Escom L — he #H— NEE 10th 24 June 1966 MEMORANDUM FOR —Depsty Diractor of Central Intelligence suszecr PMARSI Robest a L I This memorandum is for nformation only 2 In August 1960 Mr Richard M Bissell approached Colonel Shoftield Edwards to determine If the Office of Security had assots that may ansist in a sonsitive mission requiring gongatar—type action The miasion target waahe ngestanion ct Fidel Castro 3 Recause of its extreme sensitivity only a small group was made privy to the project The DGI was briefed and gave his approval Colonel J G King Chief WH Diviston was briefed Wut alt details wore deliberately concealed from any of the JMIAYE officials Certain TSD and Gomme personnel pasticl« pated in the initial planning stages but were not witting of the purpose of the mission 4 Robert A Mahou was contacted briofed generally on the project and requented to ascertain if he could develop an en tree into the gangator elements as the first atop toward accom plishing the desized goal 5 Mr Mahon advised that he had met one Johsay Rosell on several occasions while visiting Las Vegas He only know him casually through clients but was given to understand that he was a high—ranking mombor of the ayndicate and controlled all of the ce—making machines on the Strip Maen reasoned that if Roselli was in fact a member of the clan he undoubtedly had connections leading tnto the Cuban gambling Intereats cussmueer O6330E _ ZaneysC Tant Nos coven octane seine on s ies iman onteom ta our Péicucs moulting peg mial idues or nesss dwageniel to centuisatial sxe CONFIDENTIAL — i reeoiamans som l ¢ BE8REF CC mBfes—BRy CONFIDENTIAL 6 Mahon was asked to approach Roselli who knew Mates ao a pevsonet seiaitone exteatioe hanainy dopest moe movige accounts and toll him that he had recently been retained by a eltont who reprosonted ssveral international businasa firms which were suffering heavy financial losses in Cuba as a result of Castzo‘a action They were convinced that Gastro‘s removal Tan the semis to thaie pooblern and move mitliop m vay a price of $150 000 for itn auccessful accomplishment It was to be made lear to Rosellt that the U 5 Government was not and should not fetin‘e Ardis so ile speration 7 ‘The pitch was made to Rosollt on 14 September 1960 at the Iititon Plaza flotol Mew ¥ork Cl Hits mit reaction was to veld peting involved but meoogh Maksa‘ resousnion be mgood in inieodves hing to t lends Sure a9ld aho men tos Cuban er0#8 Romellt made it less he did hot want any money toe is piss ant Siernigiies would tost toe aioe way Hokies of these individuata wkever pald out of Agency funds 8 Duzing the week of 25 September Mahou was introduced to Sam who mas staying at the Portaimtdess toasts Mam beach t Sin Inittat improaston of Sarvwas that of a hard uncouth indi rivcbohs rakes my ested the a commin stacorimnimiit boven so lime Reperin bis npg acsermmperim ht the imarneieg thia ss did the—fact that Mahou Teasned Sam was under periodic marviilianes bo the SBL 6 mas eevarat neste ater ito mesiing with Sam and Jon who was identified to him as a courier operating botween Havana and Mami that he saw photographe of both of thess individuala in the Sunday supplemental Parade They Wore identified as Mame Batontore Gincam and Santos Tratlicant Respectively Both ware on the lio of the Atminay Generatis te most moated mon The fermer was described an tho Chisago eMichels of the Core Hoatzn ant successor to M Capone ond tie fitine the Cons Neate bass of Com operations hates catted Pie hie iind iets oon meepniaiig ats inbstaion $ i disporsing the posniile stints or sesupptishing she whisige tan erigemen tim thay pot apoont if Afrmcone in Tie roid ie Rpmabid male eeme ioe of pooint wil that areld came m 063508 2ter 54 Tie 5 493 f ‘nar ontcorm c C oadimws — C4 — qPNFIORNTIAL doningesded to confisanteal a nine bnowills ut hin woud w — woes — coon rors‘ TO ConndEntiAt c EMS CONFIDENTIAL be placed in Gastrots food or drink it would be a much more affective operation Sam indicated that he had a prospective nominee in the person of Juan Orta a Cuban official who had been receiving kickback payments from the gambling interests who still bad access to Castro and was‘in a financial bind 10 Cornelius Roosevelt Chef TSD ‘was consulted and snares fo develop a pill that had the 18 cloments of rapid solubility high lethal content and litle or no traceability Six of thase itema Sere produced and atter betag checked out for theis effectiveness by De Edward M Gunn three pills were ultimately turned gvex to Sam for the miasion Nelther TSD nor Dr Gunn vB whates on the ultimate use of the plils f 11 Joo delivered the pills to Osta After several weeks of reported attempts Osta apparently got cold feet and asked out of the assignment He suggested another candidate who made soverat attempts without success 12 Jon then indicated that Dr Anthony Verona one of the princlpal officers in the Cuban Exile Junta had become din affected with the appazent inoffochual progress of the Junta and was willing to handlo the mission through his own resources 13 Dr Verna was approuched and jumped at the oppor tunity of getting Involved in an independent operation He was told that the private interests backing the project did not want the U S Government and particularly the GLA to know of that invoivement So far as this Cffice knows he has naver divalged his participation in the project to the Agoney 14 He asked as a prerequisite to the deal that he be given $10 000 for organizational expenses and requested $1 000 worth of communications equipment 15 Ds Verona‘s potential was never fully exploited as the project was canceled shortly after the Bay of Pigs episode Vercan was advised that the offer was withdraum and the pills wore retrioved cuse w @63300—2200726_ Tait nse cues omeisncmon s sehtevt e s corer cartons uo ustumnt‘ Meromt diungesdad to contidesticl CONFIDENTIAL nama s come Uh e e — BSFoun— — CONFIDENTIAL 16 Of algnificant Interest was an Incident which involved a request levied by Sam upon Mahed and now shapes up as a potential fap f ‘At the height of the project negotiations Sim expreased concorn sediitniinnsspeentonasiaes fa pom nintumrenmmemmmntiime to put a bug in BRB com to determin the ox tont omampliicesmenenimatmientoetii Nigge ic ec tobi Gomm haiti‘ rave the facilities whopespon Sam threatened to Jeays— Manat to go to vama wee ¢ take—care—0t the maite hissslt Ii onder to pro vont this Makau contacted Bdvard Dubois a Flogida investigator and sked him—to handle the job a Itstoad of installing a buyin thexcon the technician placad a tan on the phone whichrob viowaly did not ansve Sam s—purpose The tochni« clan Involved in the asstgament was dlscovered in the process azzonted and taken to the Shorl f‘s office for questioning Afterbe fellerNa serch L222 Puboto bytelephene he called Makedatise Z zr m ——— — Kenihworth Hotel Miami and informed him flat rz —— he had been detained by the police This call was made in the presense of the Shestit‘s personnel Subsequently the Department of Justice an« nounced ito intention to prosecute Maken along virith the technician On 7 Febiuazy 1982 the Dizectos of Security briefed the Attornay General Robert Kennedy on the clzcomstanten loading up to Mahen‘s Involvement in the wiretap At ou zo— duest prosecution was dropped comme m Cee aomapze— Bw Re core s a a sentome oh 64 Mluiiircommn 59000 t u unem nang BB4R aoe o strate eine ost CPbpNM AfrcmmAbeatu — E — CONFDENTIL Stl inet met tn ar cay le 6 ast c soppefirin Effeconty — 7 Two azticles appeared in the Chicago press one on 16 August 1963 and one on 20 Aupust 1963 Ton resprnide prnmaerecheg inin tn agmoey Tho first article appeared in the Chicago Sun«Times written by ataif writer Sandy Smith and had as ite headlina CHA Sought Glancans Help for Cuba Spying It relatos that the Agency reportadly was in touch with Sam in 1359 and requested that he asaint ham in obtaining intelligence out of Cubs It also men— laimed was handled by a Florida investigative prgentention Be gerne wens on ts state foot Mirmg aily mens entered by oopmmint Toy Sain snntranted a3 286 Mont whe mas sbadsoing tasted him and wanted to know if Sam could do any« 3 m eaid he had Erionda on both sides but no clout Offien whi was iosntitied to him ao an ampleyes of tnhent a tween there two individuals Rosell began to speculate an to O‘Cannallta teus employer and at one point atated that he was sonsineed be wae eniplayed by thw Gin ond Aint the projeos wan Sponaored by the Agency He hastened to atate thet he was not feselng the fn#un wor would ho mane sonfirmintion af fite ind festher he would ust mention his to anjone vies including dam was never mentioned to him it is Mabou‘s betiot ho eventually ous prites the Agency wae ie prose beiind fos opreatine mG ofre s COHEATENTIAL B etal Ceconfctediel t © u fan 800 Wolk esr c 205 — perogycc —— CONpAMENTIAE 5 t 18 In May 1962 because of Mr O‘Comnall‘a assignment to an overseas post it was decided to turn Roselli over to Mr Willian Haavay who was at that time Chel Task Force Hasvey was introduced as William Walle Itto not known whether Rossii ever became aware of Hazvey‘o true name © Howard J Osborn Director of Security prommar s Cammnryan Him nit ca in scammed a shat eere n c norm onion thn ® 3 ud Cte o CORfIDENTIAL Oe nmittiie o ABs I deo d fo « m arta pata