FBI PROBES DEATH IN SPYMASTER CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060021-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: July 30, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

I
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060021-9
,A-TILE APPEARED CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ON FAGS 30 July 1981
1987 Chicago Thhx+e.'
Crrcago Via" Hw seMOe
-
~i
NEW'YORK -,1t was around Easter-
time that Dennis McNeil took his 36-year-
old son into an upstairs bedroom and gave,
him. several thousand dollars in, 'emer
gency money" - ' just in case
Six weeks later -McNeil, '41, returned
home from jogging in crippling pain. He
was hospitalized but died 10 hours later
from massive internal bleeding. No exact
cause of death was given, and, oddly, no
autopsy. was performed.:':- , .
When he died June 1; Dennis McNeil
was an obscure, not prosperous New
York businessman. No New York news-
paper carried his obituary. By this week, the mystery of McNell's
death had become a factor in.the unfold-,
ing story surrounding Max Hugel, the
CIA's former chief ,spymaster and top
.aide to CIA Director. William Casey.
AN-FBI SPOKESMAN said Tuesday
that FBI Director William Webster was
getting regular reports.on the bureau's
probe of McNeil's death. The Senate In-
telligence Committee, which is looking
into Casey's affairs, was known to have
beard that McNeil died violently.
McNeil's widow, Jean, told.The Trib-
une that her husband had been acting
strangely in the six months before his
death. Twelve hours after that interview,
the FBI contacted Mrs. McNeil, and she
abruptly canceled a follow-up interview.
The reason for the posthumous interest
in McNeil is his link to Hugel, the flam-
boyant sewing machine importer whom
Casey appointed to be chief of the CIA's
clandestine -service.'
McNeil's sudden death June 1 came
one week after his two brothers, Samuel
and Thomas, first contacted the Washing-
ton Post to accuse Hugel of joining them
in an illegal .stock manipulation deal in
1974. .
THE ACCUSATIONS, when published
two weeks ago, led to Hugel's -immediate
resignation. He denied the charges, how-
ever, and said the McNells were trying to
blackmail him.
The two surviving McNeil brothers
vanished two weeks ago. Directors of
Triad Energy Corp., a New York firm
controlled by the brothers, said about $3.3
million was missing from Triad and a
second firm they ran.
One of the : Triad ' directors; a` Chicago
businessman named Stanley 'Kielmar,
then told the FBI that. Dennis. McNeil;
who also worked. for. Triad, was "ab-
ducted, and beaten"..twice this year, once
.in April or May and a second time just
before his death.. .:`
' Kielmar,. irk hi,?'statement to_the FBI,
said he "assumed" the alleged beatings
were connected lo the brothers' dealings
with. Hugel, and he interpreted them as
"a warning for the McNells to cool it with
ugel.":.
Kielmar, in an interview with The Trib-
ne, said he had beard from someone in
New York of the two beatings of Dennis
jMcNell but was unable to give his source.
As far as is known,.there are no police or
hospital records to corroborate his story, -
nor is there any independent evidence
plinking the death to Hugel. ;
HOWEVER, WILEY THOMPSON, an
FBI spokesman, said the FBI's probe of
the Hugel-McNell case had been broad-
ened in the last five days to include the
death of Dennis McNeil.
Thompson said the scrutiny of Dennis
McNeil's death was still in the -prelimi-
nary stages;" but that the overall investi-
gation of the McNeil brothers was "going
to be. very, detailed."
Mrs. McNeil told The Tribune that her -
husband had never indicated to her that
he had been beaten,-even on'the night he
died, but she said she noticed changes in
her husband's behavior about six months
ago.
,. "Ali during our marriage, my husband
would confide in. - me," she said, "but
during the last six,months, he just sort of
clammed up: Whenever I asked him what
was wrong, .he would say everything was
OK, --not to worry Y
~. ,
'Mrs. McNeil said she always had paid
household bills- out of a joint checking
account, but then her husband. started
paying the bills himself, otfen using
money orders.
"HE REALLY seemed to care a lot
that everything be paid up," she said. "It
was like he wanted to wipe everything
clean."
She said that nearEasthttime,-her hus-
band took their son upstairs for an unusu-
- al talk
nothing. to worry about," Mrs. McNeil
Dennis then-gave'bis son an envelope
cy money" and told'hin to give it to. his
:After Dennis' -death;:the son gave the
THE FAMILY LAST ate a meal ?d-
Igether the evening of May 31',in tots'
'jog-'
McNeil said, her husband went out
,Bing,-a frequent recreation: -
. years from diabetes bpt had the disease
under control and,'on that evening, appa-:
rently felt fine, but within an hour, he
returned home violently W. He collapsed
on his -bed, then was seized with the "drj
heaves" and excruciating, abdominal,
..pains.- ;' ? ?- .
She said he :insisted that she not call a
doctor or- ambulance. After a half hour;.
however; she called his brother Tom :at
her husband's request, and the brother
told her to call -an ambulance.
.When the ,ambulance and paramedics'
arrived, Dennis protested loudly that he
did not want to go to a hospital, she said,
but the paramedics .found he had ? ex=
tremely low blood pressure, apparently
from internal bleeding, and he was
rushed to. the City Hospital Center, a
large.and,.modern city-owned hospital a'
..toile away: `....: ? w -
Doctors worked through- the 'night,o:i .
him. About 4:30 a.m. on the morning 'of
June 1, Mrs. McNeil said, the doctors to;d'
her that they thought her husband had a`
ruptured spleen.. They had her sign 'a'
.form authorizing surgery.
'AS HE WAS 'BEING prepared for.
surgery, he died, at 6:15 a.m. With Mrs.
McNeil at the hospital were the twos
bbrothers. '
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201060021-9