Rex Armistead
Encyclopedia
Rex Armistead, born 1930 in Lula, Mississippi
is a private detective and former Mississippi
state police
officer and leading operative for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
, who was heavily involved in the Arkansas Project
, a co-ordinated attempt in the 1990s to investigate former U.S. President Bill Clinton
funded by conservative media billionaire Richard Scaife.
, a state body that helped to maintain Mississippi's then legal racial segregation laws. He was selected to investigate the "Dixie Mafia
" (a term Armistead apparently coined) by the then-governor of Mississippi John Bell Williams
, in particular the mafia's narcotics and prostitution operations, although he had no powers of arrest.
After working undercover
, he became Chief investigator of the Highway Patrol, during which time he was present at the Jackson State Killings
, when Mississippi police opened fire on African-American student protesters at Jackson State College, killing two of them He was one of the police witnesses who controversially alleged the presence of a student sniper, providing a pretext for the shooting. This allegation was dismissed by congressional investigation. Armistead then became Chief Investigator of the Bureau of Identification, and then director of the criminal investigation section of the Mississippi Department of Safety, before becoming Head of Mississippi State police.
in New Orleans. In an interview, he characterized the Dixie mafia as more ruthless than Cosa Nostra: "There wasn't a well from Mississippi to West Texas that didn't have a dead body floating in it. The big difference was the lack of ceremony. It was just 'I'm going to get rid of Ambrose today; I don't need permission; and I go out and do it.' As simple as that. And that's the end of Ambrose. It hasn't changed much either.".
, Tennessee
, which received $ 2.3 million-a-year grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency to help local police and prosecutors track the movements of habitual felony offenders across state lines. Former Memphis police director E. Winslow 'Buddy' Chapman has said that he never found evidence of what the center did; Justice Department accounting officials have said records of Armistead's grant proposal and other documents no longer exist. The ACLU raised concerns that the center was spying on private citizens.
gubernatorial candidate Bill Allain, spreading rumors that Allain had had sex with three transvestites, a plot eventually uncovered by ABC
's 20/20 program. His expertise in organized crime led him to being hired to investigate (and solve) the organized-crime related murders of Biloxi judge Vince Sherry and his wife (and former city councillor) Margaret.
notes that Armistead rose to be chief of Mississippi State Police under Governor John Bell Williams
, "the last openly racist governor of Mississippi", and that "Armistead rose to power during an era of official terrorism and violent repression against black citizens and civil rights advocates". Former fellow anti-Clintonite David Brock has alleged that Armistead was involved in "white resistance to civil rights". In addition to his involvement in the cover-up in the Jackson state killings, as part of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
, Armistead was involved in surveillance of potential threats to the existing segregated order. On one occasion he engineered the removal of a university campus security chief for trying to arrest a white student who had administered a beating to a black student.
, and that he was implicated in the alleged murder of Vince Foster
. Armistead provided results from his investigations into Clinton's alleged protection of a cocaine smuggling ring while Clinton was governor of Arkansas to the House Banking Committee. All allegations were judged by federal authorities to be without foundation.
. The substance of the allegation was that Clinton had turned a blind eye to cocaine smugglers operating out of an airport in Mena, Arkansas
because a wealthy campaign contributor was said to profit from the illicit activity, and also because proceeds from the smuggling were allegedly funding a covert CIA operation. These rumors had originated earlier in the decade with talk radio shows in Arkansas funded by the conservative Citizens for Honest Government organization associated with evangelist
Jerry Falwell
. This organisation had also been involved in payments to witness in the Troopergate affair. Armistead travelled across North and South America purportedly gaining information, which he supplied to the House Banking Committee. Three federal investigations found that these allegations had no basis whatsoever. Under questioning, Armistead also misled Federal Drug Enforcement Agency officers twice about the source of his funds (which was Scaife), claiming alternately funding from the Republican National Convention
(who later denied all contact) and from the House Banking Committee. David Runkel, House Banking Committee spokesman, admitted that they had met with Armistead on a number of occasions, but denied he was a primary source for allegations that they were investigating. Armistead's report also formed the basis for articles in the American Spectator.
Armistead also investigated allegations that Bill Clinton had once used cocaine himself, providing material for R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor of the American Spectator, who published the (unsupported) allegations just before the 1996 American election.
, Virginia
, Vince Foster
, a Deputy White House Counsel
during Clinton's first presidential term, was found with a gunshot to the head, a day after contacting his doctor to get treatment for depression. Several official investigations concluded unequivocally that the death was a suicide. However, as he was a law partner and friend of Hillary Clinton, it was alleged by a number of anti-Clinton conspiracy theorists that his knowledge of the Clintons' financial affairs (which the Whitewater theorists claimed would reveal their illegal dealings) had led them to have him killed. Former conservative journalist David Brock
recalled being summoned to a meeting with Armistead in Miami, at an airport hotel. Armistead laid out an elaborate "Vince Foster murder scenario," Brock said – a scenario that he found "implausible".
under surveillance.
team in Little Rock, Arkansas, Hickman Ewing; some of these meetings were attended by federal agents, who have confirmed them. Ewing's association with Armistead went back many years; in the 1970s they had known each other and worked together when Ewing was a federal prosecutor in Memphis
and Armistead headed a nonprofit crime-fighting organization there.
committed suicide less than 60 feet from Richard Scaife's office in February 1999, Scaife hired Armistead, along with Richard Gazarik, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
(a newspaper owned by Scaife), to investigate the circumstances of Kangas' death. Kangas had been critical of Scaife on online forums including Kangas' own website Liberal Resurgent. He had accused Scaife of being head of a vast right-wing conspiracy, and of persecuting Bill Clinton, whom Kangas considered to be a moderate Republican. Kangas was found with a pistol and 48 rounds of ammunition. Armistead and Gazarik were investigating whether Kangas had been out to kill Scaife. They spoke to his family, reviewed his Internet postings, and checked both his apartment and place of employment. It has subsequently been claimed that Scaife's use of Armistead and Gazarik has fuelled conspiracy theories about Kangas' death.
Lula, Mississippi
Lula is a town in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 370 at the 2000 census.Lula was the birthplace of Dr. Ransom Myers , a renowned Canadian-based marine biologist/conservationist who published a seminal study on overfishing revealing the dramatic loss of nearly 90% of...
is a private detective and former Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
state police
State police
State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
officer and leading operative for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
, who was heavily involved in the Arkansas Project
Arkansas Project
The Arkansas Project was a series of investigations that were initiated with the intent of damaging and ending the presidency of Bill Clinton...
, a co-ordinated attempt in the 1990s to investigate former U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
funded by conservative media billionaire Richard Scaife.
Career
Early on a deputy sheriff in Coahoma County, Armistead worked as a Mississippi State Police officer for many years. In the 1960s, as head of the Mississippi State Highway Patrol, he was seconded to work for the Mississippi State Sovereignty CommissionMississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
, a state body that helped to maintain Mississippi's then legal racial segregation laws. He was selected to investigate the "Dixie Mafia
Dixie Mafia
The Dixie Mafia is a criminal organization based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and operated primarily in the Southern United States, in the 1970s. The group uses each member's talents in various crime categories to help move stolen merchandise, illegal alcohol, and illegal drugs...
" (a term Armistead apparently coined) by the then-governor of Mississippi John Bell Williams
John Bell Williams
John Bell Williams was an American Democratic politician who was governor of Mississippi from 1968 to 1972.-Biography:...
, in particular the mafia's narcotics and prostitution operations, although he had no powers of arrest.
After working undercover
Undercover
Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
, he became Chief investigator of the Highway Patrol, during which time he was present at the Jackson State Killings
Jackson State killings
The Jackson State killings occurred on Thursday/Friday May 14–15, 1970, at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. A group of somewhat violent student protesters were confronted by city and state police. The police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve...
, when Mississippi police opened fire on African-American student protesters at Jackson State College, killing two of them He was one of the police witnesses who controversially alleged the presence of a student sniper, providing a pretext for the shooting. This allegation was dismissed by congressional investigation. Armistead then became Chief Investigator of the Bureau of Identification, and then director of the criminal investigation section of the Mississippi Department of Safety, before becoming Head of Mississippi State police.
Working against the Dixie Mafia
In 1976 he became director of the Organised Crime Strike ForceUnited States Organized Crime Strike Force
The United States Organized Crime Strike Force was created in the late 1960s for the purpose of finding and stopping illegal racketeering. It was formed in a congressional effort led by Robert Kennedy....
in New Orleans. In an interview, he characterized the Dixie mafia as more ruthless than Cosa Nostra: "There wasn't a well from Mississippi to West Texas that didn't have a dead body floating in it. The big difference was the lack of ceremony. It was just 'I'm going to get rid of Ambrose today; I don't need permission; and I go out and do it.' As simple as that. And that's the end of Ambrose. It hasn't changed much either.".
Regional Organized Crime Information Center
On leaving the police, in the late 1970s he ran a non-profit crime-fighting organisation called the Regional Organized Crime Information Center in MemphisMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, which received $ 2.3 million-a-year grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Agency to help local police and prosecutors track the movements of habitual felony offenders across state lines. Former Memphis police director E. Winslow 'Buddy' Chapman has said that he never found evidence of what the center did; Justice Department accounting officials have said records of Armistead's grant proposal and other documents no longer exist. The ACLU raised concerns that the center was spying on private citizens.
As a private detective
He later became a private detective "specialized in political dirty tricks on behalf of Republican candidates". Most notably he was involved in the smearing of Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
gubernatorial candidate Bill Allain, spreading rumors that Allain had had sex with three transvestites, a plot eventually uncovered by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's 20/20 program. His expertise in organized crime led him to being hired to investigate (and solve) the organized-crime related murders of Biloxi judge Vince Sherry and his wife (and former city councillor) Margaret.
Resistance to the civil rights movement
Joe ConasonJoe Conason
Joe Conason is an American journalist, author and political commentator. He writes a column for the weekly New York Observer newspaper, for Salon.com and has written a number of books, including Big Lies , which addresses what he says are myths spread about liberals by conservatives.-Life and...
notes that Armistead rose to be chief of Mississippi State Police under Governor John Bell Williams
John Bell Williams
John Bell Williams was an American Democratic politician who was governor of Mississippi from 1968 to 1972.-Biography:...
, "the last openly racist governor of Mississippi", and that "Armistead rose to power during an era of official terrorism and violent repression against black citizens and civil rights advocates". Former fellow anti-Clintonite David Brock has alleged that Armistead was involved in "white resistance to civil rights". In addition to his involvement in the cover-up in the Jackson state killings, as part of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
, Armistead was involved in surveillance of potential threats to the existing segregated order. On one occasion he engineered the removal of a university campus security chief for trying to arrest a white student who had administered a beating to a black student.
Involvement in the Arkansas Project
According to documents recovered from the American Spectator, Armistead was paid at least $353,517 by the Arkansas Project. The Washington Post says that it is not entirely clear what services he provided for that money, although it has been established that Armistead was involved in promoting three key aspersions of the Arkansas project narrative - that Clinton had been protecting drug smuggling, that Clinton had himself used cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, and that he was implicated in the alleged murder of Vince Foster
Vince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration, and also a law partner and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton...
. Armistead provided results from his investigations into Clinton's alleged protection of a cocaine smuggling ring while Clinton was governor of Arkansas to the House Banking Committee. All allegations were judged by federal authorities to be without foundation.
Attempts to implicate Clinton in cocaine smuggling and use
Armistead was funded by Scaife to investigate rumors of Bill Clinton's involvement in helping cocaine runners in rural ArkansasArkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. The substance of the allegation was that Clinton had turned a blind eye to cocaine smugglers operating out of an airport in Mena, Arkansas
Mena, Arkansas
Mena is a city in Polk County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Polk County.It was founded by Arthur Edward Stilwell during the building of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad . It was Stilwell who decided Mena would be the name of this new town along the route to...
because a wealthy campaign contributor was said to profit from the illicit activity, and also because proceeds from the smuggling were allegedly funding a covert CIA operation. These rumors had originated earlier in the decade with talk radio shows in Arkansas funded by the conservative Citizens for Honest Government organization associated with evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
. This organisation had also been involved in payments to witness in the Troopergate affair. Armistead travelled across North and South America purportedly gaining information, which he supplied to the House Banking Committee. Three federal investigations found that these allegations had no basis whatsoever. Under questioning, Armistead also misled Federal Drug Enforcement Agency officers twice about the source of his funds (which was Scaife), claiming alternately funding from the Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
(who later denied all contact) and from the House Banking Committee. David Runkel, House Banking Committee spokesman, admitted that they had met with Armistead on a number of occasions, but denied he was a primary source for allegations that they were investigating. Armistead's report also formed the basis for articles in the American Spectator.
Armistead also investigated allegations that Bill Clinton had once used cocaine himself, providing material for R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor of the American Spectator, who published the (unsupported) allegations just before the 1996 American election.
Vince Foster murder rumors
On July 20, 1993 in Fort Marcy ParkFort Marcy Park
Fort Marcy Park is a public park located in unincorporated McLean, Virginia, in Fairfax County. It is administered by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.thumb|thumb|right|Fort Marcy as it appeared during the Civil War...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Vince Foster
Vince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration, and also a law partner and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton...
, a Deputy White House Counsel
White House Counsel
The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...
during Clinton's first presidential term, was found with a gunshot to the head, a day after contacting his doctor to get treatment for depression. Several official investigations concluded unequivocally that the death was a suicide. However, as he was a law partner and friend of Hillary Clinton, it was alleged by a number of anti-Clinton conspiracy theorists that his knowledge of the Clintons' financial affairs (which the Whitewater theorists claimed would reveal their illegal dealings) had led them to have him killed. Former conservative journalist David Brock
David Brock
David Brock is an American journalist and author, the founder of the media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, and a Democratic political operative...
recalled being summoned to a meeting with Armistead in Miami, at an airport hotel. Armistead laid out an elaborate "Vince Foster murder scenario," Brock said – a scenario that he found "implausible".
Spying on John Camp
Armistead was also found to have been spying on CNN journalist John Camp, after Camp had reported that the Cocaine ring allegations against Clinton were groundless. The results of his efforts, a dossier containing information on Camp's private life and that of two of his family members, were passed to the Senate House banking committee. This was not the first time Armistead had spied on journalists; as part of his work for the Mississippi State Sovereignty commission he had placed television news commentator Howard K. SmithHoward K. Smith
Howard Kingsbury Smith was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor. He was one of the original Edward R. Murrow boys.-Early life:...
under surveillance.
Connections to the Starr Investigation
Salon reporters also discovered that Armistead had met several times with the head of the Starr investigationKenneth Starr
Kenneth Winston "Ken" Starr is an American lawyer and educational administrator who has also been a federal judge. He is best known for his investigation of figures during the Clinton administration....
team in Little Rock, Arkansas, Hickman Ewing; some of these meetings were attended by federal agents, who have confirmed them. Ewing's association with Armistead went back many years; in the 1970s they had known each other and worked together when Ewing was a federal prosecutor in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
and Armistead headed a nonprofit crime-fighting organization there.
Investigating the death of Steve Kangas
When former military intelligence specialist turned progressive writer Steve KangasSteve Kangas
Steve Kangas was a journalist, political activist and chess teacher known for his website Liberalism Resurgent and highly political usenet postings. Until 1986 he worked for military intelligence. His stay in Berlin turned him from a conservative into an outspoken liberal militant...
committed suicide less than 60 feet from Richard Scaife's office in February 1999, Scaife hired Armistead, along with Richard Gazarik, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
(a newspaper owned by Scaife), to investigate the circumstances of Kangas' death. Kangas had been critical of Scaife on online forums including Kangas' own website Liberal Resurgent. He had accused Scaife of being head of a vast right-wing conspiracy, and of persecuting Bill Clinton, whom Kangas considered to be a moderate Republican. Kangas was found with a pistol and 48 rounds of ammunition. Armistead and Gazarik were investigating whether Kangas had been out to kill Scaife. They spoke to his family, reviewed his Internet postings, and checked both his apartment and place of employment. It has subsequently been claimed that Scaife's use of Armistead and Gazarik has fuelled conspiracy theories about Kangas' death.