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Chapter 4
How It All Began - The U-2 and the Bay of Pigs
Chapter 5 The Assassination of John Kennedy(Below)
To understand the origins of the Power Control Group, it is necessary to return to the last years of the Eisenhower administration and examine what was going on in the Cold War.
Eisenhower had suffered several strokes and a heart attack. He was partially immobilized, and entrusted a major share of the coordination of clandestine activities being conducted by the CIA against the "Red Menace" to Richard Nixon, his vice president. While Ike was warning against the military-industrial-complex's domestic influence, and attempting to move toward detente with the Soviets through a summit meeting, he was being sabotaged by the plans section of the CIA and by Richard Nixon.
A part of the CIA arranged for a U-2 with Gary Powers as pilot to go down over Russia, thus giving Khrushchev a chance to expose American spying and to cancel the summit meeting. This was one of the earliest moves of the nucleus of what later evolved into the Power Control Group. In the spring of 1960, with Ike nearly senile and pressured by Nixon, he approved the plan for the invasion of Cuba and the assassination of Castro. Nixon was the chief White House action officer for what later became the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The Power Control Group was beginning to organize itself with Nixon as part of it. The cold warriors and strong anti-Communist "patriots" in the Plans or Operations part of the CIA formed the original nucleus.
Their plan was to make Nixon president in 1961 and to launch a successful takeover of Cuba. John Kennedy came along to upset the plan. Not only did he make the takeover impossible but he soon discovered the evils lurking in the hearts and minds of the CIA clandestine operators and laid his own plans to destroy them. The assassination of John Kennedy essentially became an act of survival for some of these individuals.
Many citizens of America have forgotten that Richard Nixon was Vice President of the United States in 1959 and 1960. As an old anticommunist from the Alger Hiss and Khrushchev debating days, Nixon was in the forefront of pressure for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. What is also forgotten is that Nixon was largely responsible for the covert training of Cuban exiles by the CIA in preparation for the Bay of Pigs. (He stated this in his book, "Six Crises".)
NIXON'S LIES--OCTOBER 1960. Mr. Nixon's capacity for truth is nowhere more clearly demonstrated than by the deliberate lies he told during the election campaign on national TV on October 21, 1960. He said in his book that the lies were told for a patriotic reason--to protect the covert operations planned for the Bay of Pigs at all costs. The significance of this is that Mr. Nixon considers patriotism to be, in part, the protection of plans and actions of individuals that he considered to be working for the United States' best interests.
The similarities between the actions of Everette Howard Hunt, Jr., James McCord, Bernard Barker, Frank Sturgis, and others in the 1960 planning for the Bay of Pigs invasion and in the 1972 planning for the reelection of Richard M. Nixon are very striking. In both cases, what the plotters themselves considered to be patriotic, anti-Communist actions were involved. In 1960 the actions were directed against Fidel Castro, a man they hated as a Communist. In 1972 the actions were directed against Edward Kennedy, Edmund Muskie and George McGovern. Bernard Barker stated the group's collective belief when he said after his arrest that, "We believe that an election of McGovern would be the beginning of a trend that would lead to socialism and communism, or whatever you want to call it."
Nixon admitted lying to the American people to protect Hunt, Barker, Sturgis, and McCord in 1960. The likelihood that he lied to protect them again in 1972 seems to be quite good. There is some likelihood that he actually hired the same old crew he trusted from the Bay of Pigs days for the 1972 Watergate and other espionage activities. Here are the facts:
Nixon's Statements in "Six Crises"
Richard Nixon stated in "Six Crises": "The covert training of Cuban exiles by the CIA was due in substantial part, at least, to my efforts. This had been adopted as a policy as a result of my direct support."[1] "President Eisenhower had ordered the CIA to arm and train the exiles in May of 1960. Nixon and his advisors wanted the CIA invasion to take place before the voters went to the polls on November 8, 1960."[2]
While the Bay of Pigs operation was under the overall CIA direction of Allen Dulles, Richard M. Bissell, Jr. was the CIA man in charge, according to Ross & Wise.[3] Charles Cabell,[4] the deputy director of the CIA, and a man with the code name Frank Bender, were also near the top of the operational planning.[5]
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was in charge of the actual invasion. He used the code name, "Eduardo." Bernard L. Barker, using the code name "Macho," worked for Hunt in the CIA Bay of Pigs planning. James McCord was an organizer for the invasion and was one of the highest ranking officials in the CIA. Frank Sturgis, alias Frank Fiorini, was also involved in the Bay of Pigs operations. Virgilio Gonzales was a CIA agent active in the Bay of Pigs. So was Eugenio Martinez. Charles Colson was a former CIA official who knew McCord and Hunt during the Bay of Pigs period.[6]
Hunt, Barker, McCord, Sturgis, Gonzales, and Martinez were under indictment for the Watergate affair. Colson was Nixon's special counsel who handled "touchy" political assignments. According to "Time" magazine, Colson brought all of the others into the reelection committee espionage project at the request of Nixon.[7]
In other words, it was basically the same group who worked for Nixon, Bissell and Co. in 1960 and who worked for Nixon, Colson and Co. in 1972. They were all loyal, patriotic, anti-Communist, and anti-Castro CIA agents with covert (black) espionage training. They needed Nixon's protection in 1960 and 1972, and they received it both times.
Here is how Nixon protected them in 1960.[8]
Kennedy-Nixon Debates, 1960
John Kennedy and Richard Nixon engaged in a series of national TV debates during the 1960 campaign. Kennedy was briefed by Allen Dulles, head of the CIA at Eisenhower's request, on secret CIA activities and international problems on July 23, 1960. Nixon was not aware of the briefing contents and was not sure whether Dulles told Kennedy about the Bay of Pigs plans. As it turned out Dulles had not mentioned the plans but had kept his remarks about Cuba rather general.
On October 6, 1960, Kennedy gave his major speech on Cuba. He said that events might create an opportunity for the U.S. to bring influence on behalf of the cause of freedom in Cuba. He called for encouraging those liberty-loving Cubans who were leading the resistance against Castro.
Nixon became very disturbed about this because he felt Kennedy was trying to pre-empt a policy which he claimed as his own. Nixon ordered Fred Seaton, Secretary of the Interior, to call the White House and find out whether Dulles had briefed Kennedy on the Cuban invasion plans. Seaton talked to General Andrew Goodpaster, Eisenhower's link to the CIA, who told Seaton that Kennedy did know about the Bay of Pigs plans.
Attack on Kennedy by Lying
Nixon became incensed. He said, "There was only one thing I could do. The covert operation had to be protected at all costs. I must not even suggest by implication that the U.S. was rendering aid to rebel forces in and out of Cuba. In fact, I must go to the other extreme: I must attack the Kennedy proposal to provide such aid as wrong and irresponsible because it would violate our treaty commitments."[9]
So Richard M. Nixon actually went on national TV (ABC) on October 21, 1960, knowing we were going to invade Cuba, and lied. During the fourth TV debate, Nixon attacked Kennedy's proposal as dangerously irresponsible and in violation of five treaties between the U.S. and Latin America, as well as the United Nations' Charter.[10]
On October 22 at Muhlenberg College, Nixon really turned on the fabrication steam. He said, "Kennedy called for--and get this--the U.S. Government to support a revolution in Cuba, and I say that this is the most shockingly reckless proposal ever made in our history by a presidential candidate during a campaign--and I'll tell you why . . ."
The reason we should have taken with a grain of salt whatever words Nixon uttered about Watergate and Donald Segretti's espionage is clearly demonstrated in that October 22, 1960 speech. He fiercely attacked John Kennedy for advocating a plan that he, Richard Nixon, secretly advocated and claimed as his own creation. He later had the sheer gall to brag about it in his own book as a very patriotic act.
Protection of Hunt and Co.
How was Nixon protecting Hunt and company in 1972? He was using the Justice Department and the Republican Congressmen, among others, to delay and dilute the prosecution of the Watergate seven. He had slowed down, suppressed, and all but stopped six separate investigations, suits, and trials of the affair. Included were Wright Patman's House Banking Committee investigation, the FBI-Justice Department investigation, a White House investigation by John Dean, a General Accounting Office investigation, a suit by the Democratic Party, and a trial in criminal court of the seven invaders. Only two trials or investigations had a chance of exposing the truth at that time. One of these, a trial of Bernard Barker in Florida was not much help. The other was an investigation promised by Senator Edward Kennedy and his Senate subcommittee. It never occurred. The action for impeachment came much later.
Thus, the stage was set in 1961 for the group of powerful individuals who had planned the Bay of Pigs to gain revenge on John Kennedy who tried to change the overall direction of the U.S. battle against Communism. After JFK refused to approve overt U.S. backing of the Bay of Pigs invasion, various individuals in the clandestine CIA forces vowed their revenge.
In the spring of 1961, evidence had appeared indicating that Helms, Hunt, Sturgis and Barker tried to have JFK assassinated in Paris.[11] When the attempt failed, a number of other plots and sub-plots developed through the next two years. After JFK's blockade strategy against Castro during the missile crisis in 1962 was implemented, some of the high-level CIA and armed forces people wanted even more to get him out of the White House. They had favored a direct invasion or bombing of Cuba.
And finally, when JFK found out about the CIA's plans for another invasion of Cuba in the spring and summer of 1963 and stopped them, they began in earnest to plan his death.
[1] "Six Crises," Richard M. Nixon, Doubleday, 1962.
[2] "The Invisible Government," Wise & Ross, Random House, 1964.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Brother of Earl Cabell, mayor of Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated.
[5] Ibid.
[6] "New York Times" articles on Watergate, June 18 to July 2, 1972.
[7] "Time" magazine, September 8, 1972.
[8] This episode is related in detail in "The Invisible Government."
[9] "Six Crises".
[10] "The Invisible Government."
[11] "400,000 Dollars Pour Abattre Kennedy a Paris," Camille Giles, Julliard Press, Paris 1973.
The Assassination of John Kennedy
The assassination of President Kennedy can be considered one of a series of acts by the Power Control Group to regain the control they had lost when Nixon was defeated in 1960 and Kennedy threatened their existence. The evidence pointing toward intelligence involvement and the use of a variety of intelligence techniques in the assassination is substantial. Until and unless an investigation is conducted by a group with power and money equivalent to that of the Power Control Group, with the power to issue subpoenas and to protect witnesses, it will be very difficult to draw a completely accurate picture of the conspiracy to assassinate JFK.
As a substitute, this chapter is a "probable reconstruction"--a scenario--about who killed John F. Kennedy. Unlike the Warren Commission Report (another scenario), this report does not contain any physically impossible events, such as those connected with Commission Exhibit 399, the so-called "magic bullet."
This scenario is based on (1) evidence gathered between 1968 and 1975 by the Committee to Investigate Assassinations, Washington, D.C. and (2) evidence gathered between 1962 and 1975 by the author.
The purpose of this scenario is as a starting point for study and verification by researchers, by Congressional Committees, and by their members and staffs. This should be considered as a beginning hypothesis and scenario in contrast to the Warren and Rockefeller Commission scenarios.
The best evidence available indicates the following events occurred in the summer and fall of 1963 and culminated in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The basic evidence has been summarized in various articles published in "Computers and People" (formerly "Computers and Automation") since May 1970.[1] This can be considered as a guideline scenario which adheres to and explains all of the known factual evidence.
How It Began
The conspiracy to assassinate John Kennedy began in a series of discussions held in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. The men in the discussions were extremely angry that Kennedy had stopped plans and preparations for another invasion of Cuba (scheduled for the latter part of 1963.) One of the instigators was David Ferrie, a CIA contract agent who had been training pilots in Guatemala for the invasion. Meetings held in Ferrie's apartment in New Orleans were attended by Clay Shaw, William Seymour and several Cubans. Plans for assassinating President Kennedy developed out of those early meetings. Others whose support was sought by the group included Guy Banister, Major L. M. Bloomfield, Loran Hall, Lawrence Howard, Sergio Arcacha Smith and Carlos Prio Socarras.
Oswald's Role
During this period in the summer of 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald was working for Guy Banister on some anti-Castro projects and used the Communist cover of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Oswald attended some of the meetings where JFK's assassination was discussed.
Oswald either approached the FBI or they approached him in the later summer of 1963, and he began to tell the FBI about the plans of the group to assassinate JFK. Oswald had been a secret informant for the FBI since mid-1962.
Mexico City
In September, the group moved the scene of their planning to Mexico City. There they solicited the assistance of Guy Gabaldin, a CIA agent. Meetings were held in the apartment of Gabaldin, attended by Shaw, Ferrie, Seymour, Gabaldin and Oswald on at least three occasions. Others were brought into the conspiracy at this point. These included John Howard Bowen (alias Albert Osborne), Ronald Augustinovich, Mary Hope, Emilio Santana, Harry Dean, Richard Case Nagell, and "Frenchy" (an adventurer who had been working with Seymour, Santana, Ferrie, Howard and others on the Cuban invasion projects in the Florida Keys). Fred Lee Crisman, Jim Hicks and Jim Braden (alias Eugene Hale Brading) were also recruited at this point.
Oswald, the Patsy
Oswald continued to inform on the group to the FBI in Dallas. In mid- to late September the assassination group decided to make Oswald the patsy in the murder. They had discussed the need for a patsy in the earliest meetings in New Orleans. Billy Seymour, who resembled Oswald, was selected to use Oswald's name and to plant evidence in New Orleans, Dallas and Mexico, which could later be used to frame him. In addition, another man under CIA surveillance in Mexico City also used Oswald's name in a probable attempt to make it appear that Oswald was headed for Cuba. His name may have been Johnny Mitchell Deveraux. His picture appears in the Warren Commission Volumes as CE 237.
Financial Support
The team needed financial support for the assassination. They received it from Carlos Prio Socarras in Miami, who brought more than 50 million dollars out of Cuba. They also received money from Banister, and from three Texas millionaires who hated Kennedy: Sid Richardson, Clint Murchison, and Jean DeMenil (of the Schlumberger Co.). The Murchison/Richardson contribution also included soliciting the assistance of high-level men in the Dallas police force. They were powerful members of the Dallas Citizens Council that controlled the city at that time.
Plans for Three Cities
The group in Mexico City planned to assassinate JFK in Miami, Chicago or Dallas, using different gunmen in each case. The Miami plan failed because the Secret Service found out about it in advance and kept JFK out of the open. The Chicago plan backfired when JFK cancelled his plans to attend the Army-Navy game at Soldiers Field in early November. The group set up two assassination teams for Dallas. One was in Dealey Plaza; the second was near the International Trade Mart where JFK's luncheon speech was to be delivered.
CIA Support
The best evidence of CIA (Deputy-Director of Plans) involvement is the fact that the majority of the known participants were contract agents or direct agents of the CIA. In Mexico City, the meetings were held in the apartment of Guy Gabaldin, a CIA (DDP) agent, working for the Mexico City station chief. Others attending the meetings who were CIA (DDP) contract or direct agents included Clay Shaw, David Ferrie, Albert Osborne, Harry Dean, Richard Case Nagell, Ronald Augustinovich, William Seymour, Emilio Santana and Fred Lee Crisman. It is likely (but not yet provable by direct evidence) that the group sought and obtained from the acting or permanent CIA station chief in Mexico, assistance or approval to go ahead with assassination plans. Tad Szulc claims that a CIA source can prove that E. Howard Hunt was acting station chief in Mexico City at the time of the Gabaldin apartment meetings (August and September 1963). Hunt has denied under oath before the Rockefeller Commission that he was in Mexico.
In 1967 Richard Helms told a group of CIA officials, including Victor Marchetti, that both Clay Shaw and David Ferrie were CIA (DDP) contract agents and that Shaw had to be given CIA protection and assistance in his New Orleans trial. This is a strong indication that Hunt and Helms gave "turn of the head" approval to the Shaw-Ferrie assassination plan as a minimum form of support.
Dallas
The assassination group, having failed in Miami and Chicago, moved an operational team into Dallas during the second week in November of 1963. Shaw, Ferrie, Gabaldin and other high-level plotters travelled in other directions, establishing alibis as planned. On November 22, Gabaldin was in Mexico City, Shaw was in San Francisco, and Ferrie was in New Orleans. The team moving into Dallas included Albert Osborne, William Seymour, Emilio Santana, Frenchy, Fred Crisman, Jim Hicks, Jim Braden, and a new recruit from Los Angeles, Jack Lawrence. There was also a back-up rifle team of Cubans to be used at a location near the International Trade Mart in the event something went wrong at Dealey Plaza.
Where the Teams Stayed
The teams stayed at two locations in Dallas for two weeks. One was a rooming house run by a woman named Tammie True. During this period final preparations for the assassination in Dealey Plaza were made. These included the collecting of and planting of evidence used to frame Oswald, the recruiting of the Dallas police participants, and the plans for the escape of the team members by car and by train. The riflemen selected were William Seymour in the Depository Building, Jack Lawrence and Frenchy on the grassy knoll, and Emilio Santana in the Dal Tex building. Jim Hicks was set up as radio coordinator and a man with each of the riflemen had a two-way radio. They were Jim Braden, Dal Tex; Fred Crisman, knoll; unidentified American (tall tramp), knoll; and a man in the TSBD Building. Osborne was in overall charge of the Dallas teams, but he did not go to Dealey Plaza. A fifth gunman, known to researchers as the umbrella man, was stationed on the street with an umbrella weapon furnished by the CIA. He was accompanied by another Cuban acting as a radio man.
Framing Oswald
The people involved in framing Oswald included Seymour (who used his identity), someone who posed for two pictures holding a rifle, a photographer who took the pictures and someone who superimposed Oswald's head on the two negatives. Also, someone who took Oswald's rifle from his garage and his pistol from his room, taking several bullets and shells with the pistol, fired three shells and one bullet through the rifle, and planted the rifle and rifle shells on the sixth floor of the TSBD and a rifle bullet at Parkland Hospital. The pistol shells were given to William Seymour for planting later on. The photographers also planted photos of General Walker's house and driveway to implicate Oswald in the Walker shooting.
Dallas Policemen Involved
The policemen involved were J. D. Tippit, who was to drive two of the assassins, Seymour and his radio man, away in his police car; Bill Alexander; Jerry Hill; Sergeant McDonald; Lieutenant Montgomery; Lieutenant Johnson; and Lieutenant Batchelor, who escorted Jack Ruby into the jail to murder Oswald.
McDonald was assigned to kill Oswald upon his arrest in the Texas Theatre. Jerry Hill was involved in that event as well as in the planting of evidence against Oswald in the TSBD Building. Montgomery and Johnson were involved in planting the paper bag as evidence against Oswald. Alexander and Batchelor were primarily responsible for making sure that Jack Ruby assassinated Oswald and that he didn't talk about it afterward. Alexander was present on every occasion when Ruby was questioned or interviewed in the jail, in spite of Ruby's efforts to have him removed.
Other Persons Involved in Framing Oswald
Also involved in framing Oswald were Marina Oswald; her lawyer, James Martin; and someone in the Dallas police force. She was talked into three points of false testimony: she said she took the two fake photos of Oswald with a camera she claimed was his. She fabricated, or was handed, the false story about Oswald's attempt to shoot General Walker and taking two pictures of Walker's house with the same camera. (Oswald did neither.) She told a false story about a falling out she and Oswald supposedly had and exaggerated his mean treatment of their children. There are good indications that these moves were made by the CIA operatives in the group who threatened to send Marina back to Russia. (Marina's uncle was a high-level officer in the KGB.)
Dealey Plaza
On the day of the assassination four men with rifles, accompanied by their radio men and several other team members, moved into Dealey Plaza. Seymour and a radio man entered the TSBD Building through the freight entrance and worked their way to the roof. Santana and Braden went into the Dal Tex building through the freight entrance on Houston St. and up a back staircase to the second floor. Lawrence, Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp took up two positions on the grassy knoll. Lawrence was inside the westernmost cupola after parking his car in the parking lot behind the knoll. Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp were near the fence. Jim Hicks was in the Adolphus Hotel a few blocks away, testing the two-way radio communication with the four radio men, until he proceeded to the Plaza and mingled with a large crowd (near the corner of Houston and Elm Streets). The umbrella man stood near the Stemmons Freeway sign on Elm Street accompanied by his radio man.
The other team members stationed themselves in the crowd (along Elm Street). After the shots were fired, they circulated through the crowd in front of the TSBD on Elm Street, on the grassy knoll, and behind the TSBD Building, identifying themselves as Secret Service agents and asking witnesses and officials questions to find out whether the assassins had been detected. There are clear photos of one of these men. One other man was at the corner of the wall on the grassy knoll.
The Shots
Upon a visual and oral signal from the man at the wall and upon a radio command from Hicks, the team fired its first round of shots. Crisman received the command from Hicks and caused Frenchy to fire a shot from a position behind the fence on the knoll, about twenty feet west of the corner of the fence. This shot missed. The umbrella man fired a shot using his small-bore umbrella gun. When this shot struck JFK in the throat, the dart paralyzed JFK and later presented by Commander Humes to the FBI.[2] The shot was fired at Zapruder frame 189: JFK was behind a large oak tree, hidden from the sixth floor window of the TSBD Building. On command from Braden, Emilio Santana fired his first shot two seconds later from the second floor window of the Dal Tex building at Z 225 after JFK came out from behind the sign in Zapruder's film. The shot struck JFK in the back about 5 3/4" down from the collar line, penetrated to a depth of about two inches and stopped. The bullet fell out of JFK's back somewhere in or at the Parkland Hospital, or perhaps travelled down inside the body of the President, and was never recovered.
William Seymour fired his shot from the west end of the TSBD Building upon command from his radio man between Z 230 and Z 237, after Santana's shot. He used a Mauser rifle with no telescopic sight. While he was aiming at JFK, he fired high and to the right, hitting John Connally in the back. The bullet travelled through Connally's chest and then entered his left thigh. The bullet fell out of his thigh in or near Parkland Hospital and was never recovered. Governor Connally's wrist was not hit at that time.
Jack Lawrence did not fire a shot in the first round because from his cupola position he did not have a clear shot.
Hicks gave a second radio command for another round of shots as JFK passed the Stemmons Freeway sign.
Emilio Santana fired his second shot between Z 265 and Z 275. The bullet narrowly missed JFK, passed over the top of his head and over the top of the limousine's windshield. It travelled on to strike the south curb of Main Street, breaking off a piece of concrete which flew up and hit James Tague. The bullet either disintegrated or flew into the area beyond the overpass. It was not found.
William Seymour may have fired a second shot which may have struck JFK in the upper right part of his head at Z 312. That bullet disintegrated.
Upon command from his radio man, Jack Lawrence fired his first shot from a pedestal on the west side of the south entrance to the western cupola on the grassy knoll. The shot may have hit Connally's wrist.
Frenchy fired the fatal shot through the trees from his position behind the fence.
The Lawrence shot or possibly the second Seymour shot produced a bullet fragment that passed through Connally's right wrist at Z 313. At that time his wrist was elevated and nearly directly in front of JFK's head, in such a position that Connally's right palm was facing JFK as the governor fell into his wife's arms. The fragment entered the front of his wrist and exited from the back.
Oswald's Actions
Lee Harvey Oswald started November 22, 1963 with the knowledge that there might be an attempt on JFK's life during the day. He had reported this possibility to the FBI in his informer's role five days earlier; he undoubtedly thought the FBI and Secret Service would be protecting the President. His communications with the assassination team had prepared him to meet with them in the Texas Theatre if anything happened that day. There is also a possibility he received a telephone call immediately after the shots, telling him to go to the theatre.
He had gone to his and Marina's rooms in Irving to pick up curtain rods for his bare windows in his Oak Cliff room. He carried the curtain rods in a paper bag on his way to work that morning with Wesley Frazier. He worked on the sixth floor of the TSBD as well as on the other floors that morning. He helped a crew of men lay a new floor on the sixth floor, move a large number of book cartons and school supplies over to the eastern side of the floor, including some cartons near the southeastern window that faced Elm Street.
Oswald went to the first floor of the building at approximately 12:15 p.m. and returned to the second floor lunchroom just before 12:30. He was drinking a coke there at 12:31 when Officer Baker and Mr. Truly, the building manager, encountered him while rushing up the stairs from the first floor. At the sight of Baker's gun drawn and seeing the commotion outside, he no doubt realized what had happened.[3] He immediately left the building via the freight platform entrance on the northeast side and travelled to his rooming house via bus and taxi. He picked up his pistol there and went directly to the Texas Theater where he met two of the assassination team and was sitting with them in the theatre when the police arrived. One of these men may have been William Seymour.
The Dallas police members of the team planned to shoot Oswald in the theatre while arresting him. When he was arrested he did not realize at first that he had been framed. When this began to become clear to him on Saturday, November 23, he remained confident that the FBI would get him out of the situation. After all, he worked for them!
Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby, in addition to his Mafia involvements and other criminal activities, was also running guns to Cuba and carrying payoff money to other anti-Castro groups on behalf of various CIA-backed projects. His involvement in the assassination of JFK appears to have been minor, even though he knew about it in advance. In his night club Ruby met on several occasions with Clay Shaw, David Ferrie, and William Seymour.
The group decided to assassinate Oswald in jail after the police failed to kill him in the Texas Theatre. Alexander made arrangements to have Batchelor escort Ruby into the jail when it was known Oswald was being moved. They arranged an audible signal (an auto horn) to let Batchelor and Ruby know when Oswald was coming down an elevator into the garage. They came down an elevator opposite the one carrying Oswald.
Clay Shaw gave Ruby his instructions to shoot Oswald through Breck Wall. Shaw telephoned Wall from San Francisco and Wall called Ruby. He was told it was an official CIA-sponsored act, in the best interests of the United States, and that he would be out of jail in a few days after his capture.
Planted Evidence
The planting of the evidence against Oswald first began with William Seymour, who used Oswald's identity during September and October, 1963. Next, the faked photographs of Oswald were created. Two of the team members used a camera of their own to take the two pictures of General Walker's house and the two shots of one of the men supposedly in Oswald's back yard. They planted the pictures in Oswald's garage. Next, they stole Oswald's rifle from the garage prior to November 22, fired several shots from it, and preserved three shells, one bullet, and several bullet fragments.
They planted the rifle, the three shells, the bullet (399) and the bullet fragments in the TSBD, the hospital and the JFK limousine on November 22. They also took Oswald's pistol at some time prior to November 22, fired several shots from it and saved the shells. William Seymour, after shooting policeman Tippit, ran away in such a manner as to attract attention, throwing the shells from Oswald's gun into the air as he ran so that witnesses would see them. (The shells matched Oswald's pistol. None of the bullets matched.)
All of the work with Oswald's rifle, pistol, and the fake photos was probably done at the same time. The rifle, pistol and Communist newspapers had to be available together for the backyard photos. The faking of the photographs, the firing of rifle and pistol, the retrieval of the shells from rifle and pistol and of bullet 399 and the bullet fragments from the rifle all required enough time that the event occurred well in advance of the assassination .
Escape Plans
As mentioned before, plans were made for the team to escape by car, train, and airplane. Evidence shows:
1. A white car was parked straddling a log barrier behind the western cupola on the grassy knoll. It left that spot one minute after the shots were fired and drove eastward on the Elm Street extension in front of the TSBD.
2. A white station wagon driving west on Elm Street stopped at the foot of the grassy knoll at 12:40 p.m., ten minutes after the shots were fired. It picked up a man who looked like Oswald and drove under the triple overpass.
3. A railroad train carrying three "tramps" began to leave the freight train area west and north of the TSBD at around one o'clock, thirty minutes after the shots. The train was under the tower control of Lee Bowers and was stopped by him. The tramps were arrested.
4. A police car stopped in front of Oswald's rooming house and honked twice around 1:10 p.m.
5. Policeman Tippit's patrol car was far out of position in the Oak Cliff area near Ruby and Oswald's rooming houses. Tippit was shot by two men, one of whom was Billy Seymour.
6. A small airplane was sitting at the Redbird Airport, a location in the same direction as Oak Cliff, a little further out from Dealey Plaza. Its engines were running. It was ready for takeoff at 1 p.m.
7. David Ferrie went to Houston, Texas on the afternoon of November 22, driving at high speed through bad thunderstorms to get there. He was positioned at a pay telephone at an ice skating rink near the Houston airport, until receiving a phone call there. After that he returned to New Orleans.
Escape Routes
These escape plans were modified after the assassination. It became unnecessary for any of the Dealey Plaza participants to escape by airplane. The framing of Oswald and the failure of the Secret Service or FBI to detect any of the escaping gunmen or their assistants permitted these changes. One of the men in the Dealey Plaza--probably pretending to be a Secret Service agent--reported an "all clear" situation to Shaw in San Francisco. Shaw notified Ferrie that they didn't need an airplane to escape with while Ferrie was waiting in Houston. Ferrie changed his plans and drove back to New Orleans.
The gunmen who did escape followed these routes: Jack Lawrence got into his car parked behind the cupola and either drove or was driven back to his cover job location at the automobile agency. He left almost immediately afterward and travelled to North Carolina. Frenchy ran back to the freight car area and climbed into one of the box cars sitting on a siding northwest of the TSBD. He was arrested at 1 p.m. by Officers Harkness, Bass and Wise, but was released by Sheriff Elkins later in the afternoon. Santana walked out the back entrance of the Dal Tex building and may have joined Seymour in a white station wagon on Elm Street at 12:40 p.m. Seymour left the roof of the TSBD via a back stairway, exited from the freight entrance in the rear of the building, and walked on Houston Street past the Elm Street extension. He walked down the grassy knoll to Elm Street where he was picked up at 12:40 p.m. by the white station wagon.
The other Dealey Plaza participants, Crisman, a tall tramp, Braden and Hicks escaped by various means. Braden was arrested and released. Hicks drove home. Crisman and the tall tramp followed Frenchy's route into the box cars.
Tippit Shooting
David Belin of the Warren and Rockefeller Commission is fond of saying, "Lee Harvey Oswald killed policeman Tippit. Since the case against Oswald for the Tippit slaying is so strong, it follows that Oswald also shot the President." The case against Oswald in the Tippit murder is as weak as the case against him in the JFK assassination. The most important evidence showing that Seymour and another one of the assassination team shot Tippit is the fact that six witnesses, ignored by the Warren Commission, saw two men shoot Tippit. One of them resembled Oswald. They ran away from the scene in opposite directions. Seymour ran toward the Texas Theater, throwing the planted shells up in the air so that witnesses would see and recover them. (This act would convince most people that Oswald did not shoot Tippit.) The other assassin ran in the opposite direction. There is some indication that Seymour entered the theater in a manner to draw attention and then left before the Oswald arrest. While the shells recovered were found to match Oswald's pistol, none of the bullets recovered from Tippit's body matched.
Comments and Congressional Actions Needed
The above scenario comes much closer to explaining what happened to John Kennedy than either the Warren Commission Report or the Rockefeller Commission report. It matches the known evidence from the two prime sources, the Warren Commission files in the National Archives, and the evidence produced by the Garrison investigation (most of which was turned over the the Committee to Investigate Assassinations, Washington, D.C.).
However, without subpoena power, and with extremely limited resources, no group of citizens such as the Committee or Mark Lane's Citizens Commission can determine the ultimate truth about the assassination.
Only a properly constituted Congressional committee or group with resources and subpoena power, and with the power and courage to combat the Power Control Group involved in the assassination and its cover-up, whoever they may be, can reach the truth.
This chapter has been prepared as a guideline for such a committee, rather than as the ultimate solution.
It should be utilized in conjunction with two other documents already submitted to the four Congressional groups interested in the case. The groups are:
(1) The Senate;
(2) The House Special Committee on Intelligence;
(3) Thomas Downing, Representative from Virginia, who introduced House Resolution 498 to reopen the JFK assassination investigation;
(4) Henry Gonzalez, Representative from Texas, who introduced House Resolution 204 to reopen the assassination inquiries on John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and George Wallace.
The Two Documents
1. "Recommendations for the Senate and House Committee's Investigations of Illegal and Subversive Domestic Activities of the CIA and FBI," memorandum by Richard E. Sprague (submitted to them).
2. "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: the Involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Plans and the Cover-Up," by Richard E. Sprague, in "People and the Pursuit of Truth," May, 1975.
Dramatis Personae
Bill Alexander - Assistant to District Attorney Wade, Dallas County.
Ronald Augustinovich - CIA agent. Participated in Mexico City meetings.
Officer Marion Baker- Dallas motorcycle police officer entering Texas School Book Depository after shots.
Guy Banister - Head of clandestine CIA station in New Orleans - ran Banister Detective Agency. Front for anti-Castro Cuban groups. Former FBI agent and member of New Orleans police. Died of "heart attack" June 1964. David Ferrie worked for him. Oswald used his office and address.
Officer Billy Bass - Dallas police officer; arrested "tramps" in Dealey Plaza.
Lt. Batchelor - Dallas police lieutenant.
David Belin - Warren Commission lawyer.
Major L. M. Bloomfield - Resident of Montreal, Canada. Member of board of Centro Mondiale Commerciale, CIA front-organization in Rome. Visited by Ferrie and Shaw in fall 1963.
John Howard Bowen - CIA agent. Alias Albert Osborne. Long clandestine record. On bus to Mexico with Oswald. Participated in Mexico City meetings.
Lee Bowers - Railroad tower control operator, Dealey Plaza. Died in curious accident.
Jim Braden - Alias Eugene Hale Brading. Mafia hoodlum and CIA contract agent. Acted as radio man in Dealey Plaza.
CIA - Central Intelligence Agency.
Fred Lee Crisman - OSS and CIA domestic agent from Tacoma, Washington. Participated with Frenchy and others as radio man in Dealey Plaza.
Harry Dean - CIA operative in Mexico City.
Jean DeMenil - Louisiana and Texas industrialist.
Johnny Mitchell Deveraux - CIA agent, Mexico City. May have impersonated Oswald in Mexico.
Sheriff Harold Elkins - Dallas County Deputy Chief.
FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation, then headed by J. Edgar Hoover.
David Ferrie - Resident of New Orleans French Quarter. Pilot for Eastern Airlines. Bay of Pigs, CIA contractor for pilot training and clandestine flights. Associate of Clay Shaw, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby; murdered Feb. 1967; death termed "suicide" by officials.
"Frenchy" - Real name(s) not yet determined. French Canadian adventurer. CIA contract agent. Training for second invasion of Cuba in Florida Keys. Knew Howard, Hall, Seymour, Hemming, and Santana. Fired shots. Also involved in King assassination.
Guy Gabaldin - Former OSS operative and CIA agent in Mexico City. Movie made about his World War II exploits, Jeffrey Hunter played Gabaldin role. Assassination planning done in his Mexico City apartment.
Loran Hall - Anti-Castro adventurer from southern California. One of three men who visited Sylvia Odio and said JFK would be assassinated. Close friend of Lawrence Howard, William Seymour and other no-name key adventurers. Raising funds for them in 1963.
Sgt. Harkness - Dallas police sergeant.
Richard Helms - Deputy Director - Plans, CIA, in 1963.
Jerry Patrick Hemming - CIA agent and trainer of mercenaries at no-name key.
Jim Hicks - Radio specialist from Dallas. Was radio communications coordinator in Dealey Plaza. Placed in mental hospital run by the military.
Jerry Hill - Police sergeant, Dallas.
Mary Hope - Friend of Augustinovich. Participated in Mexico City meetings on the assassination.
Lawrence Howard - Anti-Castro adventurer. No-name key group. Friend of Loran Hall and William Seymour. Visited Sylvia Odio. Kept no-name key photo album. Provided Garrison with pictures.
E. Howard Hunt - CIA agent. Acting station chief CIA clandestine station in Mexico City in 1963.
Lt. Johnson - Dallas police lieutenant.
Jack Lawrence - Resident of West Virginia and southern California. Minuteman and adventurer. Fired shots.
James Martin - Marina Oswald's business manager.
Sgt. McDonald - Police sergeant, Dallas.
Lt. Montgomery - Dallas police lieutenant; helped frame Oswald .
Clint Murchison - Texas oil millionaire.
Richard Case Nagell - CIA operative in Mexico City; testified before Congressional Committees.
OSS - Office of Strategic Services.
Lee Harvey Oswald - Dallas and New Orleans resident. CIA and FBI agent and informer. Patsy in assassination.
Marina Oswald - Wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. Helped to frame her husband.
Sid Richardson - Texas oil millionaire.
Jack Ruby - Mafia connections. Anti-Castro CIA contracts. Owner of Dallas night club. Recruited to shoot Oswald.
Emilio Santana - Cuban adventurer. Anti-Castro, in no-name key group. Was in Dealey Plaza firing shots.
William Seymour - Mexican-American adventurer and hired killer. On noname key training for second invasion of Cuba in 1963. Impersonated Lee Harvey Oswald and resembled Oswald. Fired shots in Dealey Plaza. Killed Officer Tippit.
Clay Shaw - New Orleans French Quarter resident. Manager International Trade Mart, CIA contract agent, member board of directors of CIA organization, Centro Mondiale Commericale. Murdered in 1974. Living double life as Clay Bertrand, friend of David Ferrie.
Sergio Arcacha Smith - Anti-Castro Cuban. Devoted to overthrowing Castro. CIA contract agent. Close to Guy Banister, Ferrie, and New Orleans CIA operations. Fled to Texas, escaped Garrison subpoena. Protected by Governor John Connally from extradition.
Carlos Prio Socarras - Former premier of Cuba. Violent Anti-Castro millionaire. Backed Cuban invasion plans and CIA efforts. Lived in Miami area. Murdered in 1977.
James Tague - Spectator in Dealey Plaza, hit by piece of curbing thrown up by bullet striking near him.
J. D. Tippit - Dallas policeman, shot on November 22, 1963. Coconspirator in assassination, Mafia and CIA functionary.
Tammie True - Owner of CIA safe house in Dallas.
Roy Truly - Manager of Texas School Book Depository.
TSBD - Texas School Book Depository Building in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, from which Oswald was supposed to have fired shots at President John F. Kennedy.
General Walker - Right-wing former Army General. Resident of Dallas. Supposedly shot at by Oswald.
Breck Wall - Friend of Clay Shaw and Jack Ruby.
Marvin Wise - Dallas police officer, arrested "tramps" in Dealey Plaza.
[1] For a complete listing of articles on political assassinations in the United States, published in "Computers and People" (formerly "Computers and Automation"), see the issues of "People and the Pursuit of Truth," May 1975, p. 6, and June, 1975, p. 5, published by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville, Mass. 02160.
[2] "1978 Los Angeles Free Press" - Special Report No 1, page 16, copy of receipt given to Commander James J. Humes MC, USN "for Missile removed on this date (Nov. 22, 1963)," signed by Francis X. O'Neill, Jr., James W. Sibert, FBI Agents.
Also "Postmortem," by Harold Weisberg, page 266, the missile receipt.
[3] As mentioned earlier, it is also possible that one of the team called him from a telephone inside