Thomas Graves

Tommy, I'm not convinced yet that it isn't the same guy. Chris, Here's some 1961 CIA biographical information on former pilot Antonio Soto Vasquez (aka Antonio Vasquez) from an 18-page file on him: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=111330&relPageId=4 It's interesting that so much info about him on the other pages has been redacted. --Tommy PS Note the warning card on page 3 of the file. I know that "CI" stands for Counterintelligence. I wonder what "OA" means?

Which "camera car" can be partially seen (in the left foreground) at 0:00 of this clip? If we can identify it, we can use it and and motorcycle cop who turns the corner at :06 and :07 to establish more precisely when Officer Baker entered the TSBD... --Tommy

Chris, Yep. (Item 53.) Blakey messed up by combining the names of Jorge Soto Martinez (Parrot Jungle) and Antonio Soto Vasquez (LaCombe, LA) to get the fantasy name of "Jorge Antonio Martinez Soto." What a joke. Thanks, --Tommy

Larry, Regarding this thread, my guess is that some overly-influential researchers have, in the past, confused Jorge Soto Martinez (who was at Parrot Jungle) with Antonio Soto Vasquez (who was apparently arrested at Lacombe, Louisiana on July 31, 1963). I say this because I noticed that A. J. Weberman, in his Nodule 12, seems to confuse them when he says (in the section titled William Julius McLaney), "Jorge Soto Martinez was one of 11 men who were interrogated by the FBI about the [training] camp [at Lacombe]," but then a little bit further down (in the section titled Arrested at Lacombe) Weberman says, "John Koch Gene, Sam Benton, Richard Lauchuli, Earl J. Wassem, Jr., Ralph Folkerts, Victor Espinosa, Carlos Eduardo Hernandez Sanchez, Acela Pedro Amores, Miguel Alvarez Jimenez, Antonio Soto Vasquez, [and] Victor Panque [were the 11 men arrested at Lacombe]." http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/weberman/nodule12.htm Sincerely, --Tommy

The guy at the Parrot Jungle was identified and turned out to be a Cuban who had worked in the Havana casinos and knew Mike McLaney and stayed at the home of his brother William on Lake Pon in La,, is that right? Dear Mr. Kelly, Did you know that the first link in your post is nonfunctional? Is there anything you can do to "revitalize" it? Thank you! Also, I thought I would inform the other members and guests that your second link goes to part (of a part) of a "Course on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" taught by linguist and computer scientist John A. Goldsmith at the University of Chicago in the Spring of 1994 and the Spring of 1995. Here's a link to his text for the whole course: http://hum.uchicago.edu/jagoldsm/Papers/JFK/JFK.html Note: Professor Goldsmith's "Chapter 10: The Garrison Investigation and its Critics" can be found by clicking on the following link: http://hum.uchicago.edu/jagoldsm/Papers/JFK/ Sincerely, --Tommy

Bill, I couldn't see the photo you linked to at "photo 7" because when I clicked on it, this is what I got (please click on it): https://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do --Tommy PS The two photos of the blond guy who was sent to the Soviet Embassy aren't the first two in the fourth column, they're the first two (from the left) in the fourth row.

Thanks, Bill. But those two LIERODE photos are of two different people, aren't they? --Tommy

Here's the pdf document by CIA Latin America Division Chief, Raymond A. Warren, that James Richards was trying to post, or at least part of it: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history-matters.com%2Farchive%2Fjfk%2Fcia%2Frussholmes%2Fpdf%2F104-10413-10077.pdf&ei=EF34UbLAB6j8yAHE74G4Cw&usg=AFQjCNHaTxzIcAcdrHOpOJvAv8dLdpJ_6g&sig2=oCLwIQayggJQgyJEju8x2A&bvm=bv.49967636,d.cGE According to page 2 of a CIA document which Bill Simpich recently brought to our attention in another thread ( http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17471&page=2 ), Yuiry Ivanovich Moskalev was born circa 1921, so he would have been about 42 years old in October of 1963 when the photos of Mexico City Mystery Man were taken. Here's the document: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=4546&relPageId=2 Another Simpich link shows what Moskalev looked like in 1971 when he was around 50 years old: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=4158&relPageId=2 Moskalev does look a lot like the Mexico City Mystery Man, IMHO, especially in the photographs taken on 10/15/63 at the Cuban Embassy / Cuban Consulate: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=4172&relPageId=65 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=4172&relPageId=67 What do the other members think? Bear in mind that there is a difference of eight years between the photographs taken in 1963 and in 1971. --Tommy

John, Thanks for sharing that. Consider this a "bump" --Tommy

Zach, Thanks for the feedback on Capehart / Damon. --Tommy

[...] The initial caller on the line identified herself as the Cuban consul's secretary, a young Mexican woman named Sylvia Duran. She told the Soviets that she was with a man had a question. She then put a man on the phone, and [sic] insisted in speaking in what was described as "broken Russian". It was reported that two individuals who heard the tapes reported that the man was also speaking "broken English". The linguistically challenged man told the Soviet officer that he had a contact number that he wanted to pass on to the Soviets. The Soviet officer told the man to come on over. [...] [xiv] The CIA's file card for Moskalev identified him as "35, medium height": Biographic information card: Moskalev, Yuriy Ivanovich, Russ Holmes Work File / NARA Record Number: 104-10413-10307. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=4546&relPageId=3 [...] [emphasis added by T. Graves] Bill, I'm interested in what you've written and finding it to be well sourced and plausible. I do, however, have a couple of ideas and/or nitpicky suggestions. 1) Regarding your two individuals link, I'm thinking that maybe Oswald's imposter spoke good English to the Russians, but they, not being native English speakers, had a hard time understanding him in that language. This might explain why the Mexican monitors thought the caller was having a "difficult time making himself understood in English." 2) The Oswald impostor spoke about an address, not about a "contact number." 3) Since the CIA's file card for Moskalev that you linked to identified him as being 35 years old in April of 1956, he would have been 42 or 43 in October of 1963 when the photos of him were taken in Mexico City. What you're saying makes the whole Mexico City mess comprehensible to me and I am looking forward to your book. Keep up the good work! Sincerely, --Tommy

Zach, OK. Thanks. I didn't mean to suggest that the short blond guy who might be holding an umbrella in the photo is TUM. Anyway, I guess the 6'1" Capehart couldn't have been the "about the same height as her (5' 3.5")" Blond Oswald that Duran said she dealt with at the Cuban Consulate. BTW, how did you find out that Capehart / Damon was 6'1"? --Tommy No, I'm not suggesting that TUM was 6'1". LOL Just kidding.

Zach, I don't understand your sentence, "I don't think he matches TUM's description we see in the images..." The only TUM I know about is The Umbrella Man. Weren't we talking about the blond "Oswald" that Silvia Duran said she dealt with three times at the Mexico City Cuban Consulate on September 27, 1963? --Tommy

Stephen, It seems to me that when you let someone register a car in your name, it's legally your car. Maybe the young serviceman let Ferrie "borrow" the car from time to time, like when he was on active duty abroad? --Thomas

Robert, Please remind me of what you said in a post a couple of years ago. During what year (or years) did LBJ and MB stay at the La Valencia Hotel in my hometown of La Jolla, California? Thanks, --Tommy Tommy, LBJ and Madeleine stayed at the Hotel Del Charro sometime in the 1950's. And we know this for a fact because JFK researcher Ed Tatro re-united Madeleine with Allan Witwer, the former manager of the Hotel Del Charro. According to Tatro, when Madeleine and Witwer saw each other after all those decades they broke into big smiles, ran to each other, hugged and carried on like old friends. I will take that as definite proof of the Madeleine/LBJ relationship. That anecdote goes a long, long way into establishing the credibility of Madeleine Brown, and I am getting a little tired defending Madeleine while 3 of her closest friends hide in their gopher holes off the internet. For God's sake, of course Madeleine was a very close and important mistress for LBJ. Of course, she had a son Steven Mark with LBJ in December, 1950. That is one big reason Tatro needs to finally publish his 1,200 page book on the JFK assassination, titled Urgency to Kill. I suggest you get in contact with Ed Tatro first hand and hear his account of the story. Tatro helped Madeleine write Texas in the Morning: The Love Story of Madeleine Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Web link: http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Morning-Madeleine-President-Johnson/dp/0941401065/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375070026&sr=1-1&keywords=texas+in+the+morning Tommy, I am surprised you have not heard that story before; you seem to be such a self proclaimed expert on the history of your area. Dear Robert, Nope. Sorry. I've never heard that Lyndon Johnson stayed at the Hotel Del Charro. And I've lived here off and on since early 1950 when I was half a year old. BTW, It's interesting that this long article in the San Diego Reader doesn't say anything about LBJ ever shacking up at the Del Charro:: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/05/cover-oil-politics-la-jolla/ (Part 1) http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/12/feature-big-rich-part-two/ (Part 2) --Tommy Well, Tommy, maybe there are just a lot of things that you don't know. My attitude is I don't know something, tell me something new. When Lyndon Johnson was at the Hotel Del Charro, it was when he was a US Senator - exactly what year in the 1950's I don't know. Let's say it was 1955 when LBJ became Majority Leader of the US Senate and was on his way to becoming the second most powerful man in Washington. His national profile was nowhere near as prominent as the actual power the man was wielding for the next several years. Or maybe it was the early 1950's when Senator LBJ was at the Hotel Del Charro. Very few people in California publicly knew who LBJ was at this time period; it would not be like Kim Khardashian and Kanye West going somewhere for a visit the age of cell phone cameras and Twitter. I am sure there were lots of high profile people, business, mobsters, politicians, friends of Clint Murchison, who popped into Hotel Del Charro with their girlfriends and mistresses and nobody was the wiser for it. Again, Allan Witwer, the manager of Hotel Del Charro sure did remember Madeleine Brown fabulously well. Maybe he knew a lot more about what was going on there than you or the local newspaper ... especially when you were a 4 year old kid. Dear Robert, In 1995, your Allan Witwer (with his fabulous memory) also said that Clint Murchison owned the Texas School Book Depository and that Oswald visited Hoover and Murchison at the Del Charro about a month before the assassination. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjfk.hood.edu%2FCollection%2FWeisberg%2520Subject%2520Index%2520Files%2FW%2520Disk%2FW%2520Letter%2FWitwer%2520Allan.pdf&ei=ehv2UbnRL8mriALWqYCgBQ&usg=AFQjCNGATDPiOhCjYvMpuFgfdTJi0EAL2Q&sig2=PuEXng7d6OJBRZhfu66F7Q&bvm=bv.49784469,d.cGE Sincerely, --Tommy ,

Robert, Please remind me of what you said in a post a couple of years ago. During what year (or years) did LBJ and MB stay at the La Valencia Hotel in my hometown of La Jolla, California? Thanks, --Tommy Tommy, LBJ and Madeleine stayed at the Hotel Del Charro sometime in the 1950's. And we know this for a fact because JFK researcher Ed Tatro re-united Madeleine with Allan Witwer, the former manager of the Hotel Del Charro. According to Tatro, when Madeleine and Witwer saw each other after all those decades they broke into big smiles, ran to each other, hugged and carried on like old friends. I will take that as definite proof of the Madeleine/LBJ relationship. That anecdote goes a long, long way into establishing the credibility of Madeleine Brown, and I am getting a little tired defending Madeleine while 3 of her closest friends hide in their gopher holes off the internet. For God's sake, of course Madeleine was a very close and important mistress for LBJ. Of course, she had a son Steven Mark with LBJ in December, 1950. That is one big reason Tatro needs to finally publish his 1,200 page book on the JFK assassination, titled Urgency to Kill. I suggest you get in contact with Ed Tatro first hand and hear his account of the story. Tatro helped Madeleine write Texas in the Morning: The Love Story of Madeleine Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Web link: http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Morning-Madeleine-President-Johnson/dp/0941401065/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375070026&sr=1-1&keywords=texas+in+the+morning Tommy, I am surprised you have not heard that story before; you seem to be such a self proclaimed expert on the history of your area. Dear Robert, Nope. Sorry. I've never heard that Lyndon Johnson stayed at the Hotel Del Charro. And I've lived here off and on since early 1950 when I was half a year old. BTW, It's interesting that this long article in the San Diego Reader doesn't say anything about LBJ ever shacking up at the Del Charro:: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/05/cover-oil-politics-la-jolla/ (Part 1) http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/12/feature-big-rich-part-two/ (Part 2) --Tommy

Robert, Please remind me of what you said in a post a couple of years ago. During what year (or years) did LBJ and MB stay at the La Valencia Hotel in my hometown of La Jolla, California? Thanks, --Tommy

I believe there is a photo of someone in front of the TSBD who looks like Claude Capehart. I have been unable to find it, but if I recall, it bears a resemblance to these embassy photos. Anyone have a copy of that photo and can post it? This Capehart thread is interesting and Jim D did a story on Claude Capehart in his publication Probe V4 #1 entitled "The Capehart Caper" I couldn't upload the Jim Murray photo but here's link to it on Robin Unger's great website: http://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=41&pos=18 --Thomas Hi Thomas, I missed this earlier, for whatever reason, but the above link is dead -- is this the photo?: This picture was snapped right after the assassination in front of the TSBD. The guy on the left walking thru looks familiar. He looks like this man at the Cuban Embassy: What do you think? -- Zach Zach,Unfortunately your images didn't "take". --Thomas Zach, Well, it's been two years later now, and I see that your photos have "taken." Yes, that upper photo is the one I was referring to. IMHO, the blond haired guy on the far left of the upper photo does strongly resemble the blond haired guy photographed at the Cuban Embassy / Cuban Consulate in Mexico City on October 26, 1963 (your lower photo). I don't know what to make of Sylvia Duran's description of the Oswald character she dealt with at the Cuban Embassy / Cuban Consulate on October 27th, 1963. She said he was blond, blue or green-eyed, skinny, and short. She said he was the about the same height as she was, "160 to 162 cm" (5' 3" to 5' 3 3/4"). http://jfkassassination.net/russ/m_j_russ/hscadurn.htm I wonder how tall Claude Capehart was? Here's a William Allen photo showing the "Claude Capehart" figure (I think) on the far left, behind the big guy with the stick. Does "Capehart" have something in his right hand? An umbrella? edited and bumped

bumped

Thanks, Harry. I just might do that. Did you know him "back in the day?" --Tommy

Sorry, Harry. I don't understand. What should I do with that e-mail address? Please send me a PM if you want to. Thanks, --Tommy

From John Newman's Oswald and the CIA, pp. 257-258: "It is remarkable how many threads of information eventually weave themselves into a part of the Oswald story. The FBI had an informant in Hemming's Interpen group, and much of his reporting was naturally cross-filed into Hemming's ONI files. An example of this was the obscure but engaging piece of filing information we set aside earlier in this chapter - that an April 24, 1962, FBI report on Robert James Dwyer in Hemming's file showed that the final ONI destination for this document was "F5." Perhaps this was routine in the Navy, but it rarely appears elsewhere in the JFK collection. This office might have been in 923F, the Personnel Branch of ONI's Administrative Division (923), but if so, it was not listed in the documents consulted for this study. It was probably an F5 branch in the same general part of ONI - Administration and Security (921) - that was handling the job of excerpting the Hemming material for final filing. This would make the full designation "921F5," which is worth mentioning because the only other document in the JFK files from 921F5 has an intriguing person's name on it. The document makes a brief reference to a discussion by "M. Wesley" of a "complete file" and "case history" on Interpen. (footnote 127) Even though it may be only a coincidence, it is an intriguing fact that there is a mysterious person by the name of "Wesley" who shows up in Mexico City after (or perhaps during) Oswald's visit there and makes his way into Oswald's FBI file." On page 581, footnote 127 reads: "NARA, JFK files, NIS [Naval Investigative Service] (3 boxes) 1994 release, box 1. Cross-reference sheet prepared by 921E/jgr on June 11, 1962 for an FBI report of May 28, 1962 regarding the 30th of November Revolutionary Movement, with serial number 105-92196." ______________________________________________________________________________ Questions-- 1) Does one have to visit the National Archives to read the document described in the footnote, or is it viewable online? 2) Could "M. Wesley" have been FBI agent M. Wesley Swearingen (who retired in 1977 and has written some excellent books implicating the FBI in the coverup)? 3) Does anyone know how to go about finding the file(s) mentioning "Wesley" who, Newman says, was in M.C. after (or perhaps even during) Oswald's visit there and who, Newman says, shows up in Oswald's FBI files? (No, not Buell Wesley Frazier!) Thanks, --Tommy

[...] [...] [...] The Warren Report relied mostly on ballistics evidence to claim that Oswald killed Tippit, but that evidence was a mess. An FBI expert testified that the bullets could not be linked to the shells allegedly found at the scene and entered into evidence. The chain of evidence on three of the four bullets was seriously flawed. The shells were not in fact marked at the scene by the police, as Detective James Leavelle admitted to me. Three of the bullets suspiciously turned up in the dead files of the Dallas Police Department long after the fact. Evidence suggests the bullets entered into evidence were planted. ther shells found at the scene were not entered into evidence. Officers reported an automatic was used; Oswald was said to have a revolver. As for the witnesses, some (actually nine) indeed identified Oswald as the shooter or a man fleeing from the scene. But Helen Markham, the star witness, was hysterical and hopelessly confused. She may not have even seen the shooting. The closest witness, Domingo Benavides, wouldn't identify Oswald as the shooter and was not brought to view a lineup. Benavides only identified Oswald years later on TV after his brother was shot and killed. An extraordinary amount of violence and intimidation surrounded Tippit witnesses, a sign of the extreme sensitivity of that part of the case, which David Belin called its "Rosetta Stone." The llneups from which some witnesses identified Oswald were tainted because it was obvious Oswald was the designated suspect at those showings. Ten witnesses who saw parts of the events would not identify Oswald as the shooter or the man fleeing. Other witnesses said other men were involved in the shooting. Suspicious vehicles, including another police car, were seen at the scene. It is likely Oswald was not even there. I identify likely suspects in the shooting, including one or two Dallas police officers. I exonerate other suspects, including Oswald. I demolish the weak case brought by the DPD against Oswald in the Tippit shooting and do so with the help of the lead detective, Leavelle, whom I grilled closely. He admitted many of the flaws in the case. Former DA Henry Wade, whom I interviewed, similarly admitted to me the flaws in the case against Oswald for allegedly shooting Kennedy. These key law enforcement men were not able to marshal convincing evidence against Oswald when I questioned them in close detail. Wade told the Warren Commission that as early as November 23, he "felt like nearly it was a hopeless case" against Oswald for shooting Kennedy. He told the commission, "I wasn't sure I was going to take a complaint." And Wade admitted to me, "I probably made a lot of mistakes." Oswald did not try to shoot a policeman at the theater. An FBI expert testified there was no dent on the cartridge in the gun that supposedly had misfired. [...] Oswald could not have walked from his rooming house in Oak Cliff in time to shoot Tippit. The Tippit shooting took place at 1:09, or a minute earlier,and Oswald was seen at his rooming house nine-tenths of a mile away at about 1:04. The Warren Report distorts the time of the shooting to prove its dubious case. I conducted the first interview by a researcher with T. F. Bowley, who said he came upon the dead officer at 1:10. Oswald could only have been at the Tippit shooting scene if he had been driven there, and that seems unlikely. As for the police dispatch describing the suspect, that was vague and could have applied to thousands of men in Dallas. Tippit was given more explicit instructions, not by the regular police radio, to find Oswald. This is backed up by a variety of sources and evidence. [...T]he police radio did contain odd instructions singling out Tippit to be at large in Oak Cliff for a possible emergency.shooting. [...] [emphasis added by T. Graves] Dear Mr. McBride, Looks like you've written a very interesting book to say the least. Thank you for entertaining our questions. I have two questions for you. 1) Who saw another police car at the scene? That's fascinating and I ask this question just to save myself a couple of hours (or days) of time "researching" it. LOL I'd rather spend the time "researching" whether Oswald's revolver misfired or if McDonald prevented it from firing by sticking the web of his hand between the hammer and the cartridge.... 2) Do you think that Butch Burroughs was mistaken when he said that Oswald entered the Texas Theater no later than 1:07? Thank you, --Tommy

Interesting post, Robert. Now I'm wondering about two things: 1) Where Oswald cashed the "check" that Raikan handed him in Hoboken, New Jersey. Or was it an easier-to-cash money order, instead? 2) If any of the old yearbooks in the East Stroudsburg University library have a photograph of Professor Raikan. Or, for that matter, if his photo appears on the back cover of any of the books he published. Keep up the good work, --Tommy

John, Thank you. Hopefully the more fractious, divisive, and rude members have learned their lesson. --Tommy