Harvey and Lee: John Armstrong

Jim Hargrove · July 4, 2015

John Armstrong will be interviewed by Len Osanic for Black Ops radio on Sunday, July 5, 2015. I'll have transcripts of the interview available as soon as Len gives me or John the OK to release.

Paul Trejo · July 4, 2015

Paul, what does that have to do with Harvey and Lee, the topic of this thread?

Well, David, I was answering a direct question by Jim Hargrove.

You repeatedly push the Walker angle... start a thread and have at it as that too remains unproven and "IN YOUR OPINION" about 99% of the time...

If you are never going to actually corroborate or authenticate the sources for your opinions and conclusions they simply cannot be taken seriously...

You repeatedly call up Wrone and Hoover's 3pm CST "Lone Nut" junk that you didn't prove, that Wrone didn't prove and for which I showed you a number of more realistic options

In the real world Paul, we know why Oswald was steered to the FPCC and it had nothing to do with JFK's assassination until AFTER THE FACT...

Well, David, this makes me laugh, because you're speaking as though your CT is proven!

Just because you don't say "IMHO" 99% of the time, doesn't mean you shouldn't. Your many guesses are as obvious to others as theirs may be to you.

You haven't solved the JFK murder, David. Not by a long shot.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Paul Trejo · July 4, 2015

Paul Trejo,

You write: "In my opinion, this agreement is crucial. Whatever other data is accepted or rejected, it is crucial that we find agreement on this point -- that the JFK Kill Team wanted first and foremost for the USA to invade Cuba and kill Fidel Castro."

Paul, you posit the reason JFK was killed. I believe JFK was killed for some other reason; some reason with larger historical consequences, which endures until today. I admit that I may be wrong. One undeniable fact, however, is that a cover-up began very shortly after the assassination; and the cover-up is ongoing. I can't believe the ongoing cover-up has to do with Cuba.

Castro and Cuba were a big distraction in 1963, I agree. Edwin Walker and his friends may have wished dearly for the U.S. to invade Cuba. I agree with you that right-wingers of Walker's persuasion were a significant group in the U.S. in the early 1960s.

Something special happened on the assassination weekend, including Friday the 22nd. Yes, Dallas itself was blamed for the murder, because it was a hot bed of right-wing radicals opposed to JFK. This made a good TV story. What's special, though, is how the U.S.government under the leadership of LBJ hewed to one message. And what's more special is that that message continues to today, July 3, 2015.

You believe the core message was broadcast to prevent civil war. I can't say with certainty you're wrong. I just think LBJ read the cards correctly from his standpoint. And that the cards said, take the deal offered: LHO did it. And LBJ took the deal.

Well, Jon, I agree with you that nobody can deny that a cover-up began the day of the JFK murder, and the cover-up is still going.

That's an insightful observation.

Then you raise a question that appeals to common sense: "I can't believe the ongoing cover-up has to do with Cuba."

It's an interesting challenge. You see the danger of the radical right in the early 1960's -- and your question measures that same danger for fifty years. It diminished significantly. Why is the cover-up still firm?

It's a really good question.

You notice that starting with 11/22/1963, the "Lone Nut" theory of the LBJ administration became the new US Creed of Loyalty. What is "special," you say, is that it has never changed in more than 51 years.

As I read your post, it sounds like you believe -- much as Jim Garrison believed -- that LBJ had JFK as his warning, that if he didn't play ball with the new "coup" leaders, that he could also end up like JFK.

It sounds like you're saying that LBJ was obliged to "take the deal" that came with the "Lone Nut."

My response to your first question, however, will also answer your second question and concern. First, since Cuba has not been a political issue since 1990, when the USSR called it quits, why maintain JFK Top Secret material, if Cuba was the main reason for the Secrecy in the first place?

It's a good question, but I think there are also several plausible answers. The key issue in 1963-1964 was Cuba, no doubt, but there was a more important issue starting in 1963 and continuing beyond Cuba -- namely -- the stress between the US far left and the US far right.

It wasn't only out of concern for Cuba that Hoover, Warren, Dulles and LBJ decided on the "Lone Nut" theory of Lee Harvey Oswald. Rather, it was also out of concern for riots in American streets.

Insofar as the stress between the US far left and the US far right only increased in the 1970's, the threat of riots in American streets was still fresh and relevant through 1975, when the Vietnam war ended. In those days Vietnam was the issue, not Cuba -- and yet a danger still existed with the JFK Top Secret materials.

Nor was Cuba the only danger of the Cold War. There was also the USSR, and throughout all the 1980's the USA strained to keep ahead of the USSR in nuclear concerns. This was no time to divide the US far left and the US far right, risking riots in American streets.

So, that's my reply to your first question. In reply to your second concern, that LBJ stood most to benefit from the "Lone Nut" theory, and he "took the deal" to hang Oswald out to dry, I raise again the argument of National Security and riots in American streets.

Occam's Razor allows us to settle on the minimalist theory -- in this case, Hoover, Warren, Dulles and LBJ all agreed together that in the interest of National Security, it was a terrible idea to publish inflammatory material guaranteed to increase stress between the US far left and the US far right.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited July 4, 2015 by Paul Trejo

Jim Hargrove · July 4, 2015

Paul,

We're in total agreement that "Hoover, Warren, Dulles and LBJ" deep-sixed a real investigation, but I seriously doubt that "riots in American streets" or "stress between the US far left and the US far right" had much to do with the decision. Johnson claimed he thought it was a commie plot and that 40 million Americans could die in "an hour" from World War III. Warren, according to Warren, bought it. Hoover and Dulles may well have been in on the plot in the first place.

To my mind, the real State Secret of the Kennedy assassination was the true biography of "Lee Harvey Oswald...."

AND

...the fact that JFK's foreign policy was simply unacceptable to the military industrial complex.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Jim Hargrove

Paul Trejo · July 4, 2015

Paul,

We're in total agreement that "Hoover, Warren, Dulles and LBJ" deep-sixed a real investigation, but I seriously doubt that "riots in American streets" or "stress between the US far left and the US far right" had much to do with the decision. Johnson claimed he thought it was a commie plot and that 40 million Americans could die in "an hour" from World War III. Warren, according to Warren, bought it. Hoover and Dulles may well have been in on the plot in the first place.

To my mind, the real State Secret of the Kennedy assassination was the true biography of "Lee Harvey Oswald...."

AND

...the fact that JFK's foreign policy was simply unacceptable to the military industrial complex.

Well, Jim, your CT is very much like that of Oliver Stone in his movie, JFK (1991).

I think that (except for the Harvey & Lee theory) your CT is in harmony with the vast majority of readers on this FORUM -- especially your final sentence there. But that's only a political opinion -- it isn't founded on solid evidence.

For example, Jim, you said: "Johnson claimed he thought it was a commie plot and that 40 million Americans could die in "an hour" from World War III." Actually, that's an inaccurate representation of LBJ's position.

LBJ actually said to Senator Richard Russell (and we have this on a tape recording) "we know Khrushchev didn't have a damn thing to do with it."

See that? "We know" Khrushchev wasn't involved. "We know" it wasn't a commie plot.

LBJ and his staff knew it wasn't a commie plot because they knew who the real JFK Killers were -- the Dallas right-wing.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited July 4, 2015 by Paul Trejo

Jim Hargrove · July 5, 2015

Paul,

Right, Johnson didn't think Khruschev did it, he SAID he thought Castro did it.

During coffee, the talk turned to President Kennedy, and Johnson expressed his belief that the assassination in Dallas had been part of a conspiracy. "I never believed that Oswald acted alone, although I can accept that he pulled the trigger." Johnson said that when he had taken office he found that "we had been operating a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean." A year or so before Kennedy's death a CIA-backed assassination team had been picked up in Havana. Johnson speculated that Dallas had been a retaliation for this thwarted attempt, although he couldn't prove it. "After the Warren Commission reported in, I asked Ramsey Clark [then Attorney General] to quietly look into the whole thing. Only two weeks later he reported back that he couldn't find anything new." Disgust tinged Johnson's voice as the conversation came to an end. "I thought I had appointed Tom Clark's son—I was wrong."

Paul Trejo · July 5, 2015

Paul,

Right, Johnson didn't think Khruschev did it, he SAID he thought Castro did it.

During coffee, the talk turned to President Kennedy, and Johnson expressed his belief that the assassination in Dallas had been part of a conspiracy. "I never believed that Oswald acted alone, although I can accept that he pulled the trigger." Johnson said that when he had taken office he found that "we had been operating a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean." A year or so before Kennedy's death a CIA-backed assassination team had been picked up in Havana. Johnson speculated that Dallas had been a retaliation for this thwarted attempt, although he couldn't prove it. "After the Warren Commission reported in, I asked Ramsey Clark [then Attorney General] to quietly look into the whole thing. Only two weeks later he reported back that he couldn't find anything new." Disgust tinged Johnson's voice as the conversation came to an end. "I thought I had appointed Tom Clark's son—I was wrong."

Well, Jim, actually LBJ said many things about the JFK murder, and then took them back. His pronouncements about the JFK murder were contradictory.

He told CBS anchor Walter Cronkite to suppress what he just told Cronkite about "others that might have been involved", for purposes of National Security.

Even LBJ was itching to talk -- but he never did.

We'll all find out on 26 October 2017, however, when the JFK Records Act of 1992 finally runs out of time.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited July 5, 2015 by Paul Trejo

Jim Hargrove · July 6, 2015

John Armstrong and Black Op Radio's Len Osanic talked for more than three hours yesterday. David Josephs and I listened in on phone lines and occasionally commented and asked questions. John talked about the evidence for the existence of two children sharing the identity of Lee Harvey Oswald dating back to the early 1950s. His talk followed the development of the two boys through American-born Lee Oswald's service in the Marine Corps and Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald's more irregular Marine service.

Len said it could take several months to put together the final production, and he was still debating whether to do it in audio format or as a video production featuring reproductions of documents. A second interview between the two researchers is planned for the relatively near future.

John has been interviewed by Len before. From experience, I can say that Len's website must have a sizable audience, because whenever Len puts up a link to harveyandlee.net, we get thousands of new visitors directly from his referral. In terms of their abilities to drive traffic to a site, Black Op Radio and Jim Di's CTKA.net appear to be in a league of their own. Black Op Radio's home page is here:

blackopradio.com

Dawn Meredith · July 6, 2015

John Armstrong and Black Op Radio's Len Osanic talked for more than three hours yesterday. David Josephs and I listened in on phone lines and occasionally commented and asked questions. John talked about the evidence for the existence of two children sharing the identity of Lee Harvey Oswald dating back to the early 1950s. His talk followed the development of the two boys through American-born Lee Oswald's service in the Marine Corps and Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald's more irregular Marine service.

Len said it could take several months to put together the final production, and he was still debating whether to do it in audio format or as a video production featuring reproductions of documents. A second interview between the two researchers is planned for the relatively near future.

John has been interviewed by Len before. From experience, I can say that Len's website must have a sizable audience, because whenever Len puts up a link to harveyandlee.net, we get thousands of new visitors directly from his referral. In terms of their abilities to drive traffic to a site, Black Op Radio and Jim Di's CTKA.net appear to be in a league of their own. Black Op Radio's home page is here:

blackopradio.com

Since Len was kind enough to go to John's place, I hope he does it as a video. Either way I look forward to it. Both sites are great, and hard to keep up with. (So much information).

W. Tracy Parnell · July 6, 2015

In John Armstrong's unsourced article, The Story of Two "Steven Landesbergs", he states:

"On Dec 15 (1961) a dark-haired man with a reddish beard, who identified himself as Yves L'eandes (the actor), caused a disturbance in Greenwich Village by heckling speakers at a rally to urge Mark Lane, a Democratic State Assemblyman, to run for Congress."

This new claim by Armstrong that L'Eandes had a reddish beard is significant because he is now maintaining that L'Eandes is the late actor Steve Landesberg who indeed had reddish brown hair.

But the only newspaper that reported this incident was the Village Voice in their December 21, 1961 article titled "Lane Wins Student Plaudits as Deep South Demurs". It is clear from other details Armstrong provides that this article is his source for most of his information. However, the Voice article didn't mention anything about a beard at all and described L'Eandes as follows:

"Most of the heckling was done by a dark-haired mustached young man wearing a scarf and a bright red sweater."

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19611221&id=WkkQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1I8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3670,800696&hl=en

Later in the article, Armstrong says:

"On Nov. 30, 1963 the Long Island newspaper Newsday reported that L'eandes (the actor) was living either on 8th Street or MacDougal Street in the heart of the Village. From a photograph taken at one of the rallies in the Village, two years earlier, the FBI located a former roommate of L'eandes (the actor), Michael Dunn. Dunn identified the red-bearded man in the photo as his former roommate, Steven L'eandes (Stephen Richard Landesberg, the actor, who had red hair)."

So the sources appear to be Newsday and the FBI reports on Dunn. But Newsday's description of the photo of L'Eandes was of a "dark haired bearded man" and this was obviously a second hand report from a source who had seen the photo or knew someone who had. Since several other first hand sources say L'Eandes was dark haired with a moustache and Newsday's source had only seen (or heard of) a photo of L'Eandes, it is obvious that Newsday's is the least credible report. And in any case, there is again no mention of a "reddish" beard at all. And the FBI report of Dunn says nothing about a description of L'Eandes at all, only that Dunn identified the photo as the man he knew as L'Eandes (who was actually Landesberg the student).

Armstrong continues referring for the remainder of the article to L'Eandes as having a red or reddish beard as if he has now established it as a fact.

So my question to the Armstrong supporters is, what is Armstrong's source for the "reddish beard" statement that he uses to tie L'Eandes to the actor Landesberg?

Greg Parker · July 6, 2015

In John Armstrong's unsourced article, The Story of Two "Steven Landesbergs", he states:

"On Dec 15 (1961) a dark-haired man with a reddish beard, who identified himself as Yves L'eandes (the actor), caused a disturbance in Greenwich Village by heckling speakers at a rally to urge Mark Lane, a Democratic State Assemblyman, to run for Congress."

This new claim by Armstrong that L'Eandes had a reddish beard is significant because he is now maintaining that L'Eandes is the late actor Steve Landesberg who indeed had reddish brown hair.

But the only newspaper that reported this incident was the Village Voice in their December 21, 1961 article titled "Lane Wins Student Plaudits as Deep South Demurs". It is clear from other details Armstrong provides that this article is his source for most of his information. However, the Voice article didn't mention anything about a beard at all and described L'Eandes as follows:

"Most of the heckling was done by a dark-haired mustached young man wearing a scarf and a bright red sweater."

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1299&dat=19611221&id=WkkQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1I8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3670,800696&hl=en

Later in the article, Armstrong says:

"On Nov. 30, 1963 the Long Island newspaper Newsday reported that L'eandes (the actor) was living either on 8th Street or MacDougal Street in the heart of the Village. From a photograph taken at one of the rallies in the Village, two years earlier, the FBI located a former roommate of L'eandes (the actor), Michael Dunn. Dunn identified the red-bearded man in the photo as his former roommate, Steven L'eandes (Stephen Richard Landesberg, the actor, who had red hair)."

So the sources appear to be Newsday and the FBI reports on Dunn. But Newsday's description of the photo of L'Eandes was of a "dark haired bearded man" and this was obviously a second hand report from a source who had seen the photo or knew someone who had. Since several other first hand sources say L'Eandes was dark haired with a moustache and Newsday's source had only seen (or heard of) a photo of L'Eandes, it is obvious that Newsday's is the least credible report. And in any case, there is again no mention of a "reddish" beard at all. And the FBI report of Dunn says nothing about a description of L'Eandes at all, only that Dunn identified the photo as the man he knew as L'Eandes (who was actually Landesberg the student).

Armstrong continues referring for the remainder of the article to L'Eandes as having a red or reddish beard as if he has now established it as a fact.

So my question to the Armstrong supporters is, what is Armstrong's source for the "reddish beard" statement that he uses to tie L'Eandes to the actor Landesberg?

It was obtained from his most reliable source: A repository of Doppelganger facts known as Thin Air.

Jim Hargrove · July 6, 2015

From Joachim Joesten, THE CASE AGAINST J. EDGAR HOOVER...:

I have always considered this little-known case as highly characteristic of the
suppression technique employed by the FBI in its cover-up of the true facts of
the Kennedy assassination and have given a brief account of it in my first
book, Oswald: Assassin or Fall Guy?

In the belief that someday a decent government in Washington will want to take
a close look at all of the sinister goings-on surrounding the murder of
President Kennedy, I now set down for the record all the information I have
about the case -- which is not an awful lot, for all my efforts to establish
contact with Landesberg have failed. I would not be surprised to learn that he
has long been dead.

On Nov. 30, 1963, the Long Island newspaper Newsday ran a story entitled, "FBI
Searches the Village for Pal of Oswald's" which began with these words:

"A Mississippi segregationist, reported to be an ex-Marine buddy of Lee H.
Oswald, President Kennedy's assassin, was hunted last night by FBI agents in
Greenwich Village. The agents hope he can fill in many of the still-murky
details surrounding Oswald's life, personality and political activities.

"Several bars and coffee-houses in the Village that cater to the college crowd
reported that FBI agents had been around and showed a color snapshot of a
dark-haired, red-bearded man in his early or mid-20s. The man was dressed in a
blue coat and wore a red scarf. Villagers said the FBI identified the man in
the snapshot as Stephen L'eandes and that he was described by agents as being
fond of creating disturbances during meetings of liberal groups in the Village.
L'eandes, who in no way has been connected with the assassination of the
President last Friday, was reported to be living either on 8th Street or
MacDougal Street in the heart of the Village. The FBI flatly refused to comment
on its search for the man. 'We are conducting an investigation into the
assassination of President Kennedy as ordered by President Johnson,' a
spokesman said.

"The FBI, it was learned, was led to the Village by another man who was said to
have called several newspapers and radio stations in the city after Oswald's
arrest and own assassination by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub operator. The
man, it is reported, said that he, Oswald and L'eandes were in the Marines
together and that in 1962 Oswald and L'eandes often appeared together at
left-wing rallies to cause a disturbance. Other reports have placed Oswald in
Russia in 1962. This latest report posed another paradox, because Oswald was a
self-described Marxist and pro-Communist while L'eandes is said to be a
hard-core rightist and segregationist."

Let me stop here for a moment to say that the seeming contradiction between
reports of Oswald being in Russia in 1962 and at the same time appearing at
rallies in New York exists only on the surface and that the other "paradox" of
Oswald being a self-described Marxist in one place and a hard-core rightist and
segregationist in the other is just as illusory.

Actually this episode offers just one more corroboration of a key element in
the Kennedy murder plot which I have discussed at great length in my book,
Oswald: The Truth, namely the existence of a False Oswald who played a
prominent part in the frame-up of the real one. At the time this man engaged in
disturbing left-wing rallies in the Village, of course, the Kennedy murder plot
and the frame-up of Lee Harvey Oswald were still far away in the future and the
man described in this Newsday story as "Oswald" was not yet consciously playing
that role. The confusion arose later because of his evident resemblance to Lee
Harvey, which is documented in detail in my book. There is no doubt in my mind
that the "Oswald" referred to in this story is the same person as the False
Oswald who in November 1963 planted a rich harvest of false clues against Lee
Harvey Oswald and whom I have identified as Larry Crafard, Jack Ruby's handyman
(for further details, see Oswald: The Truth). Reverting now to the Newsday
story, it goes on as follows:

"A man by the name of L'eandes made headlines twice in the Village Voice, a
weekly community paper, by allegedly causing disturbances. In Dec. 1961, he
allegedly heckled speakers at a rally called to urge Mark Lane, a Democrat, to
run for Congress. In January 1962, a Voice story reported that a L'eandes was
punched at PS 41 during a meeting called to protest violence to a rabbi in the
Village. L'eandes was quoted as describing himself as 'a former US Marine who
is trying to be heard on vital American issues.' Police of the Charles Street
Station said they knew nothing about L'eandes. It was learned that the FBI had
shown police his picture although police denied this -- apparently at the FBI's
request."

Let's recapitulate a few salient points point we proceed with the Landesberg
story.

It is December 1961 and a heckler who calls himself Yves L'eandes is making
quite a splash in the Village; he does so again in January 1962 and the
occasion suggests that he approves of violence to rabbis. He is dark-haired,
bearded, and dresses conspicuously in a blue coat and a red scarf. Most
distinctively, he is a Mississippi segregationist.

The New York Post, also on Nov. 30, 1963, published a similar story entitled,
"Racist Linked to Lee Oswald Hunted Here," which gave these additional details:

". . . The man the FBI is looking for has been described as about 5 foot 10,
slender build, handsome, with brown hair and a large brush-type mustache. He is
said to have once described himself as being a member of the Magnolia Rifles,
reportedly a Mississippi segregationist group. He has been a frequent figure in
the Village during the last two years and has been involved in a number of
brawls over racial issues."

Now we turn again to Newsday, issue of Dec. 6, 1963:

"A 23-year-old self-styled student of philosophy, accused of hoaxing the FBI
into a massive two-week search for a non-existent Greenwich Village buddy of
President Kennedy's assassin, was arrested yesterday and committed for
psychiatric observation at Bellevue Hospital. FBI agents arrested Stephen
Harris Landesberg yesterday morning at his Greenwich Village apartment,
reported to be at 66 W. 10th St. They accused him of triggering a widespread
FBI manhunt for a Stephen Yves L'Andres,* who supposedly was closely associated
with Lee Harvey Oswald during the assassin's stay in New York in 1962. The FBI
had been led to believe L'Andres could shed important light on the Nov. 22
assassination.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*The name of "L'Andres" appears only in this Newsday story. The New York Times,
in a brief account of the arrest (see following page), referred to the man as
L'eandes, as Newsday itself had done in its [sic] of Nov. 30.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"An FBI agent said that on the morning of Nov. 23, shortly after Oswald was
officially charged in Dallas, Tex., with Kennedy's murder, Landesberg came to
the bureau's office at 201 E. 69th Street here. 'He identified himself at that
time as James F. Rizzuto,' the agent said. As Rizzuto, the FBI said, Landesberg
spun a cloak and dagger story around the political activities of 'ex-Marine
buddies' Oswald and L'Andres.

"'Acting on that information, the FBI agent said, 'we initiated a widespread
investigation to try and verify the allegation. On completion of that
investigation today (Thursday), we determined that Landesberg, under the alias
of Rizzuto, had perpetrated a hoax.' He said the FBI was convinced that
L'Andres was Landesberg's own creation.

"Landesberg identified himself yesterday as a student of philosophy at Columbia
University. However, Columbia University officials said that Landesberg was not
registered as a student, either under his own name or under his alias.
Landesberg was arraigned yesterday before Federal Judge John M. Cannella. The
charge, making false statements to the FBI, is a felony and conviction could
bring five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. Landesberg was hold in
$10,000 bail [sic] and he voluntarily agreed to commit himself for psychiatric
observation. The FBI named Landesberg's parents as Mr. and Mrs. George
Landesberg of 111-50 76th Rd., Forest Hills."

Finally, here is an item that appeared in the New York Times, also on Dec. 6,
1963:

"A 23-year-old man who had led the Federal Bureau of Investigation on a futile
search for a supposed friend of Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested yesterday on a
charge of giving false information. Stephen H. Landesberg of 66 West 10th
Street was later committed by Federal Judge John M. Cannella to Bellevue
Hospital for ten days for psychiatric examination.

"Landesberg, also known as Stephen Yves L'Eandes and James F. Rizzuto, was
discharged from the Marine Corps after eight months for a physical disability.
His service conduct was officially described as 'bizarre' and 'unusual.'

"On Nov. 23, the day after the assassination of President Kennedy, Landesberg
went to the New York office of the FBI. He said his name was Rizzuto and he had
served with Oswald and L'Eandes in the Marines. He said L'Eandes was a paid
agitator. At least once, he said, Oswald photographed a disturbance created by
L'Eandes.

"The agency began an intensive search for L'Eandes in Greenwich Village only to
discover, it said, that Landesberg, L'Eandes and Rizzuto were the same person."

What is one to make of all this?

In the first place, it is an established fact that a man who called himself
Yves L'Eandes lived and agitated in the Village in 1961-62. I went to the
office of the Village Voice and checked in their files the two issues referred
to in Newsday of Nov. 30, 1963, and found that they effectively reported the
disturbances created by L'Eandes.

The FBI, then, clearly and deliberately lied in alleging that L'Eandes was
Landesberg's "own creation" and was indeed Landesberg himself. Or can the
Bureau explain how come the purported figment of Landesberg's imagination in
November 1963 had happened to get two mentions in a local newspaper almost two
years before the Kennedy assassination?

Secondly, the FBI says that Landesberg, when he called at its New York office
on Nov. 23, "identified himself" as James F. Rizzuto. Is it credible that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, in a matter involving the murder of a
President, should take the word of a stranger who drops in to volunteer
information that he is such-and-such a person, without proper verification? It
is not; in fact it is utterly unbelievable.

If Landesberg, in the words of the FBI, "identified" himself as Rizzuto, then
he had papers to prove that he was Rizzuto, that's for sure. But -- how could
he have such papers? The reference in the FBI statement to a "cloak and dagger"
story explains everything. "Cloak and dagger," in modern usage, means just one
thing: undercover work for an intelligence agency.

Lee Harvey Oswald was for years an undercover operative for the CIA, as I have
documented in detail in my book, Marina Oswald. He was trained in the Marine
Corps for his assignment to the Soviet Union and it can be taken for granted
that some of his buddies in the Corps were undergoing similar training.
Landesberg, alias Rizzuto, apparently was one of them and if he was in a
position to identify himself as Rizzuto, it was because the CIA had issued to
him identification papers in that name -- just as Oswald used the CIA cover of
Alek J. Hidell and possessed documentary evidence to that effect.

In the third place, it is evident that the FBI would not have launched a
massive search, lasting two weeks, for a "non-existent" person without some
pretty solid data to go upon. If Landesberg was an impostor, the FBI, with its
immense facilities for research and verification, would have spotted him as a
phony within hours, if not minutes. It is a certainty, therefore, that the
information which Landesberg had imparted to the FBI was both credible and of
great importance to set in motion the vast sweep through the Village described
in Newsday and the Post.

Why then did the FBI suddenly "determine" that the whole thing was a hoax and
that the elusive L'Eandes was none other than Landesberg himself?

Again, the answer must be sought in the murky background of the Kennedy
assassination and the heavy involvement of the CIA in this crime. Had the FBI
pursued the lead offered to them by Landesberg, a lead that pointed to
Mississippi segregationists and "Magnolia Riflemen" as well as to the CIA
nucleus in the Marine Corps to which Oswald belonged, it would have gotten into
deep waters indeed. It was so much easier to turn around and arrest the
informant on a charge of hoaxing the FBI.

Such a case, however, would be hazardous to present in a court of law and so a
convenient exit was found: a "voluntary" commitment of the alleged offender to
a mental institution. This is indeed the favorite technique of suppression
employed by the masterminds of the Kennedy murder cover-up. It obviates the
need for proving in court what can't be proven. And the only exit from such an
institution is, often enough, to the graveyard.

One more observation is in order. Landesberg, judging by his name and also the
photo of him which appeared in the Dec. 6 issue of Newsday, appears to be
Jewish and is clean-shaven. Would he be identical with a racist and
segregationist from Mississippi -- and a bearded one at that?

Jim Hargrove · July 6, 2015