Home/ Resources / Projects / CIA Cryptonyms / bigram: AM / cryptonym: AMTEE-1

Cryptonym: AMTEE-1

Return to Main Crypts Page

Definition:
Unknown identity. AMTEE-1 was JMWAVE's contact with Raul F. Herrero Morales. AMTEE-1 was also a contact of Captain Edwin P. Le May, a Miami yacht broker.
Status:
Unknown
Discussion:
Raul F. Herrero Morales presented a plan to JMWAVE in July 1961 that proposed, among other things, the physical elimination of Fidel Castro. It was apparently turned down by the CIA in Miami. Also, Captain Edwin Le May may possibly have been acquainted with Mike McLaney, who ran the casino at the Hotel Nacional in Havana before the Cuban Revolution. Edwin Le May was in contact with AMTEE-1 in 1961.
Sources:

104-10269-10073: DISPATCH: TRANSMITTAL OF OPERATIONAL PLAN

07/25/61: Dispatch from Chief of Base, JMWAVE to Chief, WHD: "1. Transmitted herewith is an operational plan presented to Base WAVE by Raul F. Herrero Morales, Member of the Executive Board, Frente Revolucionario Jose A. Echevarria. 2. WAVE's contact with Herrero is through AMTEE-1. AMTEE-1 is out of town at the present. Upon his return WAVE will instruct AMTEE-1 to inform Herrero we cannot help him."

104-10169-10165: CABLE: ON 20 JULY WAVE IN CONTACT WITH GARCIA, SUBJ OF REF

07/29/61: Cable from JMWAVE to Director (Zamka acting): Page 2: ..."5. Garcia says his function in Duque org is limited to operations, security and propaganda. A letter to Mr. Paul Bethel, local USIA rep, from a Captain Edwin P. Le May, a local yacht broker, characterizes Garcia as an opportunist and a Batista man who is pushing Duque into the limelight for his own personal ends. 6. Le May letter states that Garcia organized the sin for Batista in 1933. This confirmed by PRQ info given WAVE by Garcia who states he was in the Cuban Army from 1935 to 45 for this purpose. Le May also states that Garcia employed by ODOATH (U.S. Navy) intel service at GTMO and a business partner of Batista. 7. WAVE traces Le May reveal he yacht broker in touch with AMTEE-1 and AMCASK-1. Local FBI races requested. Copy of Le May letter sent to Mr. William McHale of Senator Smathers office by Le May. Tone of letter suggests that Le May is contact between Duque group and U.S. thru Bethel..."

124-90154-10197: FBI INTERVIEW

11/23/62: FBI interview of Captain Edwin Le May by SA Paul A. Scranton on 11/19/62: "Captain Edwin P. Le May, 530 Biscayne Boulevard, advised he was a General Ship Agent and is head of the firm Captain Edwin P. LeMay and Associates at the same address. He advised he is intimately acquainted with the affairs of the vessel 'WAPPEN VON HAMBURG. aka EMPRESS OF BAHAMAS' as he had been ship agent for the charterers of this vessel until November 16, 1962, and is still acting as ship agent for the German owners of the vessel..." Page 2: ..."He advised that one person who was interested in a gambling operation aboard the ship was Mike McLaney, who had formerly run the Casino at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba, and who had also run the casino on Cat Cay for Roland McCann. He said McLaney had the reputation for being an honest gambler and of refusing to do business with any gangsters or hoodlums..."

124-90154-10197: FBI INTERVIEW

12/03/62: FBI interview of Captain Edwin Le May by SA Paul A. Scranton on 11/29/62: ...."Le May stated that in connection with the proposed gambling venture aboard the ship that the names of Santo Trafficante and Meyer and Jake Lansky have come up. He advised that about five days previously he had been aboard the vessel and had noticed the Captain with a group of about five men whom he did not know. During this visit he overheard a crew member state that Lansky was taking the Captain out to lunch and had heard another crew member say that Meyer was with Derber. Le May stated he assumed from this that the people aboard ship visiting the Captain were Meyer and Jake Lansky, but that he did not know this for fact. Le May stated he had heard also that Santo Trafficante was to 'bankroll' the gambling operation for the ship. Le May stated he had talked with Captain Rolf Heese of the 'WAPPEN VON HAMBURG' about rumors that 'gangsters and hoodlums' were interested in the gambling aboard ship and Le May said the Captain also advised Le May that multi-millionaire Huntington Hartford had just completed a trip aboard the vessel as a special guest. Le May stated he had advised the Captain to be very careful in his dealings aboard ship so that the ship would not run into difficultly with government enforcement agencies. Le May stated he had learned that a slot machine concession-aire by the name of Stein was trying to get the concession for slot machines aboard the vessel but that he did not succeed. Le May also stated that Mike McLaney had been approached to handle the gambling aboard the vessel but that no definite plans had been completed as of this time...Le May stated he had also learned from Kelly that a Dr. Santiago, who is a Cuban married to a Venezuelan woman and is connected with a bank on Miami Beach, has some connection with the financing of the vessel."

104-10308-10129: FRENTE REVOLUCIONARIO DEMOCRATICO (DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTIONARY FRONT).

02/00/77: Memo for the record from Researcher, Barbara Boyle, LAD/JFK Task Force: "1. Description: A Cuban exile revolutionary group. 2. Findings: UFGA 1933 dated 24 July 1961: A dispatch to Headquarters from JMWAVE Chief of Base, transmitting an operational plan presented to WAVE Base by Raul F. Herrero Morales, Member of the Executive Board, Frente Revolucionario Jose A. Echevarria. WAVE Base contact with Herrero was via AMTEE-1. AMTEE-1 was instructed to tell Herrero that the Agency could not help him. The plan called for the physical elimination of Fidel Castro, several members of the Cuban Communist Party, the Soviet Ambassador in Cuba, a few members of the Minister's Council and some other 2000 persons connected with the Communist Party or Cuban Government."

Contributors:
Gavin McDonald

© Mary Ferrell Foundation. All Rights Reserved. |Site Map |MFF Policies |Contact Us