Hi
Duncan:
It is not only that the parking pole is there, in his drawing ,that was not on Nov.22/63, but that the Pole Light is not on the grass,
they were all on the sidewalk, next to the road..
Bill:
I checked the Bonds and others and there are no Parking signs on any separate poles , they were all attached to
the Pole lights, which were located
on the street in the cement sidewalk, next to the roadway.. within that strech that I have seen within the photos.....
Miles : Quote "...If you are old enough, you will be among the millions who were shocked & stunned & who will remember what they were doing & where they were when the news of the assassination became known.
If anyone should remember it would the assassin.
Or would it?
Was the assassin shocked or stunned?
Maybe not. His mind works differently. There is no surprise for him. Only the blinkered trance of concentration.
Now, in the case of Files, he never said that his drawing was drawn from memory.
But, Files knew his field of fire well enough to identify the sign which he was concerned might interfere with his shot.""
*********************
I do not agree Miles, as Files has stated he was behind the fence for some time before the Motorcade arrived, that
I think would have given him more than sufficient time, to have studied and known his surroundings, where the light pole was,
not on the grass,
and that the parking pole did not exist.......This drawing must have come from a photo shown to him or seen within a book.
article, program, whatever....See below.....
....... I also disagree with you, as you are now showing the sign in front of him, the sign has always been to his right, as he has shown
in his drawing...and I thought you also agreed in the past, re the Holland photos etc...though I could be mistaken, I do think
that is where you have situated him for some time now...??..before the sign......within many of the photos that you have posted......
but then again, what sign ?? which was he meaning....obvious from his drawing, he meant the Freeway Sign right ??..But Not...
apparently.........See below..
It is curious somewhat to me that you have now moved his line of sight ,
to below the sign....therefore it appears to be in his way.....?
........so please read below....and check your photo that you posted above ..
Miles Quote "Now, in the case of Files, he never said that his drawing was drawn from memory.""
But he has said and those that have supported him, have stated that he had never seen nor watched nor read anything
pertaining to the assn.
in the past......but.......See below.....
Miles Quote "Was the assassin shocked or stunned?""
No to the contrare so he was not nervous, therefore quite capable to pay his centred attention on his surroundings.
I would think.....See also below....
Bill : Quote ""Yeah ... Something is getting deeper and its smell is no mystery IMO. Thats like asking 'What if Ray Charles wasn't blind.'
Or what if Files wasn't even in Dealey Plaza ... now things are starting to make sense. ""
Could very well be....
Below is a page from Files book, you will notice what he has stated about the "Sign" ???
I know, it will in all likelehood, be put down to an editing error, that is the usual that is given, by some.....
but what with all the changing of his postions down through time, and the reasons for such that we have read, that never quite
seem to satisfy........
there has been something wrong within.....and .......Bill..Quote ""now things are starting to make sense. ""....a very good possibility imo..
B.....
*********************************************
James Files - The Early Days?
Below, on the left side of the page, is a scan of a letter sent by James Files to Joe West on July 30, 1992. In light of the claims and counterclaims concerning Files' involvement in the assassination, this letter is rather curious. Assertions were made throughout the mid 1990s that Files was not well read on the facts of the Kennedy assassination and most of what he said came from his own personal experiences. However, this letter seems to contradict those claims. Here is what a review of the text shows:
In the first paragraph Files says he can not "be of some help to you [West]."
In the second paragraph Files affirms what he said in paragraph # 1 and maintains he knows so little about West's inquiry into the Kennedy assassination that his "knowledge of [West's] investigation is not worth the cost of your coming to see me."
Although Files' supporters said he was not well read on the Kennedy assassination, in the third paragraph he admits to seeing movies and reading books about the event. He claims, incorrectly, that Phillips committed perjury. Phillips did what many government officials do to this day - they develop hazy recollections of events, parse their words, or place themselves in a position of plausible denial. This was and is done intentionally to AVOID the charge of perjury. Files then uses the Fallacy of Appeal to Popularity by claiming that West is probably already aware that Phillips is guilty of perjury.
In the fourth paragraph Files suggests "the man in the beat up fedora type hat wearing the old brown leather bomber jacket" looks like Frank [Fiorini] Sturgis. Files spells Sturgis' name incorrectly and never reveals, to West, what personal information led him to his conclusion. Files records "The last I heard, he's [sturgis] alive and doing well." The fact that Sturgis was "alive and doing well" at the time of Files' letter to West was information available to anyone with an interest in the case. However, sixteen months later Sturgis would be dead of lung cancer. He died on December 4, 1993, just 5 days short of his 69th birthday.
In the last paragraph he wonders "how my name surfaced for your investigation." From an article that appeared in the April 11, 1994 Beaumont [Texas] Enterprise it seems that in April of 1992, a Beaumont FBI agent Zack Shelton, most likely in deference to FBI policy, gave Files' name to Joe West, a private citizen.
One can only wonder how Files went from an unknowing convict who doesn't know how to spell Grassy Knoll, into the "Grass Knoll" [sic] assassin and from obscurity to the subject of a 70 minute "documentary." See Confession of an Assassin. Chicago: MPI Home Video,1996 [iSBN# 1-56278-898-1]
Dave Perry
Joe West
23 Campbell
Houston, TX 77055
Thursday
30 July
1992
Dear Mr. West:
In regards to your letter of 24 July, I sincerely wish that I could be of some help to you. But that is not possible. Please forgive me for not calling, but at the present time we are in total lock-down status. One shower, one phone call per week. I use that call, to call home, sorry.
I realize investigations cost money, and my knowledge of your investigation is not worth the cost of your coming to see me.
The two items that I know, outside of the movies and the books are, #1. David Phillips perjured himself while giving his testimony during the, "House of Assassinations Committee." And I'm sure that you already know that.
Item #2, The Grass knoll, the man in the beat up fedora type hat wearing the old brown leather bomber jacket. I AM NOT saying it was Frank Sturgiss, but it sure looked a lot like him. The last I heard, he's alive and doing well. That's all I know.
But I am rather curious as how my name surfaced for your investigation. At that time, I was under a different name, that [man deceased?] in 1964. Sorry that I cannot be of more help.
Sincerely
http://davesjfk.com/files.html
*****************
.......from 1996..
Reprinted courtesy of JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly.
All Rights reserved.
Used by permission
THE MURDER OF JFK-- Confession of an Assassin
by Edward Bell
(This article originally appeared in JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly. July 1996)
In the video--The Murder of JFK-Confession of An Assassin (MPI, #MP
7148), James E. Files, an inmate of Joliet State Penitentiary, confesses to
being one of two assassins firing at JFK in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
According to Walt Brown's Treachery in Dallas, this makes him one of 28
"suspected shooters in the Kennedy assassination."1 This confession is the
result of an investigation launched by the late private investigator Joe
West in 1989.2
In a press release of May 11, 1990, West claimed he had new information
from an unidentified source directly implicating John Roselli and Charles
Nicoletti in the murder.3 This was followed by a November 1990 appearance
on CNBC cable's Morton Downey Jr. show. On that program, West made the
following revelations: "There was a firing squad in Dealey Plaza. That
firing squad was made up of a coalition of the CIA and the Giancana crime
family out of Chicago. The firing squad was sent well-trained to Dealey
Plaza for one purpose. That was the assassination of the 35th President of
the US--John Kennedy...The top hit man for the mafia in the Western
Hemisphere--a part of the hit team that executed upon the Mafia
Commission's orders. First of all Sam Giancana, secondly John Roselli,
thirdly Charles Nicoletti. These men were interrogated before their deaths
and each of of them confessed to this Mafia hit man. I have a video
recording of him. I have a sworn affidavit from him in which he says each
of them confessed that the Giancana crime family was working with Jack Ruby
in Dallas for this assassination. It was all preplanned."
In the 1996 MPI video, producer and interviewer Bob Vernon states: "In
1989 Houston private investigator Joe West launched an independent
investigation to find the true killer of president John F. Kennedy. After
three years of disappoint-ments and dead ends...West suddenly received a
tip from an FBI agent who asked to remain unnamed. The tip led West to
Joliet and a prisoner named James E. Files...Through months of personal
visits and detailed correspondence, Files began to reveal his participation
in the JFK killing. Files was nearing a full confession when West took
sick and passed away in 1993. It took 13 months after Joe West's death,
but on March 22, 1994, associates of West videotaped an interview with
Files, in which he admitted to being one of the shooters on November 22.
He also implicated organized crime members--Charles Nicoletti, Johnny
Roselli, and Sam Giancana."
If Vernon is correct, West and Files did not meet until 1992. If this
is true, it would be interesting to know whom West was alluding to in 1990
in his press release and on the Downey show.
James E. Files (Sutton) was born in 1942. He grew up in Chicago,
gaining Mafia ties by being a driver for Giancana "hit man" Nicoletti.
According to Files, he trained Cubans at No Name Key for the Bay of Pigs
invasion of Cuba. This is where he met his CIA controller--David Atlee
Phillips. It was through Phillips that he also met Lee Oswald in early
1963 while running guns to Clinton, La. As a results of the efforts of Jim
Garrison, we learned that it was in Clinton that numerous witnesses placed
Oswald together with Clay Shaw.4 " "Lee Harvey Oswald had the same
controller as I did--David Atlee Phillips." This statement may have
validity if one believes Phillips and Maurice Bishop are the same person
and that Antonio Veciana was accurate in his sighting of Oswald and Bishop
when he spoke to Anthony Summers in 1978.5 It was also Phillips who
allegedly gave Files the Remington Fireball pistol that he used to shoot
JFK with in Dallas. Whether Phillips would have used his real name, not an
alias, is a question to consider.
In June 1963, Files was told by Nicoletti: "We are going to do Kennedy."
According to Files-- "First we originally planned to do the assassination
in Chicago, but a lot of people didn't like that idea so it was moved to a
different location." It should be noted that neither Thomas Vallee nor
Joseph Milteer are mentioned by Files.
One week prior to the assassination, Files says he drove a 1963
Chevrolet loaded with weapons to a motel in Mesquite, Texas. The day after
he arrived, Oswald allegedly showed up and took him to a place south-east
of Mesquite. There, Files "test fired the weapons and calibrated the
scopes." Oswald was with him "for a few days" where they drove through
Dallas, "so I would know all the streets." Files also claims: "Lee
Harvey Oswald could drive; he didn't have a driver's license, maybe, but
the man could drive! Hell, he drove military trucks even." (q.v. Benson,
Who's Who in the JFK Assassination, pp. 44-45; re: A.G. Bogard)
On Nov. 22, Files claims he went to the Dallas Cabana Motel where he
picked up Las Vegas Mafioso John Roselli. They then drove to a Ft. Worth
pancake house where Roselli met Jack Ruby. Here, "Sparky" allegedly gave
Roselli an envelope containing Secret Service ID and a map of the motorcade
route. When asked if the CIA had anything to do with the killing, Files
said, "Someone in government organizations had a heavy hand in it because
they supplied Secret Service ID for different people. I don't know who
used it but I saw the ID that morning of the assassination." In this
assertion, Files is either putting Ruby close to the CIA or contradicting
his story.
Files and Roselli drove back to the Cabana Motel in Dallas to pick up
Nico-letti, who was conversing with Eugene Hale Brading when they arrived.
Brading did stay at the Cabana the night of the 21st, and was photographed
and arrested in Dealey Plaza on November 22.6 It should also be noted
that Roselli and Nicoletti figure into the "Gemstone File" and Chuck
Giancana versions of these events, respectively.
Files says he then drove Roselli and Nicoletti to Dealey Plaza, where
they parked next to the Dal-Tex Building. Files and Nicoletti walked the
plaza. At 10:30 am, Nicoletti asked Files how he would feel about
"backing him up on this." Files, who was "honored," was then asked where
he would like to position himself, and where he thought the best place for
Nicoletti would be. It's hard to believe two men involved in a conspiracy
to kill the president would have waited until two hours before the
assassination to decide where to locate themselves! It is also hard to
believe that Nicoletti would casually ask Files to "back him up," only two
hours before the hit on JFK. This is also in direct conflict with Joe
West's statement in 1990 that "the firing squad was sent well trained..."7
According to Files, the two men returned to the car where they picked up
their weapons. Files got a briefcase containing the Remington Fireball
pistol and Nicoletti took a rifle of unspecified make. Files claimed he
turned his jacket "inside out--plaid side showing" and went to his firing
position "Behind the tree, behind the fence" on the knoll. On the video,
producer Bob Vernon tells Files "there was a picture made of you behind the
fence. It was taken by Mary Moorman." Thanks to the efforts of Jack White
and Gary Mack, the blowup of the Moorman photo apparently shows three
people. One is most likely eyewitness Gordon Arnold, one appears to be a
man in a t-shirt, and the other is the "badgeman" figure with a muzzle
flash in front of him. The "badgeman" figure is wearing a police uniform
and therefore cannot be Files, since he was wearing a jacket, plaid side
showing. (See "The Men Who Killed Kennedy, pt. 2, The Forces of Darkness"
for an in-depth look at the Moorman photo).
Files is vague as to the exact number of shots and also does not specify
what floor of the Dal-Tex Building Nicoletti was allegedly firing from. He
also is not sure if anyone was firing from the Depository. He claims
Oswald "never fired a shot...his plot [sic] was to plant evidence to
mislead everybody." Files, along with Canfield and Weberman's book Coup d'
Etat, claims Frank Sturgis was in Dealey Plaza on that fateful day. This
was investigated and discounted by the HSCA (6 HSCA 260-261). According to
Files, Ruby was also in the plaza that day. This has also come up in the
recently unearthed Cooper footage and is well examined by Richard Trask in
Pictures of the Pain, pp. 177-178.
There is an interesting exchange be-tween Vernon and Files: V: "How
much were you paid" for the assassination? F: "I had received $30,000."
V: "Before you told me you received $15,000--you just said 30?" F: "In
the beginning I said 15 because I didn't think it mattered much what the
amount was...I never took checks, he gave me cash."
Files was later asked if he knew who killed David Ferrie: "Yes I do
know who killed ...Ferrie. He died of a ceverial [sic] brain
hemorrhage,...brought on in a pacific [sic] way. (For a complete account of
Ferrie's death, see DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed, pp. 151-153).
In this last exchange between Files and Vernon, Files leaves us with
what is probably his only cohesive thought: V: "When people see this
interview on TV, what do you think people with think?" F: "Most of them,
I don't think they will believe me."
I certainly don't....
[ed. note: Our readers are asked to give their thoughts on this and the
other (Morrow, Chauncy Holt) "confessions."]
This article cannot be reproduced in any print or electronic medium
without written permission from the editors of JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly
PO BOX 174 HILLSDALE NJ 07642 USA. All rights reserved 1996.
NOTES
1. Brown, Walt. Treachery in Dallas (New York: Carrol & Graf, 1995) pp.343-344
.
2. The Murder of JFK: Confession of an Assassin (MPI Home Video #MP7148.1996)
3. Livingstone, Harrison Edward. Killing the Truth (New York:Carrol &
Graf, 1993) pp.259-260
4. Garrison, Jim. On the Trail of the Assassins. (New York: Sheridan Square
Press,1988) pp.105-108
5. Summers, Anthony. Conspiracy. (New York: Paragon House, 1991) pp.328-329
6. Benson, Michael. Who's Who in the JFK Assassination. (New York: Citadel
Press, 1993) pp.51-52
(heading under "Eugene Hale Brading")
7. The Morton Downey Show (cableCNBC-TV, Fort Lee, NJ. November 1990)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
JFK/DEEP POLITICS QUARTERLY. PO Box 174. Hillsdale NJ 07642 USA
Editors: Jan Stevens, Walt Brown. "Let the word go forth..."
******************
And for now from 1994.........
[[ Review and comments by Martin Shackelford ]]
"Confession of an Assassin"
James E. Files, Joliet State Penitentiary
March 22, 1994: Notes on the Videotape
(1996, Bob Vernon, UTL Productions/MPI Video)
Introduction: James Files was interviewed by Joe West, who had been
tipped off by an FBI agent. West tracked Files to Joliet State
Penitentiary in Illinois, where he was serving a sentence for shooting a
policeman. West died, and the investigation was delayed, but finally an
interview with Files was arranged on March 22, 1994. After further
delays, the interview was offered to MPI Video. James Files worked for
Chicago organized crime figure Charles Nicoletti.
The Interview: Files states that his name was James Sutton until late
1963, when it was changed to James E. Files with the aid of the
government, so that he could marry and live a normal life free of
harassment and other risks which might have arisen from his activities
with a radical Cuban group.
Files served in the 82nd Airborne in Laos from 1959 for about 14
months. He was involved in training people to do ambushes. After that, he
did some race driving, and his abilities attracted the attention of
Charles Nicoletti, who recruited him as his personal driver. At that
time, Tony Accardo ran the Chicago Mob.
On November 22, 1963, Files went to Dealey Plaza in Dallas about
10 a.m. He checked the area, discussed the assassination plan with
Nicoletti. It began with Nicoletti around five months earlier.
Files had a connection with the Bay of Pigs operation. He was at
No Name Key (gives two other names for it also). His CIA controller was
David Atlee Phillips.
Nicoletti asked Files if he wanted to help him kill "a friend of
yours," knowing that Files hated Kennedy. At first, files thought it was
a local hit, but Nicoletti told him the target was JFK. John Rosselli,
out of Miami, was involved. Files met Rosselli through Phillips. The
original plan was to hit JFK in Chicago, but no one was comfortable with
doing it there, so the idea was dropped.
About a week before the assassination, Files drove to Mesquite,
Texas, with the weapons for the operation, A day or so after he arrived,
Lee Harvey Oswald came to him to show him around the area. Oswald also
took him to locations where he could test and calibrate the weapons. As
far as he knows, Oswald didn't know what the plan was. Files explored
Dallas routes, with the idea of getaway options.
On November 22, Files drove to the Cabana Motel, where he met
Rosselli around 7 a.m.. They went to a pancake house in Fort Worth, where
Rosselli met with Jack Ruby, while Files served as lookout. Ruby handed
Rosselli an envelope, and left. They opened the envelope in the car: it
contained Secret Service identifications and an updated motorcade route
map; Rosselli commented that he saw only one change, the double turn in
Dealey Plaza.
They returned to the Cabana. With Nicoletti, Files went to Dealey
Plaza around 10 a.m. They looked over the area further. Nicoletti asked
if Files would back him up as an extra shooter, if needed, and Files
agreed. As his location, he chose the area behind the fence on the grassy
knoll. He suggested Nicoletti fire from the Dal-Tex Building (Nicoletti
had a rifle).
They separated, Files going to the railroad yard area and making
preparations. He had a briefcase with a Remington Fireball inside. As the
limousine began coming down Elm Street, Files heard shots from behind it,
and assumed that was Nicoletti. He noticed JFK was hit, but only in the
body; and that Connally seemed to be hit. If he was going to fire, he had
to do it before he risked hitting Jackie, as they had been told not to
hit anyone but JFK, and especially not to shoot Jackie. He fired-just
after Nicoletti, it turned out, both hitting JFK in the head. Files'
bullet hit JFK in the left (actually, right, as he later explained)
temple. He put the gun into the briefcase, turned his coat from plaid to
gray business suit (reversible), and walked away via the Elm Street
extension to Houston Street. He had bit the shell casing, and left it
sitting on the fence, as a calling card, but no one realized it had been
bitten until 1994, he said.
At Houston, he got into a 1963 Burgundy Chevrolet; Rosselli was
in the back seat, and Nicoletti in the front passenger seat. They were in
a parking lot, and exited turning right onto Houston, went 5 or 6 blocks,
then turned left, and near the freeway dropped the two off at another
car. Files returned to his room in Mesquite, cleansed himself with hot
was to remove any traces of powder, showered, changed, then took care of
the guns. Nicoletti's rifle was in the trunk, the briefcase was under the
steering wheel; both were taken care of, then placed in a special gun
compartment inside the car.
The next day, he drove to Southern Illinois, and on Sunday, he
drove on into Chicago. He had been instructed to drive only during the
day and not to attract any attention. Sometime later, Nicoletti gave him
$30,000 for the job, although they hadn't ever discussed money.
Files said he first met Lee Harvey Oswald in early 1963, in
connection with gun-running, in C.linton, Louisiana, via David Atlee
Phillips. Both were doing CIA work at the time. There was obviously some
government involvement in the assassination, as otherwise they wouldn't
have gotten the Secret Service identifications Ruby gave them. Phillips
had given him the Remington Fireball for an earlier job.
Files said he saw Frank Sturgis among the crowd of people on
Elm Street. He also saw Eugene Brading, whom he had seen at the Cabana
with Nicoletti and Rosselli. Files knew Sturgis from anti-Castro
activities, as did Rosselli. Files didn't see Oswald at all that day. He
and Oswald never discussed the assassination plan.
He would not comment on the murder of J.D. Tippit, except to
say that Oswald didn't kill Tippit, and the man who did was still alive
at the time of the interview (a later reference possibly referring to the
same man indicated he is now in his '80s), and had originally been
assigned to kill Oswald. The man came to see Files in Mesquite after the
assassination, saying there was a screwup and he had killed a cop.
Files said he saw Ruby in the Plaza, below the knoll near the
sidewalk. He said everyone reacted slowly to the shots. As he walked away
from the knoll, he noticed two men in suits behind him, turning people
back. He said he didn't see Zapruder, and wasn't sure what he would have
done if he thought he had been filmed, but he carried a Colt pistol, and
might have shot him. He also didn't realize Mary Moorman's camera had
photographed him, and declined the interviewer's request that he
autograph a copy of the photo.
The Remington Fireball was designed in 1961, but had a tendency
to blow up, so was re-designed. It fired a .221 cal. long round. It was a
bolt-action pistol with a telescopic sight, effective at 100 yards; not
unlike a cut-down rifle. The shells were custom-made, with a mercury
load, and fragmented on impact. They were fired at 3100 feet per second.
Files believed Giancana gave Nicoletti his orders, and that
Accardo had to know about it.
In response to a question, Files said he was receiving no money
for this interview. He talked about West's first contact, telling West he
must have him confused with someone else. Then West calling, and getting
into some things Files didn't want discussed in a prison-recorded phone
call, so he told West to come and see him if he wanted to talk with him.
First they talked only about sports and so on. The second time, Files
felt more comfortable with West. As time went on, he began to open up to
him more. West had a plan to reopen the case by getting Files to testify
in court, first seeking immunity for Files.
Files said he had been threatened by both government and
organized crime people for discussing the case, but wouldn't specify
individuals, as he refuses to give up the name of a living person for any
offense. He said the FBI visited him.
He had knowledge of the death of David Ferrie, but wasn't
willing to discuss it, except to say the brain hemmorhage was caused
intentionally, and he had identified the area in Ferrie's brain to look
at .
He had talked to Joe West because he came to like and respect
West. He felt no remorse for his actions in Dallas. He was bitter about
the Bay of Pigs. He knew Richard Helms. Antonio Veciana was a good
friend, and not involved in the assassination.
Nicoletti flew to Dallas via commercial airline. Rosselli said
he had been in D.C. and caught a MATS (Military Air Transport Service)
flight to Dallas, thanks to the CIA. Files didn't know any details
because he doesn't ask questions; he only knows what he was told.
In the 1970s, with Senate investigations, things began to get
uncomfortable. Giancana didn't know Files had fired a shot, only that
Nicoletti had. Files thinks Rosselli, who was in Chicago at the time, may
have killed Giancana, as he was one of the few who would have had the
access, and he left town right afterward. Rosselli was later killed.
Files was involved in guarding Nicoletti, as there had been
indications he was a target. In mid-March 1977, Nicoletti gave Files a
package, which Files buried. Nicoletti was killed March 29. In April,
Files was snatched and brutally interrogated, but didn't give up the
package's location. After he was dumped, severely injured, and recovered,
he carefully returned to the location where he had buried the package,
dug it up, and found inside the Secret Service identifications, the
motorcade route map, and Nicoletti's diary. He destroyed all but the
diary, which he still has somewhere.
He freely admits having worked for organized crime, though he
says he was never a member of the Mob. He felt he had lived a good life,
doing as much as "a hundred other guys." He was born January 1942 in
Alabama, but his family soon moved to Chicago, where he grew up the only
English-speaking kid in an Italian neighborhood, and soon became accepted
by the community. He did little jobs for mobsters from the age of 11, as
they tipped well. He became known as a kid who wouldn't give up anybody,
who could be relied upon.. He had his first car at age 14.
After his service in Laos, the CIA recruited him to train
Cubans. He also raced stock cars. He loved Nicoletti, who was quiet and
deadly. Rosselli was flashy, talked too much, loud, boisterous. Giancana
was a lovable old man, but like a bulldog if you crossed him. Aside from
Nicoletti, the other person he has been closest to is still alive, in his
80s. David Atlee Phillips was cool, good-natured, and once told him he
could "kill more people with a typewriter than you can" with a machine
gun.
Lee Oswald was very intelligent, very quiet, and led a secluded
life. Files believes Oswald planted evidence on November 22, but fired
no shots. From what he knew of Oswald, he didn't believe Oswald would be
a shooter. He never saw Oswald fire a weapon. Although Oswald didn't have
a driver's license, he knew how to drive. Files didn't know why he went
to Russia, but assumed the government was involved.
Files stated that he didn't want to be a part of history. He
hadn't picked the target. He just followed orders. He would rather no one
had ever found him, and hoped they would forget about him. He didn't
think people watching this interview on TV would believe him.
Nicoletti hit JFK in the back of the head, Files hit JFK in the
right temple. Files was "known for head shots." He declined to say how
many people he had killed. He said the two great lies were religion and
history. He said history was a self-serving account by a country to
conceal its selfish motives. Religion killed more people than wars.
"I never disobeyed an order." Besides, he said, nobody he knew
really liked Kennedy, including military, Secret Service and FBI people;
history later called him great because that's what they say about
Presidents.
Files worshipped Nicoletti. Nicoletti was strictly Mob. Rosselli
worked with both CIA and Mob. Files was told that Nicoletti was dirty,
that he had talked, but he never believed it, especially as Nicoletti had
given him his diary to hide. He said the government kills people, without
question. He doesn't know who killed Nicoletti: if he had, he would have
gone after them. He wasn't afraid of death, only of failure to complete
whatever he set out to do.
Epilogue: Deaths of Giancana, Rosselli, Nicoletti. The FBI dismisses the
credibility of Files' confession..
PROBLEMS with the James Files "Confession":
1) David Atlee Phillips, CIA propaganda expert, would seem an unlikely
case officer for a Mob driver and hit man on No Name Key. This seems to
be an attempt to tie Files credibly in with Oswald (the Veciana sighting
in Dallas of Oswald and Phillips, as Bishop, together), but is doubtful.
Also, although John Rosselli was active in Florida preparations for the
Bay of Pigs, it is likely that someone other than Phillips introduced him
to Files, if Files was at No Name Key. The only thing that sounds much
like the real Phillips is the quote near the end about the power of the
typewriter.
2) Lee Harvey Oswald as tour guide.
3) The plaid reversible coat and the bitten shell casing seem, on the
surface, to provide confirmation, but both were details known prior to
Files telling his story to anyone. I had heard about the shell well
before Files says the fact that it was bitten was discovered (he says
1994). Some people seem to have confused the bitten casing found in the
Plaza with the dented casing found in the Depository-these are two
separate shell casings.
4) In connection with Oswald, Clinton and gun-running, David Atlee
Phillips again seems inserted artificially into the story here. Oswald
and Ruby were both connected to New Orleans people involved in
gun-running, but inserting Phillips into the Clinton story is, again,
highly doubtful. This is not to say Phillips' role was an innocent one,
just that Files seems to be inventing things, or perhaps he was fed
inventions.
5) Files overlooks the fact that the Elm Street crowd was
well-photographed. Frank Sturgis was not among the crowd; nor at that
point was Eugene Brading in that area; nor was Jack Ruby on the sidewalk
below the knoll. None of this is difficult to check. All the relevant
photos are in Groden and Trask.
6) The Secret Service man on the knoll now becomes two men in suits
turning people away. There were men turning people away in the area
BEFORE the assassination, but not after. It sounds as though Files
flubbed some of his borrowed details.
7) He HAD documentary evidence, but he destroyed most of it. How
convenient.
My guess is that Files was, indeed, Charles Nicoletti's driver, and was
involved in the preparations for the Bay of Pigs, but that he is also a
good con artist, skillled at blending fact and fiction, which I what I
believe he has done here.
http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/MS/1-vr.html
B.........