Legacy of Secrecy (86 page)

may have resulted in a counterplot by Castro to assassinate President

Kennedy.” He then added that “Sen. Russell Long (D-La.) has told us

that Lee Harvey Oswald . . . trained with Castro revolutionaries in Minsk

during his Soviet stay,” and that “Long swore [the] information . . . is

reliable.”

It was highly unusual for a senator like Russell Long to be talk-

ing about such matters to Anderson, especially on the record, but it

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was no coincidence. Long was actively involved in Carlos Marcello’s

Spring Hoffa plan, and one of Marcello’s associates likely leaked to

Long the false claim that could tie Oswald to the “Castro counterplot”

against JFK.5

Anderson’s column in the
Post
concluded by saying his “sources

agree that a plot against Castro definitely was taken up inside the CIA

at the time. Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., was riding herd on the agency

for his brother. The report is that Castro got wind of the plot and threat-

ened to find someone to assassinate President Kennedy.”6

For Bobby Kennedy, Anderson’s latest column must have seemed

like another punch to the gut, amplifying his fear that Anderson’s or

Garrison’s investigations might reveal his darkest secrets from 1963.

Though he was a senator, Bobby’s influence was at a low point in the

current administration, so he would have to take steps on his own to

keep crucial evidence beyond the reach of Anderson, Garrison, or LBJ.

Anderson’s new column must have tempered any satisfaction Bobby

felt in knowing that Jimmy Hoffa was reporting to Lewisburg Federal

Prison that day, to start his thirteen-year sentence.

For President Johnson, seeing Anderson’s new story after receiving

the FBI report about the CIA-Mafia plots was a sign that the matter

wasn’t going to go away on its own. LBJ would have to get all the infor-

mation he could, since the 1963 date in the new column meant Ander-

son might be describing operations that had been going on when LBJ

became president.

Neither LBJ, Bobby, nor Richard Helms would have wanted to see

the story pursued. The same was true for J. Edgar Hoover, who could

have easily leaked his report on the CIA-Mafia plots to the press—but

didn’t, probably so he could have something to hold over the CIA’s

and Bobby’s heads. No other mainstream journalist printed any type of

follow-up to Anderson’s story, or even noted what Anderson had

reported. Jack Anderson, on the other hand, knew he was onto some-

thing and would soon go to New Orleans to consult with Garrison and

continue his digging.

For Richard Helms, the second Anderson story was apparently the last

straw. Helms knew the small number of people involved in the CIA-

Mafia plots, and it wouldn’t have taken him long to pinpoint William

Harvey, Rosselli’s friend, as the likely source of at least some of the infor-

mation in Anderson’s story. According to later CIA Director William

Colby, Harvey had been recalled from Rome “in February of 1967 [and]

reassigned to CIA headquarters.”7 That was apparently when Harvey

began talking to Jack Anderson, supporting Rosselli’s story.

An account that “one of the CIA’s most senior officers” gave to intel-

ligence journalist David Martin said that not long after William Harvey

returned to CIA headquarters, Harvey was asked to resign, after CIA

personnel “began finding gin bottles in his desk drawer.”8 However, the

CIA had previously used a noted mental-health facility near Towson,

Maryland, for its officials who needed help. If Helms had really wanted

to retain Harvey (still a legend in the CIA because of his work on the

Berlin Tunnel project), he could have sent Harvey to that facility for a

few weeks or months; one CIA official had stayed there for two years.

The fact that the CIA didn’t even attempt to get Harvey such treat-

ment indicates that the request for Harvey’s resignation was probably

punitive.

For pension purposes, Harvey’s official retirement date was set at

the end of the year, but CIA files show that he was effectively out of

the Agency long before that. These CIA files also show that Helms was

right to be concerned about Harvey, since the former agent considered

joining Ed Morgan’s law firm (one account even says he did become

affiliated with the firm).9 The files also show that by 1967, Harvey’s

loyalty lay more with Johnny Rosselli than with the CIA. Harvey would

later tell the CIA’s Director of Security that “‘Johnny’ [Rosselli] was his

friend,” and “that he would not turn his back on his friends.” Harvey

explained that “he had told ‘Johnny’ at the outset of their association that

if anything happened to ‘blow the operation’ that . . . ‘Johnny’ could not

look to anyone other than Harvey for assistance.”10 Just weeks after Jack

Anderson’s second article, Harvey would suggest to the CIA’s Security

Director that “it would be a simple matter for the Director [Helms] to

see Mr. [J. Edgar] Hoover personally and determine . . . what actual

case the Justice Department had against Johnny [Rosselli].” That the

disgraced Harvey would even suggest that Helms do such a thing shows

the “unusually vulnerable position” Helms and the CIA were in because

of Rosselli.11

Bobby Kennedy was also in a vulnerable position, and on March 14,

1967, he literally buried crucial medical evidence. JFK had originally

been laid to rest next to the bodies of his infant son and daughter, in

a relatively plain grave distinguished only by an eternal flame. In the

summer of 1966 (during the first wave of JFK conspiracy books), work

had begun on a more elaborate site twenty feet away, though some have

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LEGACY OF SECRECY

wondered why it couldn’t have been constructed around the original

grave.

Bobby still possessed important medical evidence—including JFK’s

brain, tissue samples, and possibly X-rays and photographs from

JFK’s autopsy—that are not at the National Archives. In addition to

whatever they might have revealed, Bobby had wanted to ensure that

JFK’s autopsy material never became a public spectacle. After Garri-

son’s investigation became public and a grand jury was impaneled in

New Orleans to investigate, Bobby’s concerns must have increased.

They would have grown even more when Clay Shaw was arrested

on March 1, 1967, because that meant a trial could be held in the near

future. Declassified US military memos show that activity for JFK’s re-

interment accelerated greatly that very day.12

By March 2, 1967, the relocation of JFK’s grave was scheduled for

that month, even though the new burial site wouldn’t be completed

until July. Within days, very detailed plans were drawn up for what was

essentially a major military operation. As one author noted, once a New

Orleans grand jury started considering the possibility of “exhuming

[JFK’s] body for a proper autopsy,” plans were finalized in Washington

to move JFK’s body on the night of March 14, 1967. That evening, Gus

Russo wrote that “300 military personnel arrived and closed Arlington

National Cemetery to the public, clearing it of all unauthorized persons.

An Army road block shut down Arlington Memorial Bridge [and] troops

ringed the area.”13

While a small, private memorial service was planned for the follow-

ing morning, Bobby Kennedy, Frank Mankiewicz, Cardinal Cushing,

and a few others were there to observe the excavation. Russo said, “The

re-interment became the prime opportunity for a simultaneous re-burial

of JFK’s brain. Interestingly, in several newly surfaced photos of the

late-night operation, a small box appears by the Kennedy graveside, at

the feet of Cardinal Cushing.”14

At the time of JFK’s original autopsy, his personal physician, Admiral

Burkley, had told two of the autopsy doctors that JFK’s “brain, as well

as tissue samples” would be given to “Bobby Kennedy for subsequent

burial.” Frank Mankiewicz told a Congressional investigator that JFK’s

“brain is in the grave. . . . Bobby . . . buried it when the body was trans-

ferred.” JFK’s secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, reportedly said to a friend that

JFK’s brain was “where it belongs.”15

On the morning of March 15, 1967, LBJ joined Bobby, Jackie, and a few

other family members and associates at the site for a private memorial

service. The
New York Times
carried a UPI report saying that “the bodies

of President Kennedy and his two dead children were quietly moved

about 20 feet . . . under cover of darkness, and without word to the public

[they were] reburied . . . in the center of the still unfinished memorial to

the slain President.”16

Three days after seeing LBJ at the ceremony, Bobby surprised his close

associates by proclaiming that he was supporting LBJ in the next year’s

presidential election. Newspapers quoted Bobby as saying that LBJ “has

been an outstanding president and I look forward to campaigning for

him in 1968.”17 While Bobby’s announcement disappointed his support-

ers, it makes sense in light of Bobby’s weakened public support at that

point: He had reversed his stance on Vietnam, faced controversies over

bugging and Manchester’s book, and worried about the still unfolding

drama of Jack Anderson’s revelations. Bobby knew that President John-

son had the upper hand in dealing with any fallout from Anderson’s

columns and Garrison’s investigation.

News reports of Bobby’s support for LBJ told Carlos Marcello and Santo

Trafficante they had achieved the first big victory in their unfolding strat-

egy. Their effort to compromise and divert Jim Garrison’s investigation

continued to go well, especially when Garrison took a trip to Las Vegas

in early March. One of Marcello’s associates paid for Garrison’s room,

though a long-rumored $5,000 gambling credit for Garrison turned out

to be false.18

According to a CIA Inspector General’s Report, “Jim Garrison,

Edward Morgan, and Rosselli were all in Las Vegas at the same time.

. . . Garrison was in touch with Rosselli; so was Morgan.”19 However,

Garrison was not as bought and paid for as it might seem. It was not

uncommon at the time for public officials to have their Las Vegas rooms

comped by mob-owned casinos or covered by supporters. Regarding

the CIA’s assertion that “Garrison was in touch with Rosselli,” Richard

Helms was unable to say, during later questioning from Congressio-

nal investigators, where the claim had originated, and Garrison denied

under oath ever meeting with Rosselli. The same was true for Rosselli

when asked about meeting Garrison.

Johnny Rosselli was not a well-known Mafia figure to the public at

that time, so if Rosselli were using an alias, Garrison could have met him

without realizing the mobster’s true identity. Likewise, Rosselli may

have wanted the CIA to think he was meeting with Garrison, and Ros-

selli could have used William Harvey (who was interviewed for the CIA

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LEGACY OF SECRECY

Inspector General’s Report) to plant the story. The CIA report includes

an odd passage: “The Rosselli-Garrison contact in Las Vegas in March

is particularly disturbing. It lends substance to reports that Castro had

something to do with the Kennedy assassination in retaliation for US

attempts on Castro’s life.” It’s hard to see any basis for that reasoning

in the Report but it does confirm that the CIA was very worried about

Rosselli’s sharing information with Garrison and Anderson—and the

agency’s fear worked to Rosselli’s benefit.20

As for Garrison, the detailed notes of
Life
magazine reporter Richard

Billings (who had almost daily contact with Garrison during much of

the winter and spring of 1967) show that the District Attorney really did

seem to be trying to solve the JFK assassination. However, the case defied

simple explanation with the information that was available, so Garrison

was constantly grasping at leads, changing directions, and shifting to

new suspects. Garrison came close to what we now know to be the truth

on several occasions, and within weeks of his Las Vegas trip would tell

an FBI informant that he planned “to indict Carlos Marcello in the Ken-

nedy assassination conspiracy because Garrison believes Marcello is tied

up in some way with Jack Ruby.” It’s even possible that Garrison real-

ized that someone in Las Vegas, or one of his volunteers in New Orleans,

was trying to steer him away from organized crime, thus making him

more suspicious of the mob. Certainly, Garrison didn’t seem to buy the

Castro retaliation story that Rosselli had told Jack Anderson.21

But whenever Garrison got close to the truth, something always hap-

pened. He was intentionally diverted, he let his ego get the best of him,

or he seemed reluctant to really go after Marcello. Garrison later told

filmmaker Oliver Stone that “he’d only met [Marcello] two brief times