lawyer Jerris Leonard, Leon described what he hoped to prove: that Russell, reporting to
Bellino, had been a spy for the Democrats within the CRP, and that Russell had tipped off
Bellino (and the police) to the June 17 break-in. The man who knew most about this was,
of course, Leon's new employee, Lou Russell."
Is it possible that Jerris Leonard communicated the contents of Leon's memorandum to
the RNC and to its Chairman George Bush during the days after he received it? It is
possible. But for Russell, the game was over: on July 2, 1973, barely two weeks after his
release from the hospital, Russell suffered a second heart attack, which killed him. He
was buried with quite suspicious haste the following day. The potential witness with
perhaps the largest number of personal ties to Watergate protagonists, and the witness
who might have re-directed the scandal, not just towards Bellino, but toward the prime
movers behind and above McCord and Hunt and Paisley, had perished in a way that
recalls the fate of so many knowledgeable Iran-contra figures.
With Russell silenced forever, Leon appears to have turned his attention to targetting
Bellino, perhaps with a view to forcing him to submit to depositioning or other
questioning in which questions about his relationship to Russell might be asked. Leon,
who had been convicted in 1964 of wiretapping in a case involving El Paso Gas Co. and
Tennesse Gas Co., had weapons in his own possession that could be used against Bellino.
During the time that Russell was still in the hospital, on June 8, Leon had signed an
affidavit for Jerris Leonard in which he stated that he had been hired by Democratic
operative Bellino during the 1960 presidential campaign to "infiltrate the operations" of
Albert B. "Ab" Hermann, a staff member of the Republican National Committee. Leon
asserted in the affidavit that although he had not been able to infiltrate Hermann's office,
he observed the office with field glasses and employed "an electronic device known as
'the big ear' aimed at Mr. Hermann's window." Leon recounted that he had been assisted
by former CIA officer John Frank, Oliver W. Angelone and former Congressional
investigator Ed Jones in the anti-Nixon 1960 operations.
Leon collected other sworn statements that all went in the same direction, portraying
Bellino as a Democratic dirty tricks operative unleashed by the Kennedy faction against
Nixon. Joseph Shimon, who had been an inspector for the Washington Police Department
told of how he had been approached by Kenndy operative Oliver W. Angelone, who
alleged that he was working for Bellino, with a request to help Angelone gain access to
the two top floors of the Wardman Park Hotel (now the Sheraton Park) just before they
were occupied by Nixon on the even of the Nixon-Kennedy television debate. Edward
Murray Jones, then living in the Philippines, said in his affidavit that he had been
assigned by Bellino to tail individuals at Washington National Airport and in downtown
Washington. [fn 31] According to Hougan, "these sensational allegations were provided
by Leon to Republican attorneys on July 10, 1973, exactly a week after Russell's funeral.
Immediately, attorney Jerris Leonard conferred with RNC Chairman George Bush. It
appeared to both men that a way had been found to place the Watergate affair in a new
perspective, and, perhaps, to turn the tide. A statement was prepared and a press
conference scheduled at which Leon was to be the star witness, or speaker. Before the