John Martin?

[David Boylan]

I've never seen an indentification of Sylvia Odio's "friend" Johnny Martin aka Juan Martin. Supposedly a gun dealer rom Venezula. Was this John Martino by any chance?

Document # 180-10108-10350 Is another memorandum of an interview by Burt Griffen. This is with Mrs. Connell. It is also dated 4/16/64.

Interview with Mrs. C. L. Connell, Dallas, Texas.

…Mrs. Connell described John Martin aka Juan Martin as sharing Miss Odio's anti-Kennedy feelings. Mrs.Connell stated she met Martin twice at Miss Odio's apartment. She described Martin as being about 5ft. 7 in. tall weighing 130 lbs. and as being a close friend of Miss Odio. She stated that sometime in 1963 Martin drove to Florida where he picked up a car belonging to Sylvia Odio's brother and drove it back to Dallas.

I questioned Mrs. Connell about Col. Castorr. She said that Col. Castorr's wife is connected with H. L. Hunt. H. L. Hunt is the father of Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City football team. The daughter of H. L. Hunt is a Mrs. Hill who is active in right-wing political activities. Mrs. Connell described Mrs. Hill as being in her late 40's or early 50's. (It is entirely possible that Mrs. Hill is the mother of Thomas Hill, a former Dallas man in his mid-20's who now lives in Belmont, Massachusetts, and works as an organizer there for the John Birch Society. Thomas Hill was a leader in the John Birch Society in Dallas before he went to Belmont. Thomas Hill's name appeared in Jack Ruby's notebook and may have been taken down when Ruby photographed the "Impeach Earl Warren" sign.)

[James Richards]

That's very interesting, David. The physical description certainly fits John Martino.

Do you happen to know (or is mentioned anywhere) what kind of car Odio's brother owned and is there any indication what month is being referred to in 1963?

Cheers,

James

[Larry Hancock]

Dave, I would have a hard time thinking that was Martino for a variety

of reasons - I do know there are a number of interviews relating to who

Sylvia was contacting to try to buy guns for Rey and Jure. She was far

more active in that early in 63 than is picked up in most discussion and even

met with Rey's people about during a visit to some of her relatives that

year (either Puerto Rico or the DR, forget which without looking it up).

I would more likely think that it was a contact through some of those

people than Martino, hard to think that Sylvia's sister who attended

Martino's speech and told Sylvia bout their family being mentioned by

Martino would not know if Martino was a close friend in Dallas. Also I have

certainly turned up nothing that would indicate Martino driving to Dallas

in 1963, if he did his family didn't know about it and incidentally they

said he stayed at home most of the time except for his speeches and the

Tilt mission, not unusual for someone just out of a Castro prison.

....don't have an ID for you but doubt that it was Martino.

[David Boylan]

Thanks guys. I'll just chalk it up to one of those coincidences. Kind of like Earl Ruby calling Thomas Hill in Belmont, MA. HL Hunt's nefew.

Dave