Me and Billie Sol Estes

[Frank Beckendorf]

Billie Sol Estes: Truth, Consequences and Lies? June 14, 2018
JFK researcher Frank Beckendorf wrote this essay on the JFK assassination. He invites your comments:
by Frank W. Beckendorf BCJ, MA
© Copyright 2018
Back in 2012, I decided to find out if a key player in the JFF assassination had a published telephone number. The figure was Billie Sol Estes, a bigtime supporter of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Called by many names, Estes was known to have controlled millions at various times in his life. From shady money deals to crooked oil drilling, Billie Sol's real claim to fame was being a 'gopher' for LBJ. Money was always at the forefront of his thinking and his friendship with Kennedy’s successor seemed to always satisfy his soul.
It didn’t take long to find Billie’s telephone number. In mid 2012, I began calling Estes on a regular basis. We must have spoken twenty times, or so - up until his death. Some weeks we would talk multiple times. It didn’t take long before he would invite me into his home and, right before he died, a visit was planned. I was looking forward to it. Fate would prevent it. Our conversations would continue by telephone.
Billie Sol began his business life in his early teenage years. He initially bought a single lamb and sold it for wool. Later, he would buy 100 more. Then it was grain.
With his business successes, Estes then diverted his thinking into questionable areas. He then began to make loans on nonexistent ammonia tanks. His tactic was in convincing people to buy them without any evidence of their existence.

Next, Estes then started buying cotton allotments from troubled farmers. Farmland seized by eminent domain would be leased back to the farmer after he purchased it.
John F Kennedy found out about Billie Sol's shady dealings and ordered an investigation. But before this went anywhere, Estes was convicted of fraud in Texas and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. The case was later overturned by the Supreme Court due to too many television cameras in the courtroom. Estes had served about nine years by then and was later paroled in 1971. Less than a decade later, he was convicted again.
During the 1980’s, Estes began running his mouth that he knew who assassinated John F Kennedy. It was during these times that he gave a voluntary statement accusing LBJ of being involved in many of illegal dealings, including JFK's death. In fact, Estes blabbered that he could provide information on at least nine murders ordered by LBJ in exchange for immunity – including the assassination of Kennedy!
Many times, Billie Sol Estes would chuckle over his deeds and his power over Johnson.
My conversations with Estes began in 2012. We became friends fast. Sometimes we would talk two or more times weekly He even sent me a signed copy of his book with an inscription describing me as his good friend.
My three main interests with Estes were: Madeline Brown, Malcolm Wallace and LBJ's character.
Madeline Duncan Brown
In the early 1980’s, Madeline Duncan Brown began letting it be known that she knew who killed Kennedy. In addition, she also told stories of her twenty
 
year affair with LBJ and with bearing him a son. And yes, Lady Bird knew all about this.
Madeline eagerly bragged that LBJ had killed Kennedy. I asked Billie Sol all about this and what kind of a person was Brown like. Estes told me, with a deep conviction, that Madeline was a fine person and that her character was true. He said that what she was telling the world could be taken as true. He emphasized that Madeline Brown was always around Lyndon Johnson and especially that big shindig on November 21, 1963. Billie said that he always believed her story that the Kennedys would never bother Johnson after the next day. The gathering had been noting more than a meeting to plan Kennedy’s death.
Oh, and Madeline's son subsequently sued LBJ over his paternity. The result from this lawsuit: Steven Brown would lose AFTER not appearing in court. He then was stuck with the name of Madeline's first husband instead of a bankroll and the surname, Johnson.
Malcolm Wallace
Malcolm Wallace was a strange and colorful character, according to Estes. Supposedly he was Johnson's personal hitman. His first murder saw him get probation after being convicted. He would go on to kill many more for LBJ. Estes said that he and Johnson discussed the need to get rid of Malcolm numerous times.
Billie Sol Estes said that Wallace was a brutal killer and that Johnson soon began to get scared of what he knew. Before he mysteriously died in a one- car accident, it was said that he was in the sniper’s nest, instead of Oswald. Estes said he believed this was probable.
Let me say this from the onset. Billie Sol never td me who killed Kennedy.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Estes told me that he was afraid of LBJ killing him and that he began making provisions many years earlier to prevent this. He told me that he began recording things that could be found later, if needed, and incriminate Johnson in many criminal deeds.
  
Billie Sol said that Johnson was aware of these recordings and was told that if he disappeared, the tapes would be disastrous to him. Johnson dismissed all this as nonsense He said, as we continued to talk, that he still had these tapes and could sell them for $17 million dollars. Why such an odd number was never disclosed. He also said that he could even donate them to Harvard University.
Billie Sol would often brag about his power over LBJ. He repeatedly said that Johnson was scared of his tapings and that those recordibgs could destroy Lyndon and he knew it. He stated that he felt that this was why Johnson refused to cut his hair and fingernails after retiring to his ranch.
Estes told me that he and Johnson lost touch with each other and that that was fine with him. Distance was a pleasure up until Johnson’s death.
What Billie Sol didn’t tell me was how he would dispose of his tapes after his death. Nothing definite. Fives years later, the tapes have still not showed up. Both he and his daughter, Pam, have died and there are no other pertinent players from the Estes household.
One last thing I want mention. After I told Estes in an early conversation that I was a real estate agent, he was forever asking me if I have recently made any good real estate deals. Coming from a patriarch in the real estate business and an octogenarian, I found this interesting and puzzling.
What I regret about this in looking back was not being more aggressive with my questions. What I had access to is now gone. Very regretful.
The author has earned a Bachelor of Criminal Justice from Loyola University in New Orleans and a Master of Arts from the University of New Orleans. He was born and lived in the immediate New Orleans area for fifty – three years of his life, until Hurricane Katrina forced him to relocate his family to West Texas, in particular Abilene, TX in 2005. He relocated back home to the New Orleans area in 2015. He is a retired social studies teacher and holds a real estate sales license in Louisiana and a real estate broker’s license in Texas. He also teaches American Politics at an online university. He is the 2012 winner of the Mary Ferrell Promise Award.
Some people choose the path less traveled. Me, I'd rather cut through the woods.
Frank Beckendorf BCJ, MA Slidell, La.
985-205-7622

[Allen Lowe]

coming late to this, but there is so much that makes no sense here - JFK found out about Sol Estes ripping people off with goats etc and got him convicted? No, the president of the USA is not going to be going after local criminals. And then you say Sol Estes' conviction was overturned because of cameras in the courtroom? No such constitutional issue. B.S. And if his case was overturned, he would not have had to be paroled. And I am just scratching the surface of this silliness. This is all fiction.

[Douglas Caddy]

On 9/7/2022 at 5:13 PM, Allen Lowe said:

coming late to this, but there is so much that makes no sense here - JFK found out about Sol Estes ripping people off with goats etc and got him convicted? No, the president of the USA is not going to be going after local criminals. And then you say Sol Estes' conviction was overturned because of cameras in the courtroom? No such constitutional issue. B.S. And if his case was overturned, he would not have had to be paroled. And I am just scratching the surface of this silliness. This is all fiction.

Wikipedia shows how wrong you are.

Billie Sol Estes - Wikipedia