Larry Hancock: Someone Would Have Talked

[Larry Hancock]

John, I would certainly agree with you on two basic points:

First, certainly Garrison's early premise is closer to the real truth of the conspiracy than the Billings/Blakey premise. I am not a proponent of the MOB did it theory (although almost every time I introduce Roselli into a thread for some reason some people want to take it that direction; when they do it indicates they really have not spent much time with Roselli or the syndicate dynamics circa 1963). Garrison did "cut the trail" of the conspiracy as it came into focus selecting Oswald as a patsy in New Orleans and his investigation posed a real threat in exposing Oswald as something far from a lone nut. However I have to say that for a full picture of how CIA and especially Justice neutralized Garrison you need to read the Garrison Team Documents (CIA) and the related Justice Department documents in the Russ Holmes Work File (available from the the ARRC and via Rex Bradford's site); whatever impact Billings had on Garrison is minor to the what you will find in full view in those files. And among them is the list of the people in New Orleans that the CIA was most worrying about Garrison exposing or putting on the stand....and that did not include Clay Shaw, it did include Emilio Santana and others that were serious operational CIA employees in the war against Cuba.

Second, I agree that Billings certainly was pitiching mis-direction, as much so as Blakey's book. I just don't have the data to explain why or exactly who was behind it. Certainly I would open the door to Life's excecutives or Billings himself as much as the CIA ...I would note that as far as the data in hand it is not accurate to think of Billings as a CIA asset (probably not nearly as much as there is to point to a well known Dallas newspaper man who did far more to subvert Garrison and was a CIA asset and want to be employee).

Sorry to ramble, I agree on your high level points but I can sometimes be painfully slow, at this point Billings motives and direction remain an open question to me - although the effect is clearly that of mis-direction.

-- Larry

[John Simkin]

I agree that Billings certainly was pitiching mis-direction, as much so as Blakey's book. I just don't have the data to explain why or exactly who was behind it. Certainly I would open the door to Life's excecutives or Billings himself as much as the CIA ...I would note that as far as the data in hand it is not accurate to think of Billings as a CIA asset (probably not nearly as much as there is to point to a well known Dallas newspaper man who did far more to subvert Garrison and was a CIA asset and want to be employee).

Is Dick Billings still alive? If so, has he been interviewed recently. Has he ever written his autobiography? Even if he does not give full information on his CIA contacts, he still has an interesting story to tell.

[Larry Hancock]

John, I think that's a very good point even if he would only talk some about

the Bayo mission or about his activities in the Life investigations. Certainly he might even talk about how he was chosen by Blakey.

The best I've come up with so far is that he is still alive and possibly in New Hampshire but nothing beyond that...

-- Larry

[Larry Hancock]

Sorry, make that Rhode Island not New Hampshire...short term memory

error on my part in posting.

-- Larry

[John Simkin]

In Chapter 3 you look at the interesting case of Richard Nagell. You write:

On September 20, Richard Nagell walked into the State National Bank in El Paso, approximately half an hour before closing time. He approached a teller window and politely asked for one hundred dollars in American Express travelers checks. When the clerk placed them on the counter Nagell, saying nothing, reached into his jacket, drew a Colt .45, deliberately aimed it towards the ceiling and fired two shots. He then returned the pistol to his belt, turned and walked out the front door. He made no demand for money at any point.

Upon exiting the bank, he stopped briefly at a street comer then walked to his car and briefly waited there. Eventually, he pulled into the street and was motioned to pass by another motorist but then Nagell noticed a young policeman, backed his car up on the sidewalk and waited for the officer to approach. When the officer came up to his window, Nagell calmly told him "I guess you've got me, I surrender" and raised his hands.

The ramifications of this incident in an El Paso bank are extensive. They are covered in detail in an extensive investigation by Dick Russell in The Man Who Knew Too Much Nagell's activities in 1963, his legal manipulation (including frequent prosecution recourse to psychiatric examinations to keep him off the record in 1964), the refusal to provide him with his own possessions confiscated upon his arrest for use in his trial, his long quest to regain custody of his children and his efforts to communicate what he knew to Congress and various investigations are far beyond the scope of this manuscript...

When his car trunk was examined (at his suggestion), authorities found a number of most interesting items. Unfortunately, the majority of these were never formally entered into the record and most were not returned to Nagell after his conviction for bank robbery was eventually overturned.

The items that are available are amazingly similar to items also in the possession of Lee Oswald. They include:

(1) One miniature Minolta camera and developing kit.

(2) Fair Play for Cuba leaflets.

(3) The P.O. Box for the Fair Play for Cuba committee in New Orleans, Louisiana. The committee which had only one member. Lee Oswald.

(4) Cuban and Communist literature including the Case against Cuba by Corless Lament, one of the documents also being used in New Orleans by Lee Oswald.

(5) A notebook containing the unlisted telephone number of the Cuban embassy, the same number as found in Oswald's notebook.

(6) The notebook also contained names of individuals who would much later be identified as CIA personnel from its Los Angles office. (The names were submitted by the FBI to the CIA in October '63 and eventually verified by the CIA as being names of actual employees)

In addition, the trial files for Richard Nagell also contain an identification card, the card being a military ID with Nagell's photo and the name and signature of Lee H. Oswald.

Is there official documentation of what was found in Nagell’s car? If so, it seems to be an important factor in understanding what was going on in 1963.

Has there been confirmation of the warning about the assassination of JFK that Nagell sent to the FBI? This fits in with other evidence that suggests someone was trying to tell the FBI about a possible assassination attempt on JFK. Judyth Baker also claims that Oswald was working with someone else in the team to undermine the assassination. Could that have been Nagell?

I have always been concerned about the mental state of Nagell. He never seemed to recover from the air crash he had in November, 1954. I note he also tried to commit suicide in July, 1962. Have you seen the Report of Psychiatric Examination on Richard Case Nagell (17th June, 1966)? I know that this could be an attempt to undermine Nagell’s testimony. It could also be true.

I found the reference to Judge Homer Thornberry interesting. During my research his name has cropped up several times. One source says he was at the meeting with John Connally, Lyndon Johnson, Fred Korth and Cliff Carter at the Cortez Hotel in El Paso (5th June) when the visit to Texas was organized.

Carter (statement on 20th May, 1964) that Thornberry, LBJ and Cliff Carter had a meeting in Dallas soon after Kennedy was assassinated.

It seems strange to me that Thornberry resigned from Congress in 1963 to be Judge of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (would that have been promotion?). Of course the advantage was Thornberry was in position to deal with Nagell. Was he also being put in a position that would enable him to suppress any other embarrassing information that might emerge in 1963/64?

Was Thornberry’s reward a place on the Supreme Court? In June 1968, Earl Warren retired as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Johnson had no hesitation in appointing Abe Fortas as his replacement. Johnson also suggested Thornberry should replace Fortas. The Senate had doubts about the wisdom of Fortas becoming Chief Justice. It was later discovered that Fortas had lied when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. When the Senate made it clear that neither Fortas or Thornberry were acceptable, both their names were withdrawn.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKnagell.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKthornberry.htm

[Larry Hancock]

Hi John, here goes on some short responses to your questions:

1) There is only partial documentation on the contents of Nagell's car, the items which I discuss in my book were listed on the second page of an FBI report and the first page seems to have vanished. Dick Russell could not find the detailed property reports in the court records nor was there a personal property report e.g. wallet, contents of wallet etc. What is documented is very suggestive but its worth noting that Nagell made continued efforts to get all the personal and car property back to aid in his defense and that was repeatedly denied. In fact only part of it was ever returned and that was many years later as part of his personal law suit.

2) There is no direct confirmation of a warning letter to Hoover, the only circumstantial points tending to confirm it are covered in the book including the special questions for the very early interview of Marina Oswald - questions sent from FBI HQ that could indicate that Hoover did indeed have an advance warning from Nagell specifically about Oswald.

3) As to Nagell's mental state, I spent about a year and a half going through literall all his medical records, court records etc before I was convinced that there was a clear pattern which would support him as a viable witness - clearly some of his statements are very conditional in regard to what his goals were at given times, especially during the period when his only main goal was recovering custody of his children. You will find all those documents and my analysis on the CD on Nagell available through Lancer; it's probably the largest composite collection of Nagell documents around.

4) I have no indication that Thorneberry was in the June planning meeting and he would seem out of place considering the stature of the other attendees... Carter was there though.

5) I have no real evidence that Thorneberry's appointment was anything other than sheer patronage; he clearly was a long term Johnson personal friend and Johnson had no qualms about appointing friends to positions regardless of their qualifications. It's certainly an interesting coincidence of course, it's just that we will never know for sure if perhaps Johnson called up his friend and asked for some minor favor in making sure none of Nagell's inflamatory claims about Oswald and a conspiracy got any public visibilty....for the good of the country of course.

-- Larry

[Lee Forman]

Hello Larry!

Still only halfway through, but it's an awe inspiring piece of work! Excellent!

A few items of note / questions:

- Do you maintain a website for updates which you will inevitably receive as your book gets circulated? Specifically, I was very much impressed with the glossary you created upfront, which provided a hi-level summary of many of the CIA code named operations, etc. Unless one already exists, I think it would be ideal to have a page devoted to all of the acronyms associated with the case, including individuals pseudonyms and code names [e.g. BISHOP, and JP/IDEAL, etc.]

- Interesting to note Phillips alias of 'Bishop,' when viewed against Hunt's 'Knight,' makes me wonder if there was also a 'Rook.' Certainly there was a 'Pawn.'

- Not sure if you cover Lisa Howard's bizarre demise in your book, or are aware of it? 'Apparent' overdose on pills in the middle of the afternoon, July 4, 1965 - isn't that Independence Day? I also read somewhere that she had only recently been fired from her job at the Post - can't find the reference now. Who kills themselves in the middle of the day on a holiday? An 'apparent' suicide.

- Fountainebleau hotel in Miami. Page 52. Martinez, a.k.a. 'Blabbermouth' henceforward, worked there in 1963 as a Bellhop. As per 'Mob Lawyer,' this hotel appeared to be quite active with a number of interesting individuals, including Frank Sinatra, Marcello, Roselli and multiple visits from Santo Trafficante. Found the connection interesting.

- Page 32 "The Mexicano I associate with Oswald is stocky...athletic build...160, 165 pounds, butch haircut...about 26...around Oswald's height."

In Robert Groden's "The Killing of a President," Viking Studio Books, New York, 1993, pages 208 - 209, he has an enhancement done on the Tom Dillard photo of the Dallas Book Depository window. "This artist's rendering...of the man's features add clarity....the man is clearly not Lee Oswald. He is heavier, with a flat-top crew cut."

As I have also noted elsewhere, but I believe you have elaborated on in page 54, there are a number of witnesses that place a hispanic-looking, or dark complected, man in this window. The photo [enhanced] seems to at least confirm a heavier-set man with a butch style haircut.

- As to Trafficante and his Cuban dilemma - again, as per 'Mob Lawyer [cited previously]' a few points worth mentioning:

Trafficante was not 'incarcerated' but was held under more of a 'house arrest' condition. His name, however, was registered on a 'death list,' and the house in which he was detained was full of individuals [batista sympathizers, etc.] in similar straights.

Trafficante was not permitted to leave Cuba. His daughter's wedding took place in Havana.

Frank Ragano, his attorney, and the subject of the biographical work, made 2 efforts to have Trafficante's name removed from the death list - his first effort was through a con man known as 'Charles,' a.k.a. 'Phantisimo.' An amazing account follows, almost Science Fiction, in which this well known Cuban revolutionary flies right in to Cuba - at the Havana airport! Phantisimo briefly gets Trafficante off the death list [with the promise of $55K in return for the favor], only for them to later discover that he has some form of hidden agenda, is in fact a conman, and Trafficante is re-entered on the list.

Ragano goes to talk with the Ministry of Defense at this point. I believe that it would have been very probably for Marcello to send Ruby over to see what could be done, as his closest business partner was on the verge of being executed.

To finish off this long diatribe: Trafficante is officially released on or around August 15, 1959. "Upon his return to Tampa he recounted that on the day after I left Cuba he saw Raul Castro. 'We worked out an arrangement,' he said cryptically...."

"His bolita underlings, who had a fairly good idea of his worth in Cuba, said that the revolution cost him more than $20 million in hotels, casinos, and clubs that were confiscated and nationalized."

- The interesting saga of the station wagon - page 134 - 136. Any ideas as to a year [sorry, you've got that - 1959], make and model? The Ed Girnius story is amazing.

Fantastic stuff. I am excited to read the rest as soon as possible.

Lee

[Larry Hancock]

Hi Lee, I'm certainly glad you are finding the book worthwhile. Let me tackle a few of your comments/questions for starters.

The update errata sheet is posted on the Lancer site, please see:

http://www.jfklancer.com/catalog/hancock/index.html

And of course I'll be happy to mail the current working version to anyone

who asks; hope to have version four done by the end of May.

Lisa Howard's death was very sad but may be explained by two facts, first she was apparently brokenhearted about seeing the Cuban backchannel she had opened up fail even though Castro tried to pursue it with Johnson - even going so far as to offer Johnson the out of staging some incident against Cuba to help ensure his re-election. Howard's career also suffered a good deal at this point and it's my understanding that she became extremely depressed and even despondent - and actually holidays are one of the worst times for suicides as everyone else being so overtly happy makes seriously depressed folks feel even worse.

Groden's heavy set man image is over on the far left - the dark complected man/men have generally been reported to the far right. However the image is interesting in that some of the trajectories posed to explain Connally's wounds seem to come from the far left of the TSBD. Actually one of the safest firing positions would have been from an open west window on the sixth floor as that would have been much more totally concealed from the crowds on Elm.

The Trafficante information is most interesting (side note - a friend of mine used to baby sit for Regano and was quite scared on the occasions when Mr. Trafficante dropped by looking for him, Trafficante had a reputation as a very scary man).

In any event, his imprisonment has always seemed to me to be more in the way of a "negotiation" by Castro or some of his subordinates and I think it's a very good chance he did cut a deal of some sort. I tend to think that Trafficante may have been playing both sides at least for some period of time. His remark about an "arrangement" rings true to me.

Sorry, no further detail on the station wagon....the description would fit most any of the models of the day....wish I did.

-- Regards, Larry

[John Simkin]

Lisa Howard's death was very sad but may be explained by two facts, first she was apparently brokenhearted about seeing the Cuban backchannel she had opened up fail even though Castro tried to pursue it with Johnson - even going so far as to offer Johnson the out of staging some incident against Cuba to help ensure his re-election. Howard's career also suffered a good deal at this point and it's my understanding that she became extremely depressed and even despondent - and actually holidays are one of the worst times for suicides as everyone else being so overtly happy makes seriously depressed folks feel even worse.

I think there are good reasons to believe that LBJ and the CIA wanted Lisa Howard dead in 1965. This is a subject that needs to be discussed in detail and so I have started a new thread at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=746

For documents relating to this case see my page on Lisa Howard.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKhowardL2.htm

[Lee Forman]

Hi Larry!

I am not done reading your book yet, but just wanted to add something that I concluded a long time ago. My background is business, so perhaps I bring a different viewpoint to the assassination. I break it into 3 specific segments, and then allocate the resources and budget required for each, in terms of a project. You can also estimate the approximate amount of time required for each segment, relatively speaking, as the cover-up appears to have spilled over into the new Milennium.

a. Conspirators - how many, and from what organizations? Most likely, less than 100 people. Of course, at the opening of the 'project' we're talking ~20 or less? In total, these would include Ex-Cuban militants, right wing radicals, CIA, Mafia, Texas Oilmen, perhaps some businessmen? and of course, the honorable Lyndon B.

"You'd be afraid to kill her because you'd get caught. And what would trip you up? Motive."

Strangers on a Train

b. Actors - there's a lot of different theories here - but if you accept Plumlee and Tosh's accounts, you've got around 50 actors engaged in a variety of activities in and around Dealey Plaza.

I'd like to open a separate post on just shooters / locations.

c. 'Cover-uppers' - for lack of a better word. Now you're into serious budget, and resources. Counting the newpapers and other media, ONI, MI, FBI, SS, Dallas Police Department, Chiefs of Staff?, NSA?, Justice Department, CIA, etc. - you're well into the thousands of resources, and we're talking about millions of dollars. And the costs will continue, as the JFK act keeps people busy - drawing lines with black magic markers through anything that might be relevant, possibly destroying things permanently, or replacing things completely with false information...

But that's not my point - my point was simply how uninformed and left out Hoover seemed to be. I realize that he was allegedly compromised, as there were allegedly photos of him engaging in homosexual acts with his aide, but I don't find much that supports much involvement by the FBI in the first 2 stages of the operation. Would you agree with that? Hoover seemed to be as much in the dark as anyone in America initially, and I'll bet he didn't sleep well the first few weeks.

I would NOT be surprised if he didn't take the bull by the horns soon after, and force the CIA to remain only in operations that took place OUTSIDE of US soil. So I'd implicate Hoover in some of the assassinations that followed Kennedy, but I'd absolve him for 11/22/63. One account stands out, however, and that's the fact that 6 FBI agents supposedly took HL Hunt and his entire family out of Dealey plaza at 12:31pm CT on 11/22/63. [Torbitt document] This would of course imply foreknowledge.

Anyway - it's all just speculation. What do you think?

One more point, have you ever built any 'network' maps, which would visually depict hierarchies, reporting relationships and collusion between various organizations and factions? Seems to me that you've drawn a very impressive picture with your book, but a graphic would do a lot to bring it all together in one snapshot. Just an idea.

- lee

[James Richards]

Hi Lee,

If I could throw my two cents worth in here, I think that the assassination itself and the cover-up are two different things. What the perpetrators of the killing were trying to achieve was not what the post assassination investigation concluded.

As far as the numbers of participants go for the Dealey Plaza operation, I believe the number is smaller than what would be expected.

I do agree with the actors scenario but these individuals would have been on a need to know, and that wouldn't have been very much.

FWIW

James

[Larry Hancock]

Hi Lee, first on your questions:

1) I absolutely agree on Hoover and the lack of FBI involvement in planning, organizing or execution in a conspiracy. Not only did he keep looking for a conspiracy (especially one involving Commies (he loved the Pedro Charles letters and really hated being pressured to at least not leave a small window for something conspiratorial involvoving Oswald in the FBI report) but he also generated a lot of memos and calls in the first day or so that look terribly stupid and uniformed (Hoover would have really hated not being in the know, witness his letter annotation later about not trusting the CIA due to what had been witheld from the FBI about Mexico City and other things).

On the other hand Hoover certainly played a role in the cover-up, part due to pressure from Johnson and part due to the things the FBI needed to do for CYA. Hoover's preoccupation with FBI PR drove him not only to "not reveal" certain things (note the lack of mention of the Oswald-Kostikov incident in any memos or calls from Hoover in the first 48 hours) but to actively cover up the extent to which the FBI was monitoring Oswald and using him as both a witting and unwitting informant.

2) Ah yes, network maps or social diagrams, you bet, I have file folders full of pencil and pen versions and used them as tools throughout the preparation of the book. Noel did a great job with diagrams in his book and I should have taken the time to put something like that together for print, sorry about that. I'll consider that strongly for a second edition if we make it to that.

3) On your segmentation, I absolutely agree with the strategy however as you get to the end of the book my conclusion is that the cover-up was indeed largely "decoupled" from the conspiracy and that you see a very large number of very honest people simply doing their jobs and following orders - and when those orders come from the President, his cabinent officers and agency directors under National Secuity seal it explains why it took 30 plus years for some things to be revealed and why a good deal may never be. Security directives and oaths do not go away and many of the people in governement then remained in government, some still are in high positions. I also agree with Jame's comment, I don't think the numbers or the scope are nearly as high/broad as you might think - specifically for the Dallas conspiracy, not including other discussions, other plans or other plots that did not pertain to tactical matters in Dallas on Nov. 22. But of course that's just my opinion.

-- Regards, Larry

[John Simkin]

In chapters 15 and 16 Larry clearly explains how documents released in the 1990s prove that LBJ was involved in the cover-up of the assassination of JFK. He also describes how people like J. Edgar Hoover and Clifford Carter helped him with this cover-up.

However, Larry appears reluctant to argue that LBJ knew about the proposed assassination or was involved in the organization of it.

I think it is unlikely that LBJ took any part in the organization of the assassination. It would of course have been very foolish to have done so. I am less sure that he did not know of the plots existence or he had not given his tacit approval for it to go ahead. Although I have great doubts about much of what appears Barr McClellan’s book, Blood, Money and Power, I suspect he is right in suggesting that one of his key aides was involved in planning an assassination plot. That is not to say I am convinced that it was this conspiracy that killed JFK. I believe there were at least two plots in existence in 1963 (the other one was a Cuban-exile plot that was being monitored (or even supported) by the CIA.

What I am convinced of is that LBJ needed JFK to be killed in November, 1963. Despite the efforts of people like Abe Fortas, John Cofer, Clifford Carter, Homer Thornberry and Edward Clark, the story of LBJ’s corrupt activities were gradually emerging as a result of John McClellan’s Permanent Investigations Committee and John Williams’ Senate Rules Committee. On the day of the assassination Don B. Reynolds provided devastating testimony against LBJ to the Senate Rules Committee. The pending court cases against Bobby Baker and Billie Sol Estes would have revealed much more. This did not just involve just financial corruption but several cases of murder.

By this time LBJ knew he was going to be dropped as Vice President. It seemed certain he would be impeached and would eventually be sent to prison for a very long time. The only thing that he could stop this happening was for him to become president in November, 1963. Even the following month was likely to be too late. The timing of the assassination was crucial.

Even so, LBJ could not have got away with it unless others also wanted him dead. Luckily, for LBJ, several other important figures also wanted Kennedy removed from power. This includes J. Edgar Hoover (was going to be forced into retirement by Kennedy) and important figures in the CIA who were strongly opposed to JFK’s attempt to bring the Cold War to an end. They of course were supported by those who had a financial interest in the continuance of the Cold War. LBJ’s financial backers in Texas also had good reason to want JFK killed before he dumped their man in the government.

Having a good motive does not of course make a man guilty. LBJ was also shrewd enough to make sure there was no evidence left around for him to be ever found guilty of such a crime (something he had learnt from the Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker cases).

However, he could not stop being identified with the cover-up. I suspect he always knew that eventually the historians would discover this. That is why I believe he created for himself a reason for this cover up. Why for example, would he keep the tapes of his telephone conversations with people like Hoover and Russell in the days following the assassination. What he wanted the historians to say was, true, LBJ was covering up some sort of communist conspiracy but he did it to avoid a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

There is some evidence that LBJ did know what was going to happen during the motorcade. For example, his efforts to get Ralph Yarborough to change places with John Connally in the presidential car. Connally refusal suggests that he had not been told what was going to happen.

Another interesting point is stressed by Larry in his book. Johnson’s reaction to the assassination was very strange. It was thought at the time that any nuclear attack would be preceded by the assassination of the president. However, there is no evidence that LBJ considered this a possibility. Nor does the actions of J. Edgar Hoover or John McCone suggest that the security forces thought there was any danger of a pre-emptive strike. Yet when Hoover phone LBJ the day after the assassination he claims that Oswald is part of a Soviet conspiracy. Even this does not stir LBJ and goes along as if it really was the work of a “lone nut”.

Larry makes an important point when he studies the phone calls that took place between LBJ and Abe Fortas, the lawyer dealing with his problems with Bobby Baker and Billie Sol Estes. He notes a lot of activity between 1st and 29th October. However, nothing takes place between this date and the day of the assassination. Yet, as Larry points out, this is a period when a lot is happening in the case. On 1st November the Senate votes $50,000 to fund an expanded investigation of the Bobby Baker scandal. To quote Larry: “Did something happen at the end of October to allay Johnson’s concerns?” Was it at this point that LBJ is notified of the plot to kill JFK in Dallas?

[Larry Hancock]

John, I am reluctant to make a solid statement that Johnson was involved in the plot per se although I certainly feel that he may have been an accessory - to the extent of having some level of pre-knowledge. There is a case to be made that he may have been more than a passive accessory, either willingly or subject to blackmail. It is rather dramatic coincidence that Roselli's best friend, Fred Black was in a posiiton to destroy Johnson's career merely by telling the truth if called to testify before a congressional committee or grand jury.

I'm not trying to ignore Johnson, as you and a few others know I've actually drafted a separate work presenting the case for Johnson's role as an accessory. The problem is that case rests on a foundation of the following:

1) The purported Estes tapes of calls from Cliff Carter admitting Johnson's involvement (and his own), said tapes supposedly having been heard by two other individuals willing to swear to them but the tapes themselves still being held by Estes.

2) Kyle's Browns statements about being in a personal meeting between Carter and Estes and hearing Carter describe this involvement.

3) An unidentified fingerprint from the "snipers window" being identified by at least one fingerprint expert as belonging to Malcolm Wallace.

4) Independent statements by Loy Factor placing Wallace in the TSBD with a weapon.

And at this point I am unaware of any concrete work being done to further

explore or validate this foundation; I hope it's happening but that's just a hope

at present.

The relationship between Malcolm Wallace and Johnson can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt; if either the Carter dialogs or the Wallace fingerprint were to be validated then there is no doubt that Johnson, for whatever reason, exposed himself dramatically by having a known killer who could be directly tied to Johnson and his sister being in a terribly exposed position on the Sixth Floor of the TSBD on Nov. 22, 1963.

As a side note to this, I think probably many researchers may not be aware of some of Johnson's rather bizarre behavor in the days immediately following the assassination. As time went on he repeatedly made remarks indicating that he belived in one conspiracy or the other, most likely Castro being behind Oswald. However in the very beginning, he made remarks to the effect that JFK's death was actually some sort of retribution or act of fate in response to Kennedy's allowing Diem to be killed in a coup.

....Larry

[Ron Ecker]

Larry,

I've finished your book. Great stuff. I have a question about Johnson, but not Lyndon Baines.

In the Hargraves interview in your book, they talk about Robert Evan Johnson as someone who may have important papers, on stuff "that nobody ever even thought to cover up" (p. 277). Hemmings is said to believe that Johnson was the famous "Raoul" in the King assassination. Johnson was also involved with Hall and Sturgis in "burning" Hemmings's Dallas connections (p. 279). Hargraves says that Johnson's files would lead to one Rita Wilson, "who has the pictures of just about everyone in the camp in those days" (p. 305).

So my question is, what do we know about this Robert Evan Johnson with this treasure trove of stuff, a character I had never heard of till reading your book? I've looked for him in other books, but the closest I've found is Robert Emmett Johnson in the book Deadly Secrets. This Johnson was "a paramilitary journalist and mercenary schemer who had once been on Trujillo's payroll" (p. 291). And coincidentally (?) he worked in Montreal with a man named Raul Dagnais, in a plot against Duvalier.