William Bishop
 William Bishop    (spook) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1923 |
| Died | 1990 (Age 67) |
| Member of | Operation 40 |
Operation 40 connected CIA officer with unclear connections to the JFK assassination. | |
Colonel William C. Bishop was an Operation 40-connected CIA member with ties to the JFK Assassination. His past is difficult to establish, leading one researcher to remark that "To state the obvious, mysterious men like Bishop/O'Hare/Bennett/Gray are a vortex of mis and dis information which in turn makes it most difficult in figuring out what really happened on November 22, 1963." He may have used various aliases including 'John Adrian O'Hare' and/or 'Clarence Ward Bishop'.[1]
Career
In the 1950s Bishop worked with the CIA and became involved in black operations. This involved a policy that was later to become known as Executive Action. In 1961 he was involved in the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, the leader of the Dominican Republic.[1]
Bishop worked under Desmond FitzGerald and was involved with anti-Castro groups in Miami such as Alpha 66. He was also case officer for Antonio Veciana and claims that Santo Trafficante helped to fund his organization. Bishop also had a close relationship with David Atlee Phillips and Rolando Masferrer.[2]
JFK Assassination
- Full article: John F. Kennedy/Assassination
- Full article: John F. Kennedy/Assassination
In an interview with Dick Russell, William Bishop confirmed that he was aware of the plot to kill John F. Kennedy and stated that the plot included people such as Tony Varona and Rolando Masferrer. "By 1963, the Cuban element - see, Kennedy had gone to Miami, to the Orange Bowl down there, and made this statement that the brigade's flag would fly over Cuba and all this crap. That was a stopgap. The exiles for a time believed him. Then shortly after that, a presidential executive order came out that no military-style incursions into Cuba based from the United States would be tolerated. The end result was complete distrust and dislike for Kennedy and his administration by the Cuban exiles. You take Tony Varona and Rolando Masferrer to name but two - and there were many, many more - when serious talk began to happen about the possibility of assassinating Kennedy."[2]
In another interview with Dick Russell, just before his death in 1990,[3] Bishop claimed that Jimmy Hoffa gave Rolando Masferrer $50,000 the JFK hit. Bishop declared that he disapproved: "I firmly believe that, in our system of government, if you don't like the man, then vote him out of office. Don't shoot him out. And we had a coup d'état on November 22, 1963."[2]
