Volume 9, Number 32 (Issue 421) In Two Parts August 11-17, 1972 Democratic Hq wiretapping linked to CIA assassins ART KUNKIN theii possession the telephone num- Less than two weeks before the ber of Howard Hunt, White House opening of the Republican National consultant who had previously work- Convention, a press conference held ed with the CIA for 21 years. at the Los Angeles Press Club heard James McCord, Jr., employed as a woman speaker say that the five Chief of Security for Mitchell's Com- men caught wiretapping the mittee to Re-Elect Richard Nixon, Democratic Party National Commit- was one of the five men arrested. tee headquarters in Washington's McCord was formerly employed by Watergate Hotel were not only in- the CIA for nineteen years, having volved in the Central Intelligence left two years previously at ap- Agency, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, proximately the same time as Hunt. and President Kennedy's McCord's position with the CIA was assassination but also with plans Chief of Security over the entire first revealed last year by Los grounds of the immense CIA com- Angeles Police informer Louis Tack- pound at Langley, Virginia. Accord- wood to disrupt the Republican ing to Mae Brussell, this put McCord National Convention. (See the Los in a very high, responsible position Angeles Free Press, October 22, in relation to CIA Director Helms 1971.) who could not conceivably carry out These charges were made by Mae any intelligence planning without Brussel!, a well known private in- relying on McCord to ensure that vestigator into American political CIA- plans were kept secret. 'assassinations for the past nine Nine persons (all registered with years. She was accompanied by false names suspiciously similar to Michael McCarthy of the Citizens names used in novels written by Research Investigation Committee, Howard Hunt) stayed at the one of the CRIC investigators who Watergate Hotel May 26 to 29, and originally checked out Tackwood's again June 17 and 18. Five of them, charges, and Paul Krassner, editor the night of their arrest, were of The Realist. The current issue of discovered in the Democratic Party The Press conference at the LA. Press Club rast Tuesday in which Mae Brussell, center, tried to make clear to The Realist (August, 1972) contains a office when security guard Frank reporters that details of the fantastic plot to disrupt the Republican National Convention (which former police 20-page -article by Ms. Brussels Wills noticed pieces of scotch tape informer Louis Tackwood told about last September) were being corroborated by the equally fantastic details which was distributed to the over the door locks. Washington of the attempted wiretapping of the Democratic Party National headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in newsmen at the press conference as police arrived and made the arrests. Washington, D.C. To the left is Michael McCarthy, of the Citizens Research and Investigative Committee the basis for Ms. Brussels asser- According to Don Freed of CRIC (CRIC), while to the right is Paul Krassner, editor of tions. (who was not at the press con- The Realist. (Photo by Art Kunkin). According to Ms. Brussell the ference but submitted additional Watergate Hotel, located in material to the Free Press), within Washington, D.C., was the home of six weeks of the first arrests it was John and Martha Mitchell at the time known that at least 12 men and of the attempted wiretapping of the $114,000 were involved, and that the Democratic Party National Commit- invaders were discovered putting tee. John Mitchell, former Attorney forged documents of some kind into General of the United States, had files, not taking papers out. They shortly before resigned that were not burglars, they were not prestigious position to head the im- functioning with a "bugging" budget portant Committee to Re-Elect the or with the numbers usually President. associated with mare wiretapping. Also housed in the Watergate (We must caution, however, that Hotel complex are the offices of the the Free Press has no means at Democratic National Committee. present of independently verifying In the early morning hours of June facts such as documents being 17, 1972, five men were arrested planted instead of being removed, removing parts of the ceiling from and that Don Freed, evidently, bases the sixth floor panels in the much of his information on a Democratic National Headquarters. collation from such sources as the These men possessed expensive Washington Post, which has electronic equipment, cameras, published carefully documented ar- walkie-talkies, burglary tools, and ticles on the raid. Freed has also other James Bend accessories. made investigative trips to Two of the men arrested had in (Please turn to Page Four) harassment raids. Barker had helped plan demonstrations for both Miami conventions to support the war. Barker lost his citizenship 10 years ago. 3. Frank Sturgis, alias Joseph Hamilton, Frank Fiorini, and a dozen other known aliases. Washington, D.C.). U.S. Marine in World War Two, Following the raid, a million dollar THE FIVE MEN key figure in the Bay of Pigs in- suit was filed by the Democrats ARRESTED AT vasion, and lost his-U.S. citizenship against the Committee for the Re- . THE WATERGATE in 1960. He regained citizenship with Election of the President for com- aid of Senator Smathers. pensatory and punitive damages to 1. JaMes McCord, Jr., alias Ed- Sturgis had been named by Castro the Democratic headquarters. The ward Martin to be overseer of gambling Nixon Committee then asked a U.S. Native of Texas and a Lieutenant operations in Havana before Castro District Court to postpone the suit Colonel in the Air. Force Reserves. until after--the November 7th elec- Served in FBI, 1948-51, as radio tion. To hear the suit before the operator, CIA from 1951 to 1970, election, tfie Committee said, could , former Chief,of Security for "Fairfax deter campaign workers and con- Highway Research Station," -other- tributions, force disclosure of con- wise, known as .the CIA. Served with removed the Syndicate. He is a close fidential information and otherwise special 18 man unit attached to the friend of Diaz Lanz of the Cuba exile cause "incalculable damage" ' to -White Houise, having to do with community and is involved with such President Nixon's campaign. "Etnergencies, radicals and con- right-wing movements as the John Just last week the ties were drawn tingency plans" in case of war. Birch Society 'and Billy James tighter between the Watergate raid " Specialized in "Censorship of news Hargis' Christian Crusade.' Sturgis and the Republican Party. A $25,000 media and U.S. mail." McCord was was a key figure in the Bay of Pigs cashier's check drawn on a Florida salaried Security Co-ordinator of the invasion and has extensive CIA con- bank by Kenneth Dahlberg, a Committee to Re-elect Richard tacts. prominent Minneapolis manufac- Nixon and was under contract as Sturgis is a Reserve Lieutenant in turer and chief fund raiser for the McCord Associates, Inc., to provide the Civil Air Patrol; a close friend of Nixon midwestern campaign, turned all security for the Republican Bernard Barker's for eleven years, up in the Miami bank account of National Convention in Miami. and was among those questioned by Bernard Barker, - one of the five McCord worked with the CIA at the the FBI after John Kennedy's death arrested in Washington. The FBI has time of the invasion of Cuba known because of his activities. Sturgis' begun an investigation of how the as the Bay of Pigs. home was an arsenal at the time, check was transmitted to Barker 2. Bernard Barker, alias Frank complete with 20 millimeter can- while the Office of Federal Elections, Carter, alias "Macho." nons, and he is said to have been a recently formed watchdog agency Prominent in Republican Party in associated through the Civil Air under the General Accounting Office Miami and closely associated with Patrol with David Ferris and of the government, was looking into the the exiled Cuban community there. Miami-Houston-Havana group possible violations of the campaign Had name of Howard Hunt in his named by independent researchers spending practices act as neither possession at time of arrest. Hunt as involved - with President Ken- the receipt of this amount of money and Barker had worked closely plan- nedy's death. or its contributors were filed as the - ning the Bay of Pigs invasion. Hunt 4. Eugenio Martinez law requires. did the planning while Barker was Martinez served with Castro's Also when the men were captured, responsible for transferring funds. army and then became 53 one hundred dollar bills they an anti- Barker is known to have ap- Castro guerrilla fighter. Worked with carried were traced to $89,000 with- proached architect Leonard Glass Bernard Barker's Miami real estate drawn by Barker shortly before the eight months before the Miami office. Howard Hunt's White House break-in, but the source of those Democratic Convention for "floor phone number was in his address funds remains a mystery. Last week plans and air conditioning plans of book at the time of his arrest in the (according to the August 14, 1972, the Democratic Convention halls." Watergate Hotel. issue of Newsweek) it was learned (This took place while the Martinez worked closely with that on April 25, the same day that Republicans were planning their exiled Cubans involved in military the $25,000 check-was put into Bark- convention for San Diego). Barker training, and was involved with er's account, four other drafts offered Glass "business in South Young Republicans scheduled to totalling $89,000 were deposited America" in exchange for the air arrive in Miami for 1972 conventions.