"A Terrible Mistake" by H. P. Albarelli, Jr. - JFK Assassination

[Charles Drago]

Hank Albarelli, Jr., author of the seminal A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Cold War Experiments, graciously has agreed to join us at the Deep Politics Forum.

This extraordinarily important and courageous book is to be lauded not just for the breadth of its subject matters, but also for the manners in which it links them operationally and, for lack of a more precise word, philosophically.

I am starting Albarelli-related threads here and in the Books and Alchemy/Borderlands sections of our forum -- and that's just for starters.

A Terrible Mistake is published by the redoubtable TrineDay. It is not to be missed.

To begin with JFK: Hank, you bring to light that a Native American referred to as "Buffalo" not only shared an assassination team membership with David Sanchez Morales, but often was mistaken for DSM.

As a review of many of my threads here would reveal, I am a student of the doppelganger gambit as utilized in intel ops in general and the JFK plot in particular. I've also noted the chameleon-like nature of DSM photos (real and alleged) and descriptions.

Can you be more forthcoming on the "Buffalo" for us?

Welcome!

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.]

Thank you ever so much for the invite. Deeply appreciated.

I am not an expert on Morales, but he has always drawn my interest.
Your term 'chameleon-like nature' certainly applies quite aptly to one of
Frank Olson's assassins-- a man with over 30 confirmed aliases , according to the FBI, and strong links to Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA.

David Sanchez Morales, aka 'El Indio', got his start in assassinations in Korea with former OSS officer and CIA field director Hans Tofte. Tofte ran a small hit team that operated quite effectively there. [Tofte also had an American Indian from North Dakota who was called on to perform hit jobs.] Later on, as most know, Tofte transferred his special skills to Guatemala, where the entire art of 'wet jobs' and killing became greatly refined. About this time, Morales was an 'Ops Officer' for the CIA at GS grade 12. In late 1954, he was cited for bravery in his activities in Latin America. Allen Dulles approved his citation. CIA records state: "From 1946 through 1953, I [Morales] was on active duty with the U.S. Army serving the first two years with the 82nd Airborne Division; and the remaining five years as a training and administrative advisor in Germany." After this, Morales [vetted by CIA and sheep dipped around 1951-52] became a special advisor to 'several Central American governments.'

As many of us are aware, Morales went on to become a ghostly-like doer of death, including, according to some, participation in the JFK assassination. Many that knew Morales likened him in manner of operation and style to Jerry Patrick Hemming. I asked Hemming about this once and Hemming replied, "I don't know if I'm insulted or flattered."

Morales had brief contact once with one of Olson's assassin's in D.C. when that man [Olson's assassin] was first vetted for Agency duty by Sidney Gottlieb and then was ushered into the partial employ of James Angleton. It's a long convoluted story covered in detail in my Olson book and in my forthcoming bio of George White. Olson's killer did not like Morales due to David's "less than refined tastes" and "ill eating habits." Before his death, Gottlieb told me he did "not recognize the name Morales." Of course, he did recognize the name of Olson's assassin, but readers should not make the mistake of reading too much into that.

[Charles Drago]

[Tofte also had an American Indian from North Dakota who was called on to perform hit jobs.]

This is the character in whom I'm extremely interested. I'll continue to refer to him, for the sake of convenience, as "Buffalo."

Hank, can you point me in research directions? Are photos of Buffalo known to exist? If so, are they accessible?

In your opinion, (from l. to r.) do the second and third photos depict the same individual?

How many individuals are depicted in the photo montage?

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.]

All of these photos appear to me to be of Morales.

I've never seen a photo of 'Buffalo.'

Let me look for a couple sources on his story...

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.]

William Blum's book, I think titled Saving Hope, has some information on 'Buffalo.'

[Charles Drago]

William Blum's book, I think titled Saving Hope, has some information on 'Buffalo.'

Thanks for the lead. And, of course, for your help and participation at DPW.

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.]

Morales, as most readers may know, made several statements
about being involved in the JFK assassination. I believe him. I
suspect that he was very much involved along with former OSS
officer and CIA contractor Gary Underhill. Underhill was poised to
talk a few days after the assassination but he was quickly murdered.(I
believe Underhill has been reported to be the very first person to ever mention possible CIA involvement in the JFK murder.)
Morales and Underhill were not known to brag. Indeed, they were
very well trained to not speak out of school. But they said what
thought and knew, and in doing so inevitably somebody is going to
trip you up... Frank Olson is perhaps the ultimate example of that.

(I really appreciate the James Lee Burke quotes. He's one of America's finest novelists.)

[Charles Drago]

(I really appreciate the James Lee Burke quotes. He's one of America's finest novelists.)

Burke could not have described Lee Harvey Oswald with more precision and poetry if he had set out to do so.

As for Morales: His pathologies intrigue me. As do the rest of his psychic drive®s. The fictive construct that was, in the main, Gerald Patrick Hemming seems modeled on DSM. And I mean quite literally modeled.

I can think of no more novelistic or otherwise intriguing and potentially revelatory figure within our area of study -- with the possible exception of the aforementioned Mr. (Messrs.?) Oswald. In so many ways they are presented in profound counter-balance.

[H.P. Albarelli Jr.]

(I really appreciate the James Lee Burke quotes. He's one of America's finest novelists.)

Burke could not have described Lee Harvey Oswald with more precision and poetry if he had set out to do so.

As for Morales: His pathologies intrigue me. As do the rest of his psychic drive®s. The fictive construct that was, in the main, Gerald Patrick Hemming seems modeled on DSM. And I mean quite literally modeled.

I can think of no more novelistic or otherwise intriguing and potentially revelatory figure within our area of study -- with the possible exception of the aforementioned Mr. (Messrs.?) Oswald. In so many ways they are presented in profound counter-balance.

I agree -- completely. I spoke with and interviewed Jerry Hemming a number of times before his death. I even went up to North Carolina to see him once when he was pretty ill. Men like Hemming, and Morales, are cut from different cloth than most folks are. Oswald also, but perhaps in different sorts of ways. Hemming and Morales were grounded in their extreme form of belief and country and anti-Communism, but Oswald, to me, seemed ungrounded and a bit lost at times, or put another way, a patsy.

[John Bevilaqua]

Hank,

Will you also be posting Parts I, II and III of your articles about Olson, Oswald
and the JFK Assassination from Spartacus Education Forum on this site as well? Not everyone frequents both locations and I am sure that readers here would be fascinated by that as yet uncompleted series of articles.

Anything to post yet about Herr Doktor Erich Traub, Hitler's chief bio-warfare expert who came here just before both Admiral James Forrestal and Frank Olson died under similar ominous circumstances? I think I have the date sequence in the right order. My first blush theory says that both Forrestal and Olson were violently opposed to Traub's projects and may have been silenced before they could protest vehemently to anyone who would listen. Traub appears to have worked at both Fort Dietrick and at the Navy's Bethesda, Maryland biological warfare agent programs.

And your research into SMOM would also intrigue the regulars here as well as the not so frequent visitors. Plus your insights into Carleton Coon, Ulius Amoss and some of those in my radar sights would also be fascinating.

Last but not least, I think we are both in agreement that Henry H. Goddard and Robert Yerkes, both Draper styled Eugenicists conducted research into personality disorders among juvenile delinquents and US Army recruits (which may have been performed on US Marine Corps recruits as well somewhat later) which quite likely was used to identify Lee Harvey Oswald's personality traits as being ideal for a programmed assassin and a candidate subject for mind control. I think you said that Part II of your essay would cover more of these topics in this area.

It is just amazing to me that your investigative trails would seem to cross so often with those followed originally by Richard Condon and then picked up by me about 40-50 years later. I think the actual cross-corroborating references among these three originally disparate threads of research creates a self documenting and internally self-supporting confluence of evidence.

And the likes of Herr Doktor Erich Traub, Henry H. Goddard and Richard Yerkes who was cited in the Manchurian Candidate with the John Yerkes
Iselin middle name seems to me to have played a major role in the selection of Lee Oswald as either the "perfect patsy", the "perfect coverup lightening rod" or "the perfect fool", whatever role he may have played in the JFK conundrum. Condon also refers to Harry Ainslinger by name who was head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. And I just found out that even Senator James Eastland another member of Condon's Dirty Dozen served on a legislative committee investigating the role of marijuana and other drugs as potential "tools of Communism to subvert the youth of America." That was in 1954 or 1955 as I recall.

I believe you are open to the possibility that Condon must have had an inside informant in order to have been able to isolate so many of the principals in the MK/ULTRA projects and how they may have been involved with the murder of JFK and other persons as well. Please tell me if I am putting words into your mouth or misquoting you in any way, shape or manner since that is the last thing I want to do.

And the role of The Vineland School for the Feeble-Minded seems to play some part in your version of events surrounding Lee Oswlad and/or Frank Olson, but I did not understand the reference since I do not have you book in hand just yet.

I anxiously await both parts II and III of your articles as well as receipt of your new book.

Thanks again for sharing your research.