Guy Banister and the CIA

[Benjamin Cole]

Well, this is off the wall, and way speculative. 

Guy Banister said something about expecting to be murdered after the JFKA. 

The record shows he died of coronary thrombosis (heart attack) on June 6, 1964. 

I wondered if a coronary thrombosis could be triggered or stimulated somehow. 

It turns out that potassium chloride and calcium chloride might do the trick. There may be "better " drugs to that end, but that is what came up in a Google search. 

Banister was 63 when he died. Young to die today, but not uncommon back then when men smoked and drank heavily. 

Who knows if an autopsy was done, and of what quality, on Banister? 

 

 

 

[Tom Gram]

4 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Well, this is off the wall, and way speculative. 

Guy Banister said something about expecting to be murdered after the JFKA. 

The record shows he died of coronary thrombosis (heart attack) on June 6, 1964. 

I wondered if a coronary thrombosis could be triggered or stimulated somehow. 

It turns out that potassium chloride and calcium chloride might do the trick. There may be "better " drugs to that end, but that is what came up in a Google search. 

Banister was 63 when he died. Young to die today, but not uncommon back then when men smoked and drank heavily. 

Who knows if an autopsy was done, and of what quality, on Banister? 

 

 

 

There was an autopsy done on Bannister, but I can't speak to the quality. If I recall at least Delphine Roberts thought he got whacked. Interesting side note, the New Orleans branch of SRC that I suspect was involved with Bannister in the Summer of '63, was hired by Garrison to surveil David Ferrie (which makes sense since SRC had investigated Ferrie for Eastern Airlines). Ferrie died very shortly afterward. That branch almost immediately went to work for Clay Shaw's lawyers after Ferrie's death. In 1967, the New Orleans branch of SRC was based out of the same building as the CIA.

Here's Bannister's autopsy report:

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tom Gram

[W. Tracy Parnell]

On 8/14/2022 at 4:43 PM, James DiEugenio said:

I should add, Malcolm and Bart have also discovered another hidden gem in the CIA files.

The CIA was paying Shaw directly for his intelligence work abroad in the fifties. A fact they deliberately lied about and which Shaw deliberately lied about repeatedly. Even under oath at his trial.

Can anyone provide a link to this document?

[Tom Gram]

55 minutes ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

Can anyone provide a link to this document?

I haven’t seen it, but it might be in the Shaw folder of Blunt’s online archive. I don’t have time to look through it right now but there looks to be a bunch of stuff that isn’t on MFF or anywhere else: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/mobile/folders/1RrTiwCzJSUFQIjPYvkpBkABwR1dDC291/14lPdcelZcTbeP5nyVOO8m9QGtaHinr9W/1_RtRVZoaNAGZtkkqdbGdfNJ-mtjMY7hz?sort=13&direction=a

I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but if anyone sees contemporaneous documents relating to Guy Bannister’s Nov. 1960 CIA security approval let me know. 

[Tom Gram]

I found this on Shaw, which I’m not sure is the right document but seems to be along those lines: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pcwVz-N_dt3X3HGyj5K1gsxIVK2pNdmK/view?usp=drivesdk

It’s Shaw agreeing to attend a trade show for the CIA in 1955, as long as the CIA covers the expense. That sounds a lot like the CIA paying him directly to act as an observer abroad - not Shaw volunteering information on trips he would have gone on anyway with no CIA involvement. 

[Ron Bulman]

Chetta is the same coroner who said David Ferrie died of a berry aneurysm, without opening the brain case, the same night he wrote two suicide notes.

 David Ferrie Autopsy Report (jfk-assassination.net)

Not too sure about the source of this article but it summarizes what I've read elsewhere before well.

ISGP Death List: David Ferrie (1967) (isgp-studies.com)

[Gene Kelly]

I did not know that INCA may've tried to compromise the Garrison investigation, nor was I aware of the suspicious composition of the New Orleans "citizens" who, in early 1967, formed a group called Truth and Consequences (T&C) which provided private funding for Garrison in his investigation.  That two of the three leaders of T&C - Willard Robertson and Cecil Shilstone - were founding members of INCA, is interesting. And the founder of T&C, oil tycoon Joseph Rault, Jr., had ties to INCA, and was close to Dr. Alan Ochsner. Jerry Rose's 1997 article raises some intriguing questions ... addressing the formation of T&C, and naming Eberhard Deutsch, John Mmahat, Edmond G. Miranne, Harold Cook and Lawrence Merrigan.  Deutsch was an attorney whose name appeared on the letterhead of the Directors of INCA and was the General Counsel of Standard Fruit and as "Jim Garrison's former law partner and political mentor."  Not sure what to make of this just yet ... was it just one more infiltration of Garrison's investigation, or was it designed to keep INCA out of the spotlight? 

[Steve Roe]

Shades of Penn Jones.....Guy Banister murdered? Crazy, just crazy. 

[Tom Gram]

4 hours ago, Steve Roe said:

Shades of Penn Jones.....Guy Banister murdered? Crazy, just crazy. 

Has anyone actually alleged that Bannister was murdered in this thread? It's not like it was impossible to kill someone untraceably, and say what you will about Dephine Roberts but she did work for Bannister and thought his death was unnatural: 

Can murder really be completely ruled out? Of course not, especially if what Ben said is true and Bannister thought he was about to be killed (I don't know the source for that) - but there isn't enough evidence to prove that Bannister was murdered, nor the same overtly suspicious circumstances as Ferrie so I do agree that his death should be accepted as natural.  

Off topic, but in trying to find this Roberts quote I found another quote where she said one of her husbands was named Harry Roberts. Was she married to the same A. Harry Roberts that knew Bannister? The SRC, former FBI guy? 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tom Gram

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

I did not know that INCA may've tried to compromise the Garrison investigation, nor was I aware of the suspicious composition of the New Orleans "citizens" who, in early 1967, formed a group called Truth and Consequences (T&C) which provided private funding for Garrison in his investigation.  That two of the three leaders of T&C - Willard Robertson and Cecil Shilstone - were founding members of INCA, is interesting. And the founder of T&C, oil tycoon Joseph Rault, Jr., had ties to INCA, and was close to Dr. Alan Ochsner. Jerry Rose's 1997 article raises some intriguing questions ... addressing the formation of T&C, and naming Eberhard Deutsch, John Mmahat, Edmond G. Miranne, Harold Cook and Lawrence Merrigan.  Deutsch was an attorney whose name appeared on the letterhead of the Directors of INCA and was the General Counsel of Standard Fruit and as "Jim Garrison's former law partner and political mentor."  Not sure what to make of this just yet ... was it just one more infiltration of Garrison's investigation, or was it designed to keep INCA out of the spotlight? 

John Mmahat's presence on T&C is more than a little suspicious. He was actually one of Harry Connick's attorneys when Garrison challenged the '73 election for DA that Connick won by just over 2000 votes. Mmahat also wrote a newspaper article smearing Garrison over the bogus pinball bribe allegations during the campaign, without disclosing that it was basically a political ad for Connick:

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/G Disk/Garrison Jim/Garrison Jim Criminal Trial 1973/Item 116.pdf

That's without even getting into Mmahat's involvement with and almost certain financial interest in the detective firm that was working for Clay Shaw's lawyers. 

I wasn't exaggerating either when I said he was a criminal. Mmahat was sentenced to decades in prison in the early 90s on several counts of fraud, conspiracy, etc. in a scheme involving shell companies.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tom Gram

[W. Tracy Parnell]

6 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

I found this on Shaw, which I’m not sure is the right document but seems to be along those lines: 

Thank You.

[Benjamin Cole]

12 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

There was an autopsy done on Bannister, but I can't speak to the quality. If I recall at least Delphine Roberts thought he got whacked. Interesting side note, the New Orleans branch of SRC that I suspect was involved with Bannister in the Summer of '63, was hired by Garrison to surveil David Ferrie (which makes sense since SRC had investigated Ferrie for Eastern Airlines). Ferrie died very shortly afterward. That branch almost immediately went to work for Clay Shaw's lawyers after Ferrie's death. In 1967, the New Orleans branch of SRC was based out of the same building as the CIA.

Here's Bannister's autopsy report:

 

Gram, you are a true JFKA hound. 

From what is presented in the autopsy it appears a blood test was not done, which might indicate presence of chemicals that would trigger a heart attack. 

The autopsy does not indicate Banister's stomach was pumped. Ditto.

As an aside, the autopsy spells Guy's last name as "Bannister." Wikipedia uses one "n." 

As stated, this hardly proves Banister was murdered. It does suggest if Banister was murdered through certain types of poison, it would not have been discovered. 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

On 8/18/2022 at 8:22 AM, Benjamin Cole said:

Gram, you are a true JFKA hound. 

From what is presented in the autopsy it appears a blood test was not done, which might indicate presence of chemicals that would trigger a heart attack. 

The autopsy does not indicate Banister's stomach was pumped. Ditto.

As an aside, the autopsy spells Guy's last name as "Bannister." Wikipedia uses one "n." 

As stated, this hardly proves Banister was murdered. It does suggest if Banister was murdered through certain types of poison, it would not have been discovered. 

 

Add on:

 

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2011/lr5a4.html

 

Banister died at age 63 in 1964. But if he had been 65 in 1964, his average life expectancy would have been another 13.4 years, according to the Social Security table. 

I will try to find the quote in which Banister said if he is found dead soon, it was because he was murdered. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Benjamin Cole

[Benjamin Cole]

OK, I found a source on the Guy Banister expecting to be murdered story. 

Joan Mellen, Page 72, in "A Farewell to Justice." 

https://books.google.co.th/books?id=r5FBPpDzj0cC&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=Guy+banister+if+I+am+found+dead+I+was+murdered&source=bl&ots=3Lojeh8ngt&sig=ACfU3U24mHmhM8vWs20nYCNu8vHhqYLWpA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIub_I2dL5AhUwUGwGHdSZAi0Q6AF6BAgQEAM#v=onepage&q=Guy banister if I am found dead I was murdered&f=false

"If I am dead in a week, no matter what the circumstances look like, it won't be from natural causes." -Guy Banister, 1964.  He was dead within a week. 

The source for this quote, according to a footnote, is Guy Johnson, in an interview with Bernard Fensterwald on May 21, 1969, and I guess in a document stored at the AARC. 

This is a confusing reference to a shot being fired at Guy Banister. Joan Mellen's writing style might be called "stream of consciousness." Banister's wife left N.O. in a frightened state. 

Delphine Roberts (Banister's secy), and some characters named Allen Campbell and Kent Courtney suspect Banister was murdered. 

So, to sum up:

1. People close to Banister suspect he was murdered.

2. Banister in 1964 apparently said if he was dead within a week, then it was murder. He was dead within a week. 

3. The autopsy, if accurate, found no signs of harm on Banister's body, such as gunshot or blow by instrument.

4. However, it does not appear the autopsy performed blood tests or had the stomach pumped. Banister died of a heart attack, according to the autopsy, but such attacks can be induced by poisons, especially among those prone to such attacks.  

5. At the time of his death, a man of Banister's age likely had another 14 years to live, based on actuarial tables. 

All of the above is hardly proof of a murder. But it is interesting. 

 

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

This is a relevant  article on JFKA witnesses having earlier than expected deaths...https://txwclp.org/2013/04/the-mysterious-deaths-of-jfk-murder-witnesses/