This note surveys the 16 additional ARC pdfs posted by NARA on 26 March. This is the fourth set of pdfs NARA has posted, so call these “batch 4”. Short story: these are all FBI/NSA docs, all are released in full. No more redactions here. One is JFK related, the others are not.
Who do these records belong to?
The records in batch four were all listed in the DOD transparency plan in 2022. Although they have FBI record numbers, they are basically NSA documents that the FBI had copies of. Redacted copies of these records have been available at NARA for a while now, I’m too lazy to write a detailed description of how much was released from which ones at what time.
Why did the FBI have copies of these NSA docs? They were working on various cases involving various people, and asked NSA for any info they had on the guys involved in their cases. When NSA replied, the FBI stuck the reports in their case files.
These records are released in full. Very interesting to see so much NSA info in one place. Remember, over 200 redacted NSA docs in the ARC have not yet been reposted at NARA. The batch 4 release gives us hints as to what kind of info is still being held back in those other records.
Why are these docs in the ARC?
Trying to figure out why these NSA docs are even in the ARC can be utterly baffling unless you look at where they came from. By that, I mean what FBI casefiles had these docs?
The docs were originally incorporated in FBI investigative files. Trace the doc to the file, and in theory you can learn who the FBI was investigating when they acquired these docs.
How do you do that? Well, I look up the ARC record numbers at the MFF website, and find out whose file they are listed under. What, you are not an MFF subscriber? Too bad for you…
What files are the docs from?
File 1: Pedro Diaz Lanz
Docs: 124-10289-10461, 124-10289-10462, 124-10289-10464
File 2: Irving Davidson
Docs: 124-10299-10032, 124-10299-10041, 124-10299-10042, 124-10299-10043, 124-10299-10044
File 3: Rolando Masferrer
Docs: 124-90090-10025, 124-90090-10026, 124-90090-10035, 124-90090-10037, 124-90090-10038
File 4: Jorge Alonso Pujol
124-90074-10051
File 5: Joseph Shimon
124-10328-10017
File 6: Gilberto Alvarado Ugarte
124-90119-10006
Who were these guys?
1) Pedro Diaz Lanz was the chief of the Cuban air force when Castro took over. Diaz soon decided Castro was a communist and headed for the U.S. where he alternated between trying to round up support for the counter-revolution and denouncing other counter-revolutionary leaders.
2) Irving Davidson was a lobbyist for Haiti in the early 1960s, with many dubious sidelines. The HSCA was interested in Davidson because they thought he might have connections with Oswald acquaintance George De Mohrenschildt, who was actually in Haiti when Kennedy was assassinated. The GDM story is way too complicated to go into here.
3) Rolando Masferrer was another anti-Castro Cuban who was involved in many complicated plots. Again, way too complicated to go into here.
4) Jorge Alonso Pujol is the most obscure of these people. His father Alonso was vice-president of Cuba for a brief period, and Jorge fought at the Bay of Pigs and was taken prisoner. Another anti-Castro figure, he was also charged with narcotics trafficking, one more reason he had an FBI file.
5) Joseph Shimon was a DC police officer who apparently knew some heavy duty Mafioso, including Johnny Rosselli, and told the HSCA he knew of the CIA plot to poison Castro.
Shimon also had contacts in the Israeli embassy. In the single document about him, he is listed as present at a phone call made by Teddy Kollek in New York to businessmen in Jerusalem about a property deal.
This record is wildly unrelated to the assassination. It is startling to learn that NSA was listening to Kollek’s phone calls.
6) Gilberto Alvarado Ugarte is the only one of these people who is really relevant to the assassination as far as I am concerned. Alvarado was the mysterious D, who went to the CIA with the claim that he had witnessed people in the Cuban embassy pay Oswald money, a claim he later retracted.
The info on Alvarado is from 1960, the NSA must have dug up this report when the FBI was digging hard for more info on Alvarado. Note this is from an FBI file, not a CIA file. Anyway, interesting.
Two cents
I find docs such as these interesting on their own. With the exception of the Alvarado doc, they are far, far removed from the JFK assassination. If we could devise a linking system for JFK related info, these would easily be three or four degrees separated, more for the Shimon doc. Nonetheless, they are all part of the ARC, and are now released in full. Two and a half cheers, at least.