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Authors: Lamar Waldron
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CIA began greatly ramping up
their efforts in the summer of 1960, three months before the presidential
election. Richard Nixon had been Eisenhower’s point man for Cuba,
and Fidel’s death was apparently supposed to be the original October
surprise that would propel the incumbent vice president to victory. The
CIA admits they brought Varona into the plots at that time, along with
Santo Trafficante, Johnny Rosselli, and his boss, Sam Giancana.21 Carlos
Marcello told an FBI informant that he joined the operation at a later
date. Despite a series of failures, the CIA continued their work with the
Mafia. Bobby Kennedy was told about some aspects of the CIA-Mafia
plots in May 1962, after they threatened to interfere with the prosecu-
tion of Giancana. However, the CIA admits they told Bobby the plot-
ting had stopped, when in actuality it continued. Without telling Bobby,
JFK, or his own CIA Director, Richard Helms continued having Rosselli
work with Varona on the project, through the rest of 1962 and into June
1963, under the supervision of William Harvey, Desmond FitzGerald’s
predecessor. The rotund, hard-drinking Harvey was sometimes called
America’s James Bond, though he was replaced after clashing with
Bobby Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Evidence indicates
that the CIA-Mafia plots were still going on in the fall of 1963, and that
Miami CIA Operations Chief David Morales grew close to Rosselli in
the process.22
JFK, Bobby, and Harry were determined to exclude the Mafia from
their coup plans and from any role in post-coup Cuba: The Mafia would
not be allowed to reopen their casinos after Castro was eliminated. But
Trafficante and Rosselli had other ideas. The Kennedys and Harry were
never told that in August 1963, the CIA learned that Varona received
$200,000 from associates of Rosselli. A few weeks later, CIA files show
that Varona secretly aligned himself with Trafficante associate and for-
mer death-squad leader Rolando Masferrer, whom Harry had banned
from the coup plan and who had once been arrested on orders from JFK.
A CIA cable says Varona told Masferrer that he could become part of the
coup plan once certain “obstacles” were removed.23
CIA files withheld from Warren Commission and Congressional
investigators, and not published until 2005, confirm that Manuel Artime
was also part of the CIA-Mafia plots in 1963. Neither Harry nor the
Kennedys were aware of Artime’s work with the Mafia. CIA memos
show that Artime planned to use funds provided by the Kennedys to
30
LEGACY OF SECRECY
obtain an airplane in Dallas in the summer of 1963, with the assistance
of Frank Fiorini, a bagman for Trafficante’s organization. Also that
summer, Artime briefly operated a minor-league exile training camp
just outside of New Orleans, an operation that reportedly involved two
associates of Carlos Marcello: Marcello’s pilot, David Ferrie, and a low-
level “runner” for Marcello’s organization named Lee Oswald.24
Though Menoyo had been involved with Santo Trafficante in a 1962
arms deal that went awry, Menoyo was generally considered honest
and was not actively involved with the Mafia by the fall of 1963. How-
ever, he was closely aligned with one of the most violent Cuban exile
groups, Alpha 66, which JFK had denounced for mounting unauthor-
ized attacks against Cuban ships earlier in 1963. Alpha 66 was not part of
the JFK-Almeida coup plan, but it was so closely aligned with Menoyo’s
SNFE that the FBI considered them practically one group. The leader
of Alpha 66, Antonio Veciana, told us that he was receiving aid from a
CIA agent named “Maurice Bishop,” who had introduced him to Lee
Harvey Oswald in the summer of 1963 in Dallas; Veciana said he and
Oswald discussed “killing Castro.” Congressional investigator Gaeton
Fonzi investigated the incident extensively and found it credible, iden-
tifying “Maurice Bishop” as CIA officer David Atlee
their efforts in the summer of 1960, three months before the presidential
election. Richard Nixon had been Eisenhower’s point man for Cuba,
and Fidel’s death was apparently supposed to be the original October
surprise that would propel the incumbent vice president to victory. The
CIA admits they brought Varona into the plots at that time, along with
Santo Trafficante, Johnny Rosselli, and his boss, Sam Giancana.21 Carlos
Marcello told an FBI informant that he joined the operation at a later
date. Despite a series of failures, the CIA continued their work with the
Mafia. Bobby Kennedy was told about some aspects of the CIA-Mafia
plots in May 1962, after they threatened to interfere with the prosecu-
tion of Giancana. However, the CIA admits they told Bobby the plot-
ting had stopped, when in actuality it continued. Without telling Bobby,
JFK, or his own CIA Director, Richard Helms continued having Rosselli
work with Varona on the project, through the rest of 1962 and into June
1963, under the supervision of William Harvey, Desmond FitzGerald’s
predecessor. The rotund, hard-drinking Harvey was sometimes called
America’s James Bond, though he was replaced after clashing with
Bobby Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Evidence indicates
that the CIA-Mafia plots were still going on in the fall of 1963, and that
Miami CIA Operations Chief David Morales grew close to Rosselli in
the process.22
JFK, Bobby, and Harry were determined to exclude the Mafia from
their coup plans and from any role in post-coup Cuba: The Mafia would
not be allowed to reopen their casinos after Castro was eliminated. But
Trafficante and Rosselli had other ideas. The Kennedys and Harry were
never told that in August 1963, the CIA learned that Varona received
$200,000 from associates of Rosselli. A few weeks later, CIA files show
that Varona secretly aligned himself with Trafficante associate and for-
mer death-squad leader Rolando Masferrer, whom Harry had banned
from the coup plan and who had once been arrested on orders from JFK.
A CIA cable says Varona told Masferrer that he could become part of the
coup plan once certain “obstacles” were removed.23
CIA files withheld from Warren Commission and Congressional
investigators, and not published until 2005, confirm that Manuel Artime
was also part of the CIA-Mafia plots in 1963. Neither Harry nor the
Kennedys were aware of Artime’s work with the Mafia. CIA memos
show that Artime planned to use funds provided by the Kennedys to
30
LEGACY OF SECRECY
obtain an airplane in Dallas in the summer of 1963, with the assistance
of Frank Fiorini, a bagman for Trafficante’s organization. Also that
summer, Artime briefly operated a minor-league exile training camp
just outside of New Orleans, an operation that reportedly involved two
associates of Carlos Marcello: Marcello’s pilot, David Ferrie, and a low-
level “runner” for Marcello’s organization named Lee Oswald.24
Though Menoyo had been involved with Santo Trafficante in a 1962
arms deal that went awry, Menoyo was generally considered honest
and was not actively involved with the Mafia by the fall of 1963. How-
ever, he was closely aligned with one of the most violent Cuban exile
groups, Alpha 66, which JFK had denounced for mounting unauthor-
ized attacks against Cuban ships earlier in 1963. Alpha 66 was not part of
the JFK-Almeida coup plan, but it was so closely aligned with Menoyo’s
SNFE that the FBI considered them practically one group. The leader
of Alpha 66, Antonio Veciana, told us that he was receiving aid from a
CIA agent named “Maurice Bishop,” who had introduced him to Lee
Harvey Oswald in the summer of 1963 in Dallas; Veciana said he and
Oswald discussed “killing Castro.” Congressional investigator Gaeton
Fonzi investigated the incident extensively and found it credible, iden-
tifying “Maurice Bishop” as CIA officer David Atlee
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