Maurice Gatlin Helps out the FBI
From: jpshinley@my-deja.com
Date: Wed, 16 June 1999 01:54 PM EDT
Message-id: <7k8ocf$r31$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
Note: NO refers to the FBI New Orleans Field Office. References to
FBI documents are from the FBI files on Maurice Brooks Gatlin,
Sr., #64-29230
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On April 23, 1949, an acquaintance and client of Gatlin's
reported to the FBI New Orleans (NO) field office that Gatlin had
suggested his friend infiltrate the Communist Party and report back
any information to Gatlin. After discussing this matter with the FBI,
Gatlin's friend decided to decline the offer.
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Gatlin himself contacted NO on November 1, 1950, to report that
he was associated with a loose, informal grouping of business and
professional men, seamen, and laborers, both white and black. The
group was concerned "regarding the international situation,
particularly regarding Communist matters." Gatlin had been selected to
report to the FBI any information gathered by group members. The FBI
pointed out that it would accept valuable information from any
individual citizen and that it was not necessary for Gatlin to
organize a group. NO Special Agent in Charge (SAC) J. M. Lopez himself
lectured Gatlin on the dangers of vigilante groups and investigations
conducted by private citizens.
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In September of 1952, Gatlin translated his concern about the
problem of Communist fugitives escaping U. S. justice by fleeing to
Mexico into dramatic action when he conducted his own test of border
security, dubbed Exercise "Escape." Gatlin formulated the following
hypothetical scenario, based on actual cases:
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Susie Blow was convicted under the Smith Act and released on bail by an addle-pated judge pending appeal. Having finished her duty in the United States, she was ordered by the party to skip bail and leave the United States. She had or could obtain a Mexican passport, and she came to New Orleans where she employed a New Orleans lawyer to escort her into Mexico.-
Gatlin proceeded to enact this scenario with the unwitting assistance
of his wife and "a female Mexican national, legally in the United
States," who was assigned the part of Susie Blow, fugitive. Gatlin and
party set out by automobile from New Orleans to Brownsville, Texas,
deemed "a more obscure point than Laredo." As the party approached
Brownsville, Gatlin began to behave in a manner he imagined to be
suspicious and incriminating. He stopped at a grocery store and
purchased boxes of cakes, saying that they were for "the children,"
when the clerk could see that there were no kids in the car. He
purchased a flashlight at a hardware store, saying he planned to drive
at night. At a gas station, he spoke to his wife and passenger in
Spanish, interjecting a word of German or French. Gatlin's car was
allowed through the U. S. side of the border even though the back
windows of the car were covered with newspapers which obscured the
presence of Susie Blow in the back seat. Likewise, the party passed
through the Mexican checkpoint. "There was not even a pretense of
security on either side of the border." Gatlin reported all this to
the FBI.
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In December of 1950, Gatlin informed the FBI that, in his
capacity as attorney for the Gretna and Lower Coast Radio and
Broadcasting Company, he had uncovered a Communist-fronter, a member
of the National Lawyers Guild, working as an examiner for the FCC.
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On February 28, 1954, he gave the FBI an inscrutable
intelligence report from his contacts which mentioned landing men on
a beach for a violent purpose. The country involved is not even
specified. The next day, Puerto Rican nationalists shot up Congress.
Ah, ha, Gatlin thought, that is what my report was about. In later
years, he would tell people that he had warned the FBI about the
congressional attack the day before it occurred. The Bureau was not
pleased.
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Jerry Shinley
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