CTKA: Review 'The French Connection'.

[Peter Lemkin]

QJ/WIN did not want to commit himself to a long lease on a shop in Cologne????

LaFitte was almost for sure one of the MANY [repeat, MANY] available contracted/contacted-as-needed, but pre-cleared mechanics for assassination used by the CIA, MIA, and their off-the-shelf ops. Lafitte at times ran a restaurant and was its owner/chef. Yes, these guys likely got a small retainer monthly or every so often from Kubark to keep them onboard, but often chose to or needed to have businesses of their own...to not go bonkers and to earn the kind of money they liked. Most, it seems were into drugs and weapons dealing - but many also seem to have had at least one 'legit' business, likely both as cover and to keep income coming when deals were not being made....likely also an 'innocent' place to meet people and store illegal items or have them transported, etc. These types also did their own illegal drug, arms or 'wet operation' deals with other groups, agencies or on their own. Some were used only once...others were regularly used [it seems QJ/WIN was]. For a 'job' they were handsomely paid, I'm sure....but those were only from time to time and couldn't be depended upon as income.

We know the name or cyptonym of a few of these people from this rather large stable of assassins - many were under JR/RIFLE, others were under other program names or under no name. As Mockingbird [and Agape, etc.] would command, the very people who sent the actual assassins would themselves quietly flood the researchers and media with the names of others NOT involved to confuse and muddy the waters...making all the 99.9% fakes and 0.1% real impossible to separate. It is likely that we've never heard the names of any of the real gunmen or their timers and spotters in the Plaza....or maybe we have..... Prouty, who knew specifically about how these types were trained and maintained, generally [and hinted he knew specifically in the case of Dallas], said they were kept well-trained, well maintained and happy, far off of American shores, stateless, and with fake identities and occupations - which all often changing. When they were needed they were secretly moved by high speed methods [often military jets and such] into the general location, then moved into place under disguise and by innocent looking cover - but always well protected. After the 'event' they were just as quickly removed after [sometimes] a very brief stay in a safehouse of some kind. Few were discovered during or after the act. Some who were were 'eliminated' or put out to pasture under disguise for the rest of their lives. Others were recycled over and over again for such operations. These types still exist and are used.

While interesting, it is NOT important IMO to know the exact names of the gunmen [for them it was just a 'job' and they may not have even had any animosity against the target - might not even know who the target was until the last moment]. To know how many there were and who ultimately sent them is much more important. The smoke and mirror apparatus is still in full gear on Dallas, and will be cranking up and oiled to perfection for the 50th. :curtain: