Alex Rorke and Geoffrey Sullivan

Came across some info and did a little digging

Alexander Irwin Rorke, Jr.

Born - 9 Aug 1926

Manhattan, New York County, New York, USA

Death - 24 Sep 1963 (aged 37)

See - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9788603/alexander-irwin-rorke

Son of Alexander Rorke, a New York City Assistant District Attorney and later a New York State Appellate Judge.

A graduate of St. John's University and a student of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

He served as a military intelligence specialist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was responsible for the security of five German provinces and participated in the capture of SS men and the first postwar roundup of Communist agents in the Allied military zones of Germany.

His plane, flown by commercial pilot Geoffery Sullivan, disappeared on 24 September 1963 en route to Cuba just two months before the Kennedy assassination. His father-in-law, Sherman Billingsley, held a press conference at the Stork club offering a $25,000 reward for his return with that of his pilot. It was rumored that the CIA was involved because of his friendship with and allegiance to JFK. In 1975 the CIA described him a "former witting collaborator (relationship terminated)." J. Edgar Hoover wrote "No, I do not want in any way to get involved in this....H" on papers pertaining to correspondence and inquires by Billingsley.

He was declared legally dead in 1968.

Unsolved Mysteries

Alexander Rorke was involved in covert Anti-Castro missions for the CIA. In 1961, he met Geoffrey Sullivan a commercial pilot who he hired to help with these missions. Later that same year, the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion occurred. After that occurred, the CIA began conducting their missions much more secretly, and these were the missions that Geoffrey and Alex were involved in. However, the US government soon released a public warning, issuing people like Geoffrey and Alex to stop their anti-Cuba operations. Eight days after this warning was issued, on September 23, 1963, Geoffrey and Alex left an airstrip in Waterbury, Connecticut. Before they left, Geoffrey told his wife that this would be his last flight because he was going to stop being involved in such operations.
The next day, they arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they met two men. One was Franks Sturgis, who would later become involved in the Watergate Scandal. Sturgis said that Alex told him that he had a B-25 bomber and that he was planning to take it to Nicaragua, which would become a base of operations for bombing missions on Cuba.
Rorke soon rented an airplane and the next day, his wife picked up an unidentified man and took the five men to the local airport. Geoffrey, Alex, and the mystery man boarded the rented plane while Sturgis, his companion, and Alex's wife stayed behind. For unknown reasons, the plane returned to Fort Lauderdale at least three times. The last time, the landing gear remained up, and the controller instructed them not to land. Five hours later, they landed at North Perry Airport, which was only thirty minutes away.

At 1:30pm that day, the plane left again, scheduling to land in Honduras. However, two hours later, Geoffrey radioed Miami International Airport and told them that he was re-routing to Panama. Finally, at 10:22pm, Geoffrey said that he was once again re-routing the plane, this time to Belize. The FAA stated that Geoffrey re-fueled the plane in Cozumel, Mexico, around midnight. This was the last sighting of the plane, and despite a massive search, neither the plane nor the occupants were ever found.

Over two decades later, Geoffrey's daughter, Sherry, now a private investigator, began to search for her father's fate. She and her lawyer petitioned the government for information about Geoffrey. More than a third of the papers that she received from the FBI were censored. In the FBI documents, she found the name of "Floyde Park". She contacted Floyde, and he claimed that he had seen Geoffrey, Alex, and the unidentified man in Belize two days after they were last seen. However, she was able to get little other information from Floyde, and she is uncertain of his true identity or his connection to her father. The only other information that she got from Floyde is that Geoffrey and Alex may have been taken prisoner in Cuba, and that Fidel Castro was aware of their operations and placed a bounty on the two men.

In 1986, Sherry came in contact with Marty Casey, a journalist who was in Cuba in 1965. While in Cuba, a Cuban exile told him that he knew two men from the United States, one he called "Rorke" and the other "Sullivan". The man said that he was with them in a Cuban prison in 1963, around the time that they had vanished. She believes that the ones in the prison were her father and Alex. Another name that she found in the FBI documents was "Enrique Molina Garcia". Garcia was supposedly a double agent for Castro's government. She believes that Garcia was the mysterious unidentified man that flew with them when they vanished. She believes that Garcia tricked them into flying to Cuba, where they were then captured. Unconfirmed reports placed Garcia in Havana, Cuba, several years after Geoffrey and Alex vanished. She will not give up until she finds out what truly happened to her father and Alex.

Suspects: Enrique Molina Garcia is suspected of tricking Geoffrey and Alex into flying to Cuba. Sherry believes that they were held prisoner there for several years. Floyde Park is another person that she would like to identify and locate.

Extra Notes: The case first aired on the December 19, 1990 episode.

Results: Unresolved.. In August of 2009, a Maine court found Cuba guilty of the wrongful death of Geoffrey. Sherry believes now that he was shot down by Cubans, was taken prisoner, tortured for at least a decade, and finally executed. However, in 2012, a federal court reversed the decision. She is continuing to fight to get the case back in court and hopes to recover his remains. Neither Geoffrey nor Alex have ever been found.

See -

Source - https://christopherothen.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/missing-over-cuba-25000-reward/

An enormous amount on Alexander Rorke Jr. on MFF

FBI - HSCA Subject File: Alexander Rorke. – 379 Documents.

Disappeared in a plane with a man known as Enrique Garcia, or Enrique Molina, or Enrique Garcia Molina. Those may have been aliases. This Enrique guy was supposedly a Captain in the Cuban Air Force. It was Enrique who told Rorke he wanted to buy a B-25, according to Frank Fiorini and William Johnson. See RIF# 124-10296-10046.

RIF# 124-10296-10046 is a 12 page FBI document on Enrique Molina Rivera, aka Enrique Garcia, an alias. He has a cousin, Norma Molina living in Boston.

Previous history of Enrique Garcia Molina.

A group called “Legion Baragua” left Key Largo, FL on 1/17/1963 by boat. Rene Sierra Rodriguez was the captain of the 30 ft boat named “Francisco.”. They were going to attack a petroleum barge in Matanzas Port, Cuba. Enrique Garcia Molina was on board. Once near the port one of two engines died. So, the boat headed toward Cay Sal, Bahama Islands. The controls of the boat were turned over to Enrique Garcia Molina and the rest of the crew went to sleep. Sierra woke up and heard Molina using the radio calling “PEDRO SEGUNDO, LLAMANDO A PEDRO PRIMERO,” ( Pedro Second calling to Pedro first.)

Sierro put a sub-machine gun to Molina’s head and demanded to know the significance of the comment.

Molina claimed he was calling Pedro Castro but only to curse at him. Sierro then noticed the boat was headed towards Cuba and not Cay Sal as it was when the controls were turned over to Molina. Molina gets tied up. At approximately, 3 miles from Cayo Anguila in the Bahamas the other motor on the Franciso quits. Shortly after that a Cuban single-engine jet fighter made a pass at them and fired but did not hit them. There was an American tanker in the distance that apparently saw this. They come to the aid of the Francisco and take them aboard. They tow the Francisco back to Miami. About 15 miles out the Francisco springs a leak and is set adrift. The Coast Guard takes the crew of the Francisco. The Francisco is later found washed ashore near Pompano Beach, FL.

Oddly, Molina is not arrested or deported or anything. He’s free to continue to operate in Miami. His next known victims are Rorke and Sullivan.

Back story on “Organizacion Baragua”

Created and run by Jose Miguel Gomez Babares, Sr., 745 West Flagler St, Miami, FL. People are recruited by his son, Miguel Gomez, Jr.

So, Sierra went with 9 men on this boat and took movie film of the Matanzas coast and bay area. Those films were given to a man, probably with the CIA. On his second mission with the group it failed because Molina sabotaged the engines and was caught radioing in to Cuba.

On this mission were:

Enrique Molina

Luis Valdes

Juan Garcia Monteagudo

Carlos Garcia

Osmani Nodarse

The boat had two .27 mm cannons. They had 100 explosive rounds and 100 penetrating-type tracers.

___________________________________

On Friday, Sept 20^th, 1963 Alexander Rorke Jr., his pilot, Geoffrey Francis Sullivan, Frank Fiorini, William Johnson, and Jack Griffin met at Opka-locka, Florida. Rorke had apparently secured a B-25 and was eager to get it to Nicaragua by the following Thursday, September 26, 1963 . During this meeting Rorke explained he had a connection with Nicaraguan President Luis Somoza who had offered Rorke an airstrip, free gasoline and free weapons. Rorke, according to Johnson, had wrote some bad checks and after going to Nicaragua wanted to get back to NYC ASAP to obtain the money to cover the checks. Once in NYC he would wire money to Johnson to transport the B-25 plane to Nicaragua.

During the meeting Sullivan left apparently to move or hide the plane because of fears the U.S. Customs service might try to seize the B-25 plane.

No one left in the meeting had the money to finance a trip to Nicaragua. Johnson suggested they rent a plane to go to Nicaragua and see Somoza and firm up these plans. On the following Monday Rorke calls Johnson. Johnson says he’s failed to raise any money. Rorke says he has raised some and asks Johnson to be at the Opa-locka airport on Tuesday morning.

Johnson went to work with Jack Griffin at CMA Auto Sales Service, South Dixie Highway, Miami. Griffin had a rented Cessna plane at nearby Kendall, Florida. They were going to fly to Opa-locka and phone Frank Fiorini to meet them there and then all of them would go to Nicaragua.

Well, Fiorini, Griffin and Johnson never go to Nicaragua. Griffin and Johnson don’t go to Opa-locka. Nor does Fiorini drive either to Kendall or to Opa-locka. They all stay put. Why? They say it rained, it rained hard. So, Griffin and Johnson don’t fly from Kendall to Opa-locka. BTW, this is a distance of less than 24 miles. Nor do they drive the distance.

Instead, this Enrique enters the picture. He called the Atlantic Aviation Company on Sunday wanting to buy the B-25. Rorke allegedly has fired Johnson, Griffin, and Fiorini and has now turned this deal over to Molina.

Fiorini and Johnson say that Molina has some connection with the MDC and Laureano Batista Falla.

And he and Rorke and Sullivan

Rorke, Sullivan and Molina leave Broward international airport in a rented Beechcraft Bonanza on Sept 24, 1963. And none are ever seen again.

According to Unsolved Mysteries once en route to Nicaragua

BTW, Rex at MFF really needs to upgrade and get Adobe Acrobat Pro for $240 annually so he can properly edit together documents so that when one page that had a redaction gets released with the redaction removed, he can put it all together instead of bother with these multiple versions of a document with these docID numbers. It would be nice to just have it all together.

So, RIF #124-10296-10046 has 12 pages, and 3 different versions.

May 18, 1998, doc ID 75613 – redactions on p. 4 of 14 scanned

November 17, 2017, doc ID 173074 – a RIF and 1 page

April 26, 2018, 166102 – a RIF and 1 page, okay now you can see the name they were hiding, PSI Jesus Rafael Franco Canedo

So if you take the 1998 version and subtract page 4 of the 14 scanned and you add in there the May 18th, 2018 page 2, then you’d get the whole thing as it was meant to be read.

Geoffrey Francis Sullivan

Born – 1934

Died – 24 Sept 1963.

Taken from NBC’s “Unsolved Mysteries,” episode. Season 3, Episode 14.

On Sept 23, 1963 Sullivan flew from an airport in Waterbury, Connecticut to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.

Okay, we get a film clip of Frank Fiorini aka Frank Sturgis,

Now “Unsolved Mysteries,” says Rorke’s wife drove her husband to Opa-Locka airport on Sept 24^th, 1963. On the way there they picked up and another man. At about 8:00a.m. Rorke, Sullivan, and Molina fly out of Opa-Locka.

According to an FAA report Sullivan returned to Ft. Lauderdale airport 3 times. On the third return the plane’s landing gear remained retracted. Sullivan did not land in Ft. Lauderdale again. Five hours later he arrives at Ft. Perry airport ( maybe they mean North Perry airport ) which is a mere 30 miles from Ft. Lauderdale airport. And he refuels. A 20 minute flight took 5 hours. Where were they and what were they doing during those five hours?

At 1:30 they leave Ft. Perry airport. Officially, they are headed for Tegucigalba, Honduras, as their final destination. However, at 3:43 in mid-flight he files a new flight plan wanting to go to Tocumen, Panama as his destination. This is described as 2 hours beyond the capacity of the aircraft. The air traffic controller informs him of this. So, he again changes where he wants to land. This new place is not mentioned in the NBC broadcast. It’s just referred to as also being well beyond the capacity of the aircraft. 7 hours pass. At 10:22 P.m. Sullivan again contacts Miami tower. This time it’s to file yet another new place to land, Belize, British Honduras.

The FAA report says Sullivan landed and refueled just after midnight at Cozumel, Mexico. This is the last official sighting of the plane.

Now based solely on this NBC “Unsolved Mysteries,” show some things bother me. So, I’m going to speculate here.

A.) Geoffrey Sullivan is an experienced pilot. Trained by the U.S. Air Force. Honorably discharged. Commercial pilot. No known problem flying for the government or in private practice. And he flies in and out of Ft. Lauderdale airport three times in one day. On the third time he doesn’t know that his landing gear is not down. He is unaware of it. He doesn’t call in to the tower, he doesn’t call an emergency. Nothing. The Tower notifies him. I find that very odd.

And it makes me think Sullivan is not flying the plane. If this is true, where are Rorke and Sullivan? Are they already dead? Were their bodies disposed of in Florida? Are they in the plane but drugged?

B.) Are all three ever really seen together when the flight first takes off from Ft. Lauderdale in or around Ft. Lauderdale and its airport after coming and going three times? The Tower wouldn’t know these people, or know their voices.

C.) Neither Sullivan nor Rorke ever mentioned going to Tegucigalba, Honduras, or Tocumen, Panama or the third unnamed place. Nor to Mexico. All anyone knew was they were going to Nicaragua.

D.) Did they really land and refuel in Cozumel, Mexico?

Sherry Sullivan has sued the government for documents. She received 800 heavily redacted documents. Now this episode first aired in 1990. Information in these documents indicates another 400 pages exists.

In the FBI documents she saw the name Floyd Park. She was able to talk to him by phone. Park said he had seen Sullivan and Rorke two days after he had disappeared in Belize, British Honduras. Sherry Sullivan has not been able to contact Park again. She has not been able to verify his identity.

Park thought that Rorke and Sullivan may have been taken to Cuba. Maybe after leaving Belize.

Castor supposedly had a bounty out for Rorke and Sullivan.

In 1986 Sherry Sullivan spoke to journalist Marty Casey who had been in Cuba in 1966. He recounts he was with two Cuban exiles from Miami and they met a fellow they knew from the area. He was working in the compound. Supposedly this happens in Cuba. Marty Casey was speaking Spanish but clearly is not Cuban. This guy recognizes the American accent Casey was speaking and asks if he knows Rorke. Casey asks do you mean, O’Rourke? No, Rorke. Casey asks, the pilot? No, the pilot was Sullivan. Casey asks how do you know them. He says he was in jail with them here two years ago. Casey though Rorke was O’Rourke, and that O’Rourke was the pilot. This guy was the one who corrected Casey. So, Casey thinks the guy was real.

So, if this story is true. They were taken to Cuba.

Sherry Sullivan apparently did not know Enrigue Garcia Molina was Enrique Molina Rivera. Unconfirmed reports place Rivera in Havanna years after Rorke disappeared.

After the show aired the Veterans Administration recognized Sullivan as “Missing In Action.” Well, that raises some interesting questions.