David Purcell

Yes, Gordon NOvel is still alive and actively involved in UFO research or whatever. He also denies any involvement on his or the CIA's part in the JFK assassination. Much earlier, in the 70's or 80's, he was claiming that Slew Montgomery and Larry Blanscet were the assassins. I've never heard of either of these men before and know nothing about them. One of the frustrating things about JFK research is that everyone has their own team or teams of assassins in Dealey Plaza. After all, in just this thread alone how many different teams were named? Are all of them credible enough to devote research time? I'm not begrudging the effort but some of these teams are clearly impossible or at least highly suspect. Like Slew Montgomery and Larry Blanscet for instance. Being from Chicago I'm aware of Nicoletti and Roselli and they may well have participated. It's possible although Nicoletti's book doesn't even hint at any involvement. Of course there were probably reasons why he couldn't mention his involvement, like Omerta and fear for his life, although he was killed anyway. Roselli certainly dropped hints. If you believe the Giancana's books the Chicago mob was heavily involved. Their accounts seem faricated and too short on details for me to wholeheartedly accept them. Of course they wouldn't invent anything just to sell their books. As for Novel he claimed to have researched the JFK assassination for the CIA before the Garrison investigation so even if he didn't participate-which seems unlikely-he likely knows a great deal. The problem would be in getting him to tell the whole story and to be able to weed out the lies and fabrications. There's no doubt that he has a story to tell.

It's heartening to see this flow of information concerning someone who may well have either participated or have knowledge of the JFK assassination. The only information that I have on Slew Montgomery is that he's dead. The FBI may have a file on him. Other than Novel saying that Montgomery was the GN rifleman using an uranium bullet I've never encountered his name or Blanscet's in connection with the JFK assassination. As I said, Montgomery's name is mentioned nowhere and an internet search didn't turn anything up. Cutler, at least at one point, believed Novel to be the umbrella man. The lie detector test that has been mentioned I'd like to be clear on that. Was there 2? The one Mr. DiEugenio cites as the phony one set up by the CIA or is there another one given by Cutler? Cutler's prose and diagrams are, to say the least, cryptic. He does emphatically state, in the material I have, that the umbrella man fired a poisoned flechette at JFK and that this missile actually killed JFK. These pamphlets or newsletters are undated so that I can't put a time frame on them in reference to a lie detector test. Novel mentioned that he'd invented an anti-gravity machine and that, along with his involvement with UFO's and aliens, caused me to doubt his credibility about JFK.

A fine article but you should mention that John Altgeld, the Governor of Illinois, committed political suicide by pardoning those convicted in the Haymarket bombing. Altgeld was a brave and honest man and never held political office afterwards. There's no statue of Altgeld in Chicago but in Haymarket Square there's a big, ugly statue of a martyred -ahem- policeman. While there's no shortage of crimes against workers and laborers in Chicago history from Pullman and the steel workers on there's one particularly horrible event that you may not be aware of and I believe it worth bringing to your attention. Everyone knows about the St. Valentine's Day massacre where 7 men, count 'em 7, were lined up against a wall and shot by fellow gangsters. A truly bloody horrible crime right? Yet 8 years later, on Memorial Day, 1937, Chicago police opened fire on a crowd of peaceful picketers at the Steel plant at 116th street in South Chicago and 10 of the non violent demonstrators were killed and scores wounded. Yes, 10 were killed, three more than the gangsters total and yet this incident is nearly forgotten. It can't be stressed enough that the Chicago police, without provocation, opened fire and killed 8 people. There was a film crew there, a Hollywood newsreel, and they captured the events but the film was suppressed because it was thought, oddly enough, that the public might be provoked by seeing this slaughter. They were probably wrong,for as I learned growing up in Chicago, that corruption and murder were part of everyday life in the good old USA.

I thought that Cutler was claiming that Novel was the umbrella man, shooting a poisoned flechette into JFK's throat. Not that I believe that but that is what Cutler said in one of his little magazines. It says nothing about a lie detector test. I really don't attach much credibility to Novel or Cutler. Is Cutler still living? He'd be over a hundred but I can't find an obituary for him or any mention of him since he closed his museum in Dallas.

If ever possible I would like to ask Mr. Swearingen about a tragedy that occurred in Chicago in the late 60's. I was attending high school in Chicago at the time and the FBI and the Chicago police led an assault on an apartment where Fred Hampton and several other Black Panther leaders were staying. Hampton and several others were killed in the assault. Initially officials claimed that they were merely conducting a raid that turned deadly when the Black Panthers opened fire but subsequent investigation proved that all of the shots were fired into the apartment and no shots out-ie. an official execution. A State's Attorney, Edward Hanrahan, took the fall or blame though the FBI supposedly led the raid. The question is this-someone told me years ago that Fred Hampton was executed because he was there in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 and either saw or knew something that was dangerous. Does Mr. Swearingen have any information concerning this? Probably not, as I've never come across a link connecting Fred Hampton to the JFK assassination but would Mr. Swearingen have any ideas or suggestions about obtaining any information that may still be in the FBI's records?

I have all of Joesten's major books on the assassination but unfortunately they provide little biographical information. I'm impressed by his fearless desire to uncover the truth. It's unfortunate that so few other journalists in that time and place did not share his zeal or honesty. It's painfully funny to think that the CIA sought to smear someone by labelling them an enemy and victim of the Gestapo. Joesten was an early muckraking journalist. He wrote several dope and organized vice exposes as werll as collaborating on an early biography of Lucky Luciano. He also wrote a book about the attempts to assassinate DeGaulle. His last known writing was a pamphlet about the JFK assassination put out, privately perhaps, in 1972. Then he apparently falls off the face of the earth for there is no indication of any new writing and I can find no obituary either in America or Europe. It can safely be assumed that he's dead because he would be 110 years old now. I hope that he's still alive for there's a lot of questions about his books that I'd like to put to him, nothing negative, just for clarification and confirmation. I have more respect for Joesten than for any other journalist or researcher of that era with the possible exception of Mark Lane. Almost from the terrible beginning Joesten was there questioning the authorities and shaking up the status quo, not content to meekly accept the official handouts like the other journalists. Unlike Buchanan, who published only one book, Joesten wrote a series of books that followed the events from the assassination to the Garrison trial. What is important and remarkable to me is the number of his assertions and conclusions that still hold true today or haven't been disproven about the involvement of LBJ and the CIA and FBI with financing by H.L. Hunt and the Texas oil interests.

Gordon Novel is currently stating that he only investigated the JFK assassination and that the CIA was not involved although it was a conspiracy. I have an affidavit from Novel's trial in New Orleans in the 70's where he states that he was part of the conspiracy. I also have a copy of a letter in which he states that Richard Helms and Howard Osborn planned the assassination and that Slew Montgomery was on the knoll and Larry Blanscet was the backup assassin. It appears that Novel is an extremely creative xxxx and that he only made these charges when he was trying to get out of prison. Among other things, he states in the letter that Slew Montgomery, the rifleman on the knoll, used a bullet made of fused depleted uranium that disintegrated on impact. I would like to find out if there is any credibility to what Novel was saying then as opposed to now. Can anyone shed any light on Novel's motives?

I've been following and researching the JFK assassination since about 1985. I had written a play and while it was being performed in Chicago a fellow I worked with asked me to write a biography of his family as his father and mother both had worked for Al Capone. My research into his family led me to connections with Jack Ruby and Frank Nitti. The man's uncle worked at the train yard where Nitti supposedly committed suicide. He told me that he had seen 2 men escorting a struggling Nitti to the rear of the yard and then he heard a shot and only the 2 escorts walked back out. I talked with people who knew Ruby when he was in Chicago and they gave me stories. The only really interesting or new item was that -supposedly-a southside mob boss named Frank Laporte used Frank Sinatra as a courier for JFK's assassination. So I went from believing in the Warren Report to reading Mark Lane and Joachim Joesten. My research ended when my apartment was robbed and only my notes and my camera which had pictures of Ruby's mob connected places was taken. I also witnessed 2 mob guys beating a guy with a baseball bat and being threatened myself. So I gave up my research then. Now I'm retired and trying to piece together what I had gathered and write a fictional account of my Chicago research and the mob ties to the JFK assassination. I only believe that the mob was used as a small but necessary ingredient but who are not ultimately responsible.