Post by John Duncan on Apr 23, 2021 20:03:00 GMT -5
The Camps At Lake Ponchartrain -- From "Harvey & Lee" by John Armstrong, pp. 552-553
In the summer of 1963 there were as many as six Cuban exile training camps and weapons bunkers on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
According to Rene Carballo, a Cuban refugee living in New Orleans, one or more of the camps were ran by "El Mexicano" (Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo), a Cuban exile who formerly resided in Miami.
*In August 1959 LEE Oswald accompanied "Mexicano" to the home of Mrs. Gladys Davis in Coral Gables, Florida. (Harvey still in the Marines,at Santa Ana).
On July 24 a group of anti-Castro Cubans from Frank Sturgis' International Anti-Communist Brigage (Miami) arrived in New Orleans and joined one of the training camps on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
Al Campbell worked as an investigator for Guy Bannister in 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1963 gathering information on suspected communist groups in the City. On one occasion Campbell overheard Banisters secretary, Delphine Roberts, tell Banister that she saw Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets on a street corner. Banister replied, "Don't worry about him. He's a nervous fellow, he's confused. He's with us, he's associated with the office." Campbell said that Banister worked closely with Ray Huff and the CIA. He told HSCA investigators that Sergio Arcacha Smith spent a lot of time at the camps, and that many of the guns used for training the exiles were furnished by the Mardi Gras Corporation.
Dan Campbell said that Guy Banister was a "bagman" for the CIA and was also running guns to the Cuban exile group "Alpha 66" in Miami. He said, "Banister was one of the most frighteningly violent persons I have ever known." He also said the people who hung around Banister "were the worst kind of fanatics."
Carlos Quiroga (FBI Informant "NO T-5") was a close friend of Sergio Arcacha Smith and was involved with the Cuban Revolutionary Council. Quiroga said, "Ferrie always had $100 bills around all the time, even after he lost his job with the airlines." He said he Ferrie provided Arcacha with loans , which he never repaid.
*Layton Martens, who identified himself to the New Orleans Police as Arcacha Smith's second-in-command, drove with David Ferrie to Houston, Texas the evening of the assassination.
Joseph Newbrough, Jr., another associate of Banister's, said that David Ferrie visited Banister's office on a daily basis for several months. He recalled that Ferrie, FBI Agent Warren DeBrueys, and FBI Agent Regis Kennedy frequently traveled to the MDC (Movemiento Democratica Cristiano aka Christian Democratic Movement) and the McLaney Camps (named for the owner of the land-William McLaney) on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
Thomas Beckham, a runner for Ferrie, Banister, Clay Shaw, Sergio Arcacha, and Grady Durham, told the HSCA that Ferrie came to meetings at Banister's office dressed in his green fatigues directly from the training camps at the Lake. Beckham once flew to Miami with Arcacha and Louis Rabel with a large suitcase of money and delivered it to Eugenio Martinez, a future Watergate burglar along with E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis. Beckham told the HSCA in 1977 he felt members of the CIA plotted and carried out the assassination of President Kennedy and framed Lee HARVEY Oswald in the process.
Banister investigator Jack Martin told the New Orleans DA's office that he saw Oswald with David Ferrie in Banister's office on several occasions. Guy Banister's secretary Delphine Roberts recalled that on at least one occasion Oswald accompanied Ferrie to one of the training camps at Lake Ponchartrain. Jack Martin also told the New Orleans DA's office that David Ferrie trained Oswald to use a rifle.
It was at one of the training camps that LEE Oswald was seen, and FILMED, with an 8mm home movie in the summer of 1963, which was found by researchers in the Georgetown University Library. Following is a short excerpt from the film as described by Tanenbaum to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1996:
"The camera's view moved to another group of men standing by a truck. One of the men in the group turned around and smiled at the camera.
It was actually more of a smirk than a smile, the famous smirk....LEE Harvey Oswald. There were several unidentified men..."
In the summer of 1963 there were as many as six Cuban exile training camps and weapons bunkers on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
According to Rene Carballo, a Cuban refugee living in New Orleans, one or more of the camps were ran by "El Mexicano" (Francisco Rodriguez Tamayo), a Cuban exile who formerly resided in Miami.
*In August 1959 LEE Oswald accompanied "Mexicano" to the home of Mrs. Gladys Davis in Coral Gables, Florida. (Harvey still in the Marines,at Santa Ana).
On July 24 a group of anti-Castro Cubans from Frank Sturgis' International Anti-Communist Brigage (Miami) arrived in New Orleans and joined one of the training camps on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
Al Campbell worked as an investigator for Guy Bannister in 1958, 1959, 1962, and 1963 gathering information on suspected communist groups in the City. On one occasion Campbell overheard Banisters secretary, Delphine Roberts, tell Banister that she saw Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets on a street corner. Banister replied, "Don't worry about him. He's a nervous fellow, he's confused. He's with us, he's associated with the office." Campbell said that Banister worked closely with Ray Huff and the CIA. He told HSCA investigators that Sergio Arcacha Smith spent a lot of time at the camps, and that many of the guns used for training the exiles were furnished by the Mardi Gras Corporation.
Dan Campbell said that Guy Banister was a "bagman" for the CIA and was also running guns to the Cuban exile group "Alpha 66" in Miami. He said, "Banister was one of the most frighteningly violent persons I have ever known." He also said the people who hung around Banister "were the worst kind of fanatics."
Carlos Quiroga (FBI Informant "NO T-5") was a close friend of Sergio Arcacha Smith and was involved with the Cuban Revolutionary Council. Quiroga said, "Ferrie always had $100 bills around all the time, even after he lost his job with the airlines." He said he Ferrie provided Arcacha with loans , which he never repaid.
*Layton Martens, who identified himself to the New Orleans Police as Arcacha Smith's second-in-command, drove with David Ferrie to Houston, Texas the evening of the assassination.
Joseph Newbrough, Jr., another associate of Banister's, said that David Ferrie visited Banister's office on a daily basis for several months. He recalled that Ferrie, FBI Agent Warren DeBrueys, and FBI Agent Regis Kennedy frequently traveled to the MDC (Movemiento Democratica Cristiano aka Christian Democratic Movement) and the McLaney Camps (named for the owner of the land-William McLaney) on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.
Thomas Beckham, a runner for Ferrie, Banister, Clay Shaw, Sergio Arcacha, and Grady Durham, told the HSCA that Ferrie came to meetings at Banister's office dressed in his green fatigues directly from the training camps at the Lake. Beckham once flew to Miami with Arcacha and Louis Rabel with a large suitcase of money and delivered it to Eugenio Martinez, a future Watergate burglar along with E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis. Beckham told the HSCA in 1977 he felt members of the CIA plotted and carried out the assassination of President Kennedy and framed Lee HARVEY Oswald in the process.
Banister investigator Jack Martin told the New Orleans DA's office that he saw Oswald with David Ferrie in Banister's office on several occasions. Guy Banister's secretary Delphine Roberts recalled that on at least one occasion Oswald accompanied Ferrie to one of the training camps at Lake Ponchartrain. Jack Martin also told the New Orleans DA's office that David Ferrie trained Oswald to use a rifle.
It was at one of the training camps that LEE Oswald was seen, and FILMED, with an 8mm home movie in the summer of 1963, which was found by researchers in the Georgetown University Library. Following is a short excerpt from the film as described by Tanenbaum to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1996:
"The camera's view moved to another group of men standing by a truck. One of the men in the group turned around and smiled at the camera.
It was actually more of a smirk than a smile, the famous smirk....LEE Harvey Oswald. There were several unidentified men..."