Here is a fun thing to do as you look for things to explore on the internet. Visit http://www.foia.cia.gov/ and explore the “Family Jewels,” a recently released document from 1973 detailing illegal CIA activity. The dossier was compiled for the former director James Schlesinger to document illegal CIA activities and those that “conflict with the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947.” The prize of this document is the amateurish attempt by a few CIA agents to kill Fidel Castro. Simon Tisdall from The Guardian summarizes the story well:
The plot to kill Mr Castro, whom the US government at the time considered a threat to national security and a stooge of the Soviet Union, begins quietly and sinisterly in August 1960.
The documents released yesterday describe how a CIA officer, Richard Bissell, approached the CIA’s Office of Security to establish whether it had “assets that may assist in a sensitive mission requiring gangster-type action. The mission target was Fidel Castro”.
The dossier continues: “Because of its extreme sensitivity, only a small group was made privy to the project. The DCI (Director of Central Intelligence Allen Welsh Dulles) was briefed and gave his approval.”
Following the meeting with the Office of Security, Bissell employed a go-between, Robert Maheu, and asked him to make contact with “gangster elements”. Maheu subsequently reported an approach to Johnny Roselli in Las Vegas. Roselli is described as “a high-ranking member of the ’syndicate’ (who) controlled all the ice-making machines on the (Las Vegas) Strip and (who) undoubtedly had connections leading into the Cuban gambling interests”.
The CIA is careful to cover its tracks. According to the dossier, Maheu told Roselli that he (Maheu) has been retained by international businesses suffering “heavy financial losses in Cuba as a result of Castro’s action. They were convinced that Castro’s removal was the answer to their problem and were willing to pay the price of $150,000 (£75,000) for its successful accomplishment”.
Roselli was also told that the US government was not, and must not become aware of the operation.
Roselli in turn led the CIA to a friend, known as Sam Gold. In September 1960, Maheu was introduced to Gold and his associate, known as Joe. In a development that appears to underscore the amateurishness of the whole operation, Maheu subsequently accidentally spotted photographs of “Sam and Joe” in Parade magazine.
Gold was in fact Momo Salvatore Giancana, “the chieftain of Cosa Nostra (the mafia) and the successor to Al Capone”. Joe was actually Santos Trafficante, Cosa Nostra boss of Cuban operations.
At a meeting at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Gold/Giancana suggested that rather than try to shoot or blow up Mr Castro, “some type of potent pill that could be placed in Castro’s food or drink would be much more effective”.
He said a corrupt Cuban official, named as Juan Orta, who was in debt to the syndicate and had access to the Cuban leader, would carry out the poisoning. The CIA subsequently obtained and supplied “six pills of high lethal content” to Orta but after several weeks of abortive attempts, Orta demanded “out” of the operation.
Another disaffected Cuban was recruited to do the job, but he demanded money up front. In the event, the dossier relates, “the project was cancelled shortly after the Bay of Pigs episode” (in April, 1961).
Yesterday’s document release under the Freedom of Information Act also reveals details of CIA bugging and surveillance operations and the handling of a Soviet defector and KGB agent, Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, in 1965-67. Also made public are 147 pages of documents relating to CIA assessments of the Soviet and Chinese cold war leaderships.
“The CIA fully understands it has an obligation to protect the nation’s secrets, but it also has a responsibility to be as open as possible,” CIA director Michael Hayden said yesterday. “The declassification of historical documents is an important part of that effort.”
The 702-page document details other illegal activity, including wire-tapping of leading journalists, assistance given to local police, infiltration of anti-war organizations, among other things. Enjoy.
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