-Caveat Lector- -----Original Message----- From: Jim Hargrove <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk Date: Monday, February 01, 1999 3:49 AM Subject: Shaw and the NAZI's >On 30 Jan 1999 20:28:52 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Clark Wilkins) wrote: > >>Please excuse my interruption. > >No excuses necessary! Thanks for the post. > >>I feel I probably know as much about Ferenc Nagy and Permindex as anyone >>on this site. >>Nagy has been identified here as a Nazi, a Hungarian, and a former >>premier. He was all of those things. By 1957 he was trying to free >>Hungary from Soviet oppression and probably for the purpose of placing it >>under his own oppression. In doing so, he sought aid from the US State >>Dept (arms) and the Italian royal family which had supported him in his >>days as a Nazi. Nagy envisioned smuggling arms into Europe via "trade >>marts". He did not then know that Shaw already operated a Trade Mart. >>With State Dept knowledge (and probably at the suggestion of CD Jackson) >>Nagy called on Shaw and formed Permindex. > >Nagy announced plans to organize Permindex in Basel, Switzerland on 12/28/56. >U.S. State Dept/Basel Consulate memos on Permindex started just a few days >later. For details on why Nagy's public statements concerning financing of a >trade center/hotel/office complex should have immediately attracted U.S. intel >interest, see below. > >>The CIA denies Permindex was a front company of theirs but they do admit >>to keeping a file on Permindex. >>Supporting the CIA's claim, the company was predominately foreign owned. >>Contradicting the CIA's claim, however, is the fact that the Tolstoy >>Foundation, which obtained CIA funding, was electing directors to the >>board in equal proportion to the directors being elected by the Italian >>royal family. Again, Nagy's Fascist buddies were elected to the board in >>the exact same numbers. >> Still others were elected to the board for no apparent political >>reason. Many, if not all, of these latter directors were unaware of >>Permindex's true purpose and operations. Clay Shaw falls in this group. > >What evidence is there that Shaw was unaware of the operations of the company >he co-directed? He had three completely different highways leading to the >truth: one through Permindex/CMC channels, the second through USG contacts, >the last through Canadian and European press reports. > >> Tracking Permindex's bank financing leads back, in part, to the US >>and was almost certainly done with CIA knowledge and approval. The CIA >>knew Nagy well. Still, there is no indication that the CIA was providing >>any leadership role in Permindex. It simply did not interfere with it's >>existence. Instead, the evidence indicates that the officers, directors, >>and stockholders looked to British intelligence for leadership. The US >>and Britain have formed coalitions in the past (WWI, WWII, Korea, and >>Iraq) and Permindex appears to have been an Italian, American, and >>British coalition organized and led by the British (for purposes I won't >>go into here). >> As for the claim that Permindex was kicked out of Switzerland, it >>was not. Permindex moved out of Switzerland because "someone else" was >>kicked out of Switzerland who they were working very closely with and >>they needed to maintain that relationship. That's how that story got >>started. It's really not that far off base anyway. > >Centro Mondiale Commerciale, which shared directors with Permindex, was booted >out of Italy because of reports of its true activities in the Italian press: >the leftist _Paesa Sera_ newspaper and the conservative _De La Sera_. CMC and >Permindex were closely related. > >> I have no idea if DeGaulle ever publicly accused Permindex of trying >>to kill him. I doubt it. DeGaulle was provided a report by French SDECE >>intelligence which identified Permindex as trying to assassinate him on >>behalf of Israel. There is some misinformation and many false >>conclusions in this report (It's about as accurate as the President's >>Commission on Pornography). It's purpose was more political than >>accurate. By way of comparison, it was a French SDECE agent that wrote >>"Farewell, America". So you can get idea of the work. Anyway, Charles >>DeGaulle did not believe any reports issued to him at the time by the >>SDECE so I doubt if he took it seriously. > >On the other hand, assuming for a moment that French intel got it right, the >whole idea must have seemed absurd to a Wold War II veteran like DeGaulle, who >had seen the liberation efforts of his nation led by the United States. > >> Did Permindex get involved in assassination? I would say yes. Did >>that include JFK's assassination? As a corporate effort I can state with >>100% certainty that Permindex was not involved. Some Permindex >>connections to Dallas do exist, however, which deserve attention but I >>don't think Clay Shaw is amongst them. > >Thanks very much for this post. > >Following is additional information from _Destiny Betrayed_ by James >DiEugenio_. This material is excerpted with the permission of the author. > > >------------------ BEGIN DESTINY BETRAYED EXCERPT ----------------------- > > >The origins of Permindex and the CMC lie in Switzerland in >1956. On December 28, Ferenc Nagy, former premier of >Hungary, announced his intent to form a "permanent indus- >trial exhibition" named Permindex, in Basel.3 > >Nagy's past was suspect. Before Hungary became commu- >nist, he was accused of plotting a coup within the then >government. Shortly afterwards, while on vacation in Switz- >erland in 1947, he phoned in his resignation to Budapest, >while arranging his future finances and politics.4 From Eu- >rope, Nagy went to the United States,5 but he never stopped >meddling in European affairs and never lost his interest in >rightwing European politics. > >After his announcement in December 1956, Nagy outlined >a large, three-part construction project to include a trade >center, a hotel, and an office center.6 He was unwilling to >reveal the people and firms involved in financing the project, >and denied any American backing. But he dropped the name >of J. Henry Schroder, a New York banker. Schroder denied >having anything to do with the enterprise.7 Nagy then men- >tioned Hans Seligman, a Swiss banker.8 This generated some >controversy, not only because Seligman's bank was not a >major house, but also because he had been accused by both >the U.S. and the U.K. of cooperating with fascists during >World War II.9 Things got worse when it was discovered that >George Mantello was also involved.10 Mantello's real name >was George Mandel. His name brought about attacks in the >Swiss papers against Permindex, its organizers, and the >Swiss government. The Arbeiter-Zeitung accused Mandel of >being a gold profiteer during the war and of working the >Jewish refugee racket. He had done both while holding Sal- >vadoran citizenship and acting as secretary at the El Salvador >Consulate in Geneva. Mandel was a naturalized Swiss citizen >of Eastern European origin, who had aided Nagy in his flight >from Hungary and helped him get established in America."11 > >The combination of proto-fascist directors and murky fi- >nancing led to an outburst of editorial attacks against Permin- >dex. But the pressure did not induce Nagy to be more forth- >coming about the source of his funds. The enterprise began >to lose both public support and government approval. > >At this point, two things happened. In April of 1957, two >local officials interested in getting Permindex approved went >to New Orleans to visit the International Trade Mart.12 By the >next year, the directors of Permindex decided to move their >company to Italy. The same people were involved: Nagy, >Mandel, and Seligman, with one addition, Clay Shaw.13 Shaw >later became associated with CMC, which had been formed >in 1961 by reputed former OSS operative Major Louis >Bloomfield.14 Curiously, CMC also moved to Rome, the next >year.15 > >Nagy was on the CMC board. Another director was Gutier- >rez di Spadaforo, a wealthy Italian with considerable inter- >ests in oil and the arms trade. He had worked in Benito >Mussolini's fascist administration, and was related through >marriage to Hjalmar Schacht, the notorious economic wizard >whose fiscal policies had financed Hitler's Third Reich and >who was tried at Nuremburg for war crimes, though later >released. Another director was Giuseppe Zigiotti, president >of the Fascist National Association for Militia Arms. > >CMC's board was representative of the paramilitary right >in Europe. It formed a small cross-section of the aging roy- >alists with whom Shaw liked to hobnob on his European >jaunts and whose names and phone numbers were kept in his >address book.16 The organization was described by one writer >as 'a shell of superficiality ... composed of channels through >which money flowed back and forth, with no one knowing >the sources or the destination of the liquid assets."17 > >In 1967, the Canadian newspaper Le Devoir, following up >on an extraordinary expose of CMC that had just appeared in >Italy, noted:18 > > [H]ere is where the affair assumes stranger and stran- > ger characteristics. It has just been learned that the name > of Clay Shaw was found among that of the eleven direc- > tors of a company, which up until 1962 had its headquar- > ters in Montreal ... in Rome it is known as the Centro > Mondiale de Commerciale.... > >In Italy, when the papers--both the liberal Paesa Sera and >the conservative De La Sera--exposed CMC's personnel, >practices, and policies again, as in Switzerland, the company >was swept out of the country. It then found corporate head- >quarters more sympathetic to its fascist leanings in Johannes- >burg, South Africa.19 > >CMC was described in some detail in the series of articles >in Paesa Sera that led to its expulsion from Italy. Here are >two excerpts:20 > > Among its possible involvements is that the Centro > was a creature of the CIA ... set up as a cover for the > transfer of CIA ... funds in Italy for illegal political-es- > pionage activities. It still remains to clear up the pres- > ence on the administrative board of the CMC of Mr. Clay > Shaw.... > > It is a fact that the CMC is nevertheless the point of > contact for a number of persons who, in certain respects, > have ties whose common denominator is an anti-commu- > nism so strong that it would swallow up all those in the > world who have fought for decent relations between East > and West, including Kennedy. > >Permindex was of the same order. Reportedly, it was incor- >porated in 1958 by Bloomfield, then residing in Montreal, >and Nagy. Both Bloomfield and Nagy were on the board of >Permindex along with Shaw. The Italian press revealed that >it had been accused of channeling funds to the Secret Army >Organization (OAS), a clandestine paramilitary group op- >posed to President de Gaulle's support for Algerian inde- >pendence.21 Later, the OAS attempted to assassinate de >Gaulle.22 > >This is intriguing, to say the least. First, we saw earlier that >Kennedy had been one of the leading American sympathizers >with Algerian independence.23 Second, in the 1961 Houma >arms raid (see Chapter 3), the arms heisted and then trans- >ported to Guy Banister's office were CIA-stockpiled weap- >ons on loan to the OAS.24 Third, in tracing the money used >to finance the de Gaulle assassination plots, French intelli- >gence discovered that about $200,000 in secret funds had >been sent to Permindex accounts in the Banque de la Credit >Internationale. In 1962, Guy Banister had dispatched to Paris >a lawyer friend, Maurice Gatlin, a member of Banister's >Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean, with a suitcase >full of money for the OAS, reportedly around $200,000.25 >Finally, the French authorities accused the CIA of encourag- >ing French generals to try to get rid of de Gaulle, a charge >the Agency has never convincingly denied.26 > >What makes the Permindex connection even more fascinat- >ing is that four of its directors are knit into the events in >Dallas or surrounding the assassination. Besides Shaw, there >is Nagy, who lived in Dallas at the time.27 Jean DeMenil of >Schiumberger Corporation, which owned the ammunition >dump at Houma raided by Ferrie and Novel was also on the >board. Another director was Paul Raigorodsky, a millionaire >Texas oilman and a prominent figure in the Dallas White >Russian community, who was a friend of George DeMohren- >schildt and a director of the Tolstoy Foundation, a CIA front >that helped Eastern European exiles get to America.28 The >Tolstoy Foundation, which aimed to use those exiles against >the Soviet Union, was the brainchild of Reinhard Gehlen.29 > >How did Shaw get involved with this bunch? Why would >a "Wilsonian-FDR-Kennedy liberal" serve on boards with >groups of paramilitary, rightwing fascists involved with po- >litical assassinations? In 1977, a CIA document disclosed >Shaw's long association with the Agency30 (Shaw died in >1974). This document had been prepared in 1967 in response >to queries by Ramsey Clark and the Justice Department, >which was nervous about Garrison's investigation and what >it might reveal about Shaw. The document disclosed his ties >to the Agency during his tenure at the International Trade >Mart and went even further. > >Shaw had been a CIA contact as far back as 1949. Accord- >ing to Fletcher Prouty, the Agency favors using people in the >import-export business because it allows them to fly around >the world making contacts while having a legitimate com- >mercial cover.31 Shaw was filing reports from countries like >East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Peru, Argentina, and Nicara- >gua. Between 1949 and 1956, Shaw filed thirty reports with >the Agency. > >And why did he begin filing those reports? Because there >is evidence that during World War II, Shaw, like Bloomfield, >was in the OSS (he may have been liaison officer to the >headquarters of Winston Churchill).32 >[. . . . ] > > >NOTES: > >3. The material on Permindex in Switzerland is based on a series of >previously classified State Department documents obtained through a Freedom of >Information Act request by Bud Fensterwald in November 1982. The date of this >particular memorandum is January 2, 1957. This means that almost immediately >after Nagy's announcement, the American Consulate in Basel was dispatching >reports on Permindex to Washington. If it were merely a trade organization, >what was the need to report on it within a few days of the announcement of its >formation, long before it was actually established? > >4. Flammonde, p.217. > >5. Ibid. > >6. State Department memorandum, January 15, 1957. > >7. Ibid., October 8, 1957. Nagy's slip and Schroder's quick denial should >have flagged the attention of anyone privy both to the machinations of the CIA >and to the career of Allen Dulles. When Dulles's law firm-Sullivan and >Cromwell-was still dealing with the Nazis in the late 1930s, the bank he used >was Schroder's (see Higham, p.22). When Dulles became DCI, the same bank was a >repository for a $50 million contingency fund he controlled. Schroder was a >welcome conduit because his bank benefitted from the CIA coups in Iran (1953) >and Guatemala (1954) (see Hinckle and Turner, p.79). For a fascinating history >of Dulles's career and his incredibly extensive dealiugs with big business and >government power, see Lisagor and Lipsius, passini. For a look at how the >Dulles brothers worked with the Nazis, see Chapter 8. To see how Sullivan and >Cromwell benefitted from the war effort, see Chapter 9. > >8. Ibid., January 15, 1957. > >9. Ibid., February 1, 1957, and November 7, 1958. > >10. Ibid., January 15, 1957. > >11. Ibid., April 9, 1958. Mandel threatened to sue ArbeiterZeitung for libel. >He then dropped the idea. The editors commented, "Too bad. We would have >heard some great things at the trial." Flammonde, p.216. > >12. State Departnaent memorandum, April 9, 1958. This document is partly >censored, in the section dealing with the visit inside the ITM. > >13. State Department memoranda, July 18, 1958, and November 7, 1958. >Information about the visit to New Orleans is censored, but Shaw is mentioned >as a board member of Permindex. > >14. Flammonde, p.219; Garrison, On the Trail, p.87. > >15. Ibid., p.215. > >16. Ibid., p.224; Garrison, On the Trail, p.146. There is a facsimile of the >book at the Assassinations Archives and Research Center in Washington. > >17. Flammonde, p.216. > >18. Le Devoir, March 16, 1967, quoted in Flammonde, p.218. > >19. Flammonde, p.219. One of the directors of CMC, Mario Ceravalo, inno- >cently asked for an accounting of its activities. When be got no response, he >resigned and asked tbat the company be liquidated. Re wrote a letter to Paesa >Sera in March 1967. He said he resigned because "it was no longer possible to >understand the sources of great sums of money obtained abroad by Mr. Mantello, >and the real destination of the money." Ibid., p.220. When author Paris >Flammonde called the Italian consul in New York to inquire about CMC, he did >not receive an answer the first three times he called. The fourth time the >answer was, "Try the American Embassy [in Rome], I can't help you any >further." Ibid., p. 224. > >20. Both quotes are in Flammonde, p.221. The Paesa Sera series ran on March >4, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 18, 1967. See also Faenza and Becker, pp.128, 321, 326, >330, 389; and see Faenza and Fini, passim. > >21. Flammonde, p. 221; and Garrison, On the Trail, pp.89-90. When Bud >Fensterwald tried to obtain all Agency documents concerning Permindex, he was >told that the CIA had only one Agency-originated document, relating to >Permindex when it was in Basel. They would not release it for reasons of >national security and to protect sources. CIA letter to Fensterwald, March 30, >1983. > >22. CMC and Permindex appear linked to the shadowy "stay-behind" opera- >tions launched by the OSS/CIA and allied groups after World War II to serve as >fronts to attack leftist groups. A major component of this terror network >appears to have been Operation Gladio, based in Italy. Some of these groups >were set up by former OSS and CIA operative James Jesus Angleton. Following >Dulles's lead he began them before the war was over. For a discussion of >Gladio, see Edward S. Herman, "Hiding Western Terror," Lies Of Our Times, >Number 18 (June 1991), pp.21-22. > >One of the assassination attempts against de Gaulle was the subject of the >film Day of the Jackal. Reinhard Gehlen, then chief of West German >Intelligence, supported the OAS in its bitter conflict with de Gaulle. > >23. See Chapter 2. Gary Shaw and Bud Fensterwald have explored the possi- >bility of OAS involvement in the assassination. In a 1981 paper, "A Possible >French Connection," they revealed that OAS terrorist Jean Souctre was report- >edly in Dallas on November22, 1963. So was fellow OAS renegade Miebel Roux. >Souetre denies it and says a French intelligence agent Michel Mertz may have >been there using his name. The FBI actually questioned a Dr. Alderson of >Houston who knew Souetre from his military service in France. The agent >implied that Souetre may have been a suspect in the assassination. > >Souetre is interesting because the OAS tried to kill French President de >Gaulle numerous times during the Algerian War, and they hated Kennedy also, >for his support of Algerian independence. If Souetre, Roux, or Mertz were not >involved in the plot, they may have been called to Dallas to serve as one of >the "false fronts" that figure 50 clearly in the conspiracy. See Chapter 14 >for a discussion of this phenomenon. See also, Garrison, On the Trail, pp. >283-289. For a summary of the Shaw-Fensterwald essay, see Hurt, pp.414-419. > >24. Garrison, On the Trail, p.90. > >25. Marrs, pp.499-500. Gatlin, as Garrison was to discover, was later thrown >or fell from a Panama hotel window or balcony. > >Paris Flammonde was one of the first to unearth the details of Shaw's connec- >tions to Permindex and CMC. He was in contact with Garrison throughout the >period from Shaw's arrest through the trial. I asked him why the DA did not >use this material at the trial. He replied that Garrison believed it did not >touch directly on the Dallas-New Orleans events. This is questionable, but >even so, Shaw's European connections would have had some effect on his >carefully constructed image. Author interview with Flammonde, February 9, >1992. > >26. Tully, Chapter 4, passim. > >27. Garrison, On the Trail, p.89; Brussell, p.109. > >28. Evica, p.296. > >29. Brussell, p.104. > >30. Hurt, p.282. The memo, entitled "Garrison Investigation: Queries from >Justice Department," September 28, 1967, is noted in Hurt, p. 495, n. 110. > >31. Prouty, pp.337-39. > >32. Marrs, p.498. Flammonde mentions Shaw at Churchill's headquarters on >p.76. He was actually dining there. > > >-------------------- END DESTINY BETRAYED EXCERPT ----------------------- > >_Destiny Betrayed_ is copyright © 1992 by James DiEugenio. The excerpt >reprinted here appears with Mr. DiEugenio's permission. > >--Jim Hargrove DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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