Frank A. Capell

Francis Alphonse Capell (May 8, 1907 – October 18, 1980), was a conservative, anticommunist writer, and essayist. He was the publisher of the newsletter Herald of Freedom in Zarephath, New Jersey.[1][2][3][4] He was one of the first writers to speculate on the Robert F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe trysts.[5][6][7] Robert F. Kennedy, then the Attorney General, had Capell's telephone tapped.[8]

Francis Alphonse Capell
Born(1907-05-08)May 8, 1907
Washington Heights
New York City, U.S.
DiedOctober 18, 1980(1980-10-18) (aged 73)
New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationsAuthor, pamphleteer, essayist
SpouseAdele Irene Neighbor
Parent(s)Anthony Capelli
Caroline Louisa Brantigam

Biography

He was born on May 8, 1907, in Washington Heights in New York City to Anthony Capelli and Caroline Louisa Brantigam.[9] He married in 1935 and had one daughter. He remarried in 1948 to Adele Irene Neighbor and they raised seven sons. He founded The Capell Employment Agency, which had five offices in New York City.[10][11] In 1943, while an investigator for the War Production Board, Capell was fined $2,000 for "agreeing to take a $1,000 gratuity from a clothing manufacturer."[2][12][13][14] In 1964, when Thomas Kuchel was campaigning against Barry Goldwater, there circulated a "vicious document" that purported to be an affidavit signed by a Los Angeles Police Department officer saying that in 1949 he had arrested Kuchel. The document said the arrest was for drunkenness while Kuchel had been in the midst of a sex act. Capell was indicted for the libel, along with Norman H. Krause, a bar owner and ex-Los Angeles policeman, who in 1950 did arrest two people who worked in Kuchel's office for drunkenness: Jack Clemmons, a Los Angeles police sergeant until his resignation two weeks before his arrest; and John F. Fergus, a public relations man for Eversharp, Inc., who was charged in 1947 with possession of a concealed weapon and given a suspended sentence.[2][15][16]

A lifelong heavy smoker, Capell died from lung cancer on October 18, 1980, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[17] He was buried in Somerset Hills Cemetery in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.[10]

Selected publications

Books
  • The Threat from Within: The Truth about the Conspiracy to Destroy America (1963). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom. 51 pages.
"The American people have the finest country In the world. This has been made possible only because of God's blessing."
  • Treason is the Reason (1965). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom. 168 pages.
  • The Strange Case of Jacob Javits (1966). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom. 71 pages.
  • LSD — Weapon of Subversion (1968). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom.[18]
  • The Untouchables (1968). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom.
  • The Untouchables, Part 2 (1969). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom.
  • The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe (1969). Zarephath, New Jersey: Herald of Freedom. 79 pages.
Argues that Monroe was killed by Communists. The original exposé of her trysts with Robert F. Kennedy.[2][3][5][6][8]

Pamphlets
Also published as Robert F. Kennedy: Emerging American Dictator.[23]

Newsletters
  • Herald of Freedom (biweekly).
Sold for $10/year for the standard edition, and $6/year for the religious edition, in 1970.[1][24][25][26]

References
  1. Muller, Robert H.; Spahn, Theodore Jurgen; Spahn, Janet M.; Spahn, Janet Peterson (1970). From Radical Left to Extreme Right: A Bibliography of Current Periodicals of ... ISBN 9780875060118. ...the views and opinions of Frank A. Capell, editor and publisher.
  2. "The Smear". Time. March 5, 1965. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. Retrieved 2009-12-12. … and Francis A. Capell, 57, of Zarephath, N.J., publisher of a rightist newspaper, Herald of Freedom, and author of a pamphlet entitled The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe, which suggests that Marilyn met death at the hands of Communists.
    In 1943, as an investigator for the War Production Board, Capell was fined $2,000 for 'agreeing to take a gratuity from a clothing manufacturer.'
  3. Sarah Bartlett Churchwell (2005). The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0805078185. ...and he was "following a lead," says Spoto, that was planted by right-wing conspiracy theorist Frank A. Capell.
  4. American Opinion. John Birch Society. 1973. ... Frank A. Capell is a professional intelligence specialist of almost thirty years standing. He is Editor and Publisher of the fortnightly newsletter, ...
  5. Laurence Leamer (2002). The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060502886. Two years later Frank A. Capell, a right-wing journalist, published a book in which he alleged that Bobby was having an affair with the actress...
  6. "Flashback". Newsweek. 1976. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Frank A. Capell, the right-wing author of The Secret Story of Marilyn Monroe, a book published in 1964 which alleged a relationship between Robert Kennedy...
  7. Peter Harry Brown and Patte Barham (1993). Marilyn: the last take. Mandarin. ISBN 0-7493-1110-X. The love affair was first documented by crusading conservative journalist Frank A. Capell in his 1964 book, The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe. ...
  8. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (2005). The Final Days. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743274067. Frank A. Capell, the right-wing author ...
  9. Bill Capell at Ancestry.com
  10. Bill Capell writes in December 2009: "Born Francis Alphonse Capelli, the "chief" as he was known, always went by the name Frank, and was the first to use the name Capell. He changed his name when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 13 to conceal his Italian heritage. Although he didn't serve in the armed forces during World War II, he was an inspector for War Production Board and had a life long interest in all things military. He married very young in 1935 and had one daughter by that marriage. He remarried in 1948 and raised 7 sons. He founded The Capell Employment Agency which grew to have 5 offices across New York City. Best known to the world for his hard line anti-communist writing, he also authored books such as "The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe". While living in Staten Island, he was active in the Kiwanis Club and the Big Brothers of America. After moving to Zarephath NJ in 1963, he became active in the Order of Saint John and published his own conservative newsletter called "The Herald of Freedom". As a controversial figure on the political scene, he was a highly sought after speaker and often appeared on radio and TV shows most notably in 1966 on the Alan Burke Show. The chief had both of his arms covered with tattoos while in the Navy and considered them an embarrassment in his later years. A lifelong heavy cigarette smoker, he died at the age of 73 from lung cancer. He is buried in the family plot in Somerset Hills Cemetery in Basking Ridge NJ." and "Just as a side note, his older brother Tony Chapelle was a famous photographer and photo journalist who was married to Dickie Chapelle who wrote about the Vietnam War for National Geographic in 1962 and was with the Marines on Iwo Jima during WW2."
  11. National directory of employment services. 1962. Capell Employment Agency; 56 Bay Street, Third Floor Staten Island, New York
  12. "Investigators Seized After One, It Is Said, Accepts $1,000 From Garment Maker". The New York Times. September 22, 1943. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Two investigators for the War Production Board's compliance division were held in bail of $7,500 each yesterday, after they had been arrested, according to United States Attorney James B.M. McNally, while accepting a bribe of $1,000.
  13. "FBI Agents Arrest Two As Bribers". Associated Press in Hartford Courant. September 22, 1943. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Francis A. Capell, 40, and Richard C. Atherton, 32, investigators for the War Production Board, were arrested in New York today by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of bribery, Director J. Edgar Hoover announced.
  14. "United States v. Wilson". United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2009-12-12. The defendant, formerly an investigator in the Compliance Division of the War Production Board, stood trial in the District Court on an indictment charging him in four counts, under the usual conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C.A. 88, with conspiring with Francis A. Capell and Richard C. Atherton, also investigators, to accept bribes in violation of the statute, 18 U.S.C.A. 207. Capell and Atherton had been indicted earlier, but, having pleaded guilty, were not defendants in this case and appeared as witnesses for the government. After a trial to a jury, defendant was convicted and sentenced on all counts, with sentence suspended on all but the first count. Defendant appeals, assigning several errors in the charge, insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, and misconduct of the prosecutor.
  15. "Surrenders On Charges In Kuchel Libel". Chicago Tribune. February 25, 1965. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Francis. A. Capell, 57, one of four men indicted by the Los Angeles county grand jury for conspiracy to criminally libel Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel ...
  16. "Publisher Appears In Coast Libel Case". The New York Times. February 25, 1965. Retrieved 2009-12-14. Francis A. Capell of Zarephath, N.J., surrendered voluntarily here today to face an indictment charging him and three others with conspiracy to commit criminal libel against Senator Thomas H. Kuchel Republican of California.
  17. Social Security Death Index
  18. American Mercury. 1968.
  19. The Cross and the Flag. Christian Nationalist Crusade. 1972. He may be addressed as follows: Post Office Box 3, Zarephath, New Jersey 08890.
    Mr. Capell is a devout Catholic who is upset over the betrayal of Christian ...
  20. Coogan, Kevin (1999). Dreamer of the Day: Francis Parker Yockey and the Postwar Fascist International. Autonomedia. ISBN 1570270392. Corso appears to have spread this rumor in conjunction with Frank Capell.
  21. American Opinion. 1976. The story is told in detail by the dogged intelligence expert Frank A. Capell, in Henry Kissinger: Soviet Agent...
  22. Christian Crusade. Christian Nationalist Crusade. 1966. [Atheism] ... by Frank A. Capell ... not only carries on the struggle against the City of God from outside the walls...
  23. Schlesinger, Arthur M. (Jr.). Robert Kennedy and His Times (1978). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  24. Tiger in the Court: Herbert J. Stern. Playboy Press. 1973. The charges against father and son were first aired by Frank Capell, editor of a right-wing "hate-sheet" called Herald of Freedom, published in Zarephath, New Jersey...
  25. The Genocide Convention. United States Government Printing Office. 1982. ISBN 9780828312882. As Frank Capell put it forcefully in the Herald of Freedom (Mar. 20, 1970) "What the United States understands is ... PO Box 3, Zarephath, NJ 08890. ...
  26. Morris Kominsky. The Hoaxers: Plain Liars, Fancy Liars, and Damned Liars. Boston: Braden Press. 1970. "Frank A. Capell, alias Francis A. Capelle, has made a career of Red-Baiting forquite a number of years. He edits and publishes a bi-weekly newsletter."
External audio
audio icon Capell's remarks on the Nixon State Department, at the New England Rally For God Family & Country (1972). Introduction by Scott Stanley.
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