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UNITEb STATES DEPART:\IENT OF J US TICE FED EHA L BUHEAU Of I i\" YE S TIGATIOi:'\ In R eply, Please R ef er to File No . Hems ton , Texa s Oc t ober 19 , 1967 Re: FRANK BARK:,il\N W.& TERS, als o kn own as Frank B. Wa t ers ·I On April 18, 1961, a re view of the military service record of FRANK BARKMAN WA TERS at th0 Military Pers onne l. Records Cent er , St. Louis, Miss ouri, disclosed th a t h e enlisted in the Unit ed St a tes Ar my Ai r Corps on March 17, 1941 , and was honorably dis c harged on Augus t 4, 194 1, due to flyi ng defici ency. He r e-en listed on Nov ember 21, 1941, and was hon orably discharged on Ma y 15, 1942, as an Avi ati on Cade t to ac c e pt a co mmission. He was a ppoi nted Se6 ond Lieu tenant, May 16, 1942 , and was hon ora bly released fro m a ctive duty on November 3, 194 5, by reas on of demobilizati on . His phys:i.cal descriptj_on wa s shown as follows : Name FRANK BARKMAN WATERS Da te of'Birth Pla c e of Birth Height Weight Ra c e Hair Eyes Educa tion 3/15/18 El ec t ra , Texas 5 t7 II 198 lbs . · White Brown · Blue 3 years college; Ha rdin - Si mmons Un iversity, Abilene, Texas This docu men t c ontains ne it her rec .omme ndat io ns nor co nclusions of th e FBI. It is the property of th e FB I and is loa ned to your agency ; ·it and i t$ contents are not to b e di stributed outs id e your agency. = • �I I Re: FRANK Bl\ RKMAN WATERS Ma rital St a tus Ma rried ~ ife - ELOISE R. WATERS Housto n , Texas 22i3 Del Mon te Houston , Texas Residence On Ma rch 27, 1959, an i ndividua l employed by WATERS, upo n int e r v i ew , advised as follows : WATERS, whi l e in the Un ited State<::! Air Force, met and married his presen t wife , for merly Mrs . ELOISE CANTER , nee Eloise Rob erts , wh o was ve ry wea lthy, in her own right . i. WATERS is well-known in Las Vegas , Nevada , and has t he reput a tion a mong the ga 1b ling element as being a ve ry big loser. WATERS ret a ins on his pa y roll, at a salary of $1 ,000.00 a month , a public rel a tio ns rua n, one JOE LUCIA, who is a well-known gambler in the Hous ton, Texas , area . · On Ma y 13, 1958, VIATERS received a letter fro m

ell - known hoo d lu m of New Orle ans ,

Loui s i ana , and operat or of the Be verly Country Cl ub in that city. In this lett e r KASTEL at t empt ed to persuade WATERS to purchase the Be verly Cou ntry Club. On J a nuary 4, 1959, WATERS is said to have made a $25,000.00 loa n to KASTEL fo r six months a t five pe r cent interes t. PHILIP FRA NK KASTEL , According to this source, gamblers cons t an tly c a ll WATERS on the priva te lin e in hi s office. Two of t he i nd ivid ua ls wh o c a ll frequ ent ly are LEO ROS ENBERG and one "JOE" fro m Las Vegas , Nevada . PHILIP FRANK KASTEL has c a lled on var ious occ asi ons . l~RION R. AS KIN , Comptroll e r of t he Frank Waters Oil Company, is r e ported to have given i nstructions tha t when a c a ll i s rec e ived fro m KASTEL, KASTEL ' s name i s never to b e ment ioned and th a t he i s to be advis e d that t here is a lo ng distance c a ll fro m New Or le nas and he will t ake t he c a ll on the pr ivate t elepho·ne. 2 �Re: FRANK R/l,RKUAN WATERS Iniorf.:ia tion as received on Aug·st 19, . 1959, fro n a reliable source , that PHI LI P FRANK KASTEL was ·plann ing to r e- open t he Beverly Coun t ry Clu b t u o rneks befor e Thanksg iving and t hat t h ere would be gambling at the Club uhen it re - opened. The sale of t he Bever ly Country Club in July 1959 wa s reported to have been a paper t ~ansaction wit h no change in the ma nage raent. The officers of the ne , corporat ion , Progressive Properties, Inc., we re gi ven as :MARION R. AS KIN , Comptr olle r of WA'l'ERS ·a nd THEODORE H. RI GGS, lega l counse l for WATERS. It was furt her report ed by this source tha t KASTEL's pa r t ne r in t he ope ra tion of the club ms FRANK WATERS and t ha t no one els e h a_d an interest in this club. On March 29, 1960, this s ame source reported that the Beverly Coun try Club in New Orle ans was reopened 011 Dccembe1· 26, 1959, and that the ga mbling casino of the club was ready to commence operati on . Info1~mat io u was re ceived tha t ga1:abling commenced at the Beverly Country Club on J anua ry 11, 1960 . PHILIP FRA NK KASTEL wa s fo rmer ly an ass ociate of well-known racketeer, FRI\ ·K COSTELL0 1 and has been pub licly iden tifi ed by COSTELLO as his partner and New Orleans associate. KASTEL was a l s o ass ociated with COSTELLO and reported La Ces a Nostra rae a b _r GARLOS MA RCELLO in the operati on of the Beverly Cou ntry Cl ub in Jeffers on Pa rish , Louisiana , duri ng the 1940's. On October 6, 1961, FRANK BARiillA N WATERS wa s int erviewed b y representatives of the FBI, Houston, Texas , · at which ti me he advised as follow~: · WATERS st a ted he fi r st met AL SMILEY 10 or 11 yea rs previou~ , in Los Ange les ,. Ca li f orn i a . SMILEY possessed , at t ha t ti me, a .12500 i n ter es t i n a n oil we ll loca t e d a ppr ox i mately 60 miles sou th of Odessa , Texas . 2a • �RE: FRANK BARKMAN WATERS JOE LUCIA also possess~d an inte rest in this same well. SMILEY, during September , 1961, utili ze d a s uite maintained by WATERS at the Sun Valley Motel , Hous ton, Texas . On Se ptember 20, 1961, Capt ain We W. STEPHENSON, Hou st on, Texas, Police De par tment, advised he h ad arrested AARON SMEHOFF , also known as Al Smiley, on Sep t ember 18, 1961, at the Sun Va lley Mote l, Houiton, Te xas . One PETER EDWIN GEBHARD was arres ted with SMEHOFF. Captain STEPHENSON advised the s e two individua ls were arrested for bookma king inve stigation , both were released on September 19, 1961, and both were told to l eave the City of ~ouston i mme diately. On September 18, 1964, the Federal Grand J ury, Houston, Texas, indict e d JOS EPH Pc LUCIA and 11 other i nd iviqu a ls for viol a tion of the Interna l Revenue Code in connec tion with bookmaki ng activit-i"es. LUCIA entered· a plea of "guilty" to two count s of this indictmen t, and February 1, 1965, he was sentenced to a te rm of six months i mpri s onment and given a $10,000.00 fine . on On February 21, 1963, Lt. W. T. HIGGINS, in charge of the Vice Squad , Houston Poli~e _Pepart me nt, advised he had been informed FRANK ERICKSON, a we ll ~known gambler bookmaker from New York City, was registe red at the Shamrock Hilton Hotel, Houston, Texas . HIGGINS advi se d tha t l ater on that day, he nnd another office r had pers onal ly c a lled on FAANK ERI CKSON, at the l atter ' s suite at tre Shamrock Hilton Hotel. HIGGINS advised ERICKSON explained to him he was in Hou s ton, Texas , strictly fur social reasons and that he wa s in Houston to visit hi s good f ri.end, FRANK WATERS, whom he · baa known for a long time . ERICKS ON s t ated he and WATERS intended to play golf during hi s s t ay in Houston and that h e planned to return to New York City on February 24, 1963. and �·1 ~I i 1i i ! RE: FRANK BARIO'f.AN WATERS On February 27, 1963,·ROXIE SIMMONS, Sec ur ity Officer , Shamrock Hilton Hote l, adv i sed FRANK ERICKSON checked into ihe hot e l on February 18j 1963, and departed on . Februa.ry 2l~, 1963. Reservati ons for ERICKSON a t the Sh~mrock Hilton Hotel were made by the Auditor of the .Frank Waters Oil Company, Hou st on , Texas. > ,. i - 4* - • �