(1)
Martin Shackelford, Fair
Play Magazine, Toward
A JFK Assassination Theory (May, 1996)
I'm not
sure I have a specific theory, as I'm trying to keep as open a mind
as I can as new evidence comes out. Some things which look possible,
given what I've seen so far:
1. Some
intelligence people (David Atlee Phillips, George DeMohrenschildt,
etc.) were involved at some stage with Oswald; whether they were
involved with the assassination remains obscure.
2. Lyndon
Johnson appears to have had some degree of advanced knowledge of
the assassination, according to his mistress; his former crony,
Billy Sol Estes, says LBJ, his aide Cliff Carter and their "machine"
assassin Mac Wallace were involved (Wallace murdered Agriculture
Dept. inspector Henry Marshall in 1962; Marshall was investigating
Billy Sol Estes; political maneuvers got the death declared a suicide).
3. Anti-Castro
activists may have played a role; attention has focused on the DRE,
a group with ties in Miami (including to E. Howard Hunt), New Orleans
(Carlos Bringuier and INCA, which was involved in publicizing Oswald's
activities there) and Dallas (Sarita Odio, a group that met on Harlandale,
etc.); Guy Banister, who employed Oswald in New Orleans, was involved
in anti-Castro gun-running.
4. Mob figures
appear to have played some role (Jack Ruby obviously included);
advance knowledge of the assassination was circulating in Mob circles
(Santos Trafficante, Carlos Marcello), including at lower levels
where it blended with anti-Castroites (Rose Cheramie, a prostitute
traveling with an anti-Castro leader, almost gave the plot away
two days before the assassination when arrested in rural Louisiana).
5. There
is much evidence pointing to the involvement of Texas oil: (the
gathering held the night before the assassination by oilman Clint
Murchison, which included LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, John McCloy--later
of the Warren Commission, and others, and after which LBJ told his
mistress the Kennedy's wouldn't be bothering him after Nov. 22;
the involvement of oil industry people throughout (George DeMohrenchildt
was an oil geologist with high-level oil industry ties, who worked
for a top LBJ backer in 1963; many of the Dallas White Russians
who befriended the Oswalds were oil-connected, or tied to defense
industry-- like the Paines, where Oswald's wife lived; DeMohrenschildt
told friends that oilman H.L. Hunt was behind it).
The confusion
enters in because many of these groups blend together:
Oil man
Hunt had ties to the Chicago Mob; Murchison had joint business ventures
in Louisiana with Carlos Marcello. Oilman DeMohrenschildt worked
with the CIA.
The Mob
guys and the oil guys put much money into the anti-Castro cause.
The CIA
used oil industry jobs as cover, worked with the Mob, and heavily
supported anti-Castro groups like the DRE (and worked hard to keep
it a secret, even later).
Even with
all this, however, this trend toward a blended theory of the assassination
is much more coherent than the literally dozens of exclusive theories
of past years.
(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.
(3)
Martin
Shackelford,
Assassination
of JFK Forum (20th April, 2004)
The Zapruder
film was viewed on the day of the assassination by lab employees
after it was processed. It wasn't sold to LIFE until the following
day, after being viewed by Secret Service agents and media representatives.
Although
Time-LIFE didn't allow public showings of the film, it was available
for viewing at the National Archives following the Warren Commission
Report's publication, and many researchers viewed it there.
The film
was also repeatedly publicly shown in 1969 at the Clay Shaw trial
in New Orleans, after which bootleg copies circulated widely. The
film was also shown at JFK conferences beginning in 1973.
The idea
that anyone had 12 years to "work on" the film is, of
course, untenable. No one who saw in on November 22 or 23, 1963
has alleged alteration, and the film was readily viewable by researchers
by late 1964, which would be a maximum of 12 months, not 12 years.
Many of us had seen the film before it was shown on television in
March 1975.
I have examined
the arguments alleging alteration of the film, and have found nothing
convincing in them. I have also examined the Zavada Report, which
seems to firmly establish the film at the Archives is the camera
original. The two Secret Service copies of the film are also at
the Archives (no missing frames).
Although
the limousine slowed considerably, it didn't stop. Witnesses alongside
the limousine mostly support this - and most witnesses who report
a stop were viewing the limo from behind. I don't recall any early
statement by Moorman, Hill or the motorcycle officers that the limo
stopped. Some confusion has resulted from the fact that the Warren
Commission used an average speed, when the limo went both faster
and slower than the average at various points.
