NOPD and David Ferrie Investigation
Subject: NOPD and Ferrie Investigation
Date: 01 Jul 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <20000701021020.04364.00000919@ng-ct1.aol.com>
The first piece of information linking Ferrie to Oswald to reach the FBI did not come from the stories of Jack S. Martin Sr. It predated Martin's allegations by about 24 hours. It came from the New Orleans Police Department.
FBI letterhead memo, 11/25/63, ASAC J.T. Sylvester Jr. to SAC Harry G. Maynor:
"[name deleted], Intelligence Unit, at 8:32pm, 11/22/63 telephonically contacted ASAC J.T. Sylvester at home..He referred to David William Ferrie, advising he was tied in with a Cuban movement; was an ex-pilot of Eastern Air Lines; had flown planes into Central America and was currently employed by G. Wray Gill, an attorney. He stated he understood but he had to back it up that Oswald was possibly friendly with Ferrie in view of his Cuban activities. I advised [name deleted] that we were interested in any information he might have which would indicate that Oswald was firendly with Ferrie." (Sylvester and the FBI would not hear Ferrie's name again until after Martin began making his phone calls.)
When Ferrie turned himself in to the District Attorney's office at 4:30pm on 11/25/63, he was questioned by ADA Frank Klein and Officer Raymond Comstock. Ferrie gave an account of his trip to Houston, and (at this early juncture) denied serving in the Civil Air Patrol with Oswald. One of the reasons Klein ordered the arrest and booking of Ferrie is that he had information from an NOPD officer that Ferrie had indeed served in the CAP at the same time as Oswald.
One possible clue to this NOPD information comes from the Warren Commission testimony of Frederick Stephen Patrick O'Sullivan. In 1955, O'Sullivan sat in front of Oswald in homeroom at school, and it was he who first interested Oswald, Eddie Voebel and Joe Thompson in the Civil Air Patrol. A few years later, O'Sullivan joined the NOPD and, by 1963, was a detective on the vice squad.
"[After the assassination, no date given] I accompanied...Lieutenant Paul Dwyer, from the New Orleans Police Department, Intelligence Division...out to New Orleans Airport where we found Dave Ferrie's airplane. We wanted to check it to see if it was flyable, to see possibly whether he had been flying it lately, with the thought that he may have transported Oswald to Dallas. This isn't my thought, this was brought up to me. And we found his plane, but his plane was not in flyable condiditon. It had flat tires, instruments missing, needed a paint job. We also checked to see if he had rented an aircraft from any of the companies out there, and one company in particular said they wouldn't rent him an airplane."
Apparently the NOPD was conducting it's own investigation of some of these matters. On 11/27/63 Sergeant Horace J. Austin Jr. and Detective Robert W. Frey interviewed Sidney Edward Voebel about Ferrie and the CAP, and they also interviewed Sam Mike Newman about 544 Camp Street.
Perhaps O'Sullivan or Dwyer were involved in passing Ferrie information to the FBI and the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.
Just a few miscellaneous, interesting NOPD leads. I'll post more as I continue the research.
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David Blackburst