't give it to them. I have been playing cops and robbers with them. You can tell when the steam is on. They are on you like the plague. They never leave. They are like cancer. Eternal.
Liebeler.
That was the description of the situation?
Andrews.
It was my decision if they were to stay there. If I decide yes, they stay. If I decide no, they go. So I told them, "Close your file and go some place else." That's the real reason why it was done. I don't know what they wrote in the report, but that's the real reason.
Liebeler.
Now subsequent to that time, however, you actually ran into Clay Bertrand in the street?
Andrews.
About 6 weeks ago. I am trying to think of the name of this bar. That's where this rascal bums out. I was trying to get past him so I could get a nickel in the phone and call the Feebees or John Rice, but he saw me and spooked and ran. I haven't seen him since.
Liebeler.
Did you talk to him that day?
Andrews.
No; if I would have got close enough to talk to him. I would have grabbed him.
Liebeler.
What does this guy look like?
Andrews.
He is about 5 feet 8 inches. Got sandy hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion. Must weigh about 165, 170, 175. He really took off, that rascal.
Liebeler.
He recognized you?
Andrews.
He had to because if he would have let me get to that phone and make the call, he would be in custody.
Liebeler.
You wanted to get hold of this guy and make him available to the FBI for interview, or Mr. Rice of the Secret Service?
Andrews.
What I wanted to do and should have done is crack him in the head with a bottle, but I figured I would be a good, law-abiding citizen and call them and let them grab him, but I made the biggest mistake of the century. I should have grabbed him right there. I probably will never find him again. He has been bugging me ever since this happened.
Liebeler.
Now before you ran into Clay Bertrand in the street on this day, did you have a notion in your mind what he looked like?
Andrews.
I had seen him before one time to recognize him.
Liebeler.
When you saw him that day, he appeared to you as he had before when you recognized him?
Andrews.
He hasn't changed any appearance, I don't think. Maybe a little fatter, maybe a little skinnier.
Liebeler.
Now I have a rather lengthy report of an interview that Mr. Kennedy [FBI agent, Regis L. Kennedy] had with you on December 5, 1963, in which he reports you as stating that you had a mental picture of Clay Bertrand as being approximately 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 2 inches in height, brown hair, and well dressed.
Andrews.
Yes.
Liebeler.
Now this description is different, at least in terms of height of the man, than the one you have just given us of Clay Bertrand.
Andrews.
But, you know, I don't play Boy Scouts and measure them. I have only seen this fellow twice in my life. I don't think there is that much in the description. There may be some to some artist, but to me, there isn't that much difference. Might be for you all.
Liebeler.
I think you said he was 5 feet 8 inches before.
Andrews.
Well, I can't give you any better because this time I was looking for the fellow, he was sitting down. I am just estimating. You meet a guy 2 years ago, you meet him, period.
Liebeler.
Which time was he sitting down?
Andrews.
He was standing up first time.
Liebeler.
I thought you met him on the street the second time when you---
Andrews.
No, he was in a barroom.
Liebeler.
He was sitting in a bar when you saw him 6 weeks ago?
Andrews.
A table at the right-hand side. I go there every now and then spooking for him.
Liebeler.
What's the name of the bar you saw him in that day, do you remember?
Andrews.
Cosimo's, used to be. Little freaky joint.
Liebeler.
Well, now, if you didn't see him standing up on that day--
Andrews.
No.
Liebeler.
So that you didn't have any basis on which to change your mental picture of this man in regard to his height from the first one that you had?
Andrews.
No.
Liebeler.
I am at a loss to understand why you told Agent Kennedy on December 5 that he was 6 feet 1 to 6 feet 2 and now you have told us that he was 5 feet 8 when at no time did you see the man standing up.
Andrews.
Because, I guess, the first time--and I am guessing now--
Liebeler.
Is this fellow a homosexual, do you say?
Andrews.
Bisexual. What they call a swinging cat.
Liebeler.
And you haven't seen him at any time since that day?
Andrews.
I haven't seen him since.
Liebeler.
Now have you had your office searched for any records relating to Clay Bertrand?
Andrews.
Yes.
Liebeler.
Have you found anything?
Andrews.
No; nothing.
Liebeler.
Has this fellow Bertrand sent you business in the past?
Andrews.
Prior to--I guess the last time would be February of 1963.
(portions deleted from original)
Liebeler:
I don't think I have any more questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Andrews:
I wish I could be more specific, that's all. This is my impression, for whatever it is worth, of Clay Bertrand: His connections with Oswald I don't know at all. I think he is a lawyer without a brief case. That's my opinion. He sends the kids different places. Whether this boy is associated with Lee Oswald or not, I don't know, but I would say, when I met him about 6 weeks ago when I ran up on him and he ran away from me, he could be running because he owes me money, or he could be running because they have been squeezing the quarter pretty good looking for him while I was in the hospital, and somebody might have passed the word he was hot and I was looking for him, but I have never been able to figure out the reason why he would call me, and the only other part of this thing that I understand, but apparently I haven't been able to communicate, is I called Monk Zelden on a Sunday at the N.O.A.C. and asked Monk if he would go over--be interested in a retainer and go over to Dallas and see about that boy. I thought I called Monk once. Monk says we talked twice. I don't remember the second. It's all one conversation with me. Only thing I do remember about it, while I was talking with Monk, he said, "Don't worry about it. Your client just got shot." That was the end of the case. Even if he was a bona fide client, I never did get to him; somebody else got to him before I did. Other than that, that's the whole thing, but this boy Bertrand has been bugging me ever since. I will find him sooner or later.
(Warren Commission Hearings, Volume 11, pp. 325 - 339) Dean Andrews’ testimony before the Warren Commission became a critical link to Israel’s involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Under oath, Andrews identified Clay Bertrand as the man who phoned him requesting legal representation for Oswald. Later it became known that Clay Bertrand was actually Clay Shaw, who was linked to international espionage activities with Louis Bloomfield, one of Israel’s most influential supporters. Obviously Andrews had reason to fear serious reprisal if he revealed to the authorities that Clay Bertrand was in fact Clay Shaw. This is why he clearly backpedaled regarding Bertrand’s height and was eventually convicted of perjury for lying about the true identity of Clay Shaw, the man who had asked him to represent Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy.
Garrison Proved That Shaw and Bertrand Were the Same Person
Although Garrison lost the conspiracy case against Shaw, he proved in a separate proceeding that Clay Bertrand and Clay Shaw were in fact the same person.11 In subsequent testimony before a grand jury in Louisiana, Andrews denied that Clay Bertrand and Clay Shaw were the same person. The grand jury responded by convicting Andrews of perjury. Subsequently, in August 1967, Andrews was found guilty of perjury by a jury of New Orleans citizens.12 As a result, Andrews was sentenced to five months in the Parish prison.13 The stated perjury conviction linked Bloomfield directly to Oswald because Shaw was obviously Oswald’s handler, and Shaw and Bloomfield were linked to subversive intelligence activity via Permindex and Centro Mondiale Commerciale.
Garrison Linked Clay Shaw to Louis Bloomfield
To my knowledge, Jim Garrison was the first to expose Louis Bloomfield, Centro Mondiale Commerciale, Permindex, and Clay Shaw’s association with them. This is what Garrison wrote in his book, On the Trail of the Assassins:
It was not until much later, well after the Shaw trial when it could have been of any use to us, that we discovered Shaw’s extensive international role as an employee of the CIA. Shaw’s secret life as an Agency man in Rome trying to bring Fascism back to Italy was exposed in articles in the Italian press which we obtained from Ralph Schoenmann, secretary to philosopher Bertrand Russell, who had been one of the earliest supporters of our investigation.
According to these articles, the CIA—which apparently had been conducting its own foreign policy for some time—had begun a project in Italy as far back as the early 1960s. The organization, named the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (the World Trade Center), had initially been formed in Montreal, then moved to Rome in 1961. Among the members of its board of directors, we learned, was one Clay Shaw from New Orleans.
The Centro Montiale Commerciale’s new headquarters, according to the Roman press, was elegant. Its publicity, announcing the new, creative role it was going to play in world trade, was impressive. The Centro opened an additional office in Switzerland, also an impressive move.
However, in 1967, the Italian press took a close look at the board of directors of the Centro Mondiale Commerciale and found it consisted of a very curious collection of individuals. The board contained at least one genuine prince, Gutierrez di Spadaforo, a member of the House of Savoy, whence came Umberto, the last of Italy’s kings. Spadaforo, a man of considerable wealth, with extensive holdings in armaments and petroleum, had once been the undersecretary of agriculture for Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. Through his daughter-in-law, Spadaforo was related to the famous Nazi minister of finance, Hjalmar Schacht, who had been tried for war crimes in Nuremberg.
Another director of the Centro was Carlo D’Amelio, the lawyer for other members of the former Italian royal family. Another was Ferenc Nagy, the exiled former premier of Hungary and the former head of the leading anti-Communist political party. Nagy also was described by the Italian newspapers as the president of Permindex (ostensibly a foundation for a permanent exposition and an offshoot of the Centro Mondiale Commerciale). Nagy, the Italian newspapers said, had been a heavy contributor to Fascist movements in Europe. Yet another director was a man named Giuseppi Zigiotti, the president of something with the congenial title of Fascist National Association of Militia Arms.
One of the major stockholders of the Centro was a Major L.M. Bloomfield, a Montreal resident originally of American nationality and a former agent with the Office of Strategic Services, out of which the United States had formed the CIA.
This then was the general makeup of the Centro Mondiale Commerciale, on whose board of directors Clay Shaw served. Judging from the background of its members and the fairly heavy activities in which they were engaged, the organization could not be confused with the Shriners or the 4-H Club. The Centro was described in 1969 by writer Paris Flammonde in The Kennedy Conspiracy as apparently representative of the paramilitary right in Europe, including Italian Fascists, the American CIA, and similar interests. He described it as "a shell of superficiality…composed of channels through which money flowed back and forth, with no one knowing the sources or the destination of these liquid assets."
The Italian government had no problem distinguishing the organization from the Shriners and the 4-H Club. Before 1962 was out, it had expelled the Centro Mondiale Commerciale—and its half-brother, Permindex—from Italy for subversive intelligence activity.
Perhaps because of its Montreal origin, the Centro aroused the interest of a Canadian newspaper, Le Devoir. Referring to Ferenc Nagy, one of the Centro’s director’s it wrote in early 1967: "Nagy…maintains close ties with the CIA which link him with the Miami Cuban colony." Nagy subsequently emigrated to the United States, making himself at home in Dallas, Texas.
With regard to Major Bloomfield, Le Devoir observed that although now ostensibly a Canadian, he had been involved in "espionage" in earlier years for the United States government. It went on to point out that Bloomfield was not only a shareholder of the Centro but of its affiliate group, Permindex, as well.
Summing up the fate of the two related enterprises, Le Devoir stated: "Whatever the case may be, the Centro Commerciale and Permindex got into difficulties with the Italian and Swiss governments. They refused to testify to origins of considerable amounts of money, and they never seem to engage in actual commercial transactions. These companies were expelled from Switzerland and Italy in 1962 and then set up headquarters in Johannesburg."
The ultimate evaluation of Clay Shaw’s Centro Mondiale Commerciale by the Paesa Sera stated: "Among its possible involvements (supported by the presence in directive posts of men deeply committed to organizations of the extreme right)…is that the Center was the creature of the CIA…set up as a cover for the transfer of CIA…funds in Italy for illegal political-espionage activities. It still remains to clear up the presence on the administrative Board of the Center of Clay Shaw and ex-Major (of the OSS) Bloomfield."
Paesa Sera made an additional observation about the Centro. It was, the newspaper observed, "the point of contact for a number of persons who, in certain respects, have somewhat equivocal ties whose common denomination is anti-communism so strong that it would swallow up all those in the world who have fought for decent relations between East and West, including Kennedy." That just happened, as well, to be the trenchant one-line description of the parent organization, the Central Intelligence Agency.
As for Permindex, which Clay Shaw also served as a director, the Italian press revealed that it had , among other things, secretly financed the opposition of the French Secret Army Organization (OAS) to President de Gaulle’s support for independence for Algeria, including its reputed assassination attempts on de Gaulle.
(Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 100-103) Garrison’s citing from Paris Flammonde’s book, The Kennedy Conspiracy, seems highly significant given what we have learned about Auguste Ricord’s involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Flammonde wrote that Centro Montiale Commerciale was "a shell of superficiality…composed of channels through which money flowed back and forth, with no one knowing the sources or the destination of these liquid assets." The money Flammonde described was likely not generated by the CIA, the US government or any government per se. It was probably the profits from the illicit sale of heroin produced from opium grown in the Golden Triangle; hence, the Vietnam connection. This money was likely laundered by Centro and Permindex and distributed to all participants in a criminal enterprise which included drug traffickers, the CIA, Mossad, SDECE, and a host of other intelligence services.
Involvement of French Corsican heroin traffickers in the Kennedy assassination also explains the presence of ex-Nazis and European fascists on the board of directors of Centro and Permindex even though both agencies were headed by a highly influential Jewish friend of Israel, Louis Bloomfield. Many French Corsican underworld figures like Auguste Ricord were Nazi collaborators during World War II. Such alliances were formed primarily for convenience rather than political ideology. The mobsters were merely co-existing with the ruling power in France at the time. They dealt with Nazis and Jews alike if the alliances fulfilled their business plans. In that sense the mobsters were—and are—equal opportunity employers. This mindset is nothing new in the underworld culture.
Permindex Funded Assassination Attempts on de Gaulle
In 1962, French president Charles de Gaulle publicly accused Permindex of channeling money to OAS (Secret Army Organization),14 which made several attempts on de Gaulle’s life for liberating Algeria. Keep in mind that "Senator" John Kennedy publicly denounced France, in 1957, for its colonial rule over Algeria and for the brutality exhibited in the French-Algerian War.15
It appears that Permindex may have financed the 1965 kidnapping and murder of Moroccan exile leader Mehdi Ben Barka as well.16 When Morocco and Algeria had a brief war in 1963, Ben Barka sided with Algeria and went into exile.17 This is highly significant because it establishes an even stronger pattern that any head of state who openly supported Algerian independence was assassinated—or an assassination was attempted—by Israel via Permindex. De Gaulle, Kennedy, and Ben Barka all supported an independent Algeria. Israel’s objective was apparently to keep all Islamic nations oppressed.
Danish journalist Henrik Krüger asserted in his 1976 book, The Great Heroin Coup, that Christian David was involved in the kidnapping and murder of Ben Barka.18 American journalists Evert Clark and Nicholas Horrock made a similar suggestion in their 1973 book, Contrabandista.19 All three writers agree that David was wanted for murdering French policeman Lieutenant Maurice Galibert—on February 2, 1966—who was investigating the Ben Barka affair.20 As previously stated in this Chapter, there is strong circumstantial evidence that Clay Shaw may have established a relationship with Christian David from contacts Shaw made with the Guerini brothers—a French Corsican crime family—during Shaw’s World War II intelligence service with the French intelligence agency SPECE using the aliases Colonel René Bertrand and Colonel Beaumont.
Endnotes
- Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins (1988), pp. 136-138. Jules Ricco Kimble accompanied Clay Shaw and David Ferrie on a private Cessna plane trip to Montreal. Shaw was known to have a fear of flying. Therefore, Garrison deduced that the Montreal flight must have been "a more than routine mission for which Shaw felt personally responsible."
- Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins (1988), p. 102
- Jim Marrs, Crossfire, p. 498
- ibid
- Henrik Krüger, The Great Heroin Coup, p. 42
- ibid, p. 40
- ibid, p. 43
- ibid, p. 46
- Garrison’s acquaintance with Dean Andrews is stated in On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 93.
- Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 92 - 93. The source of Garrison’s statements about what Andrews told the FBI and the Warren Commission came from Volume 11 of the Warren Report: Warren Commission Hearings, pp. 325 - 339.
- Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins (1988), pp. 198-199
- ibid
- ibid
- Jim Marrs, Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy (1989), p 499
- New York Times (July 3, 1957), Kennedy Urges U.S. Back Independence for Algeria, p A1
- It is well documented that Christian David was involved in the kidnapping and murder Mehdi Ben Barka. Reference Henrik Krüger, The Great Heroin Coup, pp. 59 - 73; Evert Clark and Nicholas Horrock, Contrabandista!, p. 76. Christian David was one of Auguste Ricord’s top lieutenants, and Permindex apparently laundered money for Ricord’s heroin cartel. Also, it appears that Clay Shaw may have used the alias Colonel René Bertrand and Beaumont for the French spy agency, SDECE. (Reference the beginning of Chapter 3 of this document.)
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Mehdi Ben Barka
- Henrik Krüger, The Great Heroin Coup, pp. 59 - 73
- Evert Clark & Nicholas Horrock, Contrabandista!, p. 76
- Henrik Krüger, The Great Heroin Coup, p. 73; Evert Clark & Nicholas Horrock, Contrabandista!, p. 76
PART I
THE ASSASSINATION
PART II
THE CONSPIRACY
- 3. The Importance of Jim Garrison
- 4. Louis M. Bloomfield, the Assassination Engineer
- 5. The French-Corsican-Latin Connection
- 6. Other Garrison Findings
- 7. Proving Conspiracy
- 8. Power Brokers
PART III
THE SUCCESSORS, JOHNSON & NIXON
- 9. Johnson’s Hidden Loyalties
- 10. LBJ’s "Passionate Attachment" to Israel
- 11. Vietnam, Johnson’s Opium War
- 12. The Nixon Administration (1969-74)
PART IV
REFLECTIONS
- 13. Religion and Politics
- 14. Conclusion
- APPENDICES
- A: JFK’s Letter to Eshkol About Dimona
- B: George Magazine Article About Yitzhak Rabin's Murder
- C: TALMUD PASSAGES
- Bibliography
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