Bill Davy 2 - 531 Lafayette St.
Subject: Davy 2 - 531 Lafayette St.
Date: 29 Aug 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <19990829122557.07299.00000657@ng-fu1.aol.com>
William Davy's "Let Justice Be Done" states on page 14: "[Guy] Banister relocated his offices to the weather-beaten Newman Building at 531 Lafayette Street. Curiously, [Sergio] Arcacha's anti-Castro organizations moved with Banister from the Balter Building to 531 Lafayette at the same time."
This often-repeated factoid would suggest a relationship so strong that Guy Banister Associates and the Frente Revolucionario Democratico/Cuban Revolutionary Council were virtually the same organization. But this factoid is not true.
When Sam Mike Newman acquired the building on August 25, 1960, Guy Banister Associates had already occupied Suite 2 on the first floor for several months, presumably since late 1959 or early 1960, at least several months before Sergio Arcacha Smith's November 1960 arrival in New Orleans to set up the local office of the FRD.
Throughout much of 1961, Arcacha and the FRD maintained offices in the Balter Building. In October 1961, Arcacha moved the FRD to Suite 6 on the second floor of 544 Camp Street, the same building Banister had occupied for over a year. The FRD remained in the building until February 9, 1962.
Further, to state that "Arcacha's anti-Castro organizations moved...to 531 Lafayette" is misleading. The group moved to 544 Camp. While both offices were in the same building for about 5 months, they always had separate addresses.
oo
David Blackburst