I'm Right Again dot com

An Unincorporated Division of The Anonymous Anything Society     July 10, 2013


Exclusive: The Case of the FBI Bomber

This is about two men who told a judge that they bombed a home and a ranch in Tucson in 1968 at the behest of an FBI Agent who wanted to ignite a gang war - and about more than 20 bombings that occurred in Pima County, Arizona beginning in 1968. This may not be the first that you have heard of this issue. I do believe that some of what you are about to read in a multi-part series will include revelations never before addressed.

In 1964, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ordered Special Agent David Olin Hale, who had built somewhat of a reputation as a Mafia mob buster in Los Angeles, to move to Tucson, Arizona and foment a war between two Mafia Dons, Joe Bonanno and Pete Licavoli, both of whom had semi-retired on some of their extensive Arizona holdings. A few bit and pieces have appeared in various media, including an interview on "60 minutes with one of the "Godfather's" sons Salvatore (Bill) Bonnano, who was promoting books about his father and Bill's life in the "Cosa Nostra" (“Our Thing” - as it was once known).

Within a period of five years, Agent Hale was involved in a series of 20 bombings of properties belonging to Bonanno, once Head of the Brooklyn New York gang that still bears his name, or properties belonging to Peter Licavoli, a "Made Man" member of a notorious gang that operated in Tucson and Detroit beginning in prohibition days. Both had second homes in Tucson.

At least half of the population of Pima County, including this writer, wished they had one-hundredth of the foresight and acumen as did the two Dons. Both invested heavily in Tucson.

In 2004, former Agent hale is quoted in an article in the Tucson Daily Star blaming the bombings on a vigilant group and/or the mobsters, who he said had framed him.

There was an early intervention in the affair by then Attorney General of the United States, John "Watergate" Mitchell, Nixon's closest advisor. Two young men Hale had recruited to do the bombing had been arrested by officers of the Arizona Department of Public Safety and had pled guilty to one of the bombings. 

 Agent Hale fled.

 William Smitherman, U.S. Attorney for Southern Arizona, received an order from A.G. Mitchell ordering him to quash any Federal engagement in the matter, saying "This is a matter of National Security."

I can only speculate that J. Edgar Hoover caused this action of Mitchell's to take place. I had sent my initial inquiry of this matter, hoping for material worthy of a broadcast, to J. Edgar Hoover. His response was immediate and succinct. "I cannot interfere in any case under investigation by local authorities." (This should be accompanied with a laugh track or at least sustained sniggering).

Hale's involvement was suddenly revealed by the head of a newly formed Investigative division of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. He followed tips that led to the two young bombers - who then pled guilty to one of the bombings. They implicated Hale who had told them that they were to be Special Agents of the FBI.  One of the two had some minor crimes on his record. He said that Hale told him that if he cooperated, all was to be expunged. When the two pled guilty in Superior Court in Tucson, the judge said that the two "had been led down a primrose path. “

Hale fled. He was never charged with any wrongdoing. The statute of limitations for the bombing has long since run out.

So why now? I've pieces of the story that has never been told. I hope to open the records on the matter - and make it available to the public.

So far, I have not been successful in obtaining an answer from the Justice Department to any of my specific questions regarding the case, because "To do so,” they said, "would lead to personal endangerment of a person or persons."

At the moment, nearly all of the persons named and unnamed in this series have nothing to fear, since in the past 44 years they've been at room temperature? You understand what I'm saying?

I want to ventilate this story before I go to that great broadcasting station in the sky.

 I intend to write about things told to me by Bernard Garmire, a good friend and mentor, who was Chief of Police during much of the time when all of this was going on. He left Tucson to be Chief of Police of Miami, Florida - a definite promotion. While there, David Hale show up at his office, claiming that he was then an Agent for the CIA. Garmine threw Hale out of his office - but still wondered how someone discredited by the FBI could again be working for the government.

..and then, there's a mysterious suicide mixed in this melange. Someone reading this story might shed some light on it.

I am much indebted to John C. Scott, one of the boldest and bravest radio news broadcasts I have known, who brought me this incredible story to my attention, 43 years ago.

Please come back next Wednesday for another installment of "The FBI Bomber."

You can respond by using the link below....

Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller.

ARCHIVES - Our thanks to Jim Bromley of Glendale Arizona for making them available at

 

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