02 December 2005
A few years ago I did quite a bit of research on the great friendship of William Harvey and John Rosselli for a documentary project. Some of it is on my CIA/Mafia timeline at
http://jfklancer.com...astroplots.html .
I also talked to Richard Mahoney about Harvey when he came to town for a book signing and talk. He preferred to separate Harvey from Rosselli when it came down to names for the prospective assassination leaders but I keep the two closely tied -- even though Harvey was reassigned to Rome before November.
Some of the more important things are these:
1. Feb , '61 - Executive Action-ZR/RIFLE : William Harvey, chief of FI/D, was briefed by authority of Richard Bissell on phase one of the mob plots. That briefing was in connection with "Executive Action Capability;" i.e., a general standby capability to carry out assassinations when required. Harvey arranges to be briefed by Edwards. Executive Action program came to be known as ZR/RIFLE.
2. Phase Two: Late 1961 or Early 1962. Operation MONGOOSE under William Harvey begins. Harvey continues to work with Rosselli, while bringing in QJWIN with ZR/RIFLE on a separate course.
a. Nov 13, '61 - Harvey cables the Mexico City CIA Station to dispatch David S. Morales (Morales, a Mexican-American CIA agent from Phoenix, was well known as the Agency 's top assassin in Latin America. Nicknamed El Indio. Mahoney, p135) to JM-WAVE (the CIA base in south Florida) for permanent posting. (Cable 5816, CIA Station (Scott), 19 Nov 1961 to Base, confirming receipt of Harvey 's cable, AA)
b. Nov 15, 61 - ZR/RIFLE: Bissell orders Cuban Task Force head Harvey to implement the application of ZR/RIFLE assassination plan in Cuba. Harvey reestablishes the Agency contact with Mob liaison Rosselli. (Fonzi chronology p 417)
c. Late 1961 or Early 1962 - Task Force W : William K. Harvey is put in charge of Task Force W, the CIA unit for Operation Mongoose. (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75)
d. Apr, 62 - Helms issues what he termed "explicit orders" that William Harvey contact Rosselli. Harvey feels he is taking over an ongoing operation. Edwards later states he felt it was not active.
Note: Harvey complained to McCone about the requirement for advance SGA approval of "major operations going beyond the collection of intelligence" and the fact that applications had to be spelled out in detail. He was delighted when he received orders from Helms to revive the Rosselli project without seeking SGA approval. When questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975, Helms conceded that he had not been instructed to do it, but then again he had not been told not to. (Hinckle and Turner p137-138)
Apr 8-9, 62 - Harvey and O 'Connell meet Rosselli in New York. (O 'Connell says Maheu was also present.) (CIA Inspector General 's Report May 1967 p6)
e. Mid Apr, 62 - O 'Connell and Rosselli leave for Miami. Harvey and Edwards travel to Miami together. Establishes Harvey 's takeover with Rosselli with O 'Connell carrying over until June 1962 when O 'Connell is reassigned. Giancana and Trafficante are dropped from the new phase.
f. May 7, '62 - RFK briefed on past CIA-Mafia Plots: RFK meets with Richard Helms (Helms later denied this meeting took place despite a specific indication on RFK 's calendar), and later that afternoon with Sheffield Edwards and CIA general council Lawrence Houston for a briefing on pre-Bay of Pigs organized crime assassination plots. (Testimony of Lawrence Houston HSCA, p62 National Archives) "Mr. Kennedy stated that upon learning CIA had not cleared its action in hiring Maheu and Giancana with the DOJ he issued orders that the CIA should never again take such steps with first checking with the DOJ." CIA does not tell RFK the organized crime plots will continue. (Memo for IG from Sidney D. Stembridge Acting Director of Security 3.16.76, quoting FBI memo FBI 62-109060-4984 - states May 9, '62 as the date for this briefing.)
Edwards continues the charade by writing a memo stating falsely he told Harvey to "drop any plans for use of subject (Rosselli) for the future and "internal memorandum for the record," asserting that the operation was "terminated." Note: Harvey found out about this memo when questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975, and he was furious. He declared that it "was not true, and Col. Edwards knew it was not true"; the falsification was intended to show that Edwards was "no longer chargeable should the operation backfire." (Senate Assassination Plots Report p134)
g. Oct 30, 62 - All operations by Task Force W, the CIA 's action arm for Operation Mongoose activities, are called to an immediate halt. However, during the [Cuban Missile] crisis, Director of Task Force W, William Harvey, ordered teams of covert agents into Cuba on his own authority to support any conventional U.S. military operation that might occur. At the end of October, a new mission is about to be dispatched. One of the operatives, concerned about a covert operation so soon after a settlement to the missile crisis has been reached, sends a message to AG Kennedy to verify that the mission is in order. Kennedy, angered to learn that CIA missions are continuing, chastises Harvey and asks CIA Director McCone to terminate the operations. Harvey is demoted and is to be sent to Rome. Edward Lansdale is subsequently sent to Miami to oversee the end of Mongoose. However, three of ten scheduled six-man sabotage teams have already been dispatched to Cuba. On November 8, one of the teams carries out its assigned sabotage mission. (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75, pp. 147-48)
3. Phase Three: Dec 1963, ZR/RIFLE is still in effect, continued contact with Rosselli under William Harvey; AM/LASH under Desmond FitzGerald, and also RFK's activities with the exiles.
a. Dec 22-Jan 6, 63 Harvey is in Miami. Details of activity unknown.
b. Feb, 63 - Harvey Demoted: Harvey is officially removed from his post as head of Project Mongoose on orders from Robert Kennedy and is reassigned to the Rome station as chief of station effectively taking him out of action. He meets with Rosselli in Washington, DC. (Inspector General 's Report, p 53) See entry for Oct 30th.
Harvey gets back in touch with Rosselli in Miami and Los Angeles (Feb 13). Harvey is reportedly seen in Florida meeting with Rosselli as late as June 1963 and visited anti-Castro camps there. Asset is paid $2,700 for expenses. They agree to put assassination plots on hold but leave the bounty of $150,000 active. (Church Committee, 1975)
c. Apr, 63 - According to his testimony, Harvey receives phone call from Rosselli.
d. Apr 13-21, 63 - Harvey is at the Plantation Yacht Harbor motel/marina in Plantation Key, Florida according to his QJWIN/ZRRIFLE expense records. "John A. Wallston" (Rosselli 's alias was John A. Ralston), who listed his address as 56510 Wilshire Blvd the Friars Club in Los Angeles was registered in the next room which was charged to Harvey 's room #22. Harvey spent at least three days there making calls to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Perrine, FL (possibly JM/WAVE station). Records show a boat was chartered to go to Islamorada, FL. There is reimbursement for dinner for three (two unofficial Americans and Harvey) at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami on April 20 and also "operational hotel rooms" at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami. (Twyman pp 442-443; Mahoney p 268)
e. Jun, 63 - Rosselli came to Washington to meet with Harvey who picks him up at Dulles Airport and takes him to dinner. This was to be their official last meeting. FBI surveillance of Rosselli picks up the meeting. Harvey meets with FBI 's CIA liaison Sam Papich the next morning. Harvey explains that he was terminating an operational association with Rosselli. Papich reminds Harvey of the FBI rule requiring FBI personnel to report any known contacts between former FBI employees and criminal elements and that Papich would have to report to Hoover that Harvey had been seen with Rosselli. Hoover and the Justice Dept. liaison Courtney Evans were given detailed reports on the contact. (Mahoney p 286, note 97, p 412)
f. Note: RFK has formed close ties to several Cuban exiles: Roberto San Roman, Enrique Ruiz-Williams, and in '63, Manuel Artime. RFK 's "interference" led to arguments with Harvey (who routinely refers to the AG as "that fucker)." By this time Miami is no longer controlled by Washington. Besides Rosselli's kill team, Operation 40, a ZR/RIFLE unit created prior to the Bay of Pigs, brought together Cuban mob henchmen like Eladio del Valle and Rolando Masferrer, soldiers of fortune like Frank Sturgis, and CIA case officers like Col. William Bishop and David Morales, who managed assassins. (Mahoney p 174-175;HSCA staff reports)
Jun 27, 63 - Harvey, winding up his headquarters responsibilities in preparation for assignment in Rome, writes a memo stating that the original justification for employing QJWIN (asset developed for original ZR/RIFLE projects.) no longer existed and raised the question of QJWIN 's termination. He is not terminated until Feb 14, 1964.
For the most reliable and current information on William Harvey, I recommend the reader pair this memo with Noel Twyman's book Bloody Treason, specifically the chapter "The Cuban Obsession" and Larry Hancock's book, "Someone Would Have Talked."
