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[7]| 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
[11]20 May 1971
[13]MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
[15]SUBJECT: Robert D. Peloquin, President
[16]International Intelligence, Inc. (INTERTEL)
[17]‘839 17th Street, N.W.
[18]Washington, D. C. 20006
[19]- Telephone: (202) 638-2179
[21]The undersigned,:- seeking an employment.opportunity in y
[22]the District of Columbia area or in California, was introduced
[23]to Mr. Peloquin on May 10, 1971 by former Agency employee,
[24](Alfred A. Pease) who is currently employed by INTERTEL.
[25]fe) .
[27]This unique corporation, probably created in 1970, first
[28]came to the attention of the undersigned when it was publicized
[29]in The Wall Street Journal on May 4, 1970. There had been an
[30]earlier article on April 26, 1970 in the financial section of The
[31]Sunday New York Times. The new concern has its headquarters
[32]in Washington, D. C. at the above address which also serves.as
[33]the location of Mr. Peloquin's law firm. The Executive Vice
[34]President, John D. O'Connell, .a former FBI agent and friend
[35]of the undersigned, maintains his office at 375 Park Avenue,
[37]- New York City.
[39]At the time of the first publicity, Mr. Peloquin said "His
[40]organization will seek to provide the necessary guidance and
[41]information to help legitimate companies from blundering into
[42]mergers, joint ventures or acquisitions with concerns secretly
[43]controlled by the Mafia and other mobsters."' For the past
[44]several years, Mr. Peloquin, as Vice President of the corpora-.
[45]tion which controls INTERTEL, Resorts International, Inc., had
[46]been in charge of security for Resorts' owned gambling casino on
[47]Paradise Island in the Bahamas. He further said that the execu-
[48]tives of INTERTEL did not "serve as detectives, " they will be
[49]consultants only.
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[61]The original publicity disclosed that in addition to Washington
[62]and Néw York INTERTEL would open offices in Chicago, Los Angeles,
[63]Philadelphia, and Canada, Just how many of these offices are pre-
[64]sently opened and active is not known, but it is understood from(Al O53
[65]Peasehat the Philadelphia office will not be opened because of the
[66]fact that Mr. J. Shane Creamer is the Pennsylvania Attorney General
[67]under a Democratic administration. Creamer was former head of
[68]the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. Just why INTERTEL made
[69]this change is not known but it would appear that they want no part
[70]of Mr. Creamer.
[72]In spite of the initial publicity that INTERTEL executives
[73]were not would be "detectives," it would appear that since December
[74]of-1970 much of their active staff working out of the D. C. office
[75]have in fact become just exactly that. INTERTEL was engaged by
[76]the Hughes Tool Company to conduct a sweeping and exhaustive inves-
[77]tigation into the affairs and past activities of Robert A. Maheu. Four
[79]- or five years ago the Hughes’Tool Company (Howard Hughes himself)#
[81]allegedly entered into an oil contract with Robert A. Maheu Associates
[82]to perform a variety of services apparently undefined for the amount
[83]of $525,000 per year. Before the end of 1970 Maheu's contract was
[84]rescinded and attorneys for the Hughes Tool Company moved quickly
[85]to remove him from authority in the Nevada Operations, According
[87]to the newspapers this was done at the express request of Mr, Hughes
[88]himself. Preliminary litigation appalled this removal but shortly
[89]after the first of the year Maheu filed a suit against the Hughes Tool
[90]Company for $50 million to which he said he was entitled as damages
[91]for the cancellation of his "lifetime contract, "
[93]It is doubtful that there was any connection between INTERTEL
[94]and the Hughes Tool Company prior to early 1971. They were engaged
[95]as an investigative unit under a temporary contract toe protect the
[96]assets of the Hughes Tool Company and to determine just exactly
[97]what Robert A. Maheu was up to. The first contract was temporary
[98]and indefinite but currently they are operating under a recently
[100]- executed five year contract. Howard Hughes reportedly is living
[102]in one of the Bahaman hotels owned or operated by Resorts Inter-.
[103]national.
[105]There are those in Las Vegas who do not look on INTERTEL
[106]as the "good guys" on the local scene, The suave, popular Mr.
[107]Maheu, even though he was discharged and removed by the Hughes
[108]Tool Company, remains a popular figure winning considerable
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[116]political influence ,in the county as opposed to the city of Las Vegas
[117]itself. Maheu is being vociferously defeated by the leading local
[118]newspaper, The Las Vegas Sun. President and Publisher Herman
[119]M. Greenspun has just concluded a series in The Sun in which he
[120]alleges that INTERTEL is in fact a front and instrumentally of
[121]organized crime--shocking if true, but not wholly impossible.
[122]The working staff for INTERTEL in Vegas is made up predominantly
[123]of ex-F BI agents and recently retired employees of the Internal
[124]Revenue Service. Peloquin himself is the former Chief of the
[125]Justice Department's Crime Strike Force, but little if anything
[126]has been publicized regarding the principles for controlling elements
[127]of Resorts International and its other subsidiaries. In January 1969
[128]Resorts International made a bold yet futile move to seise control
[129]of Pan American World Airways by purchasing a 9.7 per cent stock
[130]interest, Pan Am naturally screamed and rushed to CAB for advice
[131]and support. The intercession of CAB was effective but it is believed
[132]that Resorts International did acquire perhaps half the stock that it
[133]had originally intended to purchase. The index for The Wall Street
[134]Journal for 1969 lists many references to Resorts International
[135]including one in October of that year regarding. some bad publicity
[136]Resorts had received as a result of their management of the gambling
[137]casino on Paradise Island. There should be an abundance of other
[138]public information available about Resorts, its officers and principle
[139]investors with CAB, SEC and even the American Stock Exchange
[140]since it is a public corporation.
[142]Snagging the Hughes Tool Company contract to investigate
[143]Robert A. Maheu Associates was certainly opportune and the
[144]contract is reported to. run upward to a million dollars but the
[145]company's current role investigating Maheu seems inconsistent
[146]with its declared purpose unless Maheu himself is suspected of
[147]having been in touch with or ensnared by the Mafia.
[149]Local allegations and publicity by The Las Vegas Sun could
[150]be ignored as irrelevent and as having no bearing on the Maheu-CIA
[151]relationship. Whether the allegations are evidence, it probably
[152]would be advisable to read this series of articles carefully.
[154]There is a current rumor similar in nature to Greenspun's
[155]allegations that recently was indirectly brought to the undersigned's
[156]attention during the week of May 10th. AD. C. attorney, Bernard
[157]Fensterwald, 927 15th Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. commented
[158]to a friend, "It looks like may be the good guys (INTERTEL) are in
[160]fact the bad guys with the Mafia connections.'' Fensterwald did not
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[173]mention The Las Vegas Sun series but claimed that The Miami
[174]Herald and The Washington Post were both about to break stories
[175]linking INTERTEL with organized crime.
[177]When Maheu hurriedly relinquished his palatial offices
[178]which occupied one. hole wing of the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas,
[179]according to fl Pea e, jhe took ten or twelve packing crates of
[180]records with him. In his haste, however, he appeared to over-
[181]look a box of 3 x 5 cards that were cross references to some of
[182]these records. The INTERTEL investigation, under the guidance
[183]of (Pezsd) and the Hughes Tool Company attorneys, will undertake
[184]to establish as nearly as possible exactly what Maheu was doing
[185]with his time and with the Hughes fortune. The Hughes attorneys
[186]are proceeding on the basis that if Maheu in fact did have a
[187]"contract for life, '' as he contends, then the Hughes Tool Company
[188]was entitled to 100 per cent of his time and "true and faifhful ser-
[190]~vice.'' At the-outset and without the records the INTERTEL staff
[192]hardly knew where to look or to begin since they suspected kick-
[193]backs, siphoning of money into foreign numbered bank accounts
[194]and the purchase of false mining claims, just to name a few.
[195]Such investigation is costly and tedious but INTERTEL hopes to
[197]develop and reconstruct Maheu's pattern of activity from the date
[199]he gave up ail of his other clients to work for the Hughes Tool
[200]Company (Howard Hughes) exclusively. Therefore they will
[202]thoroughly scrutinize any and all private deals, foreign or domestic,
[204]looking for concealed assets, evidence of kickbacks or foreign
[205]numbered bank accounts, ete. Preliminary court action, | except
[206]to accomplish Maheu's removal, has been slow. Mr. (Peasd said
[207]that the Hughes Tool Company lawyers were in court in Las Vegas
[208]on April 18-20, 1971 but additional action or proceedings have been
[209]set down for June 25, 197] and so it will probably ad infinitum.
[210]With Hughes resources he can hold out forever but the general
[211]consensus “58 that Maheu is already beginning to feel the financial
[212]pinch. sé) reported that a recent new business, a consulting
[213]service opened by Maheu in Las Vegas, had flopped. It would
[214]appear that Maheu first became indirectly associated with Howard
[215]Hughes in the early 1950's at a time when Hughes was entangled
[217]in extended Senate hearings with the then Senator Brewster of
[218]Maine. Maheu did some subcontract investigative work developing
[219]material which Mr. Hughes used during these hearings. If it has
[220]any significance or bearing to any current problems, Mr.(Robert?3
[221]J. Flynn,)a former Agency employee, could supply all details
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[233]regarding this part of Maheu's life. It was @1yai)who informed
[234]the undersigned some months ago that when Maheu secured
[235]émployment with the former public administration in the 1950's
[236]his sponsor was Senator Margaret Chase Smith.
[238]Some time in the early 1960's Maheu closed his D. C.
[239]office, picked up Hughes as a sole client and moved to Los Angeles.
[240]The undersigned is aware of this because he was in touch with
[241]him during the period 1962-1964. Simultaneously the undersigned
[242]was working out the details of a, nonoffici 1 cover \jarrangement
[243]with the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company in Culver
[244]City, California, Mr. Rhea Hopper, Vice President in Charge
[245]of the Aircraft Division was the principle cleared witting official.
[246]It'is doubtful that details of this arrangement ever reached
[247]Mr. Hughes himself but because of Maheu's significant role
[248]he was cut in as a pickup for insurance. The undersigned did
[249]this himself. The investigative staff of INTERTEL will not be
[250]in this Maheu investigation alone, Already they have turned
[251]certain significant information.-over to the Internal Revenue Service.
[252]Mr. William A. Kolar, retired Director of the IRS Intelligence
[253]Division, is part of the INTERTEL staff on the scene in Vegas.
[255]The name of Edward P. Morgan, a former FBI agent
[256]and prominent D. C. attorney, was mentioned by Mr. (Pease, oy)
[257]It seems that at some undisclosed date Morgan was engaged by
[258]the Hughes Tool Company. This would have no particular |
[259]significance except for two things. (1) Morgan is one of Maheu's
[260]closest friends and business associates. (They had their heads
[261]together in 1963 in a deal under which they and other investors
[262]were trying to gain control of a large Los An ose radio station
[263]that had its license rescinded by FCC). (2) Pea zse) said that
[264]Morgan is still in the wings making noises to certain unnamed
[265]Hughes Tool Company officials to the effect that they had better
[266]take it easy on Maheu because-of the past involvement with CIA
[267]in covert operations. Mr. (Peas) did not say exactly where he
[268]got his information and of course being uninformed was unable
[269]to appreciate its significant. It is not known whether Morgan
[270]still represents the Hughes Tool Company in any capacity but
[271]Al Pease fisclosed privately to the undersigned that for past
[272]Services Morgan had been paid almost a million dollars.
[273]INTERTEL has studied several approaches to Morgan through
[274]ex-FBI channels to discuss this veiled threat but he has not
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[283]been approached. * Certainly this is a strange arrangement if
[285]it has been allowed to continue. The Hughes Tool Company.
[287]would do well to drop Morgan completely. As INTERTEL
[288]attempted to interview him it's doubtful that it would be produc-
[289]tive. Just what Morgan might have to do if served with a subpoena
[290]is beyond the undersigned's comprehension, It seems reasonable
[291]to assume that Morgan picked up the Hughes Tool Company account
[292]through his good friend Maheu or his intercession. Naturally the
[293]INTER TEL investigators did not find a folder bearing the name
[294]Edward P. Morgan but they did find a 3 x 5 card indicating that
[295]there had been such a file. This prompting of Morgan and his
[296]approach to the Hughes Tool Company could only have come from
[297]one source, Maheu himself. Because he is attorney for the Hughes
[298]Tool Company, Morgan could not have been involved. It may never
[299]be known just how much Maheu has already told Morgan about his
[300]CIA relationship. _
[302]: u
[303]-~-On May 10, 1971 Me. (Beas said that Robert A. Maheu
[304]and Jack Anderson, the syndicated columnist, are known to be
[305]involved together in some oil mix deals. INTERTEL is looking
[306]into this and all such other similar matters to trace the source
[307]and disposition of funds. The recent expose by Jack Anderson
[308]regarding Maheu's role in the Cuban Revolution was a deliberate
[309]exposure instigated by Robert A. Maheu using his son Peter as
[311]an intermediary.°}(Pease' 3 theory was that Maheu probably thought
[312]such publicity would "scare them off.'' The INTERTEL staff is
[313]aware of a series of recent contacts and meetings between Peter
[314]Maheu and Jack Anderson or a member of his staff.
[317]Mr. (Peadd)is prepared to be reasonable in his investiga-
[318]tion insofar as CIA interests are concerned but he cannot be -
[319]intimidated, cannot ignore logical leads, and will not allow Maheu
[320]to use the Agency as a shield. He is prepared to discuss any
[321]reasonable approach.
[323]In conclusion the undersigned respectfully requests that
[324]his name not be connected with any of the information reported
[325]herein. Much of it was volunteered by an old friend, al Pease) 23
[326]in confidence and this confidence must be respected, Whether
[327]an employment offer is forthcoming is inconsequential,
[329]John G. Southard
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