(1)
Charles Murret was interviewed by Albert E. Jenner on behalf of
the Warren Commission on 7th April, 1964.
Albert Jenner:
What kind of a
boy was Lee Harvey Oswald?
Charles
Murret: Well, I'll tell you; I didn't take that much interest in
him. I couldn't tell you anything about that, because I didn't pay
attention to all that. I do think he was a loud kid, you know what
I mean; he was always raising his voice when he wanted something
from his mother, I know that, but I think a lot of times he was
just the opposite. He liked to read, and he stuck by himself pretty
much in the apartment the way I understand it...
Albert Jenner:
When was the next time that you saw either of them?
Charles
Murret: Well, the next time was when he came to New Orleans, and
stayed at our house. That was just a year ago in May, I think. I
don't remember what month, but it was about that.
Albert Jenner:
About a year ago or in that neighborhood?
Charles
Murret: Yes. That's when Lee came to town, and wanted to look for
an apartment, and said he was going to get a job, and that he would
like to stay with us until he found something.
Albert Jenner:
All right; now, tell us about that.
Charles
Murret: Well, when I walked in the house, he was standing in the
kitchen.
Albert Jenner:
That was after you came home from work?
Charles
Murret: That's right.
Albert Jenner:
You were surprised to see him?
Charles
Murret: Yes; that's right. I was surprised all right.
Albert Jenner:
All right. What happened then?
Charles
Murret: My wife said, "Do you recognize who this is?"
and I said, "Yes," and I said, "It looks like he
has grown up or something." Of course, he looked older, but
he hadn't changed too much in appearance, I don't think.
Albert Jenner:
What was your impression of Lee then, after he had appeared at your
house after all those years?
Charles
Murret: Well, I don't know, but I just couldn't warm up to him,
but he said he wanted to find a job and get an apartment and then
send for his wife in Texas, so I wasn't going to stand in his way....
Albert Jenner:
Did you ever have a discussion with him as to why he left Russia?
Charles
Murret: No.
Albert Jenner:
Did you ever have any discussion with him as to his political views
in connection with Russia, as to what he thought of Russia?
Charles
Murret: No, I didn't. To tell you the truth, after he defected to
Russia and went there to live and everything, I just let it go out
the window. I figured, "What's the use? and then after he came
back here and got into this radio thing about Castro, and communism,
and these leaflets and all, I didn't worry myself any more about
him. My main concern was keeping peace in the family and seeing
that he didn't disrupt anything around there.
Albert Jenner:
In other words, you sort of gave up on him?
Charles
Murret: I sure did, but now, Marina, I asked her how she liked America,
and her face broke out in a big smile, like a fresh bloom, and she
said, "I like America."
(2)
Priscilla Johnson McMillan, Marina and Lee (1978)
It was
six or seven years since Dutz had seen Lee. "He looked older,"
he recalled, "but
he hadn't changed too much.'" But in Bogie's view, Lee had
changed. He seemed really intelligent. Bogie (John Murret was Dutz's
son) thought Lee had grown intellectually, especially his vocabulary,
although he realized that Lee purposely picked his words to impress
people. Still, Bogie says, "he was impressive." As for
Marilyn, she had noticed even as a child that Lee would read an
encyclopedia where anybody else would read a novel. She conceded
that he was not outgoing, that he would be liked by some and "hated"
by others, but she had always respected him precisely because he
was "different." He was "refined," he loved
nature, he liked to "sit in the park and meditate." And
so once again, the whole Murret family was ready to help Lee if
they could. Lee, as usual, stood on his pride, appeared to ask nothing,
acting as if he did not want help and yet, as usual, accepting it.
They talked
a little about Russia, but the Murrets noticed that Lee seldom spoke
of the country unless they asked. They, for their part, did not
pry. The person from whom he would take more frank talk than from
anyone else was his sixty-three-year-old Aunt Lillian. She was a
small woman, a little plump, with a calm, unruffled look. She saw
the faults of others, but did not hold them to account for them.
It was to Lillian that Lee owed most of his happy memories, and
there was little she could say that would put him off. As soon as
he arrived from the bus terminal, it was to her that Lee confided
his plans. He wanted to stay with her a few days while he looked
for work. When he found a job, he would send for Marina and the
baby. Lillian asked what Marina was like. "Just like any American
housewife," came the reply. "She wears shorts." Lillian
was impressed by Lee's eagerness to bring her to New Orleans.
(3)
Edward
Jay Epstein,
Legend: The Second World of Lee Harvey Oswald (1978)
For the
next three weeks Oswald lived in the Murrets' home on French Street.
His uncle, Charles "Dutz" Murret, who had been a fairly
well-known prizefighter manager, offered to lend him $200 until
he got settled, but he declined the offer. He preferred not to take
on any debts.
Oswald got
on particularly well with his cousin Marilyn Dorothea Murret, a
tall attractive woman with long black hair. A schoolteacher by profession,
she was also, like him, a world traveler, who had been to many of
the same places, including Japan, where she had taught science,
and East Berlin. She remembered Oswald as a quiet boy who "read
encyclopedias like somebody else would read a novel," and now
that he was back from Russia, she wanted to hear all about his travels.
In telling her how he was able to arrange for his wife to accompany
him out of Russia, he explained that her father was a "Russian
officer" who used his influence to assist them.
(4)
Anthony
Summers,
The Kennedy Conspiracy (1980)
The Assassinations
Committee discovered that Charles "Dutz" Murret was more
than the "steamship clerk" he was painted in testimony
by his family to the Warren Commission. Murret, who lived beyond
the means of a man with that occupation, cropped up as early as
1944 - in a survey of vice and corruption in New Orleans. An FBI
report named him as being prominent in illegal bookmaking activities
- a report which nobody brought to the attention of the Warren Commission.
Murret was for years an associate of one Sam Saia, and Saia was
a leader of organized crime in New Orleans. The Internal Revenue
Service identified him as one of the most powerful gambling figures
in Louisiana, and according to Crime Commission Director Kohn, "Saia
had the reputation of being very close to Carlos Marcello."
Marguerite Oswald protested, "Just because Mr. Murret worked
for those people, and may have known Marcello, that doesn't mean
anything about Lee." That, in the sense that Oswald himself
is a highly unlikely candidate for a Mafia role, is partially true.
It does nothing to dispel the notion that people in the Marcello
network "spotted" Oswald.
For Oswald,
whose father died before he was born, Murret was a father figure.
At the age of three Oswald actually lived with the Murrets and subsequently
went to see them frequently on weekends. He visited them while serving
in the Marine Corps and - most worrying of all - saw a lot of his
Uncle Charles in the New Orleans period before the assassination.
He stayed with Murret for a while after he arrived in the city,
and Murret lent Oswald money. When Oswald was arrested following
his street fracas with Bringuier, he called the Murrets for help
in getting bail.
(5)
House
Select Committee on Assassinations
(1979)
Murret was a minor
underworld gambling figure... who served as a surrogate father
of sorts throughout much of Oswald s life in New Orleans, was in
the 1940s and 1950s and possibly until his death in 1964 an associate
of significant organized crime figures affiliated with the Marcello
organization. The committee established that Oswald was familiar
with his uncles underworld activities and had discussed them
with his wife, Marina, in 1963.
(6)
G.
Robert Blakey was
interviewed by Frontline
in 1993.
Q: Was there
a connection between Oswald and organized crime?
A: At this
point in time, New Orleans was corrupt, and the principle figure
behind that corruption, gambling etc, was Carlos Marcello. Oswald
at this time brushed up against organized crime in its worst forms.
Oswald's uncle, a man named Charles "Dutz" Murret, was
an ex-prize fighter and promoter who was also a bookie. He was under
the control of Carlos Marcello, who at that time was the head of
the Mafia in New Orleans. These were the people who were in the
sphere of Lee Harvey Oswald's life as a child.
