Oswald's Tale (101 page)

The headquarters of the Central Committee of the CP is located on Karl Marx Street, an eight-story yellow metal and brick structure. It is a rectangular-shaped [building] with almost none of the gaudy decorations seen on most buildings in the city. “The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP of the Republic of Byelorussia” is the imposing title carried by a short stocky man in his late 50’s, K. T. Mazarof. Rarely seen on the streets, he and his family occupy a huge 8-room apartment on the top floor of a government apartment house on Prospekt Stalin. Entrance to this apartment building is guarded day and night by one uniformed policeman who checks passes and keeps unauthorized persons out. Here is also the residence of several ministers, such as Minister of Education K. S. Poroshebed, and Minister of Administration E. Zhezhel. Mazarof controls and directs all activities in his republic with authority no United States governor ever enjoyed, since his authority cannot be controlled or challenged by court orders or injunctions as it often is in the United States. Mazarof is responsible directly to Moscow and the Party Presidium chaired by Khrushchev. He appears in the reviewing box in the center of his cronies on the May 1st and November 7th holidays where he waves a congenial hand occasionally without the trace of a smile . . .

Corruption in the USSR takes [its] major form in embezzling and greasing of palms . . . In 1961, the death penalty for embezzlement of state funds in large sums was reenacted as an answer to widespread pilfering of goods, crops, and embezzlement of money and state bonds. On any collective farm, there is a certain percentage of state goods illegally appropriated by the collective farmers for their own private use to make up for low wages and therefore low living conditions. Often [these goods are] sold to private individuals, stores, or at open market types of bazaars. These goods may consist of only a pilfered lamp or piglet, or may run to scores of sheep or cows hidden in backwater swamps or thick pine forest and sold by the appropriator, [either] piecemeal or in wholesale lots, to crooked store supervisors, who are supposed to buy state meats and crops at government prices but pocket the difference in price from the black market without making entrance in their books that such merchandise was bought for state prices. Such practices are so common that without them, many stores would be almost empty if they had to rely on the sporadic poor-quality meat brought in from the state slaughterhouses at high prices. The directorship of even a small fruit or milk store opens up wide opportunities for lucrative enterprises by persons with even a slight business sense. It is almost impossible for the authorities to act on such goings-on because of difficulty in obtaining proof in acceptable amounts; such goings-on are usually in small amounts. Materials such as electrical appliances are often riddled with speculation, which often leads to poor goods or bad foods brought in and sold under the counter. Examples are horse meat used to supplement a “beef stew.” Most of the bureaucratic apparatus can be detoured by a well-placed 10-spot. Persons occupying most of the housing ministry and passport office and visa offices expect remuneration for the life and death services which all Russians seek—namely—to receive permission for an apartment, and official visas to live in such an apartment. [By the] compulsory laws of the Soviet Union, without a city visa stamp, a person cannot work in that city. Once a position or work is decided upon or taken, it is a very difficult process to secure permission and work in order to receive an apartment in another city, therefore, to live in another city. In such instances, the administrator of an apartment house may expect 60–100 rubles for his stamp of approval on a request blank for an apartment, or to [approve] moving into an apartment already occupied by a family who is expecting to leave one city for another, the usual method of getting an apartment or room without having to wait on the so-called housing list, on which [it] may take 5–7 years to receive a one-room “apartment.” . . .

On election day, all voters go to the polls (usually a school) and vote; they are given a ballot, which they drop into a box. On the ballot is the single name of the candidate for each post. That’s all anybody ever does to “vote.” This system ensures a 99% voter turnout and predetermined victory. In each polling place, there is a booth for secret balloting (crossing out the candidate and writing in your own). Under Soviet law, anyone can do this; nobody does for the obvious reason that anyone who enters the booth may be identified. There is a Soviet joke about the floor dropping out from under anyone stepping into the booth. But the fact is that if the entire population used the polling booth, they could beat the system. However, years of mass discipline and fear have made the people afraid to attempt any such demonstration. And with no means of communication in the hands of a would-be candidate, there is no way to communicate with the people and whip up support for a dark-horse candidate . . .

GLOSSARY OF NAMES

An asterisk indicates a pseudonym. Occasionally, by request, a person is identified only by his or her first name. A few women who testified before the Warren Commission were identified by married names only (i.e., Mrs. John Doe instead of Mary Doe) and are so listed in this glossary.

JOHN ABT:
a New York lawyer whom Oswald tried to contact after his arrest in Dallas

ROSA AGAFONOVA:
senior interpreter at Moscow’s Hotel Berlin Intourist office

ADRIAN ALBA:
proprietor of a garage next door to Reily Coffee Co.

ALBINA:
friend of the Zigers’

ALIK:
first name used most frequently for Oswald by his Russian friends and acquaintances

ALKA:
variant of Alik

ALYOSHA:
nickname given Oswald by Stellina

DEAN ADAMS ANDREWS:
lawyer whose office was visited by Oswald

COLONEL ANDREYEV*:
KGB officer who interrogated Yuri Merezhinsky

DON RAY ARCHER:
Dallas police detective who was present at Oswald’s murder and assisted in Ruby’s arrest

EUSEBIO AZCUE:
Consul at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City in 1963

THOMAS BAGSHAW:
Oswald’s roommate at Atsugi airbase in Japan

MARRION BAKER:
motorcycle police officer in the Kennedy motorcade

SAMUEL BALLEN:
corporate executive who met with Oswald at George De Mohrenschildt’s request

GUY BANISTER:
retired FBI agent who was working as a private detective while Oswald was in New Orleans

TOMMY BARGAS:
Oswald’s supervisor at Leslie Welding

PAULINE VIRGINIA BATES:
public stenographer who transcribed portions of Oswald’s essay on life in the USSR

GALINA (GALYA) BELYANKIN:
Yuri Belyankin’s wife, a model who knew Marina and Lee

YURI BELYANKIN:
Moscow-based cinematographer who met Marina and Lee while working in Minsk

MARY BLEDSOE:
Oswald’s first landlady when he returned to Dallas from Mexico City in October 1963

KONSTANTIN (KOSTYA) BONDARIN:
student at Minsk Medical Institute; briefly one of Marina’s boyfriends in 1961

PROFESSOR BONDARIN:
faculty member of Minsk Medical Institute

GEORGE BOUHE:
unofficial leader of the Russian émigré community in Dallas

JACK BOWEN:
Oswald’s co-worker at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

ELMER BOYD:
Dallas police officer present during some of Oswald’s questioning on November 22–24, 1963

HOWARD BRENNAN:
a witness who saw a rifleman in a window of the Texas School Book Depository

JOHNNY BREWER:
shoe store manager who saw Oswald enter the Texas Theatre without paying and had cashier call the police

CARLOS BRINGUIER:
anti-Castro Cuban exile; one of Oswald’s opponents in the New Orleans radio debate

EMILE BRUNEAU:
friend of Charles Murret; arranged bail for Oswald after his arrest in New Orleans

EDWARD BUTLER:
head of the anti-Communist Information Council of the Americas; one of Oswald’s opponents in the New Orleans radio debate

RICHARD CALL:
served with Oswald in USMC, California

DONALD CAMARATA:
served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

JOHN CARRO:
social worker who knew Oswald during his stay at Youth House in New York in 1953

GALI CLARK:
Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

MAX CLARK:
Dallas lawyer, married to Gali Clark

LUCILLE CONNELL:
Sylvia Odio’s friend

PETER CONNOR:
served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

SHERMAN COOLEY:
served with Oswald in USMC boot camp

LARRY CRAFARD:
handyman at Jack Ruby’s nightclub

JESSE CURRY:
Dallas Chief of Police

“GATOR” DANIELS:
served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

NELSON DELGADO:
served with Oswald in USMC, California

GEORGE DE MOHRENSCHILDT:
Russian émigré; Oswald’s best friend in Dallas

JEANNE DE MOHRENSCHILDT:
George De Mohrenschildt’s fourth and last wife

WILLIAM DONOVAN:
Oswald’s radar supervisor in USMC, California

SILVIA DURAN:
secretary to the Cuban Consul at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City in September 1963

LYDIA DYMITRUK:
Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

EDDIE DZHUGANIAN:
a romantic interest of Marina’s in Leningrad

MYRTLE EVANS:
helped Oswald find an apartment when he returned to New Orleans in spring of 1963

JOHN FAIN:
FBI agent who interviewed Oswald in Dallas after his return to the U.S.

DAVID FERRIE:
associate of Guy Banister and adult leader of Civil Air Patrol in New Orleans when Oswald was a teenaged member

DECLAN FORD:
Katya Ford’s husband

KATYA FORD:
Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

WESLEY FRAZIER:
Ruth Paine’s neighbor and an employee at Texas School Book Depository

WILL FRITZ:
Dallas Police Captain; Oswald’s chief interrogator after his arrest

GALINA (GALYA):
Marina’s half-sister

MRS. JESSE GARNER:
the Oswalds’ New Orleans landlady on Magazine Street

JIM GARRISON:
New Orleans District Attorney who brought Clay Shaw, a prominent businessman, to trial for conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy

PHILLIP GERACI:
a teenager present in Carlos Bringuier’s New Orleans store when Oswald initially approached the Cuban exile

ELLA GERMANN:
Oswald’s radio factory co-worker whom he courted for nine months

PAVEL GOLAVACHEV:
Oswald’s friend and KGB informant

JOHN GRAEF:
Oswald’s supervisor at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

EVA GRANT:
Jack Ruby’s sister

STEPAN VASILYEVICH GREGORIEFF*:
KGB officer, Minsk; developer (analyst and administrator) on Oswald case

PETER PAUL GREGORY:
Russian-born petroleum engineer who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

GURI:
Valya Prusakova’s father

ANNA HALL:
Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Fort Worth

LORAN HALL:
anti-Castroite who claimed that he visited Sylvia Odio with a companion who resembled Oswald

JAMES HOSTY:
FBI agent who twice visited Ruth Paine’s home looking for Oswald

INESSA:
Marina’s girlfriend in Minsk

IRINA*:
Marina’s girlfriend in Leningrad

WILLIAM JARMAN:
Oswald’s co-worker at the Texas School Book Depository

KATYA:
worker at Minsk radio factory

ALEX KLEINLERER:
Russian émigré who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

NELLYA KORBINKA:
student at the Foreign Languages Institute, Minsk, with whom Oswald claimed to have had an affair

LUDMILA KUZMICH:
Larissa’s older sister; wife of Mikhail Kuzmich and Valya and Ilya’s neighbor

MIKHAIL KUZMICH:
MVD medical officer, Ilya’s co-worker and neighbor; Larissa’s brother-in-law

VALERY KOSTIKOV:
KGB officer attached to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City; saw Oswald during his visits to the Embassy

VLADIMIR (VOLODYA) KRUGLOV:
student Marina met during a summer visit in 1957 to Ilya and Valya

IGOR IVANOVICH GUZMIN*:
Chief of Counterintelligence, KGB, Byelorussia, at the time of Oswald’s arrival in Minsk

LARISSA (LYALYA):
Marina’s best friend in Minsk; Valya and Ilya’s neighbor

CHARLES LEBLANC:
Oswald’s co-worker at Reily Coffee Co.

LIBEZIN:
Party Secretary at Minsk radio factory

LIKHOI:
KGB nickname for Oswald used frequently in surveillance reports

LYUBA:
Marina’s aunt; Ilya’s sister

MAGDA*:
worker at Minsk radio factory

CARLOS MARCELLO:
head of the Mafia in New Orleans

GENERAL MAROV*:
composite character expressing the views of three high-ranking KGB officers in Moscow and Minsk, all of whom wished to remain anonymous

FRANCIS MARTELLO:
New Orleans police lieutenant who interviewed Oswald after his arrest for the street altercation with Bringuier

PRISCILLA JOHNSON MCMILLAN:
American writer who interviewed Oswald in Moscow; later, Marina’s biographer

JOHN MCVICKAR:
Snyder’s assistant at the American Embassy, Moscow, at the time of Oswald’s arrival

ALEXANDER MEDVEDEV:
Marina’s stepfather

KLAVDIA (KLAVA) MEDVEDEV (NÉE PRUSAKOVA):
Marina’s mother

PETYA MEDVEDEV:
Marina’s half-brother

YEVDOKIA MEDVEDEV:
Marina’s step-grandmother

ANNA MELLER:
Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

YURI MEREZHINSKY:
student at Minsk Medical Institute, son of high-ranking scientists

LAWRENCE MEYERS:
Jack Ruby’s friend

ALINE MOSBY:
UPI reporter who interviewed Oswald in Moscow

DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY:
served with Oswald in USMC

CHARLES (DUTZ) MURRET:
Oswald’s uncle; Lillian Murret’s husband

DOROTHY MURRET:
Oswald’s cousin; Lillian Murret’s daughter

JOHN MURRET:
Lillian Murret’s son; Oswald’s cousin

LILLIAN MURRET:
Oswald’s aunt; Marguerite’s sister

MUSYA:
Marina’s aunt; Ilya’s sister

NALIM:
KGB nickname (meaning “eel-like”) for Oswald; used in some reports

OLEG NECHIPORENKO:
KGB officer attached to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City as a consular officer, present during one of Oswald’s visits to the Embassy

NIKOLAEV:
engineer who worked with Ilya in Arkhangelsk, said by the Prusakov family to be Marina’s natural father

HAROLD NORMAN:
Oswald’s co-worker at Texas School Book Depository

JOYCE MURRET O’BRIEN:
Lillian Murret’s daughter

ANNIE ODIO:
Sylvia Odio’s sister

SYLVIA (SILVIA) ODIO:
Cuban exile living in Dallas who testified to the Warren Commission that Oswald, accompanied by three Cuban strangers claiming to be anti-Castro associates of her father, visited her home in late September 1963

HART ODUM:
FBI agent who contacted Marina on several occasions after the assassination

DENNIS OFSTEIN:
Oswald’s co-worker at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

YAEKO OKUI:
young Japanese woman with whom Oswald had an extended conversation at a party

MACK OSBORNE:
served with Oswald in USMC, California

MARGUERITE CLAVERIE OSWALD:
Oswald’s mother

MARINA PRUSAKOVA OSWALD:
wife of Lee Harvey Oswald

ROBERT OSWALD:
Oswald’s older brother

VADA OSWALD:
Robert Oswald’s wife

MICHAEL PAINE:
Ruth Paine’s estranged husband

RUTH PAINE:
Marina’s friend in whose home she, June, and Rachel lived after the Oswalds returned to Dallas from New Orleans

INNA PASENKO:
student at Minsk Foreign Language Institute

OREST PENA:
owner of the Habana Bar in New Orleans

JOHN PIC:
Oswald’s older half-brother

MARGERY (MARGY) PIC:
John Pic’s wife

SASHA PISKALEV:
medical student; suitor to Marina in Minsk

JERRY PITTS:
served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

DANIEL POWERS:
served with Oswald in USMC

MAX PROKHORCHIK:
worker at Minsk radio factory; married Ella Germann

ILYA PRUSAKOV:
Marina’s uncle and a colonel in the MVD

TATIANA PRUSAKOVA:
Marina’s grandmother; Ilya’s mother

VALYA (VALENTINA) PRUSAKOVA:
Marina’s aunt; Ilya’s wife

JOHN QUIGLEY:
FBI agent who interviewed Oswald after his arrest in New Orleans

LINNIE MAE RANDLE:
Ruth Paine’s neighbor in Irving, Texas

EARLENE ROBERTS:
live-in housekeeper at the boardinghouse in Dallas where Oswald was dwelling at the time of the assassination

EVARISTO RODRIGUEZ:
bartender in the Habana Bar in New Orleans

MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ:
served with Oswald in Japan; attacked by Oswald in incident that resulted in Oswald’s second court-martial

JACK RUBY:
Dallas nightclub owner who shot and killed Oswald

VOLKMAR SCHMIDT:
German geologist introduced to Oswald by De Mohrenschildt

GEORGE SENATOR:
Jack Ruby’s friend; shared an apartment with him

GORDON SHANKLIN:
Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Dallas office

RIMMA SHIRAKOVA:
Oswald’s Intourist guide in Moscow

ALEXANDER SIMCHENKO:
head of Moscow OVIR (Passport and Visa Office) in 1959

RICHARD SNYDER:
Consul at the American Embassy, Moscow, at the time of Oswald’s arrival