Larry Hancock's The Tipping Point Excerpts

 Note:  sample outtakes of Larry:

The Tipping Point – Part 2 Enter Lee Oswald

Walking a Tightrope

With his early interest in the revolution against Batista and his contacts with the Cuban Consulate in Los Angeles previously noted, it is perhaps not surprising to find Lee Oswald entering into Cuban affairs in 1963, first with an initial approach to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) in March while in Dallas, and then becoming more visibly active in pro-Cuba activities in New Orleans that summer. [ 127 ] During that period, the FBI had access to all of Oswald's correspondence with the FPCC. The FBI had its own source inside the group's office, which it used to copy both correspondence, and the FPCC's membership and mailing lists. The FBI routinely prepared intelligence updates on the FPCC and copied the CIA on much of that information.

…Oswald and his wife Marina had been covertly checked out by the CIA’s Domestic Contacts section, via a contact by Dallas CIA officer J. Walton Moore with George deMohrenschildt….

Part 3 People in Motion – Fall 1963

As of fall 1963 Cuban affairs as a whole can only be described as being in a state of chaos, with radically diverse actors and agendas involving the Cuban Coordinating Committee, new CIA Special Affairs Staff projects, ongoing Miami Station maritime missions, Cuban expatriate frustration and independent anti-Castro actions. A broad variety of secret tracks were being pursued – involving the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chief's Special Activities (SACSA) staff and State Department pursuit of the first hints of possible negotiations with Castro himself.

Simply following who was doing what, where and when becomes a challenge.  The following chronology and commentary related to people's movements and activities during this key period will set the stage for examining the emergence of the evolving threat to President Kennedy.

Chronology Sample:

August – September:

Manual Artime began to bring the first AMWORLD recruits into the project, Carlos Hernandez in September, Antonio Soto in October and Felix Rodriquez only by November. Felix Rodriquez officially did not come on board earlier due to an "illness" and his new cover ID for travel outside the U.S. was delayed. In addition to those now familiar names the AMWORLD recruit list also included names from the independent DRE/McClaney-funded projects of summer 1963 - including Carlos Hernandez, John Koch Gene, and Jorge Navarro.

Early September, 1963: Journalist Lisa Howard's friend William Attwood (an advisor with the U.S. delegation at the U.N.) read an article on Cuban relations by Lisa Howard. He called her and after their telephone conversation he volunteered his services to establish a back channel to Castro through the Cuban U.N. delegation.

September 13: President Kennedy's fall trip to Texas was announced to the public in September, 1963. [ 143 ]

September 24: William Attwood had met with President Kennedy and received his approval to proceed with the new Cuba outreach; he had also met socially with Cuban UN representative Lechuga at a cocktail party at Lisa Howard's apartment. Lechuga had been quite encouraging, suggesting that Attwood come to Havana for talks. The CIA was not initially informed of this new back channel negotiation, which was only known to three State Department personnel and to Lisa Howard - who was working the contacts with Cuba. Castro's personal physician and friend Rene Vallejo served as a key channel for Castro.

 

Both Arthur Schlesinger and William Atwood understood the risk involved in this new back channel, but later admitted they had not fully considered the fact that the CIA monitored adversary nation communications at the United Nations, and the NSA monitored all private calls to Cuba. Both men came to believe the CIA had quickly become aware of the president's new initiative – something they deemed to be extremely dangerous.

Years later William Attwood told author Anthony Summers that he believed word of the impending talks might well have leaked down through the CIA to radical officers at JMWAVE, and from them to extremist Cuban exiles. He felt that they would have reacted violently – it was the end of their dreams of returning to Cuba and they might have been moved to "violent action". [ 144 ]

Late September: John Martino traveled to New Orleans on September 27……

Part 4 – Context for Conspiracy

As mentioned in the introduction, over a number of years I examined a number of individuals who have come to researchers' attention, primarily due to the work of the various official inquiries into the Kennedy assassination. In the end I've been left with a handful of primary and secondary sources which appear to me to be credible. In no instance did those individuals "go public" with their information; what little they had to say was disclosed only to family or to other individuals or in a fashion that would not allow it to be attributed to them personally or publicly. In some instances their information was offered to investigative bodies under the assumption that it would be kept confidential – only to become known due to records releases or investigative work by private researchers.

The following material provides a brief introduction to sources I find credible, as well as a synopsis of how they came to be known. Citations are given for their backgrounds, as developed both in my own works (which contain document sources and available links to online materials) as well other sources. Most importantly it describes the limited information which they did provide. In no instances did they elaborate or claim extensive knowledge of the conspiracy or the names of those involved; the information they did provide is strictly consistent with the manner in which it was reportedly obtained.

They Talked

John Martino - Martino had been arrested by Cuban authorities in 1959, while working as a technician in gaming operations at a Havana casino.

According to both Martino's wife and his son, Martino was very much aware of what was about to happen to the president, remarking on it both to his wife and in front of the family during a newscast about JFK's trip to Texas.

"Flo, they're going to kill him. They're going to kill him when he gets to Texas." [ 166 ]

Martino even ordered his teenage son Edward to remain home from school on November 22, instructing him to stay in front of the television rather than leaving the house. [ 167 ]

John Roselli - Roselli first came to public attention in regard to his role in multiple CIA efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro. [ 172 ] He was interviewed at considerable length about those activities by a Senate inquiry, the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (known as the Church Committee) during 1975. [ 173 ] However Roselli had confidentially tried to plant an assassination conspiracy story well before that – similar to what Martino had done immediately after the assassination

David Morales - As Chief of JMWAVE operations in 1963, Morales worked with the most proficient of the Cuban exile paramilitary operators including Rip Robertson and Grayston Lynch. Given his lengthy history with CIA paramilitary operations and covert action (in later years he became a consultant in counter insurgency to the Joint Chief's staff), Morales remains a highly credible source.

Gene Wheaton - Gene Wheaton, approached the ARRB with a fax to its chairman John Tunheim on October 20, 1995. Wheaton indicated that he felt he might have information relevant to the Board's work. As part of that contact Wheaton provided a four page biography of himself, as well as a letter of commendation from President Richard Nixon for Wheaton's earlier anti-drug work during an assignment in Iran.

Wheaton's career experience was in law enforcement and security operations, initially with police work and then service with both the Air Force Office of Special (criminal) Investigations and with the Army Counter Intelligence Division (criminal and narcotics investigations). Following military service he had obtained his Bachelor's Degree in law enforcement, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. After obtaining his Masters he had moved into security consulting in the Middle East, working in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt (security design for the Cairo Airport) and as an advisor on security, police practices and anti-terrorism to the pre-revolutionary government of Iran. His work on counter-drug activities with Iranian law enforcement resulted in a special commendation from President Richard Nixon.

The individual Wheaton named to the ARRB as having knowledge related to the Kennedy assassination was CIA officer Carl Jenkins. In addition to Jenkin's name, Wheaton offered a very limited amount of information, which he had heard in private conversations among anti-Castro military personnel who had worked with Jenkins in earlier years. The men had trained under Jenkins and conducted a variety of missions against Castro's regime, including maritime operations into Cuba.

The conversations had occurred during the period when Jenkins was working as a sales manager for Wheaton, soliciting air transportation contracts for the Reagan-era Contra support aimed out ousting the governing regime of Nicaragua. [ 190 ]

Rafael Quintero - Quintero had been an early volunteer for the initial CIA Cuba Project, going through special training and participating in infiltration missions into Cuba prior to the failed landing of the Cuban Expeditionary Force. He had operated covertly inside Cuba, as had others of the special infiltration cadre including Tony Izquierdo and Felix Rodriquez. All three had managed to evade and escape during the Bay of Pigs landings and the following massive roundup of suspected insurgents. Following his return to the United States, he had drafted plans for a new covert operations initiative and presented them to Special Group leaders Robert Kennedy and Maxwell Taylor, who in turn offered the plans to CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms.

"If I were ever granted immunity, and compelled to testify about past actions, about Dallas and the Bay of Pigs, it would be the biggest scandal ever to rock the United States." [ 195 ]

Felipe Vidal Santiago - Felipe Vidal was an independent, but much respected, activist within the Cuban exile community. He had also been an officer in the Cuban Navy. Vidal had no affiliation with the CIA or with JMWAVE; however he was known to be personally close to John Martino

Also profiled are Roy Hargraves, Rolondo Otero, Wayne January, Jack Ruby, William Patterson  and William Kent.

Assets

All of which brings us back to a conspiracy of CIA officers turning assets assembled to kill Fidel Castro against President Kennedy. From what we can now see of that conspiracy, it appears to have been constructed around standard CIA practices - CIA officers plan covert actions, provide support, but surrogates always carry out the operation and make the actual attack - combined with William Harvey's criteria for executive action. According to Harvey's own notes those practices meant that nothing would ever be put on paper, the word assassination would never be used in conversation, all related documents would be forged and backdated, the action itself should be coordinated by officers who were working counter espionage/counter intelligence (not case officers), and there should always be provisions for blaming the action on the communists. [ 284 ]

We now know a good deal about several of those individuals, some of whom show up even in their CIA records as superior marksmen. We can also identify at least some of the individuals who were actually assigned to Castro assassination missions. David Boylan and I have covered their training and activities in our "Wheaton Lead Exploration" research paper. [ 285 ] What we cannot know for certain is exactly who volunteered to go to Dallas. There are suggestions and rumors, but they are simply that – no more, no less.

Given a mission to kill the president of the United States, absolute trust was the first criteria in recruiting the shooters. In that regard, only an individual such as Rip Robertson would have both the trust and paramilitary skills to have been involved in both recruiting and organizing tactical elements of the attack. As for the shooters, they would have to be experienced, proficient, highly trusted, and totally committed. Another assumption which seems reasonable is that they were personally known and trusted by the recruiting officer, individuals who had served under his command or even on his missions.

Roselli's description of the conspiracy revolved around the involvement of a CIA-organized Castro assassination team. That is particularly interesting because we have come to learn a great deal about the people who were sent into Cuba to carry out shooting attacks on Castro, how they were trained, inserted and even who organized their efforts. [ 294 ] One of the lessons learned from that research (even though we have only limited details) is that the Castro attack efforts were indeed carefully developed and planned, with the collection of considerable information on the points of attack obtained from both local intelligence and information on the target's movement and security practices.

While those efforts were structured with the classic infantry elements – shooters, and local support personnel for intelligence collection on the target – the number of personnel involved was quite limited. In practice the attacks were planned more as guerrilla actions rather than infantry classic assaults. They were to employ only one or two shooters, and an overall team of perhaps four to six individuals. The individuals involved were extremely well trained in basic infantry skills, advanced covert operations skills, especially in infiltration and exfiltration.

They constituted a very special cadre within the Cuba Project trainees and practiced the highest operational security. Their skill level can be seen in individuals such as Felix Rodriquez, Carlos Hernandez, Nestor Izquierdo, and Segundo Borgas, all of whom managed to make multiple missions in and out of Cuba, even successfully getting out.

A Visible Conspiracy

There is simply no indication that any effort was made to restrict or structure the attack on President Kennedy to create the perception of a lone shooter – that was strictly an artifact of the "lone nut" messaging that emerged during the 48 hours following President Kennedy's murder. Certainly the first day reports out of Dallas provided ample suggestion of an organized attack by multiple participants and of a well-planned conspiracy at work.

The Castro linkage?

The sources cited in this work almost unanimously suggest that the attack on President Kennedy was supposed to point to sponsorship by Cuba and Fidel Castro. Certainly the early headlines did take full measure of Lee Oswald as a pro-Castro figure, an activist supporting the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.