James O'Connell person
also: O'Connell, this kid
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
CIAintelligence service · 9Sheffield Edwardsperson · 8Robert Maheuperson · 7Santo Trafficante Jr.person · 3Allen Dullesperson · 3Johnny Roselliperson · 3Mafiaorganization · 3Jacob Esterlinperson · 2U.S. State Departmentorganization · 2Operation Gladiooperation · 2James 'Whitey' Bulgerperson · 2Tony Veronaperson · 2Tampaplace · 1Roy C. Matthewsperson · 1Miamiplace · 1Richard M. Bissell Jr.person · 1Manhattanplace · 1United Statescountry · 1Black Massbook · 1Cuban Revolutionevent · 1Grayston Kirkperson · 1Sam Giancanaperson · 1Plaza Hotelplace · 1CIA Assassination Plots against Castrooperation · 1
Claims (3)
Sheffield Edwards recruited
James O'Connell documented
“And that, plus his high-ranking CIA position, were good reasons for him not to become directly involved. But he was in the meetings because it coincided with the operation he is actually running. Because if you are likely to kill the guy, i…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 17 (19) @ 52:05
James O'Connell recruited
Robert Cunningham documented
“Among their officers, Robert Cunningham knew a detective named Robert Mayhew. I've also written a lot about him that you can find on my ex profile. Richard or Robert Mayhew had close contacts with the mafia. O'Connell and Cunningham, like E…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 17 (19) @ 52:37
James O'Connell member_of
James 'Whitey' Bulger host_asserted
“They were taking weapons on these boats to England and furnishing these weapons to the IRA for them to do these Operation Gladio-style events in the UK. They would return with drugs. That was during Whitey Bulger. Yes, absolutely. Whitey Bu…”
▶ Operation Gladio - UK and Harold Wilson @ 39:03
Mentions (21)
▶ 38:06
And he worked in a shipyard, not like big ships, but like a marina. And he was a boat repairman. He got sucked into, because unbeknownst to him, when he took the job, the guy that owned this marina was a drug trafficker.…
▶ 38:32
Over the course of the years of him working in this boatyard, he gets sucked into the drug trade. Part of his duties in the drug trade was trips routinely to Ireland during Wilson's presidency. And he did not know it at the time, but...…
▶ 39:03
They were taking weapons on these boats to England and furnishing these weapons to the IRA for them to do these Operation Gladio-style events in the UK. They would return with drugs. That was during Whitey Bulger. Yes, absolutely. Whitey Bu…
▶ 39:34
Yeah, that was Whitey because we know all about Whitey. I'm from Massachusetts, so that's him. And so it was during this operation that this kid gets petrified of what he has gotten himself into. And he ends up being an informant to the FBI…
▶ 40:05
that the FBI and the CIA is part of this entire operation. Then he really gets petrified. Yeah, that was O'Connell. It's a fascinating story about the underbelly. And again, this is what's so important about doing this research, is things t…
▶ 40:35
this um book quite a while ago and i got it back out only because as i was reading about um harold wilson it um it dawned on me that him going over and being part of the ira and then the ira being part of operation gladio i'm like crap that…
▶ 41:02
He was not only working the drug trade in the United States, he's part of the weapons trafficking of this international syndicate over to the IRA as they pull off operations inside of the UK. So, again, it's just... Do you think it might ha…
▶ 52:05
And that, plus his high-ranking CIA position, were good reasons for him not to become directly involved. But he was in the meetings because it coincided with the operation he is actually running. Because if you are likely to kill the guy, i…
▶ 52:37
Among their officers, Robert Cunningham knew a detective named Robert Mayhew. I've also written a lot about him that you can find on my ex profile. Richard or Robert Mayhew had close contacts with the mafia. O'Connell and Cunningham, like E…
▶ 54:25
Bob Mayhew had worked with Johnny Ruzelli before. So Bob Mayhew and Jim O'Connell went to Miami the week of September 23rd. And Mayhew met with Sam Gold, later identified as Salvador Giacconi. Yeah, Giaccona. Sam Giaccona. He in turn introd…
▶ 54:56
Joe, who turned out to be Santo Trafficani, the Tampa slash Miami mob boss, who was already working with the CIA, by the way, on all of the heroin trafficking through Cuba. The agency offered $150,000 to assassinate Castro. O'Connell never …
▶ 55:27
no doubt to avoid any direct link between the CIA and the mafia. O'Connell, who headed the operational support branch of Sheffield's office, happened to be very senior for a case officer, another indication of the sensitivity. In fact, only…
▶ 56:24
that on August 16th, he was asked about a box of Cuban cigars impregnated with lethal chemicals. The cigars were ready by October, but not delivered until four months later. Jake Esterling recalled keeping a box of poison cigars in his safe…
▶ 57:25
tested on monkeys. And they worked. They killed the monkeys. A pencil was also hollowed out and prepared as a device, which could be used to smuggle the capsules into Cuba. The CIA inspector general proved unable to determine exactly when t…
▶ 58:28
But Fidel fired him on January 26th after the CIA had no way to deliver the poison. Castro always seems to be one step ahead of these guys. Weird. Traficani briefly favored using a prominent exile identified as Tony Verona as the assassin. …
▶ 58:55
Though O'Connell and Edwards told the inspector general, money went to Verona for the job. He got paid for it. He just didn't do it. When Jake Esserling learned this, he went through the roof, properly insisting that the anti-Castro leaders…
▶ 27:22
You can't have respect for the diplomatic pouch and be in the intelligence business at the same time. The State Department should have to know how you got the information. It was his CIA handler, Sheffield Edwards, who ran the agency's secu…
▶ 28:20
On Saturdays, Mayhew would invite Edwards, O'Connell, and other Washington security types like Scott McCloy, the zealous anti-communist watchdog who had been hired by John Foster Dulles to clean out the State Department during the McCarthy …
▶ 28:49
that would find themselves in cheerful conversations with a curious range of special guests, from senators to gangsters. They were all part of Mayhew's colorful world. Working with Sheffield Edwards' team and their contacts in the New York …
▶ 25:22
to develop a plan to assassinate Castro. Mayhew and Roselli was joined at the Plaza Hotel meeting by Jim O'Connell, Mayhew's CIA handler. O'Connell posed as an American businessman who had been predispossessed by Castro's revolution and was…
▶ 26:16
Mayhew recounted a long night of soul searching as he wrestled with the CIA request. Chef Edwards and Jim O'Connell framed their pitch to Mayhew in terms of a good Catholic would understand. Killing Castro was an act of just war, they said.…