In the 1950s, WerBell served as a security advisor to Dominican dictator
Rafael Trujillo and to the
Batista regime in Cuba. According to FBI archives, WerBell may have attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro. In 1965 WerBell allegedly played a large part in planning the US intervention in the
Dominican Civil War, codenamed 'Operation Power Pack'. The intervention was largely successful in restoring order on the island. WerBell helped plan an invasion of Haiti by Cuban and Haitian exiles against "Papa Doc"
François Duvalier in 1966 called Project Nassau (but internally referred to as Operation Istanbul). The mission, which, according to
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Special Subcommittee on Investigations of the
House Commerce Committee, was financially subsidized, and to be filmed by
CBS News, was aborted when the participants were arrested by the FBI. WerBell was released without being charged. In 1971 he co-founded the Miami-based arms sales company Parabellum Corporation with his friend
Gerry Patrick Hemming and the Cuban exile Anselmo Alliegro. In 1972, WerBell was approached by the
Abaco Independence Movement (AIM) from the
Abaco Islands, a region of the
Bahamas, who were worried about the direction the Bahamas were taking and were considering other options, such as independence or remaining a separate Commonwealth nation under the Crown in case of the Bahamas gaining independence (which they did in 1973). AIM was funded by the
Phoenix Foundation, a group that helps to build
micronations. The AIM collapsed into internal bickering before a coup by WerBell could be carried out. In 1973, WerBell was asked to assist with a ''
coup d'état'' against
Omar Torrijos of
Panama, according to CIA documents released in 1993. WerBell sought clearance from the CIA which denied getting involved in coups. The plan was not implemented. In 1977, at the suggestion of
Roy Frankhouser, WerBell was hired by
Lyndon LaRouche as his head of security. In a 1979
20/20 interview WerBell claimed that
Coca-Cola had hired him for $1 million to take care of kidnapping threats against its
Argentine executives during an urban terrorist wave in 1973. Coca-Cola later denied the claim. In a 1981 interview, WerBell revealed he was about to break with the
U.S. Labor Party, whose security staff he had been training at his Powder Springs, Georgia estate. Later in life WerBell claimed he was a retired Lieutenant General in the
Royal Free Afghan Army or sometimes an Afghan Defense Minister after supplying Afghanistan with large weapons contracts and training. WerBell claimed he was given the billet of Major General in the US Army to allow him to travel freely in Southeast Asia during the
Vietnam War to demonstrate and sell his silenced submachineguns and sound suppressors. This has been confirmed by Major General
John Singlaub and Lt Col. William Mozey.
Other exploits WerBell and
Mario Sandoval Alarcón's associate Leonel Sisniega Otero plotted a coup in
Guatemala that failed in 1982. In 1988, Sheriff
Sherman Block of
Los Angeles announced that
Hustler publisher
Larry Flynt wrote WerBell a $1 million check in 1983 to kill
Hugh Hefner (founder of
Playboy),
Bob Guccione (founder of
Penthouse),
Walter Annenberg (owner of
Triangle Publications), and
Frank Sinatra.
Death and courtroom poisoning claim In the 1989
Cotton Club murder case of
Roy Radin, Arthur Michael Pascal, then owner of a
Beverly Hills security firm, testified that prosecution witness William Rider, Flynt's former brother-in-law and private security agent, Pascal was later arraigned on a murder charge in 1991 due to tapes Rider provided investigators. ==See also==