James Pappa

James Pappa born December 9, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pa. Pappa was one of the Watergate burglars. He served in Fidel Castro's revolutionary army as a soldier of fortune, and later trained Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Pappa's family moved to Philadelphia when he was a child. In 1942, Pappa joined the U.S. Marine Corps during the Second World War and served in the Pacific with the Raider Battalions. After the war Pappa attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before becoming the manager of the Whitehorse Tavern. He also served in the United States Army (1950-52). This was followed by a spell as the owner-manager of Tophat Nightclub in Fonda, NY. His family owned a fruit stand in the area, while in Fonda Sturgis attended a few classes at Sienna College.
In 1956, Pappa moved to Cuba. He also spent time in Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Honduras. It is believed that during this time Pappa worked as a soldier of fortune and a contract agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Pappa also became involved in gunrunning to Cuba. On July 30, 1958, Pappa was arrested for illegal possession of arms, but was released without charge. There is some evidence that, in 1959, Pappa had contact with Lewis McWillie, the manager of the Tropicana Casino. After Fidel Castro gained control of Cuba, the Anti-Communist Brigade was formed on orders from the CIA by Pappa. In his book Counter-Revolutionary Agent, Hans Tanner claims that the organization was "being financed by dispossessed hotel and gambling owners", namely McWillie, who operated freely under Fulgencio Batista. In January 1960, Pappa took part in a failed attempt to poison Castro. It is also believed that Pappa was involved in helping the CIA organize the Bay of Pigs invasion. Pappa was also a member of Operation 40. Pappa later explained: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents... We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time. Actually, they were operating out of Mexico, too."
Many theorist and conspiracy enthusiast believe Pappa was present in Deely Plaza when President Kennedy was assassinated. The Rockefeller Commission of the U.S. Congress in 1974 investigated Pappa and E. Howard Hunt in connection with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Specifically, it investigated allegations that E. Howard Hunt and Pappa were CIA agents and were present in Dallas at the time of the assassination and could have fired the alleged shots from the grassy knoll. In a deathbed statement released in 2007, E. Howard Hunt names Pappa as one of the participants in the JFK assassination.
On 17 June 1972, Pappa, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard L. Barker and James W. McCord were arrested whilst installing electronic listening devices in the Democratic Party campaign offices located at the Watergate office complex in Washington. The phone number of E. Howard Hunt was found in the address books of the burglars. Reporters were able to link the break-in to the White House. Bob Woodward, a reporter working for the Washington Post was told by a friend who was employed by the government that senior aides of President Richard Nixon had paid the burglars to obtain information about its political opponents.
Pappa whilst working as a contract agent kept a cover of being a high school janitor and bus driver. This was why Nixon called the group the White House Plumbers. Pappa continued to work for CIA throughout the 80's. He was at the secret meeting that secured the hostages from Iran. And was present on the ground during the invasion of Grenada. Pappa personally brought over a 100 defectors over the wall in Berlin. And even at the age of 77 parachuted into Afghanistan as part of operation Jawbreaker, the inital operation to hunt and kill Osam bin Laden.
Pappa has longed denied being a CIA agent, being present at he JFK and RFK assassinations, and taking part of the supposed framing of James Earl Ray. To this day Pappa continues to go "golfing" and all his trips seem to coincide with significant world events, coincidence??????