material witness in the Clay Shaw investigation, which historically labeled him as "the missing witness" in Garrison's assassination conspiracy theory. The second arrest warrant was based on a new accusation; Garrison accused Novel of having "burglarized" the munitions bunker in Houma. During the same time-frame, on 25 May 1967, the New Orleans States-Item published a detailed article on the Clay Shaw case. In that article the New Orleans States-Item produced a handwritten letter, that experts identified as Novel's handwriting, which referred to a CIA connection to his advertising agency. Until then Novel had publicly denied any CIA connections. After the letter was revealed, Novel's attorney, Steve Plotkin, said that Novel wrote the letter and that Novel had CIA connections in New Orleans. While holding off his extradition, Novel organized a news conference in Columbus, Ohio, where he publicly defended himself against Garrison's accusation of burglary. During the conference, reporters were told that; there were CIA operations in New Orleans, an advertising agency in New Orleans (which was operated by Novel) did indeed serve as a CIA front, that the raid on the Houma munitions bunker was a "patriotic act". Later on, Plotkin further specified Novel's role as an "intermediary", but added that Novel's work had "little or nothing to do with the Bay of Pigs invasion and certainly had absolutely nothing to do with the assassination of President Kennedy". The extradition proceedings were eventually dropped on 3 July 1967, due to defects/incomplete extradition papers. Novel vs Garrison-Playboy Libel Suit In an October 1967 interview for Playboy Magazine, Garrison accused Novel of being a paid employee of the CIA and hinted at complicity in the JFK assassination. Subsequently, Novel filed a $10-million libel suit against Garrison and Playboy in Federal Court, being represented by Elmer Gertz, who was an expert in reputation damage and smear campaigns. In his book "To Life" Gertz stated that Novel's deposition ran into "hundreds, if not thousands, of pages". Eventually, the case did not come to trial but was instead dismissed by Judge William J. Campbell after the defendants moved for a reconsideration of their motions. J. Edgar Hoover allegations In an episode of the PBS program Frontline aired on February 9, 1993, Novel said he saw photos of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover engaged in oral sex with his aide Clyde Tolson. The episode incorporated the work of author Anthony Summers whose book Official and