These Men Murdered Kennedy - The Real Men Behind the Shadows

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rights right now. There's only cooer with breath alive. That's
me as as alive. But I ain't gonna say shit
whether he ain't saying, is any you air thought come
near me? You better have a book an army with you, baby.
But I've got my shit together and I'll blow the
first twenty mother pluckers away that he can't come near.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Me, and you can put in for Lauren Hall, a
Long Beach resident, has filed a one hundred million dollar
libel suit against The National Tattler, alleging the newspaper falsely
identified him as part of a sniper team responsible for
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Hall, who claims

(00:41):
to have been in California at the time of the assassination,
asserts the allegations have severely impacted his life. The suit
follows two articles by the Chicago based paper which linked
Hall to conspiracy theories and other key figures involved in
investigations of the Kennedy assassination. Hall vehemently denies the accusations

(01:02):
and contends the damage to his reputation has led to
personal and professional fallout. A Long Beach man accused by
a national newspaper of being a member of a two
man sniper team that killed President John F. Kennedy has
filed a one hundred million dollar libel suit against the publication.

(01:22):
The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, was
brought by Lauren Hall, who claims he was in Monterey Park,
not on the infamous Grassy Knoll in Dallas, as the
newspaper charges when the former president was slain. Hall a
forty six year old adventurer whose colorful life has taken
him full circle from a car salesman's job in Wichita, Kansas,

(01:46):
to international intrigue in and out of Cuba, to a
key role in New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation
of Kennedy's killing, to selling real estate in Long Beach,
where he has lived for the past year. Amid the
many probes into Kennedy's death, the now bearded Hall has
brought suit against The National Tattler, a sensation oriented Chicago

(02:08):
based newspaper. He charges that notoriety resulting from two articles
about him caused him to lose a job and have
problems in his church, and aided the demise of a
former marriage. Hall is seeking fifty million impunitive damages and
another fifty million dollars for mental suffering. The first story mentioned,

(02:30):
titled These Men Murdered President John Kennedy, appeared in The
Tattler on July thirteenth, nineteen seventy five. It was accompanied
by separate photographs of Hall and four others, including Lee
Harvey Oswald, who was the sole Kennedy assassin according to
the Warren Commission that investigated Kennedy's death. The Tattler claimed

(02:54):
it was not Oswald, but a sniper team composed of
Hall and Iladio del Valle, identify Fired as a former
Cuban congressman during the regime of ex Cuban President Fulgensio Battista,
who actually shot the former president. Hall asserts he never
met del Vallet, who, according to the Tatler, was found
dead on a Miami, Florida street in nineteen sixty seven,

(03:17):
his skull bashed in and his body punctured by three bullets. Furthermore,
Hall says a friend can corroborate his claim that he
was in California at the time of Kennedy's death. The
sniper team of Hall and del Valet was identified by
an unnamed ex CIA operative. According to the Tatler article

(03:38):
by former Dallas Times Herald reporter John Moulder, now on
the Tatler staff. The story quotes the EXCIA operative saying
that discussions of the assassination included Oswald Clay Shaw, the
New Orleans businessman brought to trial by Garrison but acquitted
of conspiracy charges, David Ferry, allegedly a private in investigator

(04:00):
for Louisiana mafia boss Carlos Marcello and another key witness
in Garrison's investigation. And Eugene Half Braiding, also known as
Jim Braden, described by the Tatler as an ex convict
with mafia connections on the West Coast. Braiding was arrested
shortly after the Kennedy shooting, questioned by the FBI, and released.

(04:25):
Shaw died in nineteen seventy four, reportedly from cancer, although
the cause of death was never made totally clear. Only
Hall and Braiding are still living. Hall's suit also labels
as libelous. A second Tattler article titled the Elusive Mister Hall,
which appeared on September first, and accused Hall of fleeing

(04:47):
the country after the first article appeared. Hall's past reads,
like the plot of a paperback adventure novel. He was
in Cuba in nineteen fifty eight, where a hotel bell hop,
a seatecret supporter of Castro, discovered Hall was knowledgeable about
weapons and sought his help in repairing some rifles. This

(05:08):
encounter led to visiting a mountain hideaway where he became
friendly with Castro commander Camillo Sienfuegos. Hall, who had become
skillful with weapons during U. S Army service from nineteen
forty seven to nineteen fifty three, assisted the men with
weapons and tactics. Caught up in the romance of the
Castro cause, Hall remained in the mountains with the Cuban

(05:30):
leader until Castro's successful takeover on New Year's Day nineteen
fifty nine. Soon after that, according to Hall, it became
clear to Sienfuegos that Castro was a Communist, and he
and Hall secretly turned against him. Hall claims he and
sian Fuegos plotted the assassination of four hundred and fifty

(05:51):
people they thought were communists. The plan called for shooting
them during an agrarian reform meeting in May of nineteen
fifty nine. But before the Act, Hall was arrested, sentenced
to death, and thrown in prison. However, the sentence wasn't
carried out. Two months later, he was moved to a
minimum security facility, where he remained for four months until

(06:14):
Sienfuegos was able to get him out and put him
on a plane to Miami. Returning to Wichita, Hall was
cautioned by the U. S. State Department to maintain a
low profile or risk losing his citizenship because he had
violated the Neutrality Act. He opened a restaurant and later
worked for Cessna Aircraft and didn't make waves for several years.

(06:38):
But four years in Wichita was enough, and in nineteen
sixty two, Hall moved to California, first to Pasadena, then
to Monterey Park. By this time, Hall's feelings about Castro
had moved one hundred and eighty degrees. Castro's movement into
the communist sphere left Hall with a growing sense of betrayal,

(07:00):
so he returned to Miami and with five other men,
launched his own raids, blowing up several bridges and railroad
tracks and taking photos of the San Antonio de Banos
air base After a raid in nineteen sixty three, in
which the Cubans fired on them and hit one of
the raiders in the leg. Hall returned to California and

(07:21):
began a campaign to raise money for future raids. He
spoke before civic clubs and ingratiated himself with right wing
groups in this state and in conservative rich Dallas. It
was this involvement with the right wing that eventually made
Hal a target of the Garrison investigation and resulted in

(07:41):
his being questioned by the FBI about possible involvement with
organizations believed to have plotted Kennedy's death. Hall admits that
groups and individuals did indeed discuss killing Kennedy, who was
despised in some ultra conservative circles after the Bay of Pigs.
Hall says, for example, that he overheard a Dallas trucking

(08:02):
company owner offer fifty thousand dollars to anyone who would
slay the president. He also attended meetings in the Los
Angeles home of convicted murderer Clinton Wheat, who was expelled
from the John Birch Society, which thought white supremacist Wheat
and his wife were too bigoted. Discussions in the Wheat

(08:23):
home of Kennedy's demise led to Garrison subpoenaing Wheaton Hall,
neither of whom reported to New Orleans as requested. Wheat
fled to Oregon and his near Burney, California. She was
finally tracked down by reporters who found her ensconced in
the wilderness with two Saint Bernard dogs. Hall left Dallas

(08:43):
eight or nine days before the assassination, beat Garrison's extradition
attempt at a hearing in Bakersfield. Before that, he had
already been interrogated by the FBI because of his frequent
trips to Dallas. At the time of the extradition hearing,
Hall claims he was almost run off the highway by
an unidentified automobile and was stuck with something in the

(09:05):
arm in a motel hallway by one of the men
he didn't recognize. Hall blames a subsequent bout with hepatitis
on the pinprick he received from the mysterious men in
the hall. Believing the FBI had him mistakenly recorded as
having visited a Missus Sylvia Odio, a Dallas resident who
reported that Lee Oswald had come to her home soliciting

(09:28):
support for anti Castro forces, Hall decided to talk to Garrison.
He spent eleven days with the New Orleans District Attorney,
undergoing intensive questioning. Garrison ultimately gave him a letter that
Hall says vindicates him from any participation in the Kennedy murder.
Once again, Hall returned to California, working as a supervisor

(09:51):
for Northrop Aircraft, then as a truck driver for Safeway.
On June thirtieth, nineteen seventy five, he moved to Long Beach,
where he now sells real estate and he has married again.
Along with the myriad theories on the Kennedy assassination, Hall
of course has his own. Despite all the threats and

(10:13):
the talk, the radical groups didn't do it, he says. Oswald,
who Hall believes worked for the CIA, was hired in
Mexico City by Castro forces to be the hit man,
but he was only a patsy, Hall maintains. Hall says
Castro was well aware of the CIA plots to kill him,

(10:33):
schemes that have only been made public in recent probes
of the Intelligence Agency. He knew when I was in
Cuba that the US government was out to get him,
Paul said he knew back in nineteen fifty eight, that's
when the attempts started, and Castro is not the kind
of guy to let that pass. He would have done

(10:54):
anything to have Kennedy's apt Castro was taking no chances.
He sent his own marksmen to Dallas, and in Hall's opinion,
not Oswald who actually hit Kennedy. Furthermore, Hall claims Oswald's
male order rifle a carcano, has to be the world's
worst weapon, and he adds the rifle scope was faulty.

(11:18):
Hall also questions the angle of the shots, the areas
of Kennedy's body that were hit, and the time sequence.
He concludes one individual could not have killed the president.
No way could Oswald have done it. He says, I
think Castro knew he Oswald was under cover for the CIA,

(11:38):
and I don't think Oswald actually fired the shot. I
think they the killers were Cubans, maybe a few Americans,
a small group, maybe six, Hall says. After Oswald's slaying
in the basement of the Dallas County Jail by Jack Ruby,
Hall has a theory about that too. He says someone

(11:58):
in the CIA contacted Sam Giancana, the Chicago mafia figure
with ties in Cuba, and told him Oswald just has
to go, and Giancana had someone contact Ruby and say
you're dying of cancer. Anyway, old buddy, go do a
number on Oswald. Paul doesn't have hopes anyone in authority

(12:19):
will accept his theories. In a recent article published on
August twelfth, Woodstocks, Rush Harp, and David Wemple expressed their
skepticism regarding the official explanation of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Wemple's letter to the editor further elaborates on the possibility
of a conspiracy potentially involving splinter groups within government agencies

(12:41):
like the FBI and CIA. Highlighting connections between the agencies
and key assassination figures. Wemple questions why thorough explanations have
been withheld for over a decade. He emphasizes the importance
of public skepticism and urges readers to support a congressional
inquiry into the various political assassinations that have shaped American history.

(13:07):
Dear Editor. A recent article in The Freemen on August twelfth,
discussing the skepticism of Woodstock's, Rushharp, and myself regarding the
official explanation of the events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination was
generally accurate, but deserve some additional comments. As I explained,

(13:29):
the existence of a conspiracy does not necessarily implicate the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and or the Central Intelligence Agency.
Neither does it prove their innocence. However, the strong connections
between assassination related individuals and these agencies can hardly be ignored.
It is quite possible that splinter groups within such organizations

(13:50):
were deeply involved. But what splinter groups? Who were they composed?

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Of?

Speaker 2 (13:57):
What power, if any, do such individuals wield?

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Now?

Speaker 2 (14:02):
We must remember that our nation has undergone a series
of political assassinations, of which President Kennedy's was only the
first and most famous. What of Bobby Kennedy, Doctor Martin
Luther King, George Jackson, Malcolm x, Fred Hampton and the
George Wallace shooting the personalities of such men? Aside? The

(14:24):
public deserves to know the truth. We simply cannot tolerate
governmental and intelligence connections without demanding a full and adequate explanation.
Why have such explanations been withheld for thirteen years? Did
Fidel Castro really mastermind the deaths of so many people?
The truth is deeper and murkier than such simplistic cover stories.

(14:48):
Another question deserving an explanation is why has no one squealed?
Why not John Watergate Dean? The simple fact is that
there have been a number of squealers, most of whom,
unforse fortunately met early and mysterious deaths. David Ferry was
one called one of the most important witnesses in history

(15:08):
by Jim Garrison. He had close ties to men such
as Lee Harvey, Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Southwestern mafia boss
Carlos Marcello. A few days before Garrison was to arrest
him in connection with the Clay Shaw conspiracy trial, Ferry
conveniently died. Shaw himself was murdered three months after being
identified by former Central Intelligence Agency official Victor Marchetti as

(15:32):
the agency's man in New Orleans now Las Vegas, mobster
John Roselli has been found murdered. Roselli was contracted by
the Central Intelligence Agency to arrange Castro's death, along with
Sam Giancana, who was murdered a few days before a
Senate intelligence committee was to question him. Jimmy Hoffer, also

(15:52):
drawn into the mob's hatred of the Kennedys, is likewise gone.
With Attorney General Edward Levy asking the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to investigate Roselli's death, many wonder why the fox
should guard the hen house. The list continues, Yes, there
were squealers, Why why dig up old bones? It is

(16:16):
true that John Kennedy and others are dead and gone,
but there remains a principle at stake. There are frighteningly
similar parallels between the various assassinations, both with governmental, mafia
and intelligence connections and official cover ups. Why if the
American public is afraid to ask such questions of their government,

(16:37):
then their democracy is already lost. Public skepticism and concern
are the lifeblood of any democracy. Replaced by fear or apathy,
a democracy cannot and will not long survive. For those
who care to act on their concern, Please take five
minutes to write your congressmen in support of House ready

(17:00):
Resolution two hundred four to reopen Congressional inquiry into the
shootings of John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and
Governor George Wallace David Wemple Hurley in the aftermath of
mafia boss Carlo Gambino's death. A power struggle for the
position of Boss of All Bosses appears to be resolving,

(17:21):
with Annyelo Della Croce, Gambino's underboss, planning to retire after
suffering a heart attack. His exit seems to clear the
path for Carmine Galente to ascend to the top of
the New York mafia families and the National Crime Syndicate. Galenti,
a ruthless figure with international drug trade ties, is now

(17:42):
poised to solidify his power, having already eliminated many of
his rivals within the mob hierarchy. Annyelo delacrocei, underboss to
Carlo Gambino and the only mafia don powerful enough to
challenge Carmine Galente, apparently is out of the running for
the vacant post of Boss of All Bosses. The New

(18:07):
York News learned that Della Croce, sixty two, who suffered
a serious heart attack in city prison last week, plans
to retire to Florida upon his release from jail in December.
His exit will remove the last barrier to Galente's takeover
as leader of New York's five mafia families and successor
to Gambino as board chairman of the National Crime syndicate.

(18:32):
Carlo Gambino died of heart disease on October eleventh at
his waterfront home in Massapequa, New York. His consigliere, Councilor
Joseph N. Gallo, sixty three, then became the acting head
of the Gambino crime family. However, Gallo is not expected
to oppose Galentes drive to the leadership. Law enforcement officials

(18:56):
consider Galente to be shrewd, ambitious, and utter ruthless. They
also describe him as one of the world's biggest narcotics
importers and distributors. He has close ties to the Sicilian Mafia,
the Corsican brotherhood that runs the rackets in France, and
to major drug dealers in Canada, Mexico, and South America.

(19:19):
Since his release from federal prison in nineteen seventy four,
he's been busily making friends and eliminating possible opponents in
the mob hierarchy. Investigators say he has been in touch
with his old boss, Joseph Joe Banana's Banano, now in
semi retirement on the West Coast, and with several other

(19:40):
multi millionaire mafiosi, including Santo Trafficante of Florida and Carlos
Marcello of Louisiana. If he doesn't already have enough votes
on the twelve member Mafia commission to elect him Capo
di Tuti Cappi Boss of Bosses, he probably will have
it soon. When Gambino died, veter en mob watchers predicted

(20:01):
that della Croce would assume control of the Gambino army
and declare war on Galente, who now commands the remnants
of the old Brooklyn based Bonano mob. But O'Neill is
in ill health and reportedly plans to retire to his
home on Key Largo as soon as he gets out
of prison. He is serving a six month sentence for

(20:21):
contempt of court and is scheduled to be released on
December twenty seventh. On September nineteenth, he entered Bellevue Hospital
for a gallbladder operation. While recuperating in the hospital's prison ward,
he developed heart problems. A Corrections Department spokesman said. Since
then he has been in the ward's intensive care unit.

(20:43):
His physician, doctor Peter Jiuda, was unavailable for comment, but
the correction spokesman said della Croce was doing well and
is expected to return to jail.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Soon.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
This has reached the end in the thriller, as the
old mafia dons, who once ruled with an iron fist,
slowly fade from power due to natural causes. The mafia
is evolving from its traditional rackets to more sophisticated white
collar crime. On December twenty first, nineteen seventy six, it

(21:15):
was reported that with figures like Carlo Gambino and his
contemporaries passing away, the new generation of organized crime is
moving into areas such as Wall Street, federal contracts, and unions.
Joe N. Gallo, a lesser known but respected figure, is
believed to be the new leader of the Gambino family,
overseeing this transformation. Law enforcement now focuses on infiltrating crime

(21:41):
syndicates as communications falter within the mafia dining in the Midwest.
Official dockets of Wall Street and US Treasury paper robberies
are jam packed. The take is enormous. Some valuable exon
stock has just been ripped off. One old case involves
the stealing of a five hundred thousand dollar US Treasury

(22:02):
bill and its sale to an insurance company for one
hundred fifty thousand dollars and eighty seven thousan five hundred
shares of corporate stock. It was a Philadelphia crime family
coup until the Bureau of Investigation cracked it. In the
past year, the Bureau discovered that a Wall Street brokerage
house was swindled by mob linked operatives of two hundred

(22:24):
eighty thousand dollars by use of the mail. Slowly, the
mafia has had to change now that the old dons,
driven out of Sicily and into the US by Mussolini's
Chief of Internal Police Cesaro More in the early nineteen twenties,
are being cut down by natural bulletless deaths. Suddenly, recently,

(22:47):
some of the Bureau's veteran mafia watchers were directed to
create white collar crime clusters. This wasn't a whim. It
didn't take much shifting of desks, merely the overwhelming evidence
that the day of the number one mister big pinky
ringed al Capone type was whimpering away as old dons.
The last of the Palermo Castello Mare del Golfo Montdoro

(23:09):
Sicilian family bosses died natural deaths. Now the mafia crews
are heading for Pentagon contracts, commercial bribery and reinfiltration of
some big unions, including the teamsters, which might cause some
teeth grinning US attorneys. These three hundred of the hoods
who made up the line from the old Unione Siciliano

(23:33):
and black Hand gangs in alliance with Murder inc. Many
of their second and third generations have gone legitimate. These,
according to the Justice Department, have infiltrated hundreds of businesses.
Some are in their own executive suites. Some have moved
into unions carefully tracked by the Bureau, which is absolutely

(23:55):
nerve racking them. Sure the organization is old strokes, heart failure,
and just old age, said one of the nation's top
criminal intelligence officials. There's significance in the turnover of key
positions in the syndicated crime families. If you send one
leader to jail and then another, The effect every time

(24:17):
you remove a middle management gangster is there must be
a re alliance below, So everybody keeps choosing up sides uneasily.
If anyone guesses wrong, he's in trouble. So there's distrust
and dissension. No longer can anyone in the combine be
assured that the fellow he's conspiring with is able. The

(24:39):
leader pattern is fading, the ability to appoint police commissioners
and judges is almost gone, and so it is with
the fixing of big cases. In other words, the mob
has gotten too hot, but it still is around. So
who runs it? Now that many top dons have either
gone to jail or gone from Brooklyn, Saint Louis UIs, Detroit,

(25:01):
New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Chicago. There its functioning,
but its jittery, not nearly as deadly efficient as it was.
Its communications are breaking down. Quiet man Joe N. Gallo
was born in Alabama, probably sixty eight years ago. He's
close to Carlos Marcello of New Orleans, which he has

(25:23):
visited frequently. Marcello is reputedly one of the Sun Belt Dons.
Back on September twenty second, nineteen sixty six, Gallo was
picked up with twelve other Dons who were then believed
to be the Syndicates National command in La Stella restaurant.
Queen's not too far from the big airports. He's suave, knowledgeable,

(25:45):
and the don between the dons, says my source after him,
the big move will be to the assimilated third and
fourth generations and multi billion dollar white collar crime narcotics
is too messy, too punishable by official and kangaroo courts.
The new boys believe there's enough for everybody on Wall Street,

(26:08):
in federal contracts and the unions. And we're not wire tapping,
we're infiltrating. According to top criminal intelligence, my source discloses
that the U. S. Marshals are protecting some eighteen hundred
informers and witnesses whose identities and homes have been changed
by the Justice Department, so no boss ever knows when

(26:32):
he is talking to a disguised federal informer or defector
who is wired for sound. The result is that the
old organization no longer is what it was fifteen years ago.
The old mafia bossed political district division officials. These authorities
point to the Americanism of the syndicate in the person
of a virtually unknown comrade of the late Carlo Gambino,

(26:55):
Boss of Bosses, who died of a stroke last October sixteenth.
The don now believed to be Gambino's successor is the
low profile joe En Gallo of Queen's Long Island, no
relation to the gunned down crazy Joe Gallo and his
bloodied family of this little known Gallo, who for years
visited his intimate friend, the late Don of Dons out

(27:18):
in Poshlong Island, A truly top echelon Bureau official, one
of this nation's most dedicated investigators, says, there's no doubt
in our minds that joe En Gallo now is running
the Gambino group. He's well thought of and respected in
the families. You'll not find much of a police record
except for a gambling bit in the thirties. He's just

(27:42):
not been involved in what we call arrest situations, but
he's sure part of the power behind the scenes. By
nineteen seventy seven, skepticism regarding the official narrative of President
John F. Kennedy's assassination had grown significantly, as many Americans
no longer found fully trusted the findings of the Warren Commission.

(28:04):
On February thirteenth, nineteen seventy seven, Channel nine aired a
documentary titled The Two Kennedys a European View, which revisits
the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy.
Produced in Italy, the film explores the potential for deeper
conspiracies behind their deaths. Reflecting the evolving suspicions of the public.

(28:27):
While some aspects of the documentary may feel outdated, the
program captivates viewers by examining various theories and offering a
European perspective on these historical events Europe saw conspiracy. It
is probably safe to say that countless millions who initially
agreed with the findings of the Warren Commission when it

(28:49):
released its report on the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy have long since joined the ranks of the skeptics.
In nineteen sixty three, the nation was innocent, most naive
when it came to matters of high level government deceit
and chicanery. By nineteen seventy seven, we have all come
a long way, and evidence continues to surface like dinosaur

(29:12):
relics in the La Brea tar pits, suggesting there was
much more to the JFK killing than has met the eye.
On February thirteenth, at five in the afternoon, Channel nine
will telecast a two hour black and white documentary, The
Two Kennedys. A European view and those who watch it
will likely be captivated by the recreation of the shootings

(29:34):
of President Kennedy and his brother Robert f during his
campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Unlike most foreign media
representatives who create the false impression that violence is a
peculiarly American trait, the Italian producers of this film begin
by stating hundreds of years of political intrigue and violence

(29:56):
in Italy make us unwilling to accept the likelihood of
coincidence in the deaths of the two Kennedys and Martin
Luther King Junior. Clearly, the producers had some obvious biases
and also demonstrated some naivety in places. The first half
of the program, which is divided between a preamble on
the evolution of the nation and the Kennedy brothers and

(30:19):
then the circumstances of their deaths, is a bit rambling. However,
the second half, with its use of every scrap of
visual material on the two killings, can only be described
as gripping for those of us who lived through those events.
It will bring back, in agonizing detail the memory of

(30:39):
where we were and what we were doing when the
news broke. Interestingly, many astute young people today were either
unborn in November nineteen sixty three or far too young
to fully grasp what happened in Dallas. For them, the
show might seem like crude fiction. Ultimately, the show's principal

(30:59):
weakness is its age. It was assembled almost four years ago,
and some startling facts have emerged since then that completely
turn around the slunt the Italian producer places on the
motives for a Kennedy conspiracy. The first half builds up
the background of the Kennedy family, portraying Joseph Kennedy as
one of the biggest blackguards ever to come out of

(31:20):
the American capitalist system. His leniency toward the militarism of
Hitler during the years the elder Kennedy was ambassador for
the US in London is emphasized, as well as his
financing of the campaigns of Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.
It is noted that McCarthy was a frequent weekend guest
at Hyannisport, that he dated Pat Kennedy before her marriage

(31:43):
to actor Peter Lawford, and gave Bobby his start in
Washington as a junior council on his first committee. Rfk
later became an opponent of McCarthy, but most of the
Kennedys were at McCarthy's wedding when he married his legislative
assistant towards the end of his career. What becomes amusing
is the blunt, uncompromising way the Italian producer sums up

(32:06):
people and places, a technique probably helpful to European audiences
who saw this film in theaters, but not always appropriate
for Americans. For instance, Joe Velacchi is described as a
longtime gangster and killer, Ross Barnett as an uncompromising racist,
and Sam Giancana as al Capone's successor in Chicago. Chicago

(32:31):
is labeled a center for organized crime. Jacqueline Bouvier is
simply described as a girl from a good family and
an amateur journalist. Memphis, where Martin Luther King was slain,
is portrayed as a city controlled by gang overlord Carlos Marcello.
James Earl Ray, a professional killer from New Orleans. Carlos

(32:53):
Marcello's home base, is mentioned, possibly because the writers of
the show belong to Italy's mother Arxist media faction. It
attempts to suggest that Kennedy's death warrant was issued because
conservatives viewed his actions as a surrender to communists. Which
overlooks his initiation of US military activity in Vietnam against
a Communist foe. In discussing the actual assassination in Dallas,

(33:18):
it presents the often shown photos that suggest Ruby was
at the shooting scene that Oswald was outside the schoolbook depository,
not on its upper floor with a rifle. It shows
the supposed second gun resting on a car beyond the
grassy knoll, and includes conversations with bystanders who attest to
seeing smoke and the presence of a shooter from that direction.

(33:41):
An angle I have not heard before is that the
police captain who first broadcast Oswald's description on the police
radio after the shooting was at his side and stepped
back when Ruby killed him. In police headquarters the day
after the shooting, Marina Oswald brought to police headquarters a
photo of her husband holding the death gun. Detractors have

(34:03):
claimed that it is a composite Oswald's head grafted on
to some other body with the gun. This debate is rekindled.
Such charges tend to strain credibility in my mind, since
this would broaden the conspiracy and make it absolutely impossible
to maintain secrecy all these years. Had the producers updated
their film with some of the later evidence that has

(34:25):
been bruted around. They might not have liked the direction
the story is headed. That the Kennedy brothers authorized clandestine
assassination attempts on foreign leaders as part of their foreign
policy seems highly likely, and that one of their unsuccessful targets,
Fidel Castro, took exception to this is a known fact.

(34:47):
Last fall, in an interview with William Colby, former head
of the CIA, I asked him how high in the
government the approval came from for the bizarre assassinations abroad.
Colby did not head the bureau in the Kennedy years,
of course, and his reply is just where the approval
came from is murky, but it had to be high up.

(35:11):
The involvement in these attempts is a matter of public
record now via the Jancana connection and White House logs
have borne out claims that a female intimate of that
mafia leader also visited Kennedy for several months during his presidency.
In citing the deaths of witnesses in the case, the
Italian producers could add Jiancana, who was slain in his

(35:34):
Illinois home after the revelation started to surface. Colby told
me in that interview, and it was published in the
Herald News at the time that in September nineteen sixty three,
Castro issued a statement in Havana that those heads of
foreign governments who had ordered attempts on his life had
best look to their own safety. Pursuing that line, Frank Sturgis,

(35:58):
who worked for the CIA in the ninth in sixties
and was arrested for the break in at the Watergate hotel,
claims he has proof that Ruby was a gun runner
for Castro before the Bearded Dictator attained power, and that
his weapons shipments were paid for with drugs. Sturgis also
claims that Ruby was present at a meeting in Havana

(36:18):
with Castro, his brother Raoul Cha Gavara, Gavara's mistress Tanya,
and Castro's intelligence chief Ramiro Valdez, three months before John
Kennedy was killed. Sturgis, who served sixteen months for the
Watergate conviction, has also stated that he knows of evidence
that puts Oswald and Ruby together in a motel on

(36:40):
the outskirts of New Orleans a month before the Kennedy killing,
and that phone calls were made from Ruby's room to
the Cuban Consulate and Russian Embassy in Mexico City. If
all of this, or even a portion of it is true,
it should be brought out. Obviously, there is sentiment in
Washington that there is truth in it, since some Congressional

(37:01):
opponents of President Carter's nomination of Theodore Sorenson as head
of the cii A cited his presence in the inner
Kennedy circle at the time when the alleged death plans
against foreign leaders were hatched. Yet there is a tendency
in Congress currently to derail the proposed intensive reinvestigation of
the assassination by not approving the funding, which, at six

(37:24):
and a half million dollars for the first year, is
regarded by many as excessive. The chairman of the House
Assassination Committee has blocked the committee's Chief Council's investigators from
accessing FBI files. Sources say this dispute between the chairman
and the Chief Council has left the future of the
probe into the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin

(37:47):
Luther King Junior uncertain. Committee aids had been visiting FBI
headquarters daily for the past several weeks to examine the files,
but were turned away on Friday morning. According to the sources,
Chairman Henry B. Gonzales of Texas announced on Thursday that
Chief Council Richard Sprague was fired and referred to him

(38:09):
as a prima donna. However, the committee's other eleven members
stated that Sprague was not fired. Gonzales also met on
Thursday with Attorney General Griffin Bell. According to sources from
Congress and the Justice Department, Bell agreed to Gonzalez's request
that the FBI withhold files from Sprague's investigators. Despite this,

(38:32):
Sprague was instructed by the committee's eleven other members to
stay on the job. Sprague returned to his office on Friday.
A committee spokesman stated he remained on the House payroll,
contradicting some who believe Congress should not proceed with the investigation.
According to what Representative John B. Anderson of Illinois said

(38:53):
on Friday, there was no immediate comment from the Justice
Department or the FBI. Department. Sources confirmed that Bell had
met with Gonzales and agreed to suspend all Committee access
to the FBI files, except on written instructions from Gonzales.
Although all eleven committee members overruled Gonzales' firing order, most

(39:16):
remained silent on whether they will vote next week to
dismiss him. This is further complicated because House Administration Committee
Chairman Frank Thompson of New Jersey said he was not
signing gonzales dismissal order. The removal of a House employee
requires the signature of his or her boss, ann Thompson,
who stated he will sign only an order from the

(39:38):
full committee. Meanwhile, Representative John B. Anderson, a Republican from
Illinois and chairman of the House Republican Conference, the third
ranking GOP position in the House, expressed pessimism that the
committee could survive the squabble. He commented, I think the
very ineptitude of this performance will strengthen the hand of

(40:00):
those opposing the investigation. In a startling revelation to the
House Assassination Committee, a former stripper now married to a
Texas evangelist claimed that Jack Ruby introduced her to Lee
Harvey Oswald two weeks before President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
According to committee documents released on March thirty first, nineteen

(40:21):
seventy seven, Ruby allegedly identified Oswald as a CIA operative
during an introduction at his Dallas strip club. The witness,
who had never previously come forward, also claimed that two
men identifying themselves as CIA and FBI agents confiscated film
she had taken near the Texas school Book Depository on

(40:43):
the day of the assassination. These revelations come as the
committee continues to explore new leads, including connections between Oswald,
the CIA, and other figures tied to the Kennedy and
Martin Luther King Junior assassinations. The former stripper, now married
to a Texas evangelist, told House Assassination Committee investigators that

(41:06):
Jack Ruby introduced her to Lee Harvey Oswald two weeks
before President John F. Kennedy's assassination. According to committee documents, Ruby,
who killed Kennedy's assassin two days after the president's murder,
identified Oswald as Lee Harvey Oswald of the CIA when
he introduced them at his Dallas strip club. A committee

(41:29):
investigator stated the transcript of the secret staff briefing did
not identify the former stripteas dancer. Additionally, the staff told
the committee she had never disclosed her story to authorities before.
She also told them she was near the Texas School
Book Depository taking pictures at the time of the assassination.

(41:51):
Two days after Kennedy's death, two unidentified men who claimed
they worked for the CIA and FBI took her film,
and it has been missing ever ever since, according to
secret staff testimony given to the full committee. She also
mentioned she was on the south side of the street
where Kennedy died, facing the controversial grassy knoll from which

(42:13):
some witnesses contended shots were fired at Kennedy. Her pictures
might have shown if a gunman was poised on that hillside.
The Committee was informed by its staff throughout his trial
and until his death from cancer in prison in nineteen
sixty seven, Ruby maintained he did not know Oswald before
the assassination. The Warren Commission, investigating Kennedy's death and its

(42:37):
aftermath rejected suggestions of a tie between Oswald and Ruby
before the killings. The stripper's story is among the evidence
which Assassination Committee members refused to divulge on the House
floor yesterday in successfully fighting to win approval for the
continuation of the committee for the rest of the year
on a two hundred thirty to one hundred sixty one vote,

(43:00):
The House agreed yesterday to continue the investigation and give
it a one year budget of one touse twenty seven
million dollars. Committee leaders maintained they could not reveal new
leads they have uncovered in the killings of Kennedy and
Martin Luther King Junior because the press would pursue them
and make a thorough investigation difficult. Aided by Speaker Thomas P.

(43:23):
O'Neal of Massachusetts, the Committee beat back an attempt to
force the House into a secret session for a review
of the new leads. Among other leads in the Kennedy
assassination being pursued according to the secret staff report, are
a report from the head nurse of Parkland Memorial Hospital
where Kennedy died, that four or five bullet fragments were

(43:44):
removed from the body of Texas Governor John B. Connolly,
who was wounded when Kennedy was killed. The fragments may
be from the so called pristine bullet, the Warren Commission maintained,
went through Kennedy's neck and wounded Connolly in five different
places and may disprove the cornerstone of the Warren Commission's

(44:04):
account of the slaying. According to Committee investigators, a doctor
on duty at the hospital also reportedly noted that some
of Connolly's bullet wounds appeared somewhat inconsistent with the Warren
Commission account of the single bullet. According to the staff report,
efforts are being made to locate the physician, who also
told friends that security personnel barred him from examining Kennedy's

(44:27):
body despite the fact that he was on duty in
the emergency room. According to the Committee staff, Committee investigators
also had hoped to question George de Moorenschildt, a Russian
born friend of Oswald's, but Moren Shildt apparently committed suicide
in Florida on Tuesday, only an hour after being told
that Committee investigators wanted him to testify. Moreen Schildt allegedly

(44:52):
had said he felt responsible for Kennedy's killing. The sixty
three year old language professor's body was found on Tuesday
in the arm Beach home of his sister in law
in what police said was a suicide. The staff told
the committee there are witnesses in Clinton, Louisiana who put Oswald,
Shaw and Ferry and their people all together with anti

(45:15):
Castro Cuban groups. The man temporarily held at the time
of Kennedy's killing and Marcello should both be called before
the committee. The staff said Shaw and Faery are dead.
The staff report contained little information regarding new leads in
the King murder, but scrips Howard News service previously reported

(45:37):
the committee is following at least two trails in that case.
According to the transcript, staff member Robert Tannenbaum said Villain Altman's,
a Dutch journalist who had covered the Kennedy assassination, approached
the committee to say he befriended a fellow who looms
in the shadows of this whole investigation. His name is

(45:57):
George de Moreen Schildt. Altman's, according to the transcript, said
Dame mouren Schildt had been in contact with him for
eleven years and had visited him in Holland several weeks ago.
The purpose of his trip was to divulge for the
first time his knowledge of the assassination of the president,
and he indicated that he was responsible for Oswald's activity

(46:21):
and that there were others involved in the actual shooting
of the president. Tannenbaum reported this involvement contained in one
hundred and eleven pages of the nineteen sixty four Warren
Commission report includes De mouren Schildt's wife spotting a rifle
with a scope in Oswald's closet and exclaiming, look, George,
they have a gun here. What is that That looks

(46:43):
like a telescopic sight? Are you then the guy who
took a potshot at General Edwin Walker? She asked Oswald,
and Oswald returned a sort of shriveled look. The Warren Commission,
mainly on de mourn Schildt's testimony, concluded Oswald was the
man who shot at Walker, narrowly missing his head. Mourn

(47:04):
Shield and his wife helped the Oswalds when they first
came to Dallas financially and with other family problems, such
as babysitting for the Oswald child. The Russian immigrant expressed
sorrow at helping the Oswalds to the Warren Commission, it
was just a misfortune that we helped them. De Moorenshildt testified,
we shouldn't have done it. We should have known better.

(47:29):
Palm Beach officials disclosed today that a recorder accidentally taped
the suicide shooting death of a Russian professor regarded as
a key witness in the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination.
Police said the suicide of de Mooren Schildtz was taped
by a recorder in the bedroom of his sister in law,
who had told her maid to record a television program

(47:51):
while she was away. Authorities were able to pinpoint the
exact time of the suicide twelve seconds past one fifteen
in the afternoon on Tuesday because of the recording. The
suicide was matched to a monitoring of the television program
to determine the time of death. Police said the tape

(48:13):
recorded footsteps in the room, an opening and closing of
a door, a pause, and then a blast of a shotgun.
Police said. Lieutenant Richard Sheets of the Palm Beach County
Sheriff's Department said demorenshild did not leave a suicide note,
but left papers which mentioned Oswald. Sheets refused to comment

(48:34):
further on the papers. Demorenschildt and Emigrey from Czarist Russia
denied in testimony to the Warren Commission he had been
an agent for any government, but sources in Miami and
West Palm Beach said he had been a CIA agent
in Haiti in nineteen sixty three. The year Kennedy was killed.
In new testimony presented to the House Assassination Committee, a

(48:58):
former striptease dancer now married to a Texas evangelist revealed
that Jack Ruby introduced her to Lee Harvey Oswald just
two weeks before President John F. Kennedy's assassination. According to
the March thirty first, nineteen seventy seven report, Ruby allegedly
referred to Oswald as Lee Harvey Oswald of the CIA

(49:19):
during their introduction at Ruby's Dallas strip club. The woman,
whose identity was not disclosed, also claimed she was taking
photographs near the Texas school Book Depository during the assassination.
Her film was later confiscated by two men claiming to
be CIA and FBI agents. This new testimony, alongside other

(49:40):
emerging evidence, challenges the Warren Commission's findings and raises further
questions about the connections between Ruby, Oswald and the assassination plot.
Ruby by Tim Winingard Scrips Howard News Service, a former
strip dancer now married to a Texas evangelist, told House

(50:03):
Assassination Committee investigators that Jack Ruby introduced her to Lee
Harvey Oswald two weeks before President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
According to Committee documents, Ruby, who killed Kennedy's assassin two
days after the president's murder, identified Oswald as Lee Harvey
Oswald of the CIA when he introduced them in his

(50:23):
Dallas strip club. A committee investigator reported the transcript of
the secret staff briefing did not reveal the identity of
the former strip teas dancer. The staff also informed the
committee that she had never previously disclosed her story to authorities. Additionally,
she stated that she was near the Texas Schoolbook Depository

(50:45):
taking pictures at the time of the assassination. Two days
after Kennedy's death, two unidentified men who claimed to work
for the CIA and FBI confiscated her film, which has
been missing ever since. According to CIA Secret staff testimony
presented to the full Committee, she also mentioned that she

(51:05):
was on the south side of the street, facing the
controversial Grassy Knoll, from which some witnesses contended shots were
fired at Kennedy. Her photographs might have shown whether a
gunman was positioned on that hillside. The committee was informed
by its staff throughout his trial and until his death
from cancer in prison in nineteen sixty seven, Ruby maintained

(51:27):
that he did not know Oswald before the assassination. The
Warren Commission, tasked with investigating Kennedy's death and its aftermath,
dismissed suggestions of a prior connection between Oswald and Ruby.
The striptease dancers story is among the evidence which assassination
Committee members chose not to disclose on the House floor yesterday,

(51:49):
while successfully advocating for the continuation of the committee for
the remainder of the year. Further leads in the Kennedy assassination,
according to the Secret Staff report. Other leads being pursued
include a report from the head nurse at Parkland Memorial Hospital,
where Kennedy died. She noted that four or five bullet

(52:11):
fragments were removed from the body of Texas Governor John B. Connolly,
who was wounded when Kennedy was killed. These fragments, believed
to originate from the so called pristine bullet the Warren
Commission claimed went through Kennedy's neck and wounded Connolly in
five different places, might disprove the cornerstone of the Warren
Commission's account of the slaying. If the fragments can be recovered,

(52:34):
scientific tests may determine whether more than one bullet was
involved in the injuries to Kennedy and Connolly, potentially debunking
the Warren Commission's single bullet theory. A doctor on duty
at the hospital also reportedly observed that some of Connolly's
bullet wounds appeared somewhat inconsistent with the Warren Commission's account
of the single bullet. Efforts are under way to locate

(52:57):
this physician, who also reported that security per Cisonnel prevented
him from examining Kennedy's body despite being on duty in
the emergency room. According to the committee staff, Additionally, a
man with a criminal record and ties to Carlos Marcello,
the alleged New Orleans Underworld boss, was taken into custody
and then released in the building next to the school

(53:18):
book depository shortly after the assassination. The staff report noted
that this man had previously worked for Marcello in a
New Orleans office adjacent to the suite where David W.
Ferry worked before Kennedy's killing. New Orleans District Attorney Jim
Garrison alleged in nineteen sixty seven that Ferry and New

(53:39):
Orleans businessman Clay l Shaw were involved in a conspiracy
to kill Kennedy. Shaw was acquitted by a jury there
in nineteen sixty nine after less than an hour's deliberation
following a prolonged trial. The staff also informed the Committee
of Witnesses in Clinton, Louisiana, who allegedly connected Oswald, Shaw, Ferry,
and others with anti Castro Cuban groups. On March twenty third,

(54:04):
nineteen seventy seven, Mary Baird, the wife of retired Louisville
police officer Clifton Baird, confirmed that her husband had been
offered five hundred thousand dollars on two separate occasions to
assassinate doctor Martin Luther King Junior. According to missus Baird,
her husband was approached by members of the Louisville Police

(54:25):
Department and several FBI agents. She revealed that this revelation
had troubled him for years, and he recently came forward
to Congressman Jane Snyder of Kentucky. Although Clifton Baird was
unavailable for comment, his wife said he first disclosed the
information to her when they married seven years ago. Congressman Snyder,

(54:47):
who has spoken with Baird, has refused to confirm Baird's
identity publicly, but believes Baird is a rational and credible source.
The wife of a retired Louisville police officer confirm today
that her husband had been offered five hundred thousand dollars
on two occasions to assassinate doctor Martin Luther King Junior.

(55:08):
According to Mary Baird, aged forty four, She said her husband,
Clifton Baird, who is currently out of town and unavailable
for comment, had informed Representative Gene Snyder of Kentucky that
the offer was made by members of the Louisville Police
Department and several FBI agents. Missus Baird, whose husband retired

(55:31):
from the Louisville Police Department several years ago after twenty
seven years of service, shared, he told me about this
when I married him seven years ago. I think he
thought he wasn't going to be believed. She believes one
reason he came forward a second time with the allegation
was because he wants to know why someone asked him

(55:51):
to kill the civil rights leader who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee,
in nineteen sixty eight. It sure has been on his mind.
Missus Baird added, noting that this was bothering him, and
that's why he contacted mister Snyder. Before contacting Snyder, her
husband had told one of James Earl Ray's attorneys of

(56:13):
the alleged offer. Ray is serving a ninety nine year
sentence for the slaying of King. Mister Baird was discouraged
after he told the attorney. According to his wife, Snyder,
who disclosed last week that he had heard from a
man about a plot to kill King, refused to divulge
the man's name. Missus Baird said of her husband, he

(56:36):
was offered five hundred thousand dollars to do it, and
he didn't appreciate it. I can't say anymore, but he's
not that type of person, she added. When asked why
her husband was approached, Snyder had remarked, that's the sixty
four thousand dollar question. He doesn't know why someone asked him.

(56:57):
Missus Baird declined to reveal the name of the private
secure agency her husband currently works for, but confirmed he
was out of town on business unrelated to the allegation
of the plot. She expressed relief that the information had
come out. I'm not upset. It had to come out
sooner or later. Somebody just leaked it. She affirmed her

(57:19):
husband's direct involvement in disclosing the plot. He told me
he was the one who reported it. Earlier this week.
He had confronted the allegation face to face and was
convinced he was dealing with a rational situation, according to
missus Baird. Louisville Police Chief John Nevin commented that his

(57:39):
department has not received any official communications about an investigation
into King's assassination and described the rumor as preposterous. Similarly, C. J. Hyde,
a long time retired Louisville police chief, remembered Baird as
a very fine police officer who wasn't afraid of man
or beast, and expressed surprise that Baird had even talked

(58:02):
about the conspiracy. Doctor Martin Luther King was a frequent
visitor to Louisville, as his brother, the Reverend A. D.
Williams King, lived there and was active in the civil
rights movement during the nineteen sixties. Snyder has not confirmed
that Baird is the informant, but revealed that the officer
had described himself as innocently involved in a conspiracy to

(58:26):
assassinate Martin Luther King in a letter received in February,
Snyder disclosed that he had talked with the former policeman
and that the policeman had tried to turn over a
recording of the alleged conspiracy conversation to raise attorneys, but
was warned about his safety if he pursued it further.
He concluded, I don't think he's a kook. I'm not

(58:48):
in a position to say whether he's telling the truth
or not, but he does not appear to me a
person other than totally rationale. The committee currently holds the
tape and its investigators of spoken with the former policeman.
On May tenth, nineteen seventy seven, attorneys for Charles Roma,
Louisiana's Commissioner of Administration, pushed for an early trial date

(59:12):
following his indictment for malfeasance in office by an East
Baton Rouge Parish grand jury. Roma, along with three other officials,
faces charges related to the awarding of a lucrative state
contract to affirm allegedly connected to mafia boss Carlos Marcello.
Originally set for August, Roma's trial may now begin in

(59:34):
early June. His co defendants, Assistant Commissioner Joe Terrell and
Administrator Don Wilkinson face additional charges of felony, theft, perjury,
and malfeasance, with various trial dates scheduled through the summer.
All accused have pleaded not guilty. Council for Charles Roma,

(59:58):
Commissioner of Administration, is advocating for an early trial date
regarding a malfeasance in office charge brought against him last
week by an East Baton Rouge Parish Grand Jury District
Court Judge Elmo Lear initially set a trial date for
August tenth, but Roma's attorney, Robert buck Kleinpeter objected, arguing

(01:00:19):
that an earlier date was in order. Judge Lear subsequently
stated he would seek to schedule the trial for early June.
The malfheesance trial involves ROMA Assistant Commissioner of Administration, Joe Terrell,
Don Wilkinson, administrator of the State Group Insurance Program, and
Louis letef Junior, a third level Department of Administration DOA employee.

(01:00:45):
All were charged with malfeesance connected to the awarding of
a contract for producing medical identification cards for state employees
to Medical Statistic Zinc of Metiri. This firm, which won
the contract with a high bid of four hundred and
forty two thousand dar over a lower sixty eight thousand
dollar bid from a New Jersey company is reported to

(01:01:05):
have family ties to reputed mafia boss Carlos Marcello. No
trial date has yet been set for Terrell and Wilkinson
regarding felony theft charges associated with the awarding of the
contract to Medical Statistics. However, Judge Lear scheduled a May
thirty first trial date Forterrell on charges of failing to

(01:01:26):
timely file his state income tax returns for nineteen seventy
four and nineteen seventy five. Terrell is also due to
stand trial in July on charges of committing perjury before
the Grand jury in relation to questions about awarding a
state carpeting contract to Economy Carpets Manufacturers and Distributors. The

(01:01:47):
grand jury alleges that the DOA arranged to purchase carpeting
for the State Group Insurance office building from Economy Carpets,
which is owned by Jesse Jureau, a political supporter of
the governor, without undergoing the required big process. Jarrow was
indicted for perjury by the grand jury as well, and
Lear has set a trial date of June second for

(01:02:08):
this charge. Terrell and Wilkinson face additional malfeasance charges linked
to the carpet purchase. Judge Lear indicated that a trial
date for these additional charges will be set later. Roma
has already pleaded innocent to the grand jury charges, and Terrell, Wilkinson,
lettef and Jarrow all pleaded not guilty before Judge Lear

(01:02:32):
on Monday. On November third, nineteen seventy seven, a Watergate
burglar called Frank Sturgis was released on ten thousand dollars
bail on Wednesday, following his arrest for allegedly threatening former
CIA informant Marita Lorenz. Lorenz had claimed Sturgis shot at
President Kennedy from the Grassy Knoll on the day of
the assassination, adding a new layer to the long standing

(01:02:55):
conspiracy theories. Sturgis, who denies the charges, is said to
possess documents linking Fidel Castro and Jack Ruby to the
assassination plot. The House Assassination Committee met privately to discuss
the ongoing investigation, though no new evidence has been disclosed publicly.

(01:03:17):
Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis, was released on ten thousand dollars
bail after his arrest on charges of threatening a former
Central Intelligence Agency informant who reportedly told authorities Sturgis shot
at President Kennedy on the day he was killed in Dallas.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Ronald Goldfarb, Sturgis left the House

(01:03:38):
detention for Men on Rikers Island shortly after nine thirty
in the evening on Wednesday. Sturgis had no comment. Goldfarbe
would only say he's innocent of all charges. Sturgis, fifty two,
was arrested on harassment charges Tuesday at the East Side
apartment of Marita Lorenz, a former Central Intelligence Agency informant

(01:04:02):
who became Cuban Premier Fidel Castro's lover. A request to
vacate an east west alley located north of Napoleon Road
between Elm and High Streets was denied Wednesday night by
the Planning Commission, but not before Douglas Valentine, a builder
and proponent of vacating the alley, traded charges with Wendell

(01:04:24):
Jones Ward, the second councilman over zoning ordnance amendments. The
vote was five to zero, with one member abstaining. Mister
Valentine accused mister Jones of only soliciting votes when he
made certain statements that he wasn't really interested in student
housing and other problems of the ward. Mister Jones expressed

(01:04:46):
his interest in good student housing and hinted that some
builders do not construct quality housing. Mister Valentine accused mister
Jones of being hypocritical for supporting zoning regulations on one hand,
while his his own property violates the city's zoning ordinances
by having buildings too close to plot lines. George Russell,

(01:05:07):
Planning Director, mentioned that the discussion between mister Jones and
mister Valentine lasted about ninety minutes. Miss Lorenz reportedly has
spoken to the House Committee on Investigations about Sturgis's alleged
links to the Kennedy assassination and about her own role
in a plot to kill Castro. Newspaper reports on Wednesday

(01:05:29):
quoted Sturge's claiming he possesses documents that link Castro to
Kennedy's assassination and proved Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey
Oswald to death, was in Havana two months before the assassination.
William Quintance Junior, residing at eighteen three to twenty four
brim Road, was elected Worshipful Master of Wood County Lodge

(01:05:50):
Number one twelve Free and accepted Masons Wednesday night in
the Masonic Temple. Mister Quintance is employed at the Brushwellman Company.
L Edward H. Smith was elected Senior Warden Bryant Lee,
Junior Warden Fred Feather, Secretary, Claude Otto, Treasurer John Smith,

(01:06:11):
Senior Deacon, frank Enwright, Junior Deacon, William Lanning Tyler, and
Robert Ryder, member of the Masonic. Sturgis, one of five
men arrested in nineteen seventy two for attempting to bug
Democratic National Headquarters in Washington's Watergate Complex, was originally held
on twenty five thousand dollars bond on the harassment charge.

(01:06:36):
John Rothblatt, an associate and nephew of lawyer Henry Rothblatt,
who represented Sturgis at his arraignment Tuesday, mentioned that the
reduction of bail was granted on Wednesday by Acting State
Supreme Court Justice Walter Gorman. Rothblatt stated that miss Lorenz
is trying to drum up publicity for a book on
her memoirs. Miss Lorenz once participated in an attack tempt

(01:07:00):
to assassinate the Cuban Premiere. She claimed that she, Sturgis,
and Oswald drove to Dallas two days before Kennedy's death.
In Washington. On Wednesday, the House Assassination Committee met in
a closed session, and members and staff refused to discuss
whether any new evidence on the Kennedy assassination was presented.

(01:07:21):
Committee staff Council G. Robert Blakey denied a report in
Wednesday's New York Daily News that he interviewed Miss Lorenz
on Tuesday. Blakie stated he had never met either Sturgis
or Miss Lorenz. The Daily News quoted Miss Lorenz claiming
during interrogation on Tuesday that she had documentary and photographic

(01:07:42):
evidence that Sturgis fired a shot at Kennedy from a
grassy knoll at the same time Oswald fired from the
Texas Book Depository. The Warren Commission, which investigated the Kennedy assassination,
dismissed the second gun theory. The New York Post meanwhile
reported on Wednesday that Sturgis has documents indicating castro asked

(01:08:04):
Jack Ruby to organize the Kennedy assassination. The Post quoted
Sturgis saying that Ruby then covered his tracks by taking
care of Oswald on January thirtieth, nineteen seventy eight. The
House Investigators have discreetly reopened the investigation into former New
Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's controversial probe of President John F.

(01:08:26):
Kennedy's assassination. Establishing offices in New Orleans, the House Assassinations
Committee has begun retracing Garrison's steps, requestioning witnesses, and taking
secret testimony. Among those questioned was Carlos Marcello, the reputed
New Orleans crime boss, who was summoned to Washington to

(01:08:48):
discuss his relationship with David Ferry, the alleged getaway pilot
for Lee Harvey Oswald. Ferry, a mysterious figure tied to
right wing militants and suspect by Garrison of being part
of a conspiracy to frame Castro for Kennedy's murder, was
found dead in nineteen sixty seven. Marcello admitted paying Ferry,

(01:09:11):
but denied any involvement in the assassination plot. House investigators
have discreetly revisited the turbulent inquiry by former New Orleans
District Attorney Jim Garrison into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The House Assassination's Committee has established offices in New Orleans
where they are retracing Garrison's steps and requestioning his witnesses

(01:09:35):
from a decade ago. Secret testimony was taken from Carlos Marcello,
the reputed boss of the New Orleans Underworld, who was
summoned to Washington for questioning under oath about his relationship
with David William Ferry, a New Orleans private investigator arrested
by Garrison. Garrison controversially charged that Ferry was Lee Harvey

(01:09:57):
Oswald's getaway pilot. Ferry, a mysterious and conspiratorial figure with
ties to right wing militants, reportedly flew a private plane
on a bombing mission over Cuba and was found dead
in nineteen sixty seven, potentially a suicide. His life and
death remained shrouded in mystery. Garrison was convinced that Ferry

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was involved in a right wing conspiracy to murder President Kennedy,
positioning Oswald because of his pro Fidel Castro activities, as
the fall guy. The presumed secret plot aimed to cast
suspicion on Castro for the assassination. It was reported that
Ferry appeared in Texas shortly after the assassination, supposedly to

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fly Oswald to safety. Ferry had also expressed disdain for
President Kennedy, whose brother Robert Kennedy as Attorney General, had
targeted Marcello. Thus, it was suggested that Marcello might have
participated in the alleged conspiracy to murder Kennedy. Under oath,
Marcello admitted to making payments to Ferry around the time

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of the Kennedy assassination, but he claimed he paid Ferry
to investigate the credibility of a government witness against him
in an immigration case. On the day of the assassination,
Marcello told the committee behind closed doors that he and
Ferry were together at the federal courthouse in New Orleans.

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Marcello was questioned by the committee as a witness, not
as a suspect.