William Pawley: Millionaire William Pawley (SF 078 435) was part of OPERATION Red Cross. Pawley was born in Florence, South Carolina, in 1896. From 1928 to 1943 he was president of the National Aviation Company of Havana, which he later sold to Pan American Airlines. He became President of the China National Aviation Corporation in 1933, and in 1934 organized, and became President of the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which pioneered in the field of aircraft construction in China. In 1940 he organized, recruited and maintained the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) for the Chinese Air Force. The Flying Tigers were a volunteer group of American pilots who fought for General Chiang Kai-shek before becoming part of the regular U.S. Army. HEMMING called the Flying Tigers Americas first clandestine endeavor. They were only recently given veterans status. They were considered mercenaries. After the war, Pawley purchased the Havana Bus System. William Pawley was appointed Ambassador to Peru (1945) and Ambassador to Brazil (1946), then served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. In 1951 he became the Special Representative of the Secretary of Defense. He was an outside advisor to the State Department during the planning of PB SUCCESS. InMay 1954 the FBI investigated William Pawley. The CIA asked the FBI to send the White House copies of its investigation because William Pawley was part of the Doolittle Committee. Sheffield Edwards, Director of Security, generated this report on July 13, 1954: 1. Forwarded herewith are the Security Office files concerning the captioned individual. 2. In January 1952, the Subject (deleted) information to be given information classified up to and including Secret provided discretion were exercised in his development as a source. At that time National Agency name checks were conducted which disclosed no unfavorable information regarding the Subjects loyalty, although some allegations were disclosed regarding his honesty. The Subjects investigative file at the State Department was not available for review at that time. 3. In July 1952 (deleted) which request was then canceled on December 30, 1952. At that time the Subjects State Department Security File was made available and contained derogatory information alleging black market activities, income tax difficulties, possible misuse of lend lease material, and questionable money transactions. It was also shown the Subjects wife had written the President of the United States questioning the legality of Subjects Cuban divorce from her, after which he married his secretary. 4. In March 1953, the Subjects Treasury Department file was reviewed and reflected the Subject was investigated for income tax evasion for the years 1934 to 1944 and found to have been a non-resident citizen during that period and not guilty of tax evasion. The Secret Service had conducted an investigation of Subjects first wife, following her letter of complaint to the President, and found her sane, although suffering from severe mental strain. Considerable derogatory information was contained in this file relative to Subjects business reputation and ethics. [CIA Sheffield Edward to D/CI 7.13.54] On December 9, 1958, William Pawley went to Cuba as Washingtons secret emissary, in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Batista to establish a junta, relinquish his power, and leave Cuba altogether. This would have forced Fidel Castro into the political arena as a Presidential candidate. William Pawley became the unofficial spokesman for the old-line Cuban conservatives. He had the ear of Vice President NIXON, and spoke often with Allen Dulles. In October 1959, with his consent, the CIA installed a recording device in William Pawleys Miami office due to his connection with the Director of GOLIATH: Headquarters Field Office is requested to dispatch an agent to Miami, Florida, so as to arrive during the afternoon or early evening of October 6, 1959, for the purpose (deleted) in certain matters of interest to GOLIATH. Upon the arrival of your agent at Miami, he should contact Mr. (Deleted) a staff employee of GOLIATH who shares (deleted) will make all the necessary arrangements for your representative to gain access to Subjects office over the weekend of October 16, 1959 to October 18, 1959. It should be noted that this is being done with the full consent and approval of the Subject. The necessary equipment to be used in this assignment will be made available to your representative. On October 14, 1959, Pawley was granted a POA. In 1960 Allen Dulles and General Robert E. Cushman, Jr., NIXONS Executive Assistant for National Security Affairs, met with William Pawley in Miami. They discussed a scheme to print up Cuban bonds to jar the Castro economy. [Wyden Bay Of Pigs p29] HUNT wrote that William Pawley and CIA Western Hemisphere Chief J.C. King spent long hours talking with Cuban exiles who, because of their ties to Batista, were out of favor with the Kennedy Administration. HUNT described them as Cubans who were dead but did not know it. [HUNT Dayp29] On November 18, 1960, the CIA reported: For (deleted CIA component) [CI] You should be aware and somewhat interested in the fact that Pawley has established a new (and according to him productive) channel to President Elect Kennedy through George Smathers. According to Pawley, Smathers conversations with Kennedy have led now to take the position that he should not go along with the DOS and have the dictator step down. It appears that Mr. Kennedy may take a considerably more conservative position than many people in the Department and fun house. William Pawley was a supporter of the Cuban Revolutionary Front. During his HUNT v. WEBERMAN deposition, BARKER stated: Pawley was involved with the Cuban Revolutionary Front. Indirectly, William Pawley, at that time, helped Cubans. He was very active in the beginning, remembering as a matter of fact, the people who later came in, they were people he had organized. In 1964 MARTINO told the FBI that during the Spring and Summer of 1963 he personally led a mission which infiltrated Cuba and returned to Florida...he said the purpose of the mission was to bring Russians out... Robert K. Brown asserted a group of anti-Castro Cubans and Americans planned to spirit two Soviet colonels out of Cuba, to testify that Soviet offensive missiles were still on Cuban soil. Robert K. Brown wrote about this operation in Soldier-of-Fortune magazine: Five months before he was shot to death in Dallas, a group of conspirators attempted to destroy John F. Kennedy by political means. The group, which included officials of Time Inc., William Pawley, disgruntled CIA agents and anti-Castro Cubans, proposed to spirit two Russian colonels out of Cuba to testify that Soviet ballistic missiles were still based on Cuban soil. Their testimony, if true and if it could be proved, would have meant the end of John Kennedys political career, for it would have shown that the Cuban Missile Crisis had ended, not in a qualified U.S. victory, but in a monumental bungle eclipsing the Bay of Pigs disaster. The leader of Operation Red Cross was Colonel Alberto Bayo. The Soldier-of-Fortune article continued: HEMMING first met Colonel Alberto Bayo (Eduardo Perez Gonzalez) in early 1960. He and Howard Kenneth Davis introduced Bayo to Johnny Abbes who had lost his lucrative job upon Trujillos death, and was plotting with a group of Haitian exiles to put together one of their periodic attempts to overthrow Duvalier. Realizing that the Haitians involved were short on military training, not to mention combat experience, Abbes was looking for some kind of commando group to bolster the eager but amateur Haitians. Bayo met with Abbes several times and Abbes was impressed. HEMMING related: In fact the two of them signed a formal agreement in Abbes living room that stated in return for helping overthrow Duvalier, the new Haitian regime would grant the Cubans bases from which they could operate against Castro. HEMMING named JOHN MARTINO, William Pawley, Joe Garman, FRANK STURGIS, Jerry Buchanan and Howard K. Davis as plotters. After MARTINOS death in the late 1970s, Gaeton Fonzi found the telephone number of Howard K. Davis in his address book. Howard K. Davis was asked about this: JOHN MARTINO and I got to be pretty good friends. The CIA tried to recruit him. He told them to stuff it, he wouldnt have anything to do with them because he didnt trust...Maybe he didnt have confidence in the people he was in touch with in Cuba. Fonzi also found a letter from Robert K. Brown addressed to MARTINO. In The Fish Is Red, Warren Hinckle and William Turner reported that Howard K. Davis contacted New York financier Theodore Racoosin, who was well connected with the White House. A week later Rascoosin came to Miami and told Davis there was a high level interest in bringing out the Russian defectors. A week later Rascoosin called Davis and informed him that his contacts in Washington could not locate any reports about Russian defectors in Cuba. Hinckle and Turner reported that Howard K. Davis organized meetings to effectuate this operation in the offices of Bill Boggs, the editor of the Miami News. They reported that Rascoosin was there, as was Hal Hendrix, Jay Mallin and a cross section of Cuban leaders. Marita Lorenz testified that STURGIS and MARTINO were good friends; when STURGIS was questioned about MARTINO, he said: I met him. MARTINO had Nathaniel Weyl contact Senate Internal Security Subcommittee investigator James Sourwine. James Sourwine contacted William Pawley, who contacted MARTINO. On May 22, 1963, William Pawley discussed the legality of OPERATION CRYPT with the JMWAVE Station Chief, Ted Shackley: 1. Pawley stated that he had been approached on April 16, 1963, by Mr. Jay Sourwine of the Senate Internal Security Committee, who had asked that Pawley participate in an operation which was designed to bring several Soviet military defectors into the United States. Mr. Sourwine indicated that the main reason behind his involvement in this operation was his desire to obtain the testimony of the Soviets before the Senate Internal Security Committee as soon after their arrival in the United States as possible. In view of this objective, Mr. Sourwine was prepared to give Pawley several blank subpoenas from the Senate Internal Security Committee, which could be filled out by Pawley and served on the defectors as soon as they came within the United States three mile limit. Pawley claims that he told Mr. Sourwine that he would be interested in helping in the defection operation, as he thought that the surfacing of Soviet military defectors from Cuba in the United States before an open public forum would contribute to the national security of the United States. Armed with this commitment from Pawley, Mr. Sourwine indicated that he would arrange for the author, Nathaniel Weyl, to visit Pawley within the next few days in order to discuss the operation in detail. Mr. Weyl subsequently contacted Pawley on April 17, 1963, and stated that he and his unidentified associates had an opportunity to bring four Soviet military defectors to the United States. Mr. Weyl described the Soviet defectors as being a captain and three lieutenants from a Soviet SAM site. It was Mr. Weyls contention that these Soviets had pictures of underground missile storage sites in Cuba. Pawley indicated that he would be glad to participate in this operation and would put the full facilities of his organization at the disposal of the operation. Armed with this response, Mr. Weyl suggested that Pawley contact JOHN MARTINO of Alton Road, Florida, for further details of the operation. At this point Pawley stated that he was becoming quickly immersed in a complex operation. As a result Pawley decided to call COS in order to discuss the operation with a CIA representative. Pawley then asked COSs advice as to how the Soviet defectors could be brought into the United States and turned over to the Senate Internal Security Committee...The point was made that...facilitating the black entry of aliens into the United States would put Pawley in violation of existing U.S. laws. COS ventured the opinion that Pawley could not obtain immunity from prosecution for the violation of these laws through any intercession on the part of the Senate Internal Security Committee. At this point Pawley stated it was obvious that his only course of action was to cooperate fully with the COS as CIAs official representative. 2. Once Pawley reached the decision that he had no alternative except to cooperate with the CIA he asked if COS could make a commitment to the effect that once the Soviets were brought into the U.S. they would be turned over to the Internal Security Committee within 36 hours. COS stated he was not in a position to make this kind of commitment on CIAs behalf. Pawley the suggested that he call Mr. Sourwine and indicate that while Pawley was prepared to participate in the operation he had ascertained that the only way to legally bring the defectors into the United States under secure conditions was to cooperate with the CIA. Pawley then indicated that if Mr. Sourwine would agree to cooperate with the CIA then Pawley would continue to pursue the operation. If Mr. Sourwine would not agree to cooperate with the CIA Pawley would withdraw from the venture. 3. After obtaining Mr. Sourwines permission to cooperate with the CIA, Pawley asked how he should proceed with the implementation of the operation. COS suggested that the best way of handling the operation would be for COS to outline the information currently at hand to his Headquarters. Once this was done Pawley would probably be well-advised to personally contact officer or D/DCI in order to obtain firm commitments relative to the period of time which would elapse between the Soviets entry into the U.S. and their referral to the Internal Security Committee. Pawley thought this over for several minutes and then stated that he would prefer to contact D/CI directly and not have any record of this transaction in normal CIA cable channels. 4. Once it was clear that Pawley could not reach D/DCI by telephone, COS attempted to press for additional details relative to the defection operation. In this connection, COS asked what Pawley knew about JOHN MARTINO. Pawley stated that he knew nothing about him but was under the impression that MARTINO was in some way involved in acting as the middleman between the Cuban underground in Cuba and Weyl, who was the U.S. frontman for the transaction. COS then suggested that Pawley contact MARTINO and obtain all of the available information on the operation from MARTINO. In this connection COS stated that MARTINO was known to the CIA and that available information indicated that MARTINO had spent some time in Cuban prisons and could at best be described as an unsavory character. In this same context COS pointed out that MARTINO had previously claimed to have leads, but none of these had ever been substantiated once they were put to the test of producing results. Pawley then agreed to contact MARTINO. 5. On April 18, 1963, Pawley contacted COS by telephone and stated that he had just finished a meeting with MARTINO. Pawley stated that he was impressed with COSs accurate characterization of MARTINO, i.e. he was an unsavory lowlife. Pawley then went on to say that as things now stood MARTINO claimed that the three Soviets could be delivered to a point three miles off Mangrove Key, which was located north of Grand Bahama. MARTINO indicated that the four Soviets had been AWOL for some time and they were currently in hiding in Oriente Province. MARTINO stated that two men from the Cuban underground would bring the defectors to the Mangrove Key area. MARTINO indicated that he had a secure means of communications with Cuba, but he would not identify this system. MARTINO did claim that it would take about a week or ten days for the exfiltration to be competed. 6. In a telephone conversation with COS on April 19, 1963, Pawley stated he had received a telephone call from Mr. Weyl. In this conversation Pawley advised Mr. Weyl of Pawleys discussions with Sourwine and the D/DCI. Initially, this infuriated Mr. Weyl as he claimed that he did not want to cooperate with CIA and, as this was his operation, he was incensed that Sourwine had made a decision on this operation without consulting Weyl. After discussing the relative merits of the case for some time, Pawley claims he convinced Weyl the operation was now on a sound footing and there was no alternative but to cooperate with the CIA. Weyl apparently ultimately accepted this position and promised to keep Pawley informed on all developments in the operation. Pawley in return, advised COS that he would keep COA informed on all developments. (Deleted) Chief of Station. Ted Shackley MARTINO was unable to supply the names of the defectors, nor had the CIA received reports of desertions by Soviets within Cuba. In 1976 William Pawley recalled his role in OPERATION RED CROSS: Through the CIA, I arranged to bring my boat to Sunset Island without having to go through Customs or Immigration should we be successful in bringing out the defectors...CIA could not do anything directly. They did supply three good men, an armaments expert, a navigator and a radio operator. I was in constant touch with the Miami CIA office. In June 1963, at about 6:00 p.m., the team took off on a flying boat I had chartered, to a tiny uninhabited island that was a rendezvous point with my yacht, The Flying Tiger, which dropped them off ten miles off the coast of Cuba where they boarded a smaller CIA-supplied landing craft and headed for the sugar cane curtain. The CIA reported: Pawleys 65 foot yachtFlying Tiger will depart Miami at 6:00 p.m. on June 5, 1963. Aboard yacht will be Pawleys Captain Luis Paez Guerra who Cuban national but long time trusted employee. CIA will have (Staff Employee) alias (deleted) and (Staff Employee) alias (deleted) on board Pawley yacht. This yacht due to arrive Hogsty reef 6:00 a.m. on June 8, 1963. Yacht will anchor reef area. CIA vessel Leda [a heavily armed 140 foot minesweeper] with intermediate craft aboard which furnished by Perez will arrive Hogsty reef 4:00 a.m. on June 8, 1963. Cuban craft which 21 foot Chris Craft will be anchored one quarter mile east northwest cay light Hogsty reef. Craft will be loaded with arms and exfil/infil equipment, water, etc. Cubans will not know Leda carried their craft Hogsty reef but will believe it towed there by Pawley yacht. Once craft anchored Leda withdraws and surveils Hogsty reef with radar to insure no other vessel picks up craft. Leda will radar watch Pawley yacht come into Hogsty reef at 6:00 a.m. Thus as of 6:00 a.m. June 8, 1963, Pawley yacht and Cuban craft will be Hogsty reef. CIA PBY, under dry lease to Pawley, will arrive Hogsty Reef at 6:30 a.m. June 8, 1963 and land in protected area. PBY will contain Pawley, MARTINO, Spencer from Life, Staff Employee alias (Deleted) Staff Employee alias (Deleted) and eight Cubans. Party will be transferred by RB-12 from PBY to Pawley yacht. Entire party will board Pawley yacht, take Cuban craft in tow, and head for launch point. PBY leaves area. Pawley yacht, surveilled by Leda Radar at ten mile distance, goes from reef to launch point which 20 miles off Cuba in commercial sea lanes. Here Cubans loaded into their craft. Once they in the craft they pass ammo in boxes and while being covered by arms on Pawley yacht Cubans are then cut loose at 10:00 p.m. June 8, 1963, for trip to Cuba...While above is skeleton presentation will assure headquarters all known safe guards have been taken minimize possibilities any type flap, compromise, hijacking etc. CIA involvement, while extensive, is not visible per se and fits into pattern those assets which Pawley able to acquire due his wealth, and or contacts. Pawley has played tough game with Cubans and indicated that while he desires to help, he will not risk his life, the lives of his employees, or loss of his property. The men of OPERATION RED CROSS were never heard from again. The CIA attempted to find out what had happened to them by questioning their wives. The CIA reported: On September 21, 1963, JOHN MARTINO contacted Staff Employee in order to report that MARTINO had received a letter from a Victor Garcia who was employed at Cuba. The Garcia letter was dated August 28, 1963, and it stated that Eduarda Perez, aka Bayo, and his men had recently caused the death of a number of militiamen and some Russian officers in a fire-fight which took place at Mayari in Oriente Province. (Field Comment: JMWAVE has no information which would confirm such a firefight). According to the Garcia letter, Perez lost two men in this firefight... After the action, Perez retreated to the Moa area of Oriente. The Garcia letter also stated that Perez was awaiting reinforcements and he expected that these reinforcements would be brought to him in Cuba by Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera. MARTINO asked employee if his organization would infiltrate Castillo and his men if MARTINO determined they were ready to go to Cuba to help Perez. Employee told MARTINO that he doubted he could obtain any help for the infiltration of additional people into Cuba. MARTINO then stated that Victor Garcia had originally written his letter to one Andre Venegas, who was residing in Miami. This Venegas wanted to infiltrate into Cuba, and he passed the letter to Castillo who passed the letter to MARTINO. Once MARTINO determined that the employee was not interested in facilitating the infiltration or additional men into Cuba to aid Perez, MARTINO broke off the conversation with employee. The information obtained from MARTINO, though not hard intelligence, does indicate that if a letter from Garcia to Venegas is bona fide, and not a fabrication prepared by MARTINO, then there was an indication the Perez was still alive and active in Cuba as of August 23, 1963...Traces: Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera, ACSI Source #670, DPOB October 2, 1924, Santiago de Cuba, Oriente Provence. Under Angel Luis Castillo (Deleted) September 27, 1961; (Deleted) 5807, September 18, 1962; WAVE-2592 September 18, 1962; Agent Report September 9, 1961, states Subject ex-Rebel Army Lieutenant. Witting informant of Agent. Report, December 19, 1962, states Subject fought clandestinely in Santiago de Cuba during Batista regime, joined 26th of July Movement, advanced and was a lieutenant under order of Com. Hubert Matos. Has been on Cuba since 1961. Has left and entered Cuba several times. Has complete confidence of Agent RED CROSS Report AA-1402, February 1, 1963, states he among first leaders of Cuban National Junta. Has been in Miami since January 15, 1963. RED CROSS report DD-368, August 26, 1963, states that according to Mr. Venegas, Subject was the person who put Perez (head of the group of Cuban exiles who left Miami for Cuba on a clandestine operation) in contact with JOHN MARTINO, the man who helped them. When Subject was a rebel officer in Cuba, he gave very good treatment to MARTINO when the latter was in prison. Subject disappeared from Miami and Venegas claims that he had gone to Cuba through the same via as Perez and his men. Andres Venegas, JMWAVE Personality File, A 12 143 273, DPOB December 25, 1923, Cuba, Occupation: Mechanic. Subject was stowaway on SS Transcaribbean from Cuba to Charleston, South Carolina. Supplied information regarding Communists worked at Cuba. Agent Memo May 3, 1962, recommended Subject for infiltration in region of Montanosa of Oriente Province.[CIA FOIA 18458, 18456, 18462, 18355, 18348] The CIA could not verify any of MARTINOS information and concluded the Soviet defector story was a fake: Comment: A review of the information above leads to the conclusion that in the period June 1963 to January 1964, JMWAVE has not obtained any hard information on the current status of those individuals who infiltrated into Cuba on Operation RED CROSS. This review does reveal, however, that the circumstantial evidence does indicate that these infiltrees are still operating in Oriente in the Sagua de Tanamo area. This conclusion is based primary on the fact that none of the infiltrees have returned to Miami and we have not received any information from any reporting sources which would indicate that the infiltrees have been captured, killed or imprisoned. As a result of this negative reporting, JMWAVE can only conclude that the analysis which was previously reported in Reference A was correct i.e. the individuals who participated in Operation RED CROSS did not have any Soviet contacts but they developed a story about notional Soviet contacts in order to develop an operational proposal which was designed to obtain for them transportation, arms and infiltration into Cuba via the good offices of Pawley. [CIA FOIA 18462 To Chief, Special Affairs Staff, from COS JMWAVE] Robert K. Brown told this researcher: This might have just been ploy to get the CIA to transport MARTINO to Cuba so he could do his own Rambo type operation. On July 25, 1963, the CIA reported on Pawleys activities with JMWAVE. 1. As a result of the initial meeting between Pawley and COS [Ted Shackely] a relationship has developed in which Pawley as a well-informed businessman with excellent connections in the Miami community has been used as a special contact for the development of certain background data, operational intelligence, and the conduct of operational support tasks. In the period August 28, 1962 to July 25, 1963, Pawley has shown himself to be a discreet loyal American who is interested in helping his country solve those problems which it faces in the Western Hemisphere... 2. Operational Support. On occasion, it has been possible to use Pawleys background knowledge on Cuba as a reference point for the acquisition of operational intelligence and or/personality assessments. In addition, Pawley has, in some instances, been used to carry out operational support tasks for JMWAVE. These tasks are recorded in the comments which follow: Crypt Cargo. After the Crypt corporation was established and in the initial period when JMWAVE was attempting to build a solid (deleted) cover for the Crypt Pawley was instrumental in obtaining (deleted) cargo for the Crypt (deleted) METHODS. (deleted) 3. OPERATION RED CROSS: On April 18, 1963, Pawley started a series of discussions with COS which ultimately led to the mounting of Operation RED CROSS. This operation is described in detail in WAVE 9342, dated June 5, 1963. In summary, this operation involved the infiltration into the Northern Coast of Oriente of ten Cuban exiles who claimed that they could go into Cuba and exfiltrate four Soviet Officers who were knowledgeable of Soviet missile activities in Oriente. This operation involved an odd assortment of bedfellows, such as Mr. Jay Sourwine of the Senate Internal Security Committee, Nathaniel Weyl, author, JOHN MARTINO, small time gangster, Life Magazine and Pawley. Operation RED CROSS was launched on June 9, 1963, with a large amount of assistance from JMWAVE. The infiltrees did not return from the infiltration operation as scheduled on June 10, 1963, June 11, 1963, or June 12, 1963. Subsequent developments revealed that the ten-man team which was infiltrated was part of the invasion force which the rump Cuban Revolutionary Council announced on June 20, 1963 that they had infiltrated into Cuba. It would appear, in retrospect, that the ten Cubans who went into Cuba on Operation RED CROSS did not have any Soviet contacts, but they dreamed those contacts up in order to find an angel who would facilitate their infiltration into Cuba. Their plan worked and they did find an angel i.e. Pawley, Life Magazine, Sourwine and a firm helping hand from the CIA. Despite this, Operation RED CROSS has to be viewed as a long shot target of opportunity which neither JMWAVE nor the CIA could refuse to pursue because, had their been an exfiltration of four Soviets, we would have had a veritable gold mine of current intelligence on Cuba. JMWAVEs analysis of Operation RED CROSS is contained in WAVE 0438, dated June 28, 1963. 4. Pawleys PW Efforts: Pawley is not in agreement with the Administration of President Kennedy on matters effecting the U.S. position relative to Cuba and the Caribbean. As a result, Pawley occasionally engages in propaganda activities of his own which are designed to bring the Cuban issue and Pawleys disagreement with President Kennedys Administration to the attention of the U.S. public. [CIA 18460]
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:49:21 +0000
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