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Post by Michael on May 25, 2011 16:54:19 GMT -5
I can't vouch for the document Steve. It looks a little suspicious and I am not sure whether or not it was manufactured for a game or something. Vovina might know or wish to email the site's Author.
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Post by vovina on May 25, 2011 17:07:59 GMT -5
The message is a fake, designed for a cyber-puzzle board. The first indication is addressing Whitaker as " Fox ": in all confirmed messages Whitaker was referred to by a number or as " Mr. Fox ".
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Post by Michael on May 26, 2011 5:44:16 GMT -5
Believe it or not, I have seen documents which look almost as clean as this from time to time. However, that is always a red-flag. What did it for me next was who signed it. Great job (as always) Vovina.
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Post by Michael on Jun 6, 2011 7:12:59 GMT -5
Gaston Means Held In Jail Over Night Gaston B. Means, former agent of the department of justice, spent last night in the Bethesda, Md., jail charged with assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct. Patrolman Hersperger and another officer went to Means' home in Chevy Chase, Md., after complaints from Mrs. Means that her husband had threatened her.
The officers reported Means attacked them.
Means was mentioned frequently in investigations of justice department activities during the Harding administration. [AP - Nov. 20, 1931] This doesn't ring a bell. Have we ever talked about this arrest before?
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Post by vovina on Jun 8, 2011 7:41:35 GMT -5
The incident is covered in some detail in " Spectacular Rogue " on page 291. Gaston was making money hand over fist, and was extremely security conscious - installing a tripwire system that would activate floodlights. Was he worried about communists retaliating for the spying he and Whitaker performed for the National Civic Federation ? For whatever reasons, Means is drinking heavily and acting even more erratic than usual.
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Post by Michael on Jun 8, 2011 16:46:37 GMT -5
I knew I could count on you having this info off the top of your head. There has to be "something" to this. He really risked everything getting his Wife to the point of calling the Cops on him!
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Post by vovina on Jun 8, 2011 17:49:42 GMT -5
Gaston had started a pattern of threatening his wife after returning from the summer spy-on-the-commies in Chicago action: we know Whitaker left Chicago before September. The reason Gaston was arrested in this instance is because he punched a cop. As Hoyt succinctly states (pg.291) : " It was all right for a man to strike his wife, but if he struck an officer of the law, that was quite a different matter". Hoyt's agenda here is that Gaston is becoming more unbalanced from head injury deterioration in order to account for the seemingly random irrational events- including the eventual shakedown covered in the next chapter. But I don't buy any of this. Julie Means only claimed that her life was being threatened, not that she was being beaten up. Let's just say that one develops a skepticism regarding Mrs. Means due to various inconsistencies in her statements: and remember she is the only alibi Gaston will have as to his whereabouts at the time of the kidnapping ( Remember that Whitaker, not anybody's dumb bunny regarding devious motives, thought Julie Means knew more about the " missing " money than she was letting on and threatened her during the late 1930's. ). One just has to test her statements with other sources to winnow the truth from the pile !
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Post by Julie Means Kane on Nov 8, 2011 12:48:22 GMT -5
Thought I'd mention that I'm Gaston's granddaughter, and I know what happened to the money.
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Post by Michael on Nov 8, 2011 13:31:28 GMT -5
Thanks for posting.
Okay, so what did he do with it, and how did you find out? Vovina is the Expert here on Gaston so I hope he shows up to ask you some questions.....
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Post by Julie Means Kane on Nov 8, 2011 14:08:21 GMT -5
I know because my grandmother, Julie P. Means, who was Gaston's wife told me. I also have a note he wrote to her from jail. I thought it was after his arrest for the kidnapping ransom thing, but after reading this thread, it may have been after his arrest for threatening her - based on the note's contents. My grandmother never talked about that incident.
My father was Bill(y) Means, Julie's only surviving child, and I am his only child, so my grandmother Julie put a lot of time and energy into my upbringing.
As to what happened to the money, I'm not telling - yet. I keep thinking there may be a book or a movie in there. In fact, the story was optioned back in the early '50s, but that option has long expired.
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Post by drd99 on Nov 8, 2011 17:13:47 GMT -5
Money is much more important than justice or the truth
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Post by Julie Means Kane on Nov 8, 2011 22:20:12 GMT -5
Well, that's something to think about! I guess I never realized that anyone still cared about what happened to the money. It's been years since I've run into anyone who even knew who Gaston was.
It's just always seemed like my own private(ish) family story. I've thought a lot about Gaston and Julie's relationship. Gaston's family always thought Julie was the eminence gris who pushed Gaston to keep the money coming in. I don't know - she cleaned up her behavior when I was born.
But I know that Julie always knew just what Gaston was up to, and I know that she was the source of a lot of his ideas. Why do people care about what happened to the money? What would that tell you?
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Post by Michael on Nov 9, 2011 6:58:26 GMT -5
Julie,
I want to thank you for coming to the board and sharing whatever it is you decide to share with us. When a relative appears then gives inside information - its always important to understanding the truth concerning what a lot of us have speculated about. It also brings one down to "reality" a little bit - especially concerning a mythical figure like your Grandfather. You've stumbled onto a spot where a group of people have an appreciation for history of this Case, and specifically the Figures involved.
That money was handed over, and just like in the Lindbergh Kidnapping, everyone was looking for it. Gov. Hoffman even enlisted the help of Norman Whittaker to assist in finding it. Your Grandfather did what he did best with all the smoke, mirrors, winks, and nods attached.
In the end he dies, there is no money to be found, and the only things left are the 20 to 30 very different stories he told about it.
Knowing where the money is, or went, snaps in one major piece of a very large puzzle. It may help explain other things surrounding this particular phase of the Case. Was this a complete hoax meant to enrich only Means? Did it go to someone to finance something else? Is it burried in the pipe system they used - still sitting there to this day?
It would help those of us who study this Case to better understand how Mean's mind worked. What the truth was leads us through all of the misdirection.
The oddest thing he did, in my mind, was to return and ask for another $4000 for the Kidnappers expenses. If you already have 100K, and its just for you, what is this all about? Could it be the 100K is dedicated to something else. Could the 4K be for someone else? Who would that be, and what was their role?
I believe knowing what happened to the money leads us to these types of answers to those questions.
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Post by sue75 on Mar 3, 2012 16:06:18 GMT -5
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Post by Steve Burket on Mar 28, 2017 21:17:03 GMT -5
I am new at this but I want to contribute the following information: My father was Maxwell Burket, Special Agent for the F.B.I. assigned to the "Gaston B. Means Angle" of the Lindbergh Case." My father never revealed F.B.I. matters--only in this instance that the "Means Angle" was the part to which he was assigned. If you happen to come across information related to my Dad's participation in the Lindbergh Kidnapping matter, I would deeply appreciate your communication. Thank you, Steve Burket sburket@suddenlink.net
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Post by Michael on Mar 29, 2017 18:51:16 GMT -5
If you happen to come across information related to my Dad's participation in the Lindbergh Kidnapping matter, I would deeply appreciate your communication. Thanks for posting Steve. I've searched most of my FBI Reports on Means but haven't found anything yet. There's a lot of "cross-over" material, so I will keep your Father's name in mind as I go about my daily research, and if I find something I'll definitely post it.
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Post by wolfman666 on Mar 30, 2017 10:09:52 GMT -5
hi steve I have a book gaston means wrote on president harding, hes mentioned in a couple of books I will have to dig them up
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Post by jmk on Jul 15, 2021 16:09:19 GMT -5
Well, here it is, 10 years later, and I'm still working on the story of Gaston and my grandmother Julie. As an adjunct, I'm reprinting her 1939 5-part newspaper story, "My Life with Gaston B. Means." with my comments and adenda. Should be out before the end of the year.
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Post by Michael on Jul 16, 2021 7:01:58 GMT -5
Well, here it is, 10 years later, and I'm still working on the story of Gaston and my grandmother Julie. As an adjunct, I'm reprinting her 1939 5-part newspaper story, "My Life with Gaston B. Means." with my comments and adenda. Should be out before the end of the year. Glad to hear this! Since I only have two of the five it will be a welcome addition to my collection. Also, I can’t wait for the main book. When do you expect to be finished with it?
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Post by Julie Means Kane on Aug 25, 2021 10:06:03 GMT -5
Still working on the book about Gaston and Julie's life, and I've gone through all the material my grandmother saved one more time. I do have a letter Gaston wrote her from jail, apologising for his behavior and blaming it on "the drink."
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Post by Julie Means Kane on Aug 25, 2021 10:12:06 GMT -5
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Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
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Post by Joe on Aug 25, 2021 10:17:26 GMT -5
Congratulations on your publication Ms. Means Kane.. this looks like a very interesting, informative and entertaining book!
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Post by juliemeanskane on Aug 25, 2021 10:31:54 GMT -5
Thanks, Joe. Hope you like it. - Julie
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Post by Michael on Aug 26, 2021 18:58:09 GMT -5
Thanks for letting us know Julie!
I will be ordering my copy shortly. Congrats!
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Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
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Post by Joe on Aug 27, 2021 6:53:46 GMT -5
Thanks, Joe. Hope you like it. - Julie You're most welcome Julie, and my copy is enroute!
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Post by juliemeanskane on Aug 30, 2021 15:43:03 GMT -5
"Means espied the famous author, Thomas, W. Dixon (who wrote the Clansman, the Leopard Spots, and other popular literary pieces) and that Means excused himself and talked with Mr. Dixon for a brief time."
Gaston certainly knew Tom Dixon. It was his sister, May Dixon Thacker, who wrote The Strange Death of President Harding with him, and Dixon who ghosted Harry Daugherty's answer to that book, The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy.
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Post by thestonesunturned on Oct 11, 2023 21:11:43 GMT -5
There's a really simple explanation--Bruno and Anna were laundering money for Means and probably others. Anna didn't immigrate to America from Germany--she immigrated from Zurich Switzerland. What's a single girl doing living in Zurich all by herself? How does she support herself? With a job? In Zurich? Like, in a bank? And why would a nice German girl working in bank (or whatever) in Zurich move to America just to marry an illegal immigrant and fugitive from justice? Their first (of MANY) stock trading account was in her Maiden name. And a LOT of money went through those accounts. More than $30,000. And those brokers swore on a stack of bibles that NONE of the Lindbergh ransom money passed through their hands. So help them God. So, where did the REST of the Hauptmann's money come from? They owned a couple of rental properties, but in the early 1930s, who had money to pay rent? Stocks. What did they live (well) on, in the bottom of the Great Depression? Well, maybe their full time side hustle was laundering money used to pay spies, saboteurs, and other secret agents. SOMEBODY was laundering 10s of 1000s of dollars of payola for the Abwehr, and 10s of 1000s more, for the Etappendienst. Speakingn of Gaston Means--you know he worked (more or less legally) as an agent for German business and government interests in the US before the US delared "war" on Germany--right? You also know that most of the German spy network in America was broken up, and had to be replaced throughout the 1920s, right? There were HUNDREDS of German spies (quite a few of them Jewish) on Canaris's payroll in New York City alone. It couldn't all be laundered by one source. And how do the payees launder their plain brown envelopes? Pllllllluuuuuuus the mafia's money. There must be a whole bunch of laundries all over New York in the 1930s. And it sure looks like The Bronx Honeymooners are laundering money for somebody. You know the ones I mean. The cute young German couple with the tubercular German Jewish moneychanger living in the garage (you know they took in lodgers, right? Boy, are some them interesting...) Wouldn't it be funny if that's ALL Hauptmann did in regards to the phony Lindbergh Baby "Kidnapping?" Launder the ransom money? BOTH ransom payoffs? Wouldn't that be hilarious? I mean, you can't throw Betty Gow under the bus. She knows too much. Olly. Elsie. Henry. Septimus. One hang, we ALL hang. But, if Hauptmann didn't know where ANY of the money EVER came from, let alone, who faked the "kidnapping"...I mean, all you'd have to do is miraculously "find" some bizarrely convenient piece of "evidence" in his attic...and you've got yourself the perfect patsy. Unless, of course, you think "Doctor" John Condon was "honest." I mean, not only did he offer to put up (but, never did actually put up) $1,000.00 of his own money, he even floated the idea of selling his "true story" to a publisher for $50,000.00 and GIVING THE MONEY TO LINDBERGH. I mean, how honest can you get? I mean, to handle all that real estate and all those vacation rentals out on City Island, Jafsie would have to be super-honest. Right? Just because he and Bruno both live in the same town and both maintain and operate rental properties, and just because Jafsie instinctively knew the "kidnapper" lived in the SAME town, and read the SAME paper, the local Bronx Home News, doesn't mean they knew each other, already. But, let's say that Jafsie needed advice from one of his clients out on City Island--someone like, William Randolph Hearst, or maybe one of his old professors from Fordham or Columbia, advice on how to launder some "found" money...who would they send him too? Or, if THEY needed to sell some stocks that the IRS and their wives didn't know they still had tucked away, maybe to raise desperately needed cash...people with the kinds of contacts who could dispose of gold certificates...who would Jafsie send THEM to?
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Post by A Guest on Oct 12, 2023 19:24:22 GMT -5
Anna didn't immigrate to America from Germany--she immigrated from Zurich Switzerland. What's a single girl doing living in Zurich all by herself? How does she support herself? With a job? In Zurich? Like, in a bank? And why would a nice German girl working in bank (or whatever) in Zurich move to America just to marry an illegal immigrant and fugitive from justice? FYI - Anna wasn't by herself in Zurich, Switzerland and she never worked in a bank while she was living there. The following as told by Anna Hauptmann should help clarify this for you. "An old acquaintance of my father had gone to Zurich, Switzerland, and it was through this friend that I procured a position in Zurich in the summer of 1920. It was rather difficult for a girl to get into Switzerland at this time and this friend assisted me very greatly in preparing my necessary papers in order for me to leave Germany and go into Switzerland. For well over a year I did general work around a restaurant there in Zurich and following that I procured a position as a maid in a private home in Zurich which was more pleasant than the work in the restaurant. After I had worked in this home for a period of time, Mrs. Ott the lady for whom I had been working surrendered her job which she had been holding and came home to take care of her family, herself. Consequently, I had to give up my job in the Ott home. I have most pleasant recollections of the time I spent with Mr. and Mrs. Ott working in their home. They were always very kind and considerate to me and treated me with utmost kindness. I look back on my experiences while staying with them as one of the most pleasant experiences in my life. When Mrs. Ott returned to her home to take care of her family, and the position was no longer available for me, Mrs. Ott procured for me a position with another family in Zurich, Mrs. Lerch and I stayed with them until the time I left Europe to come to America. My sister, Sophie, whom I had lived with in Berlin, was also employed in Zurich at the time I was there."It was not Anna's plan to come to America to marry an illegal immigrant. Like so many people who came to America, she had the same reason many of them did. Here is what she said about that: "Very often on our hours off from work, we (Anna and her sister Sophie) would have time to talk and very often the conversation would turn to America. We understood it to be a land of opportunity and a place where one could make progress toward success."Sophie would go to America first in August of 1923. Anna would follow in December of 1923, arriving January 1, 1924.
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Post by xjd on Oct 13, 2023 16:58:26 GMT -5
thestonesunturned, please, use paragraphs if you are going to be lengthy.
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Post by thestonesunturned on Oct 19, 2023 11:29:36 GMT -5
Anna worked as a maid? That's very helpful (assuming, of course, we believe her story.) Because, if she didn't know anything about money laundering, and he didn't know anything about money laundering, then who "mentored" them in how to launder money? They had rental properties, took in lodgers, traded stocks and securities...that's pretty good for two semiliterate immigrant peasants. Jafsie did all those things on a bigger scale. Jafsie prided himself on being a teacher, coach, and mentor. Jafsie "somehow" knew that the kidnapper read the Bronx Home News. The Colonel's ransom money physically passed from Jafsie's hands to Bruno's hands...without, or without, the helping hands of "Cemetery John."
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