DAVID FERRIE

William David Ferrie was born March 28, 1918 in Cleveland, Ohio. He died on February 22, 1967 in New Orleans under extremely suspicious circumstances. In between he was many, many things. He actually has a hell of a resume for somebody who died at 48 years of age. He was: an undercover operative for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to today’s CIA; a failed Roman-Catholic priest; Bishop of the Orthodox Old Catholic Church; a self-trained cancer researcher; an avid hypnotist; an enthusiastic supporter of right-wing agendas and Nazi activities; a private investigator for attorney G. Wray Gill; he worked for Carlos Marcello’s drug empire; a homosexual; an amateur psychologist; a senior pilot for Eastern Airlines; he was anti-Castro, anti-Kennedy, and anti-communist; a victim of cancer for many years; a victim of a rare disease called alopecia; a CIA operative; a pilot for an oil-drilling firm; an aeronautics teacher at Cleveland’s Benedictine High School; an Army veteran; an instructor for the Civil Air Patrol, both in Ohio and Louisiana; and a private flight instructor.

Being a cancer patient for many years, he taught himself research. Many people believe that his research led to testing on monkeys and eventually, humans. Supposedly the human testing took place in poverty-stricken Africa and a lack of proper sterilization of testing equipment and his research may have been what allowed the HIV virus to jump from monkeys to humans. I add, there is no proof of this, only theories. A homosexual, he was fired from his job at Eastern Airlines for homosexual activity on the job. David Ferrie was the commander of the Louisiana Civil Air Patrol training camp in 1955 that was attended by two cadets named Barry Seal and Lee Harvey Oswald. The two cadets were tapped as operatives by the CIA at this time. At the same time Ferrie was a CIA operative, he also had definate links to the Mafia. On November 22, 1963, David Ferrie’s library card was found in the wallet of Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination. Ferrie was distressed by this and claimed not to be anywhere near Dallas at that time or any time in the recent past. Later it was proved he was lying - he WAS in Dallas the day Kennedy was shot.

Growing up he attended parochial schools and later St. Mary’s Seminary. In 1941 he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and in 1957 a Doctorate from Phoenix University in Bori, Italy. He dropped out of the Roman-Catholic Seminary in Ohio and joined the Byelorussian Liberation Front, serving as both priest and agent for the Solidarists. He spoke fluent Italian and Greek. He was recruited into the OSS in 1942 and moved to New Orleans in the early 1950s. His physical appearance was quite bizarre, featuring a flaming red wig, false eyelashes and eyebrows and heavy makeup. This was due to the disease alopecia which left his body entirely devoid of hair. He was intense, sinister, cynical disgusting and disheveled. Above all that, though, he was highly intelligent. He was without a doubt a very strange creature who’s life was filled with strange activities and puzzling behavior.

Prosecutor Jim Garrison arrested Ferrie in connection with the assassination as both a suspect and a key witness and held him in protective custody. Before Ferrie’s testimony was complete, Garrison was ordered to release him from this protective custody for no apparent reason. He was released on February 21, 1967 and by February 22, he was dead. Although two typed “suicide” notes were found, murder was strongly suspected but never proved. The coroner in New Orleans ruled the death natural due to an aneurism in the brain. (A cerebral hemorrhage could also be caused by being force-fed pills until it occurred or from a well-placed karate chop to the back of the head.) The day after Ferrie’s death a top KKK official, Jack Helm, was driven to Ferrie’s apartment where he exited with a satchel full of papers that he deposited into a safe-deposit box. Just prior to his death, Ferrie himself pointed out that once you’re in the CIA, you don’t “just leave” the agency. Once you’re in, you’re in for life - however long or short that life may be...

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