Ron Matuska

07/67-10/67: Vertical Control Chart Op., HDQ Battery, 1st Bn., 319th Arty., 82nd Airborne, Ft. Bragg, NC. 06/66-07/67: Ammo/Perimeter Defense, B Btty., 2nd Bn., 320th Arty., 1st Bde., 101st Airborne, Vietnam. 11/64-05/66 VCO/RTO, B Btty., 5th Bn. Airborne, 81st Arty., Rhine Kaserne, Wiesbaden, Germany. 02/64-11/64 Check Chart, D Btty., 321st Arty., 82nd Airborne Div., Ft. Bragg, NC. Security Class. Confidential. Participated in operations Hawthorn (Dak To), John Paul Jones (Tuy Hoa), Picket (Kontum), and Hastings.

The 60's were a turbulent era, a decade of assassinations. Many in government as well as other organizations felt the country was being torn apart at the seams. Plus there was the Red Scare which had increased after the Cuban Missle Crises. One can only imagine if these assassinations were related. Certainly fear had a lot to do with it, as well as insanity. I personally don't believe that there is a connection as far as the same group being responsible. However, I do believe that a lot of covering-up goes on after the incidents for one reason or another. Since there is a seal on the information on JFK's assassination for 75 years (some has been released under FOIA during the Clinton Administration). I doubt we will ever get the truth, as the government keeps it's secrets well.

Most of the negative press about Kennedy came after his assassinaiton. The media up to that time, had been self sensored, and did not relate to the public any sordid details of a president's private life. Examples such as FDR's polio, was kept from the public eye until he himself mentioned it in his last speach to Congress. Also any romantic affairs he and Eisenhower may have had were also kept under wraps. The fact is that we have learned alot about the Kennedys and JFK in particular in recent years. It is true that he had an affair with a woman who was suspected of being a Nazi spy. It is also true that he had a relationship with a woman who was also the mistress of Sam Giancana. It is also true that he had trists in the White House Pool with secretaries, and there were many other women he had affairs with that could have blackmailed him, the same way tha Bill Clinton could have been blackmailed. Had any of these women been associated with the Soviet Union KGB, it would have been a National Security issue. The fact is that Marilyn Monroe had intended to use her diary to expose her affair with John and Bobby Kennedy. Her death is very mysterious, and one coroner has expressed his doubts about suicide, citing the possiblility that the drugs were administed anally. Nonetheless, JFK no matter how bad a president, did not deserve to be removed from office by an assassins bullet. There were worse presidents in our history, Harding, Taft, Clinton, Bush etc. however we are supposed to be a democracy, not some third rate dictatorship. The fact is that the OSS started to use the mob when the Army invaded Sicily during WWII. We used Lucky Luciano's organization to penetrate any resistance to the invasion, and to use his organization to help mobilize civilians to assist. Later the OSS became the CIA. It is interesting to note that the CIA is organized along similar lines as the Cosa Nostra, in that "Omerta" (Silence) is a key directive, as well as compartmentalization (only giving enough directive to the lower echelon in order for them to perform their function without their having the whole picture). No one knows who the "Capo-de-Capi" was that gave the initial order, nor do they know the upprer echelon involved in the operation, other than those they directly report to. This all allows for deniability under interrogation.

There were so many reasons for so many who hated Kennedy and wanted him taken out, that this could be but one. I do believe that the government was involved, realized this, and covered it up. Certainly the mafia was not responsible for the cover-up, only "Omerta," or silence. Some, such as Files who was not an actual member of any family, has talked. The mainstream media does not want to touch any of this because they are part of the propaganda ministry that keeps perpetuating the myth that we still live in a democracy. It is all smoke and mirrors to make us believe our vote actually counts, when in fact it is the upper three percent (that make as much as 95 percent of the population) that control this government. Anyone who believes any different are living in fantasy land. If you study history, you find that it is the wealthy (first landowners, later industrialists) that controlled what our government did, or did not do. In the case of Unions, the government was violently opposed as expressed in Ludlow, Colorado where strikintg coal miners and their families were machine-guned by the malitia at the behest of John D. Rockefeller. Teddy Roosevelt was the only president who tried to bust up these "Trusts," such as those ran by the "Robber Barons" like J. P. Morgan. Even our foreign policy was dictated by big business. Anaconda Copper, Amazon Tire And Rubber, United Fruit all went overseas to exploit the natural resources of other countries and make their population work for slave wages. This is how the term "Ugly American" came into being. Any type of social civil disobedience was met with brute force, whether it was the suppression of women marching for the right to vote, or blacks marching for an end to Jim Crow laws. Police cracked skulls, and continue to crack skulls whenever anyone expressess their democratic right to a redress of grievience by marching. As expressed by Gandi, King, and Thoreau, the right to passive civil disobedience is essential to maintaing a democracy, otherwise what you have is blanket facism. The greed may have first started with the forced aquisition of Indian land such as that possessed by the Cherokee Nation in the South Eastern part of the U.S. The Cherokee were considered to be very good citizen farmers and a marriage by poor whites into the tribe was a step up the economic ladder from indentured servitude. Many of the wealthy landowners used Irish slaves initially (Many Irish were indentured to the English for family debt). Later, they tried to use Native Americans, however they didn't do so willingly. Later the Dutch brought slaves over, and boy did we buy, buy, buy, and we have been a consumer nation ever since. The "Trail Of Tears" where the Cherokee lost two thirds of thier tribe after being forced marched to Oklahoma Territory is in itself genocide, not to mention Sand Creek, Wachita, and Wounded Knee. The use of military force by our government against it's own "citizens" can be seen at Kent State, Ruby Ridge, and Waco. The fact is that secret radiation experiments were conducted by government sponsored scientists against unsuspecting U.S. citizens. Plutonium was injected into pregnant women and fed to mentally retarded teenagers in their breakfast cereal. These acts would have had us hang Joseph Mengele at Nuremburg, but our "scientists" got away with it. Now we are supposed to be surprised when U.S. military and civilian personnel raped, tortured and murdered prisoners as if this was the first time and is totally "Un-American!" The fact is tha Operation Phoenix in Vietnam did the same thing under CIA supervision. This whole operation has CIA written all over it. Now a lawsuit is being brought against the CIA for the release of information under FOIA about the UFO incident in Pennsylvania. They are foot dragging and stonewalling as usual in the name of "National Security." This, along with the JFK assassination, and the radiological testing of U.S. civilians is all being swept under the rug, and not touched by the main stream media (AKA the propaganda ministry). What ever happened to the gad fly journalists such as Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis, whithout whom the problems of child labor (kids working in coal mines and textile mills) and othe ills would never have come to light. As long as the public is fed it's daily pabulum of sports, movies, drugs, and booze, they are content to let things go on the way they have for so long without organizing across racial lines to form a powerful coalision to stop it. No, the government likes us fighting each other at street level on racial and ethinic issues. This allows them to remain in control and declare "Law and Order" as their primary objective for doing away with the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights in the name of the War on Drugs, or the War on Terrorrism. Once these rights are taken away, such as Search and Seizure, Probable Cause, and Due Process, we can forget about ever getting them back! That is why so many futuristic sci-fi movies depict such a bleak future for us. In fact the idea of UAV's patrolling the skies of America armed with lethal and non-lethal weapons as well as surveilance equipment, is not far fetched. Even our police force has changed from the cop on the beat to a paramilitary Swat Team. Too many times has a home been broken into, and someone shot because of false testimony. THE END

I heard the first report broadcast about the weapon found at the Book Depository while I was undergoing AIT training at Fort Sill, OK in 1963. The report stated that the weapon identified was a Mauser, supposedly by an “expert.” Later, it was changed to a Manlicher Carcano. I found out recently that two weapons were found at the Book Depository. The first one was an Argentinean Mauser (7.65mm), later the weapon was identified as an Italian Manlicher Carcano (6.5mm). For the conspirators to pin the assassination on Oswald’s rifle required that some of the projectiles fired at JFK had to be Carcano projectiles. Since the Carcano was such a lousy weapon and inaccurate as well, they must have used other more accurate rifles to do this. The Argentinean Mauser is certainly more accurate than the Carcano. In order to have projectiles from the Carcano fired at JFK from other weapons, they had to use sabots. First the Carcano is fired into a firing well, then the projectiles (with the Carcano markings) are placed in a sabot (a sleeve used to make up the difference between the Carcano 6.5mm, and the Mauser 7.65mm, approximately 1.15mm difference or .575mm on each side). Then the sabot with Carcano projectile are placed into the 7.65mm Mauser casing. The Carcano projectile never touches the inner walls of the barrel, and the Carcano markings remain in tact. The sabot separates from the projectile once it exits the barrel. This method of planting the crime on a smaller caliber gun has been used by the French mob as well as by “black ops” personnel. Unfortunately for the conspirators, there were no Carcano projectiles found in JFK or Governor Connelly. They planted one of the pristine projectiles taken from the firing well on Connelly’s cot at Parkland. They should have previously fired some into the carcass of a dead animal to simulate the damage caused when it hit bone. Hindsight is 20/20, and they never planned for this contingency. Now, Files states that he used a Remington Fireball 222. This would be an excellent weapon for this type of operation: “One shot, one kill.” The gun (with a scope) would be more than sufficient at that close range, plus it would be easily stored and hidden. The use of frangible projectiles would hopefully not leave any trace, however some Carcano projectiles would still have to be fired at the target, any others could be frangible. I don’t know why an Italian Manlicher Carcano was planted on Oswald. Perhaps it was because it was so cheap, and Oswald was supposedly so poor. Perhaps it was because it was readily available on the open market. Personally I would have planted a Swedish Mauser (6.5x55mm). This would have been a more accurate weapon and could easily be used and left at the scene. If triangular fire was used, the other scope weapons using sabots could be the Russian or Finnish Mosin Nagant (7.62mm), German Mauser K98 (7.9mm), Swiss Schmidt-Rubin (7.5mm), or even the Austrian Steyr-Manlicher (8x56mm).

The video produced by MPI in 1996 shows an interview with James Files (formerly known as James Sutton) who is in Joliet. He appears to be very knowledgeable, and the discription of the murder weapon (Single shot Remington bolt action pistol called Firevall) seems to fit the Zapruder film impact analysis for this type of 222 cal (XP2100) with a fragible projectile 3100fps. With a scope mount, this would have been an ideal weapon for close range operation, and concealable in a brief case (one shot, one kill). The entire operation was not as well planned as one might concieve. It underscores the fact that there was no "French Connection," as described in previous investigations. It would have been very conspicuous if French speaking suspects were questioned near the area, not to mention the fact that their get-away would have been more complex and undertaking. It is likely that the hit had the unwritten support of many in the intelligence, mob, political, and business community, especially in the South. At the very least, the cover-up was certainly orchestrated at the highest levels of government. The "triangular fire" ambush concept was used extensively when I was in Vietnam (66-67) by Special Forces trained Montenyards who used cross bows at night and grenades. The whole reason for the hit was the fact that those who wanted Kennedy out realized that an election would not bring this about. In fact, they felt that they could not wait until 1964, and that Kennedy would surely be re-elected due to his popular support. With Bobby and Teddy waiting in the wings, they felt it would be a dynasty that would eventually rule this country. Southern Protestants also felt the Kennedy presidancy to be a threat. Why he would venture into the South in an open vehicle can be partly blamed on the advice he received from the Secret Service. Whoever changed the motorcade route, was in fact helping set up the assassination. Hunt Oil, Nixon, Johnson, Hoover, David Atlee Phillips, Sam Giancana, Santos Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, Alpha 66, Tony Arcado, Charles Nicoletti, Johnny Rosselli, Jimmy Hoffa, and many more in the CIA/Mob connection wanted the Kennedy's out of the way, especially in regards to Cuba. The fact is that Kennedy hated the CIA for what happened at The Bay of Pigs, and the CIA and Cuban Exiles hated him for not giving them more support. However Kennedy realized that to give U.S. military support would make it look like an invasion by the U.S. Government, and not a bunch of Cuban exile radicals. The final straw was the Cuban Missle Crises, and the agreement that Kennedy had made with Krushev. In additon, Kennedy was making overtures to Castro so as to ease the tensions between the two. The Cuban exile community would have nothing of this, and wanted to continue the attacks on Cuba. In the end, Robert Kennedy had used the CIA/Mob connection to try to hit Castro. This same hit team may have been used to hit his brother instead. It is ironic that at this same time, Robert was trying to erradicate organized crime from America, by deporting Carlos Marcello. This effort received very little help from J. Edgar Hoover who was gambling and mob owned race tracks, and being subverted in his efforts because of his homosexuality. He failed to even acknowledge that organized crime even existed. He was more concerned with Communists. He used the power of his office to stay in power, by keeping secret files on presidents and congressmen. He used this "Sword of Damocles" to hang over each administration since FDR. It would be understandable in the KGB, or GESTAPO, but very unusual and suspecious for one man to remain in power of the largest domestic police organization in democratic history.