Subject: Files Confession Part 5 Date: 3 Dec 1998 04:32:34 GMT From: pittelli@aol.com (Pittelli) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk 7- Who sent Oswald to meet you at the motel room in Dallas? "David Atlee Phillips." How do you know that? "I only called two people when I got to Dallas. I had left Chicago the week before...the next day after I got there, I called Mr. Nicoletti and let him know where I was and I called David Atlee Phillips and told him I was in Dallas and where I was...the next day, Oswald showed up to take me around and show me the exit routes. I also went with him to test fire the weapons and aligned the scopes. Mr. Nicoletti did not know Lee Harvey Oswald. It could only have been David Atlee Phillips that sent Oswald to help me. He was Oswald's CIA controller and my controller, too." 8- Did Nicoletti tell you either before or after the assassination that he was headed to New Orleans after the hit? "No. I dropped him and Rosselli off at the car they had waiting and I don't know where they went...I didn't see Mr. Nicoletti until a week or two later when he paid me. The only thing he ever said to me after the assassination....we never talked about a job after it was over...was when I turned right out of the Dal-Tex parking lot...leaving the area...he asked me 'Don't you think that you overreacted by firing the shot when you did?'...I told him that was my only chance to fire or Jackie Kennedy would have been in my field of fire..." 9- Do you know Sgt. Gary Patrick Hemming and from where? "I worked under him down in Florida...No Name Key...you know I told you about that place...Assassin's Ridge...in the Everglades..." Sgt. Hemming said he remembered you as being a "young hitter from Chicago that got into trouble down in Mexico and that Frank Sturgis of the CIA had to go down and bail you out" of trouble... "Yeah, and I'll tell you one thing....he didn't just bail me out of jail...he didn't pay any money......if you know what I mean..." 10- What other aliases would you have used that would have the same initials...J.F.? You've already told me that you used John Felter or something like that...were there any more J.F. initials that you used? "I don't recall. I used so many names. To one person I was Jimmy..to another Sam...to another Ted...I made up so many names I got confused sometimes..." 11- Did you know David Ferrie personally? Where did you meet him? "Yes, I knew him but I wouldn't say he was my friend or anything like that. I met him in Louisiana and again in Florida." In Louisiana...in Clinton...around Lake Ponchartrain? "Yes." Did you ever see a white haired man with him? "No." The man's name would have been Clay Shaw or Bertrand... "No." 12- Did you know Antoinette Giancana was having an affair with Chuck Nicoletti? "No. He wasn't the only one she was fucking...." I imagine Sam wasn't too happy about the guys that messed with her.. "No, most died...he didn't mess with Mr. Nicoletti..." Because he was Sam's right hand man...? "Yes, he and Sam were close to each other. Chuckie and I used to go up to a pastry shop every Sunday morning and sometimes on Saturday and take pastries to the old man. He loved Mr. Nicoletti." 13- Where was your court martial hearing held? "Ft. Mead." You said that your JAG officer was named Howell. Do you recall the JAG officer's rank? "It was either Howell or Powell. It's been so long ago. I think he was a major..." 14- Do you recall the license plate number of Nicoletti's '63 Chevy? "No." 15- Did you ever meet or know Loran Hall? "No." Kerry Thornley? "No." James Jesus Angleton? "I knew who he was but I never took any orders from him or did any work for him. I know he was respected by the Agency." Sylvia Odio? "No." 16- Did you ever drop Charles Nicoletti off at an airport to catch a private or a CIA flight to California or to Nevada? "Yes, at a small airport named Pawokee up 45 in Chicagoland and at Half Day, Illinois around Palantine Heights." 17- Did David Atlee Phillips ever use any other CIA codename other than Bishop? "Yes, but I can't recall what it was...He used several..." APPENDIX B The investigation into the confession of James E. Files started on August 17, 1992 and is ongoing. Since that date, hospital records, traffic court records, jail records, court records, newspapers, U.S. Government files and records have been searched and examined. Hundreds of personal interviews have been conducted. There is no credible evidence that indicates that James E. Files was not in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Several incidents have occurred: 1. A known Mafia lawyer from Chicago - Julius Echeles - was hired to represent James E. Files. Echeles received payment in the form of a cashier's check with a notation "From the Friends of James E. Files." Efforts to ascertain who issued the payments to attorney Echeles have been fruitless. 2. In late May of 1994, Files's lawyer and Files's first wife (and possibly Files's oldest daughter) conspired to create a false story in an effort to derail the investigative efforts of Robert G. Vernon and stop the publication of Files's confession on television. The false story was that Files had a twin brother and that Files allegedly told his first wife that the twin brother was with her during the week of November 22, 1963 and that Files was really in Dallas. Prior to the twin brother story, Vernon had promised Mr. Files that Files's family would not be bothered or questioned about Files's confession or his history. Due to the twin brother story, Vernon contacted Files's family members in Alabama, Illinois and Tennessee. Vernon spoke with Files's aunt - Christine. Files was born in her home in Alabama on January 24, 1942. She verified that Files did not have a twin brother. Vernon confronted Files's oldest daughter with the twin brother story. The daughter said that all she asked was that we leave her father alone for he is all she has. Vernon talked to Ray Files - a step-brother. Ray was aware that James had "fallen in with the wrong crowd." Ray, a minister, also verified that James did not have a twin brother. When confronted with the results of Vernon's investigation into his family and the twin brother story, James E. Files admitted that the twin brother story was concocted by Echeles and his first wife in an effort to derail Vernon's investigation and television program. Files said his first wife was only "doing what she has been told to do." Files also informed Vernon that he had called his wife and told her to tell the truth to the Grand Jury for he did not want her to perjure herself and face jail. 3. In the summer of 1993, Vernon contacted an Arizona lawyer and told the lawyer that the man who confessed that he fired the fatal last shot into the right front temple of JFK has been located. File's name and location were not supplied to the lawyer. Approximately six weeks later, Vernon and attorney Don Ervin of Houston received a letter from James Files which stated that the Arizona lawyer had contacted the mob and that the mob had sent a visitor to see Files in prison. The purpose of the visit was that the mob was "surprised" that Files was talking. Files was told: "lay down beside your doggy bowl and go to sleep." In late 1994, Vernon learned that the Arizona lawyer had been hired by the Chicago mob and sent to the Joliet prison to visit Files. The Arizona lawyer questioned Files in depth, supposedly to "verify" his confession on behalf of the mob. It is not known what the lawyer reported to the person(s) who hired him. 4. On May 3, 1993, during Vernon's first visit with Files, Files told Vernon that the CIA was desperately trying to erase all records on Files. A search for Files's birth certificate was negative. There is no trace of a birth certificate on Files or Sutton. Files's aunt told Vernon that Files has had a great degree of difficulty locating any of his past records. Files's aunt also informed Vernon that an Alabama lawyer had found James's birth certificate many years ago. According to the aunt, the birth certificate said "deceased at birth." As of this writing, the birth certificate has not been located despite the efforts of Vernon, Kroll Associates and two investigative journalists. The FBI and CIA have refused to release any records pertaining to Files unless Files gives his notarized permission for them to do so. Attorney Julius Echeles has instructed James Files not to give the notarized permission despite numerous requests by Vernon for Files to do so. 5. On October 11, 1995, Files informed Vernon, via phone, that the United States Marshall's office had placed a "hold" on him and that he may be transferred to the Federal maximum security prison in Golden, Colorado. Mr. Files is incarcerated under Illinois law in a state prison under state jurisdiction. There is no known reasonable explanation why the Federal authorities would want to "hold" Files and transfer him to a Federal prison other than the fact that Files would be placed on maximum security lockdown 23 hours a day in the Colorado facility with no visitors allowed. At Golden, Files would not be allowed to make any collect phone calls or to send or receive any un-monitored mail. 6. On October 14, 1995, Vernon received a phone call from former CIA/DEA pilot Robert "Tosh" Plumlee. Vernon was able to tape record portions of Plumlee's call for the record. Plumlee told Vernon that he was "pulling no fucking punches..." Plumlee said "I'm getting all kinds of stuff from all kinds of places....IRS....everybody..." Plumlee said that in 1990 (two years before investigator Joe West first located Plumlee) that he and "author Jim Marrs ("CROSSFIRE"), Peter Lemkin and former CIA - Army Intelligence officer Bradley Ayers had a meeting in Solano Beach, California." During the course of the conversation they spoke about the "Mafia infiltration into the JMWAVE headquarters in Miami." Plumlee and Ayers recalled a "kid from Chicago who got into trouble down in Mexico" and that he was involved with the "boat people" and the "raider ship Rex." Plumlee also said they talked about Louisiana and the Hotel Dixie, Morgan City and Lamar (spelling?) Ranch and that the "kid from Chicago" was involved in those operations. Plumlee said that "the meeting was taped" and that Vernon should talk to Peter Lemkin or Jim Marrs about listening to the tape. Plumlee gave Vernon a contact fax number on Lemkin. Plumlee knew that the FBI is trying to discredit Files and that they "passed fake FBI names to him (Files). Plumlee said he has spoken to the FBI and that he is aware of from where the information came on Files. Plumlee told Vernon that the information the FBI had originally received on Files came from a CIA operative that was "in Louisiana" and "around the Hotel Dixie." Plumlee stated that he "thinks the operative's name was Reinaldo" and that Files "came (to Louisiana) on some gun running shit and that's how he (Files) got tied into JMWAVE." Plumlee said "I have told the truth about all of my operations with the U.S. Government to Congress and to the President of the United States and his alphabet people...the IRS, FBI, DEA, NSC, (etc)" and that "it has cost me dearly." Plumlee said that the truth was finally coming out soon about the Thunderbird Inn in Las Vegas and the Grace Ranch and the McCord Ranch. Plumlee expressed his dismay with people who are "supposed to be researchers" and that they should "get off their ass and quit playing in the middle line....go for the truth and quit setting on the middle of the fence trying to please everybody." 7. On October 18, 1995, Vernon spoke with Tosh Plumlee and with JFK researcher Peter Dale Scott (Professor of English at the University of California) and Jim Marrs - in separate phone discussions. Plumlee stated that the last name of the man he calls "Reinaldo" could have been Martinez but he was not sure and again spoke of "raider ship Rex." Plumlee again stated that this man was the source of information to the FBI on the "prisoner" (James E. Files). According to Plumlee, "Reinaldo" was a CIA operative and involved in "Operation 40" which he described as a "counter-intelligence" operation. Professor Scott verified that a "Rolando Martinez" was the Captain of the raider ship "Rex" and that Operation 40 was indeed a CIA counter-intelligence operation. Professor Scott informed Vernon that Operation 40 consisted of men who went ashore with the anti-Cuban forces and that they're job was to "take out" the men who gave them problems or could not be trusted. Let it be noted that Files has stated that he was court martialed for taking out "two of his own men" to "save face with the Laotian Army" after which he was "recruited by David Atlee Phillips" for work in the CIA, training anti-Cuban forces. Files is also on the record as saying his government service became "over-extended." Jim Marrs stated that there were two men named "Reinaldo" involved in the Bay of Pigs, CIA covert operations. One man was Reinaldo Pico, who was a Bay of Pigs "soldier" and a CIA employee, and the other was Reinaldo Gonzales, who was a Cuban banker and avid Anti-Cuban operative who also worked with the CIA covert operatives. Both "Reinaldos" had contact with the JMWAVE operation and anti-Cuban - raider ship Rex - Operation 40 forces. On October 19, 1995, Vernon spoke again with Professor Peter Dale Scott. Professor Scott informed Vernon that Reinaldo Pico was indeed involved in the Bay of Pigs, was a CIA employee, and was one of the infamous "Watergate Burglars" in association with Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt and others. Professor Scott also informed Vernon that Pico was a former Narcotics Detective who only "made the busts he was told to do by the Mafia." Professor Scott believes Reinaldo was associated with JURE. Scott also informed Vernon that Reinaldo Gonzales was also not only a Cuban banker and anti-Castro supporter, but he was also involved in a 1962 assassination plot to kill Fidel Castro and referred Vernon to the October 29, 1962 issue of U.S. News and World Report. Our conclusion is FBI agent Zack Shelton - when he informed investigator West about James E. Files and that the FBI had "run and informant in on Files years ago and that the FBI felt that Files knew something about the events in Dallas in 1963" - that agent Shelton was acting on the informant identified by CIA pilot Plumlee as "Reinaldo" and that informant was Reinaldo Pico. We are continuing our investigation on this matter. Master researcher Michael T. Griffith of the United States Department of Defense has written one of the most compelling manuscripts on the JFK assassination evidence entitled "MORE THAN A REASONABLE DOUBT." The preface of his manuscript follows as an appropriate closing note for this report: In September 1964, the Warren Commission released its report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Commission had been tasked by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the tragic shooting. The Commission's report was met by nearly universal praise and acceptance. Its primary conclusions were that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, shot the President, and that no conspiracy of any kind was involved in the murder. It was a freak occurrence of history, we were told, brought about by a supposedly disturbed loner using a cheap, war-surplus, mail-order rifle. There appeared to be little if any reason to doubt the Commission's conclusions, since the case against Oswald seemed indisputable. However, in the months and years that followed, researchers found numerous errors and contradictions in the Commission's claims. It turned out that the case against Oswald was far from conclusive, and many questions were raised about how the Dallas police and the federal government had handled the evidence. Private researchers interviewed witnesses who had been ignored by the Commission, and in virtually every case their testimony indicated there had been a conspiracy. Then, in 1979 the public's growing doubts about the lone-gunman theory were strengthened when the House Select Committee on Assassinations formally concluded that President Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy." Today, according to public opinion polls, approximately three out of every four Americans believe that Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy. The public's reaction to Oliver Stone's movie JFK, which argues that a high-level government plot killed Kennedy, caused the U.S. Congress to hold hearings on releasing the sealed assassination files. (Although some files have been released, many still remain sealed.) Why is finding out the whole truth about the assassination of President Kennedy still important? Why does it matter? It matters for a number of reasons. Carl Oglesby has expressed the importance of the death of President Kennedy in three basic statements: One, an unknown group conspired to kill JFK. Two, we, as Americans, cannot feel good about our government again until we satisfy ourselves on this matter. Three, all of us should feel personally involved with this issue because it reflects so directly upon the quality of our citizenship. (7:13) We have a right to expect the truth from our government. Yet, certain federal agencies continue to oppose releasing all the sealed assassination files. As a result of legislation passed in 1992, some of those files have been made public, but many are still inaccessible, and some of the documents that have been released have been heavily censored. Our government still officially maintains the validity of the Warren Commission's infamous single-bullet theory. As Americans, we value the truth. We want to be told the truth. We don't want our government placing its (read: our) seal of approval on a falsehood. I believe it is painfully clear that the single-bullet theory was conceived for the sole purpose of deceiving the public about the true nature of the assassination. Without this theory, the Warren Commission would have had to admit that more than one gunman shot JFK. To this day, the official position of our government is that only Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy. It is time for this lie to end. It is also time for our government to acknowledge that there is considerable evidence that Oswald didn't fire a single shot during the assassination. The assassination is important because it concerns the accuracy and credibility of what we teach and accept as history. When we accept false history, we are building on a foundation of sand. Without knowing the truth about the past, how can we learn from it? Only by understanding the whole shocking truth about the death of President Kennedy can we best be prepared to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. And then there is the matter of justice. As Americans we have a strong sense of justice. We believe the innocent should go free and that the guilty should be punished. But those responsible for the death of President Kennedy have yet to face justice. Although most of them are probably dead, it is likely that a few of them are still alive and could be brought to justice, if our government would pursue the case properly. Moreover, we know the identities of several of the individuals who were involved in the cover-up. These persons could be subpoenaed and finally asked tough, probing questions about their disgraceful behavior--and, if caught lying under oath, could be prosecuted for perjury. Who are these individuals? In my opinion, the list includes former WC counsels Arlen Specter and Wesley Liebeler, the three autopsy doctors, certain active and retired FBI agents and CIA officers, and former Dallas police lieutenant J. C. Day. This case is by no means closed, and it certainly isn't dead either. In 1992, U.S. Marshal Clint Peoples was killed hours before he was scheduled to meet with an investigator for Oliver Stone. Before he died, Peoples reportedly stated that he had been run off the road (63:498). A few days earlier, Peoples had told a researcher that he had information about a potential suspect in the case. Shortly before key assassination witness Jean Hill appeared on the nationally broadcast documentary The JFK Conspiracy in mid-1992, she received a threatening phone call. To this day, some witnesses are still afraid to talk for fear of being harmed or harassed. Every person who lost a son, a daughter, a brother, or a sister in the Vietnam War ought to be intensely interested in learning the whole truth about the assassination. Why? Because if President Kennedy had not been shot, there would have been no Vietnam War. More than 50,000 Americans would still be alive. Many thousands more would not be crippled or emotionally troubled. These considerations do not seem to have mattered to the defense industrialists and oil tycoons who wanted the war and who made millions of dollars from it. But defense and oil industry elitists were not the only ones who wanted to plunge America into war in Vietnam. The Central Intelligence Agency likewise favored greater U.S. involvement in the conflict. The agency's covert operations division knew that with an escalation of the war would come an increase in their budget and activities. So for these individuals the stakes were huge. By mid-1963, they knew they had a president who was not going to escalate our involvement in Vietnam, and who in fact wanted to disengage from the fighting after the '64 election. There is wide agreement among researchers that President Kennedy's refusal to escalate the conflict in Vietnam was one of the principal reasons he was murdered. (As a staunch conservative Republican, for years I believed the Vietnam War was justified and necessary, and that we would have easily won it if weak-hearted liberals had not hindered our military. I am still a conservative Republican, but I now realize that the Vietnam War was neither just nor necessary, and that "turning loose" the military would not have guaranteed victory. Even if we had done so and had "won," the resulting "victory" would have been of questionable worth, since the government we were backing was almost as bad and corrupt as the one we were opposing.) In the view of some researchers, another reason President Kennedy was killed was that he posed a serious threat to certain powerful international bankers who were making millions of dollars off the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve prints our money and then loans it to the government at interest. In effect, we pay to use our own money. Kennedy wanted to end this arrangement. He reasoned that by having our currency issued directly through the U.S. Treasury, the national debt could be reduced by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve System. During his final year in office, he took steps toward making this happen. On June 4, 1963, he signed an executive order that called for the issuance of over four billion dollars in U.S. Notes through the Treasury, and some of this money is still in circulation. In conjunction with this order, he signed a bill changing the backing of one- and two-dollar bills from silver to gold, thus strengthening our weakened U.S. currency. Even though JFK's executive order is still in effect, no subsequent President has had the courage to enforce it. Today, we continue to pay to use Federal Reserve notes as our currency. International bankers continue to make millions at our expense. And few of us can remember the last time our government had a balanced budget. Kennedy's monetary reforms, had they been allowed to continue, would have given us a stronger, more stable currency and would have greatly reduced the influence of international bankers on the U.S. economy. These men stood to lose millions of dollars, if not more, if JFK remained in power. As veteran journalist and researcher Jim Marrs says, "Kennedy's . . . efforts to reform the money supply and curtail the Federal Reserve System may have cost him much more than just the enmity of the all-powerful international bankers" (5:275). In 1963, a powerful, well-financed, and highly placed conspiracy killed President John F. Kennedy and then engaged in a massive cover-up to keep the American people from knowing the truth about the murder. Many of the same groups and individuals suspected of being involved in President Kennedy's death later surfaced in other serious crimes, including the infamous Phoenix program, Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair, and the BCCI scandal. By all appearances, the forces that killed JFK still wield significant power in our government and media. Most of the names have changed, but the attitudes and goals remain the same. Thankfully, despite the best efforts of the government and most segments of the media to close the case, interest in President Kennedy's death is strong and growing, as more and more citizens appear to be realizing its relevance and importance. The question is sometimes asked, How much longer until it will be impossible to reinvestigate President Kennedy's murder? In my opinion, that point will not come for at least another ten to fifteen years. Many important witnesses are still alive. Although some of these people might die in the next few years, most of them should live for at least another decade. Moreover, there are important assassination-related films, photos, and documents that have yet to be properly studied. There could be many vital documents still locked away in government vaults. The films, photos, and documents will remain, but the witnesses will eventually pass away.