1 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: We've reached the halfway point in the series, and we'll 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: be back with a new episode next Wednesday. Today, we 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: wanted to share a bonus mini episode, Smoking Out Castro 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: for I Heart Radio. This is Operation Midnight Climax. I'm 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:32,959 Speaker 1: your host, Noel Brown. George White's adventures and LSD experimentation 6 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: had serious consequences for national security. If he was successful 7 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: in proving LSD could be used as a bioweapon, it 8 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: could change the intelligence game forever. The end goal was 9 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: always to be one step ahead of the nation's enemies, 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: and for a time it seemed like LSD would be 11 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: the solution to America's problem with Fidel Castro. But White 12 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: was occupied with espionage of his own, which will hear 13 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: about an upcoming episodes, and so Sidney Gottlieb and the 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: CIA mounted a campaign involving acid and other drugs designed 15 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: to topple the Castro regime. Actually killing Castro, however, was 16 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: another matter. Entirely to do it, Gottlieb would think about 17 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: poison cigars, homicidal mistresses, and exploding seashells. If you don't 18 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: know a lot about Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro, you probably 19 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: know his iconography, green fatigues, a forest of a beard, 20 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: an ever present cigar clamped between his teeth. From the 21 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: time he seized power in nineteen fifty nine, he was 22 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: the most worrisome kind of communist for the CIA, Powerful, charismatic, and, 23 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: at least in his native Cuba, revered. He was a firebrand, 24 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: a symbol of defiance. In short, he had to go. 25 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: That realization brought about years of increasingly bizarre assassination attempts 26 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: on the part of the CIA. One of Gottlieb's earliest 27 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: plans was to dip cigars in a lethal poison and 28 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: slip the fatal stokeies to Castro. The poison was the 29 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: easy part. Gottlieb had chemists working like Santa's elves on 30 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: a variety of dangerous chemicals, including baculinum toxin, the same 31 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: kind of neurotoxic protein found in spoiled canned goods and 32 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: the faces of aging entertainers. But gottli wasn't looking to 33 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: improve Castro's looks. Inhaled, the toxin would cause difficulty breathing, paralysis, 34 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: and death of Castro and maybe communism itself. The hard 35 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: part was getting a deadly cigar into his hands. To 36 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: accomplish that, the CIA turned to experts in the matter 37 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: of international criminality. They met with the Mafia. A CIA 38 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: memo uncovered years later described quote a sensitive mission requiring 39 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: gangster type action end quote. With the approval of CIA 40 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: director Alan Dulles, the agency paid Mafia member Johnny Roselli 41 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in nineteen sixty to 42 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: arrange for Castro's death. The mob had a personal score 43 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: to settle with Castro, who had seized mafia properties in Cuba. 44 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: Roselli enlisted fellow organized crime figure Santos Traficante. The CIA 45 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: then delivered baculinum pills and some dosed cigars to Trafficante, 46 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: who passed them along to a man named Jorge Orta, 47 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: who worked on Castro's executive staff and was a cooperative 48 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: co conspirator or to like to gamble and owe the 49 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: mob of debt. This was how he'd repay it. The 50 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: CIA held their collective breath, waiting to hear whether Orta 51 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: had succeeded in poisoning Castro. Not long after, reports out 52 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: of Cuba said Castro had suddenly fallen ill. This was it. 53 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: The US stood ready to send troops into the country, 54 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: but Castro recovered. If he had been poisoned, it wasn't enough. 55 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: More likely, Orta was more scared of Castro than the mafia, 56 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: and he couldn't bring himself to do it. The illness 57 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: was likely a coincidence. Roselli had a plan B. He 58 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: got more of the pills and used Dr Manuel Antonio 59 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: de Verona, leader of the anti Castro Democratic Revolutionary Front. 60 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: Verona passed them on to a waitress who worked at 61 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: a restaurant Castro loved. The idea was that he'd get 62 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: some very poor service in the form of a deadly 63 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: toxin mixed into his milkshake or ice cream. Accounts very 64 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: on what happened next. It's possible Castro suddenly stopped visiting 65 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: the business and the pill is when unused. Other declassified 66 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: documents state that the poison pills had been hidden in 67 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: a freezer and broke open, rendering them useless either way. 68 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: Following the disastrous Bay of Pigs fiasco in nine, when 69 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: Castro's forces beat back CIA funded exiles, Verona wanted out 70 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: of the scheme entirely. Goli wasn't about to give up. 71 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: The CIA's plans grew bolder. During intelligence meetings, the agency 72 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: discussed something other than assassination. What if Castro could be humiliated. 73 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,799 Speaker 1: The leader often gave rousing speeches. Maybe a cigar dipped 74 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: an LSD would cause him to lose his mind in public, 75 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: shaking their confidence. Then the CIA had an even better 76 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: idea Castro broadcast some of his speeches from a radio station. 77 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: A plot was hatched to deliver an aerosolized version of 78 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: l s D to directly into the broadcast booth in Havana, 79 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: with Castro inhaling the odorless hallucinogen. If Castro started tripping 80 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: on national radio, he'd be discredited on you know. But 81 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: the CIA could never figure out how to enact the plot. 82 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: Getting to Castro was always the problem. Then they discovered 83 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: he'd soon be in New York City to visit the 84 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:47,239 Speaker 1: United Nations. They began mulling over thallium salt, a deadly 85 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: substance once he used in rat poisons. They didn't necessarily 86 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: want him to ingest it. Once exposed to his skin, 87 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: it would force Castro's iconic beard to fall out as 88 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: though he were Samson, and his facial air gave him 89 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: his powers the CIA planned to spread the thallium over 90 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: his shoes and nightstand at a New York City hotel, 91 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: but the trip was canceled. There was another idea to 92 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: construct a fountain pen with a deadly tip that one 93 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: got as far as being given to a CIA contact 94 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: named Rolando Cubella that same day. In nineteen sixty three, 95 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Cubella lost his nerve. 96 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: The CIA looked at Castro's habits. He liked to go diving, 97 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: so a scuba suit and breathing apparatus contaminated with tuberculosis 98 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: and a deadly fungus was designed. The CIA believed that 99 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: could offer the scuba suit as a gift to Castro 100 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: when negotiating for the release of prisoners in the Bay 101 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: of Pigs Aftermath. When that proved difficult, the CIA started 102 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: looking into exploding seashells. If the CIA could find one 103 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: so spectacular, so beautiful that Castro would have to pay 104 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: get up then It never happened, but the CIA did 105 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: eventually find someone to get close enough to Castro to 106 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: expose into the CIA's chemical ingenuity. They recruited a woman 107 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: named Marita lorenz A lover of Castro's who intended to 108 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: slip poison into his drink. She hid the poison and 109 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: a container of cold cream, but had trouble fishing it out, 110 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: which made Castro suspicious. Castro began questioning her and then 111 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: handed her a gun to use instead. He told her 112 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: that no one could kill him, and well he wasn't wrong. 113 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: Years after the fact, a CIA agent who kept one 114 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: of the botulinum talks and cigars brought it out of 115 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: storage to test its remaining potency. It was still lethal 116 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: even to the touch. But what got even the CIA 117 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: learned was that it didn't matter how dangerous the weapon 118 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: was if he didn't have the right person for the job. 119 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: Maybe all they were missing was George White. A happy 120 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,439 Speaker 1: and healthy Castro busied himself allowing the Soviet Union to 121 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 1: build nuclear testing sites in Cuba, leading to a standoff 122 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: between the US and Russia that flirted with war. He 123 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: accused the United States of sabotage in Cuba's crops and 124 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: introducing dangay fever to its population, claiming it was biological warfare. 125 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: He went on to rattle the nerves of eleven U 126 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: S presidents, reigning for nearly fifty years before old age 127 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: began to mimic the effects of the CIA's plans. The 128 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: speeches became less coherent. He passed away in twenty six 129 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: of what one assumes were natural causes. During his life, 130 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: Castro was not only aware of the CIA's foiled plots, 131 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: he was delighted by them. He ordered a Havana museum 132 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: to create exhibits about the failed attempts. Their Cubans could 133 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: visit and get a tour of the CIA's inability to 134 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: eliminate their target. Castro thought there were over six hundred 135 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: attempts on his life, roughly thirty by the CIA. In 136 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: sent an investigation, the CIA swore it had only been 137 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: five or six. No matter how many times he tried. 138 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: Sidney Gottlieb never got his man. As it turns out, 139 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: he was more effective and hastening the demise of the 140 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: CIA's own employees, and that would make George White's life 141 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: very difficult. Indeed, that's next time on Operation Midnight climax 142 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:01,079 Speaker 1: S