In 1958, Air Force Captain Leonard Fiege, Airman Tom Berlett, and civilian Bill Schriever entered a cave at Victoria Peak, discovering massive, pyramid-shaped stacks of gold bars stamped with Spanish double crosses alongside the remains of 29 human skeletons. Choosing to act honorably and follow proper legal procedures rather than stealing the gold, Fiege and Berlett left the cave untouched. They subsequently hired senior Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps colonels to form "The Seven Heirs" corporation to legally assert their rights as the discoverers of the treasure.
Seeking official permission to complete their recovery, the airmen presented their findings in Washington, D.C., leading the U.S. Secret Service to administer federal polygraph examinations to both Fiege and Berlett on September 5, 1961. Both officers passed without any indication of deception, providing official, government-verified proof that the massive gold cache inside Victoria Peak was real. However, instead of granting legal access, Secret Service Agent Lilburn "Pat" Boggs issued a chilling warning directly to Captain Fiji: "The government will never let you get to the gold".
Behind the scenes, federal authorities were already executing a covert extraction. Transcribed phone calls from July 31, 1961, between White Sands Commander Major General John Shinkle, Leland Howard of the U.S. Mint, and Agent Boggs reveal a top-secret military operation set for August 1, 1961, to excavate and seize the gold while strictly barring Fiji and Berlett from the base. Shortly after, a special Pentagon team led by Captain William Orby Swanner inspected, photographed, and inventoried the gold, allegedly shipping portions to Fort Knox without any official public accounting or receiving records.
The aftermath exposed a ruthless cover-up designed to erase the discovery and silence all witnesses. Base photographer Charles Abston later recalled seeing General Shinkle personally using a forklift to load heavy, sealed containers into a moving van prior to transferring commands, while Captain Fiji and his family endured decades of relentless death threats whenever he attempted to go public. Episode 12 lays bare how federal agencies used lie detector technology to confirm the reality of the Victoria Peak treasure—only to secretly steal it and threaten the service members who found it.

On June 5, 1963, President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson made a highly orchestrated visit to White Sands Missile Range. While the official itinerary claimed the 139-minute stop was merely to witness a missile demonstration and inspect an unpaved desert runway known as the Northrup Strip, the reality was far more secretive. The trip—which required nine months of meticulous preparation—was actually an elaborate cover allowing the President and Vice President to personally inspect the Noss treasure at Victoria Peak, located just a five-minute helicopter ride away.

Following this secret inspection, a plan was set in motion to settle the decades-long treasure dispute. By November 1963, Ova Noss was waiting at the prestigious Brown Palace Hotel in Denver for a direct meeting with President Kennedy, arranged by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. The plan was for the President to take control of the treasure and finally ensure the Noss family received a fair share. However, on November 22, the tragic news of JFK’s assassination in Dallas shattered those hopes. Watching the fateful broadcast, Ova devastatingly realized that once again, getting close to a settlement had been derailed by murder.

Even more chilling than the canceled meeting is the military cover-up that concluded just 24 hours before the assassination. During the summer of 1963, the Museum of New Mexico conducted an authorized excavation at Victoria Peak under strict military control. When the museum's archaeologist drafted a truthful report documenting previous military excavations, secret polygraph tests, and Treasury Department involvement, army officials ordered it to be heavily censored. All incriminating evidence was scrubbed from the record, and the falsified report was finalized on November 21, 1963—exactly one day before Kennedy was killed.

This episode unravels the haunting six-month timeline leading up to the JFK assassination and explores the dark questions surrounding the military's actions. The censored scientific report didn't just hide past military thefts; it created the plausible deniability that protected Lyndon B. Johnson's upcoming operations. Tune in to discover how the tragedy in Dallas effectively handed the most powerful office in the world to LBJ, paving the way for him to systematically loot the Victoria Peak treasure using military aircraft over the next decade.

In the summer of 1976, an Illinois oilman named Ed Atkins received a tape containing an explosive conversation: former President Lyndon B. Johnson admitting to moving stolen gold from White Sands Missile Range to his ranch in Mexico. Discussing the heist with Fred Drolte, LBJ explicitly detailed using a big plane—later identified as a B-24 Liberator bomber—to transport the gold, cementing the tape as a "smoking gun" of presidential theft. However, after Atkins handed the tape to his lawyer, Daryl Holmes, for safekeeping, Holmes died under mysterious circumstances in 1977. Following his death, the LBJ tape and Atkins' White Sands files were the only items stolen from the lawyer's office.

This episode begins to dive deep into the origins of these presidential gold heists, proving the corruption began well before the 1973 Nixon theft. We trace the pattern back to the early 1960s at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, where President John F. Kennedy authorized $10,000 in taxpayer money to fund a treasure excavation. When Ed Atkins and his son John finally gained access to dig at the base years later, they found nothing. A base security guard later revealed the shocking truth: the military had previously cordoned off the area and extracted the gold using military trucks and helicopters.

At the center of the Fort Huachuca extraction was Bill Shriver, a civilian operative working under military and CIA supervision. Schriever secretly extracted an estimated 3.5 million troy ounces of gold from Fort Huachuca long before civilian treasure hunters were granted permission to dig, laundering the proceeds through a company called Pyramid Enterprises. In a sworn 1981 affidavit, Schriever confessed that a staggering 11 million troy ounces of gold were taken from Fort Huachuca and Victoria Peak combined, exclusively using military aircraft.

The pursuit of this truth came with a deadly price. Less than a year after giving his sworn testimony, Bill Shriver was beaten to death in Los Angeles. Ed Atkins himself had been warned that his entire family would be killed if he didn't stop investigating White Sands, and he later died in 1979 under circumstances a CIA operative suspected was murder. Tune in to uncover how Fort Huachuca established the dark, deadly template for presidential treasure theft that ultimately paved the way for the Victoria Peak heist

In this special update episode of JFK The Enduring Secret, Andrew Isler and Mark Adamczyk and myself recap our recent trip to Washington, D.C., for a highly anticipated meeting with Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna. After a chaotic day of travel, we secured nearly an hour with the Congresswoman and her staff to discuss the ongoing issues and lack of compliance surrounding the 1992 JFK Records Act.

The conversation highlights how we made the case for shifting the focus from requesting specific, isolated documents to addressing the broader, systemic issues regarding the National Archives (NARA) and their compliance with the JFK Records Act. We were delighted at Representative Luna's bias toward action on the topic; she eagerly reviewed Andrew and Mark's prepared briefs and material that we also delivered to her on behalf of Doug Horne, highlighted critical points, and demonstrated a serious commitment to the JFK task force's transparency mission.

Listeners will get an inside look at the team's key recommendations to Congress, which include requesting a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the JFK records collection to establish a true, accurate inventory of what the National Archives holds. We also discuss a push for the release of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby's heavily guarded tax returns, and the urgent need to track down 27,000 missing legal orders previously issued by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB). Congresswoman Luna was so receptive to the GAO audit, that she instructed her staff to draft a letter to the agency right there in the meeting. Andrew provided them with a pre-drafted request letter to make it even easier to do. Imagine that. Thank you Andrew!

Finally, our episode wraps up on a lighter note, as we share our post-meeting sightseeing adventures around D.C., including a hike up the famous Exorcist stairs in Georgetown, a celebratory dinner at the Watergate Hotel, and a reflective nighttime visit to the Lincoln Memorial. Tune in to hear the full breakdown of this monumental step forward, and learn how you can contact the Congresswoman's office to support the push for complete transparency. In order to get all the details of what we were asking here is a link where Andrew posted some of these documents on the Chokeholds website. And for additional kicks, here is the link to the Rand Paul comment on his inability to gain access to Church Committee records.

Rand Paul Clip:

https://x.com/jfkchokeholds/status/2067263368507871334?s=46

Chokeholds-Where you can find our recommendations

https://jfkchokeholds.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026.06.09-Brief-for-Meeting-with-Representative-Luna.pdf

Episode 9 plunges into the darkest chapter of the Victoria Peak saga, a chilling period between 1955 and 1963 when the United States military transformed from guardian to thief. Based entirely on the exhaustive, decades-long research of investigative author John Clarence (the pen name of Jack Staley), this episode details the heartbreaking aftermath of Ova Noss’s forcible eviction from the Hembrillo Basin. With the claim site now officially a restricted military zone, the Army's actions turned vicious—Ova's beloved horses were left to die in their corral, and her rock house camp was shot to pieces. The family was effectively exiled, but the mountain’s secrets could not be contained.

The narrative takes a staggering turn in February 1958 when active-duty Air Force personnel, Captain Leonard Fiege and Airman Thomas Berlette, accidentally rediscovered the exact treasure chambers Doc Noss had found 20 years prior. Crawling into a hidden cavern, they were met with stacks of crude gold bars piled like cordwood, ancient artifacts, and the remains of numerous human skeletons. Their astonishing find was later validated when both men easily passed formal military polygraph examinations. However, their attempts to secure a legal claim through official channels only alerted corrupt military brass to the exact location of the unimaginable fortune.

With the treasure exposed, the vault guards officially became the robbers. Under the command of Major General John G. Shinkle, the military orchestrated massive, top-secret extractions in the early 1960s, pulling bullion out under the cover of night using chain-gang style operations. To conceal these brazen thefts, the Army sponsored a sham, tightly controlled civilian excavation in 1963, only to deliberately censor the archaeologists' final report. Military officials wiped out all seismic evidence of the caverns and eyewitness accounts of prior military digs, creating a fraudulent public document to support their narrative that the gold was entirely a myth.

The episode concludes with a chilling cascade of violence and a heartbreaking missed opportunity. On November 22, 1963, Ova Noss was waiting in a Denver hotel for a scheduled meeting with President John F. Kennedy, who intended to finally resolve her legal ownership of the gold—a meeting that was tragically canceled by his assassination in Dallas. What followed was a grim era of relentless surveillance, death threats, and a string of brutal murders linked to the stolen gold. Tune in to hear how patriotism became a cover for unchecked greed. And remember, if you want to read the definitive account of this incredible saga, you can secure a rare, signed copy of John Clarence's Gold House trilogy by contacting Jeff Crudele directly at podcastjfk@gmail.com

Episode 8 escalates the bitter war between Ova Noss and the United States military from bureaucratic red tape into outright hostility. Based entirely on the exhaustive, decades-long research of investigative author John Clarence (the pen name of Jack Staley), this episode details how the U.S. Army systematically dismantled Ova's physical access to Victoria Peak. Under the command of Brigadier General George Eddy—who openly displayed a map of the treasure site in his office and explicitly threatened that Ova and her daughter would be "shot on sight" if they returned—the military transformed from a neighboring installation into a hostile occupying force.

The climax of this David versus Goliath struggle arrives on July 23, 1955. Despite holding valid state prospecting permits that were not set to expire for another three months, Ova and her excavation crew were forcibly ejected from the Hembrillo Basin without any due process of law. The timing was agonizing, as Ova's crew had just uncovered a diagnostic sign carved into the lower shaft and believed they were only feet away from the treasure. Upon a brief, permitted return to the site shortly after the eviction, the family discovered a heartbreaking and gruesome scene: the military had padlocked their excavated shafts, shot their rock house camp full of bullet holes, and left Ova's beloved horses dead and bloated inside their corral.

To survive this onslaught, Ova relied on a complex legal loophole and a dedicated group of allies. While the federal government had condemned the surface of the land to expand the White Sands Proving Ground, the state of New Mexico legally retained the subsurface mineral rights. With the help of loyal contractors, proxy filers, supportive U.S. Senators, and New Mexico Land Commissioner Guy Shepard, Ova managed to keep her legal claim alive on paper. Yet, she found herself fighting a multi-front war, battling not only the Army's brute force and corrupt local politicians, but also facing devastating allegations that her own sons had secretly sold her out for million-dollar payoffs.

Tune in to hear how the tragic 1955 eviction officially transitioned Victoria Peak from a private family mining claim into a restricted military vault, perfectly setting the stage for the massive, top-secret government thefts to come. And remember, if you want to read the definitive account of this incredible saga, you can secure a rare, signed copy of John Clarence's Gold House trilogy by contacting Jeff Crudele directly at podcastjfk@gmail.com.

Episode 7 picks up in the immediate, chaotic aftermath of Milton "Doc" Noss’s tragic murder on March 5, 1949. Based entirely on the exhaustive, decades-long research of investigative author John Clarence (the pen name of Jack Staley), this episode shifts the focus to his steadfast wife, Ova Noss, who is left to face a bitter, multi-front war for the Victoria Peak treasure. While Doc’s double-crossing killer managed to walk free despite the testimony of five eyewitnesses, Ova soon found herself staring down an even more formidable nemesis: the United States government.

Before she could even properly grieve, Ova was plunged into a vicious probate battle. The legal proceedings revealed a shocking secret: Doc had covertly annulled their marriage in an Arkansas court in 1945 and married another woman named Violet. Navigating this heartbreaking personal betrayal, Ova made a brilliant legal pivot on the advice of her attorneys, asserting her rights not merely as a widow, but as the legal co-discoverer of the 1937 treasure. Meanwhile, the probate inventory exposed the terrifying reach of federal authorities, listing seized maps, documents, and dozens of gold bars that had already been confiscated by the Secret Service and the Denver Mint.

Refusing to surrender her claim, Ova doubled down on the physical extraction of the gold. She hired contractors to carve a drivable road up the rugged mountain and engineered a new "lower Noss shaft" to bypass the catastrophic 1939 cave-in. But as she inched closer to regaining access to the fabled treasure rooms, the U.S. Army's presence at the White Sands Proving Ground morphed into a hostile occupation. Under the command of Brigadier General George Eddy, the military initiated condemnation proceedings, dismissed Ova's valid state permits, and explicitly threatened Ova and her daughter that they would be "shot on sight" if they returned to the peak.

Surrounded by treacherous former partners conspiring to steal her lease and a military apparatus determined to lock her out of her own fortune, Ova stood as a lone David against an impossible Goliath. Tune in to hear how this resilient woman fought to keep her family's massive discovery alive in the face of insurmountable corruption. And remember, if you want to read the definitive account of this incredible saga, you can secure a rare, signed copy of John Clarence's Gold House trilogy by contacting Jeff Crudele directly at podcastjfk@gmail.com.