On the Trail of the Assassins: One Man's Quest to Solve the Murder of President Kennedy

[Joe Bauer]

2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

That part is likely true Ron about Ruby's murder of Oswald.

Trafficante to McWillie to Ruby.

Sounds about right.

[Ron Bulman]

41 minutes ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

AJ Weberman (who did do some good work)

Yes, and some pure dee junk. 

Digging through Dylan's trash was weird.  Dylan kicking his ass justified.   His book is junk, no TOC, end notes, references, anything.  Little support in it for his online demonstrated two sets of tramps.  The shadow's support the tale. 

[James DiEugenio]

I guess I should relate a story about this topic that Ray Marcus told me.

He said that when the news of Garrison's discoveries was breaking--about 544 Camp Street, about Shaw/Bertrand etc--he called up Liebeler.   Because Wesley was ostensibly in charge of the New Orleans aspect of the Warren Commission. Ray said, look why not be honest about what you missed, I mean did you ever go to 544 Camp Street, did you know what was going on there?  Why would Oswald put that address on his flyers? Why would he leaflet in front of the ITM?  Why would he get so much attention and publicity? 

Ray said there was a strained silence on the phone.

Finally, Wesley said, "Mr. Marcus, sometimes we get involved in things that are bigger than ourselves."

If anything that was an understatement.

[Ron Ecker]

I wonder if Dylan found his JFK song "Murder Most Foul" in Weberman's trash.

 

 

[Tom Gram]

15 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Finally, Garrison had surveillance on Ferrie all the way up until when he passed.  In fact that is how he found out he was dead.

This is one of the angles I’m interested in, since Garrison used the same guys to surveil Ferrie that were working for Shaw’s lawyers less than a month later, and they were a questionable bunch, to put it mildly. 

I found that Marcello ‘connection’ through John Mmahat and his office while digging into Southern Research of New Orleans, but the potential government connections are a lot more interesting, IMO. I’ve mentioned this before, but during the Garrison case, Southern Research was operating out of the same building as the local CIA field office. They also appear to have been subcontracted to do Shaw’s investigative work by Wackenhut, a CIA contractor. The evidence on this is sparse, but it looks to have been a similar arrangement to the Eastern Airlines deal where a larger firm was hired by Shaw’s lawyers as the primary and they outsourced the groundwork to a local detective company. 

Almost immediately after SRC gets involved in the Garrison case, Dick Helms severs the CIA’s relationship with Wackenhut. The official reason was that Wackenhut had just gotten a bunch of “unwanted notoriety”, “particularly” due to their involvement with the Governor of Florida’s war on crime, but it’s an interesting coincidence. The head of Southern Research of New Orleans had just told the FBI a couple weeks earlier that he was working on behalf of Wackenhut for Shaw’s defense team. The relationship was at least partially reactivated in the early 70s, I think circa 1972. 

The origins of the New Orleans branch are also questionable. SRC was based out of Shreveport, but had an office in New Orleans since at least 1959. On 8/26/63, 5 days after Oswald’s debate with Carlos Bringuier, they decided to incorporate a separate New Orleans branch, and one of the founders listed Bringuier’s old government subsidized apartment that was still on Bringuier’s driver’s license when he was arrested with Oswald two weeks earlier as his address on the articles of incorporation. 

Mary Brengel told I think the HSCA that Guy Banister opened a separate company with “a bunch of former FBI agents” in the summer of ‘63 to handle special security contracts. 

In late Sept. ‘67, after four years of existence and six months of subverting Garrison’s investigation, Southern Research of New Orleans was dissolved and liquidated, and the top guys all got cushy government jobs on the Louisiana state labor rackets commission. I think you’ve mentioned before that the timing on this coincides with the CIA taking a more active interest in the case through Rocca’s “Garrison Group”. 

That’s just a sample. I still haven’t found anything concrete, just a bunch of strange coincidences, but there’s a lot of smoke…

Edited March 22 by Tom Gram

[Benjamin Cole]

27 minutes ago, Tom Gram said:

This is one of the angles I’m interested in, since Garrison used the same guys to surveil Ferrie that were working for Shaw’s lawyers less than a month later, and they were a questionable bunch, to put it mildly. 

I found that Marcello ‘connection’ through John Mmahat and his office while digging into Southern Research of New Orleans, but the potential government connections are a lot more interesting, IMO. I’ve mentioned this before, but during the Garrison case, Southern Research was operating out of the same building as the local CIA field office. They also appear to have been subcontracted to do Shaw’s investigative work by Wackenhut, a CIA contractor. The evidence on this is sparse, but it looks to have been a similar arrangement to the Eastern Airlines deal where a larger firm was hired by Shaw’s lawyers as the primary and they outsourced the groundwork to a local detective company. 

Almost immediately after SRC gets involved in the Garrison case, Dick Helms severs the CIA’s relationship with Wackenhut. The official reason was that Wackenhut had just gotten a bunch of “unwanted notoriety”, “particularly” due to their involvement with the Governor of Florida’s war on crime, but it’s an interesting coincidence. The head of Southern Research of New Orleans had just told the FBI a couple weeks earlier that he was working on behalf of Wackenhut for Shaw’s defense team. The relationship was at least partially reactivated in the early 70s, I think circa 1972. 

The origins of the New Orleans branch are also questionable. SRC was based out of Shreveport, but had an office in New Orleans since at least 1959. On 8/26/63, 5 days after Oswald’s debate with Carlos Bringuier, they decided to incorporate a separate New Orleans branch, and one of the founders listed Bringuier’s old government subsidized apartment that was still on Bringuier’s driver’s license when he was arrested with Oswald two weeks earlier as his address on the articles of incorporation. 

Mary Brengel told I think the HSCA that Guy Banister opened a separate company with “a bunch of former FBI agents” in the summer of ‘63 to handle special security contracts. 

In late Sept. ‘67, after four years of existence and six months of subverting Garrison’s investigation, Southern Research of New Orleans was dissolved and liquidated, and the top guys all got cushy government jobs on the Louisiana state labor rackets commission. I think you’ve mentioned before that the timing on this coincides with the CIA taking a more active interest in the case through Rocca’s “Garrison Group”. 

That’s just a sample. I still haven’t found anything concrete, just a bunch of strange coincidences, but there’s a lot of smoke…

TG--

Let me get this straight. 

1. Garrison used or hired Southern Research to surveil David Ferrie.

2.  But also, "The head of Southern Research of New Orleans had just told the FBI a couple weeks earlier that he was working on behalf of Wackenhut for Shaw’s defense team."

3. Then also, "On 8/26/63, 5 days after Oswald’s debate with Carlos Bringuier, they (Southern Research) decided to incorporate a separate New Orleans branch, and one of the founders listed Bringuier’s old government subsidized apartment that was still on Bringuier’s driver’s license when he was arrested with Oswald two weeks earlier as his address on the articles of incorporation."

---30---

OK, so it sure looks like Southern Research (I assume this is the same as "SRC") was linked, to put it mildly, to anti-Castro elements, and Wackenhut/CIA.

In other words the people surveilling Ferrie might be the same people who 

 

1) would not mind if Ferrie passed away and 

2) were part of an intel-state effort to infiltrate Garrison operations. 

 

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

TG--

Let me get this straight. 

1. Garrison used or hired Southern Research to surveil David Ferrie.

2.  But also, "The head of Southern Research of New Orleans had just told the FBI a couple weeks earlier that he was working on behalf of Wackenhut for Shaw’s defense team."

3. Then also, "On 8/26/63, 5 days after Oswald’s debate with Carlos Bringuier, they (Southern Research) decided to incorporate a separate New Orleans branch, and one of the founders listed Bringuier’s old government subsidized apartment that was still on Bringuier’s driver’s license when he was arrested with Oswald two weeks earlier as his address on the articles of incorporation."

---30---

OK, so it sure looks like Southern Research (I assume this is the same as "SRC") was linked, to put it mildly, to anti-Castro elements, and Wackenhut/CIA.

In other words the people surveilling Ferrie might be the same people who 

 

1) would not mind if Ferrie passed away and 

2) were part of an intel-state effort to infiltrate Garrison operations. 

 

They were hired by Shaw’s defense team after Ferrie’s death. I don’t think there’s any evidence of a prior relationship. I have the unredacted teletype somewhere, but basically the head of Southern Research of New Orleans, former FBI agent Charles Carson, reached out to the FBI on 4/6/67 saying he was “presently connected” with Wackenhut and was working for Shaw’s defense team. 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62411#relPageId=99

This is also where it is mentioned that Carson was working out of the Masonic Temple Building, the same building as the CIA DCD field office. 

Carson did not work for Wackenhut, so it appears that his firm was subcontracted through Shaw’s attorneys, but I’ve never seen anything confirming that. 

On 4/25/67, Dick Helms terminated the CIA’s relationship with Wackenhut due to unwanted “notoriety”, which supposedly was mainly due to their activities in Florida. It is true that Wackenhut had been in the papers for the war on crime deal, but if I recall, that press began over two months earlier: 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=104127#relPageId=20

The CIA had been working with Wackenhut for years, so the timing is a bit curious, but again there’s no proof Helms’ decision was connected to the Garrison case. 

The Bringuier thing is pretty bizarre, IMO. Here’s a semi-brief overview: The co-founder of SRC New Orleans who listed Bringuier’s prior address on the 8/26/63 articles of incorporation was a guy named Edward E. Parent. Parent is an essentially a complete ghost: I’ve found zero information on this guy, and I’ve done some serious digging. Ed Ledoux even interviewed an Edward E. Parent of a plausible age in New Orleans over the phone but he denied he was the same guy.  

That apartment at 4525 Duplessis St. was in the Parkchester Apts. housing project, which was the official resettlement site for Cuban refugees in New Orleans. The resettlement program was managed by Elise Cerniglia of the Cuban Catholic Center. Cerniglia was a committee chair on the CRC, an FBI informant, and there’s compelling evidence she also had CIA connections, which makes sense given her role(s). Cerniglia placed Bringuier in an apartment literally directly next door to Sergio Arcacha Smith. Smith’s other next-door neighbor was a CIA asset named Manuel Blanco, who at the time was one of three guys on the secret CRC military committee, including Arnesto Rodriguez Jr.

In other words, Bringuier’s placement in that specific apartment was not random. The 4525 address also had two apartments A and B. I think Bringuier was in the latter, so it’s possible this Parent character was there at the same time.

SRC was known for its expertise in electronic surveillance, so even without the Bringuier thing and 8/26/63 timing coincidence, it seems a bit odd that a partner in a detective firm with a bunch of decorated former FBI agents would be living in a shoddy government housing project with a bunch of anti-Castro Cubans…

According to FBI documents, Bringuier, moved from Parkchester to Pelopidas St. around August ‘62, but Bringuier did not mention that move in his book. He did mention moving to his apartment at the time of Oswald’s arrest however on Adele St. in the St. Thomas projects, which I believe occurred in May ‘63. 

There’s more but that’s the basic gist.

Edited March 22 by Tom Gram

[Benjamin Cole]

7 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

They were hired by Shaw’s defense team after Ferrie’s death. I don’t think there’s any evidence of a prior relationship. I have the unredacted teletype somewhere, but basically the head of Southern Research of New Orleans, former FBI agent Charles Carson, reached out to the FBI on 4/6/67 saying he was “presently connected” with Wackenhut and was working for Shaw’s defense team. 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62411#relPageId=99

This is also where it is mentioned that Carson was working out of the Masonic Temple Building, the same building as the CIA DCD field office. 

Carson did not work for Wackenhut, so it appears that his firm was subcontracted through Shaw’s attorneys, but I’ve never seen anything confirming that. 

On 4/25/67, Dick Helms terminated the CIA’s relationship with Wackenhut due to unwanted “notoriety”, which supposedly was mainly due to their activities in Florida. It is true that Wackenhut had been in the papers for the war on crime deal, but if I recall, that press began over two months earlier: 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=104127#relPageId=20

The CIA had been working with Wackenhut for years, so the timing is a bit curious, but again there’s no proof Helms’ decision was connected to the Garrison case. 

The Bringuier thing is pretty bizarre, IMO. Here’s a semi-brief overview: The co-founder of SRC New Orleans who listed Bringuier’s prior address on the 8/26/63 articles of incorporation was a guy named Edward E. Parent. Parent is an essentially a complete ghost: I’ve found zero information on this guy, and I’ve done some serious digging. Ed Ledoux even interviewed an Edward E. Parent of a plausible age in New Orleans over the phone but he denied he was the same guy.  

That apartment at 4525 Duplessis St. was in the Parkchester Apts. housing project, which was the official resettlement site for Cuban refugees in New Orleans. The resettlement program was managed by Elise Cerniglia of the Cuban Catholic Center. Cerniglia was a committee chair on the CRC, an FBI informant, and there’s compelling evidence she also had CIA connections, which makes sense given her role(s). Cerniglia placed Bringuier in an apartment literally directly next door to Sergio Arcacha Smith. Smith’s other next-door neighbor was a CIA asset named Manuel Blanco, who at the time was one of three guys on the secret CRC military committee, including Arnesto Rodriguez Jr.

In other words, Bringuier’s placement in that specific apartment was not random. The 4525 address also had two apartments A and B. I think Bringuier was in the latter, so it’s possible this Parent character was there at the same time.

SRC was known for its expertise in electronic surveillance, so even without the Bringuier thing and 8/26/63 timing coincidence, it seems a bit odd that a partner in a detective firm with a bunch of decorated former FBI agents would be living in a shoddy government housing project with a bunch of anti-Castro Cubans…

According to FBI documents, Bringuier, moved from Parkchester to Pelopidas St. around August ‘62, but Bringuier did not mention that move in his book. He did mention moving to his apartment at the time of Oswald’s arrest however on Adele St. in the St. Thomas projects, which I believe occurred in May ‘63. 

There’s more but that’s the basic gist.

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/docid-32248503.pdf

Maybe you can figure this one out. 

[James DiEugenio]

The informant he had in Ferrie's camp was not SRC Tom.

And I don't know where you got that.

It was a young man by the name of Jimmie Johnson. And this guy was a very productive informant.

Edited March 23 by James DiEugenio

[Tom Gram]

5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

The informant he had in Ferrie's camp was not SRC Tom.

And I don't know where you go that.

It was a young man by the name of Jimmie Johnson. And this guy was a very productive informant.

I didn’t mention an informant. Do you mean for Garrison or Marcello? 

Garrison did hire SRC for “investigative services” or something like that before they went to work for Shaw though. That came out in the early Times Pic article that listed Garrison’s spending. I’m on a plane so don’t have the link handy but it’s in there. 

Given that they were surveillance experts and had direct experience with Ferrie, and that Garrison supposedly had a “continuous stakeout” on Ferrie prior to Ferrie’s death, I think it’s a reasonable assumption that’s what they were doing. It is an assumption though…

Edited March 23 by Tom Gram

[Greg Doudna]

On 3/21/2024 at 3:33 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Let me add this:

When people start using the likes of Aaron Kohn on New Orleans,  I mean its time to throw in the towel.

Kohn was in bed with Shaw's lawyers up to his neck.

Whoah on this.

Aaron Kohn was in the forefront of truthfully telling of the enormous economic power and influence on politicians of New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello. Marcello as one of America's leading mob bosses was denied above all by two persons in particular: local FBI agent Regis Kennedy, and District Attorney Jim Garrison, for both of whom, if one were to believe them, Marcello was an honest grocery wholesaler not one of the most powerful mob bosses in America.

According to Kohn's information, which is pretty much standard to every historian today and was the view of Robert Kennedy of the Justice Department at the time, Marcello's organized and illegal billion-dollar gambling rackets alone made Marcello's gambling the biggest industry in Louisiana. That's not counting prostitution, narcotics, bribes to public officials, mob murders, and his legitimate businesses such as nightclubs owned through cutouts, one of which one report says was the Carousel Club of Dallas managed by Jack Ruby (who may have been Marcello's means of contacts with the Dallas Police). 

You can side with Aaron Kohn and Robert Kennedy and practically every authority on the mob today. Or you can side with Garrison who literally denied with a straight face that Marcello was involved in organized crime in 1963. 

Don't attack Aaron Kohn because he was right on that.

What then was Aaron Kohn's crime? As if it is forbidden by DiEugenio to cite him?

I do not know whether Aaron Kohn crossed the line in terms of acting illegally or unethically in assisting the defense of a man innocent of the charges Garrison brought against Clay Shaw. But Aaron Kohn is not to be faulted for an objective of calling out a wrongful prosecution of a man innocent of the charges Garrison was levying, if that is what is considered Kohn's crime.

Are there more than maybe 2% complete diehard Garrison fundamentalists among researchers of the JFK assassination who can look themselves in the mirror and say they truly believe Clay Shaw was a witting, active part of assassinating President Kennedy? 

There was not a shred of evidence presented of that. Not one shred.

Mark Lane didn't believe it.

Garrison's assistant district attorney Volz, who ran the office while Garrison pursued the JFK assassination investigation, didn't believe it.

Hardly any CT's today seriously believe it.

A basic question: Is it OK to prosecute or legally lynch an innocent man, if its Garrison and its for a good cause? 

And the answer should be clear to any rational person: no, it is not.

Just because Clay Shaw was mixed up with the CIA in some unclear way in an international trade area and did not answer honestly about that, or lied about not knowing Ferrie at a time when neither had been publicly outed as gay, does not make him logically a conspirator in the assassination of President Kennedy.

What does, then?

If you ask DiEugenio, he will tell you it is because Clay Shaw denied he was with Oswald in Clinton, Louisiana assisting Oswald in registering to vote and apply for a job in a mental hospital in that city, obvious evidence that Clay Shaw was plotting to kill JFK. 

Or, that Clay Shaw denied he was the caller who called Marcello-connected attorney Dean Andrews "asking" Dean Andrews to go to Dallas to defend Oswald in a manner Dean Andrews could not refuse, and also could not say who it was, "because he liked to continue breathing" as he told someone in explanation.

Those denials of Clay Shaw, in the logic of DiEugenio, are evidence that Clay Shaw plotted to kill JFK.

I don't think so.

I am reading William Davy, Let Justice Be Done (1999), which argues in defense of Garrison.

Davy claims Garrison did suspect the mob in the assassination and that any claim that Garrison did not is completely untrue

"the charge that Garrison never considered the mob as a suspect in the assassination is once again the stuff of nonsense" (p. 155)

... and that Garrison believed the mob was responsible for the assassination, along with anti-Castroites

"In June of 1967, the FBI had information that Garrison was pursuing the mob angle. An FBI source reported that 'Garrison believed that organized crime, specifically, "La Cosa Nostra" is responsible along with other Anti-Castroites for the assassination." (p. 156) 

... and that Garrison considered involving Marcello in the JFK assassination

"...Further proof [that the charge that Garrison never considered the mob is nonsense] is offered by intelligence operative Gordon Novel. The reader is already familiar with his deposition taken during his unsuccessful libel suit against Garrison and Playboy magazine. During the deposition Novel is asked:

Q. What business did you have with Mr. Marcello?

A. I was trying to locate a Mr. Haggeman, who was an arch enemy of Mr. Garrison, and at the time he informed me that Mr. Garrison was considering involving him in the assassination.

Q. Marcello or Haggeman?

A. Mr. Marcello." (p. 155)

... even though at the same time, Davy continues, Marcello was clean of any charge of involvement in organized crime in New Orleans:

"As Garrison wrote in a April 17, 1968 letter to Donald Organ, 'Mr. Kohn had publicly admitted that it was he who made all of the information initially available to Life magazine. Inside the Grand Jury room, with the doors shut, Mr. Kohn admitted that he really did not have any evidence of any kind that organized crime was occurring in New Orleans.' Kohn also admitted as much in an interview with Garrison and his staff prior to his Grand Jury appearance. When one of the executives of Kohn's Crime Commission appeared before the Grand Jury, he admitted, 'No, we have nothing, we have no evidence to put before the Grand Jury.' The outgoing Grand Jury concurred when they wrote a blistering criticism of Kohn and his methods in their final report: 

'Organized crime, as we understand the term, exists in areas that are saturated with corrupt officials. Wherever there is an alert Mayor, an honest and intelligent Chief of Police, with an upgraded police force, and an aggressive District Attorney's Office, organized crime cannot exist.

'If these officials do not all cooperate and participate in this scheme it cannot flourish because no one official is capable of protecting the illegal endeavors of the so-called "syndicate." A combination without any one official is doomed. 

'To accept Mr. Kohn's view, in this particular area, we must assume the dishonesty of all the aforementioned public officials, plus a dishonest Governor.

'We, as laymen, acting for the community, can only evaluate what has been sworn to under oath.

'The allegations of organized crime in this Parish ha[ve] been fathered by the Metropolitan Crime Commission and published, with their approval, in Life Magazine ... We wish to emphasize that we are not against a properly handled Crime Commission, only against thought-less individuals who, without sufficient foundation, make allegations and then fail to produce proof of these allegations and refuse to give what information they might have to the proper officials.'" (pp. 157-158)

Davy does not explain why, if these claims are true--that Garrison suspected the mob was responsible for the JFK assassination and considered going after Marcello--that Garrison did not undertake any investigation of Marcello related to the JFK assassination.

Why no investigation of that particular suspect, among the suspects Garrison did name and go after?

RFK and the Justice Department considered Marcello one of the leading mobsters in America. According to many sources such as Arthur Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, who had instructed his staff to make Marcello one of his top organized crime targets in America, suspected Marcello had killed his brother. 

Marcello was named by the US Congress at the conclusion of its investigation, along with Trafficante of Florida, as a "likely suspect" in the JFK assassination.

If so, it would not be Marcello alone. It would be with Trafficante of Florida who may have supplied the gunmen (one of whom will not have been Oswald), such as, perhaps, anti-Castro Cubans of John Martino's circles and involved with CIA Miami. 

If Marcello and Trafficante are considered mid-level, not top deciders, in the assassination, most of the objections commonly expressed against the notion of the JFKA as a mob hit are removed and become straw man objections.

Aaron Kohn and the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission were not the problem, for telling the truth about Marcello and organized crime in their city. 

Garrison was at fault for not lifting a finger to investigate it with respect to the JFK assassination. How it looks to me.

[Joe Bauer]

On 3/22/2024 at 1:40 AM, James DiEugenio said:

Finally, Wesley said, "Mr. Marcus, sometimes we get involved in things that are bigger than ourselves."

WL...being honest...finally. A not so coded message of conspiracy in the JFKA.

[James DiEugenio]

Tom,

This is one way that Garrison kept track of what Ferrie was up to was through Johnson.

Yes, can you quote that article back to me?

As for Doudna, this is why I have him on ignore.

He has bought into the anti Garrison hysteria fostered by Paul Hoch to such a degree that its like having Hoch here.  And unlike Stu I have no time or respect for Paul Hoch.

Aaron Kohn was literally in bed with Shaw's lawyers.  When Sheridan was working on Garrison's witnesses to either intimidate them or get them to flip, Kohn was right in the middle of it.  In fact they used his office as a site for these people to do their "turning" speeches, thus negating themselves as witnesses.  And then Dymond would tell them that if Garrison charged the witness, he would get them a lawyer any time of the day or night. This, of course, was off the CIA's preferred attorneys list in that city. And Dymond did this quite often--and then lied about it-- and Kohn knew all about it, and covered it up.  See, in any normal case, this would be obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

RIght at the start of his JFK inquiry, Kohn began to say that somehow because his house was built by a builder with an Italian last name, Garrison owed the house to the mafia. Utterly sick.

And BTW, even Shaw's lawyers, like the late Sal Panzeca, would tell you that Kohn really just hated Italians. When Panzeca had an Italian American convention in New Orleans, Kohn was outside taking down license plates. Panzeca told me this in his office; of course you would have to go to New Orleans to hear this kind of thing, which I am sure Greg has done many times, just as I have.

Now, let me note something else about Kohn.  Before Garrison began his JFK inquiry, Kohn had a lot of nice things to say about Garrison.  In fact, as late as 1965, he praised Garrison in the pages of the NOTP about his achievements in office.  But if we dial back a bit, we can see why the former FBI agent flipped.  A week after Kennedy was killed, like INCA, Kohn and the MCC was backing the official story all the way.  They did a pamphlet on Oswald holding the MC rifle on its cover and declared that Oswald had acted alone--before the Warren Commission had even convened. When the HSCA asked Kohn how he got that picture so quickly, Kohn's reply was quite interesting: "We have avenues."   

I can imagine what he meant by that.

 

[Tom Gram]

4 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Tom,

This is one way that Garrison kept track of what Ferrie was up to was through Johnson.

Yes, can you quote that article back to me?

As for Doudna, this is why I have him on ignore.

He has bought into the anti Garrison hysteria fostered by Paul Hoch to such a degree that its like having Hoch here.  And unlike Stu I have no time or respect for Paul Hoch.

Aaron Kohn was literally in bed with Shaw's lawyers.  When Sheridan was working on Garrison's witnesses to either intimidate them or get them to flip, Kohn was right in the middle of it.  In fact they used his office as a site for these people to do their "turning" speeches, thus negating themselves as witnesses.  And then Dymond would tell them that if Garrison charged the witness, he would get them a lawyer any time of the day or night. This, of course, was off the CIA's preferred attorneys list in that city. And Dymond did this quite often--and then lied about it-- and Kohn knew all about it, and covered it up.  See, in any normal case, this would be obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

RIght at the start of his JFK inquiry, Kohn began to say that somehow because his house was built by a builder with an Italian last name, Garrison owed the house to the mafia. Utterly sick.

And BTW, even Shaw's lawyers, like the late Sal Panzeca, would tell you that Kohn really just hated Italians. When Panzeca had an Italian American convention in New Orleans, Kohn was outside taking down license plates. Panzeca told me this in his office; of course you would have to go to New Orleans to hear this kind of thing, which I am sure Greg has done many times, just as I have.

Now, let me note something else about Kohn.  Before Garrison began his JFK inquiry, Kohn had a lot of nice things to say about Garrison.  In fact, as late as 1965, he praised Garrison in the pages of the NOTP about his achievements in office.  But if we dial back a bit, we can see why the former FBI agent flipped.  A week after Kennedy was killed, like INCA, Kohn and the MCC was backing the official story all the way.  They did a pamphlet on Oswald holding the MC rifle on its cover and declared that Oswald had acted alone--before the Warren Commission had even convened. When the HSCA asked Kohn how he got that picture so quickly, Kohn's reply was quite interesting: "We have avenues."   

I can imagine what he meant by that.

 

I have a better copy somewhere but I found it. Bottom right. $131.05 to Southern Research Company on 1/13/67: 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62398#relPageId=148

Also here’s the article on Ferrie’s death with the “continuous stakeout” quote: 

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/F Disk/Ferrie David William Stories On/Item 30.pdf

Edited March 23 by Tom Gram

[James DiEugenio]

That amount of money does not seem to me to make that significant.

Especially in those early days.  I am pretty sure that this is from the Rosemary James expose article.