The Gold House The Lies, The Thefts

The polygraph examinations conducted on Fiege and Berlett only proved they had seen part of the treasure Doc and Ova Noss had discovered more than 23 years earlier on November 7, 1937. Eventually, the commanding general at White Sands, Major General John G. Shinkle, was caught lying to the Bureau of Land Management when he denied he was searching for the Noss gold at the Noss treasure site. But he was, and he found it, and in 1961 military personnel at White Sands Missile Range began removing the Noss gold. The gold thefts committed by the military during the 1960s were powder kegs waiting to explode, but in spite of the public notoriety the thefts were receiving, Leland Howard, Director of Silver & Gold Operations at the U.S. Mint, permitted General Shinkle to continue excavating the Noss treasure site. Shinkle, drawn into the scandal by his own devices, lied to New Mexico officials, denying the military had been excavating the site, claiming such rumors were a “myth.” Here are some of the other individuals who will appear throughout the book: John Dean, Counsel to President Nixon, David Austern who handled the money laundering agreements, Fern Hamill who flew the Noss gold for the military, Kenneth Meadows who began the money laundering scheme with The First National Bank in Albuquerque, and finally, Major General Arthur Sweeney, the Commanding General at White Sands Missile Range when the Nixon-sponsored gold theft from the Noss treasure site occurred.

The Nixon-related events began during the first week of November 1973 when two of Nixon’s Secret Service agents traveled to Arrey, New Mexico and visited the residence of Richard Moyle, an employee of a man named Fred Drolte. At three o’clock in the afternoon Drolte and the two Secret Service Agents met with Drolte in Moyle’s living room for forty-five minutes. The purpose of the Secret Service’s visit to Arrey was to arrange meeting between Fred Drolte and President Nixon in a private jet near El Paso, Texas. The meeting between Drolte and Nixon took place on Sunday, November 18, 1973 at Biggs Army Airfield on Fort Bliss, Texas. During the meeting, Drolte was given a key that opened a gate on the western rim of the Hembrillo Canyon. From there, the road led to the Noss treasure site. Three days later, on Wednesday, November 21, 1973, the day before Thanksgiving, Drolte drove his military surplus 6×6 truck and trailer to Victorio Peak. When he left the site five days later on Sunday, November 25, 1973, 36.5 tons of the Noss gold had been removed from an area known as Bloody Hands located one mile from the Victorio Peak, the Noss treasure site. What followed was page after page of bank letters, warehouse receipts, assay reports and a myriad of FBI reports and government documents, a trail of evidence detailing a theft of nearly $1.8 billion in gold at today’s prices. The trail of incriminating evidence began to unravel the day after the theft operation ended. Letters and FBI documents show that on Monday morning, November 26, 1973, a “tipster” later identified as David T. Austern, had called George Brazier at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army to inform him that 37 tons of gold was taken from White Sands Missile Range over the holiday weekend. The names of the individuals involved were given to the FBI, but because they were “mere allegations” they were never interviewed. When questioned about details of the November 1973 telephone call by this writer, Austern said he did not remember the call. The criminal events that followed the Nixon gold theft were uncountable. Because of the Watergate scandal, Nixon was forced to resign. He did so on August 8, 1974. Thirty days later he was pardoned by Gerald Ford. Three months later Nixon was seen arriving in a private helicopter at the McGregor Range on Fort Bliss just 27 miles from White Sands Missile Range’s headquarters.