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Behind the Gemstone Files |
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The
Skeleton Key AUTHORSHIP ALPHA-1775 GEMSTONES A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
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UPDATED
June 21, 2002 09:42 PM
"I am
determined to elect a president of our choosing this year
In fact, Nixon was bought and paid for long before 1956. "...he [Hughes] was pleased when Dwight Eisenhower was reelected to his second term in the White House for he brought with him Richard Nixon as his vice-president, and a man Hughes thought of as his." (25:241) Nixon had been involved with organized crime since his military days, when he ran an on-base gambling operation. Once he got into politics, he became a frequent guest of Meyer Lansky and was photographed with Lansky at his private residence in Cuba. Hughes, too, had been sleeping with the Mob, even though his reputation (especially in Las Vegas) was one of a person out to "run the Mob out of town." It was all a charade. Hughes depended on the Mob and they on him. Nov. 29, 1955 - The Internal Revenue Service denied Howard Hughes Medical Institute a tax-exempt status as a charity. At this point, the institute didn't even exist, except in Hughes' head. Hughes went into a deep depression only slightly eased by Noah Dietrich's employment of the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson. Its senior partner was Seymour Mintz, one-time IRS special attorney and the man who had hired Robert Maheu. March 1956 - Mintz finally filed a protest against the IRS decision. This roused Hughes out of bed, where he had become increasingly reclusive with his headaches, back pain and deteriorating mental state, aggravated by a severe case of syphilis he had contracted years earlier. (Hughes had developed skin blisters from the disease and scraped at them until they bled, hoping the blood would "purify" his system; this is probably what triggered his phobia about germs). His only visitor was Dr. Verne Mason, who brought him Empirin #4 with codeine. His reward: Hughes gave him the directorship of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Hughes started courting Florida Governor Leroy Collins, with private tours of Hughes Aircraft and private jet flights to see the sights of Los Angeles. It was Hughes' first time out of his bungalow in two weeks, and the first time off the hotel property in four months. Thus started Hughes' "purchase" of politicians. Collins publicly praised Hughes' plans for putting his medical institute in Florida. Early April 1956 - Collins was in a tight primary race with Fuller Warren. His payoff from Hughes was (at the very least) an announcement that Hughes was going to build a 30,000-acre aircraft manufacturing plant that would "far transcend in importance, payrolls and future development any industrial development now in the state." Fuller said the announcement was "strictly a hoax" designed solely "to deceive and mislead the people of Florida" into voting for Collins. Pan American, United and American Airlines, who had just placed some $1 billion worth of orders for new jets, were stunned - and terrified that Hughes had plans for a "transonic jet airliner capable of speeds and distances far in excess of anything Boeing or Douglas have in development," according to industry analysts. His rivals' equipment could be obsolete overnight. Hughes himself hadn't been buying the new jets, and his rivals wondered why. In fact, Hughes' latest obsession was a device to keep one's toenails apart so they wouldn't hit as they grew.
At about the same time, Dr. Verne Mason showed up at Dietrich's home and told him, "Noah, I think the time has come for you to have Howard declared incompetent." Dietrich told him to go to hell. "I am not about to play doctor," he said, and told Mason that as head of the medical institute he was better qualified to make such a move. Mason mumbled something about his $50,000 salary and unlimited expense account and shuffled out the door. When Hughes heard about it, he was stunned and immediately cleaned up his act - shaved, trimmed his toenails and took a shower. He decided it was time to get married. If he had a wife, one he could control, that might stop any traitors who might think he was going crazy. (25:242-41) Jan. 6, 1957 - He showed up on the doorstep of Kathryn Grayson looking like a suitor and feeling like a fiance. He proposed - but this time she didn't accept so quickly (as she had once before, only to be snubbed at the last minute). She said she was leaving on a concert tour the next day and they'd talk about it when she got back. Enraged, Hughes said no, they'd talk about it now. When she insisted, he slapped the hell out of her. She walked away from him and told him to leave; she never wanted to see him again. He returned to the Beverly Hills Hotel and his mood darkened. (25:242) Jan. 8, 1957 - Two days later Hughes proposed to Jean Peters. Impressed more by his "desire" to leave his wealth to medical science than by his money, she accepted. She wanted only one thing - they would live in a house together, as man and wife. Hughes said OK, but he wanted something, too - a promise she would never try to have him declared incompetent. The next day Hughes called Los Angeles tax attorney James J. Arditto to make the secret arrangements for the ceremony in Tonopah, Nevada, a small town 200 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near a farm where he had once gone into hiding with actress Billie Dove. Jan. 12, 1957 - Hughes and Peters took a TWA Constellation flight in the early morning hours, along with aides George Francom and Roy Crawford, attorney D. Martin Cook, plus a TWA pilot and co-pilot - all sworn to secrecy, and dressed in hunting clothes to perfect the deception. On the second floor of a dilapidated hotel, G. A. Johnson married Marian Evans in front of county clerk Eudora V. Meyley. "Johnson's" age was listed as 46, born June 8, 1910, a resident of Las Vegas. (Hughes was actually 51, born Sept. 24, 1905 and lived in Beverly Hills). "Marian Evans" was listed as 29, born Oct. 15, 1927 and a Los Angeles resident. (She was 30, born Oct. 1, 1926 and a resident of Bel Air). Nevada law allowed false names, but required the other facts be correct; they weren't. Their agreement to live "together as man and wife" lasted five days before Hughes returned them to the Beverly Hills Hotel - he in Room #4 and she in Room #19. Unhappy, she brought up their agreement, so he took her to a rented house in Palm Springs and tried to live out the charade as long as he could, their marriage sexless. (25:243-44)
Feb. 1957 - Donald Nixon's restaurant venture was a flop and soon closed; he was already about to default on his loan after only two months, so Dietrich called a meeting to see what they could to do to help. Mar. 1, 1957 - With Richard Nixon's help (after learning Hughes was trying to "help" his brother out of a tight money situation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was suddenly reclassified as a tax-exempt charity; the IRS gave no explanation for its sudden reversal. Hughes' growing control of politicians in the 1950s and into the 1960s is no secret; it's part of the Hughes legend and mystery. In 2001, after Clinton's Pardongate scandals, ABC-TV reporter Carol Simpson revealed something about a Nixon-Onassis link I had never heard before:
He used his family connection to get a loan from Howard Hughes, made a commercial sale to Aristotle Onassis, and became close friends with fugitive financier Robert Vesco. At one time, Mr. Nixon had the Secret Service tap Donald's telephone." (Embarrassing Relations - Other Presidential Sibling Stories by Carol Simpson, ABCNews, Feb. 24, 2001) How Money Laundering Works in Politics Money laundering works this way (as it did with Don Nixon and his Hughes loan): The person receiving the loan gets to keep a small percentage as their "fee"; the bulk of the money is passed on to its intended recipient (in this case Nixon). The person making the so-called "loan" is never expected to pay it back - or if they do, they're given a make-believe job that covers the cost of the loan. Loans are not taxable income, so they aren't scrutinized the way they would be if they were taxable. Likewise, loan repayments aren't deductible expenses. All of this amounts to a money pipeline under the table and of no concern to the IRS. In the event the loan isn't paid off, it then becomes a tax deduction to the loaner, who writes it off as a bad debt. This is why Don Nixon's Howard Hughes loan was never paid back; it wasn't really for Don, it was for Richard. One of the avenues that Nixon used for money laundering even after he became president seems to have been through Marriott Corporation (via Maurice Stans). Donald Nixon was given a job as head of Marriott's theme park division. This gained Marriott entrance to the Oval Office and gave it unusual clout in bullying its way through local communities when it needed. Donald, for some reason, had gone to Marriott for a $10 million loan at the same time Nixon was trying to get more money for his Watergate payoffs. The following excerpt from a book (Battling for Manassas: The Fifty-Year Preservation Struggle at Manassas National Battlefield Park) about the National Park Service's problems with Marriott and Don Nixon is revealing of the way the system works (without revealing too much): Donald Nixon and Marriott Corporation
"The National Park Service and its employees had learned from past experience the difficult lesson that the Service must keep attuned to political forces to protect the agency's overall goals and avoid the pitfalls of participation in acrimonious public debate.(Great America in Manassas - Defining the National Park Service Position - Chapter 7 - emphasis added) Donald Nixon made two secret trips to Greece for a $10-million loan from Marriott Corporation during the time Republicans were seeking money to silence the Watergate defendants.(13) Martha Mitchell was delivered to the Marriott New York apartment, a la Dita Beard, after her abduction from California and her famous call to Helen Thomas of UPI.(14) 13. Donald Nixon, "loan from Marriott" after Watergate arrests: Herb Kalmbach needed money to keep Howard Hunt and others quiet. The CIA couldn't get involved at this late date when they were trying to work their way out. There were enough of their consecutive $100 bills used already. Kalmbach went to New York for money. There was a suggestion to ask "Mr. Mitchell or Maurice Stans." Mitchell was staying at the Marriott apartment. Stans had a very close relationship with Tom Pappas, the Greek military junta, and Marriott. Stans praised the Greek dictatorship and conveyed Nixon's "warm love" to it. (Evans & Novak, 9-21-71; Washington Post 5-11-73) Maurice Stans the Bagman The interlinking story of Donald and Richard Nixon, Marriott and Maurice Stans is one that goes back to early American history and the opium-funded power that controlled Harvard and many of the blue-blood families of the American Northeast. The ties and influence of that secretive (but not secret) group wind their way throughout American history, coming above ground only rarely. One of those instances was Watergate and the activities of Nixon money man Maurice Stans, who had risen to become head of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The latest, of course, is the Enron scandal. Maurice Stans was the man between Donald Nixon and his brother Richard, and who arranged the money pipeline that kept Nixon's career alive. "In the 1970s, the federal government, amid questions about some companies' accounting procedures, set up the Financial Accounting Standards Board to oversee accountants. But it soon also removed a lot of the restrictions that had prevented big firms from competing with each other. In the late 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission, concerned about anticompetitive practices, began pushing AICPA [American Institute of Certified Public Accountants] to allow accountants to advertise. By 1990, the group had lifted most restrictions on ads. "The business became cutthroat, the rules more complex, and scandals more frequent. During the Watergate hearings, accountants were grilled on why they let their clients make illegal contributions to the Nixon re-election campaign. A former head of AICPA, Maurice Stans, was accused of shuttling money himself from donors to the campaign fund. Mr. Stans was ultimately exonerated, "but the decline was set in motion," Mr. Flegm says. (A Decade of Greed Undid A Once-Proud Profession by Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal - March 18, 2002) So I watched who overthrew Greece. I watched the Pompus (?) Foundation. We've talked about them on the air. They're the men that siphoned the money–Standard Oil of New Jersey, linked with Richard Nixon, Donald Nixon, Spiro Agnew. Agnew's in Greece today as we talk. And I have a file that started in '67, and every article from all the magazines or books that I could get follows up who overthrew Greece: the Litton Industry, the fascists in this country put those edicts in there. Now if they put them in there and it worked they could put them down on us. (MAE BRUSSELL'S BROADCAST NO. 16, OCTOBER 13, 1971) Maurice Stans The adviser for Penn Central was the investment bank of Glore Forgan, Wm. R. Staats, Inc.--which, like Arthur Andersen in Enron, had numerous conflicts of interest in advising both sides in the stock transfers that were made. In 1963 Maurice Stans (later finance chairman for Richard Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President--CREEP), became a partner in William R. Staats & Company, which merged in 1965 with Glore Forgan--an investment bank owned by J. Russell Forgan. During WWII, Forgan had been the boss of William Casey while they were in London in the OSS. After Nixon's election in 1968, Casey contacted Forgan and asked him "to write to Nixon's finance man, Maurice Stans," who was aware of the money Casey had given to the Nixon campaign. It was not until 1971, however, that Casey was offered the job as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission first by "White House personnel man" Peter Flanigan and a few days later from Nixon himself. Flanigan is now Senior Advisor with Warburg Dillon Read LLC; his family controlled the syndicate-connected Manufacturers Hanover Trust in New York, which in 1937 merged with Equitable Trust, then with Chemical Bank. It is now part of Chase Bank. Casey and Forgan, working for Wild Bill Donovan, had been primarily concerned with infiltrating German intelligence at the end of the war in order to gain information about the Russians. Another associate in their group had been Arthur J. Goldberg, labor lawyer and general counsel for the CIO until 1961--who would be appointed by JFK to be Secretary of Labor and less than two years later to the Supreme Court, from which he resigned in 1965 to be Ambassador to the U.N. It was his idea to use German laborers as agents in the OSS. Goldberg was also responsible, according to Fletcher Prouty, of devising a strategy that would allow Robert McNamara to award the largest ever defense contract to General Dynamics. Before Stans became associated with Glore Forgan, he spent many years as an accountant in Chicago before becoming Eisenhower's director of the Bureau of the Budget from 1958-61. He then moved to California as president and director of Western Bancorporation, Los Angeles (which would later become First Interstate), where other directors included Nixon's former law partner, Sherman Hazeltine from Adams, Duque and Hazeltine, and John McCone, former director of the CIA as well as director of ITT and Standard Oil of California. During this period, Stans also was vice chairman and a director of the United California Bank, a trustee of Pomona College, chairman of a committee in Los Angeles County government, and on a commission to revise the California state constitution. Pomona College is just east of L.A., a few miles north of Yorba Linda and northeast of Whittier--Nixon's home turf. Stans also served as director of Fluor Corporation from 1963 to 1969. Robert J. Fluor, the president of Fluor, was the 1964 Republican finance chairman for Los Angeles County and got in trouble for making illegal gifts to Goldwater in 1964. In "The Moneymen," an article by Stu Bishop and Bert Knorr included in Big Brother and the Holding Company: The World Behind Watergate, edited by Steve Weissman, the authors state that when Forgan stepped down from his job as commander of European operations for the OSS in 1946, he recommended Allen Dulles to be his replacement. Forgan had "close ties to European capital," including a directorship at Italian Superpower. His firm created the Eurofund, the first investment fund of its kind, to buy up holding in European corporations. One of his directors was Charles Englehard who owned Minerals and Chemicals Co. of Newark, New Jersey and controlled the world's supply of platinum. Other Glore Forgan partners were William Jackson, a member of the commission that set up the CIA in 1947, Richard Millar, a director of Northrop Aircraft and Charles Hodge of Penn Central. Hodge had helped David Bevan set up an investment firm called Penphil at the Pennsylvania Co. in 1962. Penn Central poured $21 million into Penphil's investment in Executive Jet Aviation. How did Stans become so politically connected in California in such a short time? Was he sent there specifically after Nixon lost to Kennedy to arrange financing for Nixon's next campaign, even though Nixon had by then moved to New York? Herbert Kalmbach Nixon's personal lawyer, Herbert W. Kalmbach, served as Stans' deputy fundraiser, who took charge of a $1.7 million surplus slush fund at the end of the 1968 campaign. These funds were placed in various bank accounts and parceled out to pay for political sabotage against Nixon's "enemies." Kalmbach's background was as vice president at Security Title Insurance in Los Angeles and prior to that at Arizona Title Co. From 1964 through 1967 he was vice president and director of Macco Realty. He also formed a law firm in 1967 in Newport Beach, California, where his clients in 1969 included Atlantic Richfield Co. and one of its directors, Donald Kendall, who was chairman of Pepsico. He also represented the Great Southwest Corporation and Glore Forgan, Staats. In 1970 Martindale-Hubbell shows Kalmbach's clients to have included the Flying Tiger Line--owned by Claire and Anna Chennault, which changed its name to Tiger International in 1974 and merged into Federal Express in 1989--and the Nixon Foundation. Later clients included Dart Industries, Marriott Corp., Music Corporation of America (whose president Taft Schreiber served on CREEP's finance committee in 1972), United Airlines, Morrison-Knudsen (which, along with Brown & Root, made a fortune in construction in Vietnam military facilities), and Northrop. (Follow the Yellow Brick Road - Harvard to Enron: Part Two by Linda Minor, April 4, 2002) The Nixon family's tendency to get involved in shady deals with shady characters continues even today, as evidenced by these stories about Donald Nixon's son, Don Nixon, Jr., who it is said turned into a dope-smoking hippie and "dropped out" after his family's notoriety in Watergate. But he didn't "drop out" for long. Don Nixon, Jr. and Robert Vesco Arrests "Nixon Kin Tells of Vesco Arrest" Washington Post (06/26/95) P. A16 ABC Television reported on Sunday that Donald Nixon, a nephew of the late president Richard M. Nixon, said he watched fugitive financier Robert Vesco taken into custody by Cuban police. According to the report, Nixon saw 18 men in six cars come for Vesco. "I haven't seen him since," he added. Nixon, who is under house arrest in Cuba, is trying to get back his passport, which Cuban authorities confiscated when questioning him about his connections to Vesco. Nixon said he came to Cuba three years ago to obtain Vesco's assistance in manufacturing an anti-AIDS drug that has not been approved in the United States. "Vesco Linked to Plan for Clinical Drug Trials in Cuba" Washington Post (07/07/95) P. A29 Donald Nixon, nephew of former president Richard M. Nixon, has indicated that the May 31 arrest of fugitive financier Robert L. Vesco in Cuba could be linked to their collaboration for a new AIDS drug. Nixon said he and Vesco were within weeks of completing the necessary procedures to begin testing the drug TX, an extract of the citronella plant that is aimed at boosting the immune system. "It's interesting--just after things are ready to go, bang, away he goes," Nixon said. TX was invented by former California doctor Stephen Herman, who gave up his license five years ago after illegally testing another AIDS drug, Viroxin, on patients. Viroxin, which was highly criticized by state medical officials, evolved into TX, Nixon said. Related Story: Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (07/06) P. B1 Don Nixon Jr., Robert Vesco and the Diamond Scam In 1977, in Los Angeles, a film producer, who had just closed his account with his stockbroker, received an unexpected call from a stranger with a distinct English accent. The caller, identifying himself as a representative of "De Beers Diamond Investments, Ltd.," began by commending the producer on his acumen in withdrawing from the stock market. "You obviously are aware of the fact that stocks and bonds can't keep pace with inflation," he continued in a soft voice, "but have you considered diamonds as an alternative?" He explained that diamonds had appreciated "700 percent over the last ten years," and that they were the "most prudent investment available, since the supply is tightly controlled by a private monopoly." Without further ado, the caller offered to sell the film producer a selection of "investment diamonds" for $5,000. "But how can I buy diamonds over the phone," the producer asked incredulously. "All the diamonds are sealed in plastic with a certificate guaranteeing their quality," the caller responded. "And of course you have heard of De Beers." The more hesitant the producer became, the more determined the caller became. "We can register these diamonds under your wife's name, which might be helpful for your taxes," the caller went on. "Think of how surprised she will be when the diamonds arrive ... and you are buying them below wholesale." The caller, it turned out, was one of dozens of salesmen seated around a bank of telephones in Scottsdale, Arizona. Like the rest of the men in this boiler room, as it was called, he was making a pitch to sell diamonds and had been supplied with a list of names of individuals around the country who had recently closed brokerage accounts. For every order he sold, he received a commission of up 20 percent. Since the prices were in reality far above wholesale prices, the company could afford to pay its salesmen, most of them "telephone pros," large commissions. And despite the similarity of its name, De Beers Diamond Investments, Ltd., was in no way connected with De Beers Consolidated Mines. Like a host of other recently formed diamond boiler rooms, with names like Diamond Selection, Ltd., Kimberlite Diamond Resource Company, and Tel-Aviv Diamond Investments, Ltd., this firm was formed to promote "investment diamonds." When the mail-order diamonds finally arrive at the purchaser's home, they are sealed in plastic with the certificate guaranteeing their quality. The customer is then advised of what amounts to a catch-22 situation: The quality of the diamond is only guaranteed as long as it remains sealed in plastic; if the customer takes it out of the plastic to have it independently appraised, the certificate is no longer valid. When customers broke the seal, many found diamonds of inferior or even worthless quality. Complaints to the authorities proliferated at such a rate in New York that the attorney general was forced to mobilize a "Diamond Task Force" to process the hundreds of allegations of fraud. "It is incredible," William R. Ralkin, the assistant attorney general said in the New York Times in 1979. "These crooks will get outwardly rational people to buy a sealed bag containing supposed gems. . . . And they have the nerve to tell their victims not to unseal the packet for two to three years, after which they promise to buy back the stones it much higher prices." He added, "It never falls to amaze mc me how . . . professional people like lawyers [and] medical practitioners will send checks for thousands of dollars to people they never met or heard of after being contacted by these boiler room operators." Aside from selling tens of thousands of diamonds a month over the telephone, many of these newly created firms hold "diamond investment seminars" in expensive resort hotels. At such events, they present impressive graphs and data, and typically assisted by a few well-rehearsed shills in the audience, they proceed to sell sealed packets of diamonds to the audience. (Not uncommonly, in dealing with elderly investors, diamond salesmen play on the fear that their relatives might try to seize their cash assets and have them committed to nursing homes. They suggest that the investors can stymie such attempts by putting their money in diamonds and hiding them. Some of these entrepreneurs were relative newcomers to the diamond business. Rayburne Martin, who went from De Beers Diamond Investments, Ltd., to Tel-Aviv Diamond Investments, Ltd., both domiciled in Scottsdale, Arizona, had a record of embezzlement and security law violations in Arkansas and was a fugitive from justice during most of his tenure in the diamond trade. Harold S. McClintock, also known as Harold Sager, had been convicted of stock fraud in Chicago, and he had been involved in a silver bullion caper in 1974 before he helped organize De Beers Diamond Investments, Ltd. Don Jay Shure, who arranged to set up another De Beers Diamond Investments, Ltd., in Irvine, California, had also formerly been convicted of fraud. Bernhard Dohrmann, the "marketing director" of the International Diamond Corporation, had served time in jail for security fraud in 1976. Donald Nixon, the nephew of President Richard M. Nixon, and Robert L. Vesco, the fugitive financier, were, according to the New York State attorney general, allegedly participating in a high-pressure telephone campaign to sell "over-valued or worthless diamonds" by employing "a battery of silken-voiced radio and television announcers." Among the diamond salesmen were also a wide array of former commodity and stock brokers who specialized in attempting to sell sealed diamonds to pension funds and retirement plans. (The Diamond Invention by Edward Jay Epstein) |
Dec.
10, 1956 - Nixon's brother, Donald, was desperately trying to
cash in on his brother's name with three restaurants that started
selling "Nixonburgers." But he needed money - badly.
Hughes had Noah Dietrick transfer $250,000 to Nixon's mother,
Hannah, who put up a $13,000 piece of property at the corner of Santa
Gertrudis and Whitter Boulevards in Whitter, Calif. as collateral.
It had once been the family home, but after several transformations
had been turned into a Union Oil gas station.
"As if President Richard Nixon didn't have enough trouble with
Watergate, he had major problems with his younger brother, Donald,
who ran a small chain of fast food restaurants selling "Nixonburgers."
