The Oswald Transfer: Fritz Looks at Ruby Before Bringing Oswald Out

[Joe Bauer]

17 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

As I recall, a number of DPD officers would later relate that Fritz was not the best detective, but that he was an unparalleled interrogator, in that he would routinely convince suspects to confess. 

Well, the master interrogator met his match with the master denier in 24 year old Lee Harvey Oswald, didn't he?

Oswald simply could not be allowed to go to trial. 

A good defense team would have had a field day.

And an Oswald trial would have opened up massive questions about the failures and flaws of every agency involved with JFK's security.

An Oswald trial would have transfixed and totally consumed the entire nation ( and the entire world!) for it's duration. 

The trials of OJ, Clay Shaw, even Jack Ruby ... child's play compared to an Oswald trial.

 

[Joe Bauer]

55 minutes ago, David Josephs said:

Another statement about an officer knowing RUBY by sight..

There is what appears to be a faked crime report from BLEDSOE on the night of 10/11/63 where PRICE/HARGIS go out to her near midnight and records that JACK RUBY and LEE OSWALD KNOWN AS ALEK HIDEL (sic) were in a fight and destroyed some property...  yet at the top are numbers that spell out "U R A FINK" when you replace the numbers with corresponding letters in the alphabet...  and there are usually never numbers like that..

Real questions to me are: when was it written, by whom and how do they know about "ALEK HIDEL" ?

Warren Commission volume 19 between pages 132 and 134 (Batchelor exhibit 5002) describes both Hargis and White's assignments while on DPD duty. B. Hargis worked the traffic division assigned to solo motorcycle and special enforcement. Hargis worked the 7AM to 3PM shift and his superior was Sgt. R. Smart. White worked 4PM until midnight in the accident prevention division. He reported to Sgt. B.F. Rodgers. When I spoke to Bobby Hargis on the evening of March 20, 1994 he was confused. He told me he knew Jack Ruby before the assassination and could recognize him on sight. "If I was ever called to anything involving Jack, I would certainly be able to identify him." Hargis stated he never worked with J.C. White and didn't remember him. Additionally, he was never, ever assigned to anything but a motorcycle division. "No, I wouldn't respond to anything in a squad car." was his answer.

 

STRANGE REPORT INDEED!

[Pat Speer]

8 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Well, the master interrogator met his match with the master denier in 24 year old Lee Harvey Oswald, didn't he?

Oswald simply could not be allowed to go to trial. 

A good defense team would have had a field day.

And an Oswald trial would have opened up massive questions about the failures and flaws of every agency involved with JFK's security.

An Oswald trial would have transfixed and totally consumed the entire nation ( and the entire world!) for it's duration. 

The trials of OJ, Clay Shaw, even Jack Ruby ... child's play compared to an Oswald trial.

 

I have come to the suspicion Oswald was killed with the foreknowledge of Fritz and others, but that this was a secondary action not related to the assassination itself.

They just couldn't have this smart-ass putting their careers in jeopardy, and exposing their corrupt police force for all the world to see. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Bill Brown]

12 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

25 of them overturned by DNA.

When Henry Wade Executed an Innocent Man - D Magazine

 

Misleading. 

 

It hasn't been proven that Tommy Lee Walker was innocent.  The case you linked certainly has not been overturned by DNA.

 

[Bill Brown]

16 minutes ago, Pat Speer said:

I have come to the suspicion Oswald was killed with the foreknowledge of Fritz and others, but that this was a secondary action not related to the assassination itself.

They just couldn't have this smart-ass putting their careers in jeopardy, and exposing their corrupt police force for all the world to see. 

 

Suspicions are fine but there is no evidence of any of that.

 

[Bill Brown]

1 hour ago, David Josephs said:

Another statement about an officer knowing RUBY by sight..

There is what appears to be a faked crime report from BLEDSOE on the night of 10/11/63 where PRICE/HARGIS go out to her near midnight and records that JACK RUBY and LEE OSWALD KNOWN AS ALEK HIDEL (sic) were in a fight and destroyed some property...  yet at the top are numbers that spell out "U R A FINK" when you replace the numbers with corresponding letters in the alphabet...  and there are usually never numbers like that..

Real questions to me are: when was it written, by whom and how do they know about "ALEK HIDEL" ?

Warren Commission volume 19 between pages 132 and 134 (Batchelor exhibit 5002) describes both Hargis and White's assignments while on DPD duty. B. Hargis worked the traffic division assigned to solo motorcycle and special enforcement. Hargis worked the 7AM to 3PM shift and his superior was Sgt. R. Smart. White worked 4PM until midnight in the accident prevention division. He reported to Sgt. B.F. Rodgers. When I spoke to Bobby Hargis on the evening of March 20, 1994 he was confused. He told me he knew Jack Ruby before the assassination and could recognize him on sight. "If I was ever called to anything involving Jack, I would certainly be able to identify him." Hargis stated he never worked with J.C. White and didn't remember him. Additionally, he was never, ever assigned to anything but a motorcycle division. "No, I wouldn't respond to anything in a squad car." was his answer.

 

 

Guys, this is old news.

 

You're talking about what is commonly known in the research community as "The Bledsoe Document".  It's fake; created in the mid 60's with the intention of messing with Mark Lane; researchers who did not like Lane.

 

[Pat Speer]

6 minutes ago, Bill Brown said:

 

Suspicions are fine but there is no evidence of any of that.

 

When one analyzes the evidence, one will find numerous instances of flat-out lies--perjury--on the part of Day during his WC testimony. If Oswald had had a defense attorney worth a darn, he would have been destroyed. 

This wasn't because he was a rube. It was because the DPD had been using the crime lab as a lab of crime to prosecute criminals. Heck, an article on Day after his passing quoted his family as saying he had offers to perform as an expert witness after his retirement, but had refused, because he just couldn't bring himself to use his skills in defense of a criminal.

This mind-set--that a crime lab is supposed to help nail suspects, and not clear them--was, and undoubtedly remains--prevalent among law enforcement. The FBI crime lab was embarrassed by a scandal in the 90's if I recall, and ended up concluding that field agents and members of law enforcement would no longer be allowed to work in their crime lab, because their conclusions were inevitably skewed by their desire to convict suspects.

The DPD's reputation was crap even back then. But from what I can gather this wasn't based upon its location. The Sheriff's Dept., to my understanding, was much more respected. 

[Pat Speer]

8 minutes ago, Bill Brown said:

 

Guys, this is old news.

 

You're talking about what is commonly known in the research community as "The Bledsoe Document".  It's fake; created in the mid 60's with the intention of messing with Mark Lane; researchers who did not like Lane.

 

I will agree with you on this one, Bill. I'm fairly certain this was exposed as a hoax decades ago. 

 

[David Josephs]

4 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

I will agree with you on this one, Bill. I'm fairly certain this was exposed as a hoax decades ago. 

 

The point of the post wasn't the fake document... and btw the way ALERT ALERT not everyone here has been reading or doing this for decades like us...  showing the extent to which opposition will go to mess with anyone trying to get at the truth.

The point was once again refuting the ramblings of one BB who is messing with the entire membership as much much as that fake report was designed to mess with Lane...  that Ruby had more than associated himself with the Dallas Police in his time in Dallas...   That Westbrook among others gets him off his minor infractions is of course no indication that 11 years before he kills Oswald, Ruby has a special relationship with key members of the DPD...

"certainly be able to identify him"...  and thanks for agreeing with Bill, as his next post would have me pushing the report as genuine and proof of foreknowledge of the name ALEK HIDEL...  

When I spoke to Bobby Hargis on the evening of March 20, 1994 he was confused. He told me he knew Jack Ruby before the assassination and could recognize him on sight. "If I was ever called to anything involving Jack, I would certainly be able to identify him." 

[Pat Speer]

35 minutes ago, David Josephs said:

The point of the post wasn't the fake document... and btw the way ALERT ALERT not everyone here has been reading or doing this for decades like us...  showing the extent to which opposition will go to mess with anyone trying to get at the truth.

The point was once again refuting the ramblings of one BB who is messing with the entire membership as much much as that fake report was designed to mess with Lane...  that Ruby had more than associated himself with the Dallas Police in his time in Dallas...   That Westbrook among others gets him off his minor infractions is of course no indication that 11 years before he kills Oswald, Ruby has a special relationship with key members of the DPD...

"certainly be able to identify him"...  and thanks for agreeing with Bill, as his next post would have me pushing the report as genuine and proof of foreknowledge of the name ALEK HIDEL...  

When I spoke to Bobby Hargis on the evening of March 20, 1994 he was confused. He told me he knew Jack Ruby before the assassination and could recognize him on sight. "If I was ever called to anything involving Jack, I would certainly be able to identify him." 

I have a quote that supports what you've been saying--that Ruby was well known to the DPD and known to be a crook.

Within moments of being told the identity of Oswald's assassin--that it was Jack Ruby, the owner of a Dallas nightclub--WFAA Radio newsman Vic Robertson told its listeners: "About the only thing that is clear at this point is that there is not a single police officer in this building who believes that Jack Ruby killed Lee Oswald, if that is proven to be the case, out of patriotic fervor. And that if he is proved to have killed Lee Oswald it was for one reason only, and that was to seal his lips."

[Bill Brown]

You guys are pretty good taking the comments of another and twisting them around.  All I did here was point out a gross exaggeration.  No one has said that some/many/dozens of members of the Dallas Police Department did not know Jack Ruby.  In reality, much less than half of the members of the DPD knew Jack Ruby.  I don't like exaggerations when they are used to try to make a point seem more valid.

 

Tom Gram said:

"Jack Ruby, best friend of the Dallas Police Department..."

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Bill Brown

[Bill Brown]

8 hours ago, David Josephs said:

The point of the post wasn't the fake document... and btw the way ALERT ALERT not everyone here has been reading or doing this for decades like us...  showing the extent to which opposition will go to mess with anyone trying to get at the truth.

The point was once again refuting the ramblings of one BB who is messing with the entire membership as much much as that fake report was designed to mess with Lane...  that Ruby had more than associated himself with the Dallas Police in his time in Dallas...   That Westbrook among others gets him off his minor infractions is of course no indication that 11 years before he kills Oswald, Ruby has a special relationship with key members of the DPD...

"certainly be able to identify him"...  and thanks for agreeing with Bill, as his next post would have me pushing the report as genuine and proof of foreknowledge of the name ALEK HIDEL...  

When I spoke to Bobby Hargis on the evening of March 20, 1994 he was confused. He told me he knew Jack Ruby before the assassination and could recognize him on sight. "If I was ever called to anything involving Jack, I would certainly be able to identify him." 

 

"The point of the post wasn't the fake document..."

 

And yet you decided to use it in support of your post.

 

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

You guys are pretty good taking the comments of another and twisting them around.  All I did here was point out a gross exaggeration.  No one has said that some/many/dozens of members of the Dallas Police Department did not know Jack Ruby.  In reality, much less than half of the members of the DPD knew Jack Ruby.  I don't like exaggerations when they are used to try to make a point seem more valid.

 

Tom Gram said:

"Jack Ruby, best friend of the Dallas Police Department..."

 

 

You do realize that my initial comment was made in response to Steve taking a previous comment of mine and twisting it around, right? 

I said “evidence suggesting” which Steve misrepresented as claim of “provable evidence”. That sounds a lot like a “gross exaggeration”, does it not? 

My comment about Ruby was (obviously) not meant to be taken literally, but I’m bored so let’s check anyway to see if it really was a “gross exaggeration”. Here are a couple relevant definitions for the words “best” and “friend”.  

Friend (noun) 

an acquaintance or associate

Best (adjective)

excelling all others

Alright, so we’re basically looking for a level of acquaintanceship with the DPD that excels i.e. exceeds all others. “Others” in this case would be people in the same category as Jack Ruby, i.e. civilians with no professional relationship to the police force. 

We have corroborating testimony that Ruby was acquainted with up to half of the 1200-man police force. We’ll be conservative and go with Bill’s “much less than half” speculation instead - so let’s call it one fifth. 

That’s still 240 police officers. Two-hundred and forty cops. How many civilians in Dallas do you think were personally acquainted with 240 cops? Let’s cut it in half and call it 120. Same question. We’ll even cut it in half again. Same question - how many civilians in Dallas do you think were personally acquainted with 60 different city cops? 

We also have credible testimony that Ruby did favors for the DPD like serving free drinks and providing girls. How many civilians in Dallas went out of their way to do favors for the DPD? 

To be fair, we don’t know the activities or relationships of every individual in Dallas in 1963. However, I think it’s pretty clear that per the above definitions, referring to Jack Ruby as “best friend of the DPD” isn’t much of an exaggeration, if it is at all.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Tom Gram

[Joe Bauer]

2 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

You do realize that my initial comment was made in response to Steve taking a previous comment of mine and twisting it around, right? 

I said “evidence suggesting” which Steve misrepresented as claim of “provable evidence”. That sounds a lot like a “gross exaggeration”, does it not? 

My comment about Ruby was (obviously) not meant to be taken literally, but I’m bored so let’s check anyway to see if it really was a “gross exaggeration”. Here are a couple relevant definitions for the words “best” and “friend”.  

Friend (noun) 

an acquaintance or associate

Best (adjective)

excelling all others

Alright, so we’re basically looking for a level of acquaintanceship with the DPD that excels i.e. exceeds all others. “Others” in this case would be people in the same category as Jack Ruby, i.e. civilians with no professional relationship to the police force. 

We have corroborating testimony that Ruby was acquainted with up to half of the 1200-man police force. We’ll be conservative and go with Bill’s “much less than half” speculation instead - so let’s call it one fifth. 

That’s still 240 police officers. Two-hundred and forty cops. How many civilians in Dallas do you think were personally acquainted with 240 cops? Let’s cut it in half and call it 120. Same question. We’ll even cut it in half again. Same question - how many civilians in Dallas do you think were personally acquainted with 60 different city cops? 

We also have credible testimony that Ruby did favors for the DPD like serving free drinks and providing girls. How many civilians in Dallas went out of their way to do favors for the DPD? 

To be fair, we don’t know the activities or relationships of every individual in Dallas in 1963. However, I think it’s pretty clear that per the above definitions, referring to Jack Ruby as “best friend of the DPD” isn’t much of an exaggeration, if it is at all.

Totally agree.

Recorded statements by people who knew Jack Ruby, people who worked for Jack Ruby, people who had researched Jack Ruby regards how many Dallas PD members he personally knew by name range from a low of "less than 50" by the Chief of Police himself Jessie Curry, to well over half or more of the entire street cop force by long time Ruby nightclub piano player Joseph Johnson and short term Carousel Club employee Nancy Hamilton.

Of course Chief Curry was hoping to find the least number of Ruby knowers.

His department was under immense hot seat scrutiny after Ruby shot Oswald.

Like Tom Gram says above however, how many average citizens in any fairly large American city can say they know 50 police force officers by face and name?

Ruby himself threw out several names of DPD officers who he encountered in his DPD basement entering adventure.

And of the "less than 50" officers who actually answered Chief Curry's investigative questionnaire in the affirmative regarding whether they knew Jack Ruby ( how many simply lied and said they didn't know Ruby out of employment and scrutiny self-preservation) what are the odds that 1/3rd of them would be on duty in or next to the DPD building when Ruby shot Oswald?

Even the officers wrestling Ruby to the ground as soon as he shot Oswald were yelling at Ruby using his first name. This time you really screwed things up "Jack."

Patrick Dean knew Jack Ruby, Leavelle knew Jack Ruby, Blackie Harrison knew Ruby very well for years, Croy too?

Who "didn't" know or know of Jack Ruby ( again for years ) in the DPD?

Of course hundreds of DPD employees such as telephone and records clerks, technicians, white collar crime, forensics, and so many other non-street crime DPD personnel, wouldn't know Jack Ruby.

That still leaves hundreds of street beat cops however.

Some of Ruby's "girls" dated DPD cops. One married one right?

Heck, even Roscoe White married a woman ( Geneva ) who had a brief stint at Ruby's place or at least tried out for a stripper position there.

There really isn't a valid debate regarding the fact that Jack Ruby was known and friendly with more DPD members than 99% of typical citizens of a large city.

And there shouldn't be any debate that ( like all fairly large American cities ) Dallas for sure had their share of pay off receiving cops.

When millions of Americans see this strip joint owning, earlier years Chicago union rackets involved Jack Ruby walking through the halls of the Dallas PD the evening of 11/22/1963 free and easy ( and armed by the way ) what are they to think about how someone like him is allowed to do that?

In the most high tension, anxiety and security minded atmosphere in DPD history?

Didn't the DPD have guards posted at the entrance to their building while they had Oswald in custody there?

Any type of security caution screening?

Surprised pizza deliveries to the hungry press crowd in there weren't allowed as well.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" Jack Ruby.

The man who killed any chance America had in knowing the truth behind JFK's killing, will always be a figure of the most nefarious background and connection suspicion.

And rationally so.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Bill Simpich]

I post this chronology now in hopes that it may help Gil - It looks like the links work, but the margins are out of place - if someone can help me, I will edit it.  Bill

The Death of Oswald

A note about this chrono:  The most important aspects to me are: 1.  Butler's role in running the show in the police basement on 11/24, and Dallas refusing to address who was calling the shots. 2.  The Sept 63 memo, newly released, that shows Jim Hosty, George Butler, the Communist informants and the ultraright weapons runners all penetrating each other's missions, Jack Revill, Masen, Hall, and Seymour...there's a lot going on...there was a big scene going on, and everyone knew it. 3.  The role of former "Communist" William Lowery, who ran a shoe store near the Texas Theater, who had been tailing Joseph Molina for many years until he surfaced in late Sept 63. Did LHO take his place in tailing Molina?  When LHO/LHO's double was seen outside Johnny Brewer's shoe store, was he looking for Lowery at that store...did he go to the wrong place? 4.  Butler was a heavy hitter - connected with the Klan and the ultra-right in many formations. 5.  His former partner was Captain Pat Gannaway - master of the Dallas spooks - Special Service Division chief - ran criminal intelligence, vice and narcotics.  Gannaway is everywhere.   Background from John Simkin:  George Butler is indeed an critically important character and has already been discussed here - reprinted below in this particular font. George Butler was born in Texas in 1907. He joined the Dallas Police Force and in October, 1946, Paul Rowland Jones, an underworld crime boss, contacted Lieutenant Butler and offered him money to help him establish his gambling operation in Dallas. Butler arranged a meeting between Jones and Sheriff Steve Guthrie. Jones offered Guthrie an annual sum of $150,000. This conversation was recorded and Jones was eventually convicted of attempted bribery. Jones appealed his three-year sentence on grounds that he had been entrapped by a well-established corrupt law-enforcement system in Dallas.  Undocumented but colorful article on background here. According to Seth Kantor: "Butler's... knowledge of organized crime was so intimate that he had been the key man in the department contacted by the Chicago mob when the chose to move into Dallas in 1946 and make police payoffs" and later he was "loaned by the Dallas police department to aid three different U.S. Senate investigatory groups as an expert on gangster operations". In his dealings with organized crime Butler got to know Jack Ruby. Ruby's sister, Eva Grant had been involved with Paul Rowland Jones and Waldron Duncan in an attempt to transport opium between Chicago and Dallas. Later Butler was to claim that Ruby had been a sleeper (a member of organized crime who maintained the image of a law-abiding citizen. Steve Guthrie told the FBI that Ruby was a front-man in Dallas for the Chicago syndicate. Butler knew about Ruby and his criminal connections with people like Paul Jones by the late 1940s.  Penn Jones describes him as being head of the Policeman's Union in Dallas for a number of years. 1946-1947:  "The Kefauver Committee conspicuously failed, as Ruby's lawyer Luis Kutner alleged, to expose the extent of the Chicago mob's takeover of Dallas gambling in 1946-47, when Ruby himself moved from Chicago to Dallas.  (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 162) Butler said that Jones was his informant after the election of 1946 and said Ruby wanted to be part of his group, but they didn't want any part of him.  Ruby had to go from SF to Dallas because SF didn't want him.  1948:  Butler was working in the narcotics division and following mobsters.  His partner was William Patrick (Pat) Gannaway.  Pat Gannaway and Butler arrested Paul Jones at the end of the operation. Ruby was interrogated behind closed doors at a Kefauver Committee hearing by Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police in 1950. Kefauver congratulated Butler in 1950 for stopping corruption from reaching Dallas.  (Scott, Deep Politics, p. 152 -  Butler contradicted this statement in 1958)  George Butler, told the FBI (HSCA Volume 9, p. 520😞 [quote] Ruby was not involved in the bribery attempt. In fact, he [Butler] had never heard of Ruby until after the investigation and trial had been completed. He stated the way Ruby came into the picture was a number of individuals who were involved in the bribery attempt and in particular Paul Roland Jones began "hanging out" at Ruby's club after the sentence. [unquote]  Bill Turner wrote that Jones told the FBI he believed Butler was first in earnest and wanted a payoff, desisting only when he learned the Texas Rangers were wise to the negotiations."   According to Michael Benson, Butler was an associate of Haroldson L. Hunt.   His source was probably  Bill Turner, who wrote that Butler made a point of driving H.L. Hunt to his speaking engagements. 1955:   Butler transferred from the field of racketeers and mobsters and into the juvenile division.  (Stated in the 1958 testimony, below) 1958: With RFK asking the questions, Butler testified at the Investigation of improper activities in the labor or management field. Hearings before the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field Butler testified mainly about how the mob moved in during the late 40s with their coin-operated machines into Dallas and had an 18  million dollar enterprise - hardly what he testified in 1950.  Gambling and prostitution were endemic in Dallas during this period, so Butler was putting on RFK or RFK was letting it happen for political reasons.  This document shows mobster Pat Manning promising Butler that gambling was all the mob wanted, and he would prevent other stuff from happening. In 1961 - Butler also provided information to W. Penn Jones Jr. According to Jones, Butler told him that 50% of the Dallas Police Department were also members of the Ku Klux Klan.  More to the point, he also wanted Jones to start a statewide Klan newspaper with him!  (Bill Turner, Ramparts, June 1967) Late Nov 61, Jack Revill, Lowery, DL-16-S (who reported on LHO that year), DL-6-S, and DL-107-C aka Earl Harvey all said that Minutemen were unknown to them. 4/30/62 Penn Jones tells FBI Edgar Wesley Seay, employee of Gen Walker, tried to burn down his newspaper with gallon can of gas w paper fuse thrown thru front door.  5/10/63:  First, in a conversation between Jerry Gordon and Morris Lansburgh. In this conversation, Gordon is referring to hotel bookings for the day's of May 7, 8, 9, and 10, 1963. At one point in the conversation, Gordon states, "10th down, thirty-five, seven, zero, two [pause] yes sir! [Pause] Some of your friends from Texas".......... On May 12 1963, [Jerry] Gordon is having a discussion with Sam Belkin, a casino credit manager concerning customers at the casino who owe the casino money......Gordon is reading off the names to Belkin, and Belkin is cross-referencing them against a list he has, after running down the 36th name, Sam Gordon.....five. the following,"...........BUTLER......Paid..." So, the conversation implies, at least by what Gordon states to Lansburgh, that a Dallas police Lieutenant is on familiar terms with Morris Lansburgh. If that were the case it belies the fact that with the assassination seven months away, there is good reason to suspect the charge made through the years that there were some bad apples on the Dallas police force was not inaccurate; In that context, a Dallas detective staying at the Flamingo in Vegas.    9/3/63: Hosty gets a hot tip from Donald Kemp that Edward Schwille of Dallas is active with a group similar to the Minutemen - Revill and everyone else are saying no knowledge of them in Dallas.  Schwille wrote a letter on 11/26/63 seeking best evidence on Jack Ruby, knew Jack had Jake Ehrlich (note:  great criminal attorney who could have won Ruby's case if Belli hadn't moved in w/his mob connections).    Schwille, the leader, supplied weapons to Ashland Burchwell in 1962, weapons seized by DPD before Burchwell could leave Dallas for Oxford, MI to join Walker in the fight against Meredith.  Burchwell has been working with Felix Botello, former DL-18-S, who used to work with Lowery in the Communist Party and knew (as T-1) that Joe Molina would never join the Communist Party.   Molina worked with the American GI Forum, which was also spied on by Lowery and friends.   Lowery became chairman of the American GI Forum. Botello and Burchwell said they disagreed w. Minuteman leader Robert DePugh and refuse to align with him and the Minutemen. Hosty knew about the right-wing during the 1962-63 period - as he said in his book - here he is with his superiors saying he really should be checking in again with Felix Botello, DL-18-S (see more about him below), and take the statement of the right-winger Delbert Ray.  Penn Jones knew about the Venus Ranch, I believe it was also known as White Gate Farm - Delbert Ray, the Bircher who ran the ranch, was a close associate of Edgar Wesley Seay, another Bircher and an Edwin Walker employee.    The police believed that Seay set fire to Penn Jones' newspaper office on 4/30/62 with a gallon of volatile fluid thru the front door  The FBI thought that Delbert Ray was implicated in some way.  Ray also was a warehouse operator in Dallas. 9/9/63:  Hosty's informant is also his close friend, a Republican party activist.  Although Hosty claims to be a JFK man and a Democrat, Weisberg found that both he and Revill "were as far to the right as even Dallas permits" (p. 1 of 😎 9/23/63:  Bill Lowery was an FBI infiltration agent into the CPUSA. Additionally, he was co-founder of the Dallas chapter of the GI Forum with Joe Molina and others including Felix G. Botello who had also been a security informant against the extreme right (DL T-18-S) and was associated with Ashland Burchall in a Minutemen like group. Burchall had served under Edwin Walker in Germany.  The FBI considered Walker an advisor to the Minutemen in Texas. Jerry Shinley:  John Stanford and William Lowery had been the subject of wide-spread publicity about two months before the assassination. John Stanford, then a resident of San Antonio, was being investigated by Texas state and Bexar County authorities because of his alleged membership in the Communist party. In July of 1963, U. S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy asked Texas officials to refrain from taking action against Stanford until after the completion of Federal proceedings. (San Antonio Express, p. 5-A) On September 23, 1963, a hearing on Stanford was held before the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) in Washington. One of those testifying was William J. Lowery, who revealed that he had been acting as an FBI informant within the Communist Party since 1945. (Dallas Morning News, September 26, 1963, s. 1, p. 1; San Antonio Express, September 24, 1963, p. 1- A)  Lowery's testimony that he had infiltrated the American G. I. Forum and other reputable groups created some controversy. An FBI spokesman denied that the FBI had ordered the infiltrations and said Lowery had been following the orders of the Communist Party in joining those groups. (San Antonio Express, September 25, 1963, p. 10-D; September 27, 1963, p. 5-B) In December, state and county officials raided the home of John Stanford and seized many of his papers and belongings. (San Antonio Express, December 28, 163, p. 1-A). Thus, the Dallas Police were suspicious of Molina because he was associated with a man who had been identified as an FBI informant on the front page of a Dallas newspaper. During his testimony before the Warren Commission, Molina attempted to talk about Bill Lowery, but was cut short by Commission counsel, Joseph A. Ball. (6 H 373) Another question of interest in this matter is whether Lee Harvey Oswald might have had any contact with Lowery or Stanford. Also, the publicity Lowery received may have had some influence on later rumors that Oswald was himself an FBI informant. Lowery’s September 1963 testimony before the SACB in Washington spelled the end of his undercover career. But that opened the door for someone else to take over “surveillance”  of Molina, the token subversive.  Did Oswald do it?  Lowery's testimony was that he had infiltrated this and "other groups" on behalf of the FBI. The FBI actually went to press denying it! 10/1/63  Butler had a tape of the "karate guy" who made anti-JFK remarks at an anti-Castro Oct meeting in Farmers Branch.  The karate guy spoke there with John Martino, Father Machann, Mrs. Trudy Castorr.  Tapes created by Irving chiropractors, husband and wife, "Roeder" or "Rowder".  (Weisberg files) Trudy Castorr discusses at great length how Butler was also pals with Sylvia Odio and got deep inside information from the whole Dallas Cuban crowd.  Trudy Castorr made a point of giving him letters from Lucille Connell about Odio.  It turns out Sylvia Odio was the cousin of Marcella Insua, the daughter of Joaquin Insua (informant and the head of Catholic Cuban Relief in Dallas).   Weisberg considered Butler and Revill the most important police witnesses. 10/17/63 Jack Revill says on this date William Seymour and Loran Hall passed thru Dallas - Minutemen - and handling narcotics destined to go to Cuba as medical supplies. Early November 1963:  Waldo also contacted Mark Lane and informed him that he had discovered that Jack Ruby, J. D. Tippit and Bernard Weismann had a meeting at the Carousel Club eight days before the assassination. Waldo added that he was too scared to publish the story and other information that he had about the assassination. Lane introduced Waldo to Dorothy Kilgallen. Her article on the Tippit, Ruby and Weissman meeting appeared on the front page of the Journal American.  (Lee Israel, Kilgallen (1979)) I believe that this information about the meeting at the Carousel Club originally came from Butler. It is possible that it was Butler who provided Dorothy Kilgallen with the information about Jesse Curry's tapes.  Sylvia Meagher later claimed that Butler gave contradictory information to the FBI and to the press about Ruby’s past criminal associations and activities. The Dallas Police website had some information on George Butler (for many years he was President of the Dallas Police Association. In fact, the Dallas Police Association headquarters building has been officially named the “George E. Butler Building” in his honor.  (I visited it at 9:30 am the last Monday of Nov. 2018 - the reception was hostile just from knocking at the door - then I told them I was a JFK researcher!  Definitely worth visiting - you might meet someone more reasonable - just one block from Lorenzo Hotel.) Trudy Castorr says she heard Butler was involved with the Minutemen and with the Cubans within the police dept.  Weisberg mentions he thought Butler was involved in a mix-up because the car was not in place - that got Oswald shot by Ruby   http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Castorr%20L%20Robert%20Colonel/Item%2023.pdf   11/20/63: Masen arrested, 5 foot 5, 130 pounds, small guy.  Strongly sympathetic with Minutemen. 11/21/63:  Entire operational plan for the motorcade is conducted in Curry's office.   Gannaway, Sawyer (guarded the TSBD), Lumpkin (drove pilot car w/radio communications), SS members Forrest Sorrels and Winston Lawson among the fourteen present.   Lawson reduced the # of motorcycles w/President from 4 to 2 on each side.   11/22/63 The official report indicates that homicide officers found the shells in the TSBD - when in fact it was Jerry Hill and/or Luke Mooney.  "Lumpkin then instructed Revill to organize his team against the east wall...and make a systematic search...a member of Revill's searching party...found the rifle."   11/22/63:  Lowery's shoe store was just west of the Texas Theatre on Jefferson. Did Oswald confuse the Brewer shoestore with Lowery's?    Here is a photo of Lowery at his shoe store...   Oswald may have been placed in the TSBD to monitor American GI Forum's Joseph Molina to replace Lowery.  Molina's home was searched in the middle of the night after the assassination, and he spent most of 11/23 in interrogation at the police station.   11/22/63:  Butler saw Ruby on this day in City Hall, but not on Sat or Sun.   11/22/63:  Houston Chronicle reported: "Oswald, who had been interviewed by the FBI only six days before [the assassination], became important to the police only after he missed an employee roll call soon afterwards. 'He was the only one who couldn't be accounted for,' Detective Capt. Pat Gannaway said.    There was no roll call and many employees could not be accounted for.   11/22/63  Pat Gannaway was the chief of the DPD Special Services Bureau.  His subordinate Bill Biggio was directing police intelligence communications at the Fair Park office on 11/22.  (source:  Earl Golz)   Jack Revill, Don Stringfellow, Bill Biggio and all the members of criminal intelligence division reported directly to Gannaway.  So did vice and narcotics.  Gannaway was a reserve Army Intelligence officer - like many of the DPD officers.  The famous report of Harvey Lee Oswald and the employees of the TSBD went from Revill to Gannaway.   Ruby would frequent the Special Services Bureau since 1956 to arrange for the city licenses that he needed to operate his nightclubs in Dallas.  (pp. 2-3)   The source for this information, Mary Hartford, was Gannaway's secretary from 1956-62.  Another police chief described Hartford as possibly Ruby's "mistress" because their relationship was so close.     Gannaway had the six members of the Indignant White Citizen's Council at the Trade Mart "taken into custody" to prevent them from being assaulted after the killing of JFK.  A suit was filed - they lost.   For background on Gannaway and the Special Services Bureau, see the Warren Commission testimony of Lieutenant Jack Revill (who became Assistant Chief in 1982) is very revealing in describing the duties and responsibilities of the Special Services Bureau. He stated: "I am currently in charge of the criminal intelligence section." Later he outlined the overall task of the bureau. "Our primary responsibility is to investigate crimes of an organized nature, subversive activities, racial matters, labor racketeering, and to do anything that the chief might desire. We work for the chief of police. I report to a captain who is in charge of the bureau – Captain Gannaway." Lieutenat Revill later indicated that he had been assigned to an investigative panel set up to determine how Jack Ruby had gained access to the City Hall basement where he had shot Oswald. This type of enquiry was obviously also the responsibility of the Special Service Bureau. For a very revealing account of the functions of DPD's Special Services Bureau, see Philip H. Melanson's article "Dallas Mosaic" published in the Third Decade, vol. 1, no 3, March 1985, pages 12-15. Among other things, Dr. Melanson mentions that " the spooky little unit was physically removed from the rest of the DPD and was headquartered in a building on the state fairgrounds." (Vol. IV HSCA, 597.)  I believe it was located very close to the Women's Building on the State Fairgrounds. Note that Dallas' Special Services Bureau was replicated in the postwar era in other major cities, such as New York City's BOSS (Bureau of Special Services) that monitored Malcolm X right up to serving as his bodyguard's on the day of his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in 1965, and Chicago's Special Services that had Sam Giancana's right-hand man Richard Cain working in the vice squad in the early sixties.    11/22/23 aftermath - Walker identified as a friend of Earl Lively, writer for American Mercury magazine.  Walker was saying LHO and Ruby were seen together prior to 11/22 - citizens suspected Walker of involvement in JFK assassination.   Again, Ruby and George Butler  knew each other from the Kefauver Committee investigation of 1950 - see above.   11/23/63, 2 am:  The Dallas police come barging into Joe Molina's home in the middle of the night and have a search warrant for his place.  Their leader is Pat Gannaway, Butler's ex-partner.  Nothing turns up, but they strongly suggest Molina come to the station the following morning, he complies.   11/23/63:  When James Worrell tried to report his observations of the killing on 11/23/63 following Curry's request for witnesses to come forward, Lt Butler fielded Worrell's call.  What was Butler doing out at Farmers Branch, it was a small town?  I thought he was working juvie, what's he doing here? My  bet is that the hottest witness calls went directly to Butler so he could decide how to dispose of them.   http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=38&relPageId=206&search=%22lt._butler%22   An extra bullet was found by a postman below the 6th floor - it was a 30 06 cartridge. WFAA's Bert Shipp wound up with it on 11/23.  The bullet was given to George Butler - who wound up giving it back to the TV employee!   11/24/63:   Bill Turner alleged that Butler was in charge of the Oswald transfer, was one of the biggest Klan leaders around, and gave the "all clear" to bring him into the basement.   Waldo corroborates all of Turner's points in this memo to Weisberg - written from Mexico!   Bill Turner was unequivocal that Butler was the man who had the overall responsibility for the transfer of Oswald.   Between 10-11 am, Thayer Waldo (in a 12/2/63 FBI interview) said that the reporters were standing outside on Commerce Street when Butler came up to them and told them "Come in."  They proceeded to enter where they were checked for weapons.   10:45 am:  The reason for the delay in moving Oswald is that they needed to obtain armored vehicles - which didn't arrive until this time.   Later, Curry - who was at the Homicide Bureau - and others changed their minds and told Asst Chief Stevenson they had decided to use detective cars to transport LHO, using the armored vehicles as a decoy.      11 am:  Lt. Butler's statement - written 11/30/63, says he and several other detectives reported to Captain O.A. Jones, "who stationed the detectives where he wanted them".  Chief Batchelor, Sgt. Pat Dean and Butler searched the armored car before LHO came down.  Dean allegedly told Butler that Batchelor wanted Butler to ride in the armored car with LHO.   Jones said Deputy Stevenson summoned him at 11 am and told him to move a few detectives "where needed".  He was plainly not in charge.   Stevenson said Cecil Tolbert was in charge of patrolmen; Jones (from the bunko squad) was in charge of detectives, and "homicide officers" were in charge of actual transport of LHO.   At 11:10 - Detective Roy Lowery states that Butler was cleaning out the armored car, with a group of officers around him.   See the KRLD raw footage at around 8:00.   At 11:15, Stevenson met Lumpkin on the third floor elevator, and told him of the change in plans on the way to the basement.  On arrival in the basement, Stevenson told Batchelor and Jones.      Fort Worth Telegram journalist Thayer Waldo said that the morning of 11/24, he never saw anyone trembling like Butler.    Waldo wrote in a long letter that he was stunned when Patrick Dean was introduced to the Ruby jury as the officer in charge of security at the jail that morning, rather than Butler.   Butler was busy on 11/24/63.  On 24th November, 1963, Jesse Curry decided to transfer Lee Harvey Oswald to the county jail. The undocumented story is that  Will Fritz placed Butler in immediate charge of the transfer.  Despite his role in the transfer of Oswald to the county jail and his long term relationship with Ruby, Butler was not interviewed by the Warren Commission.    Butler is listed as #13 in this schematic diagram of the police basement, but portions appear missing, see this legible copy of the diagram of the Dallas police basement at p. 43 - pp. 44-46 has the same list of officers.      In his testimony to the commission, Thayer Waldo of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, claimed that during the transfer Butler "was an extremely nervous man, so nervous that when I was standing asking him a question after I had entered the ramp and gotten down to the basement area, just moments before Oswald was brought down, he was standing profile to me and I noticed his lips trembling as he listened and waited for my answer. It was simply a physical characteristic. I had by then spent enough time talking to this man so that it struck me as something totally out of character."   Two detectives - R. L. Lowery and W.J. Cutchshaw - provided statements that three men were pushing the WBAP tv camera from the basement lobby to the basement - see the KRLD raw footage at 10:10 to see the giant camera - Lowery said that the camera was never plugged in and the camera cap was never taken off - both detectives agreed that only two men tried to leave with it and had no good story about the missing third man.  The detectives believed the third man was Ruby, and that's how he got in.  The WBAP men were apparently David Timmons and John Alexander - never questioned by the Warren Commission. (See attached clip below from Lowery's report.)  Other officers claimed these detectives' findings were "unfounded".  Jimmie Turner, the director at WBAP, claimed to be the third man, and was the man chosen to testify to the WC, and changed Alexander to "John Tankersley".  Timmons was forced to change his story, but Tankersley contradicted Turner by saying the third man was possibly a detective - he couldn't recognize his boss, Turner?!  It may be that they couldn't keep their story straight, but managed to skate anyway.   According to Harold Weisberg, Butler prematurely gave the signal to bring out Oswald.  Bill Turner and Penn Jones described Butler as high up in the Klan.  Even an FBI memo describes him as way to the right. Butler was also pals with Sylvia Odio and the whole Dallas Cuban crowd.   Weisberg wrote that if Butler had waited, the auto would have been parked and blocked the area where Ruby broke through to point his pistol at Oswald.     Butler is quoted as saying in those final seconds:  "He'll never make it to the street."   As you can see in the youtube video starting at 1:41, Fritz is eight feet in front of Oswald.  The story goes that Ruby emerged from the crowd with detective Blackie Harrison and reserve sergeant Kenneth Croy were his blocking fullbacks.  The WC questioned Croy very closely - this is the guy who "found Oswald's wallet" from an unidentified bystander at the Tippit crime scene, and never reported it to anyone for forty years.   This meant that Oswald was exposed to an assault similar to what happened when the Secret Service told the patrolmen not to flank JFK on their motorcycles.  Meanwhile, the officers were blinded by the burst of television lights when Oswald came on the scene.   I wonder if Fritz actually made a gesture for Ruby to make his move?     The pickup car was so close to position that within seconds of Ruby firing the shot, the car tapped Ruby right in the butt!  You can see it on the video.    The difficulty in verifying these photos show how little video there really is on the Oswald shooting...   From John Armstrong, who is asking for review of the photos below:  After reading Croy's testimony, I am convinced that Croy was most likely the person who allowed Ruby to gain entrance to the basement so that he could kill HARVEY Oswald. Please, I urge everyone to read Croy's Warren Commission testimony and draw your own conclusions. Here is an excerpt of that testimony: Mr. GRIFFIN. Tell us how you came to believe that man was Jack Ruby? Mr. CROY. Well, as I was standing there and this blur came from my left, someone running, and he ran by me at a pretty good clip, he was gaining momentum and he ran by me. Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, was there anybody in front of him at that point? Mr. CROY. Yes; there was reporters. Mr. GRIFFIN. There were reporters. Now, what did he do as he got to these reporters? Mr. CROY. He ran through them. Mr. GRIFFIN. Did he push them aside, or what? Mr. CROY. These reporters. He just lowered his head and ran through them like a fullback went through a line. This YouTube/CNN video, less than a minute long, shows Kenneth Croy in a white hat and police uniform standing next to Ruby in police headquarters just a second or two before Oswald appears.  Croy is the rightmost figure in the shot immediately below, which was taken at the 12-second mark of the video.  Note how Croy seems to stand back from the action as Ruby shoots Oswald.  Ruby can be seen in the video standing next to reporters in the middle image. It is clear that Ruby did not "run by me [Croy] at a pretty good clip." Ruby did not run through the reporters "like a fullback went through a line." John Armstrong makes these IDs - I am unsure about Croy, and the Ruby figure has a fedora and a prominent nose but an oddly-cut sideburn pointing to 2 o'clock. (We can see Ruby's prominent nose but no 2 o'clock sideburn.)  On December 1, 1963, Croy gave an affidavit in which he said, "I saw a man running into the crowd in a crouch.  At that moment I reached for this individual and touched his coat tail attempting to stop him.  I saw him run right up to Oswald ...."   Once again Croy was lying. As can be seen from numerous film clips of the shooting, Croy did not "reach for this individual" nor did he "touch his coat tail attempting to stop him." Warren Commission attorney Burt Griffin had reviewed films of the shooting and knew Croy was not telling the truth. Mr. GRIFFIN. Did any one of these films that you watched show you reaching out and touching the coat of Ruby? Mr. CROY. No; none that I saw. //// Thanks to John Armstrong.   Butler is the crucial link between the Dallas Police Dept and the Dallas Cubans and their friends (the Castorrs, the Odios, Connell, etc.; see this lengthy Harold Weisberg interview with the Castorrs)  He was pals with all of them.   Jan Stevens' story on Butler and Fritz is a good analysis and highly worth reading - it jibes with my review of the videotape.  He also points out Fritz's lack of a reaction to the shot - that they are trained to react - and that anyone with a brain in their head would have used a human shield to protect LHO.   The pistol holster found at Ruby's home was "musty and moldy, for a snub-nose". (p. 45 of 49)   Passes for the Carousel Club included No. 227 for  Dallas police officer Ray Hawkins (p. 26 of 96)   But the DPD 1/9/64 report about these passes does not include Hawkins' name!  The negative template at work. (pages 37-40 of 96) The 11/24/63 FBI report does have Hawkins' name.   But it doesn't have the names of Dallas deputy sheriff Buddy Walthers, or Records Building deputy Travis Hall, both of whom are important.   The list of cards (see p. 37 of 96) names Deputy sheriff Buddy Walthers (number 167) and Travis Hall, a county clerk deputy at the Records Bldg (number 207)  but their actual cards cannot be found either in the xeroxed cards (pp. 15-30 of 96) or in the 11/24/63 FBI report!   Walthers was the critical source for the 3126 Harlandale House of Cubans.  Travis Hall, described by the FBI as a "cashier" - was given his card by Jack Ruby at the County Records Building on 11/19/63, after seeing Jack at the Records Building earlier that month.   A list of Carousel members obtained on 11/28/63 from Monte Timmons also omits the names of Hawkins - but "deputy Hall" and "deputy Walthers" are on there!   Capt. Westbrook wound up sending the card and a note to Chief Curry on 12/12/63 where Hawkins said he had not yet received the card - the problem is that Hawkins signed the card, so he had certainly received it!   Hawkins was the biggest problem. Corporal Ray Hawkins was in the area as officers were dispatched  to look for the suspect who shot Officer Tippit. Corporal Hawkins responded and drove by 10th and Patton then converged on the Texas Theater when information came out that the suspect may have entered the theater.  Corporal Hawkins and his cover squads met a witness at the back door of the Texas Theater.  Upon entering, they conducted a row-by-row search. As officers neared Oswald, he jumped up and pulled out a pistol. Officers subdued Oswald after a struggle. Corporal Ray Hawkins went down in history as the officer who handcuffed Lee Harvey Oswald.    11/25/63  Gannaway's records list Ruby as a "sex deviate".      11/27/63 Gannaway is told by Chicago PD that Jack Ruby is Not the Jack Rubenstein in the HUAC records (this is the 1947 document referring to Jack Rubenstein as part of the staff of Richard Nixon)  (p. 3 of 96)   11/27/63 Seth Kantor reported Curry was quietly conducting a probe of 50 detectives and uniformed officers to see if one or more of them aided Ruby.   On 9th December, 1963, Jack Revill wrote to Jesse Curry claiming that Butler: "related that he had information that Lee Harvey Oswald was the illegitimate son of Jack Ruby. Lieutenant Butler further stated that he had information that Jack Ruby had applied for a visa to Mexico about the same time that Lee Harvey Oswald visited that country. He suggested that we contact the Mexican Consul to confirm this information."   12/9/63:  FBI report says Butler told them someone must have pressured Curry to bring out the prisoner while the news media was there - wouldn't say who.   This story, run in the 12/15/63 Oklahoman, states that "Butler cannot be found"...That was simply not true - it was three weeks after the assassination - but Butler may have been lying low about that time and getting his ducks in a row. . Our indices indicate Earl Lively, Jr., probably is identical to Earl William Lively, Jr. In 1962, Office of Special Investigations, Air Force (OSI), furnished us information that Lively was a member of the Air National Guard and at that time was a student of the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He was investigated by OSI since a national agency check revealed he was a subscriber to “The Worker” and the “Midweek Worker,” both communist publications. Individuals interviewed by OSI reported Lively was extremely anticommunist and as being extremely rightist in his political views. They reported in their opinion Lively subscribed to communist publications only to obtain background information on the Communist Party line. They also reported Lively extremely anti-Fidel Castro. OBSERVATIONS: In view of the serious allegation that Lt. Butler of the Dallas Police Department is involved in scheme to furnish FBI data to Earl Lively, Jr., desirable we have SAC, Dallas personally discuss this allegation with the head of the Dallas Police Department and impress upon him the undesirability of Lt. Butler being involved with such a scheme as alleged by our source. Inasmuch as Lowery has testified for the Government before the Subversive Activities Control Board, and is no longer a security informant, we will not jeopardize an important informant situation by discussing his allegation with the head of the Dallas Police Department. ACTION: Attached is a teletype to SAC, Dallas, instructing the SAC, Dallas, to personally contact the head of Dallas Police Department and alert him to the information furnished by Lowery and impress upon him the undesirability of individuals in his department divulging to unauthorized individuals data furnished the Dallas Police Department by the FBI. We are also instructing SAC, Dallas, to request the that the head of the Dallas Police Department determine whether Lt. George Butler of the Dallas Police Department is involved in a scheme to furnish FBI data to Lively as alleged by Lowery.   1/22/64 Former Security informant to Dallas office of FBI is redacted - this is a reference to Lowery, who is talking with Butler - Butler is "allegedly involved in scheme to furnish FBI data to DLPD and to Earl Lively, Jr."  Told Shanklin to speak to Curry to determine if Butler's involvement in scheme is "true".   1/22/64:  Butler was suspected by the Dallas FBI of being involved with a scheme involving the Oswald file by January 1964, and was described as being "pretty far right" by Curry - Curry assured that Fritz had custody of the Oswald file under lock and key, but that he would speak to Butler.

lumpkingannaway (1).pdf

Edited February 22, 2023 by Bill Simpich
corrected an incorrect satement