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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 17, 2021 10:32:40 GMT -5
Come Fly With Me Jules Ricco Kimble, was a member of the Louisiana Klu Klux Klan, as well as the radical right wing group, the "Minutemen" Some time in late 1960, early '61, while still a teenager, he was drinking at the Golden Lantern, deep in the French Quarter. He had known David Ferrie, and was introduced to Clay Shaw. A few months later, he received a phone call from Ferrie to take a plane ride. They were flying to Canada to pick someone up. When Kimble arrived at the airport, he realized Shaw was going along on the flight. The plane was a Cessina 172. Strangely, there was no flight plan filed and Kimble thought Ferrie had borrowed it from a friend. A stop in Nashville TN, Louisville KY, and Montreal Canada. Once landed Kimble and Ferrie stayed in a hotel while Shaw disappeared overnight. The next morning, Shaw was back at the airport with a middle age, "Mexican or Cuban" man, heavy set, dark skin, balding in the front, in his early to mid '30s. He sat in the back with Shaw and spoke in broken English. About a month later Ferrie called again, Kimble declined. Kimble told Garrison that he had heard other people introduce Clay Shaw as Clay Bertrand, but was not introduced that way himself. During this time, Kimble started to work as an informant, and developed contacts with CIA agents. Some names he recalled were, Steinmeyer, Natt Brown, and an agent named "Red". He would meet in motels, where he would give his reports, in exchange for his pay. He was instructed to use PO Box 701-3052 at the Lafayette St. Post Office. "This was the post office at which Kerry Thornley and so
many of the young men who went in and out of Guy Banister’s office had postal box keys."+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Fast Forward After April '68, Toronto Star reporters Andre Salwyn and Earl MacRae, developed a lead story that Jules Kinmble was somehow connected to James Earl Ray and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Kimble had lived in Montreal, in an area close to Ray. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, had opened a file and when the HSCA looked further they found, "...a person whose name was actually
Raoul drove a white Mustang with Louisiana plates, equipped with guns and a police radio. RCMP files indicated that this person,
named Kimble, made daily calls to New Orleans, listened to police broadcasts, carried guns and made racist comments.
The committee performed a thorough background check of Kimble. Files from the offices of Jim Garrison, New Orleans district attorney in 1968,
Joseph Oster, a former investigator for the Louisiana Labor-Management Commission of Inquiry, the FBI, and the CIA reflected that Kimble had
an extensive criminal background, including active participation in the Ku Klux Klan in 1967. There was no indication, however,
that Kimble was involved in narcotics smuggling and gunrunning, the criminal activities that James Earl Ray attributed to his contact, Raoul.
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 17, 2021 10:33:17 GMT -5
Point Well Tadin ' Nicholas Tadin was a Business Agent for the Musicians' Union, in New Orleans. Married with two boys. Due to the nature of his business, Tadin spent a lot of time in the French Quarter, and had seen Claw Shaw. In 1964, one of his sons, who was 16 at the time, was taking flying lessons from David Ferrie. Tadin became concerned for his son's well being primarily because the boy was deaf and required special needs. He was very clear to David, if anything happened to his son, he would fracture his jaw, starting with his fist, to a 2x4, or come back with some friends that are not going to miss. These were obvious concerns of inappropriate underage behavior. One day, he was out at New Orleans Airport with his wife to drop off his son, when he saw David coming out of the hanger. Right behind Ferrie was Clay Shaw. As soon as Tadin recognized Shaw, he identified him to his wife with expressed concern. "...So I told my wife, "Oh, Christ, look at this." She said, "What is the matter?" I said, "Clay Shaw over here."
And then I talked to my wife, you see, and then she got out of the car, and I went over to Dave Ferrie, towards Dave Ferrie,
and Mr. Shaw went to his car. He got out of his car and went back into the hangar. So I told Dave, I says, "Dave, what you got,
a new student here?" Said, "No, it is a friend of mine, Mr. Clay Shaw. He is in charge of the International Trade Mart."
Said, "You know him?" I said, "Yes, I seen him around," and that is it right there." Q: Did you have any doubt at all it was Clay Shaw at the airport? A: No, sir, no. Q: Do you see Clay Shaw in the courtroom? A: (Indicating) The gentleman right over here. Q: (Indicating) Is that this gentleman here? A: Right. Q: Had you ever seen Clay Shaw prior to that occasion? A: Many times around Bourbon Street, riding around in the automobile. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison"There were other occasions when Shaw and Ferrie were observed in each other’s company. For example, Ferrie had introduced a young friend of his, David Logan, to Shaw at Dixie’s, a watering hole on Bourbon Street at the corner of St. Peter. Earlier Ferrie had brought Logan to a bar called the Galley House, on the corner of Toulouse and Chartres Street, where they also met Shaw. Once again while with Ferrie, Logan met Shaw at a private party on Governor Nichols Street. As a result of these meetings, the young man came to know Shaw quite well and was invited for dinner at Shaw’s elegant carriage house at 1313 Dauphine Street. Logan recalled that dinner was served by a uniformed waiter, with each of them sitting at opposite ends of a nine-foot table. Evidently Shaw’s passion for grandeur never left him."
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 17, 2021 10:33:49 GMT -5
Raymond Broshears A long time friend of David Ferrie was Raymond Broshears. Broshears met Clay Shaw in the French Quarter, thru David as far back as 1965. He told the Garrison team, he saw Ferrie and Shaw together on a number of occasions. Once at a sidewalk cafe with Ferrie, Shaw pulled up in a large black car, Ferrie got in and and the 2 drove away. Another time he saw the two, Ferrie told Broshears, he was waiting for Shaw. A few moments later, Shaw pulled up in the same imposing black car, and handed Ferrie an envelope of money. Before leaving he looked at Broshears and told David the FBI was looking for his friend, Raymond. Ferrie sometimes discussed the assassination with Broshears, but only when he was drunk. Broshears never believed the stories about driving to Houston, and wait for 2 men to arrive from Dallas. The problem for David was they never showed up. There must have been a change of plans, or set up that cut him out. David told Broshears he knew one of the men well, Carlos. He was to then fly them out of Houston. Ferrie said he had done everything he was told, and waited at the ice-rink for the call that the team had arrived. The call never came. In a panic, Ferrie stayed by the phone, calling, trying to get thru for his further instructions. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison"In time, as Ferrie would get drunk and describe again his waiting for Carlos at the ice-skating rink in Houston, Broshears realized that Ferrie was not making it up. It developed that there had been a last-minute change in the departure plans for these two particular members of the assassination team." "...I had been leery from the outset of details about the assassination volunteered by individuals. I was more interested in bringing into focus the forces involved. However, I could not ignore the detail about the Cubans Ferrie said he had met in New Orleans. Ferrie, I knew, had been the guerrilla instructor for Guy Banister and his mix of Americans and Cubans at the training camp north of Lake Pontchartrain. And so this contribution of Broshears’s fit the developing picture. I had three separate statements taken from Broshears. There was little variation in detail from one to the next."
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 17, 2021 10:34:09 GMT -5
Contract for Hire Edward James Whalen was from Philadelphia, born in 1923, spent his whole life in trouble with the law. At some point in early '67, David Ferrie contacted Whalen to come to New Orleans where money could be made in burglary. Whalen stole a car from Columbus OH, and immediately took off for "The Big Easy". Then in Sept. '67, he began talking to Garrison. He told Asst DA, James Alcock, that once he got to town, both Ferrie and Shaw began to slowly present a deal to him. In a series of meetings, first with Ferrie, very little was discussed, after a couple of sit downs Ferrie brought in another person. Whalen didn't know the man described as Clay Shaw when they met at the Absinthe House, he was introduced as, Clay Bertrand. They were looking for a hit to be done on a very high profile individual. $10,000 in advance and another $15,000 upon completion. Whalen had never heard of Jim Garrison, but played along with no intention of carrying out such a dangerous contract. During the course of these discussions at Shaw's apartment, Dean Andrews walked in and was introduced to Whalen, then left shortly thereafter. When he told the two he would turn down the offer, Ferrie reminded him Clay Bertrand could do a lot for him. Shaw knew Whalen's daughter suffered from Polio, and promised the best medical care money could buy, and see to it she went to college. Whalen would not budge, and was clear he was not going to kill a District Attorney for anybody and left. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison "Except for a tendency to be vague about dates and times, Edward Whalen, in my judgment, had given a very accurate statement to Jim Alcock. Particularly persuasive to me was Whalen’s knowledge that Dean Andrews had tipped off Shaw and Ferrie about my impending investigation. At the time of Whalen’s meetings with Shaw and Ferrie, the only person outside of my immediate staff whom I had told about the investigation was none other than Dean Andrews at our memorable lunch. I was surprised to learn that I had become a target for removal." "...Shaw well may have had the C.I.A. connections to request that I be eliminated. But the Agency, I had realized by then, had more subtle and sophisticated ways to deal with any threat from me. My guess was that in contacting Whalen, Shaw and Ferrie had created a rogue operation of their own as a solution to their legal problems."
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 21, 2021 13:00:51 GMT -5
Public Abide At first, the investigation was a small private affair. Any cost and expenses accrued, were always properly documented. Whatever staff he had were voluntarily participating, and there were a just few outsiders recruited with an interest in the case. Dick Billings, an editor from LIFE Magazine came on board to help, and was assigned to observe Ferrie's apartment from across the street. But two men in the office could no longer get along. Garrison did not see this coming, but his chief investigator, Pershing Gervais, and chief assistant D.A., Frank Klein, could not work together. When Klein brought Jim the ultimatum, he can longer work with Pershing Gervais, Jim let Frank go, a decision he would later regret. "Later, when important decisions needed
to be made, we would call Frank, and he would meet the rest of the special team at the board room of the New Orleans Athletic Club,
participating every bit as much as if he were still with the office....I had no idea until it was much too late what Gervais'
love of money eventually would drive him to."Then, on Feb. 17, '67, the New Orleans States-Item printed the below headline that opened up full publicity on the DAs investigation. Garrison had suspected it was coming, but was taken by surprise at the amount of public interest and response still in the case. Suddenly the office was flooded with reporters from all over the country. Public support against media scrutiny was the new call of the day. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DA HERE LAUNCHES FULL JFK DEATH PLOT PROBEMysterious Trips Cost Large Sums "The Orleans Parish district attorney’s office has launched an intensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The States-Item has learned that the DA’s office is pouring out-of-the-ordinary
sums of money into a probe of a possible assassination plot.
Dist. Atty. Jim Garrison refused to confirm or deny the existence of such an investigation or to discuss information received
by the States-Item… Trial assistants and investigators assigned to the DA have spent more than $8,000 on unexplained travel and
“investigative expenses” in the period since Nov. 25, 1966."
"...Mr. Garrison’s own silence on the subject has itself raised some interesting questions, particularly since more than $8,000
has been spent on unexplained travel and “investigative expenses” since last Nov. 25. Has the district attorney uncovered some
valuable additional evidence or is he merely saving some interesting new information which will gain for him exposure in a national
magazine? Mr. Garrison, it seems, should have some explanation."
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 21, 2021 13:01:22 GMT -5
Handing Out Free Tickets Once the investigation was public, letters of support and other offerings came from all over the world. Rather quickly, a John Miller from Denver CO, contacted Jim on a fine stationary that only referenced the words, "oil & gas". Having hinted at financial support, Jim and Asst, Andrew Sciambra were prompted to call him down to New Orleans for a chat. Miller was a finely dressed man, confident in his manner. After some small talk over coffee, he got right down to business. He seemed interested in the investigation, asking questions about manpower required in both person and hours. Until he gave himself away with something Jim knew he should not know. Next, he flagrantly attempted to bribe the District Attorney. This was the beginning of the forces against the investigation. Those efforts increased in both threats and slander as the case moved along. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison“...Then how did you manage to make your way into Guy Banister’s operation?” he asked. I hesitated. There had been nothing about Guy Banister in the States-Item story. Nor had I mentioned Guy Banister. This man had just told me a great deal more than he reasonably should have known. I could feel Andrew Sciambra’s eyes on me, but I did not look back his way. “Shoe leather,” I said as casually as possible. I sat back and waited for Miller’s next move. Now I was alert and suddenly very curious about why he really was there. “You don’t belong here,” he continued. “You’re too big for this job. On this Mickey Mouse street with that cluster of bail-bond shops lined up across the way.” “The job manages to keep me pretty busy,” I said. “Nonsense. You should be in a job where you can make decisions that have impact, that affect the world. Here you’re trying to climb up the steep side of Mount Everest.” He leaned forward and spoke with intensity, tapping a manicured right index finger on my desk as he made his point. “I suggest that you accept an appointment to the bench in federal district court and move into a job worthy of your talents.” He leaned back in his chair and studied me. Half a smile played around his lips. “Do you have any idea,” he asked, “do you have any conception of how easily such an appointment can be arranged?” I remained silent and watched him. “I’m not just saying you can move on to the federal bench,” he said, “I’m guaranteeing it.” “And what would I have to do to get this judgeship?” With cool aplomb he said simply: “Stop your investigation.” For a moment no one said anything. Then Miller broke the silence. “The investigation was a magnificent effort. But it’s over and done with. Your own local newspaper is already on your behind, and that’s only the beginning, my boy, only the beginning.” “How long do you think it would take for me to be appointed?” I asked. “Ordinarily, these things take a long time. But in your case, with your record, it easily can be expedited. Trust me.” I leaned back in my chair and put both feet on the corner of my table. I looked him over for a long moment before I spoke. “Mr. Miller,” I said, “you and I have met under a great misunderstanding. I haven’t the remotest interest in becoming a federal judge. And nothing is going to keep me from going ahead with my investigation of John Kennedy’s murder.” I remained where I was so the man couldn’t attempt to shake hands with me. I turned to Sciambra. “Andrew, Mr. Miller and I have finished our conversation. Would you mind escorting him to the side door?” Miller was startled at the sudden change in the course of events. I could see that his jaw bones were tight.
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 25, 2021 10:33:28 GMT -5
Called in Late By the middle of Feb '67, the core of the special team was, Garrison, James Alcock, Andrew Sciambra, D'Alton Williams, and Lou Ivon. Lou was in touch with, and trying to gain the trust of David Ferrie. When the news went public on the case, Ferrie called Lou. “You know what this news story does to me, don’t you?” said Ferrie. “I’m a dead man. From here on, believe me, I’m a dead man.”Once the media found out, it was a frenzy upon his home prompting another call to Lou, and a room at the Fountainbleau Hotel. Meanwhile, the team had to decide whether to call Ferrie to the Grand Jury now, or wait. A vote around the table favored the wait. Ivon had concerns about David's well being but went along with the vote. Then, he was called out of the room to the telephone. Lou spoke quietly in the other room and soon returned with the grim news that David Ferrie was dead. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison "It took us all a moment to recover from the shock. “Hold onto that phone, Lou,” I said. “Before you hang up, get five or six of your best policemen over to Ferrie’s place. We’re going over there right now and sweep it from one end to the other. And make this clear. This case is in our jurisdiction. I don’t want a single man from any federal agency taking over at Ferrie’s. Not without an explicit federal court order.” We piled into the cars outside and arrived at Ferrie’s apartment less than ten minutes after our own investigators. There was no danger of federal intruders. Our men had sealed it off so a ten-ton tank could not have gotten within 50 yards of the late David Ferrie’s apartment."
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 25, 2021 10:34:29 GMT -5
No Answer Possible When Jim arrived at Ferrie's apartment, the coroner had already taken the deceased. Ivon left for the morgue to view the body. The place stank of mice, and even tough the cages sat unused, the smell lingered in the air. It was a filthy mess. Two notes were found, one beside him, the other on an upright piano. Both messages were typed, neither were signed. The first note read, “To leave this life is, for me, a sweet prospect. I find nothing in it that is desirable and on the other hand,
everything that is loathsome.”, and made a passing reference to a “messianic District Attorney.”The second note was to a personal friend, “When you read this I will be quite dead and no answer will be possible.”On the table next to him, a variety of medicine bottles open and empty. One of these medicines caught Jim's eye. Proloid was a thyroid medication to increase bodily metabolism. David Ferrie was already high stung, hyper tense, and certainly not a candidate to take this drug. When Garrison did some further research with a doctor friend, he discovered one sign of over dose on Proloid, could be what happened to Ferrie, a burst berry aneurysm. A high level iodine in the spinal fluid would be an indicator. Unfortunately, Ferrie's stomach contents, blood and spinal fluid were not retained. The autopsy doctor declared his death by "natural causes". ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ferrie Berry AneurysmOn the 18 th of Feb '67, Lou Ivan and Andrew Sciambra paid David a visit. On Feb 28, '67 Sciambra wrote in a memo, "...He told us to go upstairs and that he would follow us, but it would take him some time to climb up the stairs as he was sick and weak,
and that he had not been able to keep anything in his stomach for the past couple of days. He moaned and groaned with each step he took up
the stairs from the bottom to the top. This behavior by FERRIE impressed me as a phony and I am sure he was not as sick as he pretended to be."David Ferrie was a hypochondriac. The symptoms he described to friends have nothing to do with a leaking brain aneurysm. His obvious overacting was not enough to fool Sciambra. He was harping about having Encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. Retired Psychiatrist, Dr. Steven Pittelli, explained if he overdosed on Proloid, the cause of death should be the effects of the drug. "...The cause of death would have to do with what the Proloid did to the person. For example it could cause a fetal heart arrhythmia.
That would be a cause of death then. It might also cause severe hypertension leads to a ruptured berry aneurysm. I agree that would
generally take several hours to kick in....[but] it would depend a lot on the person how quickly the blood pressure responds...
And how weak the vessel wall was at the time."
I say that the symptoms in question probably had nothing to do with a berry aneurysm whether or not that is how he died.
Not every experience Ferrie ever had has to tie in or not tie in with a berry anyeurism just because you want to prove that as
the cause of death. You are trying to bolster the idea that Ferrie died of an anyeurism with some questionable theories on the subject.
A patient comes into my office and says "I think I have throat cancer", I'm not thinking berry anyeurism as a likelihood.
Even if I find out he died of a ruptured berry anyeurism shortly after that, I'm not thinking "Oh, that complaint must have been
part of the berry anyerism."David Ferrie had a thyroid almost twice the size as normal, yet it raised no suspicion of iodine levels whether high or low. Two apparent suicide notes, a slew of empty medicine bottles, and when Jim requested the fluids for testing he was told they were discarded. In addition to cheap bolt action rifles found around the apartment, and the warning he gave Ivon, the death of David Ferrie remains a mystery.
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 25, 2021 10:35:14 GMT -5
By the Book Jim Garrison arrested Clay Shaw on March 01, 1967 for suspicion of conspiracy in the death of President John F. Kennedy. Evidence of Shaw being Clay Bertrand and Bertrand having called Dean Andrews to defend Oswald appears to be all he had. There were a number of things Jim suspected, but had no absolute evidence to prove. David Ferrie was dead. A series of witnesses would have to be called before a Grand Jury to determine a "true bill" for the indictment. A fascinating item found in the search of Shaw's carriage house was his address book. Names of Barons, Dukes, Duchesses and Princesses, and other such dignitaries not accessible to most citizens of the world. While the CIA and government intelligence with infatuations of foreign regimes, work with a man of such grace and manner. Marquesse Giuseppe Rey (Vicenza, Italy) the Baron Rafaelo de Banfield (Villa Tripcovich, Triesta, Italy),
Sir Stephen Runciman (66 Whitehall Court, London), Princess Jacqueline Chimay (2 Rue Albert Thomas, Paris),
Lady Margaret D’Arcy (109 Earl’s Court Road, London), Sir Michael Duff (Bangor, Wales) and Lady Hulse (7 Culross Street, London) Another strange line item: “LEE ODOM, P.O. Box 19106, Dallas, Texas”. Odd, because the number 19106 also appears in Lee's address book. Two letters that appear before the number in Lee's book are Cyrillic D's, the Russian way of writing "D", but still, a connection cannot be ruled out. The notation was made while Lee was in the Soviet Union, but more like winning the lottery, to pull the same 5 numbers in the same order, 3 years apart. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison "With but one exception, Shaw’s entire address book consisted of addresses and phone numbers. That one exception appeared on one of the otherwise unused pages. There, inscribed in Shaw’s handwriting, were the words “Oct” and “Nov”—which would appear to mean October and November. Then, after an indecipherable scribble—there was scrawled simply: “Dallas.”
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Post by Michael Capasse on Jul 25, 2021 10:35:40 GMT -5
Alias it Is Officer Aloysius Habighorst of the New Orleans Police Dept. was a young man with an excellent memory. When he booked Clay Shaw there were a number of forms that needed to be filled out, and questions to be answered. Routine inquiries were asked by Habighorst every time he completed the form. He had no reason to make up his own answers. When he asked Shaw if he had any aliases, Shaw answered with a name the officer would not have known, "Clay Bertrand". Aloysius typed it on the form, but Jim was not aware of it until it was picked up by one of the team, then the document was brought in. Garrison called on the officer to discuss the matter, and found a clean cut young man detailed in his memory of the incident. This piece of paper was key to the case, and though the Judge would not allow it in, other outside admissions of Bertrand came to light. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On the Trail of the Assassins | Jim Garrison"...From Ramsey Clark, the Attorney General of the United States, there came the pronouncement that the federal government already had exonerated Shaw from any involvement in President Kennedy’s assassination. This high-level revelation, and the Attorney General’s subsequent friendly colloquy with Washington reporters, seemed to leave no doubt that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had investigated Clay Shaw and given him a clean bill of health. One newsman asked Clark directly if Shaw was “checked out and found clear?” “Yes, that’s right,” replied the Attorney General. Needless to say, this tableau did not exactly make me look like District Attorney of the Year. However, the statement that Shaw, whose name appears nowhere in the 26 volumes of the Warren Commission, had been investigated by the federal government was intriguing. If Shaw had no connection to the assassination, I wondered, why had he been investigated? The implications of Clark’s statement apparently raised similar questions in Washington, and Clark soon beat a strategic retreat. “The attorney general,” a Justice Department spokesman announced, “has since determined that this was erroneous. Nothing arose indicating a need to investigate Mr. Shaw.” Shortly after Clark’s pronouncement, however, an unnamed Justice Department official announced that the department had been well aware that Clay Shaw and Clay Bertrand were one and the same individual and that the F.B.I. had indeed investigated Clay Bertrand. This confirmed the facts as we had found them. Nonetheless, despite the backpedaling by the Justice Department, the attorney general’s initial pronouncement was the one that got all the headlines. It had struck a serious blow at the integrity of our investigation."
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