Reply #26: CIA Links to the Savings & Loan Scandal

[Octafish]

From days gone by, a certain well-heeled and connected class continues to haunt the idea that is America.

CIA Links to the Savings & Loan Scandal

by Joseph A. Palermo

EXCERPT...

Lawrence Freeman, a lawyer who helped engineer a fraudulent Florida
land transaction that caused the collapse of two savings and loans,
allegedly has ties to both the CIA and organized crime. Freeman, a
twice-convicted money launderer, has ties to the CIA dating back to
the early 1960s when he worked with the late Paul Helliwell.
Helliwell was a top officer in southeast Asia in World War II with the
Office of Strategic Services, the wartime predecessor of the CIA, and
was a close associate of the late William Casey, Reagan's CIA
director. Helliwell was a founding member of the CIA and participated
in many covert operations including efforts to overthrow Cuban leader
Fidel Castro. Freeman and Helliwell were senior partners in Castle
Bank and Trust in the Bahamas during the early 1970s when it was used
by the CIA and organized crime to launder money. Freeman pleaded
guilty to laundering money for a convicted drug smuggler and was
sentenced to three years in prison. He is now out on parole but is
barred from practicing law.

Freeman and Helliwell's Castle Bank and Trust folded in 1977,
following Helliwell's death. According to journalist Jonathan Kwitny,
the author of "The Crimes of Patriots," it was then that the CIA and
the Mafia turned over their money laundering operations to the
infamous Nugan Hand Bank in Australia and to companies in the English
Channel tax haven of the Isle of Jersey. Freeman allegedly wired
millions of dollars to shell companies on the island as part of the
land transaction that played a role in the failure of two thrifts.
Some of the money from this deal may have been diverted for use in
CIA-sponsored covert operations. Officers of these companies were
also reportedly used by Freeman to launder drug smuggling proceeds.

But Freeman's biggest money laundering client, according to Florida
Department of Law Enforcement records, was an organized crime figure
called "the Cobra" by Freeman and his associates. Law enforcement
sources in Florida and Texas have identified "the Cobra" as Mafia boss
Santo Trafficante of Tampa, who died in 1987. Trafficante's
involvement in the CIA's attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro in the
early 1960s is well documented. During this period, he was also
involved with Helliwell in CIA-sponsored anti-Castro activities.

A close associate of Trafficante who also participated in CIA anti-
Castro plots was New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello. Marcello has
extensive business ties with fellow Louisiana organized crime figure
Herman Beebe. Beebe pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with a loan
at State Savings in Dallas and has twice been successfully prosecuted.
He was involved in a scheme in the early 1970s to smuggle guns and
explosives to anti-Castro Cubans operating in Mexico. Beebe also had
business dealings with Edward "Fast Eddie" Susalla, whose son Scott
pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in 1985 in one of the largest
drug busts in southern California history.

It was Herman Beebe who provided the seed capital for the creation
of Palmer National Bank in Washington, D.C., which was controlled by
two officials of the George Bush 1980 presidential campaign, Stefan
Halper and Harvey McLean. Halper was policy director for Bush's 1980
campaign, while McLean was southern finance chairman and a Bush
fundraiser. McLean became a major player in a number of failed
savings and loans in Texas where fraud was a factor and has been
placed in involuntary bankruptcy. McLean owned Paris Savings and Loan
in Paris, Texas, which failed in 1988 and was merged with 11 other
insolvent Texas S&Ls at a total cost to the federal government of $1.3
billion. The "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" reported that
Palmer National Bank actively arranged loans for wealthy, right-wing
Republicans and their pet projects. Halper and McLean first met while
they were working on the Bush 1988 presidential campaign. Palmer
National loaned money to individuals and organizations that were
involved in covert aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

CONTINUED...

http://www.skepticfiles.org/conspire/cia-s&ld.htm

Hiya, Overseas! Thank you for caring about the only way to get this history from repeating.