G. Robert Blakey: The Plot to Kill the President

[John Simkin]

G. Robert Blakey is the co-author with Richard Billings of The Plot to Kill the President (1981). In the book Blakey and Billings argue that there was a conspiracy to kill JFK. Blakey and Billings argue that Lee Harvey Oswald was involved but believes that there was at least one gunman firing from the Grassy Knoll. Blakey came to the conclusion that the Mafia boss, Carlos Marcello, organized the assassination. The book was reissued in paperback in 1993 as Fatal Hour: The Assassination of President Kennedy by Organized Crime.

Carl Oglesby summarized Blakey and Billings theory as follows:

(i) Oswald alone did shoot and kill J.F.K., as the Warren Commission deduced.

(ii) An unknown confederate of Oswald's, however, also shot at the President, firing from the celebrated "grassy knoll." This shot missed.

(iii) Apart from the question of the number of assailants in the attack, Oswald acted as the tool of a much larger conspiracy.

(iv) The conspiracy behind Oswald was rooted in organized crime and was specifically provoked by J.F.K. s anti-crime program. Singly or in some combination, prime suspects are Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante, godfathers respectively of the New Orleans and Tampa Mafias. Each one had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill J.F.K.

(1) Would you be willing to provide a statement that summarizes your current thoughts on the assassination of JFK?

(2) Did you know that Dick Billings had taken part in Operation Tilt (Pawley/Bayo Mission) before he was employed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations?

[G. Robert Blakey]

(1) Would you be willing to provide a statement that summarizes your current thoughts on the assassination of JFK?

I have seen nothing to change my mind, though I am less confident of the acoustical result today in light of other analyses of it. The other evidence in the plaza, however, still points to two shooters no matter how valid the acoustical study comes out in the end.

(2) Did you know that Dick Billings had taken part in Operation Tilt (Pawley/Bayo Mission) before he was employed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations?

Yes. Knew it at the time. He was then and is now a close friend.

[Tim Gratz]

Mr. Blakey:

Great to see you joined the Forum and are willing to contribute your thoughts.

Query whether you credit Frank Ragano's account that he delivered a request from Jimmy Hoffa to Trafficante and Marcello that Hoffa wanted them to kill JFK on his behalf?

[John Simkin]

You can see photographs of Operation Tilt here:

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

[Tim Gratz]

Members and guests may find of interest this article written by David Talbot re Mr. Blakey:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/...y/index_np.html

I guess to read the entire article one must first read a brief advertisement. But it is worth it!

Edited October 22, 2005 by Tim Gratz

[John Simkin]

(1) Why it was that the HSCA never followed up on the approach from Dr. Burkley's lawyer indicating the Doctor was ready to offer proof of a conspiracy beyond Lee Oswald?

(2) Why did the HSCA ignore the comprehensive record of missing and false autopsy evidence that Doug Horne and the ARRB were able to develop.

(3) Are you aware of the number of Bethesda personnel and even FBI agents who now contest parts of the WC record on the autopsy.

(4) Have you heard that David Phillips family suspected that Phillips was involved in a conspiracy and that Phillips actually pointed to intelligence figures as being involved in a conspiracy shortly before his death?

[G. Robert Blakey]

You can see photographs of Operation Tilt here:

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

I saw them before.

(1) Why it was that the HSCA never followed up on the approach from Dr. Burkley's lawyer indicating the Doctor was ready to offer proof of a conspiracy beyond Lee Oswald?

(2) Why did the HSCA ignore the comprehensive record of missing and false autopsy evidence that Doug Horne and the ARRB were able to develop.

I have no idea what you are talking about? No memory of anything about it.

(3) Are you aware of the number of Bethesda personnel and even FBI agents who now contest parts of the WC record on the autopsy.

Sure. So what? The pictures do it all.

(4) Have you heard that David Phillips family suspected that Phillips was involved in a conspiracy and that Phillips actually pointed to intelligence figures as being involved in a conspiracy shortly before his death?

Haven't heard that.

[Lynne Foster]

Mr. Blakey, I have heard that the French mafia was involved in the assassination and the plot is spelled out in the following website -any truth to this?

http://geocities.com/mobaster/corsican.htm

[John Simkin]

I hear you are giving a talk in Washington in November, entitled, "Second Thoughts". Does this mean you have changed your opinion about the assassination?

[G. Robert Blakey]

I hear you are giving a talk in Washington in November, entitled, "Second Thoughts". Does this mean you have changed your opinion about the assassination?

Yes and no. Depends on the issue.

[Tim Gratz]

Come on, Professor. Can you give us some hints re your new thoughts? Thanks!

[Pat Speer]

Professor Blakey, I have been a supporter of yours since I started researching the Kennedy assassination. I believe you did your best under difficult circumstances, and see no reason to believe either you or Billings were under control of the CIA or any other sinister group. I don't see your "mob did it" theory as automatically excluding CIA involvement, nor do I see it as a smokescreen to confuse people, as some will assert. It's a valid theory with plenty of evidence to back it up.

That said, I have been doing a massive amount of research in preparation for a webpage I'm preparing to launch, and have concluded that several of the HSCA's experts presented evidence and reports that were signifcantly in error. Most egregiously, Vincent Guinn and Thomas Canning. I'm wondering if there was an atmosphere where these men might have felt they were "supposed" to find for a single-assassin firing from behind using Oswald's gun. As you may know, the FBI has stopped doing bullet-lead analysis due to its dubious science. Similarly, virtually no one will defend Canning's trajectories, not even lone-nutters like Dale Myers and the HSCA's ballistics expert Larry Sturdivan. I'm hoping you can provide us with some insight into the climate of the HSCA, and specifically why these men were hired.

Thanks,

Pat

[G. Robert Blakey]

That said, I have been doing a massive amount of research in preparation for a webpage I'm preparing to launch, and have concluded that several of the HSCA's experts presented evidence and reports that were signifcantly in error. Most egregiously, Vincent Guinn and Thomas Canning. I'm wondering if there was an atmosphere where these men might have felt they were "supposed" to find for a single-assassin firing from behind using Oswald's gun. As you may know, the FBI has stopped doing bullet-lead analysis due to its dubious science. Similarly, virtually no one will defend Canning's trajectories, not even lone-nutters like Dale Myers and the HSCA's ballistics expert Larry Sturdivan. I'm hoping you can provide us with some insight into the climate of the HSCA, and specifically why these men were hired.

I am familiar with the FBI turn around.

I am not familiar with the discreting of the trajectory analysis.

Could you post the material, not just his conclusions. I would like to look at it myself.

[Pat Speer]

That said, I have been doing a massive amount of research in preparation for a webpage I'm preparing to launch, and have concluded that several of the HSCA's experts presented evidence and reports that were signifcantly in error. Most egregiously, Vincent Guinn and Thomas Canning. I'm wondering if there was an atmosphere where these men might have felt they were "supposed" to find for a single-assassin firing from behind using Oswald's gun. As you may know, the FBI has stopped doing bullet-lead analysis due to its dubious science. Similarly, virtually no one will defend Canning's trajectories, not even lone-nutters like Dale Myers and the HSCA's ballistics expert Larry Sturdivan. I'm hoping you can provide us with some insight into the climate of the HSCA, and specifically why these men were hired.

I am familiar with the FBI turn around.

I am not familiar with the discreting of the trajectory analysis.

Could you post the material, not just his conclusions. I would like to look at it myself.

Here's Myers' take on the head wound trajectories. http://www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/html/concl3.htm

I will have a 30-40 page analysis of my own online within 2-3 weeks, before my presentation in Dallas. I will also challenge his single-bullet trajectories.

Sturdivan, in case you're not aware, now says the medical panel blew it, and that the bullet did enter near the EOP as Finck and Boswell insisted. His new book The JFK Myths completely disimisses the relevance and worth of Cannings' head wound trajectories.

[Robert Howard]

That said, I have been doing a massive amount of research in preparation for a webpage I'm preparing to launch, and have concluded that several of the HSCA's experts presented evidence and reports that were signifcantly in error. Most egregiously, Vincent Guinn and Thomas Canning. I'm wondering if there was an atmosphere where these men might have felt they were "supposed" to find for a single-assassin firing from behind using Oswald's gun. As you may know, the FBI has stopped doing bullet-lead analysis due to its dubious science. Similarly, virtually no one will defend Canning's trajectories, not even lone-nutters like Dale Myers and the HSCA's ballistics expert Larry Sturdivan. I'm hoping you can provide us with some insight into the climate of the HSCA, and specifically why these men were hired.

I am familiar with the FBI turn around.

I am not familiar with the discreting of the trajectory analysis.

Could you post the material, not just his conclusions. I would like to look at it myself.

As a person who spearheaded the H.S.C.A. efforts to determine the truth about the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy, it is an honor to have you here on the Forum, Mr. Blakey, would you care to comment about your potentially representing Life Magazine back when Big Jim Garrison was considering suing the publication for libel?

Edited October 31, 2005 by Robert Howard