The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination (63 page)

• Twenty-six volumes of Warren Commission hearings and exhibits, much more useful than the woefully incomplete one-volume
Warren Report
. All twenty-six volumes can be found online at:
http://www.history-matters.com/archive/contents/wc/contents_wh.htm

• Two volumes of the Senate Church Committee: Church, Senator Frank.
Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders
. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1976) and Church Committee Report, Vol. V, officially
The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies
. Both can be found online at:
http://www.history-matters.com/archive/contents/contents_church.htm

• Senate Committee on Government Operations, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations:
Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics
, 1963.

• Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, Senate Select Committee Hearings, 1959.

INTERVIEWS:

This book draws on interviews with more than fifty individuals, conducted over the past 23 years, starting with JFK’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, in 1990 and continuing through 2013. Several of the most important interviews with non-confidential sources are listed below (only a half-dozen sources still remain confidential). All other interview subjects are named in the text.

A dozen interviews were conducted with CAMTEX FBI informant Jack Van Laningham, from August 2009 through 2012. In addition, Van Laningham was the subject of a professionally-filmed Oral History, in which he discussed every aspect of CAMTEX and his time with Carlos Marcello over two days. Additional CAMTEX interviews include those with FBI supervisor Thomas Kimmel; with another FBI official who heard all of the CAMTEX tapes of Marcello; and the source with Joe Marcello when Carlos found out Van Laningham was an FBI informant.

Here is a small selection of additional interviews cited in the book, most conducted by me but some by my research associate, Thom Hartmann:

• JFK’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk 1-8-90.

• JFK aide Dave Powers, 6-5-91, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

• John Crimmins, JFK’s Coordinator of Cuban Affairs for the US State Department, 3-6-95, 3-8-96, 4-18-96.

• JFK aide Richard Goodwin, who confirmed that Robert Kennedy told him “that mob guy from New Orleans”—Carlos Marcello—was behind JFK’s assassination. 4-15-98.

• RFK’s top Cuban exile aide, Enrique “Harry” Ruiz-Williams (Harry Williams): 2-24-92; 4-92; 11-13-92; 7-24-93; plus four telephone interviews. Former FBI agent William Turner provided me with a transcript of his interview with Harry Williams on 11-28-73.

• Interviews with other Cuban exile leaders include Antonio Veciana, who met with Oswald in 1963, when killing Castro was discussed (6-2-93), and an online interview with Cuban exile leader Manolo Ray, 2-9-06.

• Justice Department Mafia and Hoffa prosecutors for Robert Kennedy have been especially helpful over the years. In addition to several talks with Ronald Goldfarb and G. Robert Blakey, others interviewed include Marvin Loewy, Thomas Kennelly, and John Diuguid, Marcello’s Justice Department Prosecutor in November, 1963.

• Interviews about the attempt to kill JFK in Tampa, Florida, on November 18, 1963, four days before Dallas: Phone interview with J. P. Mullins, Tampa Police Chief in November 1963, on 12-10-96. Phone interview with the former Chief of the Florida Police Intelligence Unit, who helped to provide security for JFK in Tampa, 12-10-96. Interview with the former Mrs. Gilberto Lopez, 3-2-96.

• Interviews about the plot to kill JFK in Chicago on November 2, 1963, three weeks before Dallas: Interview with ex-Secret Service Agent Abraham Bolden 4-15-98; Interviews with JFK’s Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger 4-3-98 and 4-10-98; Phone interviews with Jim Allison, who witnessed Jack Ruby receiving a payoff of approximately $7,000 in Chicago, several weeks before JFK was almost killed in that city: 4-14-98, 4-15-98 and 4-16-98.

DOCUMENTS:

Many thousands of pages of files were used in the preparation of this book, but here are some of the most important:

• FBI files about CAMTEX, Jack Van Laningham, and Carlos Marcello at the National Archives include: Letter from Van Laningham to Carl Podsiadly, FBI, San Francisco office, 6-88; Letter from Van Laningham to Justice Department, 4-6-88; FBI Marcello confession memo, DL 283A-1035-Sub L, 3-7-86; Priority FBI memo from Dallas office to FBI Director, 11-88; FBI contact investigation 3-7-86, report dictated 3-6-86, FD-302 declassified 6-98; Letter from Senior Case Manager, Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, CA, to FBI agents, 6-21-88; Letter from Van Laningham to FBI headquarters in Washington, 4-18-88; Priority FBI memo from FBI San Francisco Office to FBI Director, Washington, 9-88, available at the National Archives. FBI record numbers include 124-10182-10430 and 124-1019310471.

• All of the Warren Commission Documents, approximately 50,000, were reviewed on microfilm.

• HSCA: 180-10090-10232 is the Cuban Dossier of CIA attempts to kill Fidel Castro.

• CIA 1961 Inspector General’s Report on the Bay of Pigs.

• CIA 1967 Inspector General’s Report on the CIA-Mafia plots.

• FBI memo about Trafficante-Ragano meeting 12-63 about money for JFK’s assassination: FBI 124-10273-10448.

Memos about the JFK-Almeida coup plan:

• Army document, Summary of plan dated 9-26-63, Califano Papers, Record Number 198-10004-10001, declassified 10-7-97.

• Army copy of Department of State document, 1963, Record Number 198-10004-10072, Califano Papers, Declassified 7-24-97.

• The following is just one of many: Joint Chiefs of Staff document, dated 12-4-63 with 11-30-63 report from Cyrus Vance, Record Number 202-10002-101116, declassified 10-7-97.

• Joint Chiefs of Staff document, dated 12-4-63 with 11-30-63 report from Cyrus Vance, 80 total pages, Record Number 202-10002-101116.

• Joint Chiefs of Staff document 5-1-63 (revised 5-13-63) “Courses of Action Related to Cuba,” Record Number 202-10002-10018, declassified 7-23-97.

• CIA 104-10315-10004, 6-28-63 AMWORLD memo, declassified 1-27-99.

• CIA memo, AMWORLD 11-22-63, #84804, declassified 1993.

• CIA memo 2-20-61,
page 28
of CIA Sensitive Study, 1978, CIA 104-10400-10200, declassified 10-31-98.

• CIA memo 3-17-61,
page 29
of CIA Sensitive Study, 1978, CIA 104-10400-10200, declassified 10-31-98.

• CIA 104-10400-10200, declassified 10-31-98,
page 39
citing information from 12-3-63.

• CIA Dispatch from Chief of Station Caracas to Chief, SAS, 2-28-64.

• CIA cable to Director, 12-10-63, CIA 104-10076-10252.

• CIA #104-10098-10093, 10-31-63 AMWORLD Dispatch, declassified 6-20-96.

• NARA 1994.03.08.09:46:690007 CIA/DCD File on Bernard Barker, declassified 3-8-94.

• 12-6-63 CIA Document, from JMWAVE to Director, released during the 1993 CIA Historical Review Program.

• 1964 AMWORLD files, including CIA 104-10308-10080, 104-10308-10084, 104-10308-10098, and many others.

• 
Foreign Relations of the United States
, Volume XI, Department of State.

About the Cuba Contingency Plans to deal with the possible assassination of American officials in the fall of 1963:

• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, NLK 78-473, declassified 5-6-80.

• Department of the Army documents dated 9-14-63 and 9-27-63, provided by the State Department, in SSCIA record number 157-10005-10372 dated 3-27-76, declassified 2-18-94.

Memos discovered in 2012 about the CIA-Mafia plots, Johnny Rosselli, and Watergate:

• Senate Watergate Committee memo, to Senator Ervin, Subject: Relevance to S. Res. 60 of John Rosselli’s testimony about his CIA activities, 12-73.

• Senate Watergate Committee staff “Interview of John Rosselli” (Johnny Rosselli), 2-20-74.

• Robert Kennedy phone logs at the National Archives. In addition to 25 calls from Harry Williams to Robert Kennedy during 1963, they also document 13 phone calls from 7-31-62 to 10-22-62.

• CIA document about Gilberto Lopez, 12-3-63, document ID 1994.04.06.10:28:12:530005, declassified 4-6-94; many memos about Lopez in the CIA’s Russ Holmes Work files. Miguel Casas Saez document 1-27-64, F82-0272/1, declassified 8-16-83; CIA memo about Saez released 8-16-93, still partially censored.

• Warren Commission draft memo about Oswald’s ability to go to Mexico City on 11-22-63 by David Belin, 7-11-64.

• CIA memo, 1-4-67: “Countering Criticism of the Warren Report,” CIA 104-10404-10376; CIA 104-10009-10024.

• About the bullet in Oswald’s rifle and the plan for a coup in Cuba.

• FBI airtel to “Director, FBI” from “SAC, San Antonio” 11-8-63; HSCA #1801007810062, declassified 11-29-93; HSCA #1801007810066, FBI document to “Director, FBI” from “SAC, San Antonio”; to Director, SAC, Dallas, and Miami; from SAC San Antonio; 10-25-63 HSCA #180-10078-10069-1, declassified 11-29-93; also see Ray and Mary La Fontaine, “The Fourth Tramp,”
Washington Post
8-7-94.

ARTICLES:

Of the hundred-plus articles cited in the text, the following are some of the most important:

“A Presumption of Disclosure: Lessons from the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board,” by OMB Watch, available at
ombwatch.com

Bernstein, Carl, “The CIA and the Media,”
Rolling Stone
, 10-20-77.

Black, Edwin, article about the attempt to kill JFK in Chicago on 11-2-63,
Chicago Independent
, 11-75.

“Cuban Exiles in New Drive for Unity to Topple Castro,”
The New York Times
, 5-11-63, citing 5-10-63 AP report.

Johnson, Haines, “One day’s events shattered America’s hopes and certainties.”
Washington Post
11-20-83; “Rendezvous with Ruin at The Bay of Pigs,”
Washington Post
4-17-81; “The CIA’s Secret War on Cuba,”
Washington Post
6-10-77, B1; “The New Orleans Plot,”
Washington Sunday Star
, 2-26-67.

Kohn, Howard, “Execution for the Witnesses.”
Rolling Stone
6-2-77.

MacPherson, Myra, “The Last Casualty of the Bay of Pigs,”
Washington Post
10-17-89.

Malone, William Scott, “The Secret Life of Jack Ruby,”
New Times
1-23-78.

Morley, Jefferson, “The Good Spy,”
Washington Monthly
12-03; “What Jane Roman said;” originally
Washington Post
.

Newfield, Jack, “I want Kennedy killed,”
Penthouse
5-92.

Summers, Anthony and Robbyn, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, December 1994.

Szulc, Tad, Cuba Contingency Plan article by Tad Szulc in the
Boston Globe
5-28-76 and a slightly different version of the same article in
The New Republic
6-5-76; Tad Szulc, “Cuba on our Mind,”
Esquire
, February 1973; “Castro Reported Quarreling Again with Red Backers,” special to the
New York Times
, 9-2-63.

Tampa attempt to kill JFK on November 18, 1963: “Threats on Kennedy Made Here,”
Tampa Tribune
11-23-63; “Man Held in Threats to JFK,”
Miami Herald
11-24-63; Mary Everett, “Charm takes over in Tampa,”
St. Petersburg Times
11-11-99; Skip Johnson and Tony Durr, “Ex-Tampan in JFK Plot?”
Tampa Tribune
9-5-76; Rory O’Connor, “Oswald Visited Tampa,”
Tampa Tribune
6-24-76; Tim Gratz and Mark Howell, “The Strange Flight of Gilbert Lopez,”
Key West Citizen
11-20-03.