NEW YORK PREPARES TO EXHUME A BODY IN CIA' S HUGEL CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404000014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2010
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: July 31, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/08 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404000014-0
1 ` ~ ','r:.LL ~1':Z`~s1' JO`Ja';ai.
31 Jul~,T 1.9~;?
STAT
.t crew work ~'re~~res
~o .:exhume a .Body
.In ~~A's .~'ugel base
* ~r ~r
~octorSaysBrotherof accusers
Of `Spymaster' Died From
Severe Cirrhosis of Liver
By PAUL BtUSTEt~7
StaJJ Reporter of Txaw~u.i.STnssrJooxret
NEW YORK --Authorities. in Queens
County said. they are taking': preliminary
steps to exhume the body of Dennis McNell,
the 42-year-old brother of two men who re-
cently disappeared after accusing the Cen-
tral Intelligence Age~~cy's "spymaster" of
wrongdoing.
"The slightest scratch from any foal ;
~ could open up bleeding in his esophagus."
' Dr. Plokamakis said. "He was a .man who
was going to die."
Before his death, bir. bic:Yell worked
' with his two brothers, Samuel and Thomas,
in the downtown tifanhattan office of Triad
energy Corp., of which Samuel was. presi-
dent. r1s reportad, Triad and another con-
cern controlled by the Mcivells are missing
over $3 million in assets, and both Samuel
and Thomas vanished after the Washington
Post's July~14 article on tilt. Hugel.
1~ir. 'Hugel has denied the Aic~vells'
charges, published in the Post, of financial
misconduct: But his wife said he would de-
cline ~ comment for the time being on the
matter of the missing blcNeIls and their i
dead brother.
The Queens distrct attorney's office said i
yesterday, in response to questions, that it ~
has received a request from the New York
me~iicaI examiner's office to exhume Dennis
AicNell's body, .and. that contact has been
made with the attorney ~genera1 ~ L-t Aiaine,
where Air. McNelI is buried, to look into.the
procedural steps that would be required.
The D.A.'s office indicated that it is
awaze of bir.:+IcYell's cirrhosis by caution-
ingreporters that "other health factors may
Ihave been a factor in Lie.death." Those
~ other factors weren't disclosed.
i Even if an exhumation shows that bir.
;.icNell's spleen had ruptured, that wouldn't
prove that he had been beaten because his
cirrhosis might have led to the rupture. But
given the mystery surrounding Mr. Matiell's
death, the Queens authorities have little
choice but to proceed with an investigation.
' The Tribune's copyrighted story quoted a
Triad director, Stanley Ivelmar, as saying
that he had told the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation that. he heard that Mr. AicNell
had been "abducted and beaten" before his
death. But Mr. Kleiman said Wednesday
that he couldn't remember who had told him
that. - ~ -
Yesterday, a friend of the Aic.'Yells.
Thomas Walsh, told The 1YaI1 Street Journal
that Dennis AicYell had told him that he had
indeed been beaten several times in recent
months. ..
Mr. Walsh, an oceanographer who is also
a Triad director. said that Dennis Aic*1'elI
had owned a bar in a tough Queens neigh- ,
borhood. "He had been beaten up in :.o.~:e
fights in his bar," Air. Walsh said. "He felt
it was part of the business."
The investigation into Mr. McNeil's 3eath
follows a report in 1Yednesday's Chicago
Trib~me suggesting that there was reason to
suspect foul play in bir. tiicNell's death June I
1. The death occurred just a week after bir.
bicNell's two brothers first contacted the
Washington Post with allegations concerning
financial improprieties by Max C. Hugel, the
CIA's director of operations. The Post's sub-
segt:ent article on July 14 led to bir. Hugel's
resignation.
But the doctor whb treated bir. AicNeli
and pronounced him dead told The WaII
Street Journal that tilt. McNell suffered
from severe cirrhosis of the liner gad that
~ he had been "living on borrowed time."
' Air. McNell collapsed with severe abdom- I
anal pains May 31 and was taken to Elm-
hurst General Hospital in Queens after par- i
amedics detected a sharp drop in his blood
pressure, indicating massive internal bleed-
ing. The Tribune reported that his widow.
Jean, was told by doctors that her husbands
spleen might have ruptured.
A ruptured spleen, .the Tribune noted, is ,
often associated with:"trauma," or Injury,
such as might be sustained is ,beating.
But Dr Afichae4 Plokamakir, who treated
Air. McNell at Elmhurst General, said that
Mr. AlcNell's liver had practically ceased
functioning as a result of cirrhosis and
hepatitis. Therefore; he said, the liver wasn't
making proteins needed to halt the sort of
hemorrhage that had apparently stazted in
his abdomen. ; ?
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/08 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404000014-0