Let's Blame Bobby: Part Three

....It was a great disappointment to New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison that Robert Kennedy did not assist him in his investigation. Instead, Robert Kennedy actively attempted to thwart his efforts. He sent Walter Sheridan, his "confidential assistant," Sheridan's job description, to New Orleans to discredit Garrison. As a historian of Jim Garrison's investigation, I too have pondered why Bobby Kennedy remained aloof, and I have concluded that it could only have been because he did not want his own part in the assassination attempts on the life of Fidel Castro, during which Oswald came to his [Kennedy's] attention, to emerge.

I located a document from the CIA's own Secret History, in which the CIA's History Staff is interviewing a CIA officer named Sam Halpern. Halpern reveals his own incredulity that Bobby Kennedy should be working with the Mafia in attempts on the life of Castro at the very same time that he was trying to send other Mafia figures to jail. A CIA operative named Charley Ford, alias Charley Fiscalini, was assigned by Bobby Kennedy to make contact with Mafia types in this country and Canada for the purpose of murdering Castro.

To all this, Charley Ford testified under oath before the Church Committee. That Bobby Kennedy repeatedly attempted to enlist anti-Castro Cubans for these assassination attempts against Castro I learned first-hand from Isidro Borja, of the DRE. "I know Bobby Kennedy was behind it," he told me indignantly, "because his people approached ME!" Borja told me Bobby's people did succeed in recruiting his good friend Rafael Quintero Ibaria, also known as "Chi Chi."

Even after A Farewell to Justice [Mellen's book on Jim Garrison-dwd] was published, I continued to attempt to confirm a lead I was given that Robert Kennedy gave a talk at Homestead Air Force base in Florida to a group of anti-Castro people, with Lee Oswald supposedly in the crowd. It was summer of 1963. I was able to confirm that Oswald was in Miami at the time. A fellow writer claimed he had a source, an aging documentary filmmaker, to whom Robert Kennedy personally revealed that when he spoke at Homestead Air Force base, Oswald [was] in the audience. When I asked the writer to return to the source, he did, only for the source to become evasive.

To give you an idea of how difficult this work is, to confirm this information, if it was information, I interviewed a slew of documentary filmmakers. I located Robert Kennedy associates: John Nolan; Peter Edelman; John Seigenthaler; press secretaries Frank Mankiewicz and Ed Guthman; Robert Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen; his cousin Joey Gargan; and George Stevens, Jr.

I moved on to soldiers of fortune like Ed Kolby, whose name appears in Lee Oswald's address book; Mr. Borja; and a mercenary living among Cuban exiles in Australia named James Richards. Richards told me that a group of Cubans who feared they might be implicated in the assassination had migrated to Australia. Richards added that Bernardo de Torres admitted to him that he had been in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Perhaps the story about Homestead had been invented by someone who knew Robert Kennedy was aware of Oswald (this fact I confirmed with Angelo Kennedy), to underline the point.

John Seigenthaler suggested that I consult the appointment books of Robert Kennedy's secretary, Angie Novello, for 1963. These reside at the Kennedy Library. When I did, I was informed that the appointment book for 1963 was missing. In no uncertain terms, I was told not to inquire again. “The curators have no idea as to its disposition,” the librarian told me.

There is another unanswered question that has bedeviled me. In April of 1963, Lee Oswald took shots at General Edwin Walker in Dallas. Walker believed to his dying day that the Department of Justice sent word to the Dallas police not to pursue Oswald "for reasons of state." The relevant police file, #F48156, is missing from the Dallas police files, like the 1963 appointment book of Robert Kennedy.

By the mid 1970s, the FBI was still instructing Dallas police Chief Jesse Curry to remain silent about the "handling" of the Oswald evidence. Dutifully, Curry denied he had ever heard of Oswald before the assassination. The missing document purportedly connects Oswald with his own assassin, Jack Ruby, an association made to seem outlandish by the Warren Commission, except that I discovered for A Farewell to Justice that Ruby and Oswald were very well known to each other.

The seeming Justice Department directive, alternately described as a CIA order transmitted by the Justice Department, demanding that Oswald be left alone, returns us to the story of poor Otto Otepka, and his being fired from his high position in State Department security. Mr. Otepka told me he believed Walter Sheridan (he kept a huge file on Sheridan at his home) and Bobby Kennedy were behind his being hounded from his job, that Sheridan was behind that theft of the defector files from his office safe. Who, in a very high place, because it wasn't easy to break into those high risk files, was protecting Oswald, and why?

What sounded alarms in all kinds of places was Mr. Otepka's innocent request of the CIA that they check into Oswald, a routine request he made when the name of someone he was investigating raised questions. The fact that, before the assassination of President Kennedy, Oswald was known to Robert Kennedy, as he was to CIA, the FBI, and Customs, accounts in no small measure for why Robert Kennedy remained silent about who was responsible for his brother's death. Kennedy loyalists, Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger, have been similarly silent. It has been an anomaly of the Kennedy assassination that, to borrow the terminology of Cormac McCarthy's latest novel, The Road, both the "good guys" and the "bad guys" have conspired to keep the truth from us.

He pointed out that the Bay of Pigs landing had been organized outside the United States at least partly in order to avoid violating the Neutrality Acts, which prohibited the launching of attacks on foreign targets from American soil. Now Mongoose was being geared up in Miami; wasn’t this against the law? Houston said the answer was no: if the President says it’s okay, and if the Attorney General says it’s okay, then it’s okay.

17.   This is probably the appropriate point to underline my conviction that the main, if not the only, point of concern to the investigators is whether I was directed to sally forth and initiate contact with members of the underworld in the U.S., and who directed me to do so. Their interest is even more pointedly focussed [sic] on whether I had anything to do with the Rosselli, Giancana, et al, "operations". Once again, I explained that my job was broader than this by a long shot, and that I was never directed to take the initiative in establishing contacts with the underworld. I said that several, probably no more than five or six, of the people with whom I dealt were somewhat "shady" characters, in some cases with recorded run-ins with law enforcement agencies.

[See Bill Kelly's post #18 of the Charles Donald Ford thread for a fuller transcription of the Memorandum.]

Knowing from [Thomas] Powers' 1997 book review in [the New York Review of Books article, "Marilyn Was the Least of It," Nov. 30 1997] and his more recent book [Intelligence Wars, American Secret History from Hitler To Al-Qaeda, 2004] that my main nemeses - Max Holland, Black Slyde [Seymour] Hersh, Sam Halpern and others on the Dark Side were on to Charles Donald Ford, and were saying that he was the CIA man from JM/WAVE who RFK sent on missions like getting the mob to kill Castro, I wondered why they didn't quote Ford directly. After all, they've been chasing Ford for ten years before I even heard of him, and certainly must have gotten the NARA doc[ument]s that were released by the JFK Act.

Then when Robert Howard sent me the one doc, which refers to others, I could understand why the Dark Siders dropped Ford like a hot tamale. He didn't back their thesis that RFK ordered Ford to get the mob to kill Castro.

The italicized portion below is from [my quote of Joan Mellen in her address-dwd].

There is another unanswered question that has bedeviled me. In April of 1963, Lee Oswald took shots at General Edwin Walker in Dallas. Walker believed to his dying day that the Department of Justice sent word to the Dallas police not to pursue Oswald "for reasons of state." The relevant police file, #F48156, is missing from the Dallas police files, like the 1963 appointment book of Robert Kennedy.

By the mid 1970s, the FBI was still instructing Dallas police Chief Jesse Curry to remain silent about the "handling" of the Oswald evidence. Dutifully, Curry denied he had ever heard of Oswald before the assassination. The missing document purportedly connects Oswald with his own assassin, Jack Ruby, an association made to seem outlandish by the Warren Commission, except that I discovered for A Farewell to Justice that Ruby and Oswald were very well known to each other.

Robert [Howard then commented]: There have been, over the years a large number of circumstances where, a document has been alleged by a researcher to be missing, destroyed or whatnot.

In a few of these situations the allegation while sincerely stated, has later proved to be erroneous. The most recent case being a Secret Service Report regarding the Tampa, Florida Secret Service report regarding JFK, that was thought to have been destroyed or missing when in fact, Bill Kelly discovered that was not the case.

It may be of some interest to some to know that page 20 of Warren CD 81.1 has an identical number "#F48156." Page 20, deals with William "Bill" Duff and his connection to the Walker shooting, and the page itself does not seem to address the question being referenced. You also might notice Agent Hostie sic Hosty is mentioned. Still, considering the document is some 418 pages, those who are "detail oriented," might be well-advised to go through the document just to make sure it is indeed "missing."

See

Commission Document 81.1 - AG Texas

I guess you thought it would be funny if someone went through all 418 pages; that would be crazy....

So anyway, it breaks down roughly like this:



At page 5 (numbering of the MFF documents) is a letter from Dallas Police Chief J. E. Curry to Waggoner Carr, State of Texas Attorney General, dated January 3, 1964:

"Attached is our complete file on the General Edwin A. Walker Case. I think the reports are self-explanatory.

"I assure you this case will remain active in our files and you will be informed of any further developments in the case."


Page 7 is a letter from O. A. Jones, Captain of Police, Forgery Bureau to Chief of Police Curry, dated December 31, 1963:

"Subject: General Edwin A. Walker; Burglary by Firearms; Offense # F 48156

"Sir:

"Pursuant to your instructions of December 24, 1963, a complete file of the investigation of Offense # F 48156 has been compiled. You will find 5 copies of this report attached."


Pages 8-10 consist of another letter from Jones to Curry, dated Dec. 31, 1963, that focuses on Duff (suspect in the case) with the reported number being the same: Offense # F 48156.

Pages 11-22 with the exception of page 21 (a letter from R. D. Lewis to Capt. O. A. Jones regarding Lewis' administering of Duff's polygraph examination, dated Dec. 31, 1963) are the formal DPD reports on the Walker case -- I'll get back to it.


Starting at page 53 is an interesting "chronological report of events prior to, during and after the assassination" (and deaths of Tippit and Oswald) being reported to Jesse Curry and signed by Batchelor, Lumpkin and Stevenson. The report ends at page 87. Of interest is the earliest DPD discussions with Secret Service on the route for the presidential visit through the city, and the page 86 report of a guy who was apprehended because he ran away from the crowd in which Ruby had just shot Oswald; there is no further report as to the man's disposition, identification, etc.

From about page 97 through page 165 are numerous b&w photographs of the TSBD, the "sniper's nest," the rifle in-place where it was found, the lunchroom, etc, etc, etc.

Page 166 is the DPD "HOMICIDE REPORT" form on President Kennedy, with the OFFENSE SERIAL NO. given as F85950.

Page 167 is the DPD "HOMICIDE REPORT" form on J. D. Tippit, with the OFFENSE SERIAL NO. given as F 85827.

Page 168 is the DPD "HOMICIDE REPORT" form on Lee Harvey Oswald, with the OFFENSE SERIAL NO. given as F 86056.

Page 169 is the DPD "GENERAL OFFENSE REPORT" form on the shooting of Governor Connally, with the OFFENSE SERIAL NO. given as F-85954.

Pages 170-217 are numerous more photos.

Pages 218-240s begins with LHO's ID cards and has numerous photos.

Beginning at page 244 to the end of the documents are lots and lots of various reports and records about Lee Harvey Oswald, mostly official USMC stuff, including medical records, discharge records, etc, etc. Of interest are the record of his Marine duty assignments with dates (24 Oct. '56 - 13 Sep. '60) at pages 288-289; the "ADMINISTRATIVE REMARKS" at page 295; the "SECURITY TERMINATION STATEMENT" at page 314; his "LEAVE RECORD" at page 321; and the "Course Curriculum" for his training as "AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING OPERATOR" at page 404. Pages (roughly) 323-360 have tons of stuff on his discharge from service, including the Navy Discharge Review Board's final decision from their review held on 10 July 1963.




Getting back to the main topic of Robert's post, the F-series number evidently refers to the particular case being reported and investigated, so the OFFENSE SERIAL NO. F-48156 is the shooting at General Walker's home and that remained the DPD file number on the case/incident even though the offense (crime) was changed from the initial "Burglary by Firearms" to "Assault to Murder." Any subsequent relevant actions or investigations or reports were also apparently filed under that file number, in supplementary reports.

On page 11 of the MFF documents link is the first reporting officers' formal report, a "GENERAL OFFENSE REPORT" with the "Offense Serial No." of "F-48156," dated 4/10/63, by Officers D. P. Tucker & B. G. Norvell. It's nearly indecipherable due to the lightness of the copy.

Page 12 is the first "SUPPLEMENTARY OFFENSE REPORT" (SOR), by Detectives Van Cleave and McElroy, dated 4-10-63. The Offense Serial No. is missing, but the original charge is listed as "BURG[LARY] BY FIREARMS." Page 13 appears to be a continuation of the detectives' report, on a separate "SUPPLEMENTARY OFFENSE REPORT" form. Of interest:

"From where the complainant [Walker] was and from where the shot was fired from the distance is approximately thirty five to forty yards with a clear view as there are no window shades."


Page 14 is an SOR by W. E. Chambers, dated 4/11/63, with the same Off. Serial No. (F-48156) but with the "OFFENSE AS REPORTED" changed from "Burglary by Firearms" to "Assault to Murder." It mostly concerns evidence statements of witness Kirk Coleman. Page 15 is an SOR by J. B. Toney, dated 4-12-63, with the same OSN (F-48156) and the (new) Offense as Reported being Assault to Murder. Page 16 is a separate OSR by Toney, with identical date, OSN and Offense Reported as at page 15.

Page 17 is an interesting SOR by Lt. E. L. Cunningham, dated 4/16/63. Page 18 is an SOR by Cunningham a couple of days later, dated 4-18-63, reporting the arrest of Duff. This part was typed; in the space below that is handwritten and dated 5-4-63 the following,

"Mrs. (?) Maxine Byrd Whaley, 409 No. WEST 11th ST., Okla. City, Okla. P.O. BOX 708, came by office. She stated she would like to donate $100 toward a reward for capture of person who shot at Gen. Walker. Stated she thought the motive was jealousy.

"I talked to her for sometime, she had no real reason for thinking this -- just a hunch. She stated that she is a friend of Gen. Watts in Okla. City and knew Gen. Walker and that she knew that many women flocked around the Gen. and that he didn't seem to notice them. Therefore she thinks one of them took a shot at him."


Page 19 is an arrest report form (on Duff), "ARREST REPORT (something something) PRISONER," written by Toney and Cunningham, dated 4-18-63, with the "ARREST NUMBER" as 63-45551.

Page 20 is the SOR that originally appears in Robert's link, written by Cunningham, dated 6-6-63, with the "Offense Reported" as "Assault to Murder" and the "Offense Serial No." as F-48156.

Page 21 is the letter from Lewis to Capt. Jones regarding Duff's polygraph. And page 22 is an SOR by Cunningham, dated 6-27-63, with the identical "Assault to Murder" and F-48156 file number. This is the last of these kind of reports until pages 166-169, which are forms for 3 "HOMICIDE REPORTS" (Kennedy, Tippit, Oswald) and one "GENERAL OFFENSE REPORT" (Connally).




It's hard to know exactly what to make of Ms. Mellen's claim. Since there are 10 pages of report forms in this collection (plus 2 letters from Jones to Curry) that all use the Offense Serial No. F 48156, it's not true that the "police file, #F48156, is missing from the Dallas police files" -- at least as those were transferred to the Texas Attorney General's office as the DPD's "complete file on the General Edwin A. Walker Case." Maybe she meant the entire file is missing from contemporary DPD files? And while it may well be true that "relevant" files are missing (i.e., files that would support the idea that "the Department of Justice sent word to the Dallas police not to pursue Oswald 'for reasons of state,'" as "Walker believed to his dying day"), that would not be the same as the entire F 48156 case file being "missing." And why would anyone expect to find such "relevant" files anyway (given the incriminating implications and known official attitudes towards evidence, in the context of a presumption of sinister intentions)?