Decipherment of the James Odell Estes story (Carousel Club July-Aug 1963)

[Paul Brancato]

I hear you. Crafard is certainly a person of interest. The reason I say that is because Crafard got out of town. And I think your hint that it might have to do with the murder of Tippit is most interesting. The story Estes told doesn’t lead anywhere by itself. It’s only because it was in the Carousel that it takes on meaning. Connolly may have been there, may have taken money. It doesn’t lead anywhere by itself. But Crafard? Way too little attention has been given to him. He is a mystery man. What were his connections? Btw, can you fill us in of Crafard later on? Did he resurface? I might have missed it  if you already explored that. 

[Greg Doudna]

Craford, the Tippit killing, and the James Odell Estes story

Paul, on Craford, the best currently published information on Craford--far from ideal, but the best currently existing compared to the alternatives--is Peter Whitmey's 1998 article, "Creating a Patsy", https://www.jfk-assassination.net/creatingapatsy.htm. Craford lived in rural Oregon near Salem, Oregon until his death in 2011. Here is Craford's FindAGrave listing: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/245240842/curtis-laverne-craford_crafard. 

For those who believe the Tippit killing was solved long ago, Craford, who is the leading suspect if Oswald did not do it, will never be other than a sideshow.

On how secure the case is against Oswald, none--none--of the Tenth and Patton witness identifications of the fleeing gunman as Oswald are decisive since none of them knew Oswald priorly or had other than brief looks at the gunman, and there are so many known misidentifications of Craford as Oswald unrelated to the Tippit case. In addition, the one Tenth and Patton witness who was physically closest to the gunman in his sighting, Benavides from only a few feet away, credibly gave three specific, concrete, details of description not compatible with Oswald: Benavides said he saw a distinct "block cut" hairline on the rear of the gunman's head whereas the back of Oswald's head was tapered; Benavides said the skin complexion of the gunman was "a little bit darker than average", similar to his own (Benavides being Latino), whereas Oswald was a light-skinned white man. Craford was also a white man but the FBI physical description had Craford as "medium" complexion or skin color, not "light". And Benavides said the hair of the Tippit killer was "a little bit curlier" (than that of WC Belin questioning him), whereas Oswald's hair was not curly at all. In addition, multiple Tenth and Patton witnesses independently referred to the gunman as having "bushy" hair which also does not sound quite like Oswald's hair (male pattern baldness and thinning on top), whereas Craford had a fuller head of hair. 

So the witness identifications, despite widespread perception, do not nail it on Oswald as distinguished from Craford, who was somewhat similar to Oswald in physical description and otherwise known to have been mistakenly identified as Oswald by numerous witnesses.

What that leaves, with the witnesses gone, is in the end two things: the FBI lab match of the shell hulls ejected by the gunman near the scene as he left the scene, to Oswald's revolver; and the same mixture of the same two common makes of bullets used by the killer was found on Oswald.

If there was no malfeasance within the Dallas Police Department or somewhere within the local FBI Dallas office on those two things, I agree that nails Oswald. However, there is cause to question both of those on chain of custody and anomalies grounds. (On the shell hulls, as DPD officer Gerald Hill later put it in response to being asked about one of the anomalies, Hill said any other police department in the US he would think could have cooked the evidence, but he knew the Dallas Police Department could not have done so because he knew they were exceptionally honest, more so than other police departments in America. On the mixture of the two makes of live cartridges reported taken from Oswald's revolver, the separate reporting of the officers who searched Oswald's person and found five live cartridges in his pocket which were not mixed but were all five only one kind, Winchester-Westerns, raises the question why those five were not mixed, or if that might instead be the original non-mixed composition of the live cartridges in Oswald's revolver too, which would be incompatible with the two makes used in the killing of Tippit verified from the Tippit autopsy.)

On the other hand, there are some other things weighing in favor of Oswald's actual innocence on Tippit. The short list: The off-white light-tan colored jacket abandoned by the killer does not match to the gray jacket Oswald had but is the same known color of jacket worn/preferred by Craford. The fingerprints lifted from the Tippit patrol car at the locations where the gunman was next to the car and/or leaning onto the car exclude Oswald as having left those fingerprints but do not exclude Craford left those prints. Oswald has a good witness alibi inside the Texas Theatre as having been there on the ground floor prior to the Tippit killer going past Brewer and running into the balcony (for the purpose of, it may be suggested, killing Oswald in the theater next), theater patron that day, Jack Davis.

Oswald's witnessed movements inside the Theatre suggest he went there from his rooming house on Beckley and entered the seating area on the ground level as a paying customer to meet someone there, not later went past Brewer's store and into the balcony as the gunman who killed Tippit did. The killing of Tippit looks like a professional execution in which Tippit was lured and ambushed, different from the impulse killing supposed on the reconstruction that Oswald was the killer. There is an extremely compelling argument--I broke this one--that the murder weapon of the Tippit killing may have been found, other than Oswald's revolver--the find on the record (albeit secretly and not brought to light until decades later) in the form of the so-called paper-bag revolver found tossed on a downtown Dallas street, early the next morning of Sat Nov 23, compatible in location with the movements of a strange auto trip of Ruby and Craford at 5-6 am that morning to go photograph a billboard (at that time in the morning!--immediately following which Craford fled Dallas--and everybody has just believed the billboard photography explanation is a fully satisfactory explanation for that nocturnal excursion instead of being an alibi explanation). And that paper-bag revolver "disappeared"--vanished without a trace in police custody--by either the Dallas Police and/or local Dallas FBI if they obtained it from DPD, "losing it" and any DPD paperwork associated with it. 

I have discussed some of the specifics of these issues in the Tippit case in articles on my website, https://www.scrollery.com/?page_id=1581, work in progress. 

And finally, if one is willing to consider that the two items set forth as matching Oswald's revolver to the Tippit killing might not be airtight, and there is willingness to consider the other items above as weighing in the other direction--in the direction of exculpatory of Oswald on Tippit--there is a ready alternative suspect for the Tippit murder or execution at hand who checks all the major boxes for the identity of the killer, namely Jack Ruby's man, Craford.

It is not as if it is a choice between Oswald or unknown.

It is Oswald or Craford. 

And although people like Myers and David von Pein (David who posts good solid information otherwise on many things) will predictably respond with scorn and invective to any questioning of Oswald's guilt in the Tippit case, and not give a Craford scenario the time of day--fundamentally from a faith-based confidence in law enforcement integrity on the two ballistics items noted above--it is what it is.  

(In this I have cut through what I regard as a lot of added and distracting red herrings on the Tippit case--that the gunman's shell hulls came from an automatic; that there was an Oswald wallet at the crime scene; that there was an advance conspiracy to frame Oswald for the Tippit killing; that there was more than one gunman; that the revolver on Oswald was planted on him; that Brewer or IBM salesmen friends of Brewer were part of a plot; that the Davis sisters-in-law were part of a plot; that the C162 jacket did not come from the Tippit killer, and so on. Readers: please if there is disagreement on these points I don't mind the disagreement but please take those arguments up on other threads not this one--please keep this one about James Odell Estes--thank you!)

The reason I give this capsule summary is to show why, if James Odell Estes was telling a story of Craford in the summer of 1963, the James Odell Estes story may matter. 

To the Tippit case, among other things.               

Edited September 7, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[David Boylan]

Greg,

"Nick" could possibly be Nick Popich. He was close to Marcello (and Bill Dalzell).

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=68908#relPageId=51

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=127818#relPageId=44

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=60429#relPageId=5&search="nick_popich"

He also ran guns - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=76770#relPageId=15&search="nick_popich"

[Greg Doudna]

10 minutes ago, David Boylan said:

Greg,

"Nick" could possibly be Nick Popich. He was close to Marcello (and Bill Dalzell).

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=68908#relPageId=51

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=127818#relPageId=44

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=60429#relPageId=5&search="nick_popich"

He also ran guns - https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=76770#relPageId=15&search="nick_popich"

Interesting David, thanks. I was looking at another Marcello associate named Nick Karno, but hard to confirm which "Nick" Estes' "Nick" from Louisiana could be. Two details said by Estes are that he was a big man (over 200 lbs, 6'2" as Estes remembered) and wore a mustache in 1963. But there could be a lot of Nicks in Louisiana fitting that description. I assume its not possible to run automobile ownership checks on individual names in Louisiana, to check for ownership of a "maroon" colored Cadillac in 1963. Your suggestions always welcome, thanks.      

[David Boylan]

Here's Popich's obit. His age fits. - https://obits.nola.com/us/obituaries/nola/name/nicholas-popich-obituary?id=10203236

[Pat Speer]

A couple of points. 

1. Yes, Connally was corrupt. He was exposed as such in the 70's, when a former LBJ assistant turned lobbyist (Jake Jacobsen) testified as to his taking bribes from milk producers. 

2. Perhaps "Nick" was simply "Frank". Memories slide over the years. A one syllable name with a k sound at the end could easily be interchanged. 

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, Pat Speer said:

A couple of points. 

1. Yes, Connally was corrupt. He was exposed as such in the 70's, when a former LBJ assistant turned lobbyist (Jake Jacobsen) testified as to his taking bribes from milk producers. 

 

I also believe Connally was corrupt. I don't think an honest man would have been pulled so closely under LBJ's wing as LBJ himself was supremely corrupt.

A briefcase full of 100 bills? Of course! Cash transaction. No paper trail.

Ruby was several times referred to as a "bag man" for who knows what nefarious groups...Mafia, Intel?

The guy who carried and delivered the cash!

What better out-of-the-way location for such a pay off than Ruby's backroom office?

If there was a Connally payoff, it also proves a connection to Carlos Marcello's New Orleans criminal fiefdom.

Stripper Jada ( Janet Conforto ) came out of Marcello's personal playground of New Orleans sin establishments.

She knew some powerful crime people there.

Surely, some of them hit on her in her famous act there.

She was probably one of the most physically attractive, hottest act strippers in the entire country by that time. She would have put Carol Doda ( I know, Doda was many years later ) to shame if she wanted to bring her act to San Francisco.

Same with any other big city move.

How this top movie star beautiful bundle of raw physical sexual energy stripping star ended up in Ruby's 2nd rate dive joint is another incongruous mystery.

Cheap pay Ruby couldn't keep Jada from walking away. They fought.

Ruby threatened her.

Tough skinned - been around Jada threatened Ruby back...telling him she knew people that would have him on a meat hook if he went too far with his harassment of her. 

Jada even mentioned her problems with Ruby in a nationally broadcast television interview just hours after Ruby whacked Oswald.

In this, she discreetly described her and Ruby's working relationship problems and final blowout as a "slight hassle."

A little class there imo.

Jada also said in that same interview that she knew Jack Ruby previous to her moving to Dallas and working for him at the Carousel.

Which can only mean Ruby did enough traveling and business doings in New Orleans to have met her. And you don't do such things without the knowledge of and permission from the man in charge there...Carlos Marcello.

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Tom Gram]

12 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

On the shell hulls, as DPD officer Gerald Hill later put it in response to being asked about one of the anomalies, Hill said any other police department in the US he would think could have cooked the evidence, but he knew the Dallas Police Department could not have done so because he knew they were exceptionally honest, more so than other police departments in America

12 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

And although people like Myers and David von Pein (David who posts good solid information otherwise on many things) will predictably respond with scorn and invective to any questioning of Oswald's guilt in the Tippit case, and not give a Craford scenario the time of day--fundamentally from a faith-based confidence in law enforcement integrity on the two ballistics items noted above--it is what it is.  

I’ve seen that before, but I can’t believe Hill actually said that. The DPD have a known history of fabricating evidence and extracting false confessions to convict innocent people. 

The DPD were caught cooking evidence in several cases throughout the years. The most famous is the Randall Adams case from The Thin Blue Line, but the Ricky Dale Wyatt case is even worse:

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/938cb4_f359955ace0143d8a50fb156579822d2.pdf?index=true

One Dallas cop was convicted of murder for trying to extract a false confession from a suspect by playing Russian roulette: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Santos_Rodriguez

According to Wikipedia, the suspect’s last words before getting shot in the head with a .357 Magnum in the back of a cop car were “I’m telling the truth”. The cop served only 2.5 years in prison. 

But of course, the DPD were beyond reproach in the JFK case… 

On the Estes story, I noticed Nick Karno too in a quick MFF search, especially since he’s described as a “prominent nightclub owner”, but Pat has a point that “Nick” could’ve easily been mixed up with Frank or something over the years

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=3589#relPageId=4

It might be worth looking into guys named Dominic too and trying to match Estes’ description. I also found another Marcello associate named Nick, Nick Nuccio, but I don’t know anything about him: 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=169541#relPageId=4

This doc is from 1969, but Nuccio drove a “dark colored Pontiac”. 

Here’s another Nick, Nick Graffinini: 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=133164#relPageId=175

Edited September 7, 2023 by Tom Gram

[Greg Doudna]

6 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

On the Estes story, I noticed Nick Karno too in a quick MFF search, especially since he’s described as a “prominent nightclub owner”, but Pat has a point that “Nick” could’ve easily been mixed up with Frank or something over the years

You caused me to look a little further Tom.

Here is an FBI document telling of Jack Ruby coming to a place of business in New Orleans, Club 500, where Marcello-connected Nick Karno was present with the business's owner, another Marcello-connected operator named Frank Caracci, as told by Caracci, "one night, probably in June [1963]". As Caracci tells it, Ruby showed up to Caracci's place of business and Karno happened to be with Caracci at the time. Caracci claimed (to the FBI) that though he and Karno were told that Ruby was there and asking to see Caracci, that neither Caracci nor Karno met Ruby. Joe B. has mentioned Jada above, and this was the trip where Ruby recruited Jada to work for him, the Jada referral to Ruby in fact coming from Caracci to Ruby that very evening at Club 500 (by Caracci sending a message via an employee to Ruby, according to Caracci), the evening Karno was with Caracci when Ruby was there.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10477#relPageId=496 

Here is an FBI document that says Caracci did meet with Ruby in person in June on that trip, contrary to Caracci's denial: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10489#relPageId=515.

Also listed as meeting Ruby in person in that FBI document is Nick Graffagnini that you mentioned, Tom, who was manager at the Sho-Bar in New Orleans where Jada was working before going to work for Ruby in Dallas.

That Ruby visit in New Orleans in June 1963 would be just before James Odell Estes has "Nick" visiting the Carousel Club in Dallas in mid-July 1963 driving a late-model maroon Cadillac with Louisiana plates.

Jada began work at the Carousel Club on July 17, 1963.

Is it remotely possible that the "maroon Cadillac" bearing Louisiana plates described by James Odell Estes as driven by "Nick" visiting the Carousel Club in mid-July, was Jada's pink Cadillac, which also bore Louisiana plates, arriving with Jada to the Carousel Club from New Orleans also in mid-July? 

"[Jack Ruby] brought her [Jada] to Dallas in July of 1963 from Carlos Marcello's Sho-Bar in New Orleans and they signed a contract. Jada was Jack Ruby's favorite stripper. She drove a pink Cadillac convertible around Dallas while not dancing in Jack Ruby's Carousel Club." (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-janet-jada-conforto-photo-1888090728)

I cannot confirm any direct connection between Nick Karno and Jada, but they both were heavily Marcello-connected, from New Orleans, and moved in similar circles. And Karno was at the Club 500 in New Orleans on the occasion of Ruby in New Orleans getting the referral at the Club 500 to go find Jada. The time when Caracci says neither of them met Ruby personally but the FBI says Caracci did.  

Or was "Nick" Nick Graffagnini for whom there was a direct connection with Jada (her former boss at the Sho-Bar before working for Ruby)?

The pink Cadillac driven by Jada was indeed registered in Jeanette Conforto's (Jada's) name at a New Orleans address, and bore Louisiana plates. (This reported in connection with Jada and her Cadillac striking a pedestrian in Dallas on the morning of Nov 22, 1963.) 

Was Jada accompanied or escorted on her arrival to Dallas in July 1963 by one of the Nicks, who she let drive her Cadillac the time or two James Odell Estes saw him at the Carousel Club? (Estes makes no mention of Jada.) 

On the one hand it seems a little difficult to imagine someone remembering a pink Cadillac as the much darker color maroon, even if it was fourteen years later and both colors are on the red scale. On the other hand, the juxtapositions in timing are a little striking.

Is this a "hit" or a "false positive" (accidental illusory match which isn't)? 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Michael Kalin]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:17 AM, Greg Doudna said:

For those who believe the Tippit killing was solved long ago, Craford, who is the leading suspect if Oswald did not do it, will never be other than a sideshow.

On how secure the case is against Oswald, none--none--of the Tenth and Patton witness identifications of the fleeing gunman as Oswald are decisive since none of them knew Oswald priorly or had other than brief looks at the gunman, and there are so many known misidentifications of Craford as Oswald unrelated to the Tippit case. In addition, the one Tenth and Patton witness who was physically closest to the gunman in his sighting, Benavides from only a few feet away, credibly gave three specific, concrete, details of description not compatible with Oswald: Benavides said he saw a distinct "block cut" hairline on the rear of the gunman's head whereas the back of Oswald's head was tapered; Benavides said the skin complexion of the gunman was "a little bit darker than average", similar to his own (Benavides being Latino), whereas Oswald was a light-skinned white man. Craford was also a white man but the FBI physical description had Craford as "medium" complexion or skin color, not "light". And Benavides said the hair of the Tippit killer was "a little bit curlier" (than that of WC Belin questioning him), whereas Oswald's hair was not curly at all. In addition, multiple Tenth and Patton witnesses independently referred to the gunman as having "bushy" hair which also does not sound quite like Oswald's hair (male pattern baldness and thinning on top), whereas Craford had a fuller head of hair. 

So the witness identifications, despite widespread perception, do not nail it on Oswald as distinguished from Craford, who was somewhat similar to Oswald in physical description and otherwise known to have been mistakenly identified as Oswald by numerous witnesses.

This looks like a flimsy attempt to outflank those who refuse to buy into Crafard's whimsical candidacy for the role of Tippit assassin. Nothing makes Crafard "the leading suspect if Oswald did not do it."

Belin lost his composure over Benavides' description of the gunman which was an obvious match for his own appearance, including his hair, "squared off and made his head look flat in the back." He became very defensive, actually providing an alibi to establish his innocence! It might be the most amusing passage [6H450-1] in the entire 26 volumes. Based on his bravura performance Benavides is a solid candidate for most endearing prevaricator among the many that populate the Tippit case.

Crafard was a prevaricator of another stripe, nothing endearing about him, but some of those who don't believe the Tippit killing was solved long ago insist on evidence of Crafard's guilt before accusing him of murder. There is none.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Michael Kalin

[Joe Bauer]

Crazy Jada stories.

Reportedly Jada liked to smoke marijuana.

And, again reportedly, she made a few runs down into Mexico to procure same.

Upon coming back through customs she would avoid stopping searches by flashing her alluring bare wares underneath the only clothing she was wearing (a fur coat) and apparently wooing the entranced male checkers into appreciative wave throughs.

If true, did she drive her pink Cadillac on those runs? And was her Caddy a convertible?

Jada was definitely a "wild woman" who liked to buck the norms. 

This rebelliousness was obvious in her enthusiastic exhibitionism which Seth Kantor described as animalistic in it's raw, growling energy.

She would go so far in her strip act with overly suggestive sex moves and illegal nudity that even Jack Ruby himself would sometimes shut it down by turning off the lights and stopping the music.

Hard to believe than in her adolescence she was educated in a strict all girls Catholic school environment?

Ruby had himself a Tigress by the tail with Jada. 

Was Ruby so befuddled with this dangerous woman he called some of his old friends in Chicago and Detroit to help him get her out of his life?

Including Chicago Mafia hit man Lenny Patrick, 300 lbs. Jimmy Hoffa lieutenant/body guard Barney Baker and New Orleans Carlos Marcello lieutenant Nofio ( or Norfio? ) Percora?

Who knows?

Jada's wild life end came about when she was killed in a motorcycle accident. A motorcycle she was driving by herself. That was Jada.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Greg Doudna]

2 hours ago, Michael Kalin said:

This looks like a flimsy attempt to outflank those who refuse to buy into Crafard's whimsical candidacy for the role of Tippit assassin. Nothing makes Crafard "the leading suspect if Oswald did not do it."

Belin lost his composure over Benavides' description of the gunman which was an obvious match for his own appearance, including his hair, "squared off and made his head look flat in the back." He became very defensive, actually providing an alibi to establish his innocence! It might be the most amusing passage [6H450-1] in the entire 26 volumes. Based on his bravura performance Benavides is a solid candidate for most endearing prevaricator among the many that populate the Tippit case.

Crafard was a prevaricator of another stripe, nothing endearing about him, but some of those who don't believe the Tippit killing was solved long ago insist on evidence of Crafard's guilt before accusing him of murder. There is none.

Sure there is to suspect Craford, Michael. On the theory (pretty obvious to me) that the killings of Tippit and Oswald are related, a known hit man in the recent employ of mob-connected Jack Ruby who belatedly silenced Oswald by killing him Sunday morning is by definition going to be on the short list of suspects from the getgo unless cleared. That’s before looking at any actual evidence at all. 

The half dozen Tenth and Patton witnesses, as well as Brewer at his store on Jefferson, positively identifying the killer as Oswald, and no individual was more commonly and wrongly reported after the assassination as having been Oswald by mistaken witnesses, than Craford. Minimally the killer had to look close enough to Oswald in appearance to account for those witnesses if they were mistaken. While Craford isn’t the only one that could satisfy that condition, he is confirmed and attested in spades in satisfying that condition, and that condition narrows the possible range of suspects considerably. 

And I believe Benavides is fully credible in the sense of no evidence or cause showing otherwise, the Guinyard statement of the truck’s arrival notwithstanding. Due to how close Benavides was to the killer I believe Benavides is the single most important Tenth and Patton witness next to the flawed Helen Markham who saw more but from farther away.

Benavides unlike the others did not make a positive identification of Oswald as the gunman at the time, and the three points of disagreement with Oswald in physical description given by Benavides I noted describe Craford, especially on the more curly or wavy hair which agrees with other witnesses’ bushy hair and wavy hair of the killer, and Julia Postal’s windswept hair on him, agree well with Craford but not well with Oswald’s hair. On the “medium” rather than light complexion of the killer, and Craford, Julia Postal who saw the killer in a glance go by said the man was “ruddy”.

You make an interesting suggestion that Benavides was making it up based on looking at Belin but that’s speculation only, not proven and I don’t think too likely either. Callaway, Benavides’ boss, didn’t doubt Benavides was there at the scene. It is so easy to arbitrarily just say without evidence that an important witness such as Benavides lied wholesale under oath making total fabrications, with no evidence Benavides would have motive or had police connections or was or became a police operative which I think is where you go with this. While all witnesses must be judged, I don’t buy that Benavides was making up stuff out of thin air under oath. No evidence for that and that is not what most witnesses do.

Instead, Benavides was exculpating Oswald with sworn testimony (from the three specific physical description details which he was in position to see and testify), is what he was doing! And it has not been sufficiently appreciated. 

As to why Benavides was never taken downtown to view a lineup on Nov 22, rather than read into that some kind of police or FBI conspiracy as if Benavides, employed at Dootsch Motors around the corner, was an operative in some police or FBI plot to frame Oswald (or whatever), the simplest explanation is Benavides downplayed how much he saw, sought to minimize, because of a realistic fear of having seen too much (deadly knowledge). Benavides told police that day that he had not gotten a good look at the killer’s face (could be true, as opposed to a good look at the back of the killer’s head and hair, or it also could be Benavides denied out of self-preservation in a witnessing of a suspected mob hit context), and therefore could not identify him, so was not taken downtown to ID Oswald. (An alternative possibility is Benavides did start giving physical description details of the Tippit killer which caused police to decide he would not be helpful to building their case in court against Oswald believed guilty, which is what the police were doing.)

Back to Craford, he is plausibly connected in timing and physical proximity to the tossing of the paper-bag revolver at the location where it was found Sat am nov 23, and Crafords unexplained total flight from Dallas the morning of Nov 23. 

And Craford was a hit man, this from his own later confession to Whitmey and supported further by the James Odell Estes account of him in July and Aug 1963 (and arguably possibly also in the Jarnagin story). 

So there is quite a bit of cause to suspect Craford, as it seems even Burt Griffin on the WC did at the time.

As for absolute smoking gun evidence, the two things that I believe could have established that beyond doubt on Craford, analysis of the paper-bag revolver, and a check for a fingerprint match to Craford from the prints from the Tippit patrol car, both of those forensic items likely involved conscious Dallas Police decision and behavior not to investigate.

Was Craford the obvious suspect on Tippit if it wasn’t Oswald? Hell yes.

Ruby killed Oswald (and Ruby was not acting on his own). Who more than hit man Craford recently newly employed and living at the Carousel Club, could be more obvious as suspect on Tippit?

Edited September 8, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Greg Doudna]

A connection of Craford to the Tippit crime scene

Here’s something else on Craford, Michael. Craford at the Carousel Club took phone messages for Ruby, writing them in a notebook. One was from none other than a woman calling from the telephone of Virginia Davis, 400 E 10th Street, at the Tippit crime scene. 

As reasonably suggested by Paul Jolliffe elsewhere, that was probably a phone inquiry from an ad or reference inquiring about a job, perhaps a waitressing job, at the Carousel Club. 

Ruby not being there when the call came in, Craford took the message and said Ruby would call back, could he have a name and number? 

The caller was either 16-year old married Virginia Davis herself (it was her phone), or her older sister-in-law Barbara Davis, also married, of the adjoining apartment on the ground level of the same house facing 10th Street. 

The caller, whichever one it was, Virginia herself or Barbara with the complicity of Virginia, was reluctant to give her name and number, because this call and job inquiry was being made without the knowledge yet of the husbands. And the woman caller did not want Jack Ruby of the Carousel Club calling and Virginia’s husband answering the phone.

This was surely not the first time Ruby and Craford encountered that concern from a woman caller. 

They had a workaround for that. Craford gave another woman’s name, a true name (former true name prior to marriage I believe) of a woman known to Ruby from his synagogue, “Leona Miller”. Leona Miller had nothing to do with, had no knowledge of, that phone number or that phone call. The name was entirely an agreed-upon code or helpful subterfuge by which a return call could be accomplished. The return call would ask for “Leona Miller”. If Virginia answered the phone, she would know it was from the Carousel Club for her. But if the husband answered, it would be a wrong number and the husband none the wiser. 

Now that in itself does not necessarily connect to the Tippit killing. Certainly 16-year old Virginia Davis, nor her sister-in-law either, were not part of some far-reaching advance plot to fabricate witness testimony and finds of fake evidence and whatnot. 

But it is a phone contact between Craford and a woman at 400 E. 10th, the Tippit crime scene, in the run up to the time of the Tippit killing in front of 404 E. 10th. 

And—arguably—Tippit was lured to that location, went there thinking he would be meeting someone perhaps in front of a certain street address who would be waiting for him out front at a certain time. When Tippit arrived, a man gestured and flagged him down—the killer—spoke briefly to Tippit through the passenger window vent, got Tippit to step out of the patrol car (without Tippit radioing in to the dispatcher he was doing so), whereupon Tippit was shot and killed in cold blood, professionally by a killer who knew what he was doing and did not even run, but walked or controlled slow loped, away from the scene while reloading for his next destination… the Texas Theatre, location of Oswald, to kill him next. 

Now on that reconstruction of the killing, how is it a planned meeting location for Tippit at, say 1:15 pm (or whatever exact time) at that particular location, happened to be at (next door to) the address of Virginia Davis? 

Well there are two possibilities: it was coincidence, or the address associated with the Virginia Davis phone number was learned by Ruby or Craford and that address was set up to be used as a pretext or alibi in the background for asking Tippit to meet there. 

That way the killer, who looked like he could have walked to the Tippit crime scene starting from Ruby’s apartment which was only a few blocks away, could have an alibi or reason to have walked there, should an alibi be needed: he, Craford, was responding to Virginia Davis’s job inquiry on legitimate behalf of Ruby, owner of the Carousel Club, or something like that. Some explanation at least as plausible as the explanation Ruby gave for why he went downtown (to the Western Union station to wire a dancer some money) carrying a loaded gun before by unplanned impulse walking nearby and killing Oswald out of compassion for Jackie Kennedy. Similar alibi for why in proximity of the crime scene. 

Craford, who talked with Virginia Davis when she made the initial call.

Craford, who walked from Ruby’s apartment to Virginia Davis’s location where he met Tippit as Tippit arrived, and cold-bloodedly murdered Tippit. 

So there is a connection of Craford to the scene of the Tippit killing. Just like Craford is placed in proximity and timing as plausibly the thrower of the ditched Tippit murder weapon, the morning of Nov 23, hours after Tippit was killed and following which Craford took flight from Dallas that same morning, the so-called “paper-bag revolver” in FBI documents brought to light in the mid-1990s.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Greg Doudna]

Comparisons between James Odell Estes' "Lee" at the Carousel Club in July-Aug 1963, and Carroll Jarnagin's "Lee" at the Carousel Club on Oct 4, 1963. 

Estes:

"I started working at this club [Carousel Club] the last week in June, 1963. I remember that the first or second week of July a man came into the club and I know that this man was Lee Harvey Oswald. He came in in the afternoon and sat at one of the tables with his back to the wall where he could see both doors..."

Jarnagin:

"he, the new arrival, sits with his back to the wall at the first table to his right from the entrance area..." 

Estes:

"I waited on him and served him the beer he ordered... About a week later this man came in again and sat at one of the customers tables and had a beer..."

Jarnagin:

"after a few minutes he orders and is served a bottle of beer..."

Estes:

"He had brown hair cut short and it was sort of curly"

[Compare Tenth and Patton eyewitness Domingo Benavides' up-close description of the hair of the man who killed officer Tippit:  Mr. Belin: "You say he is my size, my weight, and my color hair?" Mr. Benavides: "He kind of looks like--well, his hair was a little bit curlier"] 

[Oswald's hair was in no way curly.]

Jarnagin:

"has brown hair, needs a haircut"

Estes (early Aug 1963):

"Again about a week later this man came into the club and went directly to Mr Ruby's office..."

Jarnagin (early Oct 1963):

" 'I want to see Jack Ruby.' ... Ruby: 'I noticed you hadn't been around in two or three weeks..."

Estes: 

"I drove Oswald [sic] to the airport in Dallas that I know as Love Field. ... On the way to the airport Oswald [sic] said that he was running an errand for Mr. Ruby and that he hoped he made enough money on the deal that he could leave the country...It was around five days later that I saw Oswald [sic] again..."

[When Craford left Dallas suddenly and precipitously on Nov 23, 1963, hours after Tippit was shot to death by a man matching Craford's physical description, Craford headed north to Michigan, to relatives and then to a cabin near the Canadian border. The FBI, wanting to talk to him, caught up with him there. It is thought that Craford intended and would have continued over the border into Canada if the FBI had not caught up with him when it did.]

Jarnagin:

"Ruby: 'You'll get the money after the job is done.' Lee: 'What about half now, and half after the job is done?' ... Ruby: 'Are you sure that you can do the job without hitting anybody but the Governor?' Lee: 'I'm sure, I've got the equipment ready.' ... Ruby: 'I can't turn loose of the money until the job is done; If there's a slip up and you don't get him, they'll pick the money up, immediately; I couldn't tell them that I gave half of it to you in advance ... I would have to return all of the money ... I couldn't raise half of that amount even by selling everything I have...'"

Estes: 

"Chuck then came back down in about fifteen minutes and met two men who came in the back door. I recognized one of the men as John Connally who at that time was governor of the state of Texas ... Chuck took Connally and this other man to Ruby's office ... When I went in the following were in the room: Mr Connally, Mr Ruby, Chuck, Nick and Oswald [sic] ... black brief case that was opened and was filled with money. I know I saw hundred dollar bills..."

Jarnagin:

"Lee: 'Not that it makes me any difference, but what have you got against the Governor?' Ruby: 'He won't work with us on paroles ... The boys in Chicago have no place to go, no place to really operate...'"

Estes:

"Oswald [sic] then came down and caught a cab ... The following Sunday Oswald [sic] and I went to Possum Kingdom lake. Oswald [sic] picked me up at the trailer court where I was living with Barbara. Oswald was driving a 1961 Chevrolet Impala ... I do not know who this car belonged to and I never saw it again ... The following Sunday Oswald [sic] and I returned to the same lake and the same cabin but this time we went in the car which belonged to Barbara ... I picked Oswald [sic] up this time from in front of the Grayhound Bus station in Dallas."

Jarnagin:

"Lee: 'I just got in from New Orleans...' ... Ruby: 'How did you get back?' Lee: 'Hitch-hiked...'"

[Craford did not own a car and hitchhiked, as he did from Dallas to Michigan starting hours after Tippit was killed.]

Estes:

"every time I had seen Oswald [sic] he was carrying a Smith and Wesson 38 calibre pistol, six shooter. He carried this on his left side with a waist holster..."   

[The "paper-bag revolver" was a Smith and Wesson .38 Special revolver found tossed on a downtown Dallas street early in the morning of Sat Nov 23, 1963, hours after Tippit was killed by a gunman firing a .38 Special revolver. The "paper-bag revolver" may be identified as the Tippit murder weapon, tossed by someone close to the same time Craford was with Ruby at 5-6 am driving in proximity to where the paper-bag revolver was tossed, just before Craford left Dallas for Michigan. James Odell Estes may here describe in Aug 1963 the murder weapon which killed Tippit and which ended up on Nov 23, 1963 as the paper-bag revolver, which was turned in that morning to the Dallas Police, who regrettably lost it. 

The position of the waist holster described by Estes appears to be most commonly where a left-handed person would have it. From the fingerprints at the right front fender of the Tippit patrol car inches from where the killer of Tippit was standing when shooting Tippit, if those fingerprints were from the killer of Tippit (who else who leaned on the right front passenger door leaving fingerprints would also put fingerprints on a right front fender?), it may be that the shooter was left-handed, since the prints on that right front fender are from a right hand, the free hand of a left-handed shooter.

Oswald was right-handed. It also is now known that Oswald did not leave those prints on the Tippit car's right front passenger door and right front fender, although the Dallas Police did not disclose that to the Warren Commission or anyone, or ask the FBI to analyze the prints to see if the FBI could identify to whom the prints belonged other than Oswald, a question evidently not considered by the Dallas Police of sufficient interest to the case to pursue further.] 

[Michael Kalin]

23 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

And I believe Benavides is fully credible in the sense of no evidence or cause showing otherwise, the Guinyard statement of the truck’s arrival notwithstanding. Due to how close Benavides was to the killer I believe Benavides is the single most important Tenth and Patton witness next to the flawed Helen Markham who saw more but from farther away.

There's never evidence if you choose to ignore it, including both his and Guinyard's WC testimony. He credits himself with making the first citizen phone call, a lie, then spoofs Belin's appearance.

Mr. BELIN - Anything else you can think of about the man after you saw him? What was he wearing? What did he look like?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Well, he was kind of, well, just about your size.
Mr. BELIN - About my size? I am standing up.
Mr. BENAVIDES - You are about 5' 10"?
Mr. BELIN - I am between 5' 10" and 5' 11". Closer to 5' 11", I believe.
Mr. BENAVIDES - I would say he was about your size, and he had a light-beige jacket, and was lightweight.
Mr. BELIN - Did it have buttons or a zipper, or do you remember?
Mr. BENAVIDES - It seemed like it was a zipper-type jacket.
Mr. BELIN - What color was the trousers?
Mr. BENAVIDES - They were dark.
Mr. BELIN - Do you remember what kind of shirt he had on?
Mr. BENAVIDES - It was dark in color, but I don't remember exactly what color.
Mr. BELIN - Was he average weight, slender, or heavy?
Mr. BENAVIDES - I would say he was average weight.
Mr. BELIN - What color hair did he have?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Oh, dark. I mean not dark.
Mr. BELIN - Black hair?
Mr. BENAVIDES - No. Not black or brown, just kind of a----
Mr. BELIN - My color hair?
Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes.
Mr. BELIN - You say he is my size, my weight, and my color hair?
Mr. BENAVIDES - He kind of looks like---well, his hair was a little bit curlier.
Mr. BELIN - Anything else about him that looked like me.
Mr. BENAVIDES - No. that is all.
Mr. BELIN - What about his skin? Was he fair complexioned or dark complexioned?
Mr. BENAVIDES - He wasn't dark.
Mr. BELIN - Average complexion?
Mr. BENAVIDES - No; a little bit darker than average.
Mr. BELIN - My complexion?
Mr. BENAVIDES - I wouldn't say that any more. I would say he is about your complexion, sir. Of course he looked, his skin looked a little bit ruddier than mine.
Mr. BELIN - His skin looked ruddier than mine? I might say for the record, that I was not in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Mr. BENAVIDES - No, just your size.
Mr. BELIN - Did he look like me?
Mr. BENAVIDES - No; your face, not your face, but just your size.
Mr. BELIN - Okay, well, I thank you. I was flying from St. Louis to Des Moines, Iowa. at about this time. Is there anything else?
Mr. BENAVIDES - I remember the back of his head seemed like his hairline was sort of--looked like his hairline sort of went square instead of tapered off. and he looked like he needed a haircut for about 2 weeks, but his hair didn't taper off, it kind of went down and squared off and made his head look fiat in back.

Benavides' also made first day DPD & FBI reports, both discarded, and engaged in FBI informer activity, but you ignore all this. Why?

23 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Back to Craford, he is plausibly connected in timing and physical proximity to the tossing of the paper-bag revolver at the location where it was found Sat am nov 23, and Crafords unexplained total flight from Dallas the morning of Nov 23. 

Plausibility does not constitute evidence, which consists of nothing more than a memo pad telephone number entry. Until evidence of greater substance is produced to support your scenario, there is very little to discuss.