RELEASE OF PUEBLO CREW MAY BE NEAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220076-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 16, 2004
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: October 22, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2004/02/09 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220076-9
The Washington Merry-Go-Round
THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, Oct. 22, 1968 B Ii
Release of Pueblo'
Crew May Be Near
By Drew Pearson
and Jack Anderson.
It's not entirely nailed
down, but it looks as if an
agreement to release the 82
crewmen of the USS Pueblo
might be just around the
corner.
Negotiations have been
progressing by which North
Korea would release the men
in return for some kind of an
American apology, and there
has been a lot of diplomatic
haggling over the wording of
the apology.
The United States has never
admitted that the Pueblo was
in North Korean waters, and
at first was convinced that It
was not. ? However, the com-
mander of the vessel and
members of the crew, having
given public statements to the
contrary, the Defense Depart-
ment Is willing to concede
that Its original information
could have been wrong.
Mother-in-Law Worries
The more you look into the
record of shipping magnate
Aristotle Onassis, the better
you can understand why the
Kennedy family is privately
-upset. Rose Kennedy, Jack-
ie's mother-in-law, is the most
upset, but none of the family
is enthusiastic.
The chief blot on Onassis's
record dates back to a phony
shipping deal in which he pur-
chased American ships and
then placed them -under for-
this?b?e? was criminally Indicted
and only managed to get out
of the indictment through a
fortuitous political circum-
stance.
Onassis put the deal across
by involving some important
Americans as, window dress-
ing, namely Admiral "Bull"
Halsey, hero of the Pacific-
former Rep. Joe Casey of Mas-
sachusetts; the late Edward
Stettinius, former Secretary of
State; and the late Brig. Gen.
Julius Holmes, former head
aide to Gen. Eisenhower In
North Africa and a career am-
bassador. Holmes was also the
son-in-law of the late Gov.
Henry Allen of Kansas.
With this glittering Ameri-
can front, Onassis maneuvered
to secure 14 U.S. built ships.
The Truman Administration
investigated, and the Eisen-
hower Administration Inher-
ited the probe. The latter in-
dicted both Onassis and some
of his American partners on
the criminal charge of conspir-
ing to deceive and defraud the
United States. At that time
Herbert Brownell was Attor-
ney General. This was what
eventually got Onassis off the
criminal hook.
For it so happened that
Brownell, when a senior part-
ner of the law firm of Lord,
Day and Lord, had been Onas.
sis's attorney and had -advised
him that it was legal for him
to set ug these dummy corpo-1
However, the Justice De-
corporatioft tax payable in the
years earned.
Of course Onassis is not
alone in taking advantage of
the Panamanian tax dodge.
The worst offender In using
foreign flagships is Standard
Oil of New Jersey, a Rockefel-
ler corporation which operates
approximately 11$ tankers
under foreign flags. This is
donee through 17 foreign sub-
sidiaries wholly owned or con-
trolled by Standard Oil of
New Jersey.
But part of Onassis's ship-
ping combine Is Victory Car-
riers Inc., controlled by his
two children and his first wife.
The two children were born in
New York and are American
citizens and even though mi-
nors own the Victory Carriers
corporation. Their stock, how-
ever, has been controlled by
the Grace. National Bank as
trustee.
The corporation undertook
to build four tankers to be
added to the U.S. merchant
fleet as part of the deal Onas-
sfs worked out with the Eisen-
hower Administration. The
U.S. Government put up .$28
million of mortgage money to
help build two of the tankers,
the S.S. Monticello Victory
and the S.S. Montpelier Vic-
tory, both delivered to Onassis
in the early 1960s. He had
great difficulty, however, put-
ting up the required working
capital to operate the vessels
and this has been under inter-
mittent fire in the Maritime
Commission.
5 1968, Bell-McClure syndicate, Inc.
eign registry, which was I partment later, when Brownell I earned by American flagships
clearly against the law. For l was boss, ruled t o t h e e- are subject to a 38 per cent
trary, that this was a criminal
offense. It's probable that
Brownell did not know what
his vigilant Assistant Attorney
General Warren Olney III,
.then chief of the Criminal Di-
vision, was up to, but it is
doubtful that Olney would
have. been deterred In any
event. Olney had served as
chief of the California Crime
Commission under Gov. Earl
Warren and was not deterred
easily.
At any rate, to get out of
the embarrassment -in which
both Attorney General Brow-
nell and Onassis found them-
selves, a compromise was ar-
ranged by which Onassis paid
$million to Uncle. Sam In-
stead of standing trial.. Onassis
described it as a "ransom."
Tax-Free Fleet
Onassis has operated one of
the largest tanker fleets in the
world through a Panamanian
corporation, the Olympic Line.
He also has a fleet of dry-
cargo vessels under the is'ana-
mania?n flag, plus another
fleet under the Honduran flag
and one or two ships under
the Norwegian flag.
Onassis himself has long
been an Argentine resident
and as such escaped paying
personal taxes either in
Greece or New York. Further
more, dollars owed under the
Panamanian flag are almost
100 per cent tax free and can
be sent anywhere in the allied
world. In contrast, dollars
Approved For Release 2004/02/09 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220076-9