Subject: Files Confession Part 6
Date: 3 Dec 1998 04:35:05 GMT
From: pittelli@aol.com (Pittelli)
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk

We have a right to demand that a new investigation occur soon enough that
the
remaining witnesses can be carefully and properly interviewed.

Even if our government refuses to reinvestigate the case, we the people can
effectively overturn the false story that we have been given about it. This
process is already well under way. Opinion polls show that most Americans
reject the lone-gunman theory. Private researchers have presented
significant
evidence of conspiracy. They have picked up where government investigators
left
off, and have developed new evidence and leads that were previously missed
or
ignored.

Yet, we as Americans have every right to demand that our government
reinvestigate the Kennedy assassination, and to ensure that inquiry, unlike
the
previous ones, is careful, honest, and thorough. We have every right to
expect
our government to once and for all renounce the national lie that President
Kennedy was killed by an unstable loner using a cheap, war-surplus rifle.

The news industry handling has been almost as inadequate and disappointing
as
the government's.
For example, several important, ground-breaking books on the assassination
were
released from 1991 to 1993. These fine works went virtually unnoticed by the
press. Yet, when Gerald Posner's severely flawed pro-Warren Commission book
Case Closed was released in mid-1993, it received extensive, favorable
publicity, and in some cases was even endorsed or recommended by major news
outlets. Equally disturbing was the news industry's reaction to Oliver
Stone's
movie JFK. Although the film certainly has its faults, it is remarkably
accurate on many important aspects of the assassination. Nevertheless,
uninformed, highly critical stories about it appeared in the press even
before
it was released. Major newspapers and magazines, including The Washington
Post,
Time, and Newsweek, strongly condemned the film but ignored the valid and
important information it contained. A free society depends on a tenacious
press
that is dedicated to reporting the facts and to keeping the American people
informed. Sadly, however, the sad truth is that for the most part the press
has
chosen to blindly accept official leaks and pronouncements about the
assassination, instead of examining the matter independently. If the press
would begin to do its job on the case, a great deal of progress would be
made
and the government would face irresistible pressure to conduct a new
investigation.
Much is already known about the murder of President Kennedy. I think we know
the identities and motives of at least some of the main figures who were
behind
the assassination. Yet, there is still much to be learned--much that needs
to
be learned about the crime. A special prosecutor or a new Congressional
investigation could uncover a great deal of important information about
President Kennedy's death. If enough citizens become informed, get involved,
and make it clear to their elected representatives that they will settle for
nothing less than a new investigation, the case will be officially reopened.

It is my hope that this book will contribute to the growing call for a new
federal inquiry into the death of President Kennedy.

MICHAEL T. GRIFFITH is a two-time graduate of the Defense Language Institute
in
Monterey, California, and of the U.S. Air Force Technical Training School in
San Angelo, Texas. He is the author of three books on Mormonism and ancient
religious texts. His articles on the JFK assassination have appeared in
Dateline: Dallas and in Dallas '63.
Mr. Griffith lives and works in England and is an employee of the United
States
Department of Defense. He has a top secret security clearance. The views he
expresses are his own personal views and are not the views of the United
States
Department of Defense.

APPENDIX C

John R. Stockwell is a former CIA case officer having served in the agency
arena in Vietnam, the Congo and South America. In 1977, after having served
as
the Chief of the CIA's Angola Task Force, Stockwell left the CIA and was one
of
the first case officers ever to leave the agency and write about their
innerworkings and clandestine operations. His book "IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES"
was a
Publisher's Weekly bestseller. The CIA sued Stockwell for breech of his
secrecy
agreement with them when his first book was published. The CIA won the suit
and
all royalties Stockwell earned from the book went to the CIA.

In 1991, Stockwell released "THE PRAETORIAN GUARD" (South End Press -
Boston).
On page 123, Stockwell writes:

"A team of CIA, Cuban exile and Mafia related renegades organized a simple
military-style ambush in Dallas and successfully gunned him (JFK) down. The
ambush and its coverup were brazen and astonishingly open. In fact, several
plots, in Chicago, Miami, and Houston, to kill Kennedy had misfired or been
thwarted. The plot that succeeded in Dealey Plaza was so open that various
people were reported prior to the event to have said that Kennedy would be
killed with a rifle and a patsy would be blamed for the crime. Individuals
like
Joseph Milteer, the "umbrella man," and a CIA pilot Robert Plumlee went to
Dealey Plaza on the 22nd of November to watch."

In the book "DOUBLE CROSS" - written by Sam & Chuck Giancana (Warner Books -
1992) - on Pages 356 & 357, the Giancanas state:

"Most of those who were involved in the 1963 assassination of President John
F.
Kennedy have been murdered. Some have committed "suicide" or spent their
final
days in prison, while others still linger behind bars."

There are some men, however, if we are to believe Mooney's (Sam Giancana's)
tales of Mafia-CIA counterintelligence activities, who've prospered and
remained free. Amassing incredible power from careers deeply rooted in the
CIA,
these men have reached America's loftiest positions of authority, from which
they continue to influence world events."

Text of note found in the storage area of James E. Sutton alias James E.
Files
in Illinois:

THE MERCENARY

That....be not told of my death
Or made to grieve on account of me
And that I not be buried in consecrated ground
And that no sexton be asked to toll the bell
And that nobody is wished to see my dead body
And that no mourners walk behind me at my funeral
And that no flowers be planted on my grave
And that no man remember me
To this I put my name

Signed,
James E. Sutton/Files

1. Despite efforts by the FBI and Kroll Associates (a large detective agency
made up mostly of former FBI and CIA agents) to discredit the military
record
of James E. Files, the official historian of the 82nd Airborne located the
Army
Serial Number and VA claim numbers of Mr. Files and verified that he was
indeed
a member of the 82nd Airborne who was shipped to Laos in 1959.
2. There is extensive evidence that James E. Files was the driver/bodyguard
for
Charles Nicoletti, as follows:

a. FBI agent Zack Shelton of the Beaumont, Texas FBI office (the man who
gave
Investigator Joe West the lead on Mr. Files) informed Mr. West that Files
was
Nicoletti's driver/bodyguard and close associate.

b. Files's aunt and uncle confirmed - on audio tape - that Files introduced
them to Nicoletti in Chicago and that Files "did things" with Nicoletti.

c. Michael Cain, younger brother of the deceased known Mafioso Richard Cain,
did a background check on Files at the request of Robert G. Vernon. Michael
Cain informed Vernon that "Files was Nicoletti's boy."

d. Two of Files's friends from the Harlow Grill area in Chicago informed
Vernon
that Nicoletti was introduced to them by Files and that Files and Nicoletti
were associates.

e. Former CIA and DEA pilot Robert "Tosh" Plumlee had flown Nicoletti on
several occasions and gave Vernon information about flights with Nicoletti
that
only someone associated with Nicoletti could have known about. Vernon
"cross-checked" the information with Files and was able to ascertain that
Files
had dropped Nicoletti off at various airports in the Chicago area to meet
Plumlee for flights to Las Vegas and Santa Barbara, California.
3. A nightclub dancer and government informant named Rose Cheramie warned of
the assassination before it occurred. She said she did so on the basis of
information she had received from individuals in the Mafia. She also said
she
was told by Mafia men that it was common knowledge in the underworld that
President Kennedy was about to be assassinated. Rose Cheramie was later
killed
in a suspicious car accident on a remote Texas highway.(4)
4. Posner rejects Cheramie's story as spurious (6:446 n). Marrs argues that
it
is essentially credible (5:401-402). J. Gary Shaw challenges Posner's claims
about the Cheramie account point by point (55:12-14). For example, Posner
claims there is no evidence that Cheramie worked for Jack Ruby, but Shaw
points
out that this was verified by the Louisiana State Police (55:13). Contrary
to
what Posner claims, Cheramie's death was not a cut-and-dried accident;
rather,
it was another suspicious death (5:402; 55:12-13).
- - - - -
5. Three known CIA operatives who were in Florida during the Bay of Pigs
operation have identified James E. Sutton alias James E. Files as being a
"young hitter from Chicago who got into trouble in Mexico and Frank Sturgis
of
the CIA had to go bail him out."
6. The Bay of Pigs (Research by Michael T. Griffith - U.S. Department of
Defense)

President Kennedy's handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion continues to draw
sharp criticism from conservatives. In their view, JFK simply lost his nerve
and consequently caused the death of over 100 freedom fighters and the
capture
of hundreds more. This is how I used to view the Bay of Pigs debacle. I
thought
it was all Kennedy's fault, end of discussion. As I saw it, he had chickened
out and had done great harm to the cause of freedom. Of course, those who
have
studied the Bay of Pigs incident know there was much more to it than
Kennedy's
supposed failure to follow through. Before going further, let us first
examine
the basic history of the event.

Shortly after taking office, President Kennedy approved a CIA plan to invade
Cuba. The plan, which had been formulated toward the end of the Eisenhower
administration, called for an invasion of Cuba by a force of Cuban refugees,
Brigade 2506, covertly trained and backed by the CIA. The idea was to make
it
look like the Cuban exiles had carried out the invasion on their own with no
outside assistance.

The invasion began on the morning of April 15, 1961, when eight
American-supplied B-26 bombers flown by exile pilots departed from an
airfield
in Nicaragua and attacked Cuban air bases.(7)
7. 21. Some researchers say six planes were used for the first air strike,
but
such authors as strongly pro-Kennedy Arthur Schlesinger to anti-Kennedy
Mario
Lazo put the number at eight.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (8)
8. 1. Says Haynes Johnson, "Why such a vast majority of all the supplies
needed
for any success whatsoever was committed to one ship is a question still
unanswered by the CIA" (45:113). I agree wholeheartedly with Harrison
Livingstone's comments on this matter:

No president is in a position to review an entire plan for each of many
operations. He is the Commander in Chief and cannot micromanage every
detail.
He could not have known that
the . . . CIA would be so stupid as to put all the ammunition on one ship
which
was easily blown up with a few bullets from one small trainer jet plane.
(10:43)
- - - - - - - -
9. "...FBI surveillance of Rosselli loses his trail on the west coast
between
November 19 and November 27 (1963)" (ALL AMERICAN MAFIOSO by Charles
Rappleye
and Ed Becker - Doubleday Books 1991)
10. A key figure linking the Agency to the assassination was CIA man David
Atlee Phillips, who was seen with Oswald a few months before the shooting
(14:504-519; 61:128-171, 391-400, 408-409. Among many other things, Phillips
was the propaganda chief for the Bay of Pigs operation and later rose to
become
the chief of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division. In 1954 Phillips worked
with E. Howard Hunt and others to overthrow the Arbenz government in
Guatemala.
Based on his extensive investigation of Phillips for the Church Committee
and
then for the Select Committee, Gaeton Fonzi believes that "David Atlee
Phillips
played a key role in the conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy"
(61:409).
Phillips was in charge of the CIA's Cuban operations in Mexico City at the
time
of the assassination, so he was strategically positioned to frame Oswald,
and
it is very probable that he was involved in the phony Oswald visits to the
Cuban embassy. Select Committee investigator Dan Hardway found that most of
the
individuals in Mexico City and Miami who were spreading post-assassination
propaganda linking Oswald to Cuban or Soviet intelligence were "David
Phillips's assets" (61:292).
11. Files stated that he stayed at the Lamplighter Motel in Mesquite in a
telephone conversation with producer Robert G. Vernon. The Lamplighter Motel
in
Mesquite was opened in 1961. (Source: The Dallas Morning News - October 10,
1961)
12. Files told Vernon - in a telephone call - that the pancake house was on
the
corner of University and I-10 near a Holiday Inn in Ft. Worth. A check by
Vernon revealed that the Old South Pancake house has been at that location
since 1962. There is a Holiday Inn a block away. (Documentation: A letter
from
the owner stating that the business has been in that location since 1962)
13. Originally, the limousine would have proceeded straight down Main Street
when it came to the end of the business district, and then gone directly
onto
Stemmons Freeway. Ordinarily, Secret Service regulations provide that the
Presidential limousine is to proceed at a good speed and not take
unnecessary
or hazardous routes which would slow it down. The procedural manual requires
the car to move at 44 miles an hour. But the route was changed so that the
car
made a right turn at Houston Street, at the end of the business district,
and
after a short block, made a left turn onto Elm Street, which led it towards
and
past the School Book Depository and down a small hill beneath the triple
underpass. This was a perfect ambush site. (2:156)
14. The most striking find, however, was the exact location of the grassy
knoll
gunman. According to the acoustical calculations, this firing position was
behind the picket fence, eight feet west of the corner. That was just two to
seven feet from where S. M. Holland, a dozen years earlier, had placed the
signs observed by himself and fellow railroad workers: the puff of smoke,
muddy
station wagon bumper, cigarette butts, and a cluster of footprints. (25:36)
15. (RESEARCH: Michael T. Griffith) Many of the Dealey Plaza witnesses who
commented on the subject said shots were fired at the President from the
front.
They identified two possible sources for the frontal fire: the grassy knoll
and
the area immediately around the triple underpass next to the knoll. Most of
the
witnesses who heard shots from the knoll believed the shots came from behind
the wooden (picket) fence atop the knoll, while others believed the shots
came
from a point closer to the triple underpass.

A number of those who heard shots coming from the grassy knoll were actually
standing on the knoll itself. One such witness is Gordon Arnold, who had
just
finished Army basic training and had fresh memories of the sound of live
rounds. Arnold was standing near the wooden fence. He reports that two shots
came from behind him, and that one of them was so close he heard "the whiz
over
my shoulder" (14:26).

Some have questioned Arnold's story because he does not appear in photos of
the
knoll at the relevant time (1:34). However, the nature of the photographs
does
not preclude Arnold's having been at the location he describes, especially
since the area where Arnold was standing was in deep shadow. Moreover,
Senator
Ralph Yarborough, who rode in the motorcade, recalled seeing a man in
Arnold's
position. Yarborough recounted that when the first round was fired he saw a
man
in Arnold's spot throw himself to the ground, which is significant because
Arnold says he "hit the dirt" as soon as he heard gunfire (14:26). WC
defenders
suggest that Yarborough was actually referring to Bill Newman. But Newman
was
accompanied by his wife and child, and all of the Newmans hit the ground.
Yarborough, on the other hand, spoke of only one person hitting the ground.

In the A&E Network's documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Texas graphics
expert Jack White presents photographic evidence from the Mary Moorman photo
that Arnold was where he says he was. No one who has seen Arnold's gripping
testimony in that documentary can doubt his sincerity or the vividness of
his
memory.

Another witness, Jean Hill, was standing across the street from the grassy
knoll when Kennedy was shot. On the day of the shooting, she indicated she
heard more than three shots and said she heard shots fired from the grassy
knoll. In recent years, she has reported that she saw a muzzle flash, a puff
of
smoke, and the shadowy figure of a man holding a rifle barely visible above
the
picket fence at the top of the knoll, and that she heard four to six shots
(5:37-39; cf. 5:322-324; 23:22-24). There is reason to question most of
these
claims. However, her initial statements and testimony that she heard four to
six shots and that at least some of them came from the knoll is highly
credible. Certain WC defenders have suggested or implied that initially Mrs.
Hill was unsure of the origin of the shots, and that only later did she
mention
gunfire from the knoll and hearing more than three shots. But statements she
made to a newsman less than an hour after the shooting refute this claim:

At 1:20, before word came of the President's death, NBC cut away to a local
affiliate, where Tom Whelan interviewed an eyewitness named Jean Hill. He
asked
her to tell what she knew of the events, and she told of seeing the
President
react to his wounds, although she did not mention the head shot, as she
would
not have seen it if, in fact, it originated from the right front. She did
state
unequivocally, however, that "shots came from hill" [i.e., the grassy
knoll].
She said it twice, and then said the car [the presidential limousine] sped
away. . . .

Anchors McGee, Huntley, and Ryan all heard her words, and they never heard
her
say "I think" or "perhaps". . . . She also indicated there were far more
than
three shots. (69:19)

For many years Mrs. Hill was criticized over her initial belief that she
might
have seen a small white dog in the limousine. Lone-gunman theorists have
used
this in an effort to discredit her account. However, at a JFK assassination
conference held in 1994, a researcher displayed a photo showing Jackie
Kennedy
receiving a small white dog from an admirer at Love Field prior to the start
of
the motorcade (81:178-179).

I think it is significant that of the twenty sheriff's deputies who were
watching the motorcade from in front of the sheriff's office, "sixteen
placed
the origin of the shots near the Triple Underpass" (5:435). The triple
underpass, keep in mind, was right next to the grassy knoll. Dealey Plaza
witnesses Abraham Zapruder and Cheryl McKinnon likewise said shots were
fired
from the grassy knoll (14:23-29; 12:97-101; 5:33-89; 71:111).

Indeed, when he was being questioned by Liebeler, Zapruder was prepared to
reveal evidence that there was more than one gunman, but, incredibly,
Liebeler
refused to pursue the matter. Zapruder told the Secret Service on the day of
the shooting that the shots had come from behind him. During his WC
testimony,
he stated that when the shots were fired his immediate impression was that
they
originated to his rear. Then, he said the following:

They claim it was proven it could be done by one man. You know there was an
indication there were two?

And what was Liebeler's response to this tantalizing statement from a man
who
had been standing on the knoll itself? "Your films," he replied, "were
extremely helpful to the work of the Commission, Mr. Zapruder."

In the 1990 View, Inc. documentary JFK: The Day the Nation Cried, a
dismounted
motorcycle patrolman can be seen, moments after the shots were fired,
looking
toward the knoll and giving every appearance of trying to spot an armed
adversary. He seems to have his pistol drawn, and he is crouched down and
weaving back and forth as if to present a difficult target. During this time
he
is intensely scanning the area of the knoll.

Two witnesses who provided particularly striking evidence of a shot from the
front were Charles Brehm and Bill Newman. Brehm was standing on the grass
between Elm Street and Main Street and therefore had an excellent view of
the
shooting. It should also be observed that Brehm was a former Army Ranger and
a
combat veteran who was wounded twice in World War II. Thus, he was no
stranger
to the sound of gunfire, nor to the effects of bullets on human bodies.

In a filmed interview with attorney Mark Lane, Brehm reported that when the
bullet hit Kennedy's head, hair went flying from the head. To illustrate his
account, Brehm briefly held his hand over the right rear part of his skull.
Then, he told Lane that some type of fragment from the head blew out and
traveled leftward and to the rear, landing beside a nearby curb. I quote
from
the interview:

LANE. Did you see the effects of the bullets upon the President?

BREHM. When the second bullet hit, there was . . . uh . . . [briefly puts
his
hand over the right rear part of his head] hair seemed to go flying. It was
very definite, then, that he was struck in the head with the second bullet
[i.e., the second bullet to hit JFK]. And, yes, I very definitely saw the
effects of the second bullet.

LANE. Did you see any particles of the President's skull fly when the bullet
struck him in the head.

BREHM. I saw a piece fly over in the area of the curb where I was standing.

LANE. And in which direction did that fly?

BREHM. It seemed to have come left and back.

LANE. In other words, the skull particle flew to the left and to the rear of
the presidential limousine?

BREHM. Uh, Sir, whatever it was that I saw did fall both in that direction
and
over into the curb there.

LANE. Were you among the closest witnesses to the limousine when the shot
struck the President?

BREHM. Yes, Sir, I would have to say that I was, if not the closest one, one
of
the closest to the unfortunate incident.
Not surprisingly, according to news reports, on the day of the shooting
Brehm
was convinced that at least one shot came from in front of the limousine.
One
must see the interview itself to really appreciate the full impact of
Brehm's
account.

Bill Newman was standing on the grassy knoll during the shooting, and was no
more than twenty-five feet from the limousine when JFK was struck in the
head.
He told a newsman during a TV interview on the day of the assassination that
the shots came from behind him, i.e., from the grassy knoll, and that he saw
a
bullet hit the President in the side of the head, in the right temple. As
Newman was describing the bullet strike, he pointed to his right temple. I
quote from the interview:

NEWMAN. As the car got directly in front of us, a gunshot apparently from
behind us hit the President in the side, in the temple [points to his right
temple].

Q. Do you think the first shot came from behind you too?

NEWMAN. I think it came from the same location, yeah. Apparently, back up on
the knoll.

Q. So you think the shot came from up on top of the viaduct toward the
President? Is that correct?

NEWMAN. No, not on the viaduct itself, but up on top of the hill--on the
mound
of ground. . . .

So Newman saw a bullet hit JFK in the right temple, and Brehm saw hair and a
piece of skull from the President's head fly backward and to the left.
Moreover, it should be pointed out that Newman was not the only witness who
saw
a bullet strike President Kennedy in the area of the right temple. Secret
Service agent Sam Kinney said he saw one shot "strike the President in the
right side of the head. The President then fell to his left" (72:419).
Another
witness, Marilyn Sitzman, who was standing next to Abraham Zapruder, said
she
saw a shot hit JFK on the side of his face "above the ear and to the front .
.
. between the eye and the ear" (63:142).

This explains why brain matter and skull fragments were blown fiercely
backward
and to the left by the fatal head shot. Officer Bobby Hargis, who was riding
to
the left rear of the limousine, was struck so hard by a piece of skull
flying
toward him that he thought he himself had been hit. Hargis was also
splattered
by blood and brain. And Officer B. J. Martin, who was riding to Hargis's
right,
was likewise splattered by the spray from Kennedy's head. As none other than
Dallas police chief Jesse Curry admitted, "by the direction of the blood and
brains from the president from one of the shots [i.e., the head shot] it
would
just seem that it would have had to be fired from the front rather than
behind"
(25:37).

Bethesda mortician Tom Robinson, who reassembled Kennedy's skull after the
autopsy, has stated that there was a small hole in one of the temples, and
he
believes it was in the right temple (10:579-580). On the day of the
shooting,
White House official Malcolm Kilduff, speaking at a news conference at
Parkland
Hospital, reported to the press that Kennedy was shot in the right temple,
and
he even pointed to his own right temple to illustrate what he was saying
(18:330; 68:59). Furthermore, all but one of the Dallas doctors and nurses
who
treated the President said there was a large wound in the rear of his head,
and
they identified that wound as an exit wound. Clearly, the fatal head shot
came
from the front, exited the back of the head, and blew blood, brain, and
skull
fragments to the rear.

Moore points out that thirteen out of fifteen witnesses in the presidential
motorcade who were asked about the origin of the shots said "that the shots
came from above, not street level" (3:35).

Some conspiracy theorists suggest that the testimony of the people in the
motorcade might be colored and should therefore be "cautiously assessed"
(4:37). Moore strongly objects to this suggestion (3:35). "Colored?" Moore
asks. "Just because the witnesses happened to be government employees or
their
spouses?" One indication that such might be the case came from Tip O'Neill,
the
former Speaker of the House of Representatives. O'Neill recounted a dinner
conversation that he had five years after the assassination with two Kennedy
aides who were riding in the motorcade, Kenneth O'Donnell and Dave Powers:

I was surprised to hear O'Donnell say that he was sure he had heard two
shots
that came from behind the fence [i.e., the wooden fence on the grassy
knoll].

"That's not what you told the Warren Commission," I said.

"You're right," he replied. "I told the FBI what I had heard, but they said
it
couldn't have happened that way and that I must have been imagining things.
So
I testified the way they wanted me to...."

Dave Powers was with us at dinner that night, and his recollection of the
shots
was the same as O'Donnell's. Kenny O'Donnell is no longer alive, but during
the
writing of this book I checked with Dave Powers. As they say in the news
business, he stands by his story. (24:211, emphasis added)

How many other persons did the FBI pressure into testifying "the way they
wanted me to"? How many other witnesses really heard shots from the front
but
changed their story to satisfy federal agents?

Some people reported seeing individuals with rifles or rifle cases, and
puffs
of smoke, on or near the grassy knoll. And several people, including Senator
Yarborough and two police officers, said they smelled gunpowder on or near
the
grassy knoll just after the President was shot.
16. Numerous witnesses reported that two of the shots came in very rapid
succession, nearly simultaneously. These witnesses said the two shots came
so
closely together that they sounded like a single burst (see, for example,
8:249, 253, 278, 298; 72:92, 93, 99, 115, 407, 427)
17. In 1987, a Dallas man (John Rademacher) and his son dug up a .222
caliber
shell casing in Dealey Plaza near the wooden stockade fence. The casing had
dents in it. A lab examination by Dr. Paul G. Stimson, a noted forensic
odontologist at the University of Texas in Houston, issued a written
medicolegal opinion that marks or dents in the casing were made by human
teeth.

18. The HSCA's photographic panel found strong evidence in the Zapruder film
that Kennedy was struck between frames 186 and 190. The panel concluded that