How many potential witnesses dropped dead before testifying to the HSCA in the 1970s, especially witnesses from the FBI and CIA? From an actuarial perspective, can these deaths, if accurately described, possibly be normal?

[Jim Hargrove]

On April 18, 2005, Education Forum founder John Simkin posted the following on this forum:

William Sullivan, the main figure in the FBI involved in the Executive Action project, and the person in the FBI who investigated Oswald, was shot dead near his home in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, on 9th November, 1977. Sullivan had been scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

Sullivan was one of six top FBI officials who died in a six month period in 1977. Others who were due to appear before the committee who died included Louis Nicholas, special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover and his liaison with the Warren Commission; Alan H. Belmont, special assistant to Hoover; James Cadigan, document expert with access to documents that related to death of John F. Kennedy; J. M. English, former head of FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory where Oswald's rifle and pistol were tested and Donald Kaylor, FBI fingerprint chemist who examined prints found at the assassination scene.

Several important figures in the Central Intelligence Agency died before they could give evidence to the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigations. William Harvey, head of the ZR/RIFLE project, died as a result of complications from heart surgery in June, 1976. William Pawley, who took part in Operation Tilt, died of gunshot wounds in January, 1977. David Morales, who some believe organized the assassination, died aged 53, on 8th May, 1978.

John Paisley was deputy director of the Office of Strategic Research. On 24th September, 1978, John Paisley, took a trip on his motorized sailboat on Chesapeake Bay. Two days later his boat was found moored in Solomons, Maryland. Paisley's body was found in Maryland's Patuxent River. The body was fixed to diving weights. He had been shot in the head. Police investigators described it as "an execution-type murder". However, officially Paisley's death was recorded as a suicide.

According to the journalist, Victor Marchetti, Paisley was a close friend of Yuri Nosenko. Marchetti also claimed that Paisley knew a great deal about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was murdered during the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation because he was "about to blow the whistle".

In the same thread Mr. Simkin posted in, Jim Root wrote: “Thomas Karamessines who had worked in the office of Richard Helms and was monitoring the movements of Oswald in the months before the assassination. Died at his vacation retreat in Canada just before he was scheduled to testify (heart attack I believe).”

Pat Speer added Sheffield Edwards to the list, at least as one of the people “who died between the Church Committee and the HSCA.”

James Richards added the name Juan Jose Peruyero, who, Mr. Richards said, “was gunned down in front of his Miami house on Jan. 7, 1877,” adding that “Peruyero was a member of Brigade 2506 and became very active in several anti-Castro movements which included an association with William Pawley.”

Here is the full thread, one of several on this forum about the HSCA mysterious deaths.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/3689-mysterious-deaths-prior-to-hsca-hearings/

Can anyone reading this suggest there is an innocent explanation for all these HSCA-related deaths in such a short period?

Edited September 4, 2019 by Jim Hargrove

[John Butler]

These kind of suspicious things even continued after that.  It seems there were other episodes of people dying at the time of the ARRB.  Ike Altgens was suspicious.  65 year old Ricard Case Nagell gets a letter from the ARRB and zip the next day he is dead of a heart attack.  I sure folks could name others.

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by John Butler

[David Andrews]

Premature judgments happen among killers - but was William Sullivan previously known as the whistleblower type?  He seems to have paint-rollered a lot for the Bureau, espexially in the MLK case..  Could there have been succession worries on Hoover's mind?

What would Sullivan have been willing to tell HSCA, and why?

Edited September 4, 2019 by David Andrews

[Ron Bulman]

There is no innocent explanation.  Seven former top level FBI agents died in just a few months.  Sullivan shot accidentally while deer hunting by a state troopers teenage son.  Another, an experienced kayaker drowning in calm water.  When combined with the death's of Johnny Rosseli cut up in an oil drum after prior testimony and talking to columnist ack Anderson.  George Demorenschild's 'suicide with a interview with Gaeton Fonzi scheduled that afternoon, and Bill O'Liely on the front doorstep.  Sam Momo Giancana killed with the FBI protecting him outside his house.  Former Cuban president under subpoena as well committing suicide.  David Morales sudden illness and young death.  Innocence is inexplicable IMO.

[Robert Card]

There was Regis Kennedy of the FBI, who died of a heart attack on the day before he was to testify.   I believe he was being called back to answer questions about 'the babushka lady film' that was confiscated and never shown.

But as a result of the other FBI thread going on right now, something I never thought about, was J Edgar Hoover's death a part of the mysterious deaths?   This is long before the HSCA, but I don't think there was an autopsy, and he was embalmed within hours.  I can't even imagine how many people would want to kill him or remove him from office, so there's plenty of motive.  He supposedly died of a heart attack, but his doctor said he didn't have any heart problems and only mild hypertension.

Was there anyone in Hoover's presence when he died?   If not, then I can't believe there was no autopsy.

[David Andrews]

20 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

There is no innocent explanation.  Seven former top level FBI agents died in just a few months.  Sullivan shot accidentally while deer hunting by a state troopers teenage son.  Another, an experienced kayaker drowning in calm water.  When combined with the death's of Johnny Rosseli cut up in an oil drum after prior testimony and talking to columnist ack Anderson.  George Demorenschild's 'suicide with a interview with Gaeton Fonzi scheduled that afternoon, and Bill O'Liely on the front doorstep.  Sam Momo Giancana killed with the FBI protecting him outside his house.  Former Cuban president under subpoena as well committing suicide.  David Morales sudden illness and young death.  Innocence is inexplicable IMO.

Well yeah - but the Bureau was something of a hermetic organization, so if some of the far-stretching tentacles of the plot were amputated, like mob guys, I would still want to know what brought seven Bureau men down.  Who were they and what threat did they pose?

Sullivan had a lot to hide if Congress had opened the MLK case in earnest.  But that wasn't happening.  It's true hat he had broken with Hoover over civil rights and COINTELPRO, and was forced into retirement.  He also predicted his murder, though five years earlier:

 

"Sullivan died age 65 from an accidental gunshot wound, as recounted by Robert D. Novak:

"'Sullivan came to our house in the Maryland suburbs in June 1972 for lunch and a long conversation about my plans for a biography of Hoover (a project I abandoned as just too ambitious an undertaking). Before he left, Bill told me someday I probably would read about his death in some kind of accident, but not to believe it. It would be murder. '" [wiki]

• But what about the other six agents?  Regis Kennedy had been an agent since 1937, and had stonewalled the Clay Shaw trial in 1967.  The strain of testifying again in 1977 may have done him in.
• Here's a Ray Locker article on Sullivan in the Nixon years:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/30/nixons-gamble-excerpt-sullivan-accomplice-fbi/72751074/

Sullivan wrote an autobiography, which was published two years after his death, subject perhaps to Bureau editing.  Excerpts are in this Spartacus article:

https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKsullivan.htm

It's still hard to predict how far out Sullivan would have let it hang before HSCA.  Some of the revelations in the book excerpts would have been embarrassing, including Sullivan;s doubts about Oswald's marksmanship.  It may have been his opposition to Hoover on domestic issues that led him to fear for his life in 1972.  But who would have arranged his "accident"?  He was on good terms with Dick Helms and probably would have avoided spoiling that before HSCA.

Edited September 5, 2019 by David Andrews

[John Butler]

I wonder what insurance accountants would make of the odds of these people dying.  Heart attacks, suicide, and gunshot wounds are the main causes I believe, particularly heart attacks.

Wasn't the CIA rumored to have a drug that mimicked a heart attack? 

 

[Joe Bauer]

Didn't know Morales was as young as he was at death.

Heavy alcohol consumption for years can do that. Knock 20 years off your life span.

If you accept that even 25% of all these deaths happening just before or during the HSCA investigation were actually murders related to protecting JFK assassination perps and secrets, then you would probably consider these actions more likely being planned and carried out by just a few ( if not one or two ) powerful single interest groups versus unconnected personal vendetta motivated individuals for each victim.

And if you accept that scenario, then you are faced with having to consider that whoever this group was, they had power, authority and control of matters well beyond the highest levels of our elected constitutional government.

As shown by their successfully exercising this power unfettered and behind a wall of secrecy so well designed and constructed, to this day it has never been breached.

A true life scenario like this is simply too frightening to contemplate as it would mean that we have all been living in a false reality society world in America since JFK times.

One in which our democracy/constitution based governance as we understand it has been a completely powerless mirage, fabricated by the real forces of control.

Just going near this postulation is too much for anyone who fears being labeled a true conspiracy nut.  

I'm throwing this out only as an idle conversation scary thought to consider if too many of these deaths were truly murders versus naturally caused, accidental or suicidal deaths.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

Also, some thoughts about the proposition that E. Howard Hunt's son St. John Hunt fabricated and controlled his father's end of life confession about who was responsible for the JFK assassination.

I have a hard time believing St. John Hunt could come up with such a detailed false story as his father recounted and recorded and with the names of so many characters involved that his father knew so well on a professional as well as personal level and scripting it with the language his father uniquely used in his extensive writing style without the entire story sounding amateurishly hokey, which it didn't.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Joe Bauer

[Jim Hargrove]

Joe,

I agree with you about Hunt’s role in this, but the deathbed confession business may be over-hyped.  Jefferson Morley has some details here, including an edited recording of the so-called confession.

Still, my opinion is that he was a co-conspirator.  He certainly seemed eager to help the Nixon White House smear JFK’s memory by creating false documents implicating Kennedy in the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.  It was kind of like trying to assassinate JFK a second time, as if once wasn’t enough.

On a different note….

A Wikispooks.com page on HSCA/Premature deaths adds former U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers to the list, indicating:

Powers died in August 1977 in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles, as he was covering a brush fire for KNBC news in their helicopter that he was piloting. Seventeen years prior, he had named in a court in Moscow in 1960, the U. S. Marine responsible for his capture as Lee Harvey Oswald. Powers died shortly before he was to answer a subpoena to testify to the HSCA.

[John Butler]

In Crossfire, Jim Marrs lists something like over a hundred deaths of people involved somehow or another with the Kennedy Assassination.  Some are considered from natural causes, but many are suspicious.  For instance, lots of heart attacks and gunshot wounds ruled suicide.  There were over 50 deaths by violence and about 20 by heart attack.  Is this a normal population?  How many people do you know who have died by violence?

List of Deaths

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of death
11/63	Karyn Kupicinet	Tv host's daughter who was overheard telling of JFK's death prior to 11/22/63	Murdered
12/63	Jack Zangretti	Expressed foreknowledge of Ruby shooting Oswald	Gunshot Victim
2/64	Eddy Benavides	Lookalike brother to Tippit shooting witness, Domingo Benavides	Gunshot to head
2/64	Betty MacDonald*	Former Ruby employee who alibied Warren Reynolds shooting suspect.	Suicide byhanging in Dallas Jail
3/64	Bill Chesher	Thought to have information linking Oswald and Ruby	Heart attack
3/64	Hank Killam*	Husband of Ruby employee, knew Oswald acquaintance	Throat cut
4/64	Bill Hunter*	Reporter who was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Accidental shooting by policeman
5/64	Gary Underhill*	CIA agent who claimed Agency was involved	Gunshot in head ruled suicide
5/64	Hugh Ward*	Private investigator working with Guy Banister and David Ferrie	Plane crash in Mexico
5/64	DeLesseps Morrison*	New Orleans Mayor	Passenger in Ward's plane
8/64	Teresa Norton*	Ruby employee	Fatally shot
6/64	Guy Banister*	x-FBI agent in New Orleans connected to Ferrie, CIA, Carlos Marcello & Oswald	Heart attack
9/64	Jim Koethe*	Reporter who was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Blow to neck
9/64	C.D. Jackson	"Life" magazine senior Vicepresident who bought Zapruderfilm and locked it away	Unknown
10/64	Mary Pinchot	JFK "special" friend whose diary was taken by CIA chief James Angleton after her death	Murdered
1/65	Paul Mandal	"Life" writer who told of JFK turning to rear when shot in throat	Cancer
3/65	Tom Howard*	Ruby's first lawyer, was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Heart attack
5/65	Maurice Gatlin*	Pilot for Guy Banister	Fatal fall
8/65	Mona B. Saenz*	Texas Employment clerk who interviewed Oswald	Hit by Dallas bus
?/65	David Goldstein	Dallasite who helped FBI trace Oswald's pistol	Natural causes
9/65	Rose Cheramie*	Knew of assassination in advance, told of riding to Dallas with Cubans	Hit/run victim
11/65	Dorothy Kilgallen*	Columnist who had private interview with Ruby, pledged to "break" JFK case	Drug overdose
11/65	Mrs. Earl Smith*	Close friend to Dorothy Kilgallen, died two daysafter columnist, may have kept Kilgallen's notes	Cause unknown
12/65	William Whaley*	Cab driver who reportedly drove Oswald to Oak Cliff (The only Dallas taxi driver to die on duty)	Motor collision
1966	Judge Joe Brown	Presided over Ruby's trial	Heart attack
1966	Karen "Little Lynn" Carlin*	Ruby employee who last talked with Ruby before Oswald shooting	Gunshot victim
1/66	Earlene Roberts	Oswald's landlady	Heart attack
2/66	Albert Bogard*	Car salesman who said Oswald test drove new car	Suicide
6/66	Capt. Frank Martin	Dallas policeman who witnessed Oswald slaying, told Warren Commission "there's a lot to be said but probably be better if I don't say it"	Sudden cancer
8/66	Lee Bowers Jr.*	Witnessed men behind picket fence on Grassy Knoll	Motor accident
9/66	Marilyn "Delila Walle*	Ruby dancer	Shot by husband after 1 month of marriage
10/66	Lt. William Pitzer*	JFK autopsy photographer who described his duty as "horrifying experience"	Gunshot rule suicided
11/66	Jimmy Levens	Fort Worth nightclub owner who hired Ruby employees	Natural causes
11/66	James Worrell Jr.*	Saw man flee rear of Texas School Book Depository	Motor accident
1966	Clarence Oliver	Dist. Atty. Investigator who worked Ruby case	Unknown
12/66	Hank Suydam	Life magazine official in charge of JFK stories	Heart attack
1967	Leonard Pullin	Civilian Navy employee who helped film "Last Two Days" about assassination	One-car crash
1/67	Jack Ruby*	Oswald's slayer	Lung cancer (he told family he was injected with cancer cells)
2/67	Harold Russell*	Saw escape of Tippit killer	killed by cop in bar brawl
2/67	David Ferrie*	Acquaintance of Oswald, Garrison suspect and employee of Guy Banister	Blow to neck (ruled accidental)
2/67	Eladio Del Valle*	Anti-Castro Cuban associate of David Ferrie being sought by Garrison	Gunshot wound, ax wound tohead
3/67	Dr. Mary Sherman*	Ferrie associate working on cancer research	Died in fire (possibly shot)
1/68	A. D. Bowie	Asst. Dallas District Attorney prosecuting Ruby	Cancer
4/68	Hiram Ingram	Dallas Deputy Sheriff, close friend to Roger Craig	Sudden cancer
5/68	Dr. Nicholas Chetta	New Orleans coroner who on death of Ferrie	Heart attack
8/68	Philip Geraci*	Friend of Perry Russo, told of Oswald/Shaw conversation	Electrocution
1/69	Henry Delaune*	Brother-in-law to coroner Chetta	Murdered
1/69	E.R. Walthers*	Dallas Deputy Sheriff who was involved in Depository search, claimed to have found .45-cal. slug	Shot by felon
1969	Charles Mentesana	Filmed rifle other than Mannlicher-Carcano being taken from Depository	Heart attack
4/69	Mary Bledsoe	Neighbor to Oswald, also knew David Ferrie	Natural causes
4/69	John Crawford*	Close friend to both Ruby and Wesley Frazier, who gave ride to Oswald on 11/22/63	Crash of private plane
7/69	Rev. Clyde Johnson*	Scheduled to testify about Clay Shaw/Oswald connection	Fatally shot
1970	George McGann*	Underworld figure connected to Ruby friends, wife, Beverly, took film in Dealey Plaza	Murdered
1/70	Darrell W. Garner	Arrested for shooting Warren Reynolds, released after alibi from Betty MacDonald	Drug overdose
8/70	Bill Decker	Dallas Sheriff who saw bullet hit street in front of JFK	Natural causes
8/70	Abraham Zapruder	Took famous film of JFK assassination	Natural causes
12/70	Salvatore Granello*	Mobster linked to both Hoffa,Trafficante, and Castro assassination plots	Murdered
1971	James Plumeri*	Mobster tied to mob-CIA assassination plots	Murdered
3/71	Clayton Fowler	Ruby's chief defense attorney	Uknown
4/71	Gen. Charles Cabell*	CIA deputy director connected to anti-Castro Cubans	Collapsed and died afterphysical at Fort Myers
1972	Hale Boggs*	House Majority Leader, member of Warren Commission who began to publicly express doubts about findings	Disappeared on Alaskan plane flight
5/72	J. Edgar Hoover*	FBI director who pushed "lone assassin" theory in JFK assassination	Heart attack (no autopsy)
9/73	Thomas E. Davis*	Gunrunner connected to both Ruby and CIA	Electrocuted trying to steal wire
2/74	J.A. Milteer*	Miami right-winger who predicted JFK's death and capture of scapegoat	Heater explosion
1974	Dave Yaras*	Close friend to both Hoffa and Jack Ruby	Murdered
7/74	Earl Warren	Chief Justice who reluctantly chaired Warren Commission	Heart failure
8/74	Clay Shaw*	Prime suspect in Garrison case, reportedly a CIA contact with Ferrie and E. Howard Hunt	Possible cancer
1974	Earle Cabell	Mayor of Dallas on 11/22/63, whose brother, Gen. Charles Cabell was fired from CIA by JFK	Natural causes
6/75	Sam Giancana*	Chicago Mafia boss slated to tell about CIA-mob death plots to Senate Committee	Murdered
7/75	Clyde Tolson	J. Edgar Hoover's assistant and roommate	Natural causes
1975	Allen Sweatt	Dallas Deputy Sheriff involved in investigation	Natural causes
12/75	Gen. Earle Wheeler	Contact between JFK and CIA	Unknown
1976	Ralph Paul	Ruby's business partner connected with crime figures	Heart attack
4/76	James Chaney	Dallas motorcycle officer riding to JFK's right rear who said JFK "struck in the face" with bullet	Heart attack
4/76	Dr. Charles Gregory	Governor John Connally's physician	Heart attack
6/76	William Harvey*	CIA coordinator for CIA-mob assassination plans against Castro	Complications from heart surgery
7/76	John Roselli*	Mobster who testified to Senate Committee and was to appear again	Stabbed and stuffed in metal drum

---

 

1977 - A Terrible Year For Many

The year 1977 produced a bumper crop of candidates for listing under convenient deaths connected to the JFK assassination - including the deaths of six top FBI officials all of whom were scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

Topping this list was former number three man in the FBI William C. Sullivan, who had already had a preliminary meeting the investigators for the House Committee. Sullivan was shot with a high-powered rifle near his New Hampshire home by a man who claimed to have mistaken him for a deer. The man was charged with a misdemeanor - "shooting a human being by accident" - and released into the custody of his father, a state policeman. There was no further investigation of Sullivan's death.

Louis Nichols was a special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover as well as Hoover's liaison with the Warren Commission. Alan H. Belmont also was a special assistant to Hoover. James Cadigan was a document expert with access to many classified assassination documents, while J.M. English headed the FBI laboratory where Oswald rifle and pistol were tested. Donald Kaylor was the FBI fingerprint expert who examined prints found at the assassination scene. None of these six Bureau officials lived to tell what they knew to the House Committee.

Other key assassination witnesses, such as George DeMohrenschildt and former Cuban President Carlos Prio Soccaras, died within weeks of each other in 1977, just as they too were being sought by the House Committee.

The ranks of both organized crime and U.S. intelligence agencies were thinned by deaths beginning in 1975, the time of the Senate Intelligence Hearings, and 1978, the closing months of the House Committee. Charles Nicoletti, a mobster connected with the CIA-Mafia assassination plots, was murdered in Chicago, while William Pawley, a former diplomat connected with both organized crime and CIA figures, reportedly committed suicide.

Adding official confirmation to rumors that "hit teams" may have been at work was a "Time" magazine report that federal agents had initiated a nationwide investigation into more than 20 gangland assassinations constituting what agents believed was an "open underworld challenge to governmental infiltration of Mafia activities."

One FBI source was quoted as saying:

Our main concern is that we may be facing a revival of the old "Murder, Inc." days.

A "New York News" story concerning this official fear of roving assassination squads even mentions the death of Sam Giancana, who was killed one day before he was to testify about MOB-CIA connections and while under government protection.

Just as the House Committee was gearing up its investigation into the JFK assassination, the news media reported the following deaths:

 

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of Death
1/77	William Pawley*	Former Brazilian Ambassador connected to Anti-Castro Cubans, crime figures	Gunshot ruled suicide
3/77	George DeMohrenschildt*	Close friend to both Oswald and Bouvier family (Jackie Kennedy's parents), CIA contract agent	Gunshot wound ruled suicide
3/77	Carlos Prio Soccaras*	Former Cuban President, money man for anti-Castro Cubans	Gunshot wound ruled suicide
3/77	Paul Raigorodsky	Business friend of George DeMohrenschildt and wealthy oilmen	Natural causes
5/77	Lou Staples*	Dallas radio Talk Show host who told friends he would break assassination case	Gunshot to head,ruled suicide
6/77	Louis Nichols	Former No. 3 man in FBI, worked on JFK investigation	Heart attack
8/77	Alan Belmont	FBI official who testified to Warren Commission	"Long illness"
8/77	James Cadigan	FBI document expert who testified to Warren Commission	Fall in home
8/77	Joseph C. Ayres*	Chief steward on JFK's Air Force One	Shooting accident
8/77	Francis G. Powers*	U-2 pilot downed over Russia in 1960	Helicopter crash (He reportedly ran out of fuel)
9/77	Kenneth O'Donnell	JFK's closest aide	Natural causes
10/77	Donald Kaylor	FBI fingerprint chemist	Heart attack
10/77	J.M. English	Former head of FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory	Heart attack
11/77	William Sullivan*	Former No. 3 man in FBI, headed Division 5, counter- espionage and domestic intelligence	Hunting accident
1978	C.L. "Lummie" Lewis	Dallas Deputy Sheriff who arrested Mafia man Braden in Dealey Plaza	Natural causes
9/78	Garland Slack	Man who said Oswald fired at his target at rifle range	Unknown
1/79	Billy Lovelady	Depository employee said to be the man in the doorway in AP photograph	Complications from heart attack
6/80	Jesse Curry	Dallas Police Chief at time of assassination	Heart attack
6/80	Dr. John Holbrook	Psychiatrist who testified Ruby was not insane	Heart attack but pills, notes found,
1/81	Marguerite Oswald	Mother of accused assassin	Cancer
10/81	Frank Watts	Chief felony prosecutor for Dallas D.A.	Natural causes
1/82	Peter Gregory	Original translator for Marina Oswald and Secret Service	Natural causes
5/82	Dr. James Weston	Pathologist allowed to see JFK autopsy material for HSCA	Died while jogging, ruled natural causes
8/82	Will H. Griffin	FBI agent who reportedly said Oswald was "definitely" an FBI informant	Cancer
10/82	W. Marvin Gheesling	FBI official who helped supervise JFK investigation	"Long illness"
3/84	Roy Kellerman	Secret Service agent in charge of JFK limousine	Unknown

 

Following names are the recently known deaths, almost all died of natural causes:

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of Death
10/92	Jim Garrison	Former District Attorney of New Orleans, only one who sued in the JFK assassination case	Natural causes
?/94	Perry Russo	witness who told he had seen Shaw, Oswald and Ferrie talking about the killing of JFK	Unknown
01/95	Rose Kennedy	Mother of John F. Kennedy	natural causes
01/95	L.C. Graves	wrested Ruby's revolver away from him after shooting Oswald	natural causes
2/95	Irving L. Goldberg	Judge who advised L. B. Johnson on transition of power	natural causes
3/95	Philip L. Willis	Dealey Plaza Witness, photographer	Leukemia
5/95	Evelyn Norton Lincoln	JFK's personal secretary	natural causes
5/95	Phil L. Barleson	Defender of Ruby	Heart attack
11/95	Richard Case Nagell	CIA agent who claimed he uncovered a "large operation" aimed at killing JFK	heart disease
12/95	James W. Altgens	Dealey Plaza Witness, press photographer	natural causes
1/96	Ralph W. Yarborough	Dealey Plaza witness, rode in motorcade	natural causes
7/96	Melvin Belli	Lawyer of Jack Ruby	Suffering stroke and pneumonia
8/96	Charles Brehm	Dealey Plaza Witness	Unknown
9/96	McGeorge Bundy	Top aide to JFK and LBJ	Heart attack
10/96	Rufus Youngblood	Agent who shielded LBJ during the JFK murder	Cancer
10/96	Larry Ray Harris	Researcher	Car accident
10/96	Lawrence Brantley	Sold Jack Ruby the gun used to kill Oswald	Complications from surgery

 

Text by Jim Marrs
Dates by Jim Marrs and Ralph Schuster

[David Andrews]

Here's an important thing about Hunt's confession to being merely a "benchwarmer" in the event, and an eyewitness to an alleged scene of planning.  Without Hunt confessing direct involvement, none of it happened. 

If the meeting with Sturgis and Morales occurred, it had no application to actual assassination that Hunt would confirm.  It can all be written off to a dying man trying to leave some legacy of notoriety to his impecunious son, who may have directed Dad to the list of conspirators which, in that year, was favored on the internet, perhaps on this forum.

That's the top of the game here: Hunt's confession is also a denial.  In the form that it emerged, nothing is confirmed.  Unlike a statement prefaced with "I can neither confirm nor deny," Hunt's "confession" does not tacitly confirm events short of a legal and binding statement.  He left us with mystery tending toward negation.  Now that's tradecraft.  Now that's cheek.

Edited September 5, 2019 by David Andrews

[Joe Bauer]

2 hours ago, David Andrews said:

Here's an important thing about Hunt's confession to being merely a "benchwarmer" in the event, and an eyewitness to an alleged scene of planning.  Without Hunt confessing direct involvement, none of it happened. 

If the meeting with Sturgis and Morales occurred, it had no application to actual assassination that Hunt would confirm.  It can all be written off to a dying man trying to leave some legacy of notoriety to his impecunious son, who may have directed Dad to the list of conspirators which, in that year, was favored on the internet, perhaps on this forum.

That's the top of the game here: Hunt's confession is also a denial.  In the form that it emerged, nothing is confirmed.  Unlike a statement prefaced with "I can neither confirm nor deny," Hunt's "confession" does not tacitly confirm events short of a legal and binding statement.  He left us with mystery tending toward negation.  Now that's tradecraft.  Now that's cheek.

Yes, could be Dave.

You offer a plausible motive scenario which aligns with Hunt's life long duplicitous spy craft history.

Offer up something about the JFK  assassination that he thought might be grabbed onto by the national media as a shocking blockbuster story that might give his son some financial boon and security, thinking that perhaps his end of life confessional might bring some big bucks via a co-written book deal, film rights, speaking fees, etc. ?

But as far as Hunt's story goes in implicating LBJ, Cord Meyer and his fellow covert action agents as the main guilty parties ( incredibly "all the way!" ) Hunt's personal role is conveniently diminished to such a benign degree that it pretty much gives him an out for any truly serious blame and any accompanying family name tarnish his greater participation in this monumentally despicable treasonous act might possibly have laid upon his son and other children after his passing?

Still, to me, the Hunt confessional is an amazing story.

One that I thought would garner a much more serious reaction from our national media than the brief and dismissive coverage they gave it.

Hunt was a highest level agent provocateur for decades directly involved in several of the most important political historical events of our time.

A person who could call the White House on a whim and be put through to some of the closest aides to the President himself.  Nixon knew Hunt by name and fretted over what he knew and could do him legally.  Hunt was so close to William F. Buckley he chose him to be his son's Godfather. Hunt was connected to the highest levels of politics and power.

This wasn't Madeline Brown or Billie Sol Estes stating LBJ's involvement in JFK's killing ( although I don't dismiss their stories ) this was a true, deep state, highest clearance insider.

Someone who could actually frighten a President with what he knew and had been involved with.

And Hunt hadn't gone off the deep end although he was noticeably feeble and weak physically when he put out his confessional.

Too bad some highest credibility news organization couldn't have had even one meeting with E. Howard Hunt to question his mind blowing LBJ guilt claims before he was too weak to handle such an interview.

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Joe Bauer

[Jim Hargrove]

2 hours ago, John Butler said:

In Crossfire, Jim Marrs lists something like over a hundred deaths of people involved somehow or another with the Kennedy Assassination.  Some are considered from natural causes, but many are suspicious.  For instance, lots of heart attacks and gunshot wounds ruled suicide.  There were over 50 deaths by violence and about 20 by heart attack.  Is this a normal population?  How many people do you know who have died by violence?

List of Deaths

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of death
11/63	Karyn Kupicinet	Tv host's daughter who was overheard telling of JFK's death prior to 11/22/63	Murdered
12/63	Jack Zangretti	Expressed foreknowledge of Ruby shooting Oswald	Gunshot Victim
2/64	Eddy Benavides	Lookalike brother to Tippit shooting witness, Domingo Benavides	Gunshot to head
2/64	Betty MacDonald*	Former Ruby employee who alibied Warren Reynolds shooting suspect.	Suicide byhanging in Dallas Jail
3/64	Bill Chesher	Thought to have information linking Oswald and Ruby	Heart attack
3/64	Hank Killam*	Husband of Ruby employee, knew Oswald acquaintance	Throat cut
4/64	Bill Hunter*	Reporter who was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Accidental shooting by policeman
5/64	Gary Underhill*	CIA agent who claimed Agency was involved	Gunshot in head ruled suicide
5/64	Hugh Ward*	Private investigator working with Guy Banister and David Ferrie	Plane crash in Mexico
5/64	DeLesseps Morrison*	New Orleans Mayor	Passenger in Ward's plane
8/64	Teresa Norton*	Ruby employee	Fatally shot
6/64	Guy Banister*	x-FBI agent in New Orleans connected to Ferrie, CIA, Carlos Marcello & Oswald	Heart attack
9/64	Jim Koethe*	Reporter who was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Blow to neck
9/64	C.D. Jackson	"Life" magazine senior Vicepresident who bought Zapruderfilm and locked it away	Unknown
10/64	Mary Pinchot	JFK "special" friend whose diary was taken by CIA chief James Angleton after her death	Murdered
1/65	Paul Mandal	"Life" writer who told of JFK turning to rear when shot in throat	Cancer
3/65	Tom Howard*	Ruby's first lawyer, was in Ruby's apartment on 11/24/63	Heart attack
5/65	Maurice Gatlin*	Pilot for Guy Banister	Fatal fall
8/65	Mona B. Saenz*	Texas Employment clerk who interviewed Oswald	Hit by Dallas bus
?/65	David Goldstein	Dallasite who helped FBI trace Oswald's pistol	Natural causes
9/65	Rose Cheramie*	Knew of assassination in advance, told of riding to Dallas with Cubans	Hit/run victim
11/65	Dorothy Kilgallen*	Columnist who had private interview with Ruby, pledged to "break" JFK case	Drug overdose
11/65	Mrs. Earl Smith*	Close friend to Dorothy Kilgallen, died two daysafter columnist, may have kept Kilgallen's notes	Cause unknown
12/65	William Whaley*	Cab driver who reportedly drove Oswald to Oak Cliff (The only Dallas taxi driver to die on duty)	Motor collision
1966	Judge Joe Brown	Presided over Ruby's trial	Heart attack
1966	Karen "Little Lynn" Carlin*	Ruby employee who last talked with Ruby before Oswald shooting	Gunshot victim
1/66	Earlene Roberts	Oswald's landlady	Heart attack
2/66	Albert Bogard*	Car salesman who said Oswald test drove new car	Suicide
6/66	Capt. Frank Martin	Dallas policeman who witnessed Oswald slaying, told Warren Commission "there's a lot to be said but probably be better if I don't say it"	Sudden cancer
8/66	Lee Bowers Jr.*	Witnessed men behind picket fence on Grassy Knoll	Motor accident
9/66	Marilyn "Delila Walle*	Ruby dancer	Shot by husband after 1 month of marriage
10/66	Lt. William Pitzer*	JFK autopsy photographer who described his duty as "horrifying experience"	Gunshot rule suicided
11/66	Jimmy Levens	Fort Worth nightclub owner who hired Ruby employees	Natural causes
11/66	James Worrell Jr.*	Saw man flee rear of Texas School Book Depository	Motor accident
1966	Clarence Oliver	Dist. Atty. Investigator who worked Ruby case	Unknown
12/66	Hank Suydam	Life magazine official in charge of JFK stories	Heart attack
1967	Leonard Pullin	Civilian Navy employee who helped film "Last Two Days" about assassination	One-car crash
1/67	Jack Ruby*	Oswald's slayer	Lung cancer (he told family he was injected with cancer cells)
2/67	Harold Russell*	Saw escape of Tippit killer	killed by cop in bar brawl
2/67	David Ferrie*	Acquaintance of Oswald, Garrison suspect and employee of Guy Banister	Blow to neck (ruled accidental)
2/67	Eladio Del Valle*	Anti-Castro Cuban associate of David Ferrie being sought by Garrison	Gunshot wound, ax wound tohead
3/67	Dr. Mary Sherman*	Ferrie associate working on cancer research	Died in fire (possibly shot)
1/68	A. D. Bowie	Asst. Dallas District Attorney prosecuting Ruby	Cancer
4/68	Hiram Ingram	Dallas Deputy Sheriff, close friend to Roger Craig	Sudden cancer
5/68	Dr. Nicholas Chetta	New Orleans coroner who on death of Ferrie	Heart attack
8/68	Philip Geraci*	Friend of Perry Russo, told of Oswald/Shaw conversation	Electrocution
1/69	Henry Delaune*	Brother-in-law to coroner Chetta	Murdered
1/69	E.R. Walthers*	Dallas Deputy Sheriff who was involved in Depository search, claimed to have found .45-cal. slug	Shot by felon
1969	Charles Mentesana	Filmed rifle other than Mannlicher-Carcano being taken from Depository	Heart attack
4/69	Mary Bledsoe	Neighbor to Oswald, also knew David Ferrie	Natural causes
4/69	John Crawford*	Close friend to both Ruby and Wesley Frazier, who gave ride to Oswald on 11/22/63	Crash of private plane
7/69	Rev. Clyde Johnson*	Scheduled to testify about Clay Shaw/Oswald connection	Fatally shot
1970	George McGann*	Underworld figure connected to Ruby friends, wife, Beverly, took film in Dealey Plaza	Murdered
1/70	Darrell W. Garner	Arrested for shooting Warren Reynolds, released after alibi from Betty MacDonald	Drug overdose
8/70	Bill Decker	Dallas Sheriff who saw bullet hit street in front of JFK	Natural causes
8/70	Abraham Zapruder	Took famous film of JFK assassination	Natural causes
12/70	Salvatore Granello*	Mobster linked to both Hoffa,Trafficante, and Castro assassination plots	Murdered
1971	James Plumeri*	Mobster tied to mob-CIA assassination plots	Murdered
3/71	Clayton Fowler	Ruby's chief defense attorney	Uknown
4/71	Gen. Charles Cabell*	CIA deputy director connected to anti-Castro Cubans	Collapsed and died afterphysical at Fort Myers
1972	Hale Boggs*	House Majority Leader, member of Warren Commission who began to publicly express doubts about findings	Disappeared on Alaskan plane flight
5/72	J. Edgar Hoover*	FBI director who pushed "lone assassin" theory in JFK assassination	Heart attack (no autopsy)
9/73	Thomas E. Davis*	Gunrunner connected to both Ruby and CIA	Electrocuted trying to steal wire
2/74	J.A. Milteer*	Miami right-winger who predicted JFK's death and capture of scapegoat	Heater explosion
1974	Dave Yaras*	Close friend to both Hoffa and Jack Ruby	Murdered
7/74	Earl Warren	Chief Justice who reluctantly chaired Warren Commission	Heart failure
8/74	Clay Shaw*	Prime suspect in Garrison case, reportedly a CIA contact with Ferrie and E. Howard Hunt	Possible cancer
1974	Earle Cabell	Mayor of Dallas on 11/22/63, whose brother, Gen. Charles Cabell was fired from CIA by JFK	Natural causes
6/75	Sam Giancana*	Chicago Mafia boss slated to tell about CIA-mob death plots to Senate Committee	Murdered
7/75	Clyde Tolson	J. Edgar Hoover's assistant and roommate	Natural causes
1975	Allen Sweatt	Dallas Deputy Sheriff involved in investigation	Natural causes
12/75	Gen. Earle Wheeler	Contact between JFK and CIA	Unknown
1976	Ralph Paul	Ruby's business partner connected with crime figures	Heart attack
4/76	James Chaney	Dallas motorcycle officer riding to JFK's right rear who said JFK "struck in the face" with bullet	Heart attack
4/76	Dr. Charles Gregory	Governor John Connally's physician	Heart attack
6/76	William Harvey*	CIA coordinator for CIA-mob assassination plans against Castro	Complications from heart surgery
7/76	John Roselli*	Mobster who testified to Senate Committee and was to appear again	Stabbed and stuffed in metal drum

---

 

1977 - A Terrible Year For Many

The year 1977 produced a bumper crop of candidates for listing under convenient deaths connected to the JFK assassination - including the deaths of six top FBI officials all of whom were scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

Topping this list was former number three man in the FBI William C. Sullivan, who had already had a preliminary meeting the investigators for the House Committee. Sullivan was shot with a high-powered rifle near his New Hampshire home by a man who claimed to have mistaken him for a deer. The man was charged with a misdemeanor - "shooting a human being by accident" - and released into the custody of his father, a state policeman. There was no further investigation of Sullivan's death.

Louis Nichols was a special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover as well as Hoover's liaison with the Warren Commission. Alan H. Belmont also was a special assistant to Hoover. James Cadigan was a document expert with access to many classified assassination documents, while J.M. English headed the FBI laboratory where Oswald rifle and pistol were tested. Donald Kaylor was the FBI fingerprint expert who examined prints found at the assassination scene. None of these six Bureau officials lived to tell what they knew to the House Committee.

Other key assassination witnesses, such as George DeMohrenschildt and former Cuban President Carlos Prio Soccaras, died within weeks of each other in 1977, just as they too were being sought by the House Committee.

The ranks of both organized crime and U.S. intelligence agencies were thinned by deaths beginning in 1975, the time of the Senate Intelligence Hearings, and 1978, the closing months of the House Committee. Charles Nicoletti, a mobster connected with the CIA-Mafia assassination plots, was murdered in Chicago, while William Pawley, a former diplomat connected with both organized crime and CIA figures, reportedly committed suicide.

Adding official confirmation to rumors that "hit teams" may have been at work was a "Time" magazine report that federal agents had initiated a nationwide investigation into more than 20 gangland assassinations constituting what agents believed was an "open underworld challenge to governmental infiltration of Mafia activities."

One FBI source was quoted as saying:

Our main concern is that we may be facing a revival of the old "Murder, Inc." days.

A "New York News" story concerning this official fear of roving assassination squads even mentions the death of Sam Giancana, who was killed one day before he was to testify about MOB-CIA connections and while under government protection.

Just as the House Committee was gearing up its investigation into the JFK assassination, the news media reported the following deaths:

 

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of Death
1/77	William Pawley*	Former Brazilian Ambassador connected to Anti-Castro Cubans, crime figures	Gunshot ruled suicide
3/77	George DeMohrenschildt*	Close friend to both Oswald and Bouvier family (Jackie Kennedy's parents), CIA contract agent	Gunshot wound ruled suicide
3/77	Carlos Prio Soccaras*	Former Cuban President, money man for anti-Castro Cubans	Gunshot wound ruled suicide
3/77	Paul Raigorodsky	Business friend of George DeMohrenschildt and wealthy oilmen	Natural causes
5/77	Lou Staples*	Dallas radio Talk Show host who told friends he would break assassination case	Gunshot to head,ruled suicide
6/77	Louis Nichols	Former No. 3 man in FBI, worked on JFK investigation	Heart attack
8/77	Alan Belmont	FBI official who testified to Warren Commission	"Long illness"
8/77	James Cadigan	FBI document expert who testified to Warren Commission	Fall in home
8/77	Joseph C. Ayres*	Chief steward on JFK's Air Force One	Shooting accident
8/77	Francis G. Powers*	U-2 pilot downed over Russia in 1960	Helicopter crash (He reportedly ran out of fuel)
9/77	Kenneth O'Donnell	JFK's closest aide	Natural causes
10/77	Donald Kaylor	FBI fingerprint chemist	Heart attack
10/77	J.M. English	Former head of FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory	Heart attack
11/77	William Sullivan*	Former No. 3 man in FBI, headed Division 5, counter- espionage and domestic intelligence	Hunting accident
1978	C.L. "Lummie" Lewis	Dallas Deputy Sheriff who arrested Mafia man Braden in Dealey Plaza	Natural causes
9/78	Garland Slack	Man who said Oswald fired at his target at rifle range	Unknown
1/79	Billy Lovelady	Depository employee said to be the man in the doorway in AP photograph	Complications from heart attack
6/80	Jesse Curry	Dallas Police Chief at time of assassination	Heart attack
6/80	Dr. John Holbrook	Psychiatrist who testified Ruby was not insane	Heart attack but pills, notes found,
1/81	Marguerite Oswald	Mother of accused assassin	Cancer
10/81	Frank Watts	Chief felony prosecutor for Dallas D.A.	Natural causes
1/82	Peter Gregory	Original translator for Marina Oswald and Secret Service	Natural causes
5/82	Dr. James Weston	Pathologist allowed to see JFK autopsy material for HSCA	Died while jogging, ruled natural causes
8/82	Will H. Griffin	FBI agent who reportedly said Oswald was "definitely" an FBI informant	Cancer
10/82	W. Marvin Gheesling	FBI official who helped supervise JFK investigation	"Long illness"
3/84	Roy Kellerman	Secret Service agent in charge of JFK limousine	Unknown

 

Following names are the recently known deaths, almost all died of natural causes:

Date	Name	Connection with case	Cause of Death
10/92	Jim Garrison	Former District Attorney of New Orleans, only one who sued in the JFK assassination case	Natural causes
?/94	Perry Russo	witness who told he had seen Shaw, Oswald and Ferrie talking about the killing of JFK	Unknown
01/95	Rose Kennedy	Mother of John F. Kennedy	natural causes
01/95	L.C. Graves	wrested Ruby's revolver away from him after shooting Oswald	natural causes
2/95	Irving L. Goldberg	Judge who advised L. B. Johnson on transition of power	natural causes
3/95	Philip L. Willis	Dealey Plaza Witness, photographer	Leukemia
5/95	Evelyn Norton Lincoln	JFK's personal secretary	natural causes
5/95	Phil L. Barleson	Defender of Ruby	Heart attack
11/95	Richard Case Nagell	CIA agent who claimed he uncovered a "large operation" aimed at killing JFK	heart disease
12/95	James W. Altgens	Dealey Plaza Witness, press photographer	natural causes
1/96	Ralph W. Yarborough	Dealey Plaza witness, rode in motorcade	natural causes
7/96	Melvin Belli	Lawyer of Jack Ruby	Suffering stroke and pneumonia
8/96	Charles Brehm	Dealey Plaza Witness	Unknown
9/96	McGeorge Bundy	Top aide to JFK and LBJ	Heart attack
10/96	Rufus Youngblood	Agent who shielded LBJ during the JFK murder	Cancer
10/96	Larry Ray Harris	Researcher	Car accident
10/96	Lawrence Brantley	Sold Jack Ruby the gun used to kill Oswald	Complications from surgery

 

Text by Jim Marrs
Dates by Jim Marrs and Ralph Schuster

To John B….

Thanks much for those fabulous Crossfire tables!   My bet is that the list Mr. Marrs compiled cannot be beaten for thoroughness and accuracy.  I’ve saved that whole post in a local archive.  Thanks again! 

[David Andrews]

Joe, I have no problem with Hunt's bona fides as an actor in some very bad happenings for the world, and I believe he was involved in the JFKA.  I just feel that you or I could turn on a tape recorder and produce a similar piece of name-dropping disinfo.

How, for instance, did Hunt jump from refusing Morales and Sturgis because of his distrust of William Harvey, and then jump to being a "benchwarmer"?  What was that particular involvement?  What team was he warming a bench for?

From the Rolling Stone article that essentially broke the "confession" story:

[St. John Hunt:] "Actually, there were probably dozens of plots to kill Kennedy, because everybody hated Kennedy but the public,” Saint says. “The question is, which one of them worked? My dad has always said, Thank God one of them worked.’ I think he knows a lot more than he told me. He claimed he backed out of the plot only so he could disclaim actual involvement. In a way, I feel like he only opened another can of worms.”

Edited September 5, 2019 by David Andrews