Bill Simpich

Sandy asks the right question: "Who's been doing the work of searching and releasing the records beginning in 1998 when the ARRB closed, up till the latest release?" NARA stated in the Federal Register in 2000 that it was them. “NARA continues to maintain and supplement the collection under the provisions of the Act…Agencies continue to identify records that may qualify as assassination records and need to have this guidance available.” NARA was wrong. It turns out that between 1998 to 2017, NARA did virtually nothing to supplement the collection, and agencies did virtually nothing to identify new records. The agencies waited out the American public - as another example, after the government spent enormous amounts of money to locate hundreds of living sources during the ARRB era of 1994-1998, the agencies lobbied to have their sources' names hidden - and then let these sources die off between 1998 and the present. Many of us assumed that records were continuing to be released between 1998-2017. Except for a few documents, we were wrong. Many of us assumed that the last of the records would be released in 2017. We were wrong. What has happened is that the executive agencies used new, made-up standards for release, "Transparency Plans" created by the executive branch, replaced them with the standards for release created in the JFK Records Act, and released the documents that they felt like releasing. The President then used the new made-up standards to state that the rest of the records will not be released until certain events occur, such as "when diplomatic relations with Mexico will not be affected" and "when nuclear policy changes".

The "major blow" occurred in July, 2023 when the court moved to dismiss much of the case because it ruled against our interpretation of the JFK Records Act. Today, the case is stronger now than it was before this week's order. The new ruling expands the case to include documents "removed" from government possession, not just "destroyed" documents. This is one of the reasons we amended the complaint. What it means is that we have a stronger argument for enforcement - at least one court case states that enforcement is "mandatory" when documents are removed, but not when documents are destroyed. As to the other aspects of the case - the President was dismissed from the case six months ago. Preliminary injunctions are very difficult to win. The judge made it clear in his initial ruling that he believed that the President and NARA had carte blanche to modify the JFK Act with Transparency Plans, and that NARA had few duties except in those instances where the ruling was in our favor. In this ruling, the judge has now further stated his reasons for these findings. We have made a very strong and complete record to challenge any aspect of the case, should we choose to do so. We are also going forward with our claims that NARA must create the proper Identification aids so that the Collection can be easily accessed: for release of the non-executive branch records; and to recover removed and destroyed records (destroyed records can sometimes be re-constructed through various electronic means). We will let you know our next steps. Bill Simpich

Leslie, I haven't studied Trettin extensively, especially re his role as deputy CI - but check out the Cuban Operations Group that deserves more study: Cuban Operations Group Paul Oberst COG/CA 63 Carl Trettin Deputy COG, CI 63 Margaret Forsyth, COG, 63 For a bigger picture background: C/PW Seymour Bolten/Trouchard? (actually, Trouchard may be Kent) (62-63) (64 - SAS/SO/SB) C/PW George Joannides/Newby (63-64) aka Henry Boysen Ops Officer - Deputy COS - August 61 Frederick Inghurst - deputy COS (re Joannides personnel file) - field contracting officer Shackley's chief of operations Raymond L. Pochron (?) was C/CI/JMWAVE during 1962 Winfred Jimerson (Sforza?) was C/CI/JMWAVE from late 1962 to mid-1963 CI officers Lewis Nicklas, George Watts, Here's the CIA flowchart for JMWAVE: COS and DCOS, w/secretaries and communicators Branches: Support, Ops Branch of FI and Special Ops, CA Branch, External Ops Branch, Reports Section, Technical Services Section C/Miami, chief of operations, Morales (Ult Sac, p. 57)

Here is the docket's text: CLERK'S NOTICE THE MOTIONS [#78, #91, #92] SCHEDULED FOR HEARING ON JANUARY, 18, 2024 AT 1:30 P.M. SHALL BE SUBMITTED WITHOUT ORAL ARGUMENT PURSUANT TO CIVIL LOCAL RULE 7-1(b). ACCORDINGLY, THE MOTION HEARING IS VACATED. (This is a text-only entry generated by the court. There is no document associated with this entry.) (cl, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/12/2024) "In the Judge’s discretion...a motion may be determined without oral argument or by telephone conference call." - that's the language of Rule 7-1(b) referred to above. This is part of a nationwide trend towards taking away oral argument - less than 20% of federal cases have any oral argument - see that statistic and more in this linked article on "The Disappearing Oral Argument". The federal judges are overloaded with cases - why have a legal system if you can't afford to fund it properly? - and this is the result. I have no problem criticizing the legal system - but it is counterproductive for me to comment on the judge, pro or con. Let's wait and see what happens. Lawsuits take a while. No matter what this ruling contains, we have a number of options. We made many good arguments in the briefs and our complaint covers a lot of ground. If you want to review the filings themselves, go to the JFK Lawsuit page at the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Bill Simpich

I wanted to revive this thread because my research led me to conclude that the report that Michael Paine said to Ruth on 11/22 that "we both know who is responsible" was made up by an intelligence operative who then passed it on to Irving police chief Paul Barger. Did anyone ever ask Barger for the final word on this story? Is Barger still alive? I can't find an obit for him, he would be well in his 90s today. - Bill Simpich From: https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Oswald_Legend_Epilogue.html The Twelve Who Built the Oswald Legend Epilogue ...There has been much discussion of a report by a third party that Michael Paine said to Ruth over the phone that Lee killed JFK but "we both know who is responsible." I don't think this story came from a wiretap - rather, I think that this story was entirely made up by an intelligence operative. This operative - who either was a telephone repairman or gave the story to the repairman - passed on this planted story to Irving police chief Paul Barger with the hope of linking Oswald to the Communist menace and instigating an attack on Cuba. When LBJ and his team made it clear to the Dallas district attorney Henry Wade, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and others that rumors about Communist involvement had to be squelched, efforts were made to bury Barger's report. Ruth initially denied such a statement was made to her in her conversation on 11/22/63 with Michael in the first hour of the assassination - a conversation that is shown in her phone log, below. (A curious anomaly is that the phone log shows that she initiated the call from Michael's office, which both of them deny. It may have been a simple phone company mistake.) By the seventies, Ruth was saying that the initial conversation referred to the American right wing forces that were creating a hostile environment prior to JFK's death. Jim Hosty in his book Assignment Oswald says that the phone call happened on the night of November 22, and was between Lyman Paine and his son Michael. They didn't take it too seriously because they assumed that Lyman, a Trotskyist, was blaming the powers that be - reminding Michael how Stalin's people killed Trotsky. Hosty offers no documentary evidence of his claim. Call log showing 11/22 collect call from "Mrs. Michael Paine" Irving PD chief Paul Barger said it was between Ruth's phone and Michael's work phone on 11/23/63 overheard by a "telephone repairman" - however, there is a phone log for Ruth's phone showing the 11/22 call - there is no phone call logged for 11/23 between these two numbers. A later memo shows Barger admitting that the call could have been on 11/22 as well as 11/23 - and that he believed the information came from "telephone company sources". Both Michael and Ruth Paine told the Warren Commission, several times, that a phone call between themselves, from the same locations, occurred on November 22, 1963 at about one pm. Michael said he called Ruth immediately upon returning to the lab from lunch. Both Michael and Ruth said that no details were discussed other than that the assassination had happened, because they didn't know any details at that early point. Michael's co-worker Frank Krystinik implicitly supported this story with his testimony that he and Michael discussed Oswald's possible involvement once they heard that shots came from the book depository, but that Michael refused to take it seriously until Oswald's arrest at the theater. It makes sense that the call would have been made immediately after the shooting - making that kind of call is what most people do in a moment of crisis. They don't wait. Furthermore, even if the call was made after Oswald's identity was announced at 3 pm that day, there is no way that Michael Paine was any more "sure" that the shooter was Oswald at 3 pm than he was at 1 pm. Given Oswald's fraught relationship with the FBI, Oswald's arrest didn't give Paine any more reason to be sure about Oswald's involvement - much less for him to say that "we both know who is responsible". Special Agent Robert Lish reports about his interview with Chief Barger, who had "received information that a male voice was overheard in a conversation," during a telephone call held on "November 23". "Captain BARGER advised that the male voice was heard to comment that he felt sure LEE HARVEY OSWALD had killed the President, but did not feel OSWALD was responsible, and further stated, 'We both know who is responsible.'" Barger does not identify the source of his information. Gemberling Report on "We both know who is responsible" call We see this language verbatim in the FBI Gemberling Report of January 7, 1964, but instead of naming Paul Barger, the source is identified as Confidential Informant Dallas T-4... ...In a 1976 Dallas Times Herald article written to refute the allegations of a wiretap on the Paine's residential line, Hugh Aynesworth interviewed Paul Barger, then working for the Irving Independent School District. Barger claimed the source of his original report was known to him after all, and was a telephone repairman who by chance, "due to some mechanical difficulties ... he was checking out the line" and inadvertently listened in on the conversation. Barger, supposedly, did not identify the man back in 1963 over concerns of reprimand. Barger added he "did not believe the FBI had any wiretap on the Paine house, 'If they did,' he said, 'they wouldn’t have been asking me for what happened.'" (FBI 62-109060 JFK HQ File, Section A28, p. 71-72). The phone call itself, and its content, are not denied. But Barger claimed that he - himself - was T-4. What I find fascinating is that when the FBI examined the records for Michael's office phone number CR 5-5211, it was initially described on 11/26/63 as an unpublished number for Bell Helicopter in Hurst, Texas. It's odd, because Michael worked in the Research Laboratory in Arlington, ten miles from Hurst, and was one of the few employees with a key to the lab. On 12/10/63, a different FBI agent received a different story, describing CR 5-5211 as the number for "Bell Helicopter Plant, Great Southwest Development Center, 3006 Avenue East, Arlington, Texas. Mike Paine and George Johnson give access to the plant to telephone company employees." To me, that indicates that "Mike Paine" had been assigned by Bell Helicopter to be its liaison to the telephone company - and that the operatives at the phone company had a personal relationship with Paine. This may have been who was supposedly listening into the phone call between "Mike Paine" and Ruth. Telephone company operatives have a close-knit relationship with intelligence operatives. I believe that the Paines told someone - maybe Mike's mother, maybe Mary Bancroft herself - that they would keep an eye on the Oswalds - and I believe they got in way over their head. Furthermore, I think the whole story that the Paines "knew who was responsible" was made up, and was part of a plan to point the assassination on Castro's Cubans. This story was a "spare part" - linking Oswald to a larger Communist plot - that in the end was not used. Shortly after the assassination, the new Johnson Administration settled on the story that Oswald acted alone. LBJ made it clear to his friend Richard Russell on 11/29/63 that "we've got to take this out of the arena where they're testifying that Khrushchev and Castro did this and did that and kick us into a war that can kill 40 million Americans in an hour." Former Irving police chief Paul Barger is still alive and in the immediate area at the age of 95. Michael Paine passed away in 2018.

I think having a pinned JFK Records Act thread would be very helpful in keeping people abreast of the lawsuit. We should be able to self-police ourselves to keep anti-Trump/anti-Biden harangues off the thread.

Actually- in this case - Pino was a strongman inside Castro’s diplomatic corps- he was training anti-government guerrillas against Somoza. But the notion that he was plotting against JFK was part of a years long disinformation campaign I will write about someday soon.

ZRPENNY was the activity to counter Cuban student participation at a communist-sponsored world youth festival in Helsinki in 1962. I think it was a sardonic take on the phrase "a penny for your thoughts". The goal was to make the Cubans and their allies look bad. Also, are you saying that Spas Raikin - the Ukrainian who met LHO in NYC - was with the Prolog Research, Inc. - or linked to them in some way? Hank Albarelli did a good job analyzing Raikin's background in his book A Secret Order, pp. 210-212: http://visupview.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-jfk-assassination-strange-and.html 1951: "According to several CIA documents generated in 1957... Raikin and two other Bulgarians, on May 6, 1951, deserted their Trudovaks (Bulgarian Labor Corps) military unit 'and made their way to Plovdiv [city in Bulgaria] and into Greece.'..."A November 1957 FBI report, in response to the CIA's request to the Bureau for any information it had on Raikin, reads: 'The reason for [Raikin's] desertion was to join an alleged illegal group working in the mountains south of Plovdiv...unable to hold out any longer they enter Greece on June 19, 1951.'...Raikin (considered) himself an ordained priest in the Bulgarian church. In preparing the information [Raikin] used the nom de plume Prezviter KOSMA. The FBI field station comments that [Raikin] was brought to Athens from Salonika [a major port in Greece] on July 19 1951 to work for CIA LKB.. GSAP/10.'...GASP and GASP/10 were elite, ultra-secret CIA interrogation teams... "A CIA memorandum (11/26/51)...sent...to the CIA FDP chief provides a wider look at Spas Raikin's first encounter with the CIA in Greece, following his interrogation. Chief station Lloyd K. Desmond (note: C/WH/3 - Mexico & Central America - John Whitten), a CIA official who played a still-unexplained role in the CIA's hasty post-assassination investigation into Lee Harvey Oswald's Mexico City phone communications, signed the document....'Desmond also noted that Raikin and the other escapees had been interrogated 'to ascertain their future possible operational use.'"

In reviewing the various references to Project REDACTED in the memo, the Project's title appears to be an eight-letter word. Robert, you mention that Lt. Col. Manuel Chavez is mentioned at page 10 of the memo: "United States Air Force Lt. Col. Manuel "The Mexican" Chavez AKA Russell H. Sambora—CIA focal point officer at JMWAVE and cited in CIA documents as Chief of Security, AMWORLD. "by Lt. Col. Chavez's own admission, he was the State Department USAF Air Attaché to US Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon (Chief of Cuban Staff, Operations Coordinating Board, 5412/2 Committee) during Nixon's 1958 trip to Venezuela, and personal friends with United States Army SFC David “El Indio” Sánchez Morales AKA Stanley R. Zamka, Chief of Foreign Intelligence, CIA Counterintelligence Staff, Western Hemisphere Division, Cuban Operations & JMWAVE Chief of Covert Action (apparently, Lt. Col. Chavez and SFC Morales shared a desk at JMWAVE—how cute)." A number of us are interested in Lt. Col. Manuel Chavez, who was set up with his pseudonym Russell Sambora with the assistance of Henry Hecksher and David Phillips in late Nov-Dec. 1963 to operate in Mexico - today, here's my reason why: March 1964: A-1 (Artime) said that (Manuel Chavez) will be leaving on Monday, 16 march, for Nicaragua to survey AMWORLD installations...AMJAVA-4/Rafael Quintero, AMWORLD-2/Sixto Mesa and "the Mexican"/Manny Chavez will leave together for Nicaragua on March 16. What was the background of Chavez's two friends, AMJAVA-4/Rafael Quintero and AMWORLD-2/Sixto Mesa? As Larry Hancock has reported, when AMJAVA/4/Rafael Quintero was asked who killed JFK, his response was "better that you don't know". On AMWORLD-2/Sixto Mesa, Artime's lieutenant? He was a source of an early 64 wild made-up story linking Cuban diplomat Quintin Pino with Oswald, part of the continual effort to link the assassination to Castro: Dr. Fernando Penabez (of Miami)...is currently active in preparation of radio programs broadcast over 110 stations in eleven Latin American countries. He said these programs are directed against the Castro regime...he was invited to speak at the national anti-communist leadership school, sponsored by the Christian Crusade, in Shreveport. He was speaking with Billy Jean Hargis and Edwin Walker. He said he heard from Artime's aide Miguel de Leon Rojas that Oswald allegedly went to Cuba and returned with Quintin Pino, who supposedly crossed from Mexico to Texas to rescue Oswald after the assassination, but Oswald wasn't wearing clothes of the proper color and then got caught up in the Tippit shooting and missed being picked up by Pino. De Leon said Pino was a strongman in the diplomatic corps, and was sent to Nicaragua in 1959 to organize anti-government guerrillas and to teach sabotage. De Leon said he learned the story about Pino and Oswald about a week after 11/22/63 at the home of Sixto Mesa. Dr. Adolfo Vilabubo took credit as the source of the story, and said it was common rumor among the Cuban exile colony in Miami. When Mesa was quizzed about it by the FBI, he admitted that he had no first-hand information.

Robert, great material! Do you have any idea what Project REDACTED might have been? The late 1965 memo you quote begins by stating: "Project REDACTED had its inception, in 1954, following the acceptance of the idea that a closer relationship and better understanding between CIA and the military was essential to accomplishing effective coordination in the field in time of war... "This project has offered ten annual two-week courses for officers of all services selected from the continental and overseas commands and various service colleges, plus four special two-day courses for officers drawn from the JCS and DIA..." Could this project include these counter-insurgency courses described in the Wheeler Papers? They would train fifty colonels and lieutenant colonels at a time.

Hi Roger, What I can say is that the Plaintiffs are not confined to appeal. The Plaintiffs are considering their options. We will reach a decision within the next month. Thanks to everyone for their support and their critical thinking.

@Andrew Iler Andrew, you always have good ideas. You have my email, please send me anything that you think might be helpful.

I want everyone to know that the full outline of the lawsuit is still unresolved. The MFF statement outlines the case as it exists today. The judge's decision was a mixed bag, with victories and defeats for both sides. Both sides have the option to take action to affect the shape of the lawsuit in the days to come. This is not a hard-and-fixed situation yet. MFF, Tink Thompson and Gary Aguilar will take the next few days to review their options. I can't attach the entire decision, but it will be posted at Mary Ferrell Foundation's JFK site in the next day or two. One portion of the judge's ruling worth thinking about is below. We have created a good list of destroyed and missing documents at the Assassinations Archives and Research Center website. As many know, AARC, Jim Lesar and Dan Alcorn are indefatigable allies in these battles for openness and transparency. If anyone has any additions, please post them on this thread - after reviewing these two ARRC lists highlighted above? Below is the excerpt: Federal Records Act Plaintiffs plead that NARA has violated the Federal Records Act by failing to request that the Attorney General take action after the ARRB identified destruction of assassination records by certain agencies. Under the Federal Records Act, if the Archivist becomes aware of “any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of” an agency, they are required to notify that agency’s head and assist them “in initiating action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records unlawfully removed and for other redress provided by law.” 44 U.S.C. § 2905(a). If the agency head “does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action,” the Archivist must “request the Attorney General to initiate such an action.” Id. Plaintiffs aver that the ARRB Final Report identified intentional destruction of records by the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service, SAC ¶ 61(f), thus triggering the Archivist’s duty to ask the Attorney General to initiate an action for their recovery. Defendants argue this count should be dismissed because a referral to the Attorney General is only required under § 2905(a) for the recovery of records unlawfully removed, rather than destroyed. Defendants cite several cases interpreting an analogous provision to § 2905(a)—44 U.S.C. § 3106(a), which governs federal agencies—holding that agencies only have a duty to involve the Attorney General when records have been unlawfully removed. See, e.g., Bioscience Advisors, Inc. v. United States Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, No. 21-CV-00866-HSG, 2023 WL 163144, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2023); Citizens for Resp. & Ethics in Washington v. U.S. S.E.C., 916 F. Supp. 2d 141, 146–148 (D.D.C. 2013). However, Defendants fail to contend with the differences in language between § 2905(a) and § 3106(a). While § 3106(a) only requires an agency head to “initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records the head of the Federal agency knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed,” § 2905(a) requires the Archivist to assist an agency head in “initiating action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records unlawfully removed and for other redress provided by law.” 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905(a), 3106(a) (emphasis added). Likewise, if the agency head fails to “initiate an action for such recovery or other redress” after being notified of “any such unlawful action,” the Archivist must request the Attorney General to initiate such action. 44 U.S.C. § 2905(a) (emphasis added). In other words, as compared with § 3106(a), § 2905(a) includes an additional clause enabling the Archivist to initiate action through the Attorney General. § 2905(a) thereby seems to impose a broader referral duty on the Archivist than § 3106(a) imposes on agency heads because of its inclusion of “other redress provided by law.” Such a distinction also seems to be made within § 3106. Compare 44 U.S.C. § 3106(a) (requiring agency heads to take action for “the recovery of records . . . unlawfully removed”) with § 3106(b) (requiring the Archivist to make a referral when an agency head fails to “initiate an action for such recovery or other redress” after notification of “any such unlawful action described in subsection (a)”). The legislative history of § 2905 and § 3106 supports this interpretation. In 1984, Congress amended § 2905 and § 3106 to require an Attorney General referral by the Archivist if an agency head failed to take action. The House committee report only discusses the provision in the context of initiating action for the “recovery of records unlawfully removed.” H.R. Rep. 98-707, at 21. By contrast, the final conference report explained the provision as requiring the Archivist to make a referral to the Attorney General if they are aware of “any such unlawful action,” where “destruction” was listed several sentences before as one action prohibited by law. H.R. Conf. Rep. 98-1124, at 27, as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3894, 3902. The conference report then explained that Congress would be notified in such instances “because of the frequency of incidents of removal or destruction.” Id. at 28 (emphasis added).10 Because the language of § 2905(a) and § 3106(a) are markedly different, Defendants’ references to cases interpreting § 3106(a) are not persuasive. § 3106(a) seems to require the Archivist to make an Attorney General referral in more circumstances than unlawful removal of records. It instead seems to require that the Archivist make a referral to the Attorney General if the agency head has failed to act and the Archivist is aware of, among other unlawful conduct, destruction of agency records. Plaintiffs aver that certain agencies intentionally destroyed records, these agencies’ destruction of records was reported in the ARRB final report, and both the Archivist and the agencies failed to refer the matter to the Attorney General, thereby stating a plausible claim. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss Count 5 is denied, except to the extent it references NARA’s failure to pursue outstanding record searches.

If you put the document you are referring to into a mirror - or just click below - you will see.... "Ask Ashcraft - OO on Oswald." (bleed-through on upper right corner of the 12/3/63 Alvarado document) Here is a better copy. Not impossible that it says "E. M. Ashcraft - OO on Oswald", because he was the "Chief, Contact Division, OO" in 1963. OO stands for "Office of Origin". Ashcraft was chief of the Domestic Contact Division. Give credit where it's due - Joan Mellen is the one who figured this out. From Joan's essay "Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?": This signature, revealing who ordered the debriefing of Oswald, in fact belongs to one E. M. Ashcraft, Chief of the Contact Division. He and Robert Crowley, OSB/CI (Domestic Contacts Division, Operational Support Branch, Counter Intelligence), were on the same level. (Note: Crowley was the one who followed the Webster case from day one) Eleanor Reed’s overall boss would have been David Murphy, Chief of the Soviet Russia Division. Robert Crowley may have just about left 00/OSB (Operational Support Branch) where he was replaced by George S. Musulin by the time Oswald returned from the Soviet Union in June of 1962. This is how it might have worked. Ashcraft would have called Thomas Casasin or Richard L. Winch or Donald E. Poole at SR6. This person in turn would have talked to Rudy Balaban (SR6 Research). Balaban, code name “Valentino,” would have consulted with Reed, who then called OS, the Office of Security, requesting permission to debrief Oswald. OS would pass the request on to Personnel Security Division, who would give a green light or a red light. On occasion Balaban and Reed would do debriefings together...

Paul, tell me when he replies too.

Back in 1949, David Morales was with the 7821 Composite Group, European Command, in Germany, serving as a corporal. Richard Helms wrote the Chief of the Special Security Division and requested that Morales and a handful of others receive an (emphasized) "full" security clearance and a cryptographic clearance. During his time with the 7821 Composite Group, Morales was going back and forth to New York City, which was his mailing address and where his wife and children lived. His employer's mailing address was "2130 E. Street, NW, Washington DC" - that was the CIA's address. Morales describes this period from 1946-1953 as active duty with the US Army - the first two years with the 82nd Airborne, and 1948-53 as an "training and administrative advisor in Germany" before his discharge in 1953 - and on to Guatemala from there. From 55-60, Morales describes himself as a Foreign Service officer for the Department of State, with stints as an attache in Venezuela and Cuba. The best way to analyze Morales' work in the early sixties was as a "trainer of trainers". As I quoted Morales' bio in Chapter 2 of State Secret, from 1960-65 Morales served as a trainer advising "the USAF, foreign governments and their military and police personnel. This advice included the protection of personnel, installations and equipment, the use of investigative techniques, small unit tactics, and counter-guerilla activities. He also helped to set up specialized schools and training cadres. This service was performed primarily in Florida and in Washington D.C." My colleague Doug Vaughan shared his thoughts about the 7821 Composite Group years ago: "Maybe NATO, maybe not... "But it’s a combined command either way, used as cover. Correct ID important for tracking personnel in/out. This 1949 doc (re: Morales, Helms in same unit) is still transitional as mil intel (formed around sigint commands) and newly reminted CIA (Helms I charge here, Morales seconded from mil) were warring over controls in the cockpits, with NSA in the middle, scooping up and peeling off assets and crossing each others trolling lines under the boat. Point is, this leads directly into tunnel operation w/ Harvey, Shackley et al but in 1952-54 many same personnel inserted in PB’s (Guatemala, culminating PBSuccess) and/or Ajax in Iran. So tracking the unit and personnel requires some specificity as to chain of command, even if only a cover." In 1961, the Composite Operations Group had a base with the crypt of JMMOVE - in Belle Chasse near New Orleans to prepare for the Bay of Pigs. William Royer of the US Army Element Composite Operations Group had 140-200 Cubans training there in underwater demolition: 124-10369-10029, p. 16. The initial mission of the base was to train 30 men - that increased to 149 men during its short history. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32105594.pdf David Phillips wrote a memo about Belle Chasse years later - Phillips said the ultimate size of the base was 300 men, with Royer as chief security officer and Gilbert Strickler as Chief of Base. Another aspect of it was the "safe site" run by Nino Diaz/AMNORM-1 at the Algiers ammunition depot - also known as the Algiers ammo dump - also known as Belle Chasse. This operation led to what became a feigned or abandoned second front by sea during the Bay of Pigs.

I think it is fair to say that Emerald Robinson is a complete nut. Everything Joe said about her jibes with what I have seen written by her own hand. At the same time, I think Tom Lipscomb may have a good book on hand. I provided him with some sources and I believe he is one of the good guys. He told me some fascinating stories. Let's see what he's got.

Here's the story on how Michel Roux was confused with Souetre, visited at least Fort Worth, Houston and Mexico City (and maybe Dallas) during the 11/22 weekend (more on Roux at the pseudonyms at MFF): Re 11/20/63-11/24/63: 3/12/64 memo from Director FBI to Legal Attache, Paris, "Roux was in Houston November 20 last and visited (Leon Gachman, head of Gachman Metals, Post Office Box 308, Fort Worth) in Fort Worth between November 21-November 23 and returned to Houston. Through friends Gachman arranged to obtain job for Roux at unidentified Mexico City hotel until Roux could obtain proper visa..." Also see 124-10224-10060, p. 2: Leon Gachman of Gachman Metals claimed Roux arrived at his home in Fort Worth the night of 11/21 as part of his efforts to get into the hotel business; that Roux visited his son's class at Texas Christian the morning of 11/22; that they were having lunch at a cafe when the news reported the shooting of JFK. The next day, Roux went back to Houston, where Gachman joined him the next day, from there Roux went to Mexico City. Also see http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/S Disk/Souetre Jean with aka's/Item 11.pdf - page 10 - in an affidavit given to French authorities, Roux recounts his trip to see "Gaschman" for work in Fort Worth and Houston that never materialized, never mentions that he was in Dallas on 11/22, is vague about the time period that he was in the Fort Worth area; said that he only said the Mexicans should "reinforce security" when de Gaulle comes to visit. - page 1 - a journalist states he met Roux in Montreal in January 20-21, 1964, where Roux told him he had recently visited Dallas as well as Fort Worth, and that there was a plan to assassinate de Gaulle in Mexico City in March 1964. Also see page 14: "Legal attache in Paris advised 3/13/64 Michel Roux referred to above has been located by French in Paris and it has been determined he is not identical with Jean Souetre. Discontinue investigation." 180-10110-10054: [No Title] Re 11/22/63-January 1964, re Souetre aka Michel Roux aka Michel Mertz: A faint 4/1/64 extract of a document released by CIA (known as FOIA document 632-796) states that "Jean Souetre aka Michel Roux aka Michel Mertz - On 5 March, the Legal Attache in Paris and also the SDECE man (French intelligence service) had queried the Bureau in New York City concerning subject stating that he had been expelled from the US at Fort Worth or Dallas 48 hours after the assassination. He was in Fort Worth on 22 November and in Dallas in the afternoon. The French believe that he was expelled to either Mexico or Canada. In January he received call from dentist named Alderson living at 5803 Birmingham, Houston, Texas. Subject is believed to be identical with a Captain who is a deserter with the French Army and an activist in the OAS. The French are concerned because of deGaulle's planned visit to Mexico. They would like to know the reason for his expulsion from the US and his destination...WH/3/Biblio; CI/SIG; CI/OPS/Evans." Discussion of this document in 1977 by FBI officials and the media can be found at 124-10224-10072, p. 6.

The killing of Oswald was what we all saw on TV at the same time - not JFK. Oswald’s killing was the signal that the government was out of control and we would never know just what happened. The result? Trauma. Thank you, Gil, for putting this case back under our nose. Have you noticed how little effort we have put into solving it? The trauma continues to this day.

Bill, thanks very much for this thoughtful reply. I wonder if Dave Perry would be willing to ask the surviving creator of this document to go public - and tell the full story - and field questions. I'm more willing to believe the storyteller when anonymity is abandoned and there is a true dialogue. I've admitted my bias. My opinion at this point - again, subject to change - is that this forgery was done not just to hurt Mark Lane and Penn Jones, but all researchers who believed that more than one gunman was involved and that there was some kind of relationship between Ruby and Oswald. It's been almost 60 years since this document was created - it would be good to have an open dialogue about it and try to engender a spirit of understanding among all of us with various points of view - rather than being reduced to pointing fingers and speculating. FWIW, it sounds like Perry's conversation with Hargis led to the two people communicating with Perry in some fashion. To my knowledge, no one has challenged Mary Ferrell's tip from Al Chapman that he got the Bledsoe police report from Lt. Carl Day, who is now deceased. Is Al's son Randy Chapman still alive? Maybe he could tell us a little more. Conspiracy theorizing is inevitable when the holders of secrets continue to keep their secrets for no good reason. Keeping secrets about events like the JFK assassination is corrosive.

As I thought, the faked Bledsoe police report appears to have been designed to make JFK researchers look bad. Dave Perry wrote in 1999 that he received a call and personally received a copy of the Bledsoe document from a member of the "group intending to mess with Mark Lane". Dave Perry has an active website but I don't know how to reach him - could someone let me know how to reach him - Bill Brown, do you know how to reach him? - so we can ask him directly to publicly state who created the faked Bledsoe police report? From Perry's linked article: "Here is the rest of the story." (1) Two people were involved in the creation of the police report. It was produced sometime in 1966. (2) They had little difficulty obtaining police report forms. Many people had access to the police department main floor, including other law enforcement representatives, average citizens, reporters and attorneys, to name but a few. The reports were NOT sequentially numbered, so none would be missed, and they consisted of a carbonized, multi-page, "snap out" set. The perpetrators of the hoax filled out the form using a manual typewriter. The keys had to be struck forcefully so the type would be legible on all copies. (3) The people responsible were fed up with the way the Dallas Police Department and some Dallas citizenry were being portrayed and pestered by what they considered self-appointed assassination "researchers." In particular, they were disturbed by some allegations made by attorney Mark Lane. (4) The men decided to play a trick on Lane. The planned to produce a bogus police report, send the original to Lane and wait for him to call a press conference. At the conference, they would produce their portions of the carbon set and embarrass Lane in front of the media. (5) They ultimately mailed the "report" to Lane, but it was returned with the envelope stamped "addressee unknown." (6) The men next discussed whom else they could "sucker" into believing the document to be genuine. They sent the report to Texas Warren Commission critic Penn Jones Jr. As far as the participants know, Jones received the report but did nothing with it.

Pat, Steve, Larry, yes to all three comments. As Larry said, it appears to have been "faked by a very aggressive (and dismissive) LN local who knew enough to make it look plausible and then dump it into the community and expose how superficial and knee jerk the CT community was - yes to embarrass the early researchers. When Carl Day, the head of forensics - who faked more evidence than anyone I am aware of in the JFK case- is named by Mary Ferrell in Jerry Rose's newsletter as the man who handed it to the Rev. Al Chapman, one of the early Dallas researchers ... it makes me want to know more about both Carl Day and the Dallas researcher community in the 1960s (which seems to have almost faded out completely) - can anyone tell me more?

It's very well researched. Like most of us, it's when he starts speculating that he either hits gold or goes the wrong way (i.e., I tried to stay open, but I simply don't believe that LHO was a fascist.) One of the best books on the right wing and their military connections out there. I would get it for that reason alone. His focus is more on the card-carrying right-wingers than fellows like LeMay who were simple fascists through and through.

At top, see 21-18-1-6-9-14-11 - it spells U-R-A-F-I-N-K A "General Offense Report" was created in investigating the General Walker shooting of 4/10/63. The 10/11/63 Bledsoe police report is a clever forgery, as Oswald was allegedly living in the home of Mary Bledsoe at 621 N. Marsalis the week of October 7-14. James R. Follliard wrote a case study of this fake report in 1994 - Mary Ferrell told him that Dallas researcher Rev. Al Chapman told her that it was provided to him by Lt. Carl Day Several copies existed of varying quality before the Garrison trial in 1969 - a forensic examiner should try to figure out how and when it was created. The head of DPD forensics, Day destroyed the chain of custody for the three rifle shells - Day also took custody of the rifle at the 6th Floor, and claimed finding fingerprints that were not found by the FBI. James R. Black followed up Folliard's study with a great memo showing that a substitution cipher was used for the number of the report - 21-18-1-6-9-14-11 becomes U-R-A-F-I-N-K. A fink is commonly known a stool pigeon. Black offers several good reasons such a game might have been played. The most provocative reading would be that Oswald was shown this memo before the assassination to let him know that he was a known stool pigeon to the police. My tentative conclusion - subject to change - is that this fake police report was created to waste time and poison any notion that Ruby and Oswald knew each other or even knew about each other. Such a technique is very effective. I don't think this was a joke. There is nothing "funny" about this kind of malicious forgery.

I post this chronology now in hopes that it may help Gil - It looks like the links work, but the margins are out of place - if someone can help me, I will edit it. Bill The Death of Oswald A note about this chrono: The most important aspects to me are: 1. Butler's role in running the show in the police basement on 11/24, and Dallas refusing to address who was calling the shots. 2. The Sept 63 memo, newly released, that shows Jim Hosty, George Butler, the Communist informants and the ultraright weapons runners all penetrating each other's missions, Jack Revill, Masen, Hall, and Seymour...there's a lot going on...there was a big scene going on, and everyone knew it. 3. The role of former "Communist" William Lowery, who ran a shoe store near the Texas Theater, who had been tailing Joseph Molina for many years until he surfaced in late Sept 63. Did LHO take his place in tailing Molina? When LHO/LHO's double was seen outside Johnny Brewer's shoe store, was he looking for Lowery at that store...did he go to the wrong place? 4. Butler was a heavy hitter - connected with the Klan and the ultra-right in many formations. 5. His former partner was Captain Pat Gannaway - master of the Dallas spooks - Special Service Division chief - ran criminal intelligence, vice and narcotics. Gannaway is everywhere. Background from John Simkin: George Butler is indeed an critically important character and has already been discussed here - reprinted below in this particular font. George Butler was born in Texas in 1907. He joined the Dallas Police Force and in October, 1946, Paul Rowland Jones, an underworld crime boss, contacted Lieutenant Butler and offered him money to help him establish his gambling operation in Dallas. Butler arranged a meeting between Jones and Sheriff Steve Guthrie. Jones offered Guthrie an annual sum of $150,000. This conversation was recorded and Jones was eventually convicted of attempted bribery. Jones appealed his three-year sentence on grounds that he had been entrapped by a well-established corrupt law-enforcement system in Dallas. Undocumented but colorful article on background here. According to Seth Kantor: "Butler's... knowledge of organized crime was so intimate that he had been the key man in the department contacted by the Chicago mob when the chose to move into Dallas in 1946 and make police payoffs" and later he was "loaned by the Dallas police department to aid three different U.S. Senate investigatory groups as an expert on gangster operations". In his dealings with organized crime Butler got to know Jack Ruby. Ruby's sister, Eva Grant had been involved with Paul Rowland Jones and Waldron Duncan in an attempt to transport opium between Chicago and Dallas. Later Butler was to claim that Ruby had been a sleeper (a member of organized crime who maintained the image of a law-abiding citizen. Steve Guthrie told the FBI that Ruby was a front-man in Dallas for the Chicago syndicate. Butler knew about Ruby and his criminal connections with people like Paul Jones by the late 1940s. Penn Jones describes him as being head of the Policeman's Union in Dallas for a number of years. 1946-1947: "The Kefauver Committee conspicuously failed, as Ruby's lawyer Luis Kutner alleged, to expose the extent of the Chicago mob's takeover of Dallas gambling in 1946-47, when Ruby himself moved from Chicago to Dallas. (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 162) Butler said that Jones was his informant after the election of 1946 and said Ruby wanted to be part of his group, but they didn't want any part of him. Ruby had to go from SF to Dallas because SF didn't want him. 1948: Butler was working in the narcotics division and following mobsters. His partner was William Patrick (Pat) Gannaway. Pat Gannaway and Butler arrested Paul Jones at the end of the operation. Ruby was interrogated behind closed doors at a Kefauver Committee hearing by Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police in 1950. Kefauver congratulated Butler in 1950 for stopping corruption from reaching Dallas. (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 152 - Butler contradicted this statement in 1958) George Butler, told the FBI (HSCA Volume 9, p. 520😞 [quote] Ruby was not involved in the bribery attempt. In fact, he [Butler] had never heard of Ruby until after the investigation and trial had been completed. He stated the way Ruby came into the picture was a number of individuals who were involved in the bribery attempt and in particular Paul Roland Jones began "hanging out" at Ruby's club after the sentence. [unquote] Bill Turner wrote that Jones told the FBI he believed Butler was first in earnest and wanted a payoff, desisting only when he learned the Texas Rangers were wise to the negotiations." According to Michael Benson, Butler was an associate of Haroldson L. Hunt. His source was probably Bill Turner, who wrote that Butler made a point of driving H.L. Hunt to his speaking engagements. 1955: Butler transferred from the field of racketeers and mobsters and into the juvenile division. (Stated in the 1958 testimony, below) 1958: With RFK asking the questions, Butler testified at the Investigation of improper activities in the labor or management field. Hearings before the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field Butler testified mainly about how the mob moved in during the late 40s with their coin-operated machines into Dallas and had an 18 million dollar enterprise - hardly what he testified in 1950. Gambling and prostitution were endemic in Dallas during this period, so Butler was putting on RFK or RFK was letting it happen for political reasons. This document shows mobster Pat Manning promising Butler that gambling was all the mob wanted, and he would prevent other stuff from happening. In 1961 - Butler also provided information to W. Penn Jones Jr. According to Jones, Butler told him that 50% of the Dallas Police Department were also members of the Ku Klux Klan. More to the point, he also wanted Jones to start a statewide Klan newspaper with him! (Bill Turner, Ramparts, June 1967) Late Nov 61, Jack Revill, Lowery, DL-16-S (who reported on LHO that year), DL-6-S, and DL-107-C aka Earl Harvey all said that Minutemen were unknown to them. 4/30/62 Penn Jones tells FBI Edgar Wesley Seay, employee of Gen Walker, tried to burn down his newspaper with gallon can of gas w paper fuse thrown thru front door. 9/3/63: Hosty gets a hot tip from Donald Kemp that Edward Schwille of Dallas is active with a group similar to the Minutemen - Revill and everyone else are saying no knowledge of them in Dallas. Schwille wrote a letter on 11/26/63 seeking best evidence on Jack Ruby, knew Jack had Jake Ehrlich (note: great criminal attorney who could have won Ruby's case if Belli hadn't moved in w/his mob connections). Schwille, the leader, supplied weapons to Ashland Burchwell in 1962, weapons seized by DPD before Burchwell could leave Dallas for Oxford, MI to join Walker in the fight against Meredith. Burchwell has been working with Felix Botello, former DL-18-S, who used to work with Lowery in the Communist Party and knew (as T-1) that Joe Molina would never join the Communist Party. Molina worked with the American GI Forum, which was also spied on by Lowery and friends. Lowery became chairman of the American GI Forum. Botello and Burchwell said they disagreed w. Minuteman leader Robert DePugh and refuse to align with him and the Minutemen. Hosty knew about the right-wing during the 1962-63 period - as he said in his book - here he is with his superiors saying he really should be checking in again with Felix Botello, DL-18-S (see more about him below), and take the statement of the right-winger Delbert Ray. Penn Jones knew about the Venus Ranch, I believe it was also known as White Gate Farm - Delbert Ray, the Bircher who ran the ranch, was a close associate of Edgar Wesley Seay, another Bircher and an Edwin Walker employee. The police believed that Seay set fire to Penn Jones' newspaper office on 4/30/62 with a gallon of volatile fluid thru the front door The FBI thought that Delbert Ray was implicated in some way. Ray also was a warehouse operator in Dallas. 9/9/63: Hosty's informant is also his close friend, a Republican party activist. Although Hosty claims to be a JFK man and a Democrat, Weisberg found that both he and Revill "were as far to the right as even Dallas permits" (p. 1 of 😎 9/23/63: Bill Lowery was an FBI infiltration agent into the CPUSA. Additionally, he was co-founder of the Dallas chapter of the GI Forum with Joe Molina and others including Felix G. Botello who had also been a security informant against the extreme right (DL T-18-S) and was associated with Ashland Burchall in a Minutemen like group. Burchall had served under Edwin Walker in Germany. The FBI considered Walker an advisor to the Minutemen in Texas. Jerry Shinley: John Stanford and William Lowery had been the subject of wide-spread publicity about two months before the assassination. John Stanford, then a resident of San Antonio, was being investigated by Texas state and Bexar County authorities because of his alleged membership in the Communist party. In July of 1963, U. S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy asked Texas officials to refrain from taking action against Stanford until after the completion of Federal proceedings. (San Antonio Express, p. 5-A) On September 23, 1963, a hearing on Stanford was held before the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) in Washington. One of those testifying was William J. Lowery, who revealed that he had been acting as an FBI informant within the Communist Party since 1945. (Dallas Morning News, September 26, 1963, s. 1, p. 1; San Antonio Express, September 24, 1963, p. 1- A) Lowery's testimony that he had infiltrated the American G. I. Forum and other reputable groups created some controversy. An FBI spokesman denied that the FBI had ordered the infiltrations and said Lowery had been following the orders of the Communist Party in joining those groups. (San Antonio Express, September 25, 1963, p. 10-D; September 27, 1963, p. 5-B) In December, state and county officials raided the home of John Stanford and seized many of his papers and belongings. (San Antonio Express, December 28, 163, p. 1-A). Thus, the Dallas Police were suspicious of Molina because he was associated with a man who had been identified as an FBI informant on the front page of a Dallas newspaper. During his testimony before the Warren Commission, Molina attempted to talk about Bill Lowery, but was cut short by Commission counsel, Joseph A. Ball. (6 H 373) Another question of interest in this matter is whether Lee Harvey Oswald might have had any contact with Lowery or Stanford. Also, the publicity Lowery received may have had some influence on later rumors that Oswald was himself an FBI informant. Lowery’s September 1963 testimony before the SACB in Washington spelled the end of his undercover career. But that opened the door for someone else to take over “surveillance” of Molina, the token subversive. Did Oswald do it? Lowery's testimony was that he had infiltrated this and "other groups" on behalf of the FBI. The FBI actually went to press denying it! 10/1/63 Butler had a tape of the "karate guy" who made anti-JFK remarks at an anti-Castro Oct meeting in Farmers Branch. The karate guy spoke there with John Martino, Father Machann, Mrs. Trudy Castorr. Tapes created by Irving chiropractors, husband and wife, "Roeder" or "Rowder". (Weisberg files) Trudy Castorr discusses at great length how Butler was also pals with Sylvia Odio and got deep inside information from the whole Dallas Cuban crowd. Trudy Castorr made a point of giving him letters from Lucille Connell about Odio. It turns out Sylvia Odio was the cousin of Marcella Insua, the daughter of Joaquin Insua (informant and the head of Catholic Cuban Relief in Dallas). Weisberg considered Butler and Revill the most important police witnesses. 10/17/63 Jack Revill says on this date William Seymour and Loran Hall passed thru Dallas - Minutemen - and handling narcotics destined to go to Cuba as medical supplies. Early November 1963: Waldo also contacted Mark Lane and informed him that he had discovered that Jack Ruby, J. D. Tippit and Bernard Weismann had a meeting at the Carousel Club eight days before the assassination. Waldo added that he was too scared to publish the story and other information that he had about the assassination. Lane introduced Waldo to Dorothy Kilgallen. Her article on the Tippit, Ruby and Weissman meeting appeared on the front page of the Journal American. (Lee Israel, Kilgallen (1979)) I believe that this information about the meeting at the Carousel Club originally came from Butler. It is possible that it was Butler who provided Dorothy Kilgallen with the information about Jesse Curry's tapes. Sylvia Meagher later claimed that Butler gave contradictory information to the FBI and to the press about Ruby’s past criminal associations and activities. The Dallas Police website had some information on George Butler (for many years he was President of the Dallas Police Association. In fact, the Dallas Police Association headquarters building has been officially named the “George E. Butler Building” in his honor. (I visited it at 9:30 am the last Monday of Nov. 2018 - the reception was hostile just from knocking at the door - then I told them I was a JFK researcher! Definitely worth visiting - you might meet someone more reasonable - just one block from Lorenzo Hotel.) Trudy Castorr says she heard Butler was involved with the Minutemen and with the Cubans within the police dept. Weisberg mentions he thought Butler was involved in a mix-up because the car was not in place - that got Oswald shot by Ruby http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Castorr%20L%20Robert%20Colonel/Item%2023.pdf 11/20/63: Masen arrested, 5 foot 5, 130 pounds, small guy. Strongly sympathetic with Minutemen. 11/21/63: Entire operational plan for the motorcade is conducted in Curry's office. Gannaway, Sawyer (guarded the TSBD), Lumpkin (drove pilot car w/radio communications), SS members Forrest Sorrels and Winston Lawson among the fourteen present. Lawson reduced the # of motorcycles w/President from 4 to 2 on each side. 11/22/63 The official report indicates that homicide officers found the shells in the TSBD - when in fact it was Jerry Hill and/or Luke Mooney. "Lumpkin then instructed Revill to organize his team against the east wall...and make a systematic search...a member of Revill's searching party...found the rifle." 11/22/63: Lowery's shoe store was just west of the Texas Theatre on Jefferson. Did Oswald confuse the Brewer shoestore with Lowery's? Here is a photo of Lowery at his shoe store... Oswald may have been placed in the TSBD to monitor American GI Forum's Joseph Molina to replace Lowery. Molina's home was searched in the middle of the night after the assassination, and he spent most of 11/23 in interrogation at the police station. 11/22/63: Butler saw Ruby on this day in City Hall, but not on Sat or Sun. 11/22/63: Houston Chronicle reported: "Oswald, who had been interviewed by the FBI only six days before [the assassination], became important to the police only after he missed an employee roll call soon afterwards. 'He was the only one who couldn't be accounted for,' Detective Capt. Pat Gannaway said. There was no roll call and many employees could not be accounted for. 11/22/63 Pat Gannaway was the chief of the DPD Special Services Bureau. His subordinate Bill Biggio was directing police intelligence communications at the Fair Park office on 11/22. (source: Earl Golz) Jack Revill, Don Stringfellow, Bill Biggio and all the members of criminal intelligence division reported directly to Gannaway. So did vice and narcotics. Gannaway was a reserve Army Intelligence officer - like many of the DPD officers. The famous report of Harvey Lee Oswald and the employees of the TSBD went from Revill to Gannaway. Ruby would frequent the Special Services Bureau since 1956 to arrange for the city licenses that he needed to operate his nightclubs in Dallas. (pp. 2-3) The source for this information, Mary Hartford, was Gannaway's secretary from 1956-62. Another police chief described Hartford as possibly Ruby's "mistress" because their relationship was so close. Gannaway had the six members of the Indignant White Citizen's Council at the Trade Mart "taken into custody" to prevent them from being assaulted after the killing of JFK. A suit was filed - they lost. For background on Gannaway and the Special Services Bureau, see the Warren Commission testimony of Lieutenant Jack Revill (who became Assistant Chief in 1982) is very revealing in describing the duties and responsibilities of the Special Services Bureau. He stated: "I am currently in charge of the criminal intelligence section." Later he outlined the overall task of the bureau. "Our primary responsibility is to investigate crimes of an organized nature, subversive activities, racial matters, labor racketeering, and to do anything that the chief might desire. We work for the chief of police. I report to a captain who is in charge of the bureau – Captain Gannaway." Lieutenat Revill later indicated that he had been assigned to an investigative panel set up to determine how Jack Ruby had gained access to the City Hall basement where he had shot Oswald. This type of enquiry was obviously also the responsibility of the Special Service Bureau. For a very revealing account of the functions of DPD's Special Services Bureau, see Philip H. Melanson's article "Dallas Mosaic" published in the Third Decade, vol. 1, no 3, March 1985, pages 12-15. Among other things, Dr. Melanson mentions that " the spooky little unit was physically removed from the rest of the DPD and was headquartered in a building on the state fairgrounds." (Vol. IV HSCA, 597.) I believe it was located very close to the Women's Building on the State Fairgrounds. Note that Dallas' Special Services Bureau was replicated in the postwar era in other major cities, such as New York City's BOSS (Bureau of Special Services) that monitored Malcolm X right up to serving as his bodyguard's on the day of his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in 1965, and Chicago's Special Services that had Sam Giancana's right-hand man Richard Cain working in the vice squad in the early sixties. 11/22/23 aftermath - Walker identified as a friend of Earl Lively, writer for American Mercury magazine. Walker was saying LHO and Ruby were seen together prior to 11/22 - citizens suspected Walker of involvement in JFK assassination. Again, Ruby and George Butler knew each other from the Kefauver Committee investigation of 1950 - see above. 11/23/63, 2 am: The Dallas police come barging into Joe Molina's home in the middle of the night and have a search warrant for his place. Their leader is Pat Gannaway, Butler's ex-partner. Nothing turns up, but they strongly suggest Molina come to the station the following morning, he complies. 11/23/63: When James Worrell tried to report his observations of the killing on 11/23/63 following Curry's request for witnesses to come forward, Lt Butler fielded Worrell's call. What was Butler doing out at Farmers Branch, it was a small town? I thought he was working juvie, what's he doing here? My bet is that the hottest witness calls went directly to Butler so he could decide how to dispose of them. http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=38&relPageId=206&search=%22lt._butler%22 An extra bullet was found by a postman below the 6th floor - it was a 30 06 cartridge. WFAA's Bert Shipp wound up with it on 11/23. The bullet was given to George Butler - who wound up giving it back to the TV employee! 11/24/63: Bill Turner alleged that Butler was in charge of the Oswald transfer, was one of the biggest Klan leaders around, and gave the "all clear" to bring him into the basement. Waldo corroborates all of Turner's points in this memo to Weisberg - written from Mexico! Bill Turner was unequivocal that Butler was the man who had the overall responsibility for the transfer of Oswald. Between 10-11 am, Thayer Waldo (in a 12/2/63 FBI interview) said that the reporters were standing outside on Commerce Street when Butler came up to them and told them "Come in." They proceeded to enter where they were checked for weapons. 10:45 am: The reason for the delay in moving Oswald is that they needed to obtain armored vehicles - which didn't arrive until this time. Later, Curry - who was at the Homicide Bureau - and others changed their minds and told Asst Chief Stevenson they had decided to use detective cars to transport LHO, using the armored vehicles as a decoy. 11 am: Lt. Butler's statement - written 11/30/63, says he and several other detectives reported to Captain O.A. Jones, "who stationed the detectives where he wanted them". Chief Batchelor, Sgt. Pat Dean and Butler searched the armored car before LHO came down. Dean allegedly told Butler that Batchelor wanted Butler to ride in the armored car with LHO. Jones said Deputy Stevenson summoned him at 11 am and told him to move a few detectives "where needed". He was plainly not in charge. Stevenson said Cecil Tolbert was in charge of patrolmen; Jones (from the bunko squad) was in charge of detectives, and "homicide officers" were in charge of actual transport of LHO. At 11:10 - Detective Roy Lowery states that Butler was cleaning out the armored car, with a group of officers around him. See the KRLD raw footage at around 8:00. At 11:15, Stevenson met Lumpkin on the third floor elevator, and told him of the change in plans on the way to the basement. On arrival in the basement, Stevenson told Batchelor and Jones. Fort Worth Telegram journalist Thayer Waldo said that the morning of 11/24, he never saw anyone trembling like Butler. Waldo wrote in a long letter that he was stunned when Patrick Dean was introduced to the Ruby jury as the officer in charge of security at the jail that morning, rather than Butler. Butler was busy on 11/24/63. On 24th November, 1963, Jesse Curry decided to transfer Lee Harvey Oswald to the county jail. The undocumented story is that Will Fritz placed Butler in immediate charge of the transfer. Despite his role in the transfer of Oswald to the county jail and his long term relationship with Ruby, Butler was not interviewed by the Warren Commission. Butler is listed as #13 in this schematic diagram of the police basement, but portions appear missing, see this legible copy of the diagram of the Dallas police basement at p. 43 - pp. 44-46 has the same list of officers. In his testimony to the commission, Thayer Waldo of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, claimed that during the transfer Butler "was an extremely nervous man, so nervous that when I was standing asking him a question after I had entered the ramp and gotten down to the basement area, just moments before Oswald was brought down, he was standing profile to me and I noticed his lips trembling as he listened and waited for my answer. It was simply a physical characteristic. I had by then spent enough time talking to this man so that it struck me as something totally out of character." Two detectives - R. L. Lowery and W.J. Cutchshaw - provided statements that three men were pushing the WBAP tv camera from the basement lobby to the basement - see the KRLD raw footage at 10:10 to see the giant camera - Lowery said that the camera was never plugged in and the camera cap was never taken off - both detectives agreed that only two men tried to leave with it and had no good story about the missing third man. The detectives believed the third man was Ruby, and that's how he got in. The WBAP men were apparently David Timmons and John Alexander - never questioned by the Warren Commission. (See attached clip below from Lowery's report.) Other officers claimed these detectives' findings were "unfounded". Jimmie Turner, the director at WBAP, claimed to be the third man, and was the man chosen to testify to the WC, and changed Alexander to "John Tankersley". Timmons was forced to change his story, but Tankersley contradicted Turner by saying the third man was possibly a detective - he couldn't recognize his boss, Turner?! It may be that they couldn't keep their story straight, but managed to skate anyway. According to Harold Weisberg, Butler prematurely gave the signal to bring out Oswald. Bill Turner and Penn Jones described Butler as high up in the Klan. Even an FBI memo describes him as way to the right. Butler was also pals with Sylvia Odio and the whole Dallas Cuban crowd. Weisberg wrote that if Butler had waited, the auto would have been parked and blocked the area where Ruby broke through to point his pistol at Oswald. Butler is quoted as saying in those final seconds: "He'll never make it to the street." As you can see in the youtube video starting at 1:41, Fritz is eight feet in front of Oswald. The story goes that Ruby emerged from the crowd with detective Blackie Harrison and reserve sergeant Kenneth Croy were his blocking fullbacks. The WC questioned Croy very closely - this is the guy who "found Oswald's wallet" from an unidentified bystander at the Tippit crime scene, and never reported it to anyone for forty years. This meant that Oswald was exposed to an assault similar to what happened when the Secret Service told the patrolmen not to flank JFK on their motorcycles. Meanwhile, the officers were blinded by the burst of television lights when Oswald came on the scene. I wonder if Fritz actually made a gesture for Ruby to make his move? The pickup car was so close to position that within seconds of Ruby firing the shot, the car tapped Ruby right in the butt! You can see it on the video. The difficulty in verifying these photos show how little video there really is on the Oswald shooting... From John Armstrong, who is asking for review of the photos below: After reading Croy's testimony, I am convinced that Croy was most likely the person who allowed Ruby to gain entrance to the basement so that he could kill HARVEY Oswald. Please, I urge everyone to read Croy's Warren Commission testimony and draw your own conclusions. Here is an excerpt of that testimony: This YouTube/CNN video, less than a minute long, shows Kenneth Croy in a white hat and police uniform standing next to Ruby in police headquarters just a second or two before Oswald appears. Croy is the rightmost figure in the shot immediately below, which was taken at the 12-second mark of the video. Note how Croy seems to stand back from the action as Ruby shoots Oswald. Ruby can be seen in the video standing next to reporters in the middle image. It is clear that Ruby did not "run by me [Croy] at a pretty good clip." Ruby did not run through the reporters "like a fullback went through a line." John Armstrong makes these IDs - I am unsure about Croy, and the Ruby figure has a fedora and a prominent nose but an oddly-cut sideburn pointing to 2 o'clock. (We can see Ruby's prominent nose but no 2 o'clock sideburn.) On December 1, 1963, Croy gave an affidavit in which he said, "I saw a man running into the crowd in a crouch. At that moment I reached for this individual and touched his coat tail attempting to stop him. I saw him run right up to Oswald ...." Once again Croy was lying. As can be seen from numerous film clips of the shooting, Croy did not "reach for this individual" nor did he "touch his coat tail attempting to stop him." Warren Commission attorney Burt Griffin had reviewed films of the shooting and knew Croy was not telling the truth. Butler is the crucial link between the Dallas Police Dept and the Dallas Cubans and their friends (the Castorrs, the Odios, Connell, etc.; see this lengthy Harold Weisberg interview with the Castorrs) He was pals with all of them. Jan Stevens' story on Butler and Fritz is a good analysis and highly worth reading - it jibes with my review of the videotape. He also points out Fritz's lack of a reaction to the shot - that they are trained to react - and that anyone with a brain in their head would have used a human shield to protect LHO. The pistol holster found at Ruby's home was "musty and moldy, for a snub-nose". (p. 45 of 49) Passes for the Carousel Club included No. 227 for Dallas police officer Ray Hawkins (p. 26 of 96) But the DPD 1/9/64 report about these passes does not include Hawkins' name! The negative template at work. (pages 37-40 of 96) The 11/24/63 FBI report does have Hawkins' name. But it doesn't have the names of Dallas deputy sheriff Buddy Walthers, or Records Building deputy Travis Hall, both of whom are important. The list of cards (see p. 37 of 96) names Deputy sheriff Buddy Walthers (number 167) and Travis Hall, a county clerk deputy at the Records Bldg (number 207) but their actual cards cannot be found either in the xeroxed cards (pp. 15-30 of 96) or in the 11/24/63 FBI report! Walthers was the critical source for the 3126 Harlandale House of Cubans. Travis Hall, described by the FBI as a "cashier" - was given his card by Jack Ruby at the County Records Building on 11/19/63, after seeing Jack at the Records Building earlier that month. A list of Carousel members obtained on 11/28/63 from Monte Timmons also omits the names of Hawkins - but "deputy Hall" and "deputy Walthers" are on there! Capt. Westbrook wound up sending the card and a note to Chief Curry on 12/12/63 where Hawkins said he had not yet received the card - the problem is that Hawkins signed the card, so he had certainly received it! Hawkins was the biggest problem. Corporal Ray Hawkins was in the area as officers were dispatched to look for the suspect who shot Officer Tippit. Corporal Hawkins responded and drove by 10th and Patton then converged on the Texas Theater when information came out that the suspect may have entered the theater. Corporal Hawkins and his cover squads met a witness at the back door of the Texas Theater. Upon entering, they conducted a row-by-row search. As officers neared Oswald, he jumped up and pulled out a pistol. Officers subdued Oswald after a struggle. Corporal Ray Hawkins went down in history as the officer who handcuffed Lee Harvey Oswald. 11/25/63 Gannaway's records list Ruby as a "sex deviate". 11/27/63 Gannaway is told by Chicago PD that Jack Ruby is Not the Jack Rubenstein in the HUAC records (this is the 1947 document referring to Jack Rubenstein as part of the staff of Richard Nixon) (p. 3 of 96) 11/27/63 Seth Kantor reported Curry was quietly conducting a probe of 50 detectives and uniformed officers to see if one or more of them aided Ruby. On 9th December, 1963, Jack Revill wrote to Jesse Curry claiming that Butler: "related that he had information that Lee Harvey Oswald was the illegitimate son of Jack Ruby. Lieutenant Butler further stated that he had information that Jack Ruby had applied for a visa to Mexico about the same time that Lee Harvey Oswald visited that country. He suggested that we contact the Mexican Consul to confirm this information." 12/9/63: FBI report says Butler told them someone must have pressured Curry to bring out the prisoner while the news media was there - wouldn't say who. This story, run in the 12/15/63 Oklahoman, states that "Butler cannot be found"...That was simply not true - it was three weeks after the assassination - but Butler may have been lying low about that time and getting his ducks in a row. . Our indices indicate Earl Lively, Jr., probably is identical to Earl William Lively, Jr. In 1962, Office of Special Investigations, Air Force (OSI), furnished us information that Lively was a member of the Air National Guard and at that time was a student of the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He was investigated by OSI since a national agency check revealed he was a subscriber to “The Worker” and the “Midweek Worker,” both communist publications. Individuals interviewed by OSI reported Lively was extremely anticommunist and as being extremely rightist in his political views. They reported in their opinion Lively subscribed to communist publications only to obtain background information on the Communist Party line. They also reported Lively extremely anti-Fidel Castro. OBSERVATIONS: In view of the serious allegation that Lt. Butler of the Dallas Police Department is involved in scheme to furnish FBI data to Earl Lively, Jr., desirable we have SAC, Dallas personally discuss this allegation with the head of the Dallas Police Department and impress upon him the undesirability of Lt. Butler being involved with such a scheme as alleged by our source. Inasmuch as Lowery has testified for the Government before the Subversive Activities Control Board, and is no longer a security informant, we will not jeopardize an important informant situation by discussing his allegation with the head of the Dallas Police Department. ACTION: Attached is a teletype to SAC, Dallas, instructing the SAC, Dallas, to personally contact the head of Dallas Police Department and alert him to the information furnished by Lowery and impress upon him the undesirability of individuals in his department divulging to unauthorized individuals data furnished the Dallas Police Department by the FBI. We are also instructing SAC, Dallas, to request the that the head of the Dallas Police Department determine whether Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police Department is involved in a scheme to furnish FBI data to Lively as alleged by Lowery. 1/22/64 Former Security informant to Dallas office of FBI is redacted - this is a reference to Lowery, who is talking with Butler - Butler is "allegedly involved in scheme to furnish FBI data to DLPD and to Earl Lively, Jr." Told Shanklin to speak to Curry to determine if Butler's involvement in scheme is "true". 1/22/64: Butler was suspected by the Dallas FBI of being involved with a scheme involving the Oswald file by January 1964, and was described as being "pretty far right" by Curry - Curry assured that Fritz had custody of the Oswald file under lock and key, but that he would speak to Butler. lumpkingannaway (1).pdf