Shane O'Sullivan

While serving as chief analyst of military records at the Assassination Records Review Board in the nineties, Douglas Horne examined serious anomalies in the medical evidence in the JFK case. In a new 76-minute feature JFK - The Medical Cover Up, Horne draws on his book "Inside the ARRB" to present a comprehensive overview of the missing, altered and fraudulent evidence that indicates a cover-up by multiple agencies of the government. Their mission - to hide the true nature of JFK's wounds and purge all trace of a conspiracy. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jfk

Two separate, compartmentalised teams conducted above top secret examinations of the Zapruder Film at the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) on the Saturday and Sunday evening after the assassination. Dino Brugioni led the first team on Saturday evening and doesn't recognise the head shot in the Zapruder film today as the head shot he saw in the film on the day after the assassination. Was the film altered while in CIA custody to hide the true nature of JFK's wounds? Doug Horne and Dino Brugioni explain at length in a new 85-minute feature available now on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/ondemand/zapruderfilm Whatever you feel about Zapruder Film alteration, Dino Brugioni's testimony about two NPIC events that weekend - presented here in HD video for the first time, thanks to Doug Horne and Peter Janney - is extremely important.

Thanks, Mark, great to hear that! That audio clip of Loran Hall is very telling. John, the film started off as a docudrama in the style of George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck, which I pitched to production companies and broadcasters both here and in the US. I was aiming to make something like Killing Kennedy but focusing more on Oswald and Marina and their backstory, running in parallel with the key milestones in Kennedy's presidency. The feedback was that it was fascinating but...in the words of a Channel 4 commissioner: "We don't often commission historical dramas, and when we do we need to be absolutely sure that they are saying something pressing about the world of today, and that they resonate with contemporary events...we felt that the Kennedy/Oswald story is slightly too familiar territory for us to want to take it on." The JFK docs on British TV recently were either commissioned a year ago when I was pitching the docudrama or acquisitions (Channel 5 buying in that awful JFK: The Smoking Gun). TV commissioners and acquisition executives want a clearcut, racy "new" theory in "The Smoking Gun" mould - the assassination is not approached as a serious criminal or historical investigation, as it should be. I only began work on my doc last summer when it became clear that my docudrama would not be ready for the anniversary, by which time TV stations would have already planned their anniversary programming but I hope the film can be broadcast next year sometime.

Yes, Blair, it's available on Amazon - there are links to stream the film or order the DVD on the website: www.killingoswald.com

Thanks very much, John, that's high praise indeed and a great endorsement, it means a lot. I'm glad you agree with my approach, I wanted the film to work for both researchers and a general audience new to the case and the feedback so far suggests that worked. While RFK Must Die was the story of my investigation into the Sirhan case, Killing Oswald presents the views of a number of authors I admire alongside archive material - film and audio - that I think helps us understand Oswald and the other characters. I look forward to discussing the film here as members catch up with it. And thanks, B.A., hope you enjoy it.

We've had some great reviews for the UK cinema release and I'm pleased to say KILLING OSWALD is now available to stream worldwide through the website. It features never-before-seen film and audio archive of Oswald, David Phillips, George De Mohrenschildt and Loran Hall, as well as insight and analysis from John Newman, Dick Russell, David Kaiser, Joan Mellen, Antonio Veciana and Eugenio Martinez. Enjoy the film!

After the premiere last night at the Texas Theatre in Dallas, the UK premiere of Killing Oswald will take place at the Genesis Cinema in East London at 7p.m. on Friday, November 22nd, with a Q&A afterwards. I hope some of you can make it along. The film will be available to stream on the website from Friday and the DVD will begin shipping shortly. Best, Shane

Thanks, Terry! Much appreciated, hope you enjoy the film.

Thanks, Anthony. Yes, John Newman is definitely back researching the case and is working on another book for next year sometime. He's very interested in David Phillips, June Cobb, JMWAVE and the network around Rolando Cubela, among other subjects.

Thanks, Robert. That's interesting that he finally identified Phillips! I also got the feeling Veciana had no part in the plot, he was a very straight talker and we covered much of the same ground you did.

Thanks, Pat. That's interesting about Mrs. Fonzi. I interviewed Veciana for my Bobby Kennedy film originally and we discussed Bishop in great detail. He still wanted to keep his promise to Bishop but you can read between the lines and feel he supports Fonzi's ID. The Guillermo Ruiz story is also very interesting.

Hi all, After my film on the Bobby Kennedy assassination five years ago, I'm about to release a new documentary called Killing Oswald, primarily about Lee Harvey Oswald's strange and mysterious road to Dallas. The film features interviews with John Newman, Dick Russell, David Kaiser, Joan Mellen, Antonio Veciana and Watergate burglar Eugenio Martinez; alongside rare archive film and audiotapes of Oswald and his alleged CIA handlers George De Mohrenschildt and David Atlee Phillips. The DVD will also feature extensive interviews with Doug Horne on the Zapruder Film and the medical evidence. The world premiere is next Sunday evening (Nov 17) at the Texas Theatre, so if any of you will be in Dallas next weekend, it should be a memorable evening. The film will be available to stream from the website from the 22nd and the DVD is also available for pre-order (shipping around the 22nd, too). For forum members near London, there will be a limited theatrical release here on Friday the 22nd, with a premiere at a cinema in East London that evening and further screenings at the Shortwave cinema in Bermondsey over the weekend. If anyone would like to organise a screening in your community for the anniversary weekend anywhere in the world, please just get in touch through the project website. Thanks again to John and forum members for inspiring my research into these subjects for these films and I'll be happy to discuss the new film here once some of you have seen it. Cheers, Shane

John, Do you have contact details for Richard Gibson in London? I'd like to speak to him. Best, Shane

As we approach the 45th anniversary of the RFK assassination, Sirhan's legal team are still hard at work on his habeas corpus petition. After Judge Wistrich recommended the petition be denied, Bill Pepper and Laurie Dusek filed objections on March 29 - see Russ Baker story here. The prosecutor then filed a response and two weeks ago, Sirhan's team filed their reply to the prosecutor's objections. As far as I know, all these filings will now be adjudicated by U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, who has just taken over the case. She can uphold the petition and grant a new trial; grant an evidentiary hearing; or dismiss the petition. I have uploaded all of these court filings to the Files tab of the Facebook group discussing the assassination. My book Who Killed Bobby? is also now available on Kindle and has been updated to include Dr. Dan Brown's report on his work with Sirhan.

As we approach the 45th anniversary of the RFK assassination, Sirhan's legal team are still hard at work on his habeas corpus petition. After Judge Wistrich recommended the petition be denied, Bill Pepper and Laurie Dusek filed objections on March 29 - see Russ Baker story here. The prosecutor then filed a response and two weeks ago, Sirhan's team filed their reply to the prosecutor's objections. As far as I know, all these filings will now be adjudicated by U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, who has just taken over the case. She can uphold the petition and grant a new trial; grant an evidentiary hearing; or dismiss the petition. I have uploaded all of these court filings to the Files tab of the Facebook group discussing the assassination. My book Who Killed Bobby? is also now available on Kindle and has been updated to include Dr. Dan Brown's report on his work with Sirhan.

Okay, Bill. I know it's difficult without the resources of Talbot and Morley but do what you can and let me know what you turn up. I can find no mention of "Maggie" in "Blond Ghost" but you could try Shackley's wife Hazel, a former CIA secretary he met and married in Berlin. Hazel Shackley is based in Pensacola, FL, I believe. Jim, let me clarify what I meant by "nothing": I meant no new primary research, no new witnesses, no new IDs (positive, negative or in-between). I appreciate your new analysis of the existing material but I believe a breakthrough will only come through new evidence. Shane

Bill, please read the book. You continue to speak about wild goose chases and scams without having read what was developed two years ago on these guys. In the book, you'll see from how events unfolded, that there was no scam, so please show some respect for myself and Bradley Ayers and stop referring to it that way. I don't question the sincerity of Talbot and Morley in presenting my evidence in December 2006 to David Remnick at the New Yorker and persuading him to commission a further investigation. So I didn't manufacture a scam, neither did they, nor did the witnesses themselves. Both Talbot and I felt at the time that we were onto something but the New Yorker investigation produced negative results that led Talbot and Morley into a cul-de-sac. They drew different conclusions to Jim Fetzer but also made some blunders (the Gordon Campbell birth certificate having little to do with the man Ayers knew etc). But there was no scam, as far as I can see - it was an honest attempt to investigate all this as thoroughly as possible, at the risk of being proved wrong, in search of the truth in the case. From the information developed, different researchers will draw their own subjective conclusions. I agree with you, the conflicting evidence on the Ambassador IDs would not stand up in court, so I have advised those working on reopening the RFK case to steer clear of it until we have more persuasive information. I spent two years researching that aspect of the case, Morley and Talbot spent six weeks travelling round the country, what have you done? Why don't you trace the yacht or find Shackley's secretary "Maggie" or call Porter Goss? If Morley and Talbot left leads unchecked, why don't you follow them up? I took this story as far as I could, I would be delighted to see yourself or Jim Fetzer add some new research to the mix. But in the two and a half years since my book was completed, nothing new has been done in this area. Nothing. The order in which we solve political assassinations is irrelevant. With Bill Pepper's involvement as Sirhan's attorney, the RFK case is the most active at the moment and the convicted assassin is still alive. You say: "And if a court of law won't even look at the videos to make a determination why should we?" Well, I thought the point of a research forum was developing research to the point where it can be of value in a court of law and supporting each other in that process. We have so much new information about Morales, Joannides and Campbell as a result of the Ambassador investigations than we did before. It's in the book. While I don't agree with Jim Fetzer's position on the Ambassador investigations, he's read the available material and is entitled to his view. Bradley Ayers and Wayne Smith stand by their identifications and I stand by what I said in my book. If you want to contribute, please go into the field and follow up the leads you think are outstanding, as the rest of us have done. If you don't wish to contribute, please stop throwing around ill-informed accusations until you've read the available material.

Bill, You have been supportive in the past but I take exception to the way you discuss the alleged CIA guys at the Ambassador in this and other threads. You admit you know little about the RFK assassination. And it's clear to me from your postings that despite your forthright views on this topic, you haven't bothered to watch my film or read my book. The book contains two chapters which lay out my whole Morales/Campbell/Joannides investigation in meticulous chronological detail, so researchers like you, Jim DiEugenio or Jim Fetzer can see my whole process. DiEugenio and Fetzer, to their credit, read the book before commenting. You skipped the book but continually resuscitate the Gordon Campbell thread and call the Ambassador IDs a "scam" and "a scheme to discredit a number of important JFK assassination witnesses." Would you care to tell me who is behind this "scam?" Me? Bradley Ayers? Wayne Smith? Talbot and Morley? The New Yorker? If you read the chapters in my book, you'd realise such claims are both ludicrous and irresponsible, given your ignorance of the RFK case and my work in this area. Shane

For anyone interested: I've just posted the new epilogue to my film RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy on my website at http://www.rfkmustdie.com This 7-minute update features an interview with audio expert Philip Van Praag, in which he explains the significance of the recently uncovered Pruszynski recording - the only known recording of the gunshots fired in the Ambassador Hotel pantry on June 5, 1968. Van Praag outlines three discoveries he made while analyzing the recording, concluding that 13 shots were fired that night and a second gunman fired the fatal shot that killed Robert Kennedy. Production of the epilogue was kindly supported by the Documentary Channel, who premiered it last Monday and have screened it four times this week after my film. You can find the Documentary Channel on Dish Network 197 and a further screening of both film and epilogue is scheduled for 6:00 PM (EST) on October 29th. The channel has posted a trailer for the epilogue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SdWUWnIsCw My thanks to Philip Van Praag and co-author Robert Joling for sharing these important new discoveries. You can find more details on their work here: http://www.anopenandshutcase.com I hope the epilogue will further raise public and media awareness of the urgent need for this case to be reopened. Best, Shane

For anyone interested: I've just posted the new epilogue to my film RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy on my website at http://www.rfkmustdie.com This 7-minute update features an interview with audio expert Philip Van Praag, in which he explains the significance of the recently uncovered Pruszynski recording - the only known recording of the gunshots fired in the Ambassador Hotel pantry on June 5, 1968. Van Praag outlines three discoveries he made while analyzing the recording, concluding that 13 shots were fired that night and a second gunman fired the fatal shot that killed Robert Kennedy. Production of the epilogue was kindly supported by the Documentary Channel, who premiered it last Monday and have screened it four times this week after my film. You can find the Documentary Channel on Dish Network 197 and a further screening of both film and epilogue is scheduled for 6:00 PM (EST) on October 29th. The channel has posted a trailer for the epilogue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SdWUWnIsCw My thanks to Philip Van Praag and co-author Robert Joling for sharing these important new discoveries. You can find more details on their work here: http://www.anopenandshutcase.com I hope the epilogue will further raise public and media awareness of the urgent need for this case to be reopened. Best, Shane

Thanks, Gene. I attach an image taken by Steve Fontanini of Michael Wayne being handcuffed by Ace security guard Augustus Mallard after the shooting. Wayne ran out of the pantry through the Colonial Room into the main lobby, ostensibly looking for a phone to call emergency services. Alarmed by his behavior, several people gave chase, including Fontanini and Mallard. Wayne collected campaign literature for political candidates and you can see a handful of this and the rolled-up poster in the photo. While Wayne's behaviour was certainly "fishy", the fact that Fontanini, Mallard and others apprehended him so quickly and didn't find a gun suggests to me he was not a shooter, as has been claimed. So I only briefly mention him in my book. Lisa Pease goes into great detail about Khaibar Khan and Michael Wayne in one of her articles. While their stories and points of connection are intriguing, there's no proof Khan was even at the hotel that night and it seems from this photo that Wayne was not armed. I found David Rabern very credible and you must remember he did not know Morales or Campbell by name, he just remembered seeing the figures in the video at the hotel that night. His insight into how undercover operatives like himself worked and why they would be there was very interesting to me and I would dearly love to know who the "Morales" figure in the video actually is. The CIA was running a top-secret program called Chaos in major cities at that time to find out if the anti-war movement had foreign sponsors. Only Helms, Angleton and a few others knew about it and the program's potential links to LAPD intelligence in this context are intriguing.

Thanks, Greg. Look forward to your evidence on Bryan. The gleeful behavior of the polka dot girl has echoes of Manson but, as far as I can see, Sirhan's interest in the occult was a pretty solitary occupation. He went to one Rosicrucian meeting and did the rest of his Rosicrucian studies in his room by correspondence course. I'd be curious to hear of any possible links to darker occult groups. Best, Shane

Gene and James: Thanks for the prompting. I made another effort to find Scherrer and Horrall yesterday and finally spoke to them both last night. Horrall says they first heard of the shooting in the car over the police radio. They went to Central Receiving, met Rafer Johnson, who had the gun in his pocket, and escorted him to Rampart station to maintain continuity of the evidence before it was booked. Horrall worked in the organised crime division within LAPD intelligence. His partner was Jean Scherrer, who says he was completely misquoted by C. David Heymann "who couldn't even get my name right" (Heymann calls him "Gene"). Scherrer said RFK was "a very nice person, a very credible individual". When RFK was a Senate Committee investigator in the late fifties, Scherrer had worked with him as an LAPD intelligence officer. Scherrer also worked the 1960 Democratic convention and had contact with the candidates there. Regarding the night of the RFK shooting, Scherrer told me "that night, I was supposed to be his security." Because he knew Kennedy, he got a message through the commander of the division on June 4th that he was to work security for the senator that night. Later the same day, he got another message to say that he wasn't needed, Rafer and Rosie would handle security for the senator but he may be called on later that night after the speech (the senator was due to go on to the Factory nightclub to celebrate). So that night, he was on divisional assignment near the hotel in an unmarked car with Horrall, waiting for a call to go work security for Kennedy. Then word of the shooting came over the radio and they went to Central Receiving and met Rafer, who had the gun, and brought him to Rampart. Horrall and Scherrer don't think there was a conspiracy. Scherrer also volunteered that, after his retirement, he actually met Sirhan's brother (the 1996 incident described above). He wouldn't go into how the meeting came about "because I don't want to bring these other people into it" but the idea was that Sirhan was looking for parole, so if Sirhan came clean with what he knew about the shooting, Scherrer would "see what he could do" to get him a deal (a pardon and deportation to the Middle East, for example). How and why this came about remains murky. But as Sirhan wouldn't confess, nothing further happened. Regarding the Heymann quotes, Scherrer denies that he was at the hotel and says Heymann's "I was there because I had a premonition" quote and suggestion that Scherrer would go into more detail about the shooting for money are both "bullxxxx."

Thanks, James. There seem be two possibilities - the guy you mention who died in Ohio in 1996 and would have been 52 at the time of the shooting. And another Jean M. Scherrer, still listed in the Los Angeles area, ten years younger, who I have not been able to reach. I heard Scherrer was living in California, then moved to Nevada, so I tend to think it may be the latter and he's still alive but I could be wrong. The whole business with Lynn Mangan also happened in 1996 and I believe Scherrer was living in L.A. at that time. Best, Shane

Thanks, Gene. I think you hone in on two potentially very important characters here that have long been overlooked. I agree Gardner could well be the "missing link" in all this but I can find no other information on him apart from the contradictory FBI interviews. He was a retired LAPD lieutenant and within months of the shooting, he left the Ambassador to go to law school. Soon after that, he apparently committed suicide and nobody at the Ambassador would talk about it. Unfortunately, most of the hotel guards who worked with him are now dead or don't want to talk. The LAPD officer in charge of VIP protection was Jean M. Scherrer - I tell those stories in the book, quoting from what he told C. David Heymann. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find Scherrer either. I believe Serrano and Di Pierro probably saw the same girl and I believe Serrano's account of what the girl said but there's no denying it's bizarre behaviour for a co-conspirator. She may well have been a decoy, it's hard to say. I think following through on the audio evidence is the best way forward. Paul Schrade and Sirhan's attorney William Pepper are now very active in the case, pursuing legal channels re a second gun and Sirhan's programming. Pepper plans to pursue a civil trial, as he successfully did in the King case. I'll help that process as much as I can, to put all this evidence on the record, in as uncluttered, accurate and credible manner as possible. So stay tuned!