Frank Sturgis – Watergate, JFK Assassination, Anti-Castro Activity – FBI and CIA Files

Description

Frank Sturgis: Timeline and Key Figures

• 1924: Frank Anthony Sturgis (also known as Frank Angelo Fiorini and Frank Anthony Fachetti) is born.
• 1958: Sturgis fights alongside Fidel Castro against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista’s forces during the Cuban Revolution.
• 1960s (Sometime after 1958): Sturgis joins anti-Castro forces and engages in assassination attempts against Castro.
• 1960s: Eugenio Rolando Martinez Careaga becomes an Agency contact for the CIA.
• Prior to 1970s: Sturgis is associated with Eugenio Rolando Martinez Careaga, a CIA contact. The CIA, however, never officially recruited Sturgis or put him on payroll.
• Shortly before the Kennedy assassination (November 22, 1963): Sturgis reportedly claims to have met Lee Harvey Oswald in Miami.
• 1972 (June 17): Frank Sturgis is one of the five burglars caught breaking into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate complex.
• 1976: Sturgis begins claiming that Castro and Che Guevara had Kennedy killed and that Lee Harvey Oswald was a Cuban agent.
• 1976 (July 20): Former CIA Director James R. Schlesinger writes a memo stating that CIA Director Colby told him Sturgis had not been on the payroll for a number of years.
• November 2021: Some documents related to Frank Sturgis in the collection are declassified.

Cast of Characters

• Frank Anthony Sturgis (1924–1993): Also known as Frank Angelo Fiorini and Frank Anthony Fachetti. A controversial figure involved in various paramilitary activities and political events. He served in the US military, fought with Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution, later joined anti-Castro forces attempting to assassinate Castro, was one of the five Watergate burglars, and was accused of involvement in the Kennedy assassination. He claimed to have met Lee Harvey Oswald and alleged Cuban involvement in JFK’s death. The CIA consistently denied his claims of being an Agency employee, though he was associated with a CIA contact.
• Fulgencio Batista: The dictator of Cuba whom Frank Sturgis fought against alongside Fidel Castro in 1958.
• Fidel Castro: Leader of the Cuban Revolution, whom Frank Sturgis initially fought alongside in 1958. Sturgis later joined anti-Castro forces and participated in assassination attempts against him.
• Che Guevara: Prominent figure in the Cuban Revolution. Sturgis later claimed that Guevara, along with Castro, was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
• Lee Harvey Oswald: The assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Sturgis reportedly claimed to have met Oswald in Miami shortly before the Kennedy assassination and alleged Oswald was a Cuban agent.
• James R. Schlesinger: Former CIA Director. On July 20, 1976, he wrote a memo stating that CIA Director Colby informed him Sturgis had not been on the CIA payroll for a number of years.
• CIA Director Colby: Unspecified CIA Director who informed James R. Schlesinger that Frank Sturgis had not been on the Agency’s payroll for years.
• Eugenio Rolando Martinez Careaga: An Agency contact for the CIA since the 1960s. Sturgis was associated with him, though the CIA maintained that Sturgis himself was never recruited by the Agency.

Frank Sturgis – Watergate, JFK Assassination, Anti-Castro Activity – FBI and CIA Files

3,579 pages of FBI, CIA, The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), Rockefeller Commission (Also known as The United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States), and the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) files covering Frank Sturgis and issues related to him. Some documents in this collection were not declassified until November 2021.

The files contain a text transcript of all recognizable text embedded into the graphic image of each page of each document, creating a searchable finding aid. Text searches can be done across all files in the collection.

Frank Anthony Sturgis (1924–1993) also known as Frank Angelo Fiorini and Frank Anthony Fachetti was one of the five burglars caught breaking into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate complex. Before this he served in several branches of the United States military. In 1958, during the Cuban Revolution, he fought against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista’s forces alongside Fidel Castro. Later he joined anti-Castro forces and engaged in assassination attempts against Castro. The CIA has vigorously denied Sturgis’s claims of having once being employed by the Agency.

The files in this collection covers Sturgis’ paramilitary activities in Cuba, his involvement and ties to assassins and assassination plots, accusations about Sturgis having involvement in the Kennedy assassination and an alleged meeting with Lee Harvey Oswald, his involvement in the Watergate break-in, and connections to a break-in at the Chilean Embassy.

One highlight in this collection is a July 20, 1976, memo from former CIA Director James R. Schlesinger which states that CIA Director Colby told him Sturgis had not been on the payroll for a number of years.

Another is a 128-page CIA security file on Sturgis, which states that, “Mr. Sturgis was never recruited by the Agency, but has been associated with Mr. Eugenio Rolando Martinez Careaga, an Agency contact since the 1960’s.”

In 1976, Sturgis began claiming that Castro and Che Guevara had Kennedy killed, and that Lee Harvey Oswald was a Cuban agent. He later reportedly claimed to have met Oswald in Miami shortly before the Kennedy assassination.

The document page count by agency in this collection breaks down as follows:

CIA: 1,130 pages
FBI: 234 pages
House Select Committee on Assassinations: 1,278 pages
Rockefeller Commission: 159 pages
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI): 736 pages
State Department: 42 pages