Ch. 5. French Connections: NATO, DIA and DISC

Before the attempted assassination on DeGaulle by Thiery of Permindex and even before Maurice Gatlin, the New Orleans business associate of Guy Bannister, had acted as courier of assassination funds for Permindex between New Orleans and Europe, a large hassle had developed publicly over the Pentagon and the Defense Intelligence Agency acting in concert with the revolting French generals in Algeria. 

These were the same French generals who were working with the Defense Intelligence Agency and Division Five of the FBI through Permindex, Centro Mondiale Comerciale (World Trade Center) and Italo American Hotel Corporation in the attempted assassination of DeGaulle in March of 1962. 

At the time these facts were put into general circulation, neither Permindex, Centro Mondiale Comerciale (World Trade Center) nor Italo American Hotel Corporation had been brought to public light, although we now know their operations, connections and purposes. 

The story was considered important enough in May, 1961, to be the subject of the lead editorial in Le Monde, the most respected and influential newspaper in France:

"It now seems established that some American agents more or less encouraged Maurice Challe, whose experience in NATO should have put him on guard against the dealings of these irresponsible people and their Spanish and German colleagues. Kennedy obviously had nothing to do with this affair. To make this plain he considered it necessary to offer aid to General DeGaulle, well-intentioned certainly but inopportune."

Columnist Marquis Childs noted that some people at the top were aware of the Defense Intelligence Agency's involvement. Childs wrote:

As one of the highest officials of France put it: "Of course your government, neither your State Department nor your President, had anything to do with this. But when you have so many hundreds of agents in every part of the world it is not to be wondered at that some of them should have got in touch with the generals in Algiers."

And L'Express devoted two full pages to Challe and the DIA in a report the content of which obviously bore the imprint of high officialdom. Among other things, l'Express affirmed that:

Knowing the sobriety, the prudence and the ambition of General Challe, all of his close friends are convinced today that he was encouraged by his companions (at NATO). In the course of the final conversations which he had in Paris certain American agents have told him "succeed quickly - in less than forty-eight hours - in a technical coup d'etat and we will support you."

When the first stories of DIA and NATO involvement in the revolt were being published on April 22, 1961, some of them were launched cautiously "by officials at the Elysee Palace itself" according to Crosby S. Noyes in the Washington Star.

At least a half dozen foreign newsmen were given privately to understand that the generals' plot was backed by strongly anti-Communist elements in the United States Government and military services. 

The leader of the revolt, General Maurice Challe, was reported to have received assurances that any move to keep Algeria under permanent French domination and out of Algerian hands would be in the interests of the United States. There also was a strong implication that a change in the NATO policies of General DeGaulle would be welcome as one of the results of a successful coup d'etat.

Paul Ghali of the Chicago Daily News reported that:

French army circles in the French capital made it known that they had 'irrefutable' documents proving that Pentagon agents in Paris and Algiers promised General Challe full U. S. support if the coup succeeded. 

Simultaneously, the Polish Ambassador in Paris, Stanislaw Gajewski, volunteered the same information with even more precision to colleagues and social acquaintances.

Said Il Paese in Rome:

It is not by chance that some people in Paris are accusing the American secret service headed by Allen Dulles of having participated in the plot of the four 'ultra' generals . . . Franco, Salazar, Allen Dulles are the figures who hide themselves behind the pronunciamentos of the 'ultras'; they are the pillars of an international conspiracy that, basing itself on the Iberian dictatorships, on the residue of the most fierce and blind colonialism, on the intrigues of the CIA . . . reacts furiously to the advance of progress and democracy. . . .

Pravda reported that:

Taking part in the war against the Algerian people is not only the France of the arms manufacturers. The war in Algeria is a war of NATO. This was openly and cynically stated by American General Norstad, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Atlantic Bloc. U.S. reactionary quarters are helping the French colonialists. . . . The traces of the plotters lead to Madrid and Lisbon, these hotbeds of fascism preserved intact with the money of American reactionaries and with direct assistance of top NATO circles. The traces from Spain and Portugal lead across the ocean to the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. . . .

A version with a new twist appeared in a non-Communist Paris newspaper. It was written by Genevieve Tabouis. Madame Tabouis assured her readers that 

"the fact that the effort of Challes was encouraged, if not supported, by the most Atlantic of American services, is from now on a secret everyone knows."

About this time, General James M. Gavin, United States Ambassador to France, attended a luncheon of the French American Press Association. Also on hand was Pierre Baraduc. Ambassador Gavin stood up to answer questions from the guests.

One of the guests was Sam White, an Australian and Paris correspondent for the irreverent London Evening Standard. White, a man of blunt and simple Anglo-Saxon words, handed Ambassador Gavin a bombshell of a question: 

"Now that the story that the Pentagon played a part in the Algerian mutiny has received the blessing of the Quai d'Orsey, what steps does the American Ambassador propose to take to kill it?" 

By this time, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Division Five of the FBI and the NATO generals' involvement with the French Algerian generals was so well established that General Gavin declined to make any form of denial.

Digressing somewhat but expanding further, it is desirable to document further the connection between the Defense Intelligence Agency, Division Five of the FBI, the Defense Industrial Security Command, the members of the Kennedy assassination cabal, it's employees and their common, connecting links and objectives. 

The Defense Industrial Security Command is a direct subsidiary of the Defense Intelligence Agency under the command of Lt. Gen. Joseph Carroll, who was a long time friend of Hoover and former Assistant Director of the FBI. 

The Defense Industrial Security Command was in operation before the Defense Intelligence Agency was formed in early 1961. However, before that time, it had worked with the separate armed forces intelligence agencies which were all brought together under General Carroll.

The DISC was a police, security, investigative, intelligence and employee clearance arm of the sprawling military industrial complex consisting of the Atomic Energy Commission, NASA, the munitions makers and suppliers of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the employees of all of those agencies and those companies who held contracts with them. 

It is not in the least surprising that the syndicate and the Mafia worked well into the Defense Industrial Security Command because of their members' ownership in many of the huge corporations manufacturing munitions and supplies for the Pentagon, Atomic Energy Commission and NASA. 

Henry Crown's and Patrick Hoy's ownership of the controlling block in General Dynamics between 1960 and 1966 is well known by the few who bother to keep up with such things.

Henry Crown's close association with the Chicago Mafia figures has been well documented in Captive City by Demaris. 

Joe Bonanno's (the New York, Tucson and Montreal Mafia head) connection with the munition manufacturing corporation, Lionel, is also well known. Roy Cohn of Lionel, Ed Levinson, Clifford Jones and Cleveland mobster, Morris Dalitz, and their business connections are also totally established. 

Joe Bonanno keeps his personal lawyer on retainer (and has for years) in order to handle the intricate high financial legal moves in connection with his ownership of munitions, aerospace and other corporations registered on Wall Street. 

Bonanno's attorney is William Power Maloney who is also General Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulatory agency over the stock exchanges with headquarters in New York City. 

And, J. Edgar Hoover until 1959 vehemently denied that the Mafia even existed. He said there was no such organization as the Mafia.

The Nazi rocket scientists are on management level also in the munitions and aerospace industry. Walter Dornberger, the Nazi general, left the space agency in the 1950's to become a high official in Bell Aerospace Corporation and he was followed by over thirty of the Nazi scientists to control level in the corporations manufacturing munitions and aerospace material. 

This still left well over sixty of the scientists at command level in NASA. 

The Nazis, Mafia and gambling syndicate members were all brought together under the large umbrella of the Defense Industrial Security Command and even the larger joint umbrella of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Division Five of the FBI. 

Of course, General Joseph Carroll of DIA could not possibly participate in any venture without the approval of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sitting over him in the Pentagon. 

The host of munitions and aerospace manufacturing companies with Mafia Members in the leadership positions began to surface during the 1960's and one of such connections surfaced as is shown in the Associated Press Dispatch of October 28,1969, which reads as follows:

A Pennsylvania manufacturing firm linked to the Mafia by a Senate subcommittee has won millions of dollars in defense contracts from the Pentagon. Medico Industries Inc. of Pittston, Pa., currently is working on a $4 million contract to produce parts for rocket warheads used extensively in Vietnam. Since 1966, the firm has received about $12 million in Army, Navy, and Air Force contracts. Pentagon records indicate it has performed well on all its defense work. Medico Industries' present contracts do not involve classified material. However, a Pentagon spokesman said the firm and its principal officers had a security clearance from Jan. 28, 1968 to June 20, 1968. It was terminated at the company's request -- a request which Pentagon sources said came after security officials asked for additional information about its officers.

The company's name has cropped up in the organized crime investigations of a Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. John L. McClellan, D Ark. In 1964, McClellan's subcommittee listed Medico Electric Motor Co., later to become known as Medico Industries, as a principal hangout of Russell A. Bufalino, whom it described as "one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States." 

William Medico, former president and now general manager of Medico Industries, was listed in the same report as among the "criminal associates" of Bufalino. James A. Osticco, the firm's traffic manager, was present in 1957 when New York State Police broke up the Apalachin Conference - a meeting of top Mafia figures from throughout the United States.

The participants also included Bufalino and Vito Genevese, once described as "king of the rackets." Bufalino has been battling deportation since 1952. 

According to the McClellan committee's 1964 report, the Sicilian-born Mafia leader has been active in narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering, and dealing in stolen jewels and furs. Last year, Bufalino was charged with transporting stolen television sets across state lines. 

Investigators say Bufalino and Medico have been friends since Bufalino moved to Pittston from Buffalo, N.Y. in 1938. A confidential report in the files of state and federal law enforcement officials refers to a company listed in the Senate report as being owned by Bufalino and says: "One of the silent partners in this enterprise is said to be William Medico . . . who is believed to have money invested in a number of places where the subject (Bufalino) acts as front man." 

In a telephone interview, Medico said he has no business interests with Bufalino. He said he has known Bufalino all his life.

As for the McClellan committee report that Bufalino frequents the Medico plant, Medico said, "Sure he comes to see us. We're selling his equipment; he's a customer. I can't tell him to get the hell out." 

The firm's record of getting government contracts goes back to the 1950's. It has produced such items as maintenance platforms for the Air Force and Navy, rebuilt generators for the Signal Corps, rebuilt machine tools and hydraulic wing jacks for the Army, Navy and Air Force. It also has had contracts from the cities of New York and Detroit. 

In 1963 it competed with eight other firms to take over management of a government-owned ammunition plant in Scranton, Pa., but lost out to a lower bidder. In 1968 Medico Industries was one of the 166 companies from which the Army sought bids to produce parts for 2.75- inch rocket warheads. Ten firms, including Medico, responded and six got contracts. Medico was not among them. 

But in the summer of 1968, the Army announced it needed still more warheads to fill Vietnam requirements. The four unsuccessful bidders on the earlier round were invited to bid again. All four, including Medico, got contracts. 

The Medico contract, awarded September 19, 1968, called for supply of 510,000 parts for $3,090,600. Then, in December 1968, Medico was among the producers invited to submit proposals for shifting to production of a different and costlier type 2.75-inch warhead. The firm received a contract on Dec. 31 to supply 380,000 parts at a cost of $4,012,800. That contract is still in effect. 

Under Defense Department regulations, a company can not be cleared for work on classified projects until its key personnel are given a National Agency check. This includes a search of FBI name and fingerprint files. 

If any derogatory information is found, it is up to the Defense Industrial Security Command at Columbus, Ohio, to determine if it is serious enough to warrant further investigation. If such a determination is made the case is referred to a higher level for review. No such reference was made when Medico's application was processed.

 

In addition to security checks, all prospective defense contractors also undergo a pre-award review to determine their ability to produce. The personal background of company officials is not a factor in such reviews. 

Medico Industries' success in obtaining government contracts has helped it expand from a small electrical company housed in a former mule barn to a large modern plant on the outskirts of Pittston. With a work force of about 400 during peak contract periods, the firm is one of the largest employers in the coal mining area. William Medico and his four brothers, all officers in the family firm, are often in the news as participants in civic affairs, charity drives and occasionally politics, in the city of 13,000 midway between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.

To return momentarily to some of the employees of the DIA and DISC involved in the DeGaulle assassination attempt, it needs to be pointed out that Jerry Brooks and a number of other witnesses confirmed to District Attorney Jim Garrison that Maurice Gatlin had carried funds to Europe to finance the DeGaulle assassination attempt. 

It was also confirmed that Jack Ruby was a close associate of Maurice Gatlin and that Gatlin, Robert Ray McKeown of Baycliff, Texas, (adjacent to the Houston NASA headquarters), and Jack Ruby were all very closely associated over a period of at least ten years. 

As a matter of fact, Jerry Brooks told Garrison that Gatlin was the one who called Jack Ruby and Robert Ray McKeown in and ordered them to drop their plans to ship surplus army jeeps to Fidel Castro in the spring of 1959. 

Ruby, of course, was also very closely connected with L.J. McWillie of Havana and Las Vegas, the business partner of Clifford Jones, Ed Levinson, Morris Dalitz, Bobby Baker and Roy Cohn. 

When questioned by the Warren Commission, Jack Ruby had this to say about L.J. McWillie:

Mr. Ruby: . . . As a matter of fact, on the plane, if I recall, I had an article he sent me, and I wanted to get it published because I idolized McWillie. . . . 

Mr. Ruby: A fellow whom I sort of idolized is of the Catholic faith, and a gambler. Naturally in my business you meet people of various backgrounds. And the thought came, we were very close, and I always thought a lot of him, and I knew that Kennedy, being Catholic, I knew how heartbroken he was, and even his picture - of this Mr. McWillie - flashed across me, because I have a great fondness for him.76

Also buried deep in the twenty-six volumes of the Warren Commission report are the following statements which, of course, show that Ruby had contact with McWillie, Jones, Dalitz of the Stardust Motel and others in Las Vegas about two and one half weeks before the assassination time.

GILBERT COSKEY, Casino Cashier, Stardust Hotel, advised that about four weeks ago an individual from Dallas, Texas, believed by the name RUBY approached the casino credit department and attempted to have a check cashed. COSKEY recalled that the man talked about owning the Vegas Club and another night club in Dallas. COSKEY stated he took the check to JOHN TIHISTA, Credit Manager, for approval informing TIHISTA that the customer reportedly was from Dallas and owned night clubs in that city. 

COSKEY stated that if he recalls correctly TIHISTA refused to cash this check since the customer had no previous credit with the hotel. He could recall nothing more concerning this incident, but after seeing a photo of RUBY in the paper and reading about his background, he was certain that RUBY and the person attempting to cash a check at the Stardust were one and the same.

JOHN TIHISTA, Credit Manager, Stardust Hotel, advised that about one month ago GILBERT COSKEY, Cashier in the hotel casino cage, came to TIHISTA with a check from a customer to determine whether or not it should be cashed. According to COSKEY, the customer wanting to cash the check had no previous credit; however, COSKEY stated that the man was from Dallas and owned a night club in that city. 

He believed COSKEY had stated the man's name was RUBY. TIHISTA stated that apparently this incident occurred on a weekend since they were unable to contact the customer's bank, and therefore, did not accept the check. 

TIHISTA reviewed hotel registration recorded for the months of September, October, and November (1963) but could not locate a registration for the name RUBY or RUBENSTEIN. TIHISTA stated there was no credit application for the name RUBY or RUBENSTEIN at the Stardust. 

JOSEPH STEFAN, Caddymaster, Tropicana Golf Club . . . . advised that when the news of RUBY'S killing of OSWALD first appeared on television, he had the impression that at one time RUBY might have played golf at that course, since he is sure that at some time during the past year, a player from Texas, had given him a card from the Carousel Club in Dallas and told him to look him up if he ever got to Dallas. . . . 

Ruby was simply being guided and advised by his superiors in the gambling syndicate and Mafia section within the Defense Industrial Security Command. DISC also has within its group the secondary command level of the U.S. Information Agency whose duties are propaganda.

Fred Korth, in addition to his close connection with Nazi Walter Dornberger as fellow board member on Bell Aerospace Corporation, has been active Director of U.S.I.A. and its subsidiary, Radio Free Europe. 

In any event, one may well rest assured that in the fall of 1969 and 1970, the Defense Industrial Security Command was continuing its activities on East Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio and at the George Marshall Space Center and Old Redstone Arsenal along the Tennessee River in Northern Alabama. 

When F. Lee Bailey was called to represent Captain Ernest L. Medina in December of 1969, he was employed by DISC and he had never seen Medina until both were flown to Columbus, Ohio. After being together in Columbus a few days and after a number of propaganda stories were ground out from there, Medina and Bailey were flown to the Pentagon where they met the national press.

After Ross Perot had flown around the world with food for North Vietnam prisoners of war as a propaganda venture, he flew to Columbus, Ohio where new and effective news releases were issued after several days there in January, 1970. 

The Columbus group had earlier secured lawyers for James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan and others. The Defense Industrial Security Command, the police agency of the munitions manufacturers successors to the German cartels, has many and varied functions.