Eugenio Rolando Martinez, a Watergate Burglar, Recalls His Arrest
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Eugenio Rolando Martinez, one of the burglars arrested at the Watergate, describes the many operational errors that led to the failure of the operation. He never understoos why the doors had to be taped because the burglars had a lockpicker. He also explains that the burglars had to leave their identification behind in a hotel room, and neither Liddy nor Hunt cleaned up. The FBI later found these items, which helped in the criminal investigation.
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Martinez never explained why he had Maxie Wells's desk drawer key when he was arrested. Bizarre.
I would love to know his potential involvement in the JFK assassination. Cuban exiles almost surely had involvement.
Could be interesting- but it needs captioning ;-)
That language is clearly called English.
Interesting anyway. It would be helpful to have captions and a transcription.
Who’s here because of “White House plumbers”?
I see he still wares his MRR pin. Good for him.
Further proof, as if any were needed, that neither Liddy nor Hunt were clever enough to shoplift candy bars from a drugstore much less burgle an office.
And Hunt, remember, was the jagoff in charge of training the Bay of Pigs soldiers, and was too stupid to realize that probably a third of his soldiers were reporting back to Castro. On the day of the invasion there wasn't a shoeshine boy in Havana who didn't know the troops were about to land.
Hunt is the one who went to Kennedy and begged for air support that day for his failed invasion, and for once Kennedy was sober and not pumped full of speed and told Hunt to get lost.
And like even Nixon said later, what the heck does anybody expect to find at a national campaign headquarters? Only Liddy was stupid enough to think it was important, he terrified Magruder, and dumb-ass Mitchell approved the operation.
Yea but Larry O'Brien had been identified as a valuable target by many administration officials beyond Liddy. O'Brien's main office was at the DNC HQ at the Watergate. Liddy, Magruder, Dean and Mitchell discussed the DNC HQ as a potential target in their March 4th 1972 meeting, the 2nd of Liddy's political intelligence program plan presentation. And ironically, even Nixon himself had earlier talked about the need to bring O'Brien to account for certain things. That was brought to light, I believe, by John Dean remembering a conversation he overheard on a Presidential flight. Nixon was later recorded on his taping system after the breakin as saying (paraphrasing), "why break in to the DNC HQ now? I mean I could see that being done earlier, but not now."
But yea, Liddy was a reckless loose cannon.
Mistakes were made. One of the burglars had Howard Hunts phone number on his person when arrested. 3rd rate. But they might have gotten away with it even with the many dumb mistakes if not for the revelation of the taping system.
It seems the burglars were set up to get caught by a person or persons inside the operation. If so, why? And at whose direction?
That is doubtful. In Liddy's book he states the person with the locksmith duties had trouble opening locks in their initial attempts to get inside largely due to not bringing his proper tools coming from Miami. So, McCord taping the locks makes sense. Whether it's was Ellsberg psychiatrist office or the Watergate DNC, these guys were not terribly sharp at the dark arts of espionage and burglary.
NGC6144 - Thanks. I've read that part of Liddy's book, but it would be a good idea to have another look at it. It still seems odd to me that they would make that error given the stakes and their intelligence backgrounds. Maybe they were simply overconfident and in too much of a hurry to get the job done. In the case of Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, it seems strange to me that they would leave the place a mess unless that was part of the plan for some reason. Perhaps it was understood from the outset that they might not be able to get what they were after and get out in the time available without leaving it that way, but that the material they were after was worth it either way. It could be that they left things that way on purpose in an effort to intimidate the psychiatrist and remove the safety of that therapeutic environment as a source of psychological support and strength for Ellsberg. It's customary to regard these guys as unprofessional and as bunglers, but I'm not so sure that's the case. It would be good to review Liddy's account of these events and ask once again if it can be trusted.
@@anonymoushuman8344 I think they timed their entry into the DNC with the janitorial crew coming and going at the end of the day. The first time around the security cop noticed the taped door locks and he dismissed it as from the janitorial crew and removed the tape. The second time around he knew something was up since the crew had finished and left. It's such a seemingly small detail I don't think somebody would contrive such a scenario revolving around that just to foil these guys. If they were being set up I would imagine it would have been more straight forward and perhaps more dramatic for it's intended purpose.
Just to tell you how dumb these guys were as to the Ellsberg break in; Liddy had his picture taken in front of the psychiatrists office from one of the other participants with the photographic equipment they had on loan from the CIA courtesy of Hunt I believe. When the equipment was returned they had left this undeveloped roll of film in camera. So, the CIA had these images on file. I think they were seriously criticized for trashing the office. I think that was the Cuban's idea to prove they were doing their job.
Yeah, Watergate has lots of oddities that stirs the imagination. I think it's sort of like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing sort of thing. Watergate is a casebook on everything not to have done if you get caught.
Your post of Ellsberg's psychiatrist file cabinet won't show up. I suspect the channel won't allow links. I actually thought that was at the Nixon Library. I've become weary of the conspiracy industry. Years ago when I saw the Bill Curtis documentary that explored the Silent Coup theory, it got me really interested in Watergate. Some years down the road and I realized for many reasons why that falls flat on it's face in regards to Dean. Behind the scenes with the CIA it could be a different story as it was with Felt in the FBI. Hunt and Liddy basically showed the CIA their intentions if they were paying close attention. Hunt used his CIA contacts to produce charts for Liddy's presentation of their Gemstone plan to Mitchell and group. I don't see the need for a close insider the thwart their efforts since they are so sloppy. Anyways, I would be interested to hear your candidates.
Sounds like he was expecting more help than he got and the extra help never showed up .
Liddy says that the arrests were made by “cops dressed as hippies”. Wouldn’t the police dispatch either uniformed officers or plain clothes detectives to a reported burglary? Sounds like the cops had advance knowledge of the break in.