(1)
Howard Brennan, Eyewitness to History (1987)
My first
instinct was to look back up to that man on the sixth floor. "Was
he going to fire again?" I wondered. By now the motorcade was
beginning to speed up and in only a couple of seconds the President's
car had disappeared under the triple underpass. To my amazement
the man still stood there in the window! He didn't appear to be
rushed. There was no particular emotion visible on his face except
for a slight smirk. It was a look of satisfaction, as if he had
accomplished what he had set out to do. He seemed pleased that no
one had realized where the shots were coming from. Then he did something
that puzzled me. Very slowly and deliberatley he set the rifle on
its butt and just stayed there for a moment to savor what he had
done, like a hunter who had "bagged his buck." Then, with
no sense of haste, he simply moved slowly away from the window until
he disappeared from my line of vision.
(2)
Martin
Shackelford, Fair
Play Magazine, Confessions
of an Assassin (November,
1996)
Files said
he first met Lee Harvey Oswald in early 1963, in connection with
gun-running, in Clinton, Louisiana, via David Atlee Phillips. Both
were doing CIA work at the time. There was obviously some government
involvement in the assassination, as otherwise they wouldn't have
gotten the Secret Service identifications Ruby gave them. Phillips
had given him the Remington Fireball for an earlier job.
Files said
he saw Frank Sturgis among the crowd of people on Elm Street. He
also saw Eugene Brading, whom he had seen at the Cabana with Nicoletti
and Rosselli. Files knew Sturgis from anti-Castro activities, as
did Rosselli. Files didn't see Oswald at all that day. He and Oswald
never discussed the assassination plan.
He would
not comment on the murder of J.D. Tippit, except to say that Oswald
didn't kill Tippit, and the man who did was still alive at the time
of the interview (a later reference possibly referring to the same
man indicated he is now in his '80s), and had originally been assigned
to kill Oswald. The man came to see Files in Mesquite after the
assassination, saying there was a screwup and he had killed a cop...
Problems
with the James
Files "Confession":
(1) David
Atlee Phillips, CIA propaganda expert, would seem an unlikely case
officer for a Mob driver and hit man on No Name Key. This seems
to be an attempt to tie Files credibly in with Oswald (the Veciana
sighting in Dallas of Oswald and Phillips, as Bishop, together),
but is doubtful. Also, although John Rosselli was active in Florida
preparations for the Bay of Pigs, it is likely that someone other
than Phillips introduced him to Files, if Files was at No Name Key.
The only thing that sounds much like the real Phillips is the quote
near the end about the power of the typewriter.
(2) Lee
Harvey Oswald as tour guide.
(3) The
plaid reversible coat and the bitten shell casing seem, on the surface,
to provide confirmation, but both were details known prior to Files
telling his story to anyone. I had heard about the shell well before
Files says the fact that it was bitten was discovered (he says 1994).
Some people seem to have confused the bitten casing found in the
Plaza with the dented casing found in the Depository - these are
two separate shell casings.
(4) In connection
with Oswald, Clinton and gun-running, David Atlee Phillips again
seems inserted artificially into the story here. Oswald and Ruby
were both connected to New Orleans people involved in gun-running,
but inserting Phillips into the Clinton story is, again, highly
doubtful. This is not to say Phillips' role was an innocent one,
just that Files seems to be inventing things, or perhaps he was
fed inventions.
(5) Files
overlooks the fact that the Elm Street crowd was well-photographed.
Frank Sturgis was not among the crowd; nor at that point was Eugene
Brading in that area; nor was Jack Ruby on the sidewalk below the
knoll. None of this is difficult to check. All the relevant photos
are in Groden and Trask.
(6) The
Secret Service man on the knoll now becomes two men in suits turning
people away. There were men turning people away in the area BEFORE
the assassination, but not after. It sounds as though Files flubbed
some of his borrowed details.
(7) He had
documentary evidence, but he destroyed most of it. How convenient.
(8) My guess
is that Files was, indeed, Charles Nicoletti's driver, and was involved
in the preparations for the Bay of Pigs, but that he is also a good
con artist, skillled at blending fact and fiction, which is what
I believe he has done here.
