Confessions of Participation

[John Simkin]

Robert Wilfred Easterling was born at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on 30th June, 1926. After dropping out of high school he joined a rodeo and obtained the nickname Cowboy.

Easterling eventually became involved in criminal activity. In the 1950s he became a safecracker and helped run an interstate car-theft operation. He was arrested and convicted of burglary and bootlegging and spent some time in prison. He later admitted that he got away with the most serious of his crimes, the placing of a bomb on a National Airlines plane as part of an insurance fraud scheme. Easterling also confessed to killing a man who became aware of this crime.

Easterling was arrested in 1964 and charged with safebreaking in Hagerstown, Maryland and Durham, North Carolina. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. After his release he moved to Mexico City. In 1974 Easterling was committed to a mental institution. The following year he got in touch with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his knowledge of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Although interviewed by the Secret Service several times between 1974 and 1982, Easterling felt his story was not being fully investigated. He therefore contacted the journalist, Henry Hurt.

Easterling told Hurt that he had been recruited by Manuel Rivera to drive Lee Harvey Oswald from Dallas on the day of the assassination. Easterling claimed that David Ferrie, Jack Ruby and Clay Shaw had been involved in this conspiracy. So also were unnamed members of the Texas oil industry. Easterling also told Hurt that Rivera had been the gunman who killed Kennedy. Rivera used a 7-mm Czech-made automatic rather than the Mannlicher-Carcano that had been planted in the Texas Book Depository to implicate Oswald.

Easterling decided not to take part in this conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy and instead fled to Jackson, Mississippi. On 21st November, 1963, Easterling informed the FBI in Washington of the plot. He was told they knew of the conspiracy. The FBI agent told him: "We know all about it. We're going to catch them red-handed." You're in too deep. You're going to get killed."

Easterling's story appeared in Hurt's book, Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1986).

[Wim Dankbaar]

John,

Do you believe the story?

Wim

[David Boylan]

I've posted this before but it does show that some thought that Masen and Oswald looked alike:

Dallas T-1 (Frank Ellsworth) advised the remainder of the information originally reported by this informant is still correct as far as he knows.

‘They did tell me that about six weeks prior to November 22, 1963 one of the members of the Minute Men (they said they could not recall who) came to their house about 9:30 pm. He came to the front door and told the Informant’s wife that he wanted some ammunition. A man was with him. Both men stayed in the yard and did not enter the house. The INFORMANT got the ammunition and gave it to them. Neither thought any more about it until November 22, 1963 when he saw a newspaper photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald. Both noticed a close resemblance between Oswald and the man who was with the Minute Man a few weeks before. Both were afraid that he was Oswald and were afraid to say anything. Both said they felt that the Minute Men were involved in the assassination although that very little was said by members they knew following the assassination except to express satisfaction that it happened. I told INFORMANT I had someone in Dallas I wanted him to see and we arranged to do so on Oct. 28.

…Dallas T-1 advised “I picked up informant about 4:00 pm (10/28/64) and drove him to Dallas, Texas. I drove him to the vicinity of The Gun Shop, 7402 Harry Hines Blvd., a business operated by one JOHN THOMAS MASEN. I pointed out the business to the INFORMANT. We then drove by and observed several men in the front of the shop. The INFORMANT picked out MASEN from the group and identified him as the man he thought was OSWALD. I parked around the corner and the informant walked back to the shop. He returned about ten minutes later and said that MASEN recognized him when he entered the shop and appeared glad to see him. That they talked about guns a few minutes and Masen invited him to come back. The INFORMANT stated that he does not know if Masen is a member of the Minute Men or not.

[John Simkin]

John, Do you believe the story?

No.

[Steve Thomas]

Larry,

Steve, Mark Bridger has done a fantastic job of obtaining high school and other contemporary photos of Masen; they are published in the November issue of the Dealey Plaza Echo. with a side by side comparison to Oswald.

Maybe you could encourage Mark to post a couple of those photos here.

Steve Thomas

[Nic Martin]

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

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Harrelson still has a lot to lose if he cares about the wellbeing of his son - who, if you think about it, someone could attack and write it off like Lennon - just a crazed fan. Woody's tried to get his dad the best of legal counsel since he got famous, so I'm sure they've forged a relationship somehow.

I've thought about talking to Masen, but I didn't have a clue as to if it'd be worth my time. Regardless of what you might think, Mr. Dankbaar, I can actually play sweet and get people to like me.

[Wim Dankbaar]

I've thought about talking to Masen, but I didn't have a clue as to if it'd be worth my time. Regardless of what you might think, Mr. Dankbaar, I can actually play sweet and get people to like me. biggrin.gif

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

Yeah I notice! Mr Dankbaar is a lot better than "darling" and "old man"

Wim

[John Simkin]

Some background details on the Loy Factor case.

Loy Factor was a Chickasaw Indian who served a 44 year sentence for murder. Just before he died he confessed to the murder of John F. Kennedy. Factor told Mark Collum and Glen Sample that he was one of three gunmen in the Texas School Book Depository. Lee Harvey Oswald, Malcolm Wallace and Ruth Ann, a Hispanic woman, also took part in the assassination. Ruth Ann carried a walkie-talkie with which she communicated with other unknown individuals. The account was first published in the book The Men on the Sixth Floor (1995).

[Nic Martin]

I've thought about talking to Masen, but I didn't have a clue as to if it'd be worth my time. Regardless of what you might think, Mr. Dankbaar, I can actually play sweet and get people to like me.

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

Yeah I notice! Mr Dankbaar is a lot better than "darling" and "old man"

Wim

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I call everyone darling, regardless of what I think of them. It's been that way since I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, and now it's sort of a habit, much like people that bite their nails. I don't even realize I'm doing it until someone comments on it.

[Wim Dankbaar]

Nic,

I'm sure you are a "doll" too, looking at your picture. I'm just not used to be called "darling" by a 17 year old girl, but hey, maybe I'm just not going with the time!

My kids call me names too.

Wim

[Tim Carroll]

I'm sure you are a "doll" too, looking at your picture. I'm just not used to be called "darling" by a 17 year old girl, but hey, maybe I'm just not going with the time!

My kids call me names too. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[William Plumlee]

I've thought about talking to Masen, but I didn't have a clue as to if it'd be worth my time. Regardless of what you might think, Mr. Dankbaar, I can actually play sweet and get people to like me.

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

Yeah I notice! Mr Dankbaar is a lot better than "darling" and "old man"

Wim

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I call everyone darling, regardless of what I think of them. It's been that way since I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, and now it's sort of a habit, much like people that bite their nails. I don't even realize I'm doing it until someone comments on it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sweethart. You haven'nt seen an 'old man' until I pop around the cornor in My rain coat.

Hey! Your good on this research. Could you list all the people who you know and have read about on this forum who were either shooters, connected, planners, and spotters or assassins., or in pictures, or connected with Cuban operations, or, mafia, military, CIA, mercienary, KKK, min. men, or just plain lonely. I think that would be a good project for someone. The way I figure it would out number three to one everyone in the Plaza..., or perhaps Dallas for that matter...

[Dawn Meredith]

I've thought about talking to Masen, but I didn't have a clue as to if it'd be worth my time. Regardless of what you might think, Mr. Dankbaar, I can actually play sweet and get people to like me.

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

Yeah I notice! Mr Dankbaar is a lot better than "darling" and "old man"

Wim

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I call everyone darling, regardless of what I think of them. It's been that way since I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, and now it's sort of a habit, much like people that bite their nails. I don't even realize I'm doing it until someone comments on it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sweethart. You haven'nt seen an 'old man' until I pop around the cornor in My rain coat.

Hey! Your good on this research. Could you list all the people who you know and have read about on this forum who were either shooters, connected, planners, and spotters or assassins., or in pictures, or connected with Cuban operations, or, mafia, military, CIA, mercienary, KKK, min. men, or just plain lonely. I think that would be a good project for someone. The way I figure it would out number three to one everyone in the Plaza..., or perhaps Dallas for that matter...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

________________________

Tosh: Great sense of humor. )))))

Henry Hurt-(Reasonable Doubt)- told me in the 80's that the reason he wrote this book was after being contacted by Robert Easterling. Hurt does a good job on much of the book , good to read after Summer's Conspiracy. But the Easterling chapter is not credible. (IMHO) I have not read the book since the 80's).

Dawn

[Dawn Meredith]

Some background details on the Loy Factor case.

Loy Factor was a Chickasaw Indian who served a 44 year sentence for murder. Just before he died he confessed to the murder of John F. Kennedy. Factor told Mark Collum and Glen Sample that he was one of three gunmen in the Texas School Book Depository. Lee Harvey Oswald, Malcolm Wallace and Ruth Ann, a Hispanic woman, also took part in the assassination. Ruth Ann carried a walkie-talkie with which she communicated with other unknown individuals. The account was first published in the book The Men on the Sixth Floor (1995).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

_____________________________

This book can be ordered on line and I think people should read it. Sample (author) will send it to you for $10.00. Go to his webcite for info. (google "Men on the sixth Floor).

It's a good background book on Mac Wallace.

Dawn

[Guest Tom Scully]

I was searching for more information after reading Bill's post today, and this thread popped up, and I decided to post this in it.:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4681&&page=2

http://coverthistory.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_coverthistory_archive.html

An email sent by Shawn Phillips to Gary Buell in January, 2003.

The "Confession", you refer to was not in so many words as such. I cannot remember the time frames involved, but this was what was told to me by my father, James Atlee Phillips, who is deceased. He said that David had called him with reference to his (Davids), invitation to a dinner, by a man who was purportedly writing a book on the CIA. At this dinner, was also present a man who was identified only as the "Driver". David told Jim that he knew the man was there to identify him as Raul Salcedo, whose name you should be familiar with, if your research is accurate in this matter. David then told Jim that he had written a letter to the various media, as a "Preemptive Strike" , against any and all allegations about his involvement in the JFK assassination. Jim knew that David was the head of the "Retired Intelligence Officers of the CIA", or some such organization, and that he was extremely critical of JFK, and his policies. Jim knew at that point, that David was in some way, seriously involved in this matter and he and David argued rather vehemently, resulting in a silent hiatus between them that lasted almost six years according to Jim. Finally, as David was dying of irreversible lung cancer, he called Jim and there was apparently no reconciliation between them, as Jim asked David pointedly, "Were you in Dallas on that day"? David said, "Yes", and Jim hung the phone up.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19490619&id=STAbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QU0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6169,1694886The Pittsburgh Press - Jun 19, 1949

Leatherneck - Pacific Edition - WartimePress.com

www.wartimepress.com/archives.asp?TID=Leatherneck%20...q...‎

Our World War II archive collection of images of Leatherneck - Pacific Edition for Navy. ... Chambers' Raiders by Sgt. George E. Doying ) ..... Sgt. David H. Hawkins: "Meat Ball" ..... George E. McMillan .... James Attlee Phillips ..... Gizmo and

Continuing from my last post..... This is background on Thomas Guinzburg's father, Howard, the co-founder of Viking Press.

It seems the OWI, Office of War Information, did not stand down at the end of WWII.

Books As Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for ... - Page 60

books.google.com/books?isbn=0801448913

John Hench - 2010

....Two Bookmen of OWI: Chester Kerr and Harold Guinzburg
Kerr was one of two men — Guinzburg being the other — who played particularly significant roles in the book programs of OWI. A man with feet planted squarely in both worlds of trade book publishing and wartime government service, Kerr was largely responsible for linking the strategic aims of post D-Day US propaganda with the long-term interests of US book publishers....

...as a refugee from the failed revolutions of 1848. His father, Henry A. Guinzburg, was a wealthy rubber merchant and philanthropist.85 When he went to work for OWI in January 1942, Guinzburg was president of The Viking Press, which he and George Oppenheimer, a Harvard friend, had founded in 1925....

.........................

H.W. Wilson Company, Marjorie Dent Candee - 1958 - Snippet view
During World War II Harold Guinzburg served with the Office of War Information ; first he was employed with the overseas branch and then in 1943 he was appointed chief of the domestic bureau of publications.

James Atlee Phillips, 77 - Chicago Tribune

articles.chicagotribune.com › Featured Articles › Mystery Writers‎

Jun 3, 1991 – James Atlee Phillips, who wrote a series of detective novels under the name ... In World War II he was operations manager for China National

Sorry, I guess I'm just not "feelin' the love." The people who "confessed" and authors the likes of E. Howard Hunt and the two Phillips brothers were not our friends. They also did not have reputations for telling the truth. They had deeds and connections to cover up. I suspect putting pen to paper was one of many ways of implementing and continuing a policy of deceit, denial, and disinformation. James Atlee Phillips and Mr. Hunt seem to have become too prominent while they still had assignments to carry out.

Is it reasonable to believe that Hunt or the Phillips brothers wrote for publication without the knowledge and approval of the people in government

who directed their clandestine activities? As the issue the article in the image below raises, is it reasonable to believe that James Atlee Phillips

just happened to be an author of paperback novels of cloak and dagger themes and also an independent contractor performing services for the

Burmese government in such sensitive circumstances? Observers were not buying it while it was happening.

What better way to lay a smoke screen than to become an author of themes seemingly similar to rumors that have cast you in the limelight.

Mostly we are a consumer niche to be sold to.

...................

From the internet:

James was born in 1915 in Fort Worth to a prominent Texas family, which later fell on hard times. His first novel, THE OUTSIDERS, was an expose about the Dallas country club set and is quite hard to find (read: suppressed.) It was published in the mid-1930s. Dallas Library keeps it under lock and key to this day.

James learned to fly when quite young. He worked as a publicist in New York for Walter Winchell and Billy Rose, wrote a detective novel in 1939, and joined Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.

After Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the US Marines. After WWII he was a senior staffer for Leatherneck Magazine, then spent some time in intelligence work. He ran Amphibian Airways in Burma between '47 and '54, under contract to the Burmese Government, and we can guess who else. His very first Joe Gall novel, PAGODA, was based on these experiences, and was published in the 50s in hardcover long before the Fawcett paperback 'Contract' series started up. It was basically autobiographical. James' photo adorned many of the back covers of the Fawcett paperbacks.

It is unclear whether or not James recruited his younger brother David into the Agency or whether it was the other way around, or unrelated (unlikely!) David was recruited in Chile c.1950 where he had emigrated to, after purchasing a printing business and an English language newspaper. He had previously been a Army Air Corps NCO and was a POW in a German luftstalag. He wrote a play about his POW experienced, which was accepted for Broadway production, but 6 weeks before opening night STALAG 17 opened, and blew David's dramatic career out of the air...David strongly resembled James.
........................................
His two novels where Gall goes up against black revolutionaries in US and the Carribean were in between, as were the two in which he operated in Canada. THE SKELETON COAST CONTRACT was good, good enough to get the author blacklisted by South Africa's apartheid regime!

James was a hard case, just like his character Joe Gall. I always thought Lee Marvin would be the only choice to play Gall.

Adventures With a Texas Humanist - Page 39

books.google.com/books?isbn=0875652883

James Ward Lee - 2004 - Preview - More editions

Then in 1941, James Atlee Phillips wrote a scathing novel about Fort Worth and its country club set. The Inheritors pictured Fort Worth as a place of Philistines and trust-fund trash. The novel did not have a terrific impact across the state and....

We keep doing this again and again. St. John Hunt, Peter Janney, and what are we to make of the single sourced information of Shawn Phillips? There seems to be no shortage of sons and nephews willing to share details of the clandestine activities of their fathers and uncles. Only our own careful research can determine whether the details they share are more reliable than what was permitted by the gate keepers in government and its corporatist partners while the fathers and uncles were alive and employed. The verdict is not yet in on whether or not the flaw in the elaborate measures to confuse the english speaking public which gained momentum in the 1930's and bloomed during and after WWII is the reminisces of what members of "the club" shared with their children.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Tom Scully