Search the Community

You can skip 35 min but he admitted Oswald was intelligence at the 1hr 7min mark G. Robert Blakey is the nation's foremost authority on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), has served on the Notre Dame Law School faculty for more than 30 years. He teaches in the areas of criminal law and procedure, federal criminal law and procedure, terrorism, and jurisprudence. Blakey was Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations from 1977 to 1979, which investigated the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. under the direction of Louis Stokes. Blakey also helped Stokes draft the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. He and Richard Billings, the editor of the final report of the Committee, would later write two books about the assassination. Out Of The Blank #1264 - G. Robert Blakey

This was just uploaded to YouTube today, perhaps for the first time. (I’ve been looking for the HSCA hearings in their entirety online for a while, so this is a real treat to see at last, digitally cleaned up from the old analog tape source.) It’s a 50 minute excerpt from the hearings about the famous DPD motorcycle cop Dictabelt recording which caused the Committee to reverse its initial conclusion that Oswald acted alone. The Memory Hole is a really great resource for lots of vintage news and goodies you won’t find anywhere else. If you browse their YouTube channel, there are even more HSCA videos recently uploaded, and more to come this month.

On April 18, 2005, Education Forum founder John Simkin posted the following on this forum: William Sullivan, the main figure in the FBI involved in the Executive Action project, and the person in the FBI who investigated Oswald, was shot dead near his home in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, on 9th November, 1977. Sullivan had been scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Sullivan was one of six top FBI officials who died in a six month period in 1977. Others who were due to appear before the committee who died included Louis Nicholas, special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover and his liaison with the Warren Commission; Alan H. Belmont, special assistant to Hoover; James Cadigan, document expert with access to documents that related to death of John F. Kennedy; J. M. English, former head of FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory where Oswald's rifle and pistol were tested and Donald Kaylor, FBI fingerprint chemist who examined prints found at the assassination scene. Several important figures in the Central Intelligence Agency died before they could give evidence to the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigations. William Harvey, head of the ZR/RIFLE project, died as a result of complications from heart surgery in June, 1976. William Pawley, who took part in Operation Tilt, died of gunshot wounds in January, 1977. David Morales, who some believe organized the assassination, died aged 53, on 8th May, 1978. John Paisley was deputy director of the Office of Strategic Research. On 24th September, 1978, John Paisley, took a trip on his motorized sailboat on Chesapeake Bay. Two days later his boat was found moored in Solomons, Maryland. Paisley's body was found in Maryland's Patuxent River. The body was fixed to diving weights. He had been shot in the head. Police investigators described it as "an execution-type murder". However, officially Paisley's death was recorded as a suicide. According to the journalist, Victor Marchetti, Paisley was a close friend of Yuri Nosenko. Marchetti also claimed that Paisley knew a great deal about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was murdered during the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation because he was "about to blow the whistle". In the same thread Mr. Simkin posted in, Jim Root wrote: “Thomas Karamessines who had worked in the office of Richard Helms and was monitoring the movements of Oswald in the months before the assassination. Died at his vacation retreat in Canada just before he was scheduled to testify (heart attack I believe).” Pat Speer added Sheffield Edwards to the list, at least as one of the people “who died between the Church Committee and the HSCA.” James Richards added the name Juan Jose Peruyero, who, Mr. Richards said, “was gunned down in front of his Miami house on Jan. 7, 1877,” adding that “Peruyero was a member of Brigade 2506 and became very active in several anti-Castro movements which included an association with William Pawley.” Here is the full thread, one of several on this forum about the HSCA mysterious deaths. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/3689-mysterious-deaths-prior-to-hsca-hearings/ Can anyone reading this suggest there is an innocent explanation for all these HSCA-related deaths in such a short period?

More documents from Blunty's lair! 13 Dallas police officers and their HSCA testimony/reports All HERE!!!

Why was the HSCA interested in interviewing Carlos Prío Socarrás, Cuban president before Batista? Would Prio have had knowledge that would warrant his suicide or murder? From Spartacus: "Prio worked as a property developer and businessman in Miami. It was claimed that Prio was involved in the Bay of Pigs operation. It was also suggested that he had information on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was also linked in testimony with Jack Ruby and Frank Sturgis. [...] " Officially Carlos Prio committed suicide, however, in an article, Did the CIA kill Carlos Prio?, David Miller suggested in had been murdered. " Do we know any more now than we suspected at the time of HSCA? What attracted HSCA's interest in Prio, or for that matter interest in Chicago hood Charles Nicoletti? Was it just the Jack Ruby connections? (Prio, Nicoletti and George DeMohrenschildt are linked as deaths occurring in the same few days, following HSCA subpoenas.) Keep in mind that Prio was 74 and perhaps feared scrutiny and botheration. Or perhaps other considerations prevailed.

As a part-time student of the assassination, I compared the sworn testimony of CIA officers to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) from the ‘70s with what is known today from the document releases of the past two decades. I found the most interesting disparity between what former CIA chief Richard Helms told the HSCA compared to the known facts today. For simplicity's sake, you can compare Helms' testimony to the 2014 open letter from Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel of the HSCA, detailing the CIA’s subterfuge around agency case officer George Joannides and the Cuban student group DRE: http://aarclibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/robert_blakey_aarc_9_26_letter.pdf[aarclibrary.org The known facts in Blakey’s letter directly contradict this statement from Helms to HSCA investigators on September 25, 1978: MR DODD: Are there other things that you can recall that might have had relevancy–things of importance, to the Warren Commission’s investigation of the assassination of an American President. Mr. HELMS – Well, I don’t know of any others. I can’t think of what they might have been, but then we might have been guilty of some other errors of omission, I don’t know. None come readily to mind. This didn’t come readily to mind at the time. [source: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/jfkinfo2/jfk4/hscahelm.htm[mcadams.posc.mu.edu] To summarize the timeline: December 1962 - Helms appoints agency case officer George Joannides to run the DRE and have Joannides report personally to him. August 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald has several run-ins with the New Orleans chapter of the DRE that are publicized in the local news. The DRE chapter even writes a press release denouncing Oswald and asking for a Congressional investigation of the ex-Marine: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/images/dre_press.gif[mcadams.posc.mu.edu] Nov. 22, 1963 – Broadcast video of Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans is delivered to Congressional representatives and media in Washington DC by a fervent anti-communist based in New Orleans named Ed Butler, who had also participated in a radio interview with Oswald and a DRE representative in August 1963. Butler actually arrived with the video in DC before the president’s body did from Dallas. DRE officials also contacted media and reported on Oswald’s pro-Castro activities the day of the assassination with the tacit permission of the CIA. 1964 - Serving as the CIA’s liaison to the Warren Commission, Helms does not tell the WC anything about the CIA’s founding and continued funding and guidance of the DRE, or his appointment of George Joannides to run the group. 1977 – George Joannides is appointed as the CIA’s liaison to Congress and HSCA investigators, never revealing his role as the case officer to the DRE during 1963 and, as Blakey notes, lying directly to investigators and slowing the process of producing documents. 1978 – Helms makes his above statement to the HSCA. As Blakey writes, the CIA at the time still maintained that the agency had no contact with the DRE in ’63. Not sure if anyone else has delved into comparing the known facts with CIA testimony. Also, I would love to know if anyone has a link to the primary doc that shows Helms' appointment of Joannides. Thanks.

Besides tidying the docs and posting these, my involvement has been minimal. The credit goes to ROKC! I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I have. If we get more then I shall add them here. Stas T Raikin - CIA Paul McCaghren - DPD Robert J Jamison - Secret Service

Good Day.... FYI.... http://www.effinghamdailynews.com/local/x2039931337/Altamont-native-prepared-John-F-Kennedy-for-funeral (QUOTE) Altamont Native Prepared John F. Kennedy for Funeral [by] Nathan Scholes For the Daily News PHOTO: CAPTION: Photo of Edwin Stroble taken in Altamont PHOTO: CAPTION: Shown is a copy of the Gawler "First Call Sheet" (like an intake form) for the Kennedy funeral/embalming. It lists Ed Stroble as embalmer. ALTAMONT — On Nov. 22, 1963, as the nation mourned the loss of President John F. Kennedy, morticians of Joseph Gawler's Son Inc were summoned to Bethesda (MD) Naval Hospital to embalm the body and prepare it for viewing. According to one embalmer, the nature of the president's wounds required that he use "all of my knowledge and acquired skill to make him presentable." This embalmer, Edwin Bates Stroble, was a native of Altamont and one-time apprentice at Kull Funeral Home. Born May 22, 1921, to Edwin P. and Gladys G. Stroble, the younger Stroble began working for local businessman Woodrow Kull in high school before enlisting in the United States Navy. Following a stint of service that saw him fighting on Attu, he returned home. It was at this time that he began his apprenticeship under the supervision of Kull to learn the trade of embalming. In a letter to family friend Linda Frederick (nee Grobengieser) shortly after the assassination, Stroble credits Kull with teaching him "how to pose features naturally, and how to use a horse sense flair for make-up." He also referred to Kull as "one of the greatest embalmers I've ever watched." According to Stroble's sister-in-law, Ruby Stroble, he eventually decided to move to the East Coast, a place he had lived during his time in the Navy. He then began working for Joseph Gawler's Sons Inc, a prestigious Washington, D.C., funeral home, as a mortician. He did, however, make frequent trips home, visiting his family, Kull's Funeral Home and Frederick's father, Delbert Grobengieser. "He would park his sports car in the driveway and make me drool over it," recalled Frederick. Stroble was described as a "real likeable guy" by his sister-in-law and spent his time fishing and hunting. He writes that his main interest was music, in particular the works of Hoagy Carmichael. Frederick credits Stroble with getting her into Shriner's Hospital for treatment of her polio, when her family was considering sending her to Chicago. Stroble objected, stating that she would be treated like a lab rat in the northern facility. Due to the care she received at Shriner's, Frederick states that "people don't even realize that I had polio." As for the cause of his minor notoriety, it was, in part, Stroble's December 1963 home visit that alerted local residents to his connection with the Kennedy funeral. Lynn Kull, son of Stroble's mentor, recalls Stroble coming into the Kull embalming room and showing him the check he received for embalming the President. After a period of disbelief by Kull, Stroble mentioned that the President had been shot at the very top of the cranium and approximately the 7th vertebrae. He also mentioned that Kennedy's face was "not that marred." Considering the extensive work done to restore Kennedy's body, Stroble was disappointed when Jacqueline Kennedy decided that the casket would be closed for services. She and the President's brothers viewed him in the East Room of the White House, along with select staffers, before she ordered the closure. He did, however, come to believe that "as things turned out, it was a wise decision on her part." Stroble said that during this time, there was a "very high emotional response from the people of the district, and for that matter, the whole East Coast." He believed that if the casket had remained open, "it would have become mass hysteria, or worse." Stroble complimented Mrs. Kennedy for her composure, stating that "she was tremendous throughout the whole ordeal." Given the historical controversy and public interest surrounding President Kennedy's assassination, natural curiosity may lead many to wonder what Stroble knew about the President's wounds and their implications. In the aforementioned letter to Frederick, Stroble writes that he was "under orders from the White House Secret Service, and the FBI not to discuss any factors relating to points of entry of bullets, nor their effects." Stroble died in May 1976 and therefore was unable to provide testimony to the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), which was introduced in 1975, but not officially created until September 1976. Fellow Gawler embalmer Thomas Robinson's testimony has been cited in support of a frontal entry wound, but no documented statements by Stroble suggest his agreement. Stroble did not mention to Kull or in writings the small wound near the temple that Robinson discusses in the official HSCA transcript. Upon his passing in Maryland in 1976, Stroble's possessions were reportedly not collected by his family and subsequently discarded. Therefore, any additional information that may have existed regarding President John F. Kennedy's death and funeral from Stroble's unique perspective has been lost. However, the existing records illustrate the importance of his small-town training and its impact on one of the most famous events in modern history. (END QUOTE) Best Regards in Research + ++Don Donald Roberdeau United States Navy U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, plank walker Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges Clearly For your key considerations + independent determinations.... Homepage: President KENNEDY "Men of Courage" speech, and Assassination Evidence, Witnesses, Photographers, Outstanding Researchers Discoveries, Suspects, + Key Considerations.... http://droberdeau.blogspot.com/2009/08/1-men-of-courage-jfk-assassination_09.html The Dealey Plaza Detailed Map: Documented 11-22-63 Victims Precise Locations + Reactions, Evidence, Witnesses Locations, Photographers, Suspected Bullet Trajectories, Important Information + Key Considerations, in One Convenient Resource.... http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3966/dppluschartsupdated1111.gif (updated map, + new information) Visual Report: The First Bullet Impact Into President Kennedy: While JFK was Still Hidden Under the "magic-limbed-ricochet-tree".... http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2446/206cropjfk1102308ms8.gif Visual Report: Reality Versus C.A.D. : the Real World, versus, Garbage-in, Garbage-out.... http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5066/jsf.gif Discovery: "Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Head Snap: West, Ultrafast, and Directly Towards the Grassy Knoll".... http://droberdeau.blogspot.com/2011/01/discovery-close-jfk-assassination.html T ogether E veryone A chieves M ore For the United States: http://www.dhs.gov

The audio cassette recordings of much testimony before the ARRB and HSCA have been digitized and assembled in a collection that can be downloaded. You can get them here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xogfg3tvgebxb1q/ARRB%26HSCA_audio_tapes_as_mp3_files.zip I'll keep this link available for at least 3 months. Best wishes to all. The truth will out. Steve

Does anybody know if former NYC homicide detective and HSCA Chief Investigator Cliff Fenton is still around? If so, I'd like to get in touch with him. If anyone has any information at all, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Zach

Discovery: Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS ZAPRUDER Film Documented 2nd Head Snap: West, Ultrafast, and Directly Towards the Grassy Knoll by Donald Roberdeau © 2001 .... has been moved to here Best Regards in Research +++Don Donald Roberdeau United States Navy U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, plank walker Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges clearly T ogether E veryone A chieves M ore