I will buy any book on Jim Garrison, and this new book, Pipe the Bimbo in Red, was no exception. The title derives from a line delivered by the fictional Dean Andrews when he is having lunch with Jim Garrison at Broussard's restaurant in the film JFK: (this dialog is taken from JFK: The Book of the Film and is different from the actual film)
ANDREWS (voice-over) I don’t know what the cat looks like and furthermore I don’t know where he’s at. All I know is sometimes he sends me cases. So one day he’s on the phone talkin’ to me about going to Dallas and repping Oswald … (notices a woman, in present) Hey, pipe the bimbo in red. What ever happened to that little gal you was dating in the Quarter—from Opelousas, y’know, elevator didn’t go to the top floor but tits could smother gumbo with.
Pipe the Bimbo in Red arrived a couple of weeks ago, but I was not prepared for the silliness of this book. Some of the names that appear in this book are Fred Crisman, Judyth Vary Baker, Leander D'avy, Eladio del Valle, Gordon Novel, Roger Craig, Julia Ann Mercer, Richard Giesbrecht, Richard Case Nagell, John Armstrong's Harvey & Lee, Jim Hicks (the books claims there were two Jim Hicks), and Fletcher Prouty,
There is a treasure trove of conspiracy nonsense for me to debunk over the next several weeks.
A key test of any Garrison book is how it treats Permindex, the failed real estate operation which had Clay Shaw on its Board of Directors. Most conspiracy books have not examined the papers of Louis Bloomfield, a Montreal lawyer who represented some of the major shareholders, nor have most books examined the State Department memos on the organization.
Pipe the Bimbo in Red fails my test spectacularly!
Let's start with its first mention of Permindex: (page 76)
The aforementioned Permindex may be crucial here. Short for Permanent Industrial Expositions, this mysterious outfit is very real. Originally located in Basel, Switzerland; after protests in Switzerland, France, and Italy, it relocated to South Africa.
There are no footnotes for this paragraph.
In fact, there were no protests anywhere. There was political opposition to Permindex in Basel because of a completing industrial fair. The project got the go-ahead on the provision that they would build a 200-room hotel. In the end, Permindex could not obtain the financing and they decided to try in Rome. They set up a subsidiary, called the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC) to operate in Rome. The operation did not get enough tenants to be viable and CMC closed in February 1962. They did not relocate to South Africa.
The next few sentences just floored me: (page 76)
It was chaired at the time by Montreal Major Louis Mortimer Bloomfield. Some researchers, including those associated with Lyndon Larouche's organization, believe that Permindex orchestrated the assassination of President Kennedy. According to Larouche's Executive Intelligence Review, "the Garrison investigation and trial also revealed that some of the same Permindex officials involved in the Kennedy assassination were involved in the attempts on Charles de Gaulle. According to testimony at the trial, the Permindex funds which financed the 1961 Bastien-Thiry attempt had been conduited to Europe by Guy Banister, a former FBI agent residing in New Orleans and a close associate of Shaw, who had played a major role in the Kennedy assassination."
First, Bloomfield was not the chair of Permindex. Bloomfield was a corporate lawyer who represented some of the shareholders. Second, it is astounding that Law and Jeffries quote a Lyndon LaRouche publication. Why should anybody take seriously the ravings of material from LaRouche's lunatic organization?
Here is an excerpt from the LaRouche publication:
Of course, the quote from the Executive Intelligence Review is completely ridiculous. Permindex was not mentioned at Clay Shaw's trial, and there was no testimony relating to de Gaulle. In fact, no one has been able to document any connection between Permindex and assassination attempts against de Gaulle.
But wait, it gets even more bizarre: (page 76 -77)
EIR claimed that Prince Philip's World Wide Fund for Nature, initially created as the World Wildlife Fund in 1961, was the agency behind Permindex. Bloomfield had founded the WWF's Canadian branch.
Well, yes the LaRouchians wrote a whole book Dope, Inc. which claimed that Queen Elizabeth II was the head of an international drug-smuggling cartel. The World Wide Fund had no relationship to Permindex. Bloomfield did start the Canadian branch of the WWF - to his credit, no?
The nonsense continues: (page 77)
Bloomfield had served as a recruitment agent for the FBI's counterespionage division during World War II. He was directed by the shadowy Sir William Stephenson, another Canadian.
No footnotes, of course. Bloomfield did not work for the FBI during the war, and he was not directed by Sir. William Stephenson, although he might have known him. Here is a letter that Bloomfield sent in 1954.
William Stephenson was a Canadian who worked for the British Security Coordination (BSC) during World War II. He is best known by his code-name Intrepid. He lobbied people close to FDR to set up some sort of intelligence operation and was instrumental in the founding of the OSS.
Stephenson was a World War II hero. Here is a short bio from the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Bloomfield's letter was addressed to Richard Coit, who worked with Stephenson in the BSC.
Knowing William Stephenson was an honor, not a crime.
More nonsense: (page 77)
Bloomfield's law firm represented the powerful Bronfman liquor empire, connected to both organized crime and British intelligence. Stephenson also founded the World Commerce Corporation, which would eventually evolve into Permindex. World Commerce Corporation worked closely from the beginning with the International Trade Mart in New Orleans, which Col. Clay Shaw had established in 1945, after serving as OSS liaison officer to Winston Churchill's headquarters.
There is a footnote for this and, well, it's the LaRouche publication, Executive Intelligence Review.
None of the above is true. Bloomfield was not Bronfman's or Seagram's lawyer. Clay Shaw was not in the OSS, and he was not a liaison officer to Winston Churchill's headquarters. The International Trade Mart in New Orleans was founded in 1946, not 1945.
And here's another incredible whopper in a section about Ferenc Nagy, the former Prime Minister of Hungary who was, for a short period, President of Permindex: (page 78)
The Soviets would accuse Nagy and the CIA of being behind the 1956 uprising in Hungary. William Harvey, the CIA station chief in Rome, where both Permindex and Centro Mondiale Commerciale were located, has long been suspected of involvement in the assassination by researchers. Finally, [Montreal researcher Maurice] Phillips found a letter from Major Louis Bloomfield, which stated that he and Nagy were in discussions with David Rockefeller to create New York City's World Trade Center based on the model of Permindex and the Centro Mondiale Commerciale. Nagy has been suspected by some researchers as being the still unidentified "Umbrella Man," who was seen in films and photos holding an umbrella over his head in Dealey Plaza, on the very sunny day of November 22, 1963.
Where to even begin? Who cares what the Soviets thought about the 1956 uprising in Hungary. The people were not happy being a Soviet vassal state. Permindex was
actually incorporated in Switzerland. Here are the letters that Bloomfield sent to Ernest Wolf about collaboration with Rockefeller. It wasn't about a World Trade Center, but about collaborating with the Port Authority. So what? And I'd like to know what researchers have identified Nagy as the umbrella man. Are they not aware that the HSCA identified the umbrella man as Louie Witt? None of the above paragraph is footnoted.
I'll have more to say about Pipe the Bimbo in Red in future posts.
Please don't waste your money.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Permindex
Many conspiracy books claim that Permindex moved to South Africa. There is no evidence that it did.
There is no evidence that Permindex plotted against de Gaulle.
The complete set of State Department documents on Permindex.
Chris Peeks interviews me about Permindex.
Conspiracy theorists mislead people on Permindex/CMC.
Many books maintain that the President of Permindex, Ferenc Nagy, lived in Dallas in 1963. He actually lived in Herndon, Virginia.
The book Coup in Dallas gets Permindex all wrong, and with no footnotes.
Was Montreal lawyer Louis Bloomfield running an assassination bureau?
Louis Bloomfield was a good man who raised a lot of money for Canadian charities. Unfortunately, conspiracy theorists have linked him to the JFK assassination.
The memo only quotes from Pease Sera.
The information that Shaw lived in Rome and worked for the CIA originated with Paese Sera.
Clay Shaw was on the Board of Directors of Permindex. Here is his file.
If Jim Garrison wanted to learn more about Louis Bloomfield, all he had to do was pick up the phone or go to Montreal.
Exclusive - Louis Bloomfield's Secret Correspondence with George H. W. Bush... Revealed for the first time.
Yes, a conspiracy book actually makes this claim.
Revealed for the first time.
They were involved!
George Mantello was a hero.