CIA-MAFIA EFFORT? TWO PLOTS TO KILL CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510076-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 76
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

Approved For Release 200~2k,'tf8.]P01?'fSRT 0300510076-3
H- _F?ft
23 JUL 1975
CIA _AqI is EffOr STAT
By Norman Kempster.
Washington Star Staff Writer
A former high-ranking CIA official
.says there were at least two separate
CIA-Mafia plots to kill Cuban Premi-
er Fidel Castro, one of them begin-
ning in 1960 and ending in 1961 and
the second beginning in 1962 and con-
tinuing at least until 1963.
Lawrence R. Houston, who was
CIA general counsel for 26 years
prior to his retirement in 1973, said
he informed former Atty. Gen. Rob-
ert F. Kennedy of the scheme in the
spring of 1962 at a time when he.
thought it had been "aborted."
Houston said Kennedy, who appar-
ently was hearing of the plot for the
first time, angrily issued orders to
"break contact" with the Mafia
group that included Sam Giancana
-'
and John Roselli.
organized crime might compromise
prosecutions.
Rep. Don Edwards ? Sometime later in 1962, probably in
ust or September, the Mafia link
J-' Au
g
' CIA Probe Unit/ cwas re-established. This time the i
ase officer" was William Harvey
Rep. Don Edwards has resigned Houston said Harvey. asked Edwards
from the newly reconstituted House for an introduction to Roselli but Ed
Committee investigating the CIA and .. wards refused because of Kennedys
other intelligence-gathering federal admonition to avoid dealing with the
agencies. underworld. Houston said he has no;
Named to replace him on the 13- way of knowing who reinstated the
member panel was Rep. William plan. Houston said his only direct con-
Lehman, D-Fla. House Speaker Carl nection with the plot was to accom-
Albert appointed Lehman to the va- . pany Edwards, who died recently, i
cancy yesterday. while he reported on the matter first;
Edwards, D-Calif., cited other re- to Asst. Atty. Gen. Herbert J. Miller
sponsibilities in connection with his- and later to Kennedy.
Judiciary sub- Houston said Kennedy was angry
f
hi
a
p o
chairmans
committee on civil and constitutional about the use of the Mafia, although
rights for leaving the CIA commit- "he didn't seem very perturbed'' at
tee. the prospect of killing Castro.
Edwards was one of the most The former CIA official said,
.liberal "members of the intelligence Kennedy admonished: "If you are
ith the
committee, but took no public role in going to have anything to do w
the recent dispute that led last week Mafia again, come to me first.
' Houston said he informed Gen.
anel
f t
. .
he p
to a reorganization o
BUT DESPITE Kennedy's orders . Marshall S. Carter, then CIA deputy
Houston said the plot was resumed director, of the substance of the re-
later in 1962 with a different CIA unanswered the. most intriguing port to the attorney general. He said'
"case officer" but the same group of question --- was the plot authorized by ne does ' not recall why that reports
mobsters. went to Carter instead of CIA Direc-
former, Presidents Dwight D. Eisen- tor John A. McCone, but he assumes.
hower and John F. Kennedy, or did, I
Houston's account, told to a group it CIA act on its own? it was because McCone was out of ~
of reporters yesterday, filled in a few town.
of the blanks in what is known about This is the chronology that Hous- MCCONE HAS said recently that
the plan to kill Castro. But it left ton outlined:
he knew nothing of the Mafia connec-
d
hower- administration, Sheffield
following the Bay of Pigs debacle.
Edwards, former, head of the CIA's
office of security, contacted Gianca-
na and Roselli. Edwards was intro-
duced to the 'mobsters by Robert
Maheu, a former FBI agent and then
an aide to billionaire Howard
Hughes.
? Edwards worked opt a plan to kill
Castro with the mobsters. Of course,
this . and subsequent plots were
unsuccessful -
Sometime in late 1961, the plot was
aborted. Houston said he does not
know who turned it.off.
? In the spring of 1962 -? Houston
said he thought it was in April --
Houston and Edwards described the
plan to Robert Kennedy who had
been assigned by his brother, the
President, to ride herd on the CIA
tion at.the time, although he learne
of it later. '
Retired Maj.. Gen. Edward. Lans-
dale, a counterinsurgency expei`t
with strong ties to the CIA, said in an
interview with The Washington Star
earlier this month that Robert
Kennedy directed him in 1962 to pre-
pare contingency plans to "get rid
of Castro. He said he passed the in-
structions along to Harvey.
Lansdale recanted his account the'
next day. He said Kennedy never
ordered hire to plan to kill anyone
and that assassination "is not my
bag." In a subsequent interview,
Lansdale said he could not recall if
he had dealt with Harvey.
Lansdale's original story did not
explain how he could have launched
the Mafia plot, which had begun two
years earlier. However, Houston's
version explains that Harvey did not i
become involved until 1962.
both;
have
i
and
arvey
H
Senate,
re the
secret t before
? Kennedy reacted angrily to the testified
in
news that the CIA had dealt with the
select intelligence committee. Chair
Mafia. Kennedy was pushing strong roan Frank Church, D-Ic!aho. said
measures against organized crime the testi`rnony of Harvey and Roselli
and Houston said he was concerned did not depart significantly from',
t d al!n s with f tl,
that any governmen e h . . published accounts o e
Approved. For Release 2006/12/04: CIA-RDP88-01315R000300510076-3