Claude Barnabe

Ian, I stated my hypothesis about the carcano in the ...Package.... thread. LHO IS complicit in the murder of JFK. Many forum members are vested in LHO's innocence, therefore are resistant to the possibility of LHO bringing a weapon to the TSBD on the 22nd. Time for a thought experiment. I'm a conspirator in the assassination of JFK. I want to lay the blame for JFK's murder at the feet of LHO. How do I do that? You already know a lot about your prospective patsy. He's been to Russia, has Marxist leanings and he wants to get to Cuba, join the revolution. As stated by RC Nagell, wouldn't it make sense to approach LHO as a Castro G2 agent. Dangle the possibility of fulfilling his dreams of joining the revolution in exchange for help in eliminating a Castro nemesis. And with the promise that LHO doesn't even have to fire a shot. This scenario might explain LHO's presence at RedBird airport with his confederates. Now, as a means of assuring his participation in the plot. He's told to disassemble the carcano, package each section separately with the agreement that LHO brings one part and his confederate(s) bring the other part. The confederates take care of the rest with LHO given a promise of becoming a revolutionary. BTW having the barrel and scope sighted at the Irving gun shop lends credence to the scenario that the rifle was indeed fired and not just a prop.

Greg, A couple of observations: a) if you had a 24” bag containing a sandwich and/or an apple, would you carry the bag from the top with 1 or 2 folds or would you fold the bag down to the contents? Reducing the length from 24” to 6”. b) review BWF testimony regarding how LHO carried the package. Right hand cupped at bottom of package, top of package tucked under his arm pit. Not practical for a largely empty package, seems rather awkward. BTW in his testimony BWF stated that LHO told him he was buying his lunch that day. Recapping, Whitworth places the package length at 15” to 18”, Ms Randle places package at 27” and BWF places the package at 24” to 27”. We know the carcano is disassembled, my position is there were no curtain rods and no lunch. The package as testified to, is too short for a fully disassembled carcano but it is the perfect size for a carcano receiver/barrel.

Greg regarding your response to: a) Ruth Paine testified that she only had (2) curtain rods in the garage and when the DPD arrived the rods were still there. Also, during interrogation LHO denied the curtain rod story to Fritz. Why, because he couldn't produce them. I covered the package story in the first paragraph on the 'What's the Package? Lee.' thread. b,c) please elaborate, what meeting, with food? This is 1963 not 80's corporate America. Not one book order was filled on the morning of the 22nd. Why? He was preoccupied with something else. d) No doubt the cash came from the bank check. But he was a controlling individual. He would have kept the cash and helped Marina as needed. I made the argument in the 'What's the Package? Lee.' thread that he left the wedding ring because he wasn't returning. e) To the best of my knowledge he always wore his ID bracelet not the MC ring.

Any declaration of LHO's innocence requires an explanation of the following events: a) he brought a package to work that morning and it was NOT curtain rods b) he did NOT bring a lunch, which was his routine and part of being frugal c) he did NO work that morning, his clipboard was empty d) he left Marina $170 cash along with his wedding ring e) he wore his Marine Corps ring in lieu of his wedding ring All of the above events are stated in the Warren report

Larry, Can it be stated with a high degree of confidence, that RCN is the source that claimed LHO was approached by Cuban exiles impersonating themselves as Castro G2 agents. To the best of my knowledge, prior to the publication of TMWKTM, such a scenario has never been presented.

That said. IMHO all available evidence since the publication of the WC report (that includes a multitude of topics on this forum) points to LHO NOT the shooter.

RCN's story has had many hours of research by Hancock and Russell. Much of it has been documented and verified. More importantly, Nagell's story line provides a possible motive for LHO's involvement in the JFK assassination. A topic the Warren Commission mightily struggled with.

Greg, Your topic presents an either/or scenario, there's another option: he was involved but did not shoot.

Larry, In the interview you mention RCN traveling from MC to NY to Miami to NO. That takes cash. Any records exist of income/expenditures? Since Hecksher probably abandoned RCN were the Russians funding him?

During the summer of '63 LHO was in New Orleans probably working at the behest of the intel services. Infiltrating exile groups and reporting his findings. LHO was also doing something else in NO that summer. Attempting to enhance his portfolio to increase his appeal to the Castro Cuban revolutionaries. In the last nine months of LHO's deployment as a US Marine at Santa Ana CA he was learning to speak Spanish and was being taught the language by his friend Nelson Delgado. He obviously recognized the need to speak the language in order to be effective in the ranks of the revolutionaries. Delgado and LHO also discussed how appealing an honorable discharge from the MC would be as a means to hold a rank. That was 1959. Fast forward to early '63. LHO has purchased a rifle, is in contact with the Soviet embassy in an attempt to repatriate Marina and in that summer in NO contacts Arnesto Rodriguez of the Modern Language Institute to continue his education in the spanish language. This particular outreach has been viewed by most as another attempt at exile infiltration, however I view it as an honest inquiry. He also contacts Dean Andrews to enlist his aid in reversing his dishonorable discharge from the MC. I believe these were all efforts on LHO's part to reconstitute his dream of becoming a revolutionary. All this activity was conducted in parallel with his directed intel actions. LHO's trip to Mexico City probably had a lot to do with his desire to join the revolutionaries and repatriate Marina. Creating the tangled web that exist to this day.

Tony, I should have stated my major premise (it was implied – the rifle was discovered assembled on the sixth floor TSBD). Since the description of the sack carried by LHO as stated by BWF could not carry the larger portion of the disassembled rifle, i.e., the wooden stock, then therefore the sack must have carried the receiver/barrel. Minor premise, no curtain rods were ever found. The smaller sack was a typical store bag as described by BWF. The larger custom made heavy sack had to be constructed before the weekend of November 8th from materials at the TSBD. That was the last weekend LHO visited Irving prior to his visit on the 21st.

Note to Gary Murr: Mr Overall the author of the article about Tom Alyea did contact me by email. He stated that his memory of the interview unfortunately was not 'detailed' and could not answer my question regarding the clip. He did have this to add however, "He was polite and courteous, but rather reluctant to do the interview, as I recall. I had to talk him into it. And I don't think he enjoyed it." Sometime after the original interview he attempted to reach Mr Alyea once more but he was no longer at the address or phone number. Another opportunity missed.

Ian, correct. I posit the 'fake' G2 agents when they approached LHO with the offer of joining the Cuban revolution, tested his resolve to becoming a revolutionary by getting him to use his own rifle. As a means of assuring his participation both sides agreed to bring to the TSBD on the morning of Friday Nov 22 their respective rifle components i.e., the disassemble carcano. LHO's confederates provided the ammo and an ammunition clip which LHO did not possess. And yes there would have been 2 sacks. The smaller of which would be discarded from the evidence chain or due to DPD sloppiness merely disregarded as non essential. This scenario resolves the puzzling reasoning of why LHO would allow himself to participate in the assassination using his own weapon.

Ian, Not sure you read my origination thread piece in its entirety. In my scenario, LHO had an agreement with the fake G2 agents to bring to the TSBD on that Friday morning the receiver/barrel of the 40” carcano and they, the G2 agents or a representative (hint: DPD or Dallas Sheriff), would bring the wooden stock with sack provided by LHO made of TSBD material. In return LHO was promised a role in Castro's revolution. What BWF and LMR described was a sack with dimensions that 'perfectly' fit the the receiver/barrel of the carcano rifle in evidence.

Hello Ian, By 'conditioned', you must be referring to the WC version of how the rifle was introduced into the TSBD. That's a fair statement. The WC concluded logically, since a 38” paper sack was found at the scene of the crime and a fully assembled carcano is over 40” in length then the rifle must have been disassembled. That's a reasonable deduction by the WC. Ian, you introduce the possibility that an additional smaller sack was placed over the end of the larger sack to conceal the weapon. I made the argument that BWF was accurate in his assessment of the length of the sack. Two feet. That dimension is backed by BWF sister Linnie Randle and also by Ms Whitworth of the Furniture Mart. She estimated the sack to be 15” to 18”. A discrepancy from the 2' but notable in the difference from WC length of over 3'. The BWF sack dimensions dictate that the rifle be disassembled and also that only the receiver/barrel can be placed in the sack. Therefore LHO must have brought into the TSBD the receiver/barrel. That conclusion is reinforced by the fact that no curtain rods were found in the TSBD.