Confessions of Participation

[Tim Gratz]

John had suggested starting a thread about individuals who had "confessed" to participation in the assassination. I will try to cover one of them (probably tomorrow). In this Post I want to identify the individuals who have confessed. Forum members can correct me if I've missed anyone. I thought we could use this thread to discuss the legitimacy of the confessions, and how the confessions might tie into a possible resolution of the conspiracy. Of course, we all know that a convict named Jim Files has confessed, and that the legitimacy of his confession is widely debated. Other than Files, the confessions that should be addressed here are (in alphabetical order):

(1) Tony Cuesta

(2) Carlos Marcello

(3) John Martino

(4) David Morales

(5) Santo Trafficante, Jr.

There may very well have been some obvious nut-cakes who have confessed, but excluding such cases, have I missed anyone?

[Shanet Clark]

Charles Harrelson confessed. I watched him be confronted with the photo evidence that he was one of the Three Tramps and he said "yeah that sure does look like me" then I read a few years later where he was doing time and confessed. He may have recanted.

Chauncey Holt confessed to being in the boxcar with a radio and Harrelson and forging some federal I.D., and he looks a whole lot like that Tramp.

How exactly did Marcello and Trafficante confess?

For that matter when did Morales and Martino confess?

[Tim Gratz]

Charles Harrelson confessed. I watched him be confronted with the photo evidence that he was one of the Three Tramps and he said "yeah that sure does look like me" then I read a few years later where he was doing time and confessed. He may have recanted.

Chauncey Holt confessed to being in the boxcar with a radio and Harrelson and forging some federal I.D., and he looks a whole lot like that Tramp.

How exactly did Marcello and Trafficante confess?

For that matter when did Morales and Martino confess?

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Good point about Harrelsom and Holt but I don't think anyone puts much stock in their confessions today. Again, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

We will get into each of these confessions in greater detail, but very briefly:

(1) In Triangle of Death it has FBI reports that Marcello confessed while under sedation in a prison hospital.

(2) Trafficante: (i) was picked up on an FBI wiretap stating after Giancana was killed, "Now there are only two of us alive who know who killed Kennedy" (or words to that effect): (ii) according to the memoirs of Trafficante's lawyer (Ragano?), Mob Lawyer, Trafficante confessed his involvement to Ragano during his last illness (but some people dispute this);

(3) Morales made a statement about "getting Kennedy" in front of his attorney and another friend (as I research this I want to verify that each person confirmed the statement to a reputable source;

(4) On the day of the assassination, Martino indicated foreknowledge of the assassination to his wife and son. He later discussed it with two newsmen. Martino's confession is extensively covered in Mr, Hancock's fine book, Someone Would Have Talked.

We'll cover these confessions in greater detail later. I invite anyone who wants to jump in and contribute the detail on one of these confessions to do so!

The confessions of Cuesta and Martino are consistent with Mr. Simkin's theory of the assassination as posted December 15, 2004.

[John Simkin]

Loy Factor has also confessed to the crime. See:

http://home.earthlink.net/~sixthfloor/meetloy.htm

Gerry P. Hemming and Roy Hargraves have also made sort of confessions (see interviews in Noel Twyman’s Bloody Treason). They both remain vague about their own role in these events.

Charles Harrelson retracted his confession and has given good reasons why he would not have taken part in the assassination.

James Files and Chauncey Holt both made confessions but are not generally believed to be telling the truth.

Santo Trafficante and other crime bosses never confessed to the assassination. What we have is reported remarks that include threats against JFK.

The FBI report on the so-called confession of Marcello is consistent with the Plan B (see my thread on Who Ordered the Assassination of JFK):

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2591

The main source for Martino confession is his wife and son. He also told two friends (one happened to be a journalist but the confession was never reported in his lifetime). What Martino said is limited in scope but of great importance in understanding what went on.

David Morales confession is reported by his friend, Ruben Carbajal (took place in 1973). He was drunk at the time and it could have been an attempt to make himself look important. However, the confession fits in with other information we have. I have also argued elsewhere that Tony Cuesta's confession is of great importance.

It is also claimed David Attlee Phillips also confessed. When he died on 7th July, 1988, Phillips left behind an unpublished manuscript. The novel is about a CIA officer who lived in Mexico City. This character is clearly Phillips. In the novel the character states: "I was one of those officers who handled Lee Harvey Oswald... We gave him the mission of killing Fidel Castro in Cuba... I don't know why he killed Kennedy. But I do know he used precisely the plan we had devised against Castro. Thus the CIA did not anticipate the president's assassination, but it was responsible for it. I share that guilt."

Others have confessed but have so far not gone public with their stories. These confessions backup the stories of Martino and Cuesta. They also dismiss the claims made by Files, Holt and Factor. However, they do give support for the idea that the assassination was paid for by organized crime. That is what they were told by CIA agents. However, I believe that was an attempt by the CIA to cover up the real sponsors of the assassination.

[Tim Gratz]

Loy Factor has also confessed to the crime. See:

http://home.earthlink.net/~sixthfloor/meetloy.htm

Gerry P. Hemming and Roy Hargraves have also made sort of confessions (see interviews in Noel Twyman’s Bloody Treason). They both remain vague about their own role in these events.

Charles Harrelson retracted his confession and has given good reasons why he would not have taken part in the assassination.

James Files and Chauncey Holt both made confessions but are not generally believed to be telling the truth.

Santo Trafficante and other crime bosses never confessed to the assassination. What we have is reported remarks that include threats against JFK.

The FBI report on the so-called confession of Marcello is consistent with the Plan B (see my thread on Who Ordered the Assassination of JFK):

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2591

The main source for Martino confession is his wife and son. He also told two friends (one happened to be a journalist but the confession was never reported in his lifetime). What Martino said is limited in scope but of great importance in understanding what went on.

David Morales confession is reported by his friend, Ruben Carbajal (took place in 1973). He was drunk at the time and it could have been an attempt to make himself look important. However, the confession fits in with other information we have. I have also argued elsewhere that Tony Cuesta's confession is of great importance.

It is also claimed David Attlee Phillips also confessed. When he died on 7th July, 1988, Phillips left behind an unpublished manuscript. The novel is about a CIA officer who lived in Mexico City. This character is clearly Phillips. In the novel the character states: "I was one of those officers who handled Lee Harvey Oswald... We gave him the mission of killing Fidel Castro in Cuba... I don't know why he killed Kennedy. But I do know he used precisely the plan we had devised against Castro. Thus the CIA did not anticipate the president's assassination, but it was responsible for it. I share that guilt."

Others have confessed but have so far not gone public with their stories. These confessions backup the stories of Martino and Cuesta. They also dismiss the claims made by Files, Holt and Factor. However, they do give support for the idea that the assassination was paid for by organized crime. That is what they were told by CIA agents. However, I believe that was an attempt by the CIA to cover up the real sponsors of the assassination.

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* * * * * * * * * * *

John, interesting post. When you say Trafficante made threats against JFK you are of course refering to the Jose Aleman testimony. But Trafficante's attorney definitely claiamed (in his book) that Trafficante confessed his participation (with Marcello) in the assassination, so that counts as a confession (even though some people dispute the attorney's claim.)

Also, reportedly FBI electronic surveillance picked up Trafficante saying after Giancana's murder that now there are "only two of us" who know who killed Kennedy. When I post about Trafficante I'll go into why some people dispute that he ever made the confession to his attorney.

Do you think the CIA did try to send Oswald on a mission to Cuba to kill Castro? That could explain his activities in Mexico City. I've wondered if the CIA was trying to use LHO's leftist credentials to sneak a sharpshooter into Cuba using Oswald id papers.

Edited December 16, 2004 by Tim Gratz

[Wim Dankbaar]

Of course, we all know that a convict named Jim Files has confessed, and that the legitimacy of his confession is widely debated.

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

Tim, good way of putting it. Very neutral.

You could add Sam Giancana who alledgedly confessed to his brother:

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/pdf/Giancanna_Bio_457-468.pdf

Roscoe White, who alledgedly confessed in a vanished diary, alledgedly taken by the FBI.

The purported confession of Phillips is here:

According to his nephew Shawn Phillips, who is quite a famous musician, David Atlee Phillips confirmed to his brother James Atlee Phillips that he was in Dallas the day Kennedy died. To read Shawn's email: click here.

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/phillips.htm

[Tim Gratz]

Of course, we all know that a convict named Jim Files has confessed, and that the legitimacy of his confession is widely debated.

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

Tim, good way of putting it. Very neutral.

You could add Sam Giancana who alledgedly confessed to his brother:

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/pdf/Giancanna_Bio_457-468.pdf

Roscoe White, who alledgedly confessed in a vanished diary, alledgedly taken by the FBI.

The purported confession of Phillips is here:

According to his nephew Shawn Phillips, who is quite a famous musician, David Atlee Phillips confirmed to his brother James Atlee Phillips that he was in Dallas the day Kennedy died. To read Shawn's email: click here.

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/phillips.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your help and comment (and references). I think getting all of this information in one thread may be of some help. (Thought of you today, Wim; I checked two of your countrymen into the hotel at which I was working.) There's another interesting "music" connection to the intelligence field. If I recall right, one of the members of that great old band Sting was related to a upper echelon CIA official (son in fact). I believe the band member composed music for the tv show The Equalizer. So far as I know, the CIA official's name never came up in the Kennedy investigation. Some of these connections are of no relevance but are amusing or interesting. Does anyone remember that one of (perhaps the chief) counsel for the HSCA was the grandson of the founder of the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store.

Again, thanks. I'm going to read your links now. (And I agree with you that John's scenario too summarily dismisses the involvement of organized crime in the assassination.)

Edited December 16, 2004 by Tim Gratz

[John Simkin]

The purported confession of Phillips is here:

According to his nephew Shawn Phillips, who is quite a famous musician, David Atlee Phillips confirmed to his brother James Atlee Phillips that he was in Dallas the day Kennedy died. To read Shawn's email: click here.

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/phillips.htm

This is hardly a confession. Anyway, if he had been involved in the planning of the assassination, he would have been as far away from Dallas as possible. Or has James Files told you he was one of the gunman?

[Wim Dankbaar]

Or has James Files told you he was one of the gunman?

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

John,

Do you expect me to answer this?

To find out exactly what Files told go here:

http://jfkmurdersolved.com/

Wim

[Nic Martin]

Didn't Harrelson say he was on acid at the time he "confessed" to being the tramp?

After I turn 18, I can drive down to the prison he's in and talk to him, although I doubt he'd say anything.

[Wim Dankbaar]

Harrelson said he was on coke! He should have said acid yes, because coke does not cause hallucinations.

If a nice young innocent girl goes to visit him, who knows what he will say? He has nothing to lose, since his final appeal for a new trial was rejected by the supreme court last year.

You may have a better chance to walk up to John Thomas Masen in Dallas. He still operates his gun shop there. He knows all about Ruby, Harrelson and the JFK assassination. I'll make a bet he supplied some of the ammunition for the hit.

http://www.johnmasen.com/

Look at it this way, Nic: the government or FBI won't do it. So it might as well be you.

To me he said: Friend, don't ever call me again! Yep, John is a little touchy on the subject.

Wim

[Steve Thomas]

Tim,

John had suggested starting a thread about individuals who had "confessed" to participation in the assassination.

Marita Lorenz and Rose Cheramie.

Steve Thomas

[Ryan Crowe]

What about Felipe Vidal, didnt he admit to being part of the hit on Kennedy while being held in prison by Castro?

[Dixie Dea]

Wlm mentions John Masen.....I have been wondering about this for some time! Has anyone on this forum actually seen John Masen? He has been mentioned by many, as an LHO look-alike. Far as I know, he still does have a gunshop as well as a website http://www.johnmasen.com

There has been photos floating around for years that was suppose to be John Masen. I do believe the photo does have some resemblance to LHO.

Problem is that the photo supposedly of Masen, is actually of Dial Ryder, who does have a rather strange story.

Unfortunately, I don't have a way to scan this Ryder photo on here. Perhaps someone else will do so. But, I still do wonder if Masen is also actually a LHO look-alike. I know that some JFK researchers have attempted to approach him and he is uncommunicative, just as Wlm mentions in his above post. Still I haven't heard if he actually looked like LHO, in past years, even though perhaps he dosn't today.

WC TESTIMONY OF DIAL DUWAYNE RYDER

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/ryder.htm

HSC Testimony of DUWAYNE RYDER and HUNTER SCHMIDT

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/ryderschmidt.htm

Dixie

[John Geraghty]

perhaps somebody should email him and ask if he any manlicher carcanos lying around! claudia@johnmasen.com

there is a small picture of him on the contact page.

john