The Poster Boy For Loitering & Intrigue: Part Two

On February 25, 1965, 1400 pounds of stolen dynamite was located in the garage apartment residence of Keith D. Gilbert, at 419 Western, Glendale, California. The owner of this residence who lived in the front house was Mrs. Bernice Iverson, the sister of Officer [C. W.] White. During an interview with White, by the investigating officer in the dynamite burglary case, he admitted knowing Dennis Mower, a militant Minuteman.

A check of Gilbert's background was conducted to determine his involvement with Officer White. At the time the dynamite was located at his home, Gilbert was in possession of a business card with the inscription "Michael Wayne-Promoter."

Michael Wayne, it was speculated by this investigator, was the same young male caucasian who was at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968, when Senator Kennedy was shot. Shortly after the shooting, Michael Wayne was seen running from the kitchen area and was subsequently stopped and interrogated. During the interrogation, it was noted that he was in possession of a card bearing the name, Keith Gilbert. Due to the fact that Gilbert was an extremist in the right wing organization and Michael Wayne was seen leaving the scene of the shooting, an intense investigation was conducted to determine their association.

Keith Gilbert was interviewed in San Quentin Prison, April 1, 1969, with reference to Wayne's business card and his connection with the Minutemen. Gilbert admitted his membership in the Minutemen Society, but stated he did not recall the person who had given him the business card with Wayne's name. Gilbert indicated that he had acquired numerous business cards while in the fire-arms business in which he and other Minutemen, Robert R. Romero, were partners [sic].........

Numerous pictures were shown to Gilbert which included persons he definitely knew. Wayne's picture plus other unrelated photographs were shown to him. Gilbert identified all the photos that the investigator knew that Gilbert was associated with. However, he failed to identify the picture of Michael Wayne. He emphatically denied having ever met Wayne but added that he may have received it [the card] from one of many people he met at a gun show in Yuma, Arizona.

Michael Wayne was reinterviewed on April 1, 1969 to determine his knowledge of the "Wayne" card found at Gilbert's residence and also of Gilbert's card found in his possession on the morning of June 5, 1968.

Wayne was administered a polygraph examination by Lt. E. Hernandez in which he was asked about the business cards and about his running from the scene of the shooting at the Ambassador Hotel. Lt. Hernandez stated that in his opinion, Wayne was being truthful when he replied that he did not know Gilbert, nor had he ever given him a business card, nor had he ever had a business card bearing his own name. He could not recall how he obtained Gilbert's card, nor who had given it to him. The polygraph examination also indicated he was truthful in replying that he had never been a member of the Minutemen, nor was he associated with them........

Lt. Hernandez administered a polygraph examination to Michael Wayne at 1300, Thursday, April 10, in room poly-A at Parker Center.

Wayne's responses were satisfactory (see the attached list of questions) and his answers showed no patterns of deception. The examination confirmed his prior statements that he had no prior knowledge of the assassination; could not recall meeting Keith Gilbert; was not a member of the Communist Party or the Minutemen.

He said he had business cards printed five years ago, but had not used them recently. He claimed to have met another man named Michael Wayne who was a member of the Kennedy Staff (S.U.S. records reflect no such name.)

G.S. I

1. Q. Were you born in California?
Ans. No.

2. Q. Other than Wayne have you ever used a different last name?
Ans. No.

3. Q. Did you come here intending to lie to any of my questions?
Ans. No.

[hereinafter the format of question and answer will be simplified to save space and because I'm lazy-dwd]

4. Do you own a dog? No.

5. Is there anything about the assassination of Senator Kennedy that you are afraid to tell me about? No.

6. Are you married? No.

7. Do you remember meeting Keith Gilbert? No.

8. Do you and Keith Gilbert know each other personally? No.

9. Have you ever had business cards with your name printed on them? Yes.

10. Do you remember ever giving your business card to Keith Gilbert? No.

11. Do you know what marijuana is? Yes. Have you ever smoked them? Yes.

G.S. II

1. Do you own a motorcycle? No.

2. Do you have more than one brother? No.

3. Were you running in the Ambassador Hotel right after Kennedy was shot? Yes.

4. When you were stopped at the Ambassador Hotel, were you running to a phone booth to call for help? Yes.

5. Do you remember exactly where and when you received Keith Gilbert's business card? No.

6. Are you left handed? No.

7. Have you ever been arrested in California? Yes.

8. Have you ever been a member of the Minutemen? No. Are you now? No.

9. Have you ever been involved in a major crime? No.

10. Have you ever belonged to the Communist Party? No.

11. Do you know anyone who is presently serving time in San Quentin? No.



April 7, 1969

1. Did you have prior knowledge that there might be an attempt on Senator Kennedy's life?

2. Were you being truthful when you said that you were running to make a telephone call after Senator Kennedy was shot?

3. Were you being truthful when you originally told the police what happened at the Ambassador the night Senator Kennedy was shot?

4. Do you know Keith Gilbert personally?

5. Did you receive a business card from Keith Gilbert?

6. Did you give Keith Gilbert your business card?

7. Were you truthful when you stated you couldn't remember where you obtained Gilbert's business card?

8. Did you receive Gilbert's card while you were at the Pickwick bookstore? Yuma, Arizona? Kennedy Rally?

9. Have you ever been a member of a Communist Party?

10. Have you ever been a member of the Minutemen?

11. Have you ever been a member of the John Birch Society?

12. Do you know anyone in the San Quentin Prison?

Wayne reinterviewed and shown both original Michael Wayne - Promotor card, and Keith Gilberts card.

He again denied that the Wayne card was his. He produced his own card (See Attached Copy) of the one and only business card he has ever had. This card lists his true name of Michael L. Wien. He stated that he made up this card while in high school.

After carefully viewing Gilbert's card he denied ever seeing it or of knowing any person by that name. He did, however, admit going to a "Nazi" shop in Glendale with a friend, Robert J. Soto, late in the summer of 1968, after the Kennedy assassination. He went to this Nazi store mearly [sic] out of curiosity. Prior to that he had never been to any Nazi store or antique gun shop.

Wayne further added that after he was stopped and arrested by a private guard (Agustus Mallard) at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968, he was searched for weapons. The guard looked in Wayne's wallet for identification. Wayne could not recall the guard taking anything out of his wallet.

Wayne was then released in the custody of two Los Angeles officers and placed in a witness room. He was allowed to leave the interview room for water and food. Several hours later he was transported to Rampart Station and questioned briefly and released. The person who questioned him at Rampart did not search him, nor did he check Wayne's wallet. That officer, according to Wayne asked him several questions as to what he saw and heard. He then told the investigator where he lived, where he worked and what his telephone number was.

July 22, 1969


MICHAEL WAYNE/KEITH D. GILBERT BUSINESS CARD INVESTIGATION

During the first weeks of the investigation into the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Sergeant M. Nielsen found a copy of a business card bearing the name Keith D. Gilbert. The copy was not accompanied by explanatory information.

In 1965 Foothill Detectives Division had conducted an investigation into the theft of 1400 pounds of dynamite. The stolen dynamite was subsequently found in Gilbert's apartment on February 25, 1965. In the course of searching the apartment for information which could help locate Gilbert, investigators found numerous business cards among which was a card bearing the name of Michael Wayne. These names were cross-referenced in Intelligence Division files.

On Jun 5, 1968, a Michael Wayne was observed running from the area of the Senator Kennedy shooting and was temporarily detained for investigation and then released.

Sgt. Nielsen, who had been assigned to Foothill Detectives in 1966 and was aware of Gilbert's background, showed the copy of Gilbert's card to Lt. [Manuel] Pena who was the commander of Foothill Detectives during the time the Gilbert investigation was conducted. Pena assigned Sergeant D. D. Varney to conduct an interview with Michael Wayne to determine any possible association with Gilbert.

On July 12, 1968, Varney interviewed Wayne and asked him about the Gilbert card. Wayne denied knowing Gilbert or possessing the card.

Several months later S.U.S. investigators were assigned to conduct an independent investigation into an allegation, by newsman Peter Noyes, that the Minutemen organization was possibly involved in a conspiracy to kill Senator Kennedy. It was during the investigation into the background of some of the Minutemen members that a notation of a "Michael Wayne" card was found in Gilbert's folder in the Intelligence Division files.

S.U.S. investigators believing that Michael Wayne, whose name appeared on the business card and the Michael Wayne who ran from the area of the Senator Kennedy shooting on June 5, 1968, were one in [sic] the same person conducted on [sic] intensive investigation to determine the relation between Gilbert, an admitted Minuteman member, and Wayne.

On April 1, 1969, Gilbert, a prisoner in San Quintin [sic] Prison, was interviewed with respect to the two business cards. He was shown various cards and pictures which included Wayne's. Gilbert could not recall ever seeing Michael Wayne. However, he stated that he thought he had received the Michael Wayne card from someone at a gun show in Arizona, in 1965 or earlier. He could not recall what that person looked like nor could he describe him.

On April 10, 1969, Michael Wayne was reinterviewed and given a polygraph examination when he insisted he did not know Gilbert and that he had not possessed his card and had not conspired with anyone to murder Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Lieutenant E. Hernandez who administered the polygraph concluded that Wayne did not have knowledge of any conspiracy to kill or harm Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Also, Wayne did not know Keith D. Gilbert, nor did he have knowledge of the "Michael Wayne" card.

A further check into the ownership of the "Michael Wayne" card revealed that Michael Wayne Belcher, a seller and trader of Indian wares was the person whose name appeared on the card.

Belcher stated that he did not know Gilbert. He could not identify a photograph of Gilbert. Belcher, who used the name Michael Wayne instead of his true full name on his business cards, added that he had given numerous business cards to customers and potential buyers of his wares.

In checking the validity of the first Michael Wayne's story that he did not have Gilbert's card on his person on June 5, 1968, or at any other time, S.U.S. investigators contacted the persons that had talked to and searched Wayne that morning.

William Gardner, the Chief Civilian Security Officer at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968, stated that a special officer, Augustus Mallard took Michael Wayne, handcuffed, to his office. Gardner searched Wayne and removed Wayne's wallet from his pocket to check it for identification. Gardner found items of identification with Wayne's name, but did not remove them from the wallet. He then returned the wallet to Wayne's pocket after noting the identification. Shortly thereafter Wayne was released and placed in an area where other witnesses were waiting to be interviewed.

Gardner denied taking any card from Wayne's person and keeping one or giving one to any other person. The name Keith D. Gilbert along with three other names were verbally given to Gardner, an ex Los Angeles Policeman, to determine his knowledge of him. Gardner could not recall ever hearing of any of the names. Wayne was later transported to Rampart station along with other witnesses and interviewed regarding the Senator Kennedy shooting.

Sergeant M. McGann, interviewed Wayne at Rampart station on the morning of June 5, 1968. Wayne was questioned relevant to his witnessing the shooting. Sgt. McGann did not search Wayne during the interview. Wayne was not under arrest. McGann stated that he did not see any type of business card in Wayne's possession. McGann added that had he seen a business card with the name Keith D. Gilbert, it would not have had any significant meaning to him.

The first fifty officers arriving at the scene of the shooting on June 5, 1968, were reinterviewed to determine if they had searched or taken a business card from Wayne. This investigation resulted in negative results.

The investigation into the relevance of the Wayne-Gilbert business card failed to disclose where the Gilbert card came from. However, the investigation did prove that (1) Michael Wayne did not know Keith Gilbert. (2) Wayne had never possessed Gilbert's card. (3) The true owner of the Michael Wayne card was a person named Michael Wayne Belcher. (4) Gilbert did not know Michael Wayne. (5) An intensive background check of these subjects and Sirhan B. Sirhan failed to disclose any personal, religious, business, political or mutual acquaintances.



Investigating Officer's Conclusions

Several assumptions can be concluded by this investigator in tracing the Gilbert card. These conclusions are:

1. In the days following the Senator Kennedy shooting, any officer checking the Intelligence file of Michael Wayne would have found it cross indexed with Keith D. Gilbert. This was due to the Michael Wayne Belcher card found in Gilbert's residence in 1966 [sic]. With that knowledge, a copy of a copy of that card could have been reproduced and sent to S.U.S.

2. The cardboard boxes containing the Kennedy shooting reports, which were packaged at Rampart station and shipped to S.U.S. at Parker Center, were found to be "contaminated" with unrelated reports and papers. It is possible that the copy of Gilbert's card was among these reports. This copy subsequently could not be located among the thousands of items that were being processed each week.

3. Had it been proven that Gilbert and Wayne were acquainted there was no evidence of a conspiracy between Sirhan B. Sirhan and the latter two subjects to kill or harm Senator R. F. Kennedy. In order to enter into a conspiracy, these three subjects would have had to communicate with each other or through a mutual acquaintance. There was no indication that they were even remotely acquainted. Gilbert's file, in San Quintin [sic] where he has been confined for the past three years, was carefully checked. All letters received or sent by Gilbert were photostated by prison officials. None indicated knowledge of Wayne, Belcher, Sirhan or of a conspiracy to kill the Senator. Gilberts' visitors while in prison were also recorded in his file. Again these names failed to disclose any mutual acquaintance with Wayne.

Michael Laurence Wien

4600 Santa Barbara
Los Angeles I6, California
AX-56744