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@ -35,20 +35,23 @@ On September 10, 1976, at Union City, Townley "outlined my DINA mission to assas
Asked by the prosecutor [[Eugene Propper]] and the agent [[Carter Cornick]] where he had been the night before the bombing, Novo said: "That is my trump card. That is the ace up my sleeve." The informant [[Ricardo Morales Navarrete|Ricardo Morales]], then an officer of the Venezuelan [[DISIP]], had planted a story that Bosch was telling associates the "Novo brothers" had killed Letelier. "Bosch is a liar and a traitor to freedom," Novo said.[^1]
An undated memorandum to Contreras from Washington, written after the second Carter-Ford debate of October 1976 and enclosing photocopies of Letelier's diary then in the hands of the *Washington Star* reporter [[Jeremiah O'Leary]], reported: "Some friends from over there tell me again that the FBI reached the conclusion that the perpetrators of the attack on Letelier were 4 members of Brigade 2506, whose names are as follows: Roberto Carvallo, Carlos Pascual, Vicente Vásquez, and Guillermo Novo. They would have been deceived and paid by a Castro agent."[^4]
### Trials
Indicted on August 1, 1978, Novo was tried with Alvin Ross and his brother Ignacio Novo from January 8, 1979. Michael Townley, who had pleaded, testified that DINA "ordered him to secure assistance from the CNM" so as to isolate itself, and that Novo had insisted Townley take part personally. A jailhouse informant, Antonio Polytarides, testified to Novo's admissions. The defense argued that Townley "was in fact an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency which had planned the assassination of Letelier." On February 14, 1979, the jury convicted all three. On March 23 Judge [[Barrington Parker]] sentenced Novo and Ross to concurrent life terms for conspiracy, for killing a foreign official, for the murder of Letelier under District of Columbia law, and for destroying a vehicle in interstate commerce, and a consecutive life term for the murder of Moffitt under District law; the judgment on the third count was vacated on March 27. Novo received five years, concurrent, on each count of false declarations; Ignacio received eight years. Polytarides's evidence was one sentence Novo spoke to him in mid-December 1978, when Polytarides was reporting to a customs agent on gun purchases: "I have been betrayed by some persons in my case, but we will pay them back." On September 15, 1980, the court of appeals reversed under *[[United States v. Henry]]*, decided that June, which barred testimony from informants cultivated by the government among pretrial detainees; Ignacio's conviction fell for want of a separate trial. The government's petition for rehearing was denied on December 9, 1980. Novo, held at [[Leavenworth]], and Ross, at [[Marion, Illinois|Marion]], were moved to Washington for the retrial; Parker refused on December 23, 1980, to hand the case to another judge and let their bail applications lie for weeks. At the retrial of May 1981 the jury acquitted Novo and Ross of the murders and convicted Novo of the false declarations. On June 26, 1981, his lawyer asked that another judge sentence him, since Parker "sentenced this defendant to two life sentences in the first case"; Parker refused and gave him 54 months with credit for the three years served, recommending a minimum-security prison near New York. In October 1981 he was released from federal prison by mistake, officials having confused him with his brother. An FBI informant had reported in January 1978 that he was organizing [[CORU]] cells in Union City "for military action in the U.S. and against the country of Venezuela."[^4][^5]
Indicted on August 1, 1978, Novo was tried with Alvin Ross and his brother Ignacio Novo from January 8, 1979. Michael Townley, who had pleaded, testified that DINA "ordered him to secure assistance from the CNM" so as to isolate itself, and that Novo had insisted Townley take part personally. A jailhouse informant, Antonio Polytarides, testified to Novo's admissions. The defense argued that Townley "was in fact an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency which had planned the assassination of Letelier." On February 14, 1979, the jury convicted all three. On March 23 Judge [[Barrington Parker]] sentenced Novo and Ross to concurrent life terms for conspiracy, for killing a foreign official, for the murder of Letelier under District of Columbia law, and for destroying a vehicle in interstate commerce, and a consecutive life term for the murder of Moffitt under District law; the judgment on the third count was vacated on March 27. Novo received five years, concurrent, on each count of false declarations; Ignacio received eight years. Polytarides's evidence was one sentence Novo spoke to him in mid-December 1978, when Polytarides was reporting to a customs agent on gun purchases: "I have been betrayed by some persons in my case, but we will pay them back." On September 15, 1980, the court of appeals reversed under *[[United States v. Henry]]*, decided that June, which barred testimony from informants cultivated by the government among pretrial detainees; Ignacio's conviction fell for want of a separate trial. The government's petition for rehearing was denied on December 9, 1980. Novo, held at [[Leavenworth]], and Ross, at [[Marion, Illinois|Marion]], were moved to Washington for the retrial; Parker refused on December 23, 1980, to hand the case to another judge and let their bail applications lie for weeks. At the retrial of May 1981 the jury acquitted Novo and Ross of the murders and convicted Novo of the false declarations. On June 26, 1981, his lawyer asked that another judge sentence him, since Parker "sentenced this defendant to two life sentences in the first case"; Parker refused and gave him 54 months with credit for the three years served, recommending a minimum-security prison near New York. In October 1981 he was released from federal prison by mistake, officials having confused him with his brother. An FBI informant had reported in January 1978 that he was organizing [[CORU]] cells in Union City "for military action in the U.S. and against the country of Venezuela."[^5][^6]
### The CIA Defense
Defense counsel told the jury in opening that "the CIA and not the Chilean government masterminded the Letelier assassination." Parker ruled: "I'm not going to let you put the CIA on trial in this case," and barred cross-examination of government witnesses on the subject, so that the prosecutor could ask Senator [[George McGovern]] what Letelier had said to him about the agency ("Nothing that I can recall") while the defense could not follow. The appeal brief rested the theory on "Townley's admissions that he had had several contacts with the CIA," on discovery material showing he "had been interviewed by the CIA and had been given 'operational status,'" on the absence from the agency's folder on Townley of any indication that he had worked for DINA, and on "a CIA front organization" in [[Florida]] said to have "attempted to establish an alibi for Townley on the day of the Letelier assassination." The organization was [[Audio Intelligence Devices]] of John Holcomb in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], where Townley, by his own testimony, spent several hours on the morning of September 21, "signing in and out as was required," while the bomb went off in Washington. The government answered that Townley had twice telephoned the agency's public office in [[Miami]], in 1970 and 1973, and "never did any work whatsoever for the CIA"; that its director of security, [[Robert Gambino]], had testified he did not know whether there were agents in Chile in the early 1970s; and that Audio Intelligence Devices "has never been a 'front,' proprietary, or any other type of sub-organization owing allegiance to the CIA," while quoting a study of freelance operators to the effect that Holcomb "won't talk about any connections he may have to the CIA, but creates the impression that the ties are there, and binding." Newspaper clippings the defense filed to show prejudicial publicity reported that Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[Stanley Pottinger]], and the director of central intelligence, [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], had met to decide how far the agency could help, under "a carefully worded agreement placing the Letelier case in a 'national security' status."[^6][^7]
Defense counsel told the jury in opening that "the CIA and not the Chilean government masterminded the Letelier assassination." Parker ruled: "I'm not going to let you put the CIA on trial in this case," and barred cross-examination of government witnesses on the subject, so that the prosecutor could ask Senator [[George McGovern]] what Letelier had said to him about the agency ("Nothing that I can recall") while the defense could not follow. The appeal brief rested the theory on "Townley's admissions that he had had several contacts with the CIA," on discovery material showing he "had been interviewed by the CIA and had been given 'operational status,'" on the absence from the agency's folder on Townley of any indication that he had worked for DINA, and on "a CIA front organization" in [[Florida]] said to have "attempted to establish an alibi for Townley on the day of the Letelier assassination." The organization was [[Audio Intelligence Devices]] of John Holcomb in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], where Townley, by his own testimony, spent several hours on the morning of September 21, "signing in and out as was required," while the bomb went off in Washington. The government answered that Townley had twice telephoned the agency's public office in [[Miami]], in 1970 and 1973, and "never did any work whatsoever for the CIA"; that its director of security, [[Robert Gambino]], had testified he did not know whether there were agents in Chile in the early 1970s; and that Audio Intelligence Devices "has never been a 'front,' proprietary, or any other type of sub-organization owing allegiance to the CIA," while quoting a study of freelance operators to the effect that Holcomb "won't talk about any connections he may have to the CIA, but creates the impression that the ties are there, and binding." Newspaper clippings the defense filed to show prejudicial publicity reported that Propper, Assistant Attorney General [[Stanley Pottinger]], and the director of central intelligence, [[George H.W. Bush|George Bush]], had met to decide how far the agency could help, under "a carefully worded agreement placing the Letelier case in a 'national security' status."[^7][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Branch, Taylor, and Eugene M. Propper. *Labyrinth*. Viking, 1982, pp. 101-108.
[^2]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 9-21, 147-152, 240.
[^3]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* tomo 2, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991-2.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, CNI ficha on Guillermo Novo Sampol; declaración of Admiral McIntyre, 1978; Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78 (fiscal Héctor Orozco), as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, declaración of Michael Vernon Townley Welch, March 29, 1978.
[^4]: *United States v. Sampol,* 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
[^5]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami, file 2-471, "CORU," August 16, 1978. National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 153, document 13. "Wrong Man Freed in Letelier Case," *Washington Post,* October 21, 1981, as summarized.
[^6]: Brief for Appellants, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-appeal.pdf, points on cross-examination and discovery, citing trial transcript pp. 1233, 1262, 1348-1360, 1474, 4657-4668, 5019, 5061; Brief for Appellee, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-brief-appellee.pdf, citing trial transcript pp. 1584-1590, 4995, 5024-5031, and footnote 72; Motion for change of venue, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with newspaper clippings attached as exhibits, legible only in fragments, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-venue.pdf.
[^7]: Petition of the United States for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., October 29, 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-rehearing.pdf, footnote 4; Transcript of sentencing, *United States v. Guillermo Novo Sampol,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., June 26, 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-novo-sentence.pdf; Motion for bail and for reassignment, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-bail.pdf; Motion for bail, defendant Alvin Ross Diaz, Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-alvin-bail.pdf; Orders of transfer, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., August 1978 and 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-transfer-2.pdf and Letelier-transfer.pdf.
[^4]: Fiscalía Militar Ad-Hoc, Santiago, causa 192-78, as reproduced in *Proceso contra Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda y Pedro Espinoza Bravo,* ministro instructor Adolfo Bañados, tomo 1, scan at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Causa-Contreras-Espinoza-1991.pdf. Quotations translated from the Spanish, memorandum "Caso Letelier" to Colonel Manuel Contreras, signature read as Gregorio Amunátegui, undated.
[^5]: *United States v. Sampol,* 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
[^6]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami, file 2-471, "CORU," August 16, 1978. National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book 153, document 13. "Wrong Man Freed in Letelier Case," *Washington Post,* October 21, 1981, as summarized.
[^7]: Brief for Appellants, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-appeal.pdf, points on cross-examination and discovery, citing trial transcript pp. 1233, 1262, 1348-1360, 1474, 4657-4668, 5019, 5061; Brief for Appellee, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-brief-appellee.pdf, citing trial transcript pp. 1584-1590, 4995, 5024-5031, and footnote 72; Motion for change of venue, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with newspaper clippings attached as exhibits, legible only in fragments, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-venue.pdf.
[^8]: Petition of the United States for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., October 29, 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-rehearing.pdf, footnote 4; Transcript of sentencing, *United States v. Guillermo Novo Sampol,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., June 26, 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-novo-sentence.pdf; Motion for bail and for reassignment, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., 1981), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-bail.pdf; Motion for bail, defendant Alvin Ross Diaz, Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-alvin-bail.pdf; Orders of transfer, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C., August 1978 and 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-transfer-2.pdf and Letelier-transfer.pdf.