Review of Albarelli’s Coup in Dallas

                                                     

                                                                   John Delane Williams

 

        H. P. Albarelli’s post-humous book, Coup in Dallas: The Decisive Investigation into Who Killed JFK (2021) can be described as a research process that begins its story much earlier that most writings that address the crime of the twentieth century, going back to the F.D. Roosevelt administration. Albarelli’s research is clearly a contribution, but still needs to be read with a critical eye. Albarelli had written two previous books of interest. A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments (2009) described apparently misguided military research of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) that clearly violates the rights of unsuspecting persons subjected to it.

        Dr. Frank Olson was a chemist for the military, but was “on loan” to the CIA.  Olson had been involved in a couple of situations that caused him some remorse, and apparently mentioned it to someone. He was deliberately given LSD in a drink. Several other CIA co-workers also consumed LSD in drinks. Olson had a bad “trip”, and the plan was to take him by automobile to a CIA treatment facility in Maryland. The plan would have included George White and one accomplice, who  likely would have been Jean LaFitte. However, White’s mother was quite ill in California, and White went to see her; she passed away, and White remained there for her burial. LaFitte chose as his backup Francois Spirito, recently released from prison, a long- time companion of LaFitte from their youth in Marseille. In the Statler Hotel in New York on November 28, 1953, a struggle took place between Olson and the two men (LaFitte and Spirito) trying to remove him from a hotel room on the 13^th floor (though the room number was 1018A). During the struggle, Olson was pitched head first out the closed window. He landed on his feet but was killed by the impact of the fall.  

          A second book, A Secret Order Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity of the JFK Assassination (2013) include several instances of very unusual circumstances. One such circumstance (also summarized in Williams 2019, 2022) occurred with a young scientist, Adele Edisen. She was a post-doctoral fellow with the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness. Her contact person at the Institute was Dr. Jose Rivera. Edisen was meeting with Rivera in April 1963. At a dinner meeting, Rivera told Edisen, “When you go to Dallas, you should go to the Carousel Club because it is a very nice night club.”. Then Rivera asked, “Do you know Lee Harvey Oswald?” Edisen replied, “No”. Rivera stated that Oswald had lived in the Soviet Union, married a Soviet citizen, had a child, and that they soon would be moving to New Orleans. Rivera suggested getting to know them, because they were a lovely couple. Then Rivera gave Edisen the Oswald upcoming telephone number, 899-4244. Upon returning to New Orleans, Edisen called the number; she was told that no one by the name of Oswald lived at that address. One week later, she tried the number again. Oswald had just arrived. In finding out Oswald’s address Edisen realized that was a somewhat run-down neighborhood, suggesting that Oswald was not a scientist who was at the same status as Edison.

        Rivera then asked, as they drove by the White House, “What will Jackie do when her husband dies?” Edisen exclaimed, “What?” Rivera then said, “I mean the baby. She might lose the baby.”  Rivera then told Edisen to tell Oswald to “Kill the Chief. We are just playing a little joke on him. It will happen when the Shriner’s convention comes to New Orleans. That’s in November. It will happen after the Shriner’s come to New Orleans” (Albarelli, 2013, pp. 137-138). The question that comes to mind is, how does a person get all of these details accurate seven months before they happen?”

                                                 Background of Jean Pierre LaFitte

Jean Pierre LaFitte was a remarkable man. A description of him given by George White was, ”He was what you call a changling. I don’t mean master of disguises. I mean an actual chameleon, a man that had the ability to transform himself right in front of you. He would go from good to bad, from rich to poor, from royalty to commoner, from intellectual to simpleton, from hoodlum to police officer.  He would disappear for months or years at a time and then show up at your door, like only a day or two had passed”. LaFitte used over 30 aliases

        White continued, “I liked him, but I never trusted him because he was always in the game. He only loved and cared about his wife and children; everyone was fair game in the scheme of things. He was the greatest imposter and confidence man that ever lived, not because he was a good actor, but because he was a hundred different people in one.” It seems LaFitte chose his own name. Most likely he was born in New Orleans in either 1902, 1907 or 1912. However, there are reports he was born in Corsica. His mother was a madam. They moved to Marseille when Jean LaFitte was 7 years old. His mother was reportedly murdered about a year later, though her body was never found. Relatives took him in, but he ran away and lived on the streets. As a practical solution to his situation, he would work in restaurants, which provided him with food, and a dry, warm place. He also learned culinary skills, that would serve him well. LaFitte acquired the skills of a chef.

         LaFitte claimed he was descended from two brothers, Jean and Pierre LaFitte, who lived in the 1800’s and were well known pirates. In Laffite’s youth, he was involved with similarly situated youth; many of them would be involved with drugs or other illegal activities. LaFitte came to know quite a bit about drugs such as heroin. LaFitte was involved in several nefarious activities but without being known for them. He apparently was the person who convinced Joe Valachi to turn against the Mafia and testify against the mob (Albarelli2021,pp. 87-121).

                                                           The LaFitte 1963 Notebook

       As Albarelli was finishing A Terrible Mistake. He became aware that LaFitte and his wife Rene were living in New England; as Albarelli lived in Vermont, he contacted Rene, who disclosed that her husband had died.  ln their conversations, Rene mentioned that her husband had several notebooks (1961-1964) . One that interested Albarelli was the notebook for 1963. Albarelli went to see Rene’s lawyers; several negotiations took place regarding Albarelli gaining access to the 1963 notebook. The agreement mentioned areas that were not to be disclosed. The notebook was in code.  One example, for September 22, 1963 was

 Oswald-Mex City                                                                                                                                                  Gaudet?

This was easier to read than some other entries. This likely signified Oswald’s trip to Mexico. But what does the question mark mean? If the Mexico City trip is being referred to, this is a report of Oswald’s activities. It is likely that this information was given to LaFitte as one of the persons whom information on Oswald was distributed. While Albarelli concludes that LaFitte was the master planner behind the assassination, it seems the 1963 notebook more likely shows LaFitte to be a silent scribe, writing in code for only himself. LaFitte’s widow stated that no one in the previous 40 years had successfully gained access to his 1963 notebook. Given that George White was LaFitte’s connection to the CIA, and White did not trust LaFitte, it seems highly unlikely that LaFitte would be entrusted to being master planner for the JFK assassination.

                                                                 LaFitte in New Orleans

        Lafitte purchased a house in Gretna Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, in late 1961 or early 1962. He was employed briefly as a maintenance worker at Reily Coffee for three months, before gaining employment as chef at one of New Orleans finest restaurants. Lafitte was also given the job of keeping track of Lee Harvey Oswald from the day Oswald was hired at Reily Coffee. LaFitte would remain as a special agent with the CIA until 1978. In 1967, LaFitte became the manager and executive chef of the Plimsoll Club, located in the International Trade Mart, which formerly was under the direction of Clay Shaw, who particularly enjoyed the cuisine of LaFitte.

                                                       Planners and Decision Makers

      The planners and decision makers would include those who had the ability to give the go ahead for the plan to remove President Kennedy by way of assassination. Albarelli reasoned that persons within the CIA were involved, perhaps James J. Angleton. Members of the military such as General Le May, might have been involved, though his efforts may have been in the coverup of the assassination. (See Horn, 2009, pp. 481-486).  The inner group who would make the decision could have been as few as three persons. The name given to the Assassination was the Lancelot Project. Seemingly “up the food chain” from LaFitte, Otto Skorzeny (a German Nazi during World War II), was restricted to his home in Ireland or Franco’s Spain. Skorzeny informed LaFitte on November 5, 1963 that the Lancelot Project was a go. Skorzeny and his wife Ilsa were in the matrix of persons connected to the Lancelot Project.

                                           Work on the Book After Albarelli’s Death

        Albarelli died in June 2019; Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent helped in the planning of arranging Albarelli’s work for publication. The Forward and an analysis of the LaFitte 1963 Notebook were done by Dick Russell, author of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1992). The book is followed by writings by co-authors Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent. Kent identified a person referred to as Mr. T in the 1963 notebook. Kent concluded that Mr. T was Tracey Barnes, a person who had served in the OSS and who moved on to the CIA.  Sharp (2021a) wrote of the relationship with Albarelli and his suggestions regarding finishing off the manuscript. One suggestion was, “I think serious consideration should be given now to doing 3-4 end pages that speak generally to Fourth Reich. Rise of----revamped to these times but true Nazism--- good way to end the book.” (p. 474). Albarelli gave Sharp a book that he wanted her to read, Nazi Hydra in America, by Yeadon & Hawkins (2008).

        Sharp (2021a) followed Albarelli’s suggestion in her Co-Author’s Postscript. The America First Committee is traced to the 1930’s Their mantra was isolationism with antisemitism. Those who were profascist might join the group to help keep America from joining the effort to enter the European war against Hitler and fascism.    An alt-right movement was becoming more prominent in America. The candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964 ended in his resounding defeat, but gave rise to the 1980 candidacy of Ronald Reagan. While Albarelli did not address President Donald Trump, Sharp did. Patrick Buchanan resurrected the ideas behind the America First Committee in his several independent presidential campaigns; in his 1992 campaign, his slogan was “Make America First Again”. According to Sharp, Trump is seen as following the Buchanan presidential campaigns in the similar manner as Reagan followed the ideas of the presidential campaign of Goldwater. It seems that at least the slogan of the Trump campaign, “Make America Great Again” is very close to Buchanan’s original slogan. But Goldwater was the established nominee of the Republican party. Buchanan’s independent campaigns were far behind the two major parties, not even comparable to the independent candidacies of Ross Perot.

        This book seems to be one that should be read by persons interested in the JFK assassination. It truly is an original book, and well worth reading.

Note: Pete Mellor (2022), in his annual review of books in 2021, had a half page review of Albarelli’s Coup in Dallas. In it he was concerned about whether the 1963 Notebook was authentic.  The notebook was being held in safe keeping for LaFitte’s widow by her lawyers, and Albarelli had several negotiations with the lawyers before the notebook was turned over to Albarelli. At this point, I would be more concerned about the accuracy of the interpretations of Albarelli. I would prefer several knowledgeable persons independently attempt to decode the notebook, and then attempt to have meetings to hash out differences. Perhaps several different interpretations would be the outcome. Leslie Sharp (2021b) does do some interpretation on the use of the word “caretaker” in the notebook. It was at least a start.

References    

Albarelli, H.P. (2009) A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments. Walterville OR: Trine Day.  

Albarelli, H.P. (2013). A Secret Order: Investigating the High Strangeness and Synchronicity in the JFK Assassination. Walterville OR: Trine Day.

Albarelli, H.P. (2021). Coup in Dallas. The Decisive Investigation into Who Killed JFK. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Benson, M. (2002). Encyclopedia of the JFK Assassination. New York: Checkmark Books.

Kent, A. (2021). A Well Concealed “T”. In Albarelli, H.P. Coup in Dallas, pp. 491-505.

Mellor, P. (2022). JFK Assassination Books in 2021. Dealey Plaza Echo. 25,1, 36-38.

Russell, D. (1992). The Man Who Knew Too Much. New York: Carroll & Graf.

Sharp, L. (2021a). Co-Authors Postscript, in Albarelli, H.P. Coup in Dallas, pp. 461-474.

Sharp, L. (2021b). “Caretaker” Analysis, in Albarelli H.P. Coup in Dallas, pp. 509-527.

Williams, J.D. (2019). Lee Harvey Oswald, Lyndon Johnson and the JFK Assassination. Walterville OR: Trine Day.

Williams, J.D. (2022). The State of Continuing Qualitative Research on the Kennedy Assassination. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 36, 4, 655-668.

Yeardon, G. & Hawkins, J. (2008). Nazi Hydra in America. Palm Desert CA.: Progressive Press.

Published in the Dealey Plaza Echo,60^th Anniversary Edition Part Two, 40-44.