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QJWIN/ZRRIFLE: CIA Assassins
“Please inform [Jose Marie Andre] Mankel he should proceed [to] Leopoldville as soon as shots completed. Not necessary [to] have Congo visa. Should go [to] Paris and take Air France flight to Brazzaville and can obtain visa for Brazzaville in Paris.”
CIA Cable, November 5, 1960
“These financial memoranda are certainly quite consistent with a plan to use QJWIN for a one-shot assassination attempt in the Belgian Congo.” - Summary of Memorandum, dated January 31, 1961 for Chief, Accounts Branch, Finance Division, from Justin E. O’Donnell, Subject: Payments to QJWIN
“In this attachment there are two references, however, which may be somewhat disturbing: One candidate is stated to be ‘willing to use gun’; the second ‘wanted to know if he should be armed for job—ready to go to the end.” -Summary of Memorandum dated July 3, 1962, WKH [William K. Harvey], re: ZRRIFLE
ZRRIFLE Name Traces/Personality Sketches:
“Included under tab M is a dossier of one Harold Meltzer, a resident of Los Angeles, with a long criminal record. This is the first instance in which I have noted a U.S. citizen under consideration for any recruitment with respect to the ZRRIFLE project.”
“Under tab T, information on Orlando Portale, an Italian citizen residing in Detroit, is included.”
“At tab Y is a page of information on one Hanna Yazbeck. The report states, ‘He often heads up a hatchet squad when disputes arise between the Moslem and Christian underworld factions in Beirut.’ The second paragraph of this page reads as follows: ‘During the period I was in Europe (1950-1958), his chief bodyguard was a convicted murderer who owed his release from prison to Yazbeck’s power. This bodyguard has since been murdered, but Yazbeck has an available pool of assassins.”
