Here is an interview of me that Chris Peeks conducted about Permindex, CMC, and Clay Shaw.
Permindex was a company incorporated in Switzerland to manage real estate. The founder of Permindex, George Mantello, had an idea -- to try and set up a permanent commercial exhibition hall in Basel. There was already an industrial fair in Basel and he was met with a lot of local opposition. Ultimately, the local council agreed that Permindex go ahead with its project, but they had to agree to build a 200-room hotel.
Unfortunately, they couldn't raise the money, and decided to go to Rome with the same idea. They had to incorporate locally, and so they set up CMC -- Centro Mondiale Commerciale. They never could find enough tenants to make it fly and they shut CMC down in 1962.
In the conspiracy books, Permindex/CMC is painted as a company that was used by the CIA to funnel money to right-wing extremists. There is absolutely no evidence to back this up -- and the only source for these allegations was the Communist newspaper Paese Sera.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on 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.
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.
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.
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.