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Dick Russell's On The Trail of the JFK Assassins


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Although this book is not yet available, it can be pre-ordered and will be available soon.

On the Trail of the JFK Assassins – A Revealing Look at America's Most Infamous Unsolved Crime, By Dick Russell (Herman Graf/Skyhorse, NY, 2008)

In his new book On the Trail of the JFK Assassins, Dick Russell recaps his experiences and republishes important articles he wrote over the course of decades on the JFK assassination trail. For most career journalists, writing about the political assassinations of the Sixties has also been the kiss of death, a subject matter that marks you, but one you can't touch and move on to another but one that you must follow to the end.

On the Trail of the JFK Assassins is one of two new books by Russell, the other being Don't Start the Revolution Without Me (with Jesse Ventura), both published by Skyhorse, who also recently reissued Russell's Black Genius as well as a new edition of John Newman's Oswald & the CIA.

Russell also plays a role in the production of a new web based documentary film "The Warning," which can be previewed and ordered at his web site [http://www.dickrussell.org/] and his books via Skyhorse [http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/].

Russell is also the author of Striper Wars and Eye of the Whale, about which Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said, "Dick Russell has done for the gray whale what he did for the striped bass – taught us to love both the fish and the fishermen. In a riveting tale that celebrates the history and culture of the whale fishery, Russell guides us gently to a consciousness of the critical importance of the gray whale's struggle and survival to modern civilization."

Also important to our modern civilization is the legal resolution of the assassination of President Kennedy.

While Russell is known and respected for his environmental writings, his career has been indelibly stamped by his reporting on the Kennedy assassination and his book The Man Who Knew Too Much is a classic of its genre. And this book is not so much an extension as it is filling in the gaps, sidebars and potholes along the road.

Dick Russell begins On the Trail of the JFK Assassins with his first story on the topic, a 1975 Village Voice magazine assignment to report on Professor Richard Popkin's then latest discoveries - new information on Richard Case Nagell and Luis Angel Castillo and how they fit into the assassination drama.

Nagell would become the primary subject of The Man Who Knew Too Much, a military intelligence officer and double-agent, while Russell's research into Castillo would take him into the MKULTRA mind control realm of programmed assassins.

Popkin would later warn others that looking into Castillo was a quagmire, but Russell went into the rabbit's hole and he comes out relatively unscathed, thanks to his well honed journalistic skills that also allow us to follow him down some pretty slippery trails, where few others dare to go.

The reprinted articles, most of which I still have from the original clips, stand out today as well as they did when first published, shining even more in the light of what we've learned since then and show how we've got to where we are today.

Although some complained that The Man Who Knew Too Much was the book that told too much, I kind of like the idea of the reporter on the scene providing as much information as possible, not knowing what will become significant later on. Whereas The Man Who Knew Too Much is required reading among JFK assassination buffs, On the Trail of the JFK Assassins is less esoteric, and gives you enough basic background that it isn't a prerequisite to have to read the earlier book. And On the Trail is compact and compelling enough for ordinary people, who aren't assassination buffs, to appreciate it, so it might even change some mainstream thinking.

There's not much here for those who want to believe that the President was killed by a disturbed communist, but this book will be an adventure for those who have taken up the trail of the real assassins, and like Dick Russell, are intent on tracking them down where ever they are holed up.

Unlike most JFK assassination researchers, who sit back and read among books, documents and internet sites, Russell is an investigator who also goes out and finds witnesses and interviews them on the record. Russell is, along with Bill Turner, Anthony Summers, Gaeton Fonzi, and a few others, among the best JFK assassination investigators.

Entwining updated briefs between articles he wrote for the Village Voice, Argosy, Harper's Weekly, New Times Magazine, Gallery, Boston Magazine and High Times between 1975 and 1996, Russell weaves together his earlier articles with the latest tidbits from the records released under the JFK Act.

Richard Case Nagell and Luis Angel Castillo are just two of the more complex and bizarre characters you would ever want to meet, Nagel being a US/USSR double-agent while Castillo is a programmed zombie with ties to Cuba who is still on the lose today.

In the course of developing the yet unfinished tales of Nagell and Castillo, Russell visits both the CIA headquarters at Langly and the KGB headquarters in Moscow, takes you into the home of CIA mind bender Dr. Gottleib and attends the USA-CUBA conferences in Rio and the Bahamas, between researchers and Cuban intelligence officers.

There's also interesting interviews with the likes of Gerry Patrick Hemming, Loran Hall, Col. Phillip Corso, Arlen Specter, Richard Sprague and Marina Oswald. Harry Dean gets his own chapter, "Memories of an FBI Informant." And of course, Russell revisits Sylvia Odio, and takes on Antonio Veciana, Maurice Bishop and John Paisley, fitting them in as part of the Dealey Plaza puzzle.

Exploring whether Oswald was a Manchurian Candidate and programmed assassin, Russell lays down the basic background and how he most certainly could have been, though more likely was the programmed patsy.

Among the articles is Russell's response to Posner, which only High Times Magazine had the courage to publish, and which seems so passé now and not worth bothering over, except how people like Posner can get published when undisputed experts like Doug Horne can't.

Russell points out that those most impressed with Posner – David Wise, William Styron and Posner all share the same publisher (Random House) and editor (Bob Loomis) and notes how Posner's previous books include those about Nazi leader's children, bio-assassins and Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death," all prepping him with a preframed governmental view. Russell reports that Posner testified before a Senate committee that it was "incontestable" that the U.S. military "mistakenly released Mengele from custody in mid-1945," despite French government documents that indicate American officials had detained and then released Mengele again in 1947. Of course these previous assignments gave Posner, the hired-gun lawyer, the job of closing the case on the JFK assassination at a time when the JFK Act ordered millions of government records released.

"Could it be that Case Closed was an effort to defuse any new revelations that might occur as the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination approached?" Russell rightly questions. "There was, in fact, no similar wave of publicity accompanying the declassification of the House Assassinations Committee's report on Oswald's activities in Mexico City….But the corporate media are not rushing to send a team of reporters probing these thousands of pages of fresh files. They would prefer to let Posner spare them the time, the only casualty being the truth of what really happened on November 22, 1963. In reality, there may be no better case for reopening the JFK investigation than the sham called Case Closed."

Significantly, other than Priscilla Johnson McMillan's blatantly dishonest biography of Marina, few reporters have had access to the accused assassin's wife, Marina Oswald Porter. Although she has learned to distrust so many others, she trusts Russell. Besides accurately reflecting Marina's views on things, Russell invited her to his home and meet with a room full of lawyers who try to answer her single question, "Is there some way to re-open the investigation?"

She did have another question for Russell that concerned Oswald's Uniform Service ID card, which she suspected was a clue to something important, and is a subject that deserves further attention. And Russell tries to answer that question fairly, but as for the lawyers, they couldn't come up with very much. Not published before, the chapter on the Reflections of Marina Oswald Porter (Ch.31) is the most important because it asks the most significant question about the assassination - how do you find a way to (officially) re-open the investigation?

Russell describes the scene, "On a Sunday afternoon, in front of a crackling fireplace in my living room, we assembled. Jim Lesar and Dan Alcorn, attorneys from Washington, were on hand. Gaeton Fonzi, former investigator for Senator for Senator Schweiker and the House Assassinations Committee, had flown up from Florida. Harvey Silvergate, a prominent civil liberties lawyer in Cambridge was there with his wife, as was another attorney friend, Joan Stanley. Marina sat in a comfortable leather-backed chair…(and) began the conversation. 'If there is no law on the books, create one, please,' she implored the room."

"Lesar, who also oversaw the Assassinations Archives Research Center in the nation's capitol, responded that it was difficult to get a foot in the door on legal action because the statute of limitations had expired in most instances. Still, he felt we had a unique opportunity over the next several years to get a new investigation moving. The Assassinations Records Review Board appointed by President Clinton to examine and release most of the still-classified files also had the power to subpoena witnesses. There is a mechanism here to enable us to keep the issue upfront and demand more of Congress,' Lesar said."

"'Is there a King Solomon nowhere in the lawyer community to come up with some clever thing?' Marina asked."

"Lesar then suggested a report compiled by distinguished private citizens could be presented to an official investigative body."

"Marina turned to face Fonzi. 'Forget me, this is not a personal vendetta,' she said. 'I'd like to figure out a more radical approach from the legal point of view.'"

"Marina wondered about holding a trial in Texas. Lesar said, 'But you could only try someone if you have a suspect in a conspiracy.' The prosecutor Alcorn added would be the Dallas District Attorney, but that office's response had always been that 'the FBI came and took all the evidence away.' Alcorn had looked at all the federal statutes and seen no possibilities, so Texas was realistically the only place something could happen. 'But we don't have a suspect right now,' and it was ineffective to bring a legal action that was not going to proceed.'…"

"Silverglate noted that an investigative grand jury might be possible. However, Lesar said, 'the problem is that you'd need to convince Texas to do it.' Silverglate went on that the federal government hides behinds its 'supremacy clause.' In other words, Congress can override a state constitutional provision…"

" 'There's maybe another possibility,' Stanley said. 'The murder of [police officer J.D.] Tippitt has never been solved officially. This would keep things within the confines of Texas law.'…On what grounds could a grand jury be convened? Were there any suspects besides Oswald, who purportedly committed the Tippitt murder?"

"'The best evidence on a state prosecutorial level,' said Lesar, 'revolves around concealment and obstruction of justice….'"

"Elsa Dorfman, Silverglate's wife, wondered whether Marina and Mrs. Tippitt might do a joint action to try to bring the case of the murdered policeman into court. Lesar, though, was ultimately forced to conclude that he did not see the legal route as feasible. A Texas grand jury was the best possibility, but its outcome was problematical at best. Joan Stanley added that there are many problems with a grand jury – all the publicity around this particular case, and the evidence being so hard to come by…."

"….And so, basically," writes Russell, "after several hours our discussion ended not so much further along than when it began. Some of the finest legal minds in the country had come together, with the widow of the accused assassin, in hopes of finding some way – any way- to reopen the case. Thirty years after the fact, it seemed pretty hopeless, short of someone's deathbed confession. That night, a violinist friend played for Marina. One composition he performed was called 'Song of the Lark.' More than one of us had tears in our eyes."

Well, now, ten years later, we have a new District Attorney in Texas, and there are suspects other than Oswald, and the legal route that was closed for decades is now open, if only a crack.

And in the end, the last chapter is about Doug Horne, the former Chief Analyst for Military Records of the Assassinations Records Review Board, whose new book on the JFK assassination medical records will be dynamite, and should provoke a new and proper forensic autopsy that a murdered President should have.

Russell devotes his last chapter to a conversation he had with Doug Horne, which clearly speaks for itself, as it is a verbatim interview, and shows why none of the existing medical records can be considered genuine.

"Summarizing, the photographs of President Kennedy's brain, exposed by John Stringer on November 25, were never introduced into the official records because they showed a pattern of damage – missing tissue from the rear of the brain – consistent with a fatal shot from the front, and that evidence had to be suppressed. The photographs of a second brain,…by an unknown Navy photographer, were introduced into the official record because the brain employed in that exercise…exhibited damage – to the to-right-side of the brain – generally consistent with a shot from above and behind. So where did that come from?"

"An accomplished forensic pathologist who viewed the brain photos in the archives at the request of the ARRB told us in 1996 that the brain in these photographs…had been in a formalin solution for at least 2 weeks before being photographed….ensures it cannot possibly be the President's brain, which was examined only 3 days after his death."

"'Shots from multiple directions' is how I would put it….I am not convinced that Oswald shot anyone in Dealey Plaza. He was certainly involved in something – up to his neck – and was probably being 'run' by intelligence operatives, and perhaps even engaging in a charade by posing as a leftist Castro sympathizer, but I am not convinced that he shot anyone himself…"

Answering Russell's question "What does this indicate to you about the forces behind the assassination?" Horne says, "Well, you can go two ways. If you accept a government cover-up as a given, then it's either a benign or a sinister one. If it's benign, then the people engineering the cover-up weren't part of the murder plot, but they think for one reason or another, they can't tell the truth – the truth might endanger the country because it might trigger World War Three if it appears, rightly or wrongly, that there was foreign involvement in the assassination. Or, there might be a real fear that the public would lose faith in our institutions, if we have to admit to our citizenry that 'multiple people shot the president and we don't know who they are and we can't catch them.' The other alternative, the sinister one, posits that the people performing the cover-up actions – let's say the actors on the ground, Humes and Boswell and the photographers involved – believe that they are doing a benign cover-up for national security reasons. But the people giving them their orders know better, and are part of the assassination plot…I believe that the latter scenario detailed above is the most likely one…"

Horne told Russell that what he is working on, "…is my magnum opus, a book that will be so massive, and so detailed, that for me to get my message out unfiltered and in an unabridged fashion, it will have to be made available as a 'publish on demand' specialty type item sold on the internet, and printed one copy at time….My goal is to tell the truth as I know it, without anyone watering it down – not to make money. My manuscript is a labor of love, and will be the sharing of an intellectual journey with those who are captivated by the medical evidence, and who have a love of detail…I won't be pulling any punches, and the final section of my book will be a treatise on the political context, and meaning, of the assassination."

While we look forward to Horne's book, we also hope that this isn't the end of the trail of the assassins for Russell, as we haven't yet arrived at the final destination where the full truth is known and justice is achieved.

[William Kelly is the co-founder of the Committee for an Open Archives (COA) and the Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA). He can be reached at bkjfk3@yahoo.com ]

Edited by John Simkin
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Of the two subjects of Dick Russell's original investigation - RCNagell is covered pretty extensively in the book The Man Who Knew Too Much, but he doesn't try to decipher the even more cryptic Louis Angel Castillo. Here's more on Castillo. - BK

On March 22, 1996, The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported on the arrest of a Soviet spy, former NSA clerk Robert Stephen Lipka, who was identified by the FBI counter-intelligence and British MI5 from information supplied by a former KGB archivist (Mitrokin) and defector. While the Millersville, Pennsylvania man was being arranged in court, Lipka claimed that while at NSA he saw documents that identified the real assassin of President Kennedy.

When a reporter asked Lipka, as he was being led away, what was the assassin's name, Lipka responded, "Luis Angel Castillo."

On March 23, 1996 I wrote to the Ford Library requesting the ROCKCOM records of Luis Angel Castillo. On February 10, 2000, I received the following document.

CASTILLO, LUIS ANGEL

Date: 02/02/00

Page: 1

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : ROCKCOM

RECORD NUMBER : 178-10002-10315

RECORD SERIES : ASSASSINATION FILES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER: A-I (1) INTERVIEWS – ASSASSINATION

ORIGINATOR : ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION

FROM : CARGILL, MASON

TO : FILE

TITLE : LUIS ANGEL CASTILLO

DATE : 05/19/75

PAGES: 9

SUBJECTS : CASTILLO, LUIS ANGEL

DOCUMENT REQUEST, ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION

CIA

CONSPIRCY THEORIES, CASTRO

DOCUMENT TYPE : MEMORANDUM

CLASSIFICAITON : SECRET

RESTRICTIONS : 1A, 1B, 1C, REFERRED, MANDATORY REVIEW MATERIAL

CURRENT STATUS : RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 02/02/00

OPENING CRITERIA : CIA APPROVAL

COMMENTS:

COMMISSION ON CIA ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

Washington D.C. 20500

May 19, 1975

MEMORANDUM

To: David W. Belin

From : Mason Cargill - MC signed off

Subject: LUIS ANGEL CASTILLO

In the afternoon of May 12, 1975, I talked with Scott Breckenridge of the Inspector General's office. He told me that the Agency's files concerning Castillo were finally located in the East-Asia Division of the DDO. Those files dealing with Castillo are files of the "201" type. However, these files were not filed with normal 201 files. Breckenridge could give no explanation for this anomaly.

He gave me a brief overview of what he said the documents in the file demonstrated. According to him, Castillo left the United States, probably Chicago, in late 1966 or early 1967 for the Philippines. He was traveling under a Philippine passport which he borrowed from a Philippine national illegally in the U.S. Apparently he did so to make the U.S. authorities believe that the illegal Filipino had left the country and therefore to assume that he would not be deported.

In the Philippines he was arrested by the security service and interrogated extensively. At first he claimed to be a Castro agent whose purpose was to establish contact with the Huk guerrillas in the Philippines. Later he said that he had been part of an effort by Cuban Premier Castro to assassinate President Kennedy. He stated that he was one of fourteen Cuban agents stationed at various points at Kennedy's parade route in Dallas. Breckenridge also said that the documents indicate that during his interrogation Castillo would occasionally go into some type of hypnotic trance. Further, the Philippine interrogators administered truth serum to him during the interrogation.

RMC:clb

SECRET

DECLASSIFIED with portions redacted

JFK Assass. Rec. Collections Act of 1992

FAI, NSC, CIA Concurrence

NARA date 2/2/00 By KBH

PHOTOCOPY

FROM

GERALD FORD LIBRARY

(page) 2.

In the opinion of Breckenridge, Csatillo's story, as documented in these files, probably cannot be dismissed out of hand as inherently incredible. Breckenridge still has no present memory of how the team preparing the 1967 IG report on the assassination came to be aware of Castillo or what follow up action, if any, was taken on the basis of these documents. He suggests that another person who worked on the 1967 report, Ken Greer, may have worked on this Castillo angle and would be the person to contact for such information. He stated that Greer is now retired and living in Wisconsin. Breckenridge also stated that these files do not indicate whether or not Castillo was ever actually deported to the United States and if so whether the FBI ever interrogated him. (But see item 12 below, which indicates Castillo returned to Chicago on February 10, 1968, and evaded the authorities.) Apparently the Agency has no knowledge of Mr. Castillo's present location.

The Agency's documents on Castillo are contained in two manila-type folders, legal size. The first is entitled "Luis Angel Castillo, 201-817248, thru April 1967." The second bears thee identical title except for the date, which is "May 67 – ."

The first title, through April 1967, contained the following items of interest:

  • Filed immediately after a cable, dated March 3, 1967, from [REDACTED] to Headquarters, is a copy of an interrogation of Luis Castillo by a Philippine agent of the National Bureau of Investigation. This document is about 20 pages long and in it Castillo outlines his story.

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His parents were Cuban nationals. He left Puerto Rico to attend school in Cuba in about 1960. He states he was trained for several years as a Cuban intelligence agent. In late 1966, he changed identities with a Filipino living in Chicago named Antonio Reyes Eloriaga, at the direction of the Cuban Intelligence Service, for the purpose of using Eloriaga's Philippine passport to go to the Philippines, where he was supposed to contact the Huk guerrillas.

Castillo stated that on July 2, 1962, during a speech, Fidel Castro threatened to retaliate against President Kennedy. He said Castro said Kennedy made two attempts on

(page) 3.

his life and he was prepared to order that Kennedy himself be assassinated by Cuban intelligence agents. Castillo also claims to have been in Dallas at the time of the assassination of President Kennedy, although he is unclear as to exactly what he was doing. He claims he was taking pictures of buildings and people in Dallas. There is one other reference to the assassination of President Kennedy in this long transcript. On the last page of the transcript, below a large blacked-out area, is the question, "What other information do you have in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy?" Castillo answered that all he knew was that Fidel Castro had made these threats against Kennedy in his speech of July 7, 1962. It appears that the blacked-out portion of the transcript may contain certain questions and answers dealing with the Kennedy assassination.

My personal impression from this transcript is that Castillo was not in control of his faculties. He is at times quite rambling, incoherent, and sometimes inherently incredible. He states that in the Philippines he wrote a letter to the President of the Philippines offering to assassinate the leader of the Huk guerillas.

  • A cable, dated March 8, 1967, from [REDACTED] to Headquarters. In this cable the [REDACTED] gives Headquarters a brief outline of the transcribed testimony of Castillo described in paragraph one. Essentially the [REDACTED] is giving certain details of what Castillo claims was his history, for the purpose of allowing headquarters to attempt to independently corroborate these details, in order to establish Castillo's credibility. The cable states that Castillo is in effect telling a "pretty wild story."
  • An FBI report, dated April 13, 1967, Subject: Luis Angel Castillo. This report contains factual statements made by Castillo in the Philippines, and reports on the FBI's attempt to corroborate these events, which Castillo alleged to have taken place primarily in a Chicago area. With some exceptions, the FBI could not corroborate these events. They concerned basically hospital and employment records which Castillo claimed would show that he had been treated by a certain hospital or employed by certain organizations.

(page) 4.

  • An FBI report, dated April 13, 1967, on Luis Angel Castillo. This report summarizes a Newark, New Jersey arrest report on Luis Castillo. He was arrested for robbery and given a sentence in a reformatory, from which he was paroled. One statement in the report was: "There were strong indications of homosexual tendencies on the part of Castillo, and he was described as being of low average intelligence with an unstable personality.
  • Cable, dated April 19, 1967, from [REDACTED] to Headquarters. Paragraph one of this cable reads as follows:

"During first two weeks of April, subject underwent consecutively truth serum, truth serum-hypnotism, and hypnotism during interrogations at [REDACTED]." While confirming some earlier points in his sworn statement, subject consistently maintained

he among 14 other Cuban intel agents who deployed along street in Dallas on day President Kennedy was assassinated. He stated plot and operation were directed by Russian looking women named Jean Dole of Two Chipawa Court, Madison, Wisconsin.

[REDACTED] cannot vouch for professionalism of [REDACTED] interrogators and above seems patently spurious."

Paragraph two reads in part: "LNYMA"** Representative indicated he would eventually have to effect Subject's travel to U.S. since he deported by error and according to LNERGO*** subject is wanted by Bureau of Parole, Trenton, New Jersey, for violation of parole."

  • [REDACTED] appears to stand for the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation.
  • **"LYNMA" probably stands for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
  • *** "LNERGO" probably stands for the U.S. FBI.
    (page) 5.
  • Cable, dated April 21, 1967, from Headquarters to [REDACTED] (signed by William E. Colby, Chief, Far-East Division) Paragraph one reads:

"Par 1 [REDACTED] 9456 [Cable referred to in paragraph five above] has created

strong reaction here. Although inclined to agree [REDACTED] evaluation Castillo aka Eloriga Reyes case, there are disturbing verifications of story and lines to other individuals. Believe we cannot allow case to idle along. Case primarily LNERGO LNYUMA responsibility here, but we want [REDACTED] actively and directly involved so long as locus remains Phils."

Paragraph three reads: "Unless LNYUMA plans effect travel to U.S. in near future, headquarters still prepared send qualified officer assist [REDACTED] investigation.

  • Cable dated April 24, 1967, from [REDACTED] to Headquarters. This cable transmits a verbatim transcript of two interrogations of Castillo by the Philippine NBI. This interrogation contains Castillo's recitation of the details of his activities on the day President Kennedy as killed. He claims to have been working for one Jean Dolf who placed him under hypnosis in Chicago. He was on the second floor of a building with a rifle when Kennedy was shot by someone else. The rifle had been given to him by a man who had taken its pieces from a bowling bag and assembled it.
  • Newspaper articles of April 1967 from the Philippines indicate that Castillo's story of participation in the Kennedy assassination received wide publicity. For instance, an article dated April 22, 1967, in the Saturday Chronicle gives practically all the details that Castillo gave to the Philippine NBI during the interrogations. An even more detailed account of Castillo's story is contained in an article in the April 22, 1967, edition of the Philippines Herald. These newspapers contain the statement that NBI psychiatrists had examined Castillo and found him to be sane. An article on Castillo and his story appeared in The Washington Post of April 22, 1967.
  • One press item of interest was published by the AP on April 23, 1967, from Washington. One paragraph of the report reads as follows:
    "A spokesman for Representative Gerald R. Ford, Republican-Michigan, a member of the Warren Commission, said the congressman would not comment until he had more information. He said Ford might have a statement if the reported confession of Luis Castillo, described as a communist agent for Cuba, was made available officially."
  • Cable, dated April 25, 1967, from the American Embassy in Manila to the Security of State in Washington clearly indicates that the State Department considered Castillo to be unbalanced. Paragraph three of this cable reads:
    "Apart from questions of delicacy and prudence, one reason why embassy has not sought to offer good officers to alleged American citizen is that he appears, in some respects, be irrational, and has created most of his own problems here. Shortly after arrival he telephoned Chief of Staff MATA with offer to establish contact with Huks in order assassinate prominent Huk leaders. (When asked how he would recognize leaders, he replied that they could supply him with description.) MATA referred him to one of army intelligence agencies which after two interviews concluded he was both unbalanced and semi-illiterate before turning him over to NBI."
  • FBI report on Castillo, dated April 24, 1967, forwarded to the CIA on April 25, 1967. This contains a complete FBI report on Castillo (i.e., his background, U.S. criminal record, etc.) Only the last paragraph of the FBI report deals with Castillo's allegation that he was involved in a plot to assassinate President Kennedy. This paragraph reads:

(page) 7.

"With reference to subject's allegations concerning the assassination of President Kennedy, it s to be noted that the extensive investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination developed no indications that anyone other than Oswald was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy."

The second file, beginning with documents of May 1967, contain the following items of note:

  • Memorandum, dated May 3, 1967, for the record, Subject: Luis Angel Castillo by [REDACTED], FE/PMI/P. This gives the CIA's version of the events beginning with the arrest of Castillo. It substantially agrees with all of the documents discussed above.
  • Cable, dated June 20, 1967, from [REDACTED], to Chief, Far-East Division, Subject: Current Status of Illegal Immigrant Luis Castillo. This cable states that the Philippine NBI was still holding Castillo incommunicado in a hospital in the Philippines. The cable indicates that the Philippine officers strongly suspect "subject could have been conditioned by someone to attempt assassination of President Marcos." Paragraph three of this cable reads as follows:

[REDACTED] office who mentioned that a Russian hypnotism expert, Libidev or Livibed, visited Manila while on World Health Organization business in February 1967 when subject had just come to Philippines and was still at large before his arrest. [REDACTED] suspected this Russian might have contacted subject to "maintain hypnotic control" which allegedly subject has been placed under before leaving WOLADY."

(page) 8

Paragraph five of this cable reads: "While we are minimizing time devoted to this case, [REDACTED] will keep in close touch with [REDACTED] and report further developments."

14. Cable, dated June 26, 1967, from [REDACTED] to Headquarters. This indicates that a [REDACTED] within Philippine NBI had reported indicated that Castillo had signed a new statement on June 26, 1967, identifying himself as one Manuel Angelo Ramirez. In this statement Castillo claimed to have been a WOFACT (probably referring to CIA) employee who participated first Bay of Pigs invasion, then in the assassination of President Kennedy. He also indicated that he had been sent to the Philippines to attempt to assassinated President Marcos. Cable indicated that the NBI did not believe Castillo's claim about his CIA status and its involvement in assassinations, but needed to "clear up" the subject's claims. Paragraph three contains the statement that, "We briefed minister and will brief FBI and INS on FYI only basis, at first opportunity."

Paragraph four of this cable reads:

"Subject's story getting more absurd and we frequently point this out to [REDACTED] Nonetheless, Para 1 [referring to assassination allegations referring to CIA] is a leak to local press, no matter how far fetched the story, it could be embarrassing."

  • FBI report dated February 15, 1968, indicates that Castillo had arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport from Manila at approximately 11 p.m., February 10, 1968. On February 14 officers from the Sheriff's Department of Cook County, Illinois, visited Castillo's mother's home in an effort to arrest him with a warrant charging him with parole violation. They were advised that on February 13 Castillo left his mother's home in an automobile with a number of unidentified male individuals. His mother added that she did not expect to see her son again.
    (page) 9.
  • FBI report, dated Decemeber 30, 1967, on Luis Angel Castillo. This report contains the text of a letter which Castillo sent to his mother in Chicago on December 4, 1967, while he was still under interrogation by the NBI in Manila. In the letter he claims that all of his confessions were the result of NBI torture and none of them were true. He explains that since the NBI recently got a new director who is anti-American, he was then being tortured to force him to claim that he is a CIA spy who was sent to the Philippines for the purpose of assassinating President Marcos. His mother turned the letter over to the FBI as soon as she received it.
  • Memorandum for the record, dated June 18, 1969, by J.F. Devanon of the Los Angeles Field Office, Subject: Victor Arcega, Hermosa Beach, California. This memorandum describes contact the Los Angeles field office had with Arcega. Arcega, on May 26, 1969, telephoned the Los Angeles field office of the CIA on the listed telephone number. He claimed that he had information on a Cuban communist in the Philippines and agreed to mail the particulars to the CIA's P.O.Box. The letter he subsequently wrote is attached to this memorandum. In it Arcega claims to have been the hypnotist used by the NBI in its interrogation of Castillo in 1967. He claims that he used the name Vicente Sanchez.

Arcega, in 1969, was a proof reader for the Los Angeles Times, who was about to be deported to the Philippines because his visa was expiring. He claims that Castillo had been subject to prior hypnosis and had been programmed to undertake certain actions when certain key words were said to him. One key word dealt with the assassination of President Marcos of the Philippines. The letter does not state why Arcega is providing this information to the CIA at this time. The file does not indicate what follow-up if any CIA undertook as a result of this letter.

It should be noted that the summary of the interrogation cabled to headquarters on April 24, 1967, discussed above, included a report on Castillo, signed by one "Vicente Sanchez, Hypnotist." It is not clear how Arcega would have known the name used by the hypnotist in 1967 had he not either been the hypnotist or been associated with the NBI in some other capacity.

END OF DOCUMENT

BK Research Notes: Under a list of MK/ULTRA experimental records is ARTICHOKE Docs 59-155: Bordentown New Jersey Reformatory. Boston Psychopathic (Hyde-Massachusetts Mental Hospital); Brain Studies; Brainwashing (1) Brainwashing (2): Project Calling Card: John Marks Chapter 6, conclusions: Chadwell, W.H.: CBW Work File: Dr. Wallace Chan: Cold War Late 1953-55 (1): Cold War Docs (1) (Project Artichoke, Bluebird): Cold War Docs (2): Control of Behavior – General: Cybernetics: Defectors: University of Denver: Destruction of Files: Diseases: Drug Research and Operations…."

This is the same Bordentown N.J. Reformatory where Castillo was apparently tested and paroled from and is currently a fugitive at large for parole violations.

Also, P.D. Scott mentions Castillo in regards to the I.G. Report:

"Almost certainly the CIA knew of the three-man plot against Castro in March 1963, whether or not it was itself involved. As I have written elsewhere, there was at least one other three-man assassination team that was sent, this time with CIA support, against Castro in 1963. These three men were Eddie "Bayo" Perez and the other two survivors of the so-called Bayo-Pawley mission, sent in the summer of 1963 by Roselli's close friend and room-mate John Martino. The recently released CIA documents confirm 'the large amount of assistance from JMWAVE' (the CIA's Miami station) for this mission, and also the efforts of John Martino to exfiltrate Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera 'Bayo's brother-in-law, to join them."

"This Luis Castillo is the 'Castillo' cited by the IG Report on p. 118 as corroboration of the counterplot…"

Scott cites Hickle and Turner, The Fish Is Red, 171-73, Scott, Deep Politics, 113-17. Dispatch of 7/26/63 form COS, JMWAVE to Chief, SAS (Fitzgerald), concerning JMWAVE's Relationship to Pawley ('assistance').

Scott: "Whether or not one believes Castro's intelligence networks to have been involved, one can entertain the hypothesis that a shooter team, in effect licensed by the CIA to kill Castro, might then have returned from Cuba and killed the President instead. Such an idea, floated by Martino and later Roselli, would have exerted pressure on the CIA whether true or untrue. The mere appearance that a CIA team had been 'turned around,' while other killers took care of the actual job, would have been enough to coerce the CIA and its friends into the ranks of those claiming to be true believers in a lone assassin."

Chapter 12 of W. H. Bowart's Operation Mind Control, is Four Faces of Zombie, about Luis Angel Castillo, with additional details.

Edited by William Kelly
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Hi Bill :

No you certainly are not wasting your time......imo......

This information went out far and wide, and I can tell you

through such, there have been many pre-orders as a result,

and the feed back mainly was, they cannot wait to get their

"paws" on it......

Please, never let that thought of ceasing cross your mind.....

.. now or ever....

I guess the many in general, are clutzes, and most appear to not realize,

the time, work and effort to supply information for the many, who do

appear to so take others efforts for granted.....

Kudos, and yes it is very pleasant on occasion when some

remember their manners, and say a wee thanks, and realise that it does not hurt....

Some do, many never....it would appear.....

Carry on, carrying on......We do appreciate all.....

Best B... :blink:

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Hi Bill :

No you certainly are not wasting your time......imo......

This information went out far and wide, and I can tell you

through such, there have been many pre-orders as a result,

and the feed back mainly was, they cannot wait to get their

"paws" on it......

Please, never let that thought of ceasing cross your mind.....

.. now or ever....

I guess the many in general, are clutzes, and most appear to not realize,

the time, work and effort to supply information for the many, who do

appear to so take others efforts for granted.....

Kudos, and yes it is very pleasant on occasion when some

remember their manners, and say a wee thanks, and realise that it does not hurt....

Some do, many never....it would appear.....

Carry on, carrying on......We do appreciate all.....

Best B... ;)

Hi Bernice,

Thanks for the comeback good buddy.

I wasn't so much looking for a pat on the back, thanks or compliments as I expected some response to the information Dick Russell has provided, as some of it, I think, is extraordinary.

Where's the debate?

And it seems that Doug Horne has some bombs in his book. The idea that a special expert medical witness, asked to examine photos of the President's brain three days after the assassination, writes in his report that the brain in the photo has been in bottle of formaldahide for two weeks, certainly says something.

I must have got John Simkin's book by mistake. Thanks, John.

BK

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Over 350 people read this preview of Dick's book and nobody has anything to say?

Am I wasting my time?

BK

Bill, Your work is always appreciated and extremely well done with lots of effort and thought behind it. Reading your reviews or posts are never a waste of time. Does Russell concentrate much on Castillo? I remember reading about him long ago in Bowert's book - but it seemed then to be 'another one of those manufactured dead-ends' related to Dallas to keep the researchers running in circles. A few of those apparently dead-ends were not as dead as they seemed in the light of new information and documents [hiding info in plain sight]. The info above you post on Castillo lends some greater credability to the story, or at least a re-examination to see if it was a real trail or a false one. Interesting the mind-control angle which more and more persons who had some involvement with Dallas or involvement with people involved with Dallas seemed to have had [some kind of hypnosis/mind-control in their past and post-assassination].

Russell is a great researcher and writer and I've pre-ordered his book. His book on Nagell still is not fully appreciated for what it contains and the research behind it. Thanks for your review(s).

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the delay in response but I missed this earlier.

No, Dick doesn't dwell on Castillo, though he did check in and say that the Luis Castillo who is related to the Bayo mission is a different Luis Castillo. Imagine that.

Nor had DR read the report I posted and said he found it "mindblowing."

Hopefully he'll log on and answer some of our questions now that others have the book.

My first question to Dick Russell is the one I posed to David Kaiser that has thus far gone unanswered:

Do you think the unresolved nature of the assassination of President Kennedy is as serious a national security issue now as it was when it happened?

BK

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I received my copy two days ago.

Dick Russell is in my top 3 of authors on the subject, along with Gaeton Fonzi. Although I have only glanced the book, I already know it is outstanding.

Wim

I've read it and consider it outstanding. I'm not sure if people looking for a smoking gun or proof-positive there was a conspiracy will be satisfied, but anyone reading the book should come out amazed at the number of strange characters and weird leads. The book would make a great mini-series, IMO.

Although I've never subscribed to the "single-assassin theorists are all cognitively-challenged" argument, I will venture that anyone reading this book and still feeling absolutely sure Oswald acted alone is lacking curiosity, and lacking understanding of their own lack of understanding.

As per the bard, speaking through Hamlet

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Dick Russell has showed us some of those things.

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I received my copy two days ago.

Dick Russell is in my top 3 of authors on the subject, along with Gaeton Fonzi. Although I have only glanced the book, I already know it is outstanding.

Wim

I've read it and consider it outstanding. I'm not sure if people looking for a smoking gun or proof-positive there was a conspiracy will be satisfied, but anyone reading the book should come out amazed at the number of strange characters and weird leads. The book would make a great mini-series, IMO.

Although I've never subscribed to the "single-assassin theorists are all cognitively-challenged" argument, I will venture that anyone reading this book and still feeling absolutely sure Oswald acted alone is lacking curiosity, and lacking understanding of their own lack of understanding.

As per the bard, speaking through Hamlet

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Dick Russell has showed us some of those things.

Guys, the two so-called "Luis Castillo" guys are different. The one born in Puerto Rico was Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera. The Bayo-Pawley participant was Luis Angel Castillo Vega. The names are quite different. The B-P Castillo was 39 at the time of the assassination, while the Cuban Castillo was only around 21 or so. Thanks, Bill, for sharing from Dick Russell's new book, in particular, about Castillo Cabrera.

Take care,

Roy Bierma

Edited by Royce Bierma
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In the introduction of the book you list what you consider to be five important events that have taken place over the last two years.

A new study by Italian weapons experts, test-firing the identical Mannlicher-Carcano rifle said to have been used by Lee Harvey Oswald, concluded that it would have been impossible even for an accomplished marksman to fire three shots quickly enough to have killed the president. Thus, Oswald could not have acted alone.

Another study, by researchers at Texas A&M University, conducted a chemical and forensic analysis on the type of ammunition Oswald used. It found that the bullet fragments involved in the assassination are not nearly as rare as experts had reported. Thus, evidence said to rule out a second gunman proves fundamentally flawed.

E. Howard Hunt, Jr., the Watergate burglar who had long denied any knowledge of the assassination, revealed in his autobiography-and, shortly before his death, in more detail to his son-that he was aware of a conspiracy involving Vice President Johnson, the CIA, Cuban exiles, and a "French gunman" on the grassy knoll.

The CIA continued to stonewall a court order to explain its refusal to release records on George Joannides, in 1963 the chief of psychological warfare operations at the agency's Miami station and the case officer for a Cuban exile group (the DRE) with long-established ties to Oswald.

The Dallas County district attorney's office discovered a trove of records about the assassination inside an old safe in a courthouse. The transcript of an alleged conversation between Oswald and his slayer, Jack Ruby, discussing a plot to kill the president, was apparently not a "smoking gun" but a "recreation" for a possible movie. however, the announcement made headlines around the world.

(1) What do you think is the most significant of these events?

(2) What was your most significant discovery during your research for the book?

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I received my copy two days ago.

Dick Russell is in my top 3 of authors on the subject, along with Gaeton Fonzi. Although I have only glanced the book, I already know it is outstanding.

Wim

I've read it and consider it outstanding. I'm not sure if people looking for a smoking gun or proof-positive there was a conspiracy will be satisfied, but anyone reading the book should come out amazed at the number of strange characters and weird leads. The book would make a great mini-series, IMO.

Although I've never subscribed to the "single-assassin theorists are all cognitively-challenged" argument, I will venture that anyone reading this book and still feeling absolutely sure Oswald acted alone is lacking curiosity, and lacking understanding of their own lack of understanding.

As per the bard, speaking through Hamlet

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Dick Russell has showed us some of those things.

Guys, the two so-called "Luis Castillo" guys are different. The one born in Puerto Rico was Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera. The Bayo-Pawley participant was Luis Angel Castillo Vega. The names are quite different. The B-P Castillo was 39 at the time of the assassination, while the Cuban Castillo was only around 21 or so. Thanks, Bill, for sharing from Dick Russell's new book, in particular, about Castillo Cabrera.

Take care,

Roy Bierma

Sorry, don't think so....see here: {don't know where the 'confusion' came in, but suspect is was purposely inserted by those who wanted to blow smoke - as they did with the two Bishops, and many other figures - standard proceedure to confuse us.

Peter, I had what I still consider to be two of them switched around in my post. Angel Luis Castillo Cabrera, is as the document you posted indicates, a member of the B-P mission. It was the much younger Castillo, born in Puerto Rico(the other man was born in Cuba)that is named Luis Angel Castillo Vega. I have seen quite a number of docs in the archive concerning them. One troublesome problem is that some of the Puerto Rican Castillo's claims to be in Cuba during the early 60's are contradicted by arrests of him in Miami at the same time. There is definitely "smoke" here, but I need further convincing that the two are the same person.

Thanks,

Roy Bierma

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In the introduction of the book you list what you consider to be five important events that have taken place over the last two years.

A new study by Italian weapons experts, test-firing the identical Mannlicher-Carcano rifle said to have been used by Lee Harvey Oswald, concluded that it would have been impossible even for an accomplished marksman to fire three shots quickly enough to have killed the president. Thus, Oswald could not have acted alone.

Another study, by researchers at Texas A&M University, conducted a chemical and forensic analysis on the type of ammunition Oswald used. It found that the bullet fragments involved in the assassination are not nearly as rare as experts had reported. Thus, evidence said to rule out a second gunman proves fundamentally flawed.

E. Howard Hunt, Jr., the Watergate burglar who had long denied any knowledge of the assassination, revealed in his autobiography-and, shortly before his death, in more detail to his son-that he was aware of a conspiracy involving Vice President Johnson, the CIA, Cuban exiles, and a "French gunman" on the grassy knoll.

The CIA continued to stonewall a court order to explain its refusal to release records on George Joannides, in 1963 the chief of psychological warfare operations at the agency's Miami station and the case officer for a Cuban exile group (the DRE) with long-established ties to Oswald.

The Dallas County district attorney's office discovered a trove of records about the assassination inside an old safe in a courthouse. The transcript of an alleged conversation between Oswald and his slayer, Jack Ruby, discussing a plot to kill the president, was apparently not a "smoking gun" but a "recreation" for a possible movie. however, the announcement made headlines around the world.

(1) What do you think is the most significant of these events?

(2) What was your most significant discovery during your research for the book?

John, let me first respond to your questions. I would say that, in terms of proving a conspiracy, the two studies of weapons and ammunition are the most significant - they put the lie to the Posners and Bugliosis once and for all (although you'd never learn that from the mainstream media).

Much of my new book is based on material I have written or researched before - I'd say the most significant discovery I made lately was Douglas Horne; interviewing him was a revelation to me, especially as someone who's never been immersed in the medical evidence. Amazing stuff he's put together!

On Luis Castillo(s) - I have seen pictures of both men and can assure Forum members they are not the same person.

To answer Bill Kelly's question - I still believe that the assassination of President Kennedy remains a VITAL national security issue. It's where "the secret government" took power, and only now with Obama are we seeing anything new. Which, of course, puts the president-elect in a potentially very dangerous situation as well.

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Dick,

Why don't we send a letter together to Obama with the request to re-open the case? After all, since the last "probe" by the HSCA, (didn't they conclude it was probably a conspiracy?) much new buried information came floating to the surface - like Johnny Roselli - and many people came forward with new significant testimony since then.

Maybe this would be a good starting point:

http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/pdf/Watkins.doc

Isn't it funny that the only response I got to this, came from Dave Perry, Gary Mack's friend? I wonder why Mr. Watkins wouldn't give me the courtesy of such an answer:

Wim,

I see you are attempting to get the Dallas District Attorney involved in exhuming Kennedy's body. Your probably not aware that, since Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the Dallas DA has no input. Here are the rules and regulations concerning disinterment at Arlington National:

Excerpted from Department of Veterans Affairs § 1.621 (page 81)

All living immediate family members of the decedent, to include the person who initiated the interment (whether or not he or she is a member of the immediate family), give their written consent, or when a court order or State instrumentality of competent jurisdiction directs the disinterment. Immediate family members are defined as surviving spouse. if not remarried, all adult children of the decedent, appointed guardian(s) of minor children, the appointed guardian of the surviving unremarried spouse or of the adult child(ren) of the decedent. When the person who initiated the interment is the remarried spouse, his or her written consent will not be required. In the absence of a surviving unremarried spouse and children, the decedent's parents will be considered im-mediate family members.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 210©; 1004)

All requests for authority to disinter remains will be submitted on VA Form 40-4970, Request for Disinterment, and will include the following Information: (1) A full statement of reasons for the proposed disinterment. (2) Notarized statements by all eligible living Immediate family members of the decedent, to include the person who initiated the Interment (whether or not he or she is a member of the immediate family), that they consent to the proposed disinterment. (3) A notarized statement, by the person requesting the disinterment that those who supplied affidavits comprise all the living immediate family members of the deceased.

(Authority 38 U.S.C. 1004)

© In lieu of the documents required in paragraph B of this section, an order of a court of competent jurisdiction will be considered. The Department of Veterans Affairs or officials of the cemetery should not be made a party to the court action since this Is a matter among the family members Involved.

(d) [Reserved]

(e) Any disinterment that may be authorized under this section must be accomplished without expense to the Government.

(The reporting and recordkeeping requirements contained in paragraph B have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under 0MB control number 2900-0365)

(43 FR 26571. June 21. 1978. as amended at 47 FR 50860. Nov. 10. 1982; 49 FR 34483, Aug. 31, 1984; 54 FR 6521. Feb. 13. 1989)

After Joe West died, Bob Vernon approached me in October of 1993 about getting this done. As you are now doing Joe and Bob were attempting to go through Dallas County when a little bit of research showed that even if by some aberration in the law it was the right jurisdiction the Arlington National regulations apply to all. Currently, I doubt you will be able to get Caroline Kennedy's consent and because of that no "court of competent jurisdiction" will order the exhumation for you. Additionally, if you were somehow able to overcome those hurdles, could you afford the expense of disinterment required under requirement (e)?

Dave Perry

p.s. this information has been on my web site since April 24, 2003

Edited by Wim Dankbaar
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