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Post by vovina on Feb 7, 2010 9:43:19 GMT -5
While trying to unravel the various lines of action connected to the Means-Whitaker shakedown, I thought it might be useful to separate the Whitaker materials from the Means materials where the two were not directly acting together. At the very least the theory thread on Means will not become too bulky for easy reference. And maybe some patterns of action, stretching back for a decade and a half, can become more apparent. Preliminary evidence may tie Whitaker to the unsolved Feb. 1, 1922 murder of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor. According to author Robertson in the 2002 " The Illustrated Great Beast " pg.121, Taylor and his brother Edward became members of Crowley's OTO in Great Britain in 1912. In 1914 William became an officer in the British army and then was sent mid-World War 1 to the USA under Crowley's direction. Edward Taylor pretended to be William's butler under the fake name of Sands. According to Ken Anger in " Hollywood Babylon I " (pg.47-60) a rare marked copy of Crowley's book " White Stains " was found at the crime scene - with a letter inserted drawing the police investigation toward actress Mary Minter and her mother. If this copy still exists, it could be examined to see if it was being used as a codebook for Crowley's World War 1 spying operations. Sands the butler vanished and was never heard from again - becoming the prototype of the later Hollywood murder movies where " the butler did it ". Whitaker at this time was running stolen Franklin Touring Cars from the East Coast to Los Angles returning to Philadelphia on Feb. 22, 1921. Norman finally got caught in the act during July, 1921 and served his first Federal time for this crime. Edward Taylor, alias Sands, was supposedly sighted again in El Paso ,Texas in 1948 ( Robertson pg. 121 ). Perhaps he was part of the Texas component of the Means-Whitaker shakedown that took place in that city. There isn't enough evidence yet to confirm these suggestive lines, but bits and pieces keep emerging from the oddest sources to keep the investigator interested.
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Post by Michael on Feb 8, 2010 8:29:52 GMT -5
I am trying to make a mental note of these names so that if I ever come across any in the reports I can share them with you. Also, check footnote to see if there's anything there. Some of the stuff on that site is free so you might get lucky. Additionally, I can't remember if I asked you this before.... have you filed an FOIA request on Whitaker? I have a point of contact for it when he was at Alcatraz. If you are interested I can send it along to you via the PM feature.
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Post by Michael on Feb 9, 2010 17:22:47 GMT -5
I found a few things on the Case you referenced. It seems "Sands" was their #1 suspect for a while. It was alleged he had been accused of stealing from Taylor in the past which was supposed to have been his motive.
It was also rumored that Taylor was a drug addict and may have been being blackmailed.
Later much of the attention seemed to be on both Mary Minter and Mabel Normand.
But as I searched for when Sands was seen again I found a Washington Post article dated 5-16-36 which says he was seen in Long Beach by George Remar who identified himself as "a World War aviator and said he had known Taylor and worked for him in films from many years before the director's death.
I first saw 'Sands' last Tuesday. Remar told Police Capt. Jesse Winn. He was driving a green convertible coupe with a Texas license.
Later in both the New York Times and the Washington Post, articles claimed that Gene Williams, chief investigator for DA Buron Fitts, announced he "knew the man" who murdered Taylor and would announce it soon.
I never found anything else in this time frame which indicates he ever did disclose this information.
By the way, this is the case which started the saying: "The Butler Did It!".....
I will keep searching for more. In the meantime, I found that Whitaker was sentenced on September 6, 1944 in Toledo, OH to 18 months for mailing Morphine to George F. Kerr.
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Post by vovina on Feb 16, 2010 22:04:16 GMT -5
I have access to some of Whitaker's FOIA files in the biography " Shady Side " - I would be interested in accessing the files in total ( also the how-to on accessing Naval Officer Boone's files ).The Kerr materials are in the biography.
I have been chasing stolen cars. In the sourcebook " William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier " by Bruce Long we find that Taylor's real name was William Deane-Tanner, his brother's real name was Denis Dean Tanner. The brothers abandoned their East Coast families in 1908. Denis probably changed his name to Edward Sands (pg.291), although this is a major disputed point in the Taylor murder investigations. Sands the butler stole a car from Taylor before the murder, the two cars in Taylor's probate materials are a McFarlan and a Chandler (pg.331). The disputed point is whether the stolen car was recovered and whether its one of these vehicles. If the car wasn't recovered, then perhaps it was the Franklin with the Texas plate ( per Whitaker's car ring ) sighted earlier. Finally, The Detroit News for Feb.10th, 1922 citing sources in Hollywood claim that Aleister Crowley's OTO was the cult behind the murder (pg.346-7).
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Post by Michael on Feb 21, 2010 8:20:32 GMT -5
I am sending you a PM...
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Post by vovina on Mar 29, 2010 7:53:07 GMT -5
Thank you for the PM. While following a lead on Whitaker's stolen cars enterprise which begins to link him to the early 1920's Meyer Lansky-Bugsy Siegel stolen cars for order ring in NYC, I encountered an interesting item:
According to Hank Messick in his work " Lansky ", the National Crime Syndicate ( of which the " Mafia " was only a small part ) met in conference during the spring of 1934 at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC. Abner " Longie " Zwillman, representing New Jersey, gave a speech where he stated " The Lindbergh Kidnapping was the act of an independent operator and was bad for business. " He further stated that the Syndicate cooperated with authorities to try to solve the case. The membership voted to abstain from high profile kidnappings ( Messick pg.75 ).
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kevkon
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,800
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Post by kevkon on Mar 29, 2010 10:51:26 GMT -5
Bad business for any organization.
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Post by Michael on Mar 31, 2010 15:25:28 GMT -5
This is good information. And its in-line with what I have concerning Zwillman's involvement. He was trying to help so that his boys would stop getting pulled over. As I recall, all he could find were a bunch of "chiselers."
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Post by vovina on Dec 29, 2010 9:42:40 GMT -5
Michael: have you any materials on a US Army Captain ( Major ? ) named Marvel Parsons who supposedly worked for President Harding ( and may have involvement with Means and/or Whitaker ) ? Parsons retired from the military in 1939 according to VA records. The bizarre fact is that he was also the father of rocket scientist/occultist Jack Parsons !
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Post by wolf2 on Dec 29, 2010 19:22:19 GMT -5
hi vovina, sorry to bett in, but i just read a book on the teapot dome scandal of the harding administration, and means is mentioned and everlyn mcleans husband was very good friends with harding and his wife. in fact i think they involved mcleans husband to lie to the investigators on a certain situation involving someone in the scandal. means did some dirty deeds for the hardings
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Post by Michael on Dec 30, 2010 7:18:05 GMT -5
Please do jump in Steve (and anyone else).... Vovina will tell you there is so much behind this angle too.
Vovina: His name doesn't ring a bell. I will be on guard for it as I go through the material. So many hearings, so many trials, and so many documents. I've got a ton of respect for you trying to tackle all of this.
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Post by Michael on Dec 30, 2010 13:56:29 GMT -5
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Post by vovina on Dec 31, 2010 10:08:55 GMT -5
Michael: Thank you for the Parsons materials - it great to have leads to the military police at West Point and the Coast Artillery Corps. I think Captain Marvel ( LOL! ) got his West Point appointment because of his work during the Harding administration ( and connections to Means, Whitaker & crew? ). And thanks for the remark about respect for researching. Actually, I greatly enjoy the work searching for what old Charles Fort used to call " those damned facts "!
And greetings Wolf2: the Harding era is the least researched of modern presidencies- because the academic consensus is to assign the whole complex to an Orwellian " memory hole ". One piece of the puzzle to keep in mind is that we don't know exactly for whom Means was doing dirty deeds. Means claimed it was Mrs. Harding, others claim it was the Republican Party secret funding operations ( which also grafted Veterans funds and did kickbacks on Federal liquor licenses during Prohibition ). There are other possibilities as well. I was lead to the Lindbergh case because I was following the trail of Means and Whitaker. Regardless of the actual kidnapping facts, there are still the puzzles surrounding the Means/Whitaker shakedown. I am getting closer, but it will take time and more research. And I appreciate the folks here at the discussion board for their willingness to share facts and files which greatly speeds up that process !
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Post by wolf2 on Dec 31, 2010 19:29:32 GMT -5
hi vovina, in everlyns mcleans bio which i have called "queen of diamonds", she said about means-----" completely differnt then ordinary people. always in hot water loves to do wrong and live to brag about it. he has a real criminal mind, such a clever one. the best crook i have ever known." i hope she said this after her rip off of that money finding the baby.
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Post by vovina on Jan 24, 2011 16:46:08 GMT -5
Greetings Wolf2:
Actually, she was aware from the beginning of this caper that Gaston was the best crook she ever knew. On page 540 of Anthony's biography of Florence Harding, Evalyn is quoted " Means, the Department Of Justice are beginning to get on us until you help get that child, but, so help me God if you double cross me you are going to the Penitentiary. I am going to slit it wide open to the public. " ( Anthony also cites the FBI memo that Evalyn's $100,000 ended up in the hands of gangster Max Hassel " to be used in rum-running activities." on page 541 - let's just say I have my doubts. ). Evalyn Mclean was a heavy boozer and narcotics user, due to the excessive pain produced from injuries in an auto accident ( as I have posted elsewhere ), and her judgment at times is less than sterling. She knew Means was a crook ( and maybe a spy ). That's why she hired him.
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Post by wolf2 on Jan 24, 2011 19:19:49 GMT -5
for what i read, they never really knew what happen to everlyns mcleans 100,000 dollars that she gave means. i think that book is writing it on speculation
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Post by vovina on Feb 10, 2011 11:40:41 GMT -5
The general outline of the Whitaker/Means operation is at last cohering into a reasonable form: after several months of document hunting I find it highly probable that they are lower level operatives for Sir Basil Zaharoff's octopus organization. The best work on Sir Basil is the 1965 " Peddler Of Death: The Life And Times Of Sir Basil Zaharoff " by Donald McCormick. In brief, Zaharoff was the munitions czar of Vickers-Armstrong. His political operations penetrated large components of British Naval Intelligence both before, during, and after World War 1. He is linked to the sinking of the Maine ( which started the Spanish American War pg.74), funded the Serbians linked to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (pg. 114) , linked to the murder of French socialist leader Jean Jauries ( who wanted to call a general strike to prevent the outbreak of World War 1 ) on July 31, 1914 ( pg.117),etc. Zaharoff began to move on taking control of Oil supplies around the world using his vast munitions fortune to expand his political clout. There is much more, of course, but McCormick lays it all out in detail. In February, 1932 Zaharoff is holding secret meetings with President Hoover on Sir Basil's yacht " Corsair " to try to scuttle a Disarmament Conference. Then Zaharoff is reported to be in Mexico dealing with the control of Mexican oil for the British Navy ( pg.213-14 ). Remembering that ambassador Morrow in Mexico had tried to frustrate moves by the Brits to control Mexico's oil, that the Teapot Domers were the private US interests he helped in this regard, and the timing of the kidnapping may not be just a fluke ( speculation here,of course ). The key issue in my research is exactly how Means and Whitaker knew the date of the Lindbergh Kidnapping in advance. I find the Thomas F. Rice materials convincing as regards Means' foreknowledge and I find Whitaker opportunistically getting himself arrested for auto theft to provide an alibi to be circumstantially compelling ( since Means and Whitaker were working together closely for a number of years if Means knew, then Whitaker knew and vice versa ). So whatever was transpiring at ground zero in the kidnapping, there has to be an informational link between the kidnappers and the Means/Whitaker shakedown - until the ground zero becomes clearer, the link will remain simply implicit.
Unless I get lucky with an obscure documentary reference ( LOL ! ) !
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Post by Michael on Feb 12, 2011 7:50:51 GMT -5
Excellent research as usual Vovina....
Thanks for sharing this because its all new information for me. More names to keep my eyes peeled out for.
Do you really think what Means knew then Whitaker knew it too? If so, did Whitaker, in your opinion, know where the McLean money actually was?
I planned on bidding for that copy of Shady Side on Ebay but missed it.
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Post by vovina on Feb 12, 2011 18:31:45 GMT -5
I should have been more precise here: only as regards major operational plans does it appear as though Means and Whitaker were on the same informational " page ". During phases of the shakedown, they functioned separately. Whitaker never knew exactly what Means did with the $100,000. I went back to Hoyt's account. Only Julie Means has Gaston in Washington D.C. at the exact time of the kidnapping (pg.293). A few days later, after already being contacted by McClean, Gaston contacts a Capt. Emory Land of the US Navy (pg.295) supposedly a direct contact with Lindbergh - but given the involvement of US Naval intelligence with the various " spooky " strands, this rates at least an inquiry. Finally, when Max Hassell's safe deposit box was opened after Max's death $213,000 was found inside. Hoyt says it can't be the McClean money because " the denominations of the bills didn't fit." ( pg.311 ) - as if Hassell was incapable of laundering the loot during the intervening time.
As Gaston's defense attorney Wampler said at trial " Gaston's story was no more fantastic than Dr. J.F. Condon's tale of tossing $50,000 over a cemetery wall in New York to a man he had never seen."
I hope you can get a copy of " Shady Side " as it has much food-for-thought in the unintentional details. One just hopes the massive pack-ratted documents from the Whitaker estate are housed somewhere !
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Post by Michael on Feb 14, 2011 8:33:10 GMT -5
I am posting this mainly for the picture. I found it at the NJSP Archives but never anything else to properly credit its origins.
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Post by vovina on Feb 14, 2011 20:25:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the photo - I never realized the physical resemblances between Gaston and Aleister Crowley until viewing this particular shot. Since both Crowley and Means were working as double agents in the US Imperial German spy operations in World War 1, it is indeed handy to have " assets " that looked so much alike. This might account for some Means and Crowley " sightings " during that time period which didn't match their otherwise coherent intineraries.
Looks like a detailed check on this matter will have to go on my already stocked " to-do " list ( LOL!).
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Post by Michael on Mar 3, 2011 6:51:41 GMT -5
I found several places where Whitaker was disbarred: Application before the Brooklyn Bar for an order of disbarment being granted with a possibility of reinstatement if Whitaker first wins reversal of his conviction. [New York Supreme Court, (Vol. 211) Second Department, 12-24] Order by the U.S. Supreme Court on 1-18-26, that Norman T. Whitaker, having been disbarred by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia does not possess the qualifications entitling [him] to continue as member of the bar of this court. [Whitaker] hereby is, disbarred and that [his] name be stricken from the roll of attorneys admitted to practice in this court.
[U.S. Supreme Court Journal 1925, 001, 8, p.322]
Vovina, was he ever reinstated anywhere ever? He certainly filed enough. There's even one Case where he sued the City of Baltimore, State, and the Police for $4500 because he crashed his own car claiming it was caused because the street was improperly lighted.
[See Annual Report of the Attorney General of Maryland p5, 1948]
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Post by vovina on Mar 12, 2011 11:18:17 GMT -5
Michael,
It took a bit to go over the files: it looks like the answer is that Norman was never reinstated. So how was he able to engage in so much litigation over the years ?
By way of a semi-scam, of course ! On May 23, 1927 Roland T.Whitaker, patent attorney and Norman's younger brother, gave Norman " power of attorney in relation to signing all checks, notes, drafts, and letters pertaining to business matters of Whitaker & Whitaker. "( Shady Side pg.94-5 ). Apparently having " power of attorney " over an attorney allows one to nearly practice law - maybe the powers-that-be have closed this loophole (?).
On Sept.15, 1939 Whitaker applied for a pardon to restore his civil rights ( Shady Side pg.144 ). It was rejected. And he won an appeals case against McLean in 1941 ( Whitaker vs. McLean 118 F2 d596 DC Court Of Appeals 1941 ). This constitutes an awful lot of litigation for a disbarred lawyer !
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Post by Michael on Mar 13, 2011 8:22:50 GMT -5
I guess the worst Pro Se Litigant is a disbarred Attorney! Between Wendel & Whitaker I think they got their monies worth.
Thanks again for selflessly sharing your research!
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Post by Michael on May 4, 2013 13:04:07 GMT -5
Updating some files with new material and came across this one. I know Vovina will want to check this one out:
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