Robert
McKeown was born in 1911. He became involved in buying and selling
of guns. In the late 1950s he supplied weapons to Carlos
Prio and
Fidel
Castro
fighting
Fulgencio Batista
in Cuba.
In
1959 Jack
Ruby made
contact with McKeown. Ruby told him that he was "in with the
Mafia and had a whole lot of jeeps he wanted to get to Castro."
Ruby also
wanted advice on how he could gain the release of a couple of friends
imprisoned in Cuba.
In
September, 1963, two men arrived at McKeown's house. One man introduced
himself as Lee Oswald (his friend was called Hernandez). Oswald said
he was willing to pay $10,000 for four rifles, 300 Savage automatics
and a telescopic sight. McKeown refused as he thought he was being
set-up. As Larry
Hancock later pointed out: "McKeown thought about it but
decided no way, after all, anybody could walk into any Sears Roebuck
in Texas and get the same rifles for only a few hundred dollars. Obviously
there had to be a catch and by being suspicious, McKeown avoided the
possibility of having Oswald found with weapons which could be traced
to a very well known Castro connection."
After the assassination
of John
F. Kennedy McKeown
was visited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
McKeown was questions about Lee
Harvey Oswald and
Jack
Ruby
but denied knowing either
man. Later, McKeown was interviewed by the House
Select Committee on Assassinations but his testimony was not given
much crediance and he was accused of trying to "get book royalties
or television payments".
McKeown was also interviewed
by Anthony
Summers and his
story appeared in his book, The Kennedy Conspiracy
(1980). He was also questioned by Dick Russell
(The Man Who Knew Too Much).
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
Anthony
Summers, The
Kennedy Conspiracy (1980)
In 1959, probably
in late spring. Ruby apparently got in touch with convicted Texas
gunrunner Robert McKeown, who previously ferried munitions to Castro.
McKeown, whom I interviewed, quotes Ruby as saying he was "in
with the Mafia and had a whole lot of jeeps he wanted to get to Castro."
According to McKeown, who becomes extremely nervous when discussing
this area, one of the Mafia contacts was Santos Trafficante. Ruby
also told McKeown, without naming names, that he "wanted to talk
about getting some people out of Cuba" on behalf of "a man
in Las Vegas." He offered McKeown a large sum of money for a
letter of introduction to Castro, a letter he hoped would help secure
the release of unnamed friends detained in Havana. Although Ruby never
followed through on the offer of money, he did make unexplained visits
to Cuba that year. In 1963 Ruby avoided telling the truth about why
he went to Cuba or how often, a lapse that can only be explained rationally
in terms of the connections which risked exposure. At this point in
Ruby's story there looms a suspected direct association with Santos
Traficante, the Mafia chieftain who would later be reported as prophesying
that the President was "going to be hit."
(2)
Larry
Hancock, Someone
Would Have Talked (2003)
On a Saturday morning in
late September, two men drove up to a house owned by Robert
McKeown. McKeown, his wife
and a friend were finishing a late breakfast. The friend, Sam Neal,
had been staying with McKeown due to a pending divorce. Upon seeing
a red car drive up, McKeown's wife ran upstairs to dress while two
men got out of the car and proceeded to knock on the door. One man
was younger and in shirtsleeves, while the other was Latin, dark skin
but not black, just less than six feet, older, late 30's and dressed
in a suit and tie.
The younger man opened
the conversation, "I'm Lee Oswald; I finally found you. You are
McKeown are you not?" He introduced the man with him as "Hemandez."
Hemandez had been driving the car.
After a bit of conversation
the younger man came to the point, "I understand that you can
supply any amount of arms...we are thinking about doing a revolution
in El Salvador." McKeown was still on probation for handling
shipments of guns for Prio Soccares and getting them delivered to
Fidel Castro in Cuba. Hence, McKeown wanted nothing to do with any
new gun deal. As quickly as possible he got the two out of the house
and told Sam Neal, "Sam, ain't that a hell of a mess."
But the men came back
to the door and McKeown stepped out as if leaving the house and Oswald
tried again, "Mac would you do me a favor? It will not involve
you in any way. I can give you $10,000 if you can get me four rifles,
300 Savage automatics with a telescopic sight." McKeown thought
about it but decided no way, after all, anybody could walk into any
Sears Roebuck in Texas and get the same rifles for only a few hundred
dollars. Obviously there had to be a catch and by being suspicious,
McKeown avoided the possibility of having Oswald found with weapons
which could be traced to a very well known Castro connection.
|
Forty
years after John Kennedy's murder in Dallas, the event
remains a part of the American conscious. Polls show the
majority of the public still believes there was some sort
of conspiracy involved in his assassination and the average
person thinks it just might be exposed once the government
releases all the confidential documents some day. Those
that deny the conspiracy question scoff at all this, stating
that no conspiracy could have been good enough that somebody
would not have talked after all this time. After all we
all know even successful criminals feel compelled to tell
someone, sometime. Someone Would Have Talked tackles that
objection head on, examining a number of examples of individuals
who talked when they shouldn't have. Some talked before
the assassination and some afterwards. These are not the
people who sold their stories or whose names you would
see in the tabloids. These are real people, many of them
involved in the secret war against Castro and the U.S.
Government project intended to assassinate him. You find
their remarks in reports made to Police, the FBI and Secret
Service. Reports which were never addressed in any coordinated
or proactive criminal investigation. The records have
been released, people have talked, witnesses have finally
revealed the elements of both the conspiracy and the cover-up,
the real history is here in Someone Would Have Talked
and the 1,400 pages of reference exhibits that come on
this CD with it. (Larry Hancock, JFK Lancer Publications)
|
Someone
Would Have Talked
Available from Amazon
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