Expendable Elite: One Soldier’s Journey into Covert Warfare

Former Green Beret Comes Clean About Mafia-Like Hit On Military Officer Who Knew Too Much About Kennedy Assassination
By Greg Szymanski

Called ‘Dangerous Dan’ by his military buddies does an about face from being a Green Beret and military hitman to now fighting for Christ as a born again Christian. Once he found the Lord, the former Special Forces Lt. Col. says he no longer fears the assassins who have tried in the past to kill him for going public in a tell-all book.

Some say once a government hit man always a government hit man. But in the case of Ret. Lt. Col. and Green Beret Dan Marvin, once solicited by the CIA to kill a military officer who knew too much about the Kennedy assassination, nothing is farther from the truth. 

Once the pride of the Green Beret’s during the Viet Nam era and considered one of the toughest of the bunch, Dangerous Dan as he was called in his military days, has replaced his M16 and special ops killing equipment for a bible and a kind word for anyone who wants to find the pathway to Jesus. 

And after finding Jesus, he decided to write a book, called the Expendable Elite, exposing the dark side of the American military and how he was used as a hired-gun, being asked to assassinate government and military leaders both here and abroad…

The killing tactics and motives have been heard a million times: kill for the honor and the glory, kill to save America from its enemies and kill in the name of freedom and democracy. And Dangerous Dan bought into the familiar patriotic themes, all the time thinking he was doing the right thing for God and country.

But then one day in 1984, after retiring from active duty, he listened to his daughter read from the bible on a cross-country road trip, a trip and bible lesson that changed his life forever. 

After being forced to listen to the bible by his daughter who threatened to otherwise never speak to him again, Dangerous Dan decided to retain the name Dangerous Dan’ but every so often explain to people I am now dangerous to those who would deny me the opportunity to tell the truth.   

Living a lie is sometimes hard to swallow, but disbelieving what was once believed is even more difficult, as Lt. Col. Marvin would be the first one to admit the incredible amount of soul searching and humility needed to make such an about face.

That day listening to my daughter changed my whole life. I found Jesus, said Lt. Col Marvin, adding it gave him the understanding to face up to his past and to correct his mistakes by exposing the dirty side of the military. I knew that if I spoke-out, they would try to kill me. I knew that because I was an instrument of the government for so long and understood what happened to people who tried to come forward about their killing ways before.

 But after I found Jesus, I no longer feared the government. I no longer feared that somebody just like me would now try to kill me. The only thing I fear now is the Lord. He gave me the strength and courage to write the book, a book I hope sets the record straight by telling the truth to the American people, even to the world!

And the story behind publishing the book is almost as interesting as the book itself. Lt. Col. Marvin actually finished publishing the book 17 years ago in 1988, and told of sending advance copies of what was contained in two chapters, telling about the plot to assassinate Crown Prince Sihanouk, my quid quo-pro, my unilateral aborting of the mission just two days prior to the day that 42 volunteers would have gone up the Bassac River and then cross country deep into Cambodia to ambush the Prince and finally, Gen. Quang Van Dang’s rescue of my camp from an ARVN regiment sent by Premier Ky and the CIA to destroy us all.

Learning of his actions, the CIA and the Pentagon sent out the attack dogs to keep the book off the shelves, but the book was then sent to President George H. Bush with a handwritten note attached, a story within a story that Lt. Col. Marvin details in his book. 

The book was finally published in 2003 by Trine Day press at the suggestion of a well-published author named Jim Marrs, who called Kris Milligan and suggested the book’s publication. 

First, let me say the Pentagon did everything in its power to keep my book from being published and it is still trying to stop me today with the law suit and a concerted effort to keep my book off the shelves even after I finally found a publisher, said Lt. Col. Marvin, adding that he nearly gave up trying after over 120 publishers turned him down until meeting Chris Milligan at Trine Day in 2003. We still have only sold about 3,000 copies as major distribution chains have blocked the book from reaching the American people.

Regarding Bush, I sent him a handwritten note with a copy of my manuscript back in 1988, saying I was intimately familiar with his activities in the CIA prior to the time he officially announced being a part of the agency. He knew what I was talking about and I used it in order to help ARVN Lt. Gen. Quang Van Dang, deputy to the President of Viet Nam, get into North America as our government previously had black balled him and wanted him to keep quiet about how our government actually sold out the people of South Vietnam. We basically never allowed them to win the war.

 A major portion of his book talks about the inside information he obtained while working as a Special Forces Captain, stories which clearly demonstrate how President Lyndon Johnson, Gen. Harold K. Johnson and Gen. William Westmoreland deceived the American people by providing safe havens for the enemy along with their protected use of the Mekong River in order to keep the war going, leading to the betrayal and abandonment of the South Vietnamese people.

A key chapter in his book describes how he was asked in June 1966 to assassinate Cambodia‘s Prince Norodum Sihanouk and how he tried to use this mission as leverage against President Johnson in order to get him to admit allowing the Viet Cong safe havens along the Cambodian border.

Asked to accept command of an independent operation in the An Phu District with the Hoa Hoa people as CIDG, he was told by LTC Tuttle:

Dan, if you take this command and accept this top secret mission, you will be on your own. When you leave this room, it will be as if we never met. We can’t and won’t stand behind you if you are caught doing what I am about to tell you to do. Got it, Captain? 

“We want you to take care of it, ‘Dangerous,’ because we believe you can get the job done. We’ve been asked to terminate Prince Sihanouk. Your job will be to bring about his death and make it appear to have been done by the Viet Cong. 

The centerpiece of the book goes on to tell how Lt. Col. Marvin aborted a mission brought to him by the CIA’s agent Walter Mackem that would have him sending this CIDG forces into Cambodia to assassinate their leader, Prince Sihanouk. However, he aborted the mission because President Johnson refused to honor his demand that he put an end to the enemy safe havens.

Once Lt. Col Marvin went against them, the CIA orchestrated the attack on his entire unit in retaliation for abandoning the assassination attempt in mid stream.

 When we were about to be attacked by our own forces, South Vietnamese lt. Gen. Quang Van Dang came to our rescue and I have been deeply indebted to him for saving my life and the lives of my men and our Hoa Hoas, said Lt. Col. Marvin. This is why our government turned on him and why I sent the handwritten note to President Bush, finally getting Van Dang into North America. 

Besides the Prince Sihanouk hit and enemy safe haven debacle, the book documents how he was involved in the periphery of actions that were part of a diabolical plot to take-out Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how he was asked to kill U.S. Navy Lt. Com. William B. Pitzer, an officer who had photos of President Kennedy’s autopsy and who wanted to go forward with the truth behind the presidential assassination in Dallas. Lt. Col Marvin said details of the matter are contained in the book Devious Elite’ by Kent Hunter. 

Lt. Col. Marvin’s book, Expendable Elite, also describes in a vivid manner how the American government operates essentially like the Mafia, using the exact same tactics as the crime families use to get what they want, including mafia-like oaths of secrecy to protect those higher-ups in the chain of command. Lt. Col. Marvin, however, said he never would sign any secrecy oaths.

And when Marvin became a reborn Christian and finally spoke out about the military hits on top political figures it was as if he had violated that sacred military oath of secrecy, and had himself now become a marked man with a target on his back, a target that still remains today even though he is 71-years-old and leading a pretty average life in Casanova, NY.

Besides being targeted for death, he also has been sued for libel over his book by six of his fellow Green Berets in a Special Forces Association and CIA/Pentagon-backed federal law suit.

Six of my men in the unit assigned to take-out the enemy safe havens and Col. William Tuttle who gave me the original order, but who vowed to deny it are suing me over the book, said Lt. Col. Marvin, adding that his attorney Barry Bachrach expects to win the case with truth as the total defense and vindication for any libel action. My men know what happened and so does Col. Tuttle. The Pentagon has got to them, but in the end the truth will prevail.

While the Pentagon also tried to stop publication of his book for more than 10 years, the libel case seeks$700,000 in damages and is set for trial in a Charleston, NC federal court on Oct. 31.   

Finding the Pathway to Christ

Finding the pathway for Dangerous Dan was as criss-crossed and difficult as anyone could imagine since the former Special Forces operative and trained military killer started his long journey, first to the military and then to Christ, as a two-bit teenage gang member in the back alleys of the south side of Chicago.

But saying that Dangerous Dan was only a two-bit thug back then probably doesn’t’ do him complete justice since even when he was a kid, there were signs he had a heart of gold hiding somewhere behind the macho madness.

Even though he led a small gang of young thugs who used cross-bows as weapons, Dirty Dan, as he was then known, said they always respected women, especially protecting the old ladies of the neighborhood who were being threatened or harassed on the dangerous south side Chicago streets by high school age gangs.

Kennedy Assassination

Although he hung out and even led young criminal types, living the lifestyle somewhat similar to that of young Jimmy Files. Files would later play a big part in the Kennedy assassination that eventually led to the hit on Lt. Cmdr. Pitzer that then Capt. Marvin was asked to perform but never carried-out.

Jimmy Files and Dirty Dan lived a similar life in different areas of Chicago in organized street gangs when young.. In 1959, we were both in the 82^nd Airborne Division, recalls Lt. Col. Marvin. Jimmy told me he was the guy on the grassy knoll in Dallas who put a bullet in Kennedy’s head. The mafia was infiltrated by the CIA and the mob hired Jimmy to carry it out. He’s still alive, admitted doing it and now we communicate regularly. In fact, I write him about every week and have a common friend who visits Jimmy every week that keeps us in touch with him.

We were told that there were four Mafia shooters involved in the Kennedy assassination, two were Americans and two were from the Corsica Mafia. The company’ as they like to be called, asked a Boston area Don if he would hit Kennedy prior to Dallas. He was the same Don who wanted to hire MSG Joe Hill and myself to be a hit team and if I didn’t have a wife and children, I probably would have said yes since I hadn’t yet found the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Mafia and the CIA together were involved in the Kennedy assassination. I remember looking eyeball to eyeball at one of the Don’s of the mafia and he told me the CIA contacted him for the Kennedy hit. You see, Kennedy wanted to expose things, do things above board and end many of the covert operations. This is why he was killed and in my estimation, he was the last independent thinking President America has ever had.

The high school drop out who recalls being one of the last one’s in the military to carry a brass swagger stick (tool for punishment), recalls signing up for Special Forces Green Beret duty the day President Kennedy was killed.  

Lt. Cmdr. William Pitzer’s Assassination

After going through Green Beret training and becoming leader of a special atomic demolition munitions team, on Aug. 5, 1965, while at Ft. Bragg, Lt. Col. Marvin again became in contact with the Kennedy assassination, this time being asked to kill someone he was told was giving secrets to the enemy.

I received a call from my commander, Col. C. W. Patten, at Ft Bragg and then I met with a CIA agent, said Lt. Col. Marvin. I had been taught that all missions of this nature are strictly voluntary and that this one involved killing someone who was giving secrets to the enemy so I eagerly accepted the job.

When I was told the man’s name was Lt. Cmdr. William Bruce Pitzer and that he was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. I turned it down, wanting to reserve my special skills for that kind of activity in the foreign theatre, but later learned he was planning to go public with numerous original photos of the Kennedy autopsy which would have destroyed the government’s story about the shooting. Later, I heard he was found dead in his office at Bethesda and it was set-up as a suicide.

Lt. Col. Marvin Says People Need to Listen Before the Bush Administration Destroys America.

Lt. Col. Marvin is blunt about his feelings about President Bush and his cronies, saying he doesn’t trust them and doesn’t believe a word that comes out of their crooked mouths.

I am anxious to get out my information because it relates to the oppression in America that is going on right now, he said about his book, the introduction written by famous actress and singer and friend of all Green Berets, Martha Raye.

Saying that America is no longer a defender of freedom but an invader of nations, he claims that America is now firmly in the hands of leaders and under the control of people who do not have America‘s best interests at heart.

We are not a democracy any longer. I simply do not trust Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, added Lt. Col. Marvin. The entire gang of Skull and Bones are involved here and I fear they are trying to destroy our country right before our very eyes. We have no business being in Iraq. We went in there on Bush’s lies and his doctored intelligence reports regarding weapons of mass destruction that never existed.

Lt. Col. Marvin said the only way to change Bush’s evil direction, if it’s not already too late, is to change the political system from the bottom up, hopefully attracting honest people who will not sell out to the corporate interests controlling America today.

He’s not intending a second book, saying the first one was enough, but he is gathering information and helping another author put together another military expose due out next year called The Devious Elite.