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Cryptonym: AMBOAR

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Definition:
Mitchell Livingston WerBell, III, an arms merchant based in Powder Springs, Georgia.
Status:
Probable
Discussion:
Served as a POA for two months, between August-October 1959. There is record of payments as late as early 1961. CIA reluctant to use him as an informant because he was an arms peddler and considered unscrupulous. WerBell provided information over the years "of his own volition".

124-10214-10381, p. 8: WerBell's FBI file number is 62-108865.

104-10221-10125: 3/31/67, with charges dropped against WerBell, TSD was considering hiring him. Cautions were given to TSD about WerBell.

124-90124-10066: 12/16 69: "Bureau informant 100" (James Angleton) was investigating to see if WerBell was working as an intelligence agent for a government agency.

The "FBI - HSCA Subject File: Mitchell Livingston Werbell" on MFF contains 239 files alone, many heavily redacted.

Justin Gleichauf referred to WerBell as an "old and unsavory contact of this office dating from 1959". https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=101789&relPageId=2&search=%22old_and%20unsavory%22

This is quite a different approach from that used in 104-10221-10022, p. 16: "WERBELL has never been employed by this agency nor does this Agency have any operational interest in him."
Sources:

104-10112-10318: FBI INVESTIGATION OF EXTORTION/LETTER BOMB CASE (INFORMATION CONCERNING ALLEGED LINKS BETWEEN "B. A. FOX" AND THE CIA)

WW II era: WerBell, OS file number 27 686, "was briefly connected with OSS during World War II where he served with Lucien Conein in China."

Peter Dale Scott, American War Machine (2010), pp. 51-53.

1949 era: Paul Helliwell ran the "OSS Detachment 202 in Kunming, China, a station that had made payments to its agents in opium. By 1949 if not earlier, Helliwell was engaged in purchasing Gen. Claire Chennault's airline Civil Air Transport for the OPC (Office of Policy Coordination, later merged with CIA), and he later became counsel to a bank laundering money for Meyer Lansky and the American underworld...The members of Helliwell's small OSS detachment in Kunming (Helliwell, (Howard) Hunt, Ray Cline, Lucien Conein, and Mitchell WerBell) cast a long shadow over both postwar intelligence-drug triarchies and the WACL's (World Anti-Communist League) history...Mitchell WerBell, who went on to develop small arms for intelligence services like the DFS, was also involved with WACL death squad patrons like Mario Sandoval Alarcon...and was eventually indicted himself on drug charges." Conein served in the CIA until 1968 and then went to DEA, working with WerBell the entire time: http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=102837&search=conein#relPageId=3&tab=page

104-10105-10218: MITCHELL WERBELL'S CONTACTS WITH AGENCY

1959-1976: In July 1959, C/WHD Thomas J. Flores asked Werbell to work with the CIA as an "intelligence gatherer" and sought a clearance. A security agreement was signed. A variety of subjects were discussed between Flores and Werbell involving the Dominican Republic, counterfeiting of US dollars and Cuban pesos, and more. The clearance was denied in October 1959.

1993.08.06.10:12:54:460015: SECURITY FILE ON MITCHELL WERBELL

7/20/59: Request for information or name check: Reviewing files on "78785" (identified above as WerBell) who is set to work for the CIA as an "informant" in the Dominican Republic.

104-10182-10125: MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: SUBJECT - MITCHELL L. WERBELL

WerBell phoned on 8/2/59 to ask "if there was any news on his clearance". The next page states that WerBell's clearance was granted on 8/4/59. See 104-10177-10427: 8/3/59: Station desires to contact William Morgan with a cut-out because Morgan is deeply involved with opposition plotting. HQ suggests that he not be contacted because of Morgan's unsavory past and propensity for loose talk. The CIA wrote in the 70s that there was evidence Morgan was an agent of the US Army although the CIA warned the Army against Morgan: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=66653&search=emmick#relPageId=5&tab=page

104-10182-10126: MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: SUBJECT - TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS WITH REICHARDT IN MIAMI ON.2 AUGUST 1959

8/5/59: Inside the HSCA's WerBell file is a memo about William Morgan's plan to assassinate Castro. The report had originated with AMBOAR, who gave it to Charles Anderson, WH/FI, who transmitted it to the FBI. Report has WerBell's biographical number on it, 201-259910, with no direct reference to WerBell by name. This file also has a reference to Morgan telling AMBOAR and other agencies about plans to kill Fidel, see http://maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=35971#relPageId=2&tab=page

104-10087-10130: DDO FILES ON WERBELL (INFORMAL SUMMARY, 1959-1975)

1959-1962: The DOD files on WerBell include the above AMBOAR report. Reveals that Reichardt's other source on the Morgan plot was Nunez Portunado. Documents also show that WerBell was providing information on General Pedraza who was in the Dominican Republic in 1959 trying to organize anti-Castro activities. Involved with Pedraza was Rolando Masferrer. Previous page shows on 8/11/62, COS of San Juan Patrick Karnley reports WerBell was shipping arms to Ecuador "for attempted overthrow there by CP"; other reports of him seeking arms deals with anticommunists in Guatemala; CIA report of 8/17/62 refers to WerBell, Mario Kohly and a colleague as "peddlers of grandiose schemes" and "unscrupulous".

104-10182-10114: CABLE-MITCHELL LIVINGSTON WER BELL, BORN 1918, SERVED IN OSS DURING WORLD WAR II

1959-1962: 8/13/62 memo states WerBell was in OSS in WWII, was granted POA 8/4/59 to furnish info while working with anti-Castro plotters in Dominican Republic. "Intelligence of little value...POA terminated October 1959. Was assessed as wheeler and dealer..." Also during 1962, WerBell was the "go-between for a Mr. TROUTMAN from Atlanta, Georgia, who had been the boyfriend of President Kennedy's sister (the one that died)." WerBell wanted to find out "what Garceran's needs were and what aid and assistance Garceran wanted for carrying the war to Cuba." http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=17021&relPageId=3

104-10260-10162: CABLE RE: FOLLOWING IS SUMMARY OF BUILD-UP DIAZ-LANZ ACTIVITIES PAST SEVERAL WEEKS WHICH NOW REACHED POINT AT WHICH

5/12/60: AMBOAR reported a meeting at Santiago Rey's home to support Diaz-Lanz. Shortly afterwards local agencies reported that a force of men of about 100 was being formed by Diaz-Lanz under the supervision of Frank Fiorini. Next pages add that FBI states Fiorini is training them out towards the Everglades. Don't think they are heading directly to Cuba. Question is asked whether some action should be taken to frustrate these plans.

104-10297-10271: CABLE: UFGA 879 DATED 16 FEBRUARY STATES AMBOAR PAID SALARY

Finance records indicate last salary payment to AMBOAR in early 1961. Also see 104-10087-10130 - p. 3 - 2/18/63 - WerBell and Arthur L. Smith were trying to get Mario Kohly's United Organizations for the Liberation of Cuba recognized as a de facto government in exile by Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Allied with Marshall Diggs, Frank Austin, Manuel Fuego (aka Firestone) and Col. John F. Kieffer.

1993.08.05.15:16:44:840028: SECURITY FILE ON MITCHELL LIVINGSTON WERBELL

Memo from CIA field office chief Justin Gleichauf in Miami, 2/67: "WerBell is a Soldier of Fortune type who has been in occasional contact with this office, of his own volition, since 1959. While an unsavory character, much of the information he has furnished has proved true."

104-10428-10001: LIST OF NAMES AND 201 NUMBERS

WerBell is identified as C-78785 in this list of prominent figures with 201 files. See Andrew St. George, True Magazine, "The Deadliest Salesmen" at 1993.08.05.15:16:44:840028 - p. 72 - "When war breaks out, former OSS man Mitch WerBell is eager and able to supply weapons to either side - or both." At p. 78, see lawyer-pilot Edwin Marger, expert in munitions law: "Keep in mind what a variety of roles a great power must play. In the UN it must play the benign anticolonialist. At an international conference, the principled pacifist. In the legislature, the protector of its armaments industry, whose Congressional friends resent restrictions on exports. In a secret emergency meeting with some battle-wary Latin president, it must be the powerful antiguerrilla leader. In its own National Security Council, it must be the champion of worldwide strategic interests. And so on - there's no way to reconcile this with the public. That's where the M.M.s (note: the munitions manipulators) come in, and very usefully, too." Page 74: "The great corporations were hamstrung by the State Dept.'s vacillations (on issuing/revoking arms licenses). Independent arms salesmen moved into the vacuum...(munitions manipulators) cover a broad spectrum...from the officially licensed, eminently respectable WerBell (to a Hungarian salesman of hundreds of faked passports)."

Contributors:
John Newman • Bill Simpich

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