Your Honor, Ladies & Gentlemen, today is September 29, 1998. 

The following deposition is being videotaped by Gary Farnsworth of Audio Video Documentation Services, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 7167 Corrales Road, Corrales, NM in the matter of William M. Tyree, Jr., Plaintiff vs. Central Intelligence Agency, L. Scott Harshbarger, A. Paul CelLeuci, George Bush, Dois Gene Tatum, Defendants.

Case No. 98-CV-11829 JLT

Filed in The United States District Court, District of Mass.

This deposition has been noticed by the plaintiff. The deponent is Desiree A. Ferdinand.  The time is now 10:05 a.m.

Counsel will now identify himself for the record.

Raymond D. Kohlman of Attleboro, MA

Penelope J. Parigo, Notary Public, will now swear in the deponent.

Do you swear that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

DF:      Yes I do.

RK:      Good morning.

DF:      Good morning.

RK:      Are you okay?

DF:      I'm fine.

RK:      Okay, I would like you to look at this please and can you tell me what it is?

DF:      It is my father's death certificate.

RK:      When did your father die?

DF:      January 7, 1990.

RK:      Okay.  How long had he lived here in New Mexico?

DF:      Since 1980.

RK:      Okay.  What was your father doing at the time of his death?

DF:      He was retired.

RK:      What was his previous employment?

DF:      He originally was with the military and then he went into New York City Police Department and did crossover work with Central Intelligence Agency and while he was with the military until his death, he was with Military Intelligence, Counter Intelligence Corps.

RK:      So you stated that before he worked for the New York Police Department he was in the military?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  Was he buried in a military cemetery?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Would you look at this please and then you can show it to the camera if you wish.  What is that?

DF:      It is his internment record at Santa Fe Veteran's Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

RK:      Does that anywhere have his rank?

DF:      Yes it does.  It has his rank of Staff Sergeant, which is inaccurate.

RK:      Okay.  Now would you look at this please and show it to the camera?

DF:      Okay.

RK:      What is that?

DF:      That is my father's headstone, which reads Albert V. Carone, Colonel, U.S. Army.

RK:      So we went from Staff Sergeant to Colonel?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      At his death?

DF:      My father was a full bird Colonel at the time of his death.

RK:      Okay, in spite of the fact that the internment record stated Staff Sargeant?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Can you explain what happened?

DF:      When my father died in 1990 and he was buried, it took about a month for the headstone to be placed and when it was placed it was placed as Staff Sargeant.  I went to the cemetery and I told them there was a mistake.  They had turned around and told me I would have to notify the U.S. Army Personnel in St. Louis.  I did that. St. Louis came back and told me there was no record of Albert V. Carone ever being in the military.  They sent me a letter, or Patricia Moore sent me a letter stating there was no record and he never existed.  A disagreement occured that he was buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery and he was in the military.  They had told me that that was not the case. In 1992, I started…well, from 1990, from that point on I started trying to put together the pieces of my father's military because I was in possession of a great deal of military records from the army. I wound up going to a retirement luncheon at Kirtland Airforce Base in Albuquerque for retired intelligence people and I brought a military picture of my father with me.  A man that was there by the name of Robert Maheu stated that he recognized him from Washington and the Pentagon and told me that what I needed to do if he had been in Intelligence or worked with Central Intelligence Agency, which he did from 1966 on, that I needed to call Theodore Shackley.

RK:      Okay.  Had you ever heard that name before?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How?

DF:      My father.

RK:      Okay.  So Mr. Maheu said contact Mr. Shackley. Did you?

DF:      Yes I did.

RK:      And what did Mr. Shackley say?

DF:      He originally stated that he would not confirm or deny ever knowing Colonel Carone.  He asked me what I wanted.  I told him that I wanted my father's headstone changed since at one time he had worked with my father with the Golden Triangle in Vietnam. He stated that he did not know what I was talking about and what did I really want from him? I told him that I wanted my father's headstone changed.  I stated that if my father worked for them all those years and if he was in the military all of those years then he would be buried with his rank as he was buried with full military honors.

RK:      Let me stop you for just a moment here.  When you talked with Mr. Shackley did he refer to your father as Colonel Carone?  Not Albert Carone?

DF:      Yes he did.  Colonel.

RK:      Not Mr. Carone?

DF:      No.

RK:      Specifically stated Colonel?

DF:      Colonel.

RK:      Okay. Please continue.

DF:      We ended the phone conversation and he told me that he would see what he could do but he could not promise me that he could do anything and he did not feel that he needed to help me in any way.  Ten days to the date of my conversation with Theodore Shackley I received an interoffice memo stating that my father's headstone would be changed.

RK:      Is this what you are referring to as the interoffice memo?

DF:      Yes it is a routing and transmittal slip.  It is sent to me and it states that "we are returning your father's military records.  Headstone has already been ordered with Colonel on headstone.  Thank you, Joseph Levato."

RK:      Now at your father's death, he, let me refer to this. He authorized the document?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Is that the document?

DF:      Yes, it is my Power of Attorney.

RK:      Okay.  So in effect, you had control of all the property?

DF:      Yes I did.

RK:      Okay.  Have you to this date received all the property?

DF:      No.

RK:      Now when I say received all the property, did your father indicate what he had?

DF:      There were bank accounts.  There were insurance policies.  At my father's death, there were bank accounts that I was on with my dad.  They disappeared. My father's driver's license,there was no record of.  Social Security stated that there was never a man by the name of Albert Carone that existed.  There was no military records that existed.  My father's car he had left to my daughter. When I went to transfer the title into my daughter's name, which my father bought this car off of the floor brand new, the title was not in my father's name.  It was in my name as the original buyer.  Anything that was in my father's possession had disappeared.

RK:      Okay.  Again, to this date, have you received any property that belonged to your father at his death.

DF:      No.

RK:      When was your father's birth date?

DF:      July 7, 1922.

RF:       Okay.  And his father's name?

DF:      Vincent.

RF:       And his mother's name?

DF:      Angelina.

RK:      And in New York City?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How long did he live in New York City?

DF:      Dad lived in Brooklyn until 1955 and then he moved to Wantaugh, Long Island until 1979. The latter part of 1979 and then he moved to Rio Rancho, New Mexico in 1980.

RK:      Okay.  Did he have a lot of brothers and sisters?

DF:      He had a brother.  There were three sisters and two other brothers.  The only one that was alive was his brother Pat, Pasquale. 

RK:      Is Pasquale still alive?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And where does Pasquale live?

DF:      Bayport, Long Island.

RK:      Is he employed?

DF:      Semi.

RK:      What does he do?

DF:      He is a psychiatrist.

RK:      Has he been a psychiatrist for as long as you have known him?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Does he work at a hospital or….

DF:      South Oaks Hospital in Massapequa, Long Island.  He is a consultant and I think he still works possibly one day a week.

RK:      Did he work anywhere else?

DF:      He was the head psychiatrist for the New York City Police Department and also for the Diocese in Rockville Center Roman Catholic Church.

RK:      So the Police Department, the church and the hospital?

DF:      Yes. He also wrote two books. One on drugs, LSD, and another one on alcoholism.

RK:      Would you please look at that?

DF:      That is my father's brother, Pasquale.

RK:      And this?

DF:      My father's brother, Pasquale.

RK:      The same gentleman?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Would you show that to the camera?

DF:      Sure.

RK:      And when was that picture taken approximately?

DF:      I do not know.  From the wallpaper, it had to be in Wantaugh, Long Island because this was the house in Wantaugh.  It was probably around the time of my son's first or second birthday around 1973 or 1974.

RK:      I have this here.  Would you look at that?

DF:      Okay. Do you want me to show this to the camera?

RK:      Sure. Now can you identify any of those persons?

DF:      This man in the middle is my Uncle Gene.  This is my grandfather, Vincent, on my mother's side and this is my Uncle Alex.  This gentleman I do not know and this is a man that was known as Nelly.

RK:      Okay.  What did Nelly do? 

DF:      Every gentleman in this picture was associated with organized crime.  My grandfather was a loan shark and racketeer.

RK:      When you say organized crime, is there another name that it is known by?

DF:      Cosa Nostra or Mafia.

RK:      Okay.  And you said all of the gentlemen there were associated?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Was your father associated?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How did that association begin?

DF:      When my father was around six years old, my grandfather, Vincent, was involved in the import/export business of olive oil out of Cortone, Italy.  My father's family owned a town or were the major landowners in Cortone. My grandfather had a great deal of money.  He died when my father was about three years old. My grandmother lost all of what my grandfather had built up. She had a store.  My grandmother wound up destitute and my father pretty much started living on his own at about six or seven years old because when my grandmother used to entertain gentlemen, she would lock my father out of the apartment and he would sleep on what was known as a stoop. In Brooklyn, they used to have the stairs going up. He started eating out of garbage cans and his father's Aunt Lizzie and a lot of the aunts would take care of him at times. There was a bar down the street, I don't remember the name of the bar.  It was in the White Hook section of Brooklyn. There was a gentleman there by the name of Vito Genovese.

RK:      Now, there are a lot of Genovese's in New York.

DF:      Vito Genovese, the godfather of La Cosa Nostra back in the 30's and 40's.  He was one of the heads of the La Cosa Nostra so what he would do is give my father sometimes five cents, sometimes ten cents, sometimes twenty-five cents to run either money or papers to different people.  He used him as an errand boy.  There were many times that my father wound up sleeping in the bar at night.  They would let him stay there.  He kind of wound up under Vito Genovese's wing. When my father was between six and eight years old, he even got him a job singing for Prince Spaghetti on the radio doing commercials. So he wound up being brought up by Vito Genovese and his loyalty held no bounds to these people.

RK:      And he continued this association with the Genovese family?

DF:      Until Vito Genovese died.

RK:      Did his association then change?

DF:      It went to Joseph Colombo. My father knew the Gallo brothers, Joseph Gallo but I cannot remember his brother's name. The Mazzaratti family, the Colombo family. At the time that my father was in Brooklyn, he dealt a great deal with the main head which was Gambino himself, and he was very close to Joe Colombo, the Bonanno family, Joe Bonanno, and he was very close to Paulie Castelano.

RK:      Okay.  Did you know Mr. Castelano by any other name?

DF:      Uncle Paul.

RK:      Would you please look at this?

DF:      Okay.

RK:      Can you show the camera and identify those people?

DF:      Yes, one is my husband, Thomas. The other one is a man by the name of Angelo Crocci.

RK:      Was Mr. Crocci employed?

DF:      Yes. Well he was self-employed.

RK:      And what was his business?

DF:      He had a bar and the bar was a front for racketeering and for running numbers and bookmaking.

RK:      What does your husband do?

DF:      He is in telephone communications.

RK:      Thank you.

DF:      This is my Uncle Jimmy Madeira. I refer to him as uncle but he was first cousin to my father. His nickname was the Fish.  He worked as a longshoreman.

RK:      Please show the camera.

DF:      Sure.

RK:      Was that his only job, longshoreman?

DF:      Yes, but he had ties to organized crime from my dad.  This is my godfather, Pete Porazzo. He was in the New York City Police Department and was a Sargeant with the New York City Police Department.  He was involved with a man by the name of Bob Leuci and my father, as far as drug running, coming in through CIA into organized crime to put it on the street.. He was indicted, caught at Kennedy International Hotel. He was indicted.  He was sent to South Oaks Hospital, which my Uncle Pat, Pasquale Carone, was head at the time. He wound up getting his entire retirement because Uncle Pat stated he was mentally ill.  I cannot tell you the amount of kilos that he had of cocaine.  There was cocaine and heroin involved and the payoff to him was ten thousand dollars.

RK:      Do you know who gave him the money?

DF:      No, I do not.

RK:      Now you stated that your father was a New York Policeman?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Your father was Italian, full Italian?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did your father speak Italian?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did your father speak any foreign languages?

DF:      Yes.  He spoke Japanese, he spoke Chinese, he spoke Korean and he spoke Vietnamese.

RK:      Now your father was in the war, the Second World War?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And continued his career until what date with the military?

DF:      Probably 1986 or 1987.

RK:      Do you know where he was stationed during the Second World War?

DF:      South Pacific.

RK:      Do you have any more specific locations?

DF:      No, I just know he was in the South Pacific.  But I also know that at one point he was in the European theatre. According to his military records, when he was supposed to be in the South Pacific, a lot of military records that I have of my dad, he was also in the United States at the same time so I really can't tell you where he was and what he was doing.

RK:      But he was in the service?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Could you tell me what that is?

DF:      If is a wedding picture of my mom and dad with my Aunt Mary, who was my mother's aunt, and with my father's nephew, Louis Madera.

RK:      Thank you.

DF:      You’re welcome.

RK:      Would you please look at this?

DF:      Okay.  My father's honorable discharge papers, a separation center from Ft. Dix on November 12, 1945 when he came back from the war.

RK:      And what is on the other side?

DF:      His name, his organization, his address, what his MO was.

RK:      And what was his MO?

DF:      Intelligence and CI.  He went to school, according to these papers, for intelligence and espionage.

RK:      Have you seen this before?

DF:      Yes. These are part of my file. This is a copy of an original that I have of my dad's papers, Commissioned Officer School for Anti-Aircraft Training Center, Riverside, California.

RK:      Would you look at that please?

DF:      This is a breakdown of platoon leaders.

RK:      Platoon leaders where?

DF:      In New York.

RK:      Does your father's name show up there?

DF:      Yes it does. His unit commander was Major Paul Donnelly.  The gentleman that he answered to was Captain Walter Copacz and then came my dad, and my father was the platoon leader.

RK:      Did you meet any of those gentlemen?

DF:      Oh yeah, Major Donnelly.  I have never met Captain Copacz but I have spoken to him on numerous occasions.

RK:      Okay. Could you show them?

DF:      Sure.

RK:      Can you identify that?

DF:      It is a letter from my cousin Louis, okay, to Brigadeer General James.T. Brown.  I hereby certify that Albert Carone, a candidate for commission as second Lieutenant 23rd Regimen New York Guard has been well known to me personally for more than ten years.  In my opinion, the moral character, personal habits and reputation of the candidate are excellent and he is very deserving of the commission of aforesaid. Respectfully yours, Louis Madera.

RK:      And that was commission as an officer?

DF:      Yes.  May 1946.

RK:      Now during this period of time, was your father employed other than in the service?

DF:      In 1946 he went to New York City Police Department.

RK:      Have you seen that before?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Would you show the camera?  What is that?

DF:      I would say, it was for training at the Police Academy.

RK:      What does that document indicate?

DF:      That he went into the police department shield #3283.

RK:      Can you find your father's name on that roll?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Would you show the camera?

DF:      Albert V. Carone, ninth from the top. These are the police department's order of retirement midnight December 31, 1966 Albert V. Carone, shield #3283, 81st Precinct, Bedford Stuyvesant, and he was appointed into the police department on September 21, 1946.

RK:      Could you show that please?  What other precincts do you know that he was assigned to?

DF:      I think at one time my father was with the 42nd but my father mainly worked for the 19th division and I think the 21st division because my father had taken over the job of what is known as Bag Man, from a man by the name of Jimmy Reardon, also known as Squire Reardon. Bag Man was the man who got the payoffs for the police department to look the other way.

RK:      And your father took that job over from Reardon?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Do you know why he took it over from Reardon?

DF:      No, I really don't.  I just know that there was drugs with the families involved.  The agency, the CIA, was bringing in drugs and dad was the liaison between organized crime families because my father was a made man with organized crime; he rode both sides of the fence.  They used dad for it so dad used to take the payoffs from different people and there were certain people in the police department that were paid off to look the other way.

RK:      How do you know that he played both sides of the fence?

DF:      Because when I was growing up it was discussed in the house.

RK:      Between who?

DF:      My mom and dad.  My sister and I would be there all the time. There would be other people that would be there.  You could not help but overhear what was going on.  And yes we did have elephant ears as children.

RK:      Would you please identify that.

DF:      My father's telephone book.

RK:      Would you show it to the camera?

DF:      Sure.

RK:      You don't have to open it up.  At approximately what time did your father own that book?

DF:      This book is ancient. This book was always in our house in 81 Leanne Terrace and 82 Leanne Terrace in Wantaugh. 

RK:      Have you read that book?

DF:      Sure.

RK:      So you have an idea of what is in it?

DF:      Definitely.

RK:      Can you give me an idea of the people who are in it? What kind of people?

DF:      Okay.  There are military people in here. There is attorneys that worked with the agency and also with organized crime.  There are organized crime figures in here.

RK:      And you received that book when?

DF:      When my father died it was in his possessions.

RK:      Would you look at that please?

DF:      Headquarters Infantry School, Ft. Benning Georgia Award Certificate for Master Sargeant Albert V. Carone.  Do you want me to hold this up?

RK:      Yes.  And that was a completion certificate?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And does it state what course he completed?

DF:      Precommission extensive course of the only extension course program.

RK:      So it was prior to his being commissioned?

DF:      Yes. Army Intelligence School, Ft. Hollobird of Maryland. Sargeant Albert V. Carone has successfully completed the Army Counter Intelligence Corps investigations course from October 16, 1956 to October 26, 1956.

RK:      Now do you know anything about Ft. Hollobird now?

DF:      No.

RK:      Your father never mentioned that?  Now the date on that was, what was the last date on that please?

DF:      October 26, 1956.

RK:      And what was his rank?

DF:      Sargeant.

RK:      And what do you have before you?

DF:      The people of the state of New York, New York National Guard.

RK:      Does it give a rank?

DF:      Second Lieutenant Infantry.

RK:      Who is that for?

DF:      My dad, Albert Vincent Carone.

RK:      Would you show that to the camera please?  So we have him flip-flopping back and forth?

DF:      You could say that.

RK:      From an enlisted person completing a precommission course in 1956 and being a Second Lieutenant prior to 1956?

DF:      Right.

RK:      Would you look at that please?  What is that?

DF:      Transfer to Reserve List; Grade of Second Lieutenant.

RK:      What is the date?

DF:      July 8, 1946.

RK:      Now, do you know if your father received any promotions?

DF:      Yes. Dad received promotions.  We had a big party for him when he received his promotion to Major and it was about three or four months after he went to Pennsylvania to the War College.

RK:      Do you remember the year?

DF:      I think it was around 1968.

RK:      Okay.  Would you please look at that.

DF:      This is my father. 

RK:      Could you show the camera? What is the rank for that picture?

DF:      Major.

RK:      Now is that an official photograph?

DF:      Yes it is.

RK:      Do you know where the full size of this photograph is?

DF:      No, I don't.

RK:      Do you happen to remember now, he was a Major here in this photograph, do you happen to remember his commanding officer?

DF:      No.

RK:      Do you recognize this?

DF:      Yes, this is Colonel Buskirk.  He lived here in Albuquerque.

RK:      Is that one word…

DF:      One word…Colonel Winfred Buskirk.

RK:      What relationship did he have with your father?

DF:      My father worked with Colonel Buskirk.  He was CIC.

RK:      Do you know what those letters stand for, CIC?

DF:      Counter Intelligence Corps.

RK:      Did he work with your father here in New Mexico?

DF:      We came down to see Colonel Buskirk about four or five different occasions.  He was really close with the Colonel. I know they worked together but I can't tell you where they worked.  I just know we used to come down and visit him.  Colonel Buskirk had come up to New York a couple of times to spend a week or two weeks with us at a time. He is deceased.  Headquarters Counter Intelligence School, First Army Intelligence School at Ft. Slocum.

RK:      Have you seen that document before?

DF:      Yes. This is a copy of one of the originals that I hold.

RK:      How did you get the original?

DF:      Dad had a file and he kept a lot of his papers.  I originally had all of his papers but my father had moved out of his home at 200 Wyoming Autumn and a lot of his papers from 1958, 1960 had disappeared with his footlocker.

RK:      From his home?

DF:      Yes, from his garage.

RK:      After his death?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did your father leave a will?

DF:      No, excuse me, it was before his death.

RK:      Where was your father at the time?

DF:      He was living in apartments in Corales, New Mexico. He moved out of his home at 200 Wyoming Autumn.

RK:      Someone broke into the garage?

DF:      I would tend to think so since I was the only one with the key and I did not take the footlocker.

RK:      Did you talk to your father about that incident?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And he did not give them to anybody, the documents.

DF:      No.

RK:      Was that the only break-in to his property?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Now, upon your father's death, did he leave a will?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And where was that will probated?

DF:      Here in New Mexico District Court.

RK:      Was an executor or executrix appointment?

DF:      My sister and I were both made to share equally and if one chose to give up the responsibility of his estate the other one was to take over.  My sister chose to give up anything to do with it, which put me in charge of the estate. 

RK:      So you were in effect the executrix?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      What was your understanding of the duty of the executrix?

DF:      Well, in all honesty when my father got sick, my father decided to have a Power of Attorney drawn up to act in his behalf in any way to make any decisions.  So it really did not dawn on me what it was for me to do because I had been doing it for two years. I just knew that I had to do what I had to do to get his last wishes resolved.

RK:      And those last wishes included what, as far as his property was concerned?

DF:      I was to regain all of his property and my sister and I were to share in it equally.

RK:      Have you attempted to do that?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      In 1990?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      1991?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      1994?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      And how did you do that?

DF:      First I started contacting the military. They decided to tell me that all papers were burned.  There was no record anywhere.  Well there was no record but they chose to bury him at Santa Fe National Cemetery.  So after I had that little mishap, I went and wrote to the Department of the U.S. Army, the Reserve and Personnel Center in St. Louis to which they came back and told me that there was no record whatsoever but if I wanted to send them my records, that would be okay for them.

RK:      Would you look at this please and show the camera?

DF:      This is a letter from the Department of the Army signed by Chief of Inquiries, Patricia Moore..

RK:      Now you have referred twice to the Department of the Army just recently.  You also mentioned Patricia Moore so she apparently as of that particular date, which is what?

DF:      November 26, 1991.

RK:      So she in effect was a spokesman for the Department of the Army, was that your impression?

DF:      Well, yeah, because she signed it Patricia Moore, Chief Inquiries.

DF:      This is my letter to the Department of the Army Chief of Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

RK:      What is the date of that letter?

DF:      January 7, 1992.

RK:      Now you just showed us an answer from the army dated November 1991 and the date of the letter you have in your hand is?

DF:      January 7, 1992.

RK:      Would you show the camera please?  Did you do anything else in attempting to regain the property?

DF:      I went to see the Senator, okay I will say this wrong, Senator Dominici.

RK:      U.S. Senator?

DF:      Yes, U.S. Senator.

RK:      Did you vote for him?

DF:      Not anymore.

RK:      And basically what is that?  That letter is from?

DF:      The senator.

RK:      And basically what does that letter state?

DF:      This replies to your inquiry on behalf of Mrs. Desiree Ferdinand concerning the military service of her late father, Mr. Albert V. Carone.  As Mrs. Ferdinand has previously informed Title 10 United States Code Section 1331-1337 authorized retired pay for reserved component military service. To be eligible for retired pay under this law, a reserve soldier or former reserve soldier must have completed a minimum of 20 qualifying years of service after July 1, 1949 qualifying years in which the reserved soldier earned at least 50 retirement points.  Extensive search is conducted at the Center and at the National Archives and Records Administration failed to locate Mr. Carone's military personnel records. 

RK:      When did you say, to the best of your knowledge, your father left military service?

DF:      1985.

RK:      And the National Records basically told you what?

DF:      They don't have any record of him.

RK:      Did they give any possible explanation?

DF:      Document furnished by Mrs. Ferdinand dated March 12, 1970 is not an official promotion letter.  Retired benefits are not part of his estate according there are no provisions, can receive any retirement benefits based on her late father's military service. In an effort to verify Mr. Carone's military service from November 13, 1945 through February 4, 1957, a request was floated to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Indianapolis, Indiana requesting a search of their payroll.  These searches take several months to complete and sometimes do not produce desired results. Upon receipt of additional documentation, further research will be conducted.  The delay in furnishing a final reply is regretted. 

RK:      Any response desirable or not desirable?

DF:      None.

RK:      From personal records?

DF:      None.

RK:      Have they ever tried to explain why?

DF:       No

RK:      What other methods did you use to regain records or regain property?

DF:      I went to Congressman Shift's office.

RK:      And what happened there?

DF:      They started working on things. His liaison by the name of Mary started trying to work on the file. Congressman Shift passed away.

RK:      Was he succeeded in office?

DF:      Yeah, a couple of months ago.

RK:      Have you heard anything from the person who took Shift's place?

DF:      No.

RK:      Was there anything else that you did to try to collect the property or records, information?

DF:      I went to different banks, the banks that I had accounts with on my father. They told me there was no record.  I contacted Social Security.  Finally after about two months, Social Security came back to me and said, oh we found Albert Carone. And then they came back with three different birth dates on him.  So Social Security, he is back.  Police Department, I wrote to Commissioner Brackston.  I wrote to Mayor Guilliani and they decided to, first they had denied that he was ever with the police department and then after I became a real nudge about things, it took them about two years and I wound up with an insurance card from the police department, to my dad, stating that these were the new insurance cards so I called them and said he is deceased and you sent me insurance cards. You told me this man never existed.  They said oh no, he exists.  I said well he is dead and who is paying for his medical insurance and they told me the city of New York was.  I told them well how, he is deceased.  They asked me to return the insurance cards.  I did not.

RK:      They can't be used anyway.

DF:      I still wasn't giving them back. A letter from John Higgins, who was my attorney at the time, to the Bank of America where I had my account with my dad.

RK:      What were you using Mr. Higgins for?

DF:      I went to John Higgins to have him probate the estate and to try to help me find dad's records and files because the previous attorney that I had used conveniently forgot to probate the estate and informed me that I could not have my father's files back.  Then he informed me he gave them back, which he did not, so I took him to the Disciplinary Board of the State of New Mexico.

RK:      That is Mr. Higgins?

DF:      No, that is Mr. Robert Fuentes.

RK:      What bank is that document to?

DF:      Bank of America.

RK:      Could you show that to the camera please.  And have you either directly or through Mr. Higgins, received an answer from the Bank of America?

DF:      No.

RK:      Why did he send the letter to the Bank of America?

DF:      Because I had an account with my father at Albuquerque Federal Bank, which was taken over by the Bank of America.  It was bought out by the Bank of America.

RK:      And as far as you know, they have not given you an answer as to what happened to that account?

DF:      They said that the account never existed.

RK:      Okay.  Now how would I know the account existed?

DF:      Because I have the canceled checks from the account.

RK:      From which bank?

DF:      Albuquerque Federal.

RK:      Okay. And they are regular checks?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Printed?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      With the account number?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      So if I had one of those checks, I could normally go to the bank and they could use the numbers to find whatever records they had?

DF:      Exactly.

RK:      Now, were they commercially printed checks?

DF:      They were checks that were ordered through the bank.

RK:      So the bank took your order for the checks with an application for the checks?

DF:      No, it was a reorder form from the original checks that we had.

RK:      Sent it to whatever printing company they used so it would have their number, their account number.

DF:      Yes, exactly.

RK:      And that account never existed?

DF:      According to them.

RK:      Now when Albuquerque Federal was purchased by Bank of America, was the checking account turned over to Bank of America?

DF:      I don't remember.  I don't remember. I don't know if it might have been a couple of weeks down the road because we were told that when it was turning over we could still use the old checks and that they would be recognized.

RK:      Do you have any checks with the Bank of America?

DF:      No.

RK:      Okay.  So the only ones you have basically are Albuquerque Federal and whatever account those numbers fall?

DF:      Yes.  This is the letter from John Higgins to the CIA at Langley.

RK:      Could you show that to the camera?  Thank you.  Basically what did Mr. Higgins ask for?

DF:      Request the dates when her father, Albert V. Carone, worked for the CIA.  Mrs. Ferdinand presented copies of the death certificate and letter of testamentary for your file. To date, my client has not had a response from you. I would appreciate you looking into this matter and advising me as to the status of Mrs. Ferdinand's request.  It is hoped that it will not be necessary to subpoena your records in this matter.  I you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.  John Higgins, Attorney-at-Law.

RK:      And what was the date on that letter again please?

DF:      September 30, 1992.

RK:      Have you received anything from the CIA?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And what was that?

DF:      They have no record of Albert Carone.

RK:      Now, when we say the CIA, can I presume that it means the Central Intelligence Agency?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And what is that please?

DF:      A letter from me to Freeman D. Clark, c/o the Pentagon in Washington.

RK:      Now who is Mr. Clark?

DF:      He had written a letter recommending my father for intelligence activities while my father was in the military. The exact words were that he was highly recommended for subversive of activities with the military.

RK:      Now when you say he was highly recommended for subversive activities, was that to find subversive activities or was that to cause subversive activities?

DF:      I don't know.

RK:      Thank you.

DF:      You are welcome.

RK:      Now would you look at that and show it to the camera please?

DF:      This is my dad.

RK:      And about what age was he when that picture was taken?

DF:      It was taken in 1971….you do the math.

RK:      Is that an official photograph?

DF:      No, my mother was hounding my dad to have a picture taken for the family and he complained because his hair was not military cut and the official picture would have been taken in about a month or two. But he complied.

RK:      To the best of your knowledge, was an official photograph similar to this photograph ever taken?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And what is the rank of this particular photograph?

DF:      Colonel.

RK:      So somewhere there may be an official photograph of your father?

DF:      There is, not maybe. There is an official photograph of my dad.

RK:      As what rank?

DF:      Colonel.

RK:      Have you seen that photograph?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Do you know where that photograph is now?

DF:      No.

RK:      When did you see that photograph?

DF:      My mom used to have it in the house at 82 Leanne Terrace when they lived there in a frame.

RK:      Do you know what happened to that photograph?

DF:      No.

RK:      So why did your mother want this photograph taken again?

DF:      She was proud and she just wanted everybody to have a picture and she really didn’t like the way the official photographs, he always looked angry to tell you the truth, so she wanted an official one done. There was another one done of my dad in uniform with my mom but I don't know where that is.

RK:      Now we have talked a little bit about the Carone family.

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And we have talked a little bit about organized crime families.  To the best of your knowledge, how was your father perceived by the Carone family?

DF:      Get in trouble and we can call Uncle Al, his nickname was Chensy, to both families.  If there was a problem, call Uncle Al and he will take care of it.

RK:      Now we had talked about various members of organized crime. Did they associate with your father much?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Frequently?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Monthly?

DF:      More than monthly.

RK:      Daily?

DF:      Sometimes.

RK:      What, if you know, what was their perception…..

DF:      Honorable, I didn't say honest I said honorable.

RK:      Do you know how long he kept this reputation with organized crime?

DF:      Until the day he died.

RK:      Now, have you met many of his associates in the military?

DF:      Some.

RK:      Was that frequent?

DF:      Major Donnelly was frequent because Major Donnelly was a very close friend also of my dad's and his brother, Pat.

RK:      Do you know or are there any indications you have of what Major Donnelly thought about your father?

DF:      I had a discussion with Major Donnelly one day about my father's things.  He asked me where my father's files, his journals, and his tapes were.  I told him I was looking for certain files, tapes, and journals.  He told me I needed to stop what I was doing and he told me the walls will keep on going up. I proceeded to tell Major Donnelly I will take them down.  I have not spoken to him since.

RK:      Do you remember when that conversation occurred approximately?

DF:      Around 1992.

RK:      And prior to that did you have any discussion or any other conversations with Major Donnelly?

DF:      I had about four or five conversations with Major Donnelly.

RK:      Did he mention anything about his feelings towards your father?

DF:      No, but they were friends since we lived in Brooklyn so you have to go back at least 40 years. They were social friends also, not just through military.

RK:      For the 40 years?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      Okay. Now we have made reference to the Central Intelligence Agency. Do you know if your father had any or did you know the associates of your father as far as the Central Intelligence Agency was concerned?

DF:      Some.

RK:      Are there any names that immediately come to mind?

DF:      William Casey.

RK:      William Casey?

DF:      And Oliver North. He just wasn't military intelligence. He worked with the CIA and Theodore Shackley.

RK:      You had mentioned Mr. Shackley before.

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      Now William Casey, how did your father know Mr. Casey?

DF:      Bill Casey had come to my father's home for my son's christening, which took place in 1973, March of 73 and they were social friends also.  They would go out often. The Casey's would come to our home.

RK:      In which state now?

DF:      New York, Long Island.

RK:      Did your father ever mention knowing Casey before New York?

DF:      Before New York? No, the only thing I can tell you that he mentioned about Bill Casey is that they were in the military together.  William Casey and my father.

RK:      Which unit?  You don't know? Okay.

DF:      My father originally was with OSS in the military.

RK:      Okay.

DF:      Okay.  I think he knew Mr. Casey from there because they used to discuss, sit down and I guess talk war stories about certain things.

RK:      So, your impression is that your father and Bill Casey knew each other from the OSS days and they continued that relationship?

DF:      Yes.  He also knew General Richard Stilwell from way back when.

RK:      One last thing, or several last things and then we will move on.  Would you identify that please?

DF:      Lieutenant Colonel Albert V. Carone, 82 Leanne Terrace, Wantaugh, New York. It is an envelope mailed from Washington in 1970.

RK:      Is there any return address?

DF:      No.

RK:      Okay.  But it is addressed to Colonel?

DF:      Lieutenant Colonel.

RK:      Lieutenant Colonel?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      What is the address?

DF:      82 Leanne Terrace, Wantaugh, NY.

RK:      Was that your father's home?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      Thank you.  And that piece?

DF:      Mailgram, Western Union to Colonel Albert Carone, 83 Leanne Terrace, Wantaugh, NY  11793.  Congratulations, your promotion approved this date.  Orders to follow your office. Will be at Dix month of April. Hope to see you then.  Signed, Stryker.

RK:      Could you spell that name?

DF:      Stryker.

RK:      Could you show that to the camera?

DF:      And it is dated February 18, 1975.

RK:      Do you know or have you heard of anyone by the name of Stryker?

DF:      I was told that Stryker was a gentleman that he had worked with as far as, I will use the expression, "Black Operations, Counter Intelligence".  I think his first name, and I might be wrong, but I think it was Bill Stryker.

RK:      And who gave you this information?

DF:      Dad.

RK:      When did he give you this information?

DF:      When he had gotten the Mailgram.

RK:      What was that date?

DF:      February 18, 1975.

RK:      Thank you.   Now you have written several affidavits, is that correct?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And do you still hold that the statements you made in those affidavits are accurate?

DF:      Definitely.

RK:      Now in one of the affidavits dated 1998, do you remember that affidavit?

DF:      Yes, it is my most recent one.

RK:      Okay.  You made several statements in that affidavit?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And one of them if I may read it, "In 1966, my father started crossover work with the CIA through MICIC."  How do you know that?

DF:      Dad discussed it with my mother.

RK:      In 19….

DF:      He started discussing it around 1967 and then the heavy discussion came about in 1968.  I know it was 1968 because that was when I graduated from high school and that was when dad was never home.

RK:      Now, you state that in this affidavit that he had several passports?

DF:      Yes.  I am only in possession of one.  There were three others and I do not know where they are.  At his death, they were still available to me but when his apartment was cleaned out and the woman he was living with, they no longer were in my possession.

RK:      The woman he was living with, what was her name?

DF:      Heddy Williams.

RK:      Did she know you were in charge of the property?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Did she consult you as far as getting rid of anything?

DF:      No. It was more like I had to go there and take what was needed and she was supposed to hand over the rest of the passports and she did have other paperwork but she left town.

RK:      What happened with the other passports and the rest of the paperwork?

DF:      I cannot tell you that. They were in her possession.

RK:      Would you look at that please and could you identify that?

DF:      It is my father's passport.

RK:      Could you show that to the camera?

DF:      Sure.

RK:      Is there a number somewhere that identifies that passport?

DF:      Yes. On the top front page.

RK:      Would you read that number?

DF:      A634432.

RK:      What was the issue date?

DF:      Issue date March 13, 1980, expire date March 12, 1985.  New application January 30, 1985.

RK:      Now, in your search for information, records and property of your father…

DF:      I contacted the State Department for the passport.

RK:      What do you have in your hand again please?

DF:      Passport, United States of America.

RK:      And to the best of your knowledge, is that a valid passport?

DF:      To the best of my knowledge, yes it is.

RK:      Have you seen passports before?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Does it look authentic?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Issued by?

DF:      Secretary of State of the United States of America.

RK:      So when you contacted the State Department for any records….

DF:      No record.

RK:      They had no record of any passport?

DF:      None.

RK:      Including the passport you have in your hand?

DF:      Exactly.

RK:      Now your father apparently had some type of passport.  Did your father do a lot of traveling?

DF:      Extensive.

RK:      When did he start traveling?  Approximate years.

DF:      As early as I could remember.  He even traveled a great deal in the police department.  He would be gone for 2-3 weeks at a time.  He would be in England, he would be in Hong Kong, he would be in Hawaii, Germany, Spain.

RK:      Now how did you know he went to these places?

DF:      He said so.

RK:      Before or after he went?

DF:      Before.

RK:      So he would tell you I am going to such and such a country?

DF:      Yes, he would leave in military uniform most of the time and when he left a military car from Ft. Hamilton would pick him up. Many times when my dad left, he had an attaché case, which is in my possession and it was always handcuffed to his left wrist.

RK:      Which indicates what to you?

DF:      It had to be something important.

RK:      Now I am going to start asking you about several names.

DF:      Okay.

RK:      If you would be so kind as to tell me if you have heard of that name before.

DF:      Okay.

RK:      James Strauss?

DF:      Yes, I have heard of James Strauss.  I have met the man.

RK:      And is he an associate of your father?

DF:      Yes he was.

RK:      I'm sorry, he was. In what capacity was he an associate?

DF:      He stated that he worked with my father with the agency and the last mission they went on was in 1984/85 to a place called Tapechula, Mexico.  It was around the time that a good friend of my father's by the name of Kiko Comeraina, who was a DEA agent, was murdered.

RK:      Okay. Now you say "he told me".  Who told you?

DF:      Well first dad had stated about a mission he had gone on.  When he came home he was very depressed. He said he could not do this work any longer and he said he was not long for this world, that the suits would be coming for him.  I searched all over for Jim Strauss.  He finally found me.  He came to visit.  He brought up the same mission and stated that dad did not have the stomach after that mission any longer and that was the last mission they were on together.

RK:      Was that the last mission that you know of that your father went on?

DF:      It was definitely the last mission. My father never left the state after that.

RK:      Okay, the state of New Mexico?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      We are in New Mexico now?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  Do you know or have heard of the name Michael Harari?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How did you first learn of that name?

DF:      My father had to go to Kirtland Airforce Base one morning and my mom was still alive.  He had to ask me to go pick up prescriptions for her because he needed to be at Kirtland. The reason why he needed to be at Kirtland was because he was meeting with a man by the name of Michael. He told me he would be home between 11 and 12 o'clock.  Please pick up my mother's prescriptions.  So I went to the drugstore, known as Walgreen's situated at Cores and Corrales Road in Corrales to pick up my mother's prescription and there was a gentleman who had followed me into the pharmacy.  I am looking around waiting for the prescriptions.  This gentleman was about 10-15 feet constantly behind me. In Walgreen's when a prescription is finished, they call out the name for you to come and pick it up if you tell them you are waiting.  I was in there about 20 minutes.  As I was walking out of Walgreen's, this gentleman turned, he was behind me and I was walking out of Walgreen's and he said Dee and I turned around and said yes.  He said to me Al's daughter?  I said yes and I was trying to put this man like where he should be since he knew me and I didn't know him.  He came over to me, took me by the arm and said to me, we need to speak to you.  I asked him who he was.  He did not acknowledge my question.  I proceeded to curse very loudly.  I had my mother-in-law with me.  She got out of the car immediately and asked him what he was doing.  The minute he saw her and people started to look, he dropped my arm and got into a 1984 tannish gold Torino.  There was another gentleman in the car with him.  I immediately took the prescriptions and went to my father's home.  I told my father what happened.  My father hit the roof, turned around and said, "What the hell do they want with you?"  I said to my father, who wants with me, what is going on? My father refused, refused to answer me.  In 1996, I was in communication with William Tyree and he decided to send me reading material, his reading material, his court case and there was a picture of the same gentleman that approached me at Walgreen's and it was Michael Harari.

RK:      Who identified the picture as Michael Harari?

DF:      Both my mother-in-law and myself. There was no name under that picture and it was like, Oh my God, this is the man who was in the parking lot of Walgreen's and then about 15-20 pages later there was another picture of him and his name was underneath the picture, it was like a newspaper clipping and it was Michael Harari.

RK:      Do you remember what appeared to be a newspaper-clipping photo? Do you remember that?  Do you remember it very well.

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  Was there anyone else in that photograph?

DF:      Absolutely not.  It was just him.

RK:      Now, you stated after the last Mexican trip, okay, your father never left the state again. Why was that?

DF:      About a month and a half, no, the same evening that this happened with this gentleman, my father got violently sick.  We thought that he had food poisoning and my husband rushed him to the hospital.  They couldn't decide what is was.  They didn't know if it was food poisoning.  They ruled that out.  Then they said maybe it was ulcers and gave him a bunch of different tests.  They could not identify and from that point on, my father started getting very ill. He wound up with his kidneys failing. He wound up with the left side of his brain within a six month period atrophying so he was not physically capable of going anywhere because he wound up then having to go on kidney dialysis to keep him alive.

RK:      Now, after mentioning the suits were coming after him and your meeting with Mr. Harari, did your father's attitude change?

DF:      Very much so.

RK:      What was his attitude prior to 1984 as far as his work was concerned?

DF:      My father loved what he did whether it be right or wrong.  The man loved what he did.

RK:      And would he freely discuss it with family?

DF:      Not all the time.

RK:      Would he discuss it extensively with family?

DF:      Not all the time.  Anything that had to do with, let's say organized crime, was discussed in the house because the rule of the house was nothing that is ever said in this house leaves the front door.  And that is how we were brought up so it didn’t seem unusual.

RK:      What about his work with the police department?

DF:      He used to talk about the police department a lot.

RK:      And what about his work with the U.S. Government?

DF:      No. Just where he was going, when he would be back. Never really questioned anything because he was always being picked up in military uniform.  There were many times that he was in civilian, and there were two passports that dad used.  One was not red, not maroon.

RK:      Burgundy?

DF:      Almost and it was under the name of Albert V. Rodgers and when he traveled as a civilian he used that passport. He also used the passport that I just showed quite often too.

RK:      Now after 1984, how did his attitude towards his work change?

DF:      He told me not to bury him in his military uniform under any conditions.

RK:      Did he say why?

DF:      He said that he knew that the suits had come to get him. He said that he was not long for this world and that it just wasn't worth it.  I had to promise him that I would not bury him in his military uniform.  I asked him what he wanted done with it and he told me to burn it.

RK:      Was there any other indication of his change in attitude towards his work?

DF:      He just got very depressed. He told me that what he couldn't finish in his lifetime, that that was the reason why I had his Power of Attorney to start things because he wanted me to finish it in his death.

RK:      Are you okay?

DF:      I am fine.

RK:      Let's get back to some names.

DF:      Okay.

RK:      Frank Tierri?

DF:      Organized crime figure, I know the name.

RK:      Was he known by any other names?

DF:      Just to me Uncle Frankie.

RK:      He showed up at the house?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      Joe Pickles?

DF:      Joe Pricilia, Uncle Joe.

RK:      Do you know what Mr. Pickles did for a living?

DF:      Yes.  He was a Captain in the Joe Colombo family.

RK:      Benny the Eggs?

DF:      Benny the Eggs owned a restaurant by the name of the Tides.  It was a nightclub in New York, excuse me, New Jersey.

RK:      New Jersey?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      And other than the nightclub, do you know what else he did or his association with your father?

DF:      Organized crime.

RK:      Matty the Horse?

DF:      Matty the Horse Iello.  Matty the Horse was organized crime and he was a very large drug dealer.

RK:      Now you had mentioned, I think you mentioned a person by the name of Paul Castalano?

DF:      Uncle Paul, yes.  He originally took over the families.

RK:      Why don't we take a break now?  The time is 11:31 A.M. we are off the record.

Tape II

RK:      The time is 11:46 a.m.  We are on the record.

RK:      We had begun to talk about Paul Costellano.  Did you know him by any other name?

DF:      Uncle Paulie.

RK:      Did he visit a lot?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Was he employed?

DF:      He was a businessman but he also took over the family from Mr. Gambino when Mr. Gambino died.  He was brother-in-law to Mr. Gambino.

RK:      He freely associated with your father?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And your father freely associated with him?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      They were good friends?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      You had mentioned a Jack or John Lustig?

DF:      That is Inspector Jack Lustick.  He was with New York City Police Department.  My father answered to him and at the time, it was Captain Vincent Nardiello, but he was made an inspector also.

RK:      Okay.  Now you had mentioned Bob Leuci?

DF:      Leuci. Prince of the City.

RK:      And what was his association with your father?

DF:      The trafficking of drugs within the department into the Mafia on to the streets.

RK:      And what particular part did Mr. Lucy pay?

DF:      Mr. Leuci was the main player in shaking down certain businesses and also delivering certain drugs to certain businesses in the Brooklyn Section, Bedford Stuyvesant, Manhattan.  And my father used to talk about Bob Leuci a great deal.  Pete Parazzo and Bob Leuci were part of the bust as far as Pete Parazzo went.  Bob Leuci for no better word, to save his own rear end and take his retirement snitched out quite a few of the men in the police department.

RK:      Was he ever indicted?

DF:      No.

RK:      Was he ever….

DF:      He was moved to a different division.

RK:      Okay.  Now you had mentioned your father and Oliver North?  May we presume that this is the Oliver North Marine Colonel?

DF:      Yes, we can presume that.

RK:      And how do you know your father knew Oliver North?

DF:      When the hearings were going on for Iran Contra, my father had proceeded to make certain remarks concerning, as he referred to him as Ollie.  When my father got really sick, dad started talking about certain things and one of the names that he had brought up to me was John Cathey, as I understood it the way he said the last name.  He said to me, "find him and you will find the story".  Well, I never did find him and one day I was talking to a gentleman by the name of Mike Rupert and I'm telling Mike the story and he calls me back about an hour later and he says to me, "do you realize the alias for Colonel Oliver North is John, (he had referred to him as Cathey, I think)?  I proceeded to contact Colonel North.  He refused to speak to me.  I contacted him on about four or five different occasions.  He would not, under any circumstances, speak to me.

RK:      Now when you say you attempted to contact him, you attempted to contact him directly?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How did you do that?

DF:      I contacted the radio show that he had on the radio. They had given an 800 number.  Because this day he was talking about drugs and how terrible they were so I decided I was going to call the radio show because if it was a live show, I had a couple of things to say to the man.  I had to go through another party before I could speak to him directly on the radio and they had told me no.  I had stated that I wanted to speak to him.  They gave me two different numbers. One was to his, he was running for senator at the time, and if I remember correctly, the two girls I had spoke to Dede and Marsha.  He refused to speak to me so again I made a phone call to Theodore Shackley and Mr. Shackley told me to call Colonel North and tell him that Mr. Shackley had told me to call, to which I did.  He still would not speak to me but Marsha proceeded to tell me that he did not know Colonel Carone or Theodore Shackley so I called Theodore Shackley back and told him that I kind of thought that he thought a little bit too much of himself because Oliver North said he did not know Theodore Shackley to which Mr. Shackley said, "then you know what, that is the route you need to take and if he won't speak to you, then call his attorney".  And he proceeded to give me the name of his attorney and phone number, which was a Mr. Sullivan at the time.  I called Mr. Sullivan but he did not return my phone call.

RK:      So your father identified Oliver North as an associate?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Did he say anything about working directly with Oliver North?

DF:      Yes.  They were involved with drug running for the CIA in the South America Region.

RK:      Did he mention any countries?

DF:      No.  He mentioned Mr. Noriega.

RK:      Okay.  So your father in effect put himself next to Colonel North?

DF:      Pretty much so.

RK:      And Colonel North to you has attempted to remove himself?

DF:      Oh I would say.

RK:      From your father.  Frank Nugan?

DF:      Frank Nugan and Michael Hand, my father was good friends with.  Nugan Hand Bank.  It was a bank used in the Hong Kong area to launder different monies.  There were General Leroy Manner was involved.  General Stilwell was involved.  A man by the name of Paul Hollywell was involved.  It was an operation where drug monies in different accounts from certain people were absconded with. One through Nugan Hand bank and they were used for operations that were not sanctioned by the U.S. government, black operations.

RK:      Okay.  Now we are talking about a bank here correct?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      In Hong Kong?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  And your saying basically they took money…..

DF:      To launder.

RK:      From other people?

DF:      And the drug monies that they used for cocaine trafficking.

RK:      Now, how did you learn about this?

DF:      Well, my father knew Frank Nugan and Michael Hand.  I might get this mixed up but I think it is Michael Hand that he knew from like the Bronx area of New York.  If I am not mistaken, he was in Special Forces or in the military at one time.

RK:      Okay.  So your father passed this information to you?

DF:      Yes, when he got sick.

RK:      Okay. So this would be after 1985?

DF:      1985/86.

RK:      Did his attitude towards giving you this information increase?

DF:      Yes because the sicker dad got, I guess the more he felt he had to clear his conscience because he said that there were some awful things done in the name of patriotism and I think dad had said that he was not long for this world because the suits had gotten to him and I think his conscience got to him.

RK:      Did he say anything to indicate that to you?

DF:      Yeah, he didn't have the stomach to do the work that they wanted him to do any longer and the reason for it was because of this village. They had taken out an entire village of men, women and children and they executed them and put them in a mass grave and put Lyme over them.

RK:      Now which village is this?

DF:      I think it was called Tapetula or Chapetula, I can't remember the exact pronunciation.

RK:      In which country?

DF:      Mexico.

RK:      Did he mention anybody else who was with him?

DF:      Jim Strauss.  That is how I knew how to contact Jim Strauss.

RK:      Donald Beasley?

DF:      Part of the Nugan Hand Bank and he was also with the CIA.

RK:      Had he worked with your father?

DF:      I think he did because Mr. Beasley used to call the house on my father's private line.  There were two telephones in our home.  One phone we were forbidden to use because it was strictly for my father and that is the number that most of these people would call on.

RK:      So if that phone rang, what would happen?

DF:      We were allowed to answer it but we were forbidden to tell anyone where my father was if he wasn't there, only that my father would return the call within a certain amount of time.

RK:      At any time did you answer the phone and the other person identifies themselves as Beasley?

DF:      Yes, once.  Mr. Beasley.

RK:      Edwin Black?

DF:      Edwin Black, Nugan Hand Bank.

RK:      Were there any other associations?

DF:      I do not know.

RK:      George Farris?

DF:      I do not know in what capacity Mr. Farris, I just know that my father knew him because he used to call the home a lot.

RK:      On the special phone?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did you ever answer the phone and speak with Mr. Farris?

DF:      I answered the phone all the time when dad wasn't there because mom and dad both worked and my sister was away at college.

RK:      Okay. And how do you know it was Mr. Farris?

DF:      He would identify.

RK:      Leroy Manner?

DF:      General Leroy Manner.

RK:      Do you know which army?

DF:      No, I do not.

RK:      Do you know the association with your father?

DF:      All that I know is that I always presumed it was military association and one time my father went with General Manner to the Canton Region of China or Hong Kong.

RK:      Walter McDonald?

DF:      I think that Mr. McDonald had taken a trip also with my dad to Hong Kong.

RK:      Did your father mention that?

DF:      He was meeting Mr. McDonald.  We had to take him to the airport, Kennedy International Airport at one time, my mom and I took my dad.

RK:      And you knew he was going on a trip?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      He went to the airport and he had mentioned where he was going?

DF:      Hong Kong because every time dad went to Hong Kong he brought a bunch of things back.  He would have silk suits made for himself in Hong Kong or we would get jewelry, jade.

RK:      And at this particular time he mentioned that he was meeting Mr. McDonald or Mr. McDonald was going with him?

DF:      They were going together.

RK:      Okay.  Brian Alexander?

DF:      Brian Alexander was military if I am not mistaken. I might be wrong about that but I think he was military.

RK:      Was he associated with your father?

DF:      Yes.  I do not know in what capacity only that the man would call.

RK:      And you would be the only one home answering the phone and the person would say….

DF:      Mr. Alexander for Al Carone.

RK:      Rafael Contero?

DF:      Chichi.

RK:      And what was his association?

DF:      Drugs.

RK:      Was he military?

DF:      I do not know.  But my father always called him Chichi.

RK:      Harry Wainwright?

DF:      Harry Wainwright, Nugan Hand Bank.

RK:      Now you had also mentioned an association with a bank, a Paul Helliwell?

DF:      Hollywell.  Paul Hollywell was very close to Michael Hand and Frank Nugan.

RK:      Did he work with your father?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did he call the house?

DF:      Yes and there was some type of connection between Mr. Hollywell, Mr. Casey and my father.

RK:      Do you know who Mr. Hollywell worked for?

DF:      No.

RK:      Murray S. Riley?

DF:      I do not know in what capacity my father knew Murray but I know that he knew Murray.  There were a few occasions, I think there was one occasion that Mr. Riley had come to the house but when he came to the house, my father and Mr. Riley had gone outside to discuss things. They did not stay in the house.  They went outside.

RK:      In the front yard or the backyard?

DF:      Front yard. They were leaning up against the car in the driveway.  They were out there for a while.

RK:      Do you remember if there were several occasions or was there one occasion?

DF:      The one occasion I know about.

RK:      Elliot Abrams?

DF:      CIA.

RK:      Do you know of Mr. Abrams in any other capacity?

DF:      Only that my father worked either with him or for him.

RK:      Did your father indicate…..

DF:      I had never spoken to Mr. Abrams.  I had never seen Mr. Abrams.  When my father got sick, my father told me to remember certain names and one of them was Elliot Abrams.

RK:      And did your father at this time indicate a close association with Mr. Abrams?

DF:      He just told me to remember the name.

RK:      And he didn't tell you who he was?

DF:      He told me "company man".

RK:      Did he mention which company?

DF:      No, but my father used to refer to the agency as the company.

RK:      Which agency?

DF:      Central Intelligence Agency.

RK:      Richard Stilwell?

DF:      General Richard Stilwell.  My father worked with him in Asia. My father also did a lot of training of certain troops with General Richard Stilwell, gorilla training.

RK:      Training troops in gorilla warfare?  Is that what you mean?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Now, your father told you this?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      Did he tell you in what period of time?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did he tell you what country?

DF:      I'm positive he said South East Asia.

RK:      Did he narrow down the location any more?

DF:      No.

RK:      Gene Howard?

DF:      Gene Howard was a connection to my father in Brooklyn and it was through a restaurant known as Forlini's that they would meet.

RK:      Did your father indicate any other association with Mr. Howard?

DF:      No.  The only thing that I knew about Gene Howard was that he was in the same type of intelligence business that my father was and that there were many connections to organized crime with Gene Howard.

RK:      And how did you know this?  How did you find out about this?

DF:      Dad discussed it.  Dad told me himself.

RK:      Did your father ever indicate any association with Spiro Agnew?

DF:      Yeah.  He met with Spiro Agnew at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington at one time.

RK:      Do you know how many times?

DF:      No.

RK:      Here again, your father is telling you?

DF:      My father had told me and then a gentleman by the name of Jimmy Rothstein had it corroborated through a witness who had seen my father with Spiro Agnew.

RK:      You mentioned Jimmy Rothstein before I believe.

DF:      Jimmy Rothstein was a member of the NYPD and I guess we can say at one time he was investigating organized crime at NYPD and dad was right smack in the middle of it.

RK:      Was there any other association between Rothstein and your father?

DF:      No.

RK:      Is Mr. Rothstein alive?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Do you have contact with Mr. Rothstein?

DF:      Constantly.

RK:      What is Mr. Rothstein's attitude towards your father?

DF:      He did what he had to do but above everything he was an honorable man and his attitude about my dad he has told me stories about when he would be in Forlini's Restaurant and my father would come, that they would treat my father as he was a very very important man and very well respected amongst the organized crime family.

RK:      Some people may not be familiar with the dual meaning.

DF:      You kind of have to excuse me because that is what I was brought up in and I never thought it was odd or different until later years.

RK:      Not a problem.

DF:      Okay.

RK:      George Teesdale?

DF:      George Teesdale had something to do, if my memory serves me correct, with, I don't know if he had something to do with pilots, planes, something to do with the agency as far as flights or planes.

RK:      Military or civilian?

DF:      CIA

RK:      Now we had talked before about Bill Casey and you mentioned that he visited your house?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Frequently?

DF:      Maybe sometimes once a month.  He came to see my father on a couple of occasions because there was business that needed to be discussed I guess.  One time, Mr. Castalano was at the house with Mr. Casey and my father. They socialized together, my mom and dad and Mr. and Mrs. Casey.

RK:      Okay.  Excuse me just a minute now.  So at the house, at your father's house in New York?

DF:      Yes, 82 Leanne Terrace.

RK:      Mr. Casey came there?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Mr. Castalano came there?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And how do you know this?

DF:      I was there, I lived there.

RK:      Do you remember how long Mr. Castalano, Mr. Casey and your father were at the house?

DF:      No.

RK:      Do you remember if they were in the same room?

DF:      Definitely, sitting at the same table.

RK:      Do you remember anybody else there?

DF:      No.

RK:      Okay.  The time is now 12:10 p.m. This is the end of tape I.  We are going off the record to change tapes.

Tape started here………

RK:      Like partners?

DF:      I can just tell you they were business associates.

RK:      Frequent?

DF:      Very.

RK:      And how do you know this?

DF:      Because my father would go away with Mr. Vesco on numerous occasions.

RK:      How do you know it was with Mr. Vesco?

DF:      Because Mr. Vesco would either come to the house or my father would meet him at Kennedy International Airport.  Sometimes Laguardia.

RK:      Did you ever see Mr. Vesco?

DF:      On two occasions.

RK:      Or a person you assumed was Mr. Vesco?  And where did you see him?

DF:      82 Leanne Terrace.  At one time in Kennedy International Airport, no Laguardia Airport in New York.

RK:      And he came to the house?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And your father left the house? With Mr. Vesco and they went somewhere and subsequently your father came back?

DF:      Yeah.  Dad always came back.

RK:      And then this would happen….

DF:      On a couple of occasions. I think he went to England one time with Mr. Vesco.

RK:      Do you have any idea what year that was?

DF:      Okay, I was still at home.  I left home in 1971. It would have to be probably towards the late 60's to early 70's because I left in 71 when I got married.

RK:      Okay.  So there were two assassinations in 68.  Were these occasions after the assassinations?

DF:      What assassinations are we discussing?

RK:      Well, Robert Kennedy was assassinated and Martin Luther King was assassinated in 68.

DF:      After the assassinations.

RK:      And you left the house in 71.  So somewhere between 68 and 70?

DF:      Somewhere between 68 and 71.

RK:      Do you remember what time of the year it was?

DF:      No.  It would have to be summer or spring because I know it wasn't winter. I know definitely it wasn't winter.

RK:      Were you in school?

DF:      No.  I graduated in 68.

RK:      Did you work after graduation?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And what were your hours of work?

DF:      Nine to five.

RK:      So it would have been before 9:00 in the morning, some morning?

RK:      Now you had made mention that your father, after he became ill, wanted to clear up some business.  There was several things he wasn't happy with, he wasn't proud of and he told you this.

DF:      One was MIAs in Vietnam.  He was dealing with certain people that were looking for MIAs in Vietnam.  He knew that there were MIAs in Vietnam.  He went on a tangent one time about how we had sent these boys over there and that we had just left them there. Something to do with a deal that was made that our government did not keep the deal.  He knew that there were boys still over there.  He had mentioned Colonel Bo Gritz at this time and there was some type of association or group of people, I cannot remember the name, but my father had said something about going public at the time, or talking up about it also. He never did. He got too sick.

RK:      So he knew Bo Gritz?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Was that the only association he had with Bo Gritz that he mentioned to you?

DF:      That is the only one I know of.

RK:      Did he indicate anything else that he was trying to clean up?

DF:      He was tired of the drug trafficking.  He had made the remark that it had gone on for very long, that they stuck it in the black community because nobody would really give a damn about the Harlem and East Harlem area and that they realized that a lot of money could be made and who would listen to those people anyway.

RK:      Now when you state the drug trade, did he mention anybody in particular?

DF:      As far as the drug trade?

RK:      Right.

DF:      All I can tell you is that he had mentioned Ollie North.  As far as the drug trade, Mr. Shackley was mentioned.  Mr. Richard Armitage was mentioned also.  I have never spoken to or met Mr. Armitage.  Colonel North would not speak to me.  I have spoken to Mr. Shackley.

RK:      Now in your father's travel, we had mentioned Asia, Europe, the Bahamas. Did he ever go into South America?

DF:      Yes. That is where he knew Colonel North from in dealings with Mr. Noriega and dealings with Mike, who I will presume is Mr. Harari for the simple reason that dad used to refer to Mike and used to refer to the Mossad at the same time and later on I found out that Mr. Harari, I will say had dealings with the Mossad.

RK:      Any association that your father spoke of between him and Pablo Escabar?

DF:      My father knew who Pablo Escabar was.  He would discuss the, I will probably say this wrong, the Medellin Cartel and most of their drugs would come from them.

RK:      Other than knowing of Mr. Escabar, did your father indicate any other relationship?

DF:      No.

RK:      Was there anything else in South America that your father was upset about?

DF:      Not that I really know of. He was just really upset when I guess the drug trafficking was getting out of hand.  They were using the drugs to buy guns, black operations were getting worse, “running amuck” was the expression.

RK:      Now did your father mention any words or names or indicators for some of these operations he was involved in?

DF:      No. The only time he had mentioned an operation by the name of Sand Man.  Okay.  He had also mentioned an operation that was known as Amadeus and yet phone calls would come to the house when he was here in New Mexico and someone would say Amadeus and a lot of times he would call and say Amadeus and he would be out of the house within an hour of like a phone call coming in or him making a phone call.  Sand Man he had mentioned.  There was another one…tin roof or tin shed, something like that. He had discussed South America. He had discussed something about how they were putting for planes to land. 

RK:      Flights?

DF:      Beacons. Something that radar would not detect and they were making….why can't I think of this thing?  For the runways.  They were building runways but he never stated what it was called at any time and I know he had gone to South or Latin America for that.

RK:      To in effect build runways?

DF:      Yes.  And something to do with beacons. Something about the planes so that they could not be detected coming in.

RK:      Detected by who?

DF:      I have no idea.

RK:      Okay.  Was there anything else about Sand Man?

DF:      Just that there was an operation Sand Man.  It was an assassination team for certain people that needed to be eliminated through the agency.  He used to talk about a fellow by the name of Sandy, who was a Green Beret at the time, that he had been with him and worked with him.

RK:      Had he worked with this Green Beret, Sandy, a lot?

DF:      I think on numerous occasions he kind of liked him.  He used to say that he was very good military material.

RK:      Did he ever identify this Sandy by any other name?

DF:      No. The only thing dad used to say was first of all he knew him. His father was in the military.  Dad had worked with his father in something to do with forklifts and mustard gas. Okay. He knew him through that and I think it was around the late 70's dad would discuss this kid, Sandy, and that he had gotten himself in trouble and they were trumped up charges because of what this kid knew.

RK:      Did your father mention where these charges were made?

DF:      In the New England area.

RK:      Was he any more specific about New England?

DF:      It was the Green Beret out of Massachusetts.  The Fort Devens area.  A colonel my father knew, Colonel Cutolo.  It had something to do with Colonel Cutolo.

RK:      So now your father mentioned Colonel Cutolo in relationship to Sandy the Green Beret supposedly out of Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did he say Cutolo was in Massachusetts?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did he know Cutolo from Massachusetts?

DF:      He knew him from the military.  They had worked together and he had originally had known Ed Cutolo I think from the Bronx area when they were kids. I think from the Bronx or somewhere in the New York area when they were kids.

RK:      Above and beyond what your father said about Cutolo, are there any other indications that he knew Cutolo?

DF:      Well, I had wound up finding Cutolo's daughter, JJ. She was living here in Albuquerque and I had found her because at this point, things were getting a case of the crazies of looking for people that dad knew, trying to confirm, deny and JJ had come to the house and she had seen a picture of my dad and she identified my father. She had met my father on occasion.  She knew who my dad was.

RK:      Did she say where she met him?

DF:      Fort Devens and she had met him one time in Florida someplace.

RK:      So in effect you got the sense that Colonel Cutolo's daughter…..

DF:      Oh definitely met my father. Definitely.

RK:      Okay.  Do you know if this Sandy, Green Beret from Massachusetts, is still alive?

DF:      Yes he is.

RK:      He is alive?

DF:      Yes he is.

RK:      And where does he reside?

DF:      Walpole, South Walpole Prison.

RK:      In what state?

DF:      Massachusetts.

RK:      How did you find out that Sandy was alive in Walpole, Massachusetts?

DF:      I had been talking for a while to a gentleman by the name of Bill McCoy. Bill McCoy and I were having quite a few conversations and I kept on telling him that I had to find this guy, Sandy, who was framed for a murder because of what he knew as far as operations, Black operations.

RK:      Excuse me.  Let me interrupt you.  How do you know he was framed because of his knowledge of …well first of all let's define what do you understand Black operations to mean?

DF:      Illegal operations that are not sanctioned by the Congress.

RK:      And where did you get this definition you are using?

DF:      My dad.

RK:      So your father would, one way or another, say that if it is a Black operation Congress doesn't know about it?

DF:      Exactly.

RK:      Okay.  So how did you get the impression that Sandy was framed because of his knowledge of Black operations?

DF:      I didn't get the impression, my father told me. When my father got really sick, he felt that he had to clear this kid's name.

RK:      Okay.  So your father got sick in ‘85 and your father passed away in ‘90.  During that five year stretch, can you narrow down when he told you this?

DF:      He stated in ‘85 that he had business that needed to be taken care of, that only he could take care of because it seems that there was some type of diaries that were in my father's possession at one time that my father had brought to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

RK:      Did he say when he had these diaries?  When they were in his possession?

DF:      In the ‘70's.

RK:      Did he indicate early ‘70's?

DF:      No. It was the end of the ‘70's.  Like ‘79, maybe going into ‘80.  Maybe towards the end of ‘78, somewhere around there.  It was the end of the ‘70's.

RK:      Okay.  So Mr. McCoy…let's get back to Mr. McCoy. You were having a conversation with Mr. McCoy?

DF:      Quite a few conversations with Mr. McCoy.

RK:      Okay. And how did Mr. McCoy lead you to Sandy?

DF:      Okay.  I was led….let's say Sandy was led to me.  Sandy had called Bill McCoy to tell him that he needed to find JJ Cutolo and that she was in the Albuquerque area. 

RK:      Now how did you know that?

DF:      Bill McCoy told me. He called me and said to me, "you're in Albuquerque, can you find JJ Cutolo?" and I said I will try.  He had told me that she had worked for a radio station so I said okay, I will try to find JJ for you.  It was ironic because I had been looking for any family members to do with Colonel Cutolo.  I had asked Bill McCoy about speaking to Colonel Rowe's wife, Nick Rowe, and he told me that I couldn't because she was very afraid of what was going on since her husband's death and she refused to speak to anyone.  To make a long story short, I picked up the phone and called information and found JJ Cutolo in Albuquerque and I told her that Bill McCoy needed to speak to her because a man by the name of Bill Tyree needed to speak to her.  I asked Bill McCoy who is William Tyree and he said to me, he is a Green Beret who is charged with the murder of his wife, Elaine.

RK:      Okay.

DF:      Bill McCoy did not want to put me and Bill Tyree together.

RK:      Did he say why?

DF:      No and Bill McCoy knew my father's whole story and it is odd because he would talk to Billy about Dee in Albuquerque but never mentioned Dee was Colonel Carone's daughter so Billy was discussing things with Bill McCoy on Colonel Carone but Bill McCoy never told him that he was talking to me.

RK:      Is Mr. McCoy available to talk to?

DF:      No, Bill McCoy is deceased.  He died last year, October.

RK:      October 1997?

DF:      Yeah.

RK:      So basically through Mr. McCoy, you have identified who Sandy is?

DF:      I had told Bill I would not give him the information on JJ Cutolo unless I was able to speak with Bill Tyree so that was the deal and Bill Tyree wrote and asked me.  In the meantime, Bill Tyree had gotten a newspaper called the Free American and there was the story of my dad in the Free American and my name was in there.  Billy called Bill McCoy and they had been discussing Colonel Carone but McCoy never told him that Dee and Desiree Ferdinand in Albuquerque were the same so Billy wrote me a letter.  Billy identified himself and then he asked me in this letter if I would possibly know him by his, I guess you would say code name or call name, or whatever and the name was Sandy, which I did not believe at the time because my father used to say the kid's name was Sandy because of his light colored hair and when I saw a picture of Bill Tyree it was a newspaper clipping and what I saw was black hair in this newspaper clipping until I spoke to his mother and asked her.

RK:      Are you in contact with Mr. Tyree?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Frequent?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      A few more names…..William Barr?

DF:      I do not recognize that name.

RK:      Buddy Young?

DF:      No.

RK:      Felix Rodriguez?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And how do you know about Mr. Rodriguez?

DF:      Because he did drug running activities and he was a CIA agent and he worked with my dad at times and Felix Rodriguez also worked with Robert Vesco.

RK:      When did your father tell you this?

DF:      When he was dying, Felix Rodriguez and Robert Vesco, I think they went to Nassau.  I think it was Nassau that they had met.

RK:      Your father?

DF:      Robert Vesco and Felix Rodriguez.

RK:      Joe Fernandez?

DF:      No.

RK:      George Bayard?

DF:      No.

RK:      A.J. Baker?

DF:      No.

RK:      Now you had mentioned a Colonel Rowe?

DF:      Nick Rowe.

RK:      Do you know if he has a first name?

DF:      Colonel Nicholas Rowe.

RK:      Richard Malvesti?

DF:      Yes.  Military.

RK:      Okay.

DF:      My father had dealings with Colonel Nick Rowe in reference to missing in action and POWs and if I am not mistaken, I think my father had told me, I don't remember if it was when he got sick or before, that Colonel Rowe was a POW I think at one time.

RK:      Richard C. Malvesti?

DF:      Colonel Malvesti…I know that name because my father got upset because there was some type of accident with Colonel Malvesti that my father did not believe was an accident.

RK:      Had he indicated to you that he worked with Colonel Malvesti?

DF:      Yes.  As he had worked with Colonel Cutolo and Colonel Rowe.

RK:      Did he indicate where?

DF:      When you state A.J. Baker, are you referring to Colonel Baker because my father worked with a Colonel Baker also.

RK:      But you have no idea of any other name other than Colonel?

DF:      No.  A Colonel Baker. 

RK:      Richard Cater?

DF:      No.

RK:      Ray Dote?

DF:      No.

RK:      Longhoffer?

DF:      No.

RK:      A pretty easy name to remember if you ever heard of it?

DF:      I would remember that one.

RK:      Duncan?

DF:      What is the first name?

RK:      There is only a rank.

DF:      No.

RK:      Robert Burdiz?

DF:      No.

RK:      James Steele?

DF:      No.

RK:      Charles Beckwith?

DF:      Colonel?

RK:      Yes.

DF:      I know the name.

RK:      How do you know the name?

DF:      Through my father.

RK:      Did he say anything about Colonel Beckwith?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did he say he ever worked with Colonel Beckwith?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Did he say where?

DF:      No.  I know Colonel Beckwith had called the house on a couple of occasions, that is how I know it was Colonel.

RK:      William Wilson?

DF:      Agency.

RK:      Worked with your father?

DF:      Yes, my father knew him.

RK:      Did your father say where he worked?

DF:      No.

RK:      Charles McKee?

DF:      No.

RK:      Hunter Harris?

DF:      No.

RK:      Lloyd Vessey?

DF:      Lloyd Vessey or Vesse?  I know that name but I don't know why I know it.

RK:      Earl Yates?

DF:      No.

RK:      Bobby Robison?

DF:      No.

RK:      Hiney Alderhalt?

DF:      No.  I would remember that one.

RK:      Gayre?

DF:      No.

RK:      Doug Ryok?

DF:      No.

RK:      Gearhardt Hyatt?

DF:      No.

RK:      Alden Sibley?

DF:      No.

RK:      Anton Walker?

DF:      No.

RK:      Harding Issacson?

DF:      If I am not mistaken, I will say no unless it is Colonel Issacson.

RK:      What do you know about Colonel Issacson?

DF:      Worked with my dad.

RK:      And how do you know that?

DF:      If I am not mistaken, Colonel Issacson had dealings with my father in China.

RK:      And who told you that?

DF:      My father.

RK:      Do you have any idea what timeframe he mentioned this, before or after his illness?

DF:      NiNaty percent of anything to do with the military or central intelligence was after my father got sick.

RK:      Crosber Avil?

DF:      No.

RK:      Williams Rigalo?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did your father mention any association with Manuel Noriega?

DF:      Only that they were running drugs with Noriega and Noriega was being paid exorbitant amounts of money on a monthly basis.

RK:      Did your father mention working directly with Noriega?

DF:      He knew Manuel Noriega.

RK:      Did he indicate to you that he knew Noriega well or just in passing?

DF:      He knew Manuel Noriega and monies that went to Manuel Noriega my father paid to him for the agency.

RK:      Your father wrote out a personal check?

DF:      No, he was paymaster or a bag man, whatever you want to refer to it as far as NYPD but that is also what he did for Central Intelligence.  You do a job and I will come and pay you.

RK:      Ruth Paine?

DF:      My father had dealings with a woman by the name of Ruth Paine.

RK:      Did he tell you what kind of dealings?

DF:      No, and that was in the 60's.  I was young.

RK:      Young when he told you?

DF:      No, around the time of his dealings.  Not around the time that he told me.  I’ve aged. Ruth Paine. The ‘60's.

RK:      Michael Paine?

DF:      No.

RK:      Dois Tatum?

DF:      I know Mr. Tatum.

RK:      How do you know Mr. Tatum?

DF:      Because I contacted Mr. Tatum when I read the Pegasus file to see if he knew my father.

RK:      Have you spoken to Mr. Tatum?

DF:      Yes, on about three or four different occasions.

RK:      Did Mr. Tatum indicate to you that he knew your father?

DF:      Yes he did.  He said that he was the pilot that brought my father from, I think it is Camp Drum in New York, to South America on a couple of different occasions and he also stated to me that he knew at one time he was witness to the fact of George Bush being with my father in South America.

RK:      Did he indicate what time he saw George Bush and your father together?

DF:      No he did not.  I think he told me they were in the Honduras region.  My father was passing himself off as George Bush's private doctor.

RK:      Did you have any indication of anything else about Mr. Bush?

DF:      I don't understand your question.  They were running drugs.

RK:      Mr. Bush?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      With the assistance of?

DF:      Mr. North and quite a few others.

RK:      Have you ever been able to identify Mr. Bush?

DF:      Ex-president of the United States, George Bush.

RK:      How do you know it was that George Bush?

DF:      Because my father said at one time he was, number one the president of the United States is involved, and if all of this information came down it would bring down the Oval Office.  Number two, he was involved with drug running because my father worked with him when he was with the CIA.

RK:      Did your father indicate any other association with Mr. Bush?

DF:      No.

RK:      Mr. Tatum indicated to you that he saw Mr. Bush and your father in South America?

DF:      Yes he did.  He stated there were photos to prove what he was stating but I have not spoken to Mr. Tatum and I am not in receipt of the photos.  The last time I spoke to Mr. Tatum was about I guess six months ago.  He stated he had to get them because they were in a very safe place and I have not heard from him since.  If they were sent, I never received them.

RK:      Okay.  Did he indicate in what, if there was an official capacity to Mr. Bush or Mr. Bush's official capacity at the time he saw your father and Mr. Bush together?

DF:      I do not know if it was the Fort Drum area.  I would tend to think at that time my father was in New York that he would have been with the CIA.

RK:      Frank Terple?

DF:      I know the name but I do not know from where.

RK:      Ed Wilson?

DF:      Yes.  Edwin Wilson.

RK:      How do you know the name?

DF:      My father worked with Edwin Wilson, if it is the same person that you are asking me.

RK:      In what capacity did your father and Mr. Wilson…

DF:      Agency.

RK:      Susan Wilson?

DF:      No.

RK:      Clauda Ross?

DF:      No.

RK:      Walter McDonald?

DF:      No.

RK       Morris Houghton?

DF:      No.

RK:      Alder Berrimen Seal?

DF:      If it is Barry Seal that you are asking me about, my father worked very closely with Barry Seal.

RK:      Where?

DF:      Drug running.

RK:      Do you have an idea of the year?

DF:      No, I do not.  I know my father told me that Barry Seal would be taken out. He would be eliminated and he was.  I don't know by whom.

RK:      Did he say anything else about Mr. Seal?

DF:      No.

RK:      William Colby?

DF:      Yes.  My father worked with William Colby.  He stated that Bill Colby used to do the work out of his desk drawer.  He was not too organized.

RK:      Did he indicate a long association with Mr. Colby?

DF:      I do not know how long their association was.

RK:      John Singlaub?

DF:      General Singlaub. My father referred to as an asshole.

RK:      Ray Klein?

DF:      No.

RK:      Howard Hunt?

DF:      You are telling me Ray Klein and Howard Hunt.  I do not know if my father knew them but I know those names but you know, in media, etc.

RK:      Lucien Coleman?

DF:      No.

RK:      Eugene Hassenfus?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      How do you know Mr. Hassenfus?  Or know of?

DF:      My father had stated about Eugene Hassenfus and supposedly Mr. Hassenfus was supposed to be taken out on a mission, a drug running mission.  Well, we finally looked up Eugene Hassenfus.  I have never spoken to Eugene, I have only spoken to Sally and Eugene, there was no way he was discussing anything.  He refused. 

RK:      And who is Sally?

DF:      His wife.

RK:      Are they still married that you know of?

DF:      I do not know.  As of two years ago they still were.

RK:      Alfred Hartman?

DF:      No.

RK:      Bruce Rappaport?

DF:      No.

RK:      Kathy Corrigan Dan?

DF:      No.

RK:      James Nugen?

DF:      No.

RK:      Mochtar Riady?

DF:      Well I have heard the name but my father never mentioned him.

RK:      Did your father ever mention Jackson Stevens?

DF:      In reference to Mena, Arkansas, yes.

RK:      And what did he say about Mr. Stevens?

DF:      Derogatory and that he was the backing of most of the money for half of this stuff.

RK:      Half of which stuff?

DF:      A lot of drugs that were coming into Mena and that is where he knew Barry Seal from also, Mena, Arkansas.

RK:      William Weld?

DF:      No.

RK:      James Catel?

DF:      No.

RK:      Now these diaries he had mentioned that he had, did he mention who they belong to?

DF:      Sandy's wife.

RK:      Did he mention any names?

DF:      Sandy's wife, she had diaries.

RK:      Was he more specific about that?

DF:      The diaries could harm a lot of people in the military.

RK:      Did he say how?

DF:      Only that they can do harm to a lot of people within the military.

RK:      Was he any more specific about identifying the diaries?

DF:      In what sense?

RK:      Color?

DF:      Blue.

RK:      He stated that they were blue?

DF:      They were in his possession.

RK:      Right. Did you see them or did he tell you they were blue?

DF:      I saw the diaries.

RK:      How do you know they were the diaries?

DF:      He said that they were Sandy's diaries.

RK:      So your father…..

DF:      Sandy's wife's diaries. Let me straighten that out.

RK:      Right.  So your father identified them as Mrs. Tyree's diaries?

DF:      Sandy's wife's diaries.

RK:      So he only identified them as Sandy's wife?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  How many were there?

DF:      I do not remember. I cannot tell you. There were a couple of them, I know that.  And they were not the type of diary that kids have, you know that they have the lock on them or anything.  They almost looked like a thin telephone book, memo type.

RK:      Did you at any time that your father had them get an opportunity to look at them?

DF:      No.

RK:      So all you knew was that there were some diaries, they were blue, and they were identified as Sandy's wife's and that they were dangerous to military people. Did he mention any particular military people?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did he mention any location of the military people?

DF:      No.

RK:      William Jefferson Clinton?

DF:      The President of the United States.

RK:      The present president, yes.  Did your father have any association with him?

DF:      I don't know if he had association with him.  All that I know is that there were dealings in Mena, Arkansas for drug running while he was governor.

RK:      Did your father indicate that Governor Clinton knew about the drug running?

DF:      Of course.  Oh, I am sorry.

RK:      Okay, that is fine.  Did he say how he knew the governor knew, did he indicate how the governor would know about the drug running?

DF:      Because there was a meeting at one time off record between Ollie North and George Bush and they had met Bill Clinton in Mena, Arkansas.

RK:      So Oliver North and George Bush went to Mena, Arkansas and met with Governor Clinton.

DF:      Exactly.

RK:      How does your father know this?

DF:      Because my father was in Mena.

RK:      At the same meeting?

DF:      I don't know if he was at the meeting but he was there.

RK:      But he saw the three gentlemen together and doesn't know what they talked about?

DF:      Never said.

RK:      Southern Comfort?

DF:      Good drink, I don't know.

RK:      Angelo Regario?

DF:      My cousin.

RK:      And is Mr. Regario employed?

DF:      Self-employed.

RK:      And what does he do for a business?

DF:      Fish at one time.  I don't know what he does now okay. He was in the fish business, Fulton Fish Market.

RK:      And was that his only job?

DF:      He was affiliated with the Colombo family.

RK:      Neal Delacroci?

DF:      Angelo Delacroci's brother.  Family.  Fourth or fifth cousin.

RK:      Blood family.

DF:      Blood.

RK:      Was he associated with the other family?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Gunther Rusbacher?

DF:      Okay, I have heard of Gunther Rusbacher through a gentleman by the name of Rodney Stitch who stated that he knew my father, Gunther stated he knew my father and about my dad but Gunther has refused to speak to me at any time supposedly because he is very ill.

RK:      Did your father ever mention him?

DF:      No.

RK:      Tomaso Buschetta?

DF:      Buschetta, yes.

RK:      And how do you know Tomaso?

DF:      A family acquaintance.  Organized crime.

RK:      Richard Brennecke?

DF:      Richard Brennecke. I have heard of him but I do not remember if it was through my father.

RK:      Salvatore Realli?

DF:      No.

RK:      Did your father ever mention Task Force Bravo?

DF:      Yeah, Task Force Bravo.  Yes and I do not remember why, where or when but yes.

RK:      Task Force 157?

DF:      No.

RK:      Enterprise?

DF:      No.

RK:      Claire Elroy George?

DF:      No.

RK:      Task Force 160?

DF:      No, my father never mentioned anything to do with Task Force and numbers but I know Task Force Bravo.

RK:      Enrique Bermudas?

DF:      No.

RK:      Archer?

DF:      Archer?  No.

RK:      Archer Teams?

DF:      No.

RK:      Scott Barnes?

DF:      No.

RK:      Now you mentioned that you had talked to or met with Richard Armitage?

DF:      No, I have never spoken to Richard Armitage or met with him.

RK:      I'm sorry.  Do you know Mr. Armitage?

DF:      No.

RK:      Do you know of Mr. Armitage?

DF:      Of him.

RK:      How do you know of him?

DF:      My father working with him as far as the Golden Triangle in Vietnam between 66 and I think 67, the same time with Theodore Shackley.

RK:      Eric Von Marbod?

DF:      No.

RK:      Richard Allen?

DF:      No.

RK:      David Walker?

DF:      I don't think so, no.

RK:      James Sabo?

DF:      Colonel Sabo.

RK:      How do you know of Colonel Sabo?

DF:      It is not through my father, it is through what happen with Colonel Sabo.  Okay.

RK:      Carl Jenkins?

DF:      No.

RK:      Mr. Sasaki?

DF:      No.

RK:      Monsignor John O'Brien?

DF:      No.

RK:      John Voight?

DF:      The actor, John Voight? No.

RK:      I don't believe so.

DF:      No.

RK:      Pasquale Carone?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And how do you know Pasquale Carone?

DF:      He is my father's brother.

RK:      This was the same uncle who was the physician?

DF:      Psychiatrist.

RK:      Who is the psychiatrist.  And do you speak with your uncle?

DF:      No I don't.

RK:      Now when your father became ill, being a psychiatrist, your uncle would have certain medical skills. Was he involved in any treatment with your father?

DF:      No, but he wanted to be.

RK:      And he was not allowed?

DF:      No.

RK:      At whose desire?

DF:      My father's but mine because I held the Power of Attorney.

RK:      What did your father say about it?

DF:      Not to trust his brother under any conditions.

RK:      Have you had any dealings with your uncle?

DF:      Quite a few.

RK:      Excuse me?

DF:      Quite a few.

RK:      Quite a few.  Does he know anything about the property you are seeking?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Has he passed that information to you?

DF:      About any property?

RK:      Right.

DF:      My uncle will not help me in any way.  My uncle told me I am opening up a Pandora's box. My uncle told me if I continued, I would be disowned by him. My uncle thinks I am totally crazy and that I need to be put on Thorazine.  He has stated that he would get medical care for me because I need to drop all of this nonsense and it will only cause a problem within the family.

RK:      So how does he know about the missing property?

DF:      Because we spoke about it.

RK:      And did you tell him?

DF:      Of course I told him.

RK:      Do you have an impression that he already knew about it?

DF:      I have an impression that my Uncle Pat knows everything.  My Uncle Pat, when he first came down he flew in from New York for three hours to see my father.  The doctor at that time was the doctor, James Thesing, they had gotten in an argument.  My Uncle Pat wanted the medical records.  Dr. Thesing would not release them.  My Uncle Pat told me not to listen to anything my father was discussing with me. He was disillusional and I needed to leave him to the state.  My father proceeded to tell me not to trust his brother in any way and under no conditions let him succeed in what he was doing.  My Uncle Pat came back on another visit, stayed for four hours on the second time and proceeded to discuss matters again.  Dr. Ericson, which was another doctor, felt that he should be put on kidney dialysis. Dr. Thesing felt that it would not help under any conditions because there was chemical toxicity of unknown etiology involved with my father and he stated that kidney dialysis would not help my father because due to the chemical toxicity of unknown etiology my father's organs were starting to deteriorate.  My Uncle Pat's attitude was let them do what they have to do with him, leave him to the state.  He got back on his plane and he left. 

RK:      Have you talked to your uncle since then?

DF:      Yes I have.  I have had three different arguments with the man.

RK:      Does the name George DeMorenschildt seem familiar?

DF:      No.

RK:      There is another name….we have come up with some names that are pretty…..

RK:      Daniel Arnold?

DF:      No.

RK:      Michael Vincent Menzi?

DF:      Menzi?  Yes, but I don't know from where.

RK:      McMichael?

DF:      David McMichael?

RK:      David McMichael.

DF:      Yes.

RK:      And how do you know of David McMichael?

DF:      Because when all of this happened with my father and things started disappearing, my father at one time had mentioned a gentleman by the name of Victor Marketti who is with the CIA.  I called Mr. Marketti and he told me he couldn’t help me but he gave me the phone number to David McMichael.  I spoke to David McMichael and he told me that it was a really touchy situation and that he could not help me.  So it went down the line to everybody that I am now in contact with.

RK:      Now, you stated your father was a bag man for the organized crime and then in fact was a bag man for Central Intelligence?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      So, what did he do as a bagman?

DF:      For which?

RK:      Well, we know what he did for organized crime, let's say for the CIA.

DF:      Okay, my father never referred to himself as a bagman for the CIA.  He referred to himself as a paymaster and it seems that according to what my father told me while he was ill, that he went to pay operations, Black operations were paid through my father. If people needed to be hired, they were hired through my father.  If people needed to be eliminated, he was then one who was the final, I guess, down the line, to give the order.

RK:      Did he mention where he got the money?

DF:      No.

RK:      Any location?

DF:      There were different banks that were involved.

RK:      Did he mention those banks?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Republic National Bank?  He mentioned that?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Concordia Federal?

DF:      There are a couple of banks that he had mentioned and written down with the bank accounts on them, okay, but unless it is sitting in front of me, you know, Cayman Islands was a good one too.

RK:      Bank of Zurich?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Nat West?

DF:      Definitely.

RK:      Have you heard of…..

DF:      Also the World Bank.

RK:      The World Bank?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  Have you heard your father refer to a Mr. Pingeron?

DF:      Pincheron.  Now this is funny you should say that because Gunther Rossbacher came back and stated that one of my father's names that he went by was Pincheron.

RK:      So your father used aliases?  Was that what Mr. Rossbacher was referring to?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Now you know that because of the conversation with Mr. Rossbacher?

DF:      I never spoke to him. He spoke through Rodney Stitch and Rodney Stitch would call me.

RK:      Okay, so Rodney would tell you.  So you really don't know if your father used aliases or not?

DF:      No, the only thing I can tell you is that Gunther went back to Rodney and told him that my father went by the name of Pincheron supposedly in the Chicago area.

RK:      Just a couple of more things.  So your father basically was involved with organized crime and assisted them in various and sundry crimes?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      He was a bagman?

DF:      Yes he was.

RK:      And the usual connotation of a bagman is….

DF:      He paid people off.

RK:      Paying off….

DF:      To look the other way.

RK:      The usual connotation is illegal?

DF:      He paid certain people off in NYPD for the drugs that they were bringing in from South America through the Central Intelligence Agency to look the other way.  He paid people off to do things in this country that they used the Mafia for at times that were working for the CIA to do criminal activities in this country.

RK:      And he would hire those people?

DF:      Certainly.

RK:      And he would pay those people?

DF:      Certainly.

RK:      And he would fire those people/

DF:      Certainly.

RK:      In some manner.

DF:      Exactly.

RK:      And he was involved with drug running as a military officer?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      So, this person and I mean no disrespect, so this person….

DF:      Was as dirty as the day is long.

RK:      Okay.  If he told me something, he said to me, "Mr. Kohlman, A is B."  Why would I believe him?

DF:      Because my father would not lie when he was telling someone something, maybe for operations but at the point in my father's life when he knew he was terminal and when he was dying, he needed to get it out because he said that things were running amuck and what they originally started out to do was not what it wound up to be, so if my father would look at you and say, "Mr. Kohlman, A is B, you can go to the bank on it."

RK:      After 85.  Now, in your search for records and property and so on and so forth, have you or do you know of any problems that you have had or that family members have had because of your search?

DF:      Well, let me see. Mr. James Strauss himself came to see us.  I told Mr. Strauss that I knew that the agency had eliminated my father.  The man looked at me and he said, "well, can you bite the bullet and go on?"  The man also told me I could never play chess unless I knew how to play without the chessboard because I would be in checkmate at all times. He told me that my children could not be watched at all times.  He told me if I win, I will lose.  His exact words to me were, "when you win, you lose and when you lose, you lose."

RK:      Okay. You have how many children?

DF:      Two.

RK:      And how old are they?

DF:      I have a son who is 25 and a daughter who is 23.  My son is with the Bernoleo County Sheriff's Department. He is in extradition.  I guess it must have been in September of 1997 when he was at Albuquerque International Airport here in New Mexico.  He pulled in with his police car to a restricted area.  His partner noticed that someone was taking pictures of him in a restricted area with a zoom lens.  They were oriental.  There were three.  Albuquerque Airport police told them that they could not do anything because it was not illegal to take a picture of anyone whether they were in restricted area or not.  I have been followed.

RK:      Just a minute.  So how do you know this incident occurred and…..let's take a break now.

RK:      The time is now 1:19 p.m.  We are now off the record.

RK:      How do you know that incident occurred?

DF:      Because my son called me. His partner at the time was a gentleman whose first name was Ruben, that was there.  How do I know that occurred?  I was told by my son and his partner.

RK:      So if we were to speak to your son, what is your son's name?

DF:      Vincent.

RK:      Was he named after anybody?

DF:      My father.

RK:      Picked it out after his grandfather.  So if we were to talk to Vincent, the stories would be pretty much the same?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      And if we were to talk to his partner, what was his partner's name again please?

DF:      I think he was with a gentleman by the name of Ruben at the time.

RK:      And Ruben would pretty much substantiate Vincent's impression of what happened?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Now you were stating that you were threatened?  Was that your word?

DF:      I have been followed.  I took what Jim Strauss said to me as a threat that I cannot watch my children 24 hours a day. I have been followed.  I have had my horses turned loose. Got my wire fencing totally cut.

RK:      Okay, excuse me a minute. Not knowing much about horses, I do know that they appear to be a lot smarter than people think.  How do you know the wires were cut?

DF:      Because you can see on the wire that they were clipped.  On the wire fencing.

RK:      Okay.  Are your horses shoed?  Do they have steel horseshoes or….

DF:      No.

RK:      Okay.  Go ahead.  Are there any other incidences?

DF:      They have been let out twice.  Boy, I just lost my train of thought.  Police reports have been made.  They are documented with Corales Police Department.  A threatening phone call came, Rose telegram, to call a certain number and it was addressed to my husband, Tom. When the number was called, if I am not mistaken, I think it was something to do with, I can't remember the wording on it but the police report would have it. 

RK:      And what date was that?

DF:      It was Easter Sunday. 

RK:      What year?

DF:      Last year, 1997.  Okay, a threatening phone call.

RK:      And what do you have in your hands please?

DF:      Oh, I have the police report.

RK:      And this is the police report you just were referring to?

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay, would you show that to the camera please?  Now on the upper right hand, left hand…on the upper corner there is a date?

DF:      5/12/97.

RK:      Was that the date you called in the report?

DF:      Date reported was 5/14/97.

RK:      Okay.  And the date of the incident was?

DF:      5/12/97.

RK:      Was there a time given for the incident, not the reporting of the incident but the incident?  Was there a time?

DF:      The Mailgram came on the 12th.  I called on the 14th, I called even though it said for Tom to call.

RK:      Okay.

DF:      And I called in the morning.  I think it was early in the morning.

RK:      Okay, so this police report is on file?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      With the Corales Police Department/

DF:      Yes.

RK:      Okay.  So if we were to go down there, we could get the original?

DF:      Oh yes.

RK:      Okay.  Were there any other incidences?

DF:      Mostly with the horses.  My horses are constantly, all my gates being opened.

RK:      If you would, keeping in mind my premise that horses are a lot smarter than people would like to think they are.  Couldn't the horses have opened the gates themselves?

DF:      I tell you what, if they could I would be a very rich woman because they would be very well trained, no.  Sorry but no.

RK:      Okay.  All right.  I want to thank you very much.

DF:      Thank you.

This concludes the testimony of Desiree A. Ferdinand.  The time is now 1:25 p.m. This is tape #2.