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[190] Final Judgment 251
interesting to note there have been suggestions that Weiss was a key CIA
contact in New Orleans and his record suggests he would have been perfectly
positioned to be one.
In fact, one New Orleans-based CIA contract agent investigated by Jim
Garrison—the ubiquitous and colorful Gordon Novel—is known to have
written a letter to a "Mr. Weiss" in which Novel discussed the dangers of the
Garrison investigation. The letter surfaced at the time that Garrison's inquiry
was in full swing and Novel was seeking to avoid giving testimony.
Many have opined that the Mr. Weiss in question was probably Novel's
CIA superior, although others have suggested the "Mr. Weiss" may have
been another Weiss—and not Seymour. Whatever the case, there is no
question but that Seymour Weiss—a prime figure in the Lansky syndicate—
was tied closely to the intelligence community and undoubtedly worked on its
behalf in the context of his role with Standard Fruit.
The major fruit companies, as numerous works can attest, had extensive
interplay with the CIA inasmuch as their vested interests in the so-called
"Banana Republics" of Latin America were directly affected by the
governments therein. And needless to say, the CIA played a major role in
the affairs of Latin America from almost its very inception.
Where then do we find a tie-in between the erudite Clay Shaw, a
respectable trade executive, and the Lansky syndicate henchman—and CIA
contact—Seymour Weiss? In fact, it is a very close connection indeed.
THE MEN BEHIND SHAW
You see, it was during the time that Weiss served as a director of the
CIA-linked Standard Fruit that the powerful corporation was under the
management of one Rudolph Hecht, a leading figure in the small and tightly
knit but highly influential Jewish community of New Orleans.
Hecht, in fact, had become chairman—by the time of his death in
1956—of the executive committee of the International Trade Mart 518 of
which Clay Shaw was managing director. It was Hecht and his associates,
Ted Brent and Herbert 0. Schwartz, who were Shaw's sponsors.
In short, Hecht was Shaw's superior. Shaw maintained the high public
profile with the Trade Mart that won him his place in New Orleans society,
while Hecht and his associates were the real powers behind the scenes.
And among those who likewise served on the board of the International
Trade Mart was another powerful figure in the Jewish community, Edgar
Stern, Jr., whose father Edgar and his mother Edith were among the most
prominent financial angels for the Israeli lobby in America. As we shall see
in Chapter 17 and Appendix Three, the Sterns—perhaps Shaw's closest
friends—were the forces behind the WDSU media empire that played a key
role in portraying Lee Harvey Oswald as a "pro-Castro agitator" prior to the
JFK assassination, setting him up as the patsy.
Thus, there is indeed much more to Clay Shaw than what we have been
told. But it is Shaw's tie to Permindex that places him in a web of intrigue