by Joan Mellen
p. 261: “a totally honest person”: Memorandum, January 13, 1968, To: Louis Ivon, From: Gary Sanders, Re: Richard Rolfe and June Rolfe (wife), NODA, NARA.
p. 261: Alcock meets Spiesel in New York: Memorandum, July 17, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: James L. Alcock, Re: Charles I. Spiesel, NODA, NARA.
p. 262: a double: See Diary of Richard N. Billings, pp. 126–128. Garrison revealed the specifics Alcock learned about Spiesel to Dick Billings over the telephone, interview with Richard N. Billings, September 12, 2002.
p. 262: Spiesel at CBS: Memorandum, August 14, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Tom Bethell, Re: A. Phone call from Bob Richter, CBSTV, August 11, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 262: Kern Stinson telephones the office of the district attorney: See On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 217ff.
p. 262: a wrecker was needed: U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, March 23, 1964, Inspector J. Herbert Sawyer, Dallas Police, made available radio transmissions from Dallas Police Radio Station KKB- 364, which reported at 11:07 that a police officer asked that a city wrecker be sent to the triple underpass just west of the underpass on Elm to clear a stalled truck. At 11:08 an officer asked that the call be disregarded. By 11:16 this was explained by the fact that a truck was there to push them out. The times of those calls are consistent with Julia Ann’s Mercer’s chronology of when she saw the truck with Ruby behind the wheel.
p. 262: Julia Ann Mercer was also interviewed on November 25th by SA Wallace R. Heitman, and on November 27th again.
p. 262: Ruby’s alibi: See Jack Ruby, Warren Commission testimony. Hall Exhibit #2; vol. XX, p. 44, FBI report on an interview conducted with Jack Ruby on 11/25/63 by Special Agent C. Ray Hall; Hall Exhibit #3, vol. XX, p. 44, interview conducted with Ruby on 12/21/63 by C. Ray Hall and Manning C. Clements; FBI interview with Gladys Craddock, 11/27/63, CE 1479, XXII, p. 900; interview with Gladys Beal Ivey July 30, 1964, CE 2321, vol. XXV, p. 281; this is Craddock’s new married name. See also John Wolks Newman, vol. XV, pp. 538–9; Billy Rea, vol. XV, pp. 573–75. Georgia Mayor’s statement is in vol. XXV; Richard Saunders’ testimony can be read at
p. 263: Julia Ann Mercer tells her story to Jim Garrison, January 15, 1968: Note attached to FBI interview of 11/28 NODA, NARA.
p. 263: “this lady said”: WC, vol. VII, pp. 332 ff.
p. 263: Statement of Julia Ann Mercer, NODA, NARA.
p. 263: promised not to subpoena her: Jim Garrison to Mrs. Kern Stinson, January 24, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 263: “no other witness so completely illuminated”: On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 216.
p. 263: “a serious effort to protect her”: Ibid., p. 219.
p. 264: “I don’t care who the shooters were”: Interview with Stephen Jaffe, June 10, 1999.
p. 264: paid about five hundred dollars a month: $510 or $520: Bradley could not remember the exact figure in his deposition in the suit and countersuit involving Carol Aydelotte, AARC.
p. 264: McIntire is admired by Jack N. Rogers: Jack N. Rogers to Dr. Carl McIntire, September 5, 1967, Papers of Jack N. Rogers.
p. 264: McIntire approved for CIA contact use: January 19, 1968, Subject: Bradley, Edgar Eugene. See also Bradley, Leslie Norman, NARA.
p. 264: Dr. Carl McIntire met with Guy Banister in Baton Rouge: Memorandum, May 13, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew Sciambra, Re: Information on the N.S.R.P. and the American Nazi Party. The source is Joseph Cooper.
p. 264: Mafia contract in San Francisco: FBI, Urgent to Director, From Albuquerque, December 7, 1967, 124-10071-10355, 89-69-3618, NARA. See also FBI, December 14, 1967, To: Director, From: New Orleans, 124- 10071-10353, 89-69-3616.
p. 264: “another diversionary tactic”: General Investigative Division, December 15, 1967. Attached teletype concerns an alleged La Cosa Nostra (LCN) Plot to Assassinate Jim Garrison of New Orleans, 62-109060- 5916.
p. 265: “paranoid garbage”: See On the Trail of the Assassins, pp. 187–190 for this incident. See also Coup d’Etat, pp. 19-30, revised version. AARC, interview with Vincent Salandria (and Tom Katen),1972, tape.
p. 265: The death threats continued: “Garrison was next to be assassinated,” they were told in January of 1968: George Eckert to Mr. William Boxley, January 31, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 265: “Garrison should be killed”: FBI teletype, December 14, 1967, To: Director, San Francisco, Dallas and New Orleans, From: Albuquerque. 62-109060-5909, NARA. See also FBI December 14, 1967, 124- 10071-10355, 89-69-3618 and 89-69-3621.
p. 265: “syndicate contract”: See Memorandum. March 5, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Gary Sanders, Re: Steve Jaffe, Subject: Syndicate Contract. Jaffe concluded that a West Los Angeles policeman, now retired, was “supposedly a friend of Eugene Bradley.” See also Memorandum: March 30, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Stephen Jaffe, Re: Dr. Richard Dudnick, NODA, NARA.
p. 265: CIA connections: MELVIN CRAIN-EDGAR EUGENE BRADLEY: CIA-FBI, Boxley Memo dated December 19, 1967. CIA denied knowing Bradley, but their denials, often false, have come to be a case of the boy who cried wolf: 21 December 1967, Memorandum, Subject: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination, Edgar Eugene Bradley, signed, Donovan E. Pratt, DC/CI/ R & A.
p. 265: “self-avowed Minuteman”: Ibid. MELVIN CRAIN-EDGAR EUGENE BRADLEY: CIA-FBI. See also Carol Aydelotte to “Mr. Boxley and Mr. Ivon,” February 9, 1968, NARA: “The thing I find most alarming is that all Bradley’s associates, the CIA-Minuteman types, had a very unpleasant common denominator: the continuous promotion of racial hatred, murder and violent revolution. If these CIA agents are agitating on both sides of the political spectrum, and that is possible, we will all awaken some morning to find full scale revolution waged in the streets of America.”
p. 266: “government money”: Carol Aydelotte to Louis Ivon, May 9, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 266: “he’s in Dallas”: Memorandum, February 16, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Bill Turner, Re: Edgar Eugene Bradley, NODA, NARA.
p. 266: Bradley would never forgive Brice: Interview with Edgar Eugene Bradley, September 12, 2002.
p. 266: “That’s Gene Bradley”: Memorandum, February 16, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Bill Turner, Re: Edgar Eugene Bradley.
p. 266: dressed in a Castro fatigue outfit: Memorandum, December 28, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, Re: Edgar Eugene Bradley, NODA, NARA.
p. 266: Alcock was not certain the evidence was there: Interview with Louis Ivon, January 12, 2000.
p. 267: Colonel Gale was a nut: Notes on Meeting. 12/28/67 by Art Kevin.
p. 267: Gugas had contacted HIM: Edgar Eugene Bradley on the radio with Joe Pyne, transcribed March 7, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 267: informed to the Los Angeles field office: FBI, To Director, From: Los Angeles, 124- 10071-10372, 89-69-3642.
p. 267: “he is positive it is Edgar E. Bradley”: Memorandum, December 26, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Numa V. Bertel Jr., Re: Roger Craig Interview, NODA, NARA.
p. 267: light-colored Nash wagon: Memorandum, November 3, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Mark Lane, Re: Interview with Roger Craig, October 25, 1967, Fontainebleau Motor Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana. Present: Roger Craig, Jim Garrison, Bill Boxley, Mark Lane, NODA, NARA. That Craig said he had seen a Nash Rambler station wagon, and that Ruth Paine had a larger, if also square-cut, Chevrolet wagon, does not seem a sufficient discrepancy to undermine the basic facts of Craig’s testimony. The heat of the moment—the murder of the Head of State—would have sufficed to blur the details—whether the automobile was white, as the Warren Commission and FBI insist Craig said—or light-colored—or green, which was the color of Paine’s Chevrolet. Nor, given the monumental cover-up that had by then begun, was it persuasive that Craig was not in Captain Fritz’s office, but only in the anteroom, and that Fritz later said he didn’t remember Craig being in his office. The Warren Commission
insisted that Oswald had taken the bus, and had a bus transfer on him. But one witness, a Mrs. Bledsoe, had him in the shirt in which he was arrested, not the one he had on earlier, and the bus driver did not remember either Oswald or Bledsoe being on the bus. The timing suggests that he went by car. That Ruth Paine owned a Chevrolet, not a Nash, also casts Oswald’s reference to Paine’s automobile into question.
p. 267: Jim Garrison welcomes Roger Craig, perhaps prematurely: Jim Garrison to Roger Craig, January 15, 1968, NOPL.
p. 267: “we were to take NO part”: Roger Craig, When They Kill a President, unpublished manuscript, 1971.
p. 267: “‘manufactured’ a witness”: FBI memorandum, To: Mr. W. C. Sullivan, From: Mr. W. A. Branigan, February 23, 1968, Record number 124-10061-10388, HQ, 62- 109060-6208, 2 pages, NARA.
p. 267: “beyond any shadow of doubt”: To: Mr. Louis Ivon, December 27, 1967, Report and Partial Memorandum on Dallas Visit of December 21, 1967 thru December 23, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 267: On the identification of Bradley as one of the tramps, see also Memorandum, June 23, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Steven J. Burton, Subject: Photographs of Arrested Men in Dealey Plaza, NODA, NARA.
p. 267: Bradley had an operation: Richard E. Sprague to Fred Newcomb, January 9, 1969.
p. 268: Kevin informs to the Bureau; Alberto Fowler refuses to see him: FBI, To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, Los Angeles, March 7, 1967, 124- 10167-10184, 89-69-1642, NARA.
p. 268: Art Kevin sends a reporter to Van Nuys Airport: To: Jim Garrison, From: Art Kevin, January 29, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: Hemming claimed to have known Burchette: Memorandum, May 8, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Steven J. Burton, Re: Interview of Gerald Patrick Hemming, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: there are two available interviews with Margaret McLeigh: Interview regarding Edgar E. Bradley, December 29, 1967, transcribed May 3, 1968, NODA, NARA, and Interview with Margaret McLeigh, January 8, 1968, NODA, NARA. Art Kevin insisted that Margaret McLeigh was credible: Art Kevin to Lou Ivon, November 17, 1968.
p. 268: Jim Rose investigates Jim Braden: Date, January 6, 1969, To: Committee for the Investigation of Assassinations, c/o William W. Turner, From: West Coast investigator, code name “Rose.” Subject: Office of JIM BRADEN, 280 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California, NODA, NARA. There is an earlier version of this memo: Date: November 3, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Rosalie, Subject: Office of JIM BRADEN, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: Betty Helm will not give Bradley an alibi: FBI, January 9, 1968, Oklahoma City, 89-69-3750.
p. 268: On Stanley Drennan: See also Robert K. Brown talks to the FBI about Drennan, Commission Exhibit 3063, December 4, 1963.
p. 268: who wrote prescriptions: Carol Aydelotte to Mr. Boxley, January 2, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: Loran Hall met Bradley: Telephone conversation between May 2, 1968, between Louis Ivon and Stephen Jaffe, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: Kent Courtney was a friend of Bradley’s: Memorandum, June 22, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Steven J. Burton, Subject: Discussions with Carol Aydelotte and Dean Ray, NODA, NARA.
p. 268: Bradley contacts the Agency: CIA, 25 July 1968, Director, DCS for OSS (Musulin), Chief, Los Angeles Office, Case 49364, 100- 300017, signed R. P. B. Lohmann.
p. 268: assisted by Hugh Aynesworth: George J. Jensen to Frank Hernandez, May 22, 1968,
p. 269: “set up” for failure: Edgar Eugene Bradley to Jim Garrison, May 22, 1969, in reply to Garrison’s letter of April 24th, NARA; interview with Edgar Eugene Bradley, September 27, 2002.
p. 269: “Please Mr. Garrison”: Edgar Eugene Bradley to Jim Garrison, September 17, 1969, NARA.
p. 269: formal exoneration: The Garrison Papers, NARA.
p. 269: meeting between Jim Garrison and Edgar Eugene Bradley: Interview with Edgar Eugene Bradley, September 10, 2002.
p. 270: “Bradley, we were both set up”: Interview with Gene Bradley, Contra Mundum, no. 6, Winter 1993; Interview with Edgar Eugene Bradley, September 12, 2002.
CHAPTER 17
p. 271, Epigraph: “the failure to tell the whole truth”: Press release, NODA, NARA.
p. 271: “before the Barrymores”: Jim Garrison interview with Jonathan Blackmer, L. J. Delsa and Gaeton Fonzi for HSCA, 1977, tapes available from NARA.
p. 271: “entire fraudulent ‘investigation’”: NODA press release.
p. 271: Oswald’s Marine Corps Unit: See: To: Mr. Winters, From: C/BSB, Title: Incident Report— Info from John E. Donovan, December 1, 1963, 4 pages, CIA 104-10300- 10144, Record Series JFK, Agency file: 89T01357A. See in particular Telephone Call to the Agency from John E. Donovan. Document Number 1260- 1033. Document courtesy of Malcolm Blunt.
p. 272: only if Thornley knew: See Jim Garrison to Gaeton Fonzi, September 23, 1976, NARA.
p. 272: “a rather short fellow”: Jim Garrison interview with Jonathan Blackmer, L. J. Delsa and Gaeton Fonzi for HSCA. 1977, tapes available from NARA.
p. 272: “Gold Dust twins”: Quoted in Memorandum to Jonathan Blackmer, Re: Kerry Thornley, From: Jim Garrison, HSCA, NARA.
p. 272: Brady left his belongings at the Ryder Coffee House when he took off for Canada: Memorandum, To: Louis Ivon, From: Jim Garrison, Re: CIA Aspects/William Cuthbert (or Cusbert) Brady, January 15, 1968. See also “Brady Named to Head Group” (Committee for State’s Rights and Constitutional Action),” Times-Picayune, October 1, 1962, section 2, p. 8; “Free Cuba Unit Lauds Alpha 66,” Times- Picayune, October 18, 1962. section 4, p. 10.
p. 272: Thornley’s notarized statement about someone speaking Russian to Oswald is dated September 28, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 272: John René Heindel at the Grand Jury: John René Heindel’s October 5, 1967, grand jury testimony is available both at AARC and NARA.
p. 272: “I’m glad”: Memorandum, October 26, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, Re: Kerry Thornley, NODA, NARA. The same reaction is reported by Allen and Dan Campbell, who were with Thornley that night.
p. 272: “ Have you heard the good news?”: Memorandum, March 4, 1968, To: Louis Ivon, From: Gary Sanders, Re: Bernard Goldsmith, Subject: Kerry Thornley, William Brady. See also Memorandum, March 14, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew Sciambra. Repeat interview with Bernard Goldsmith, NODA, NARA.
p. 273: salary as a doorman: Jim Garrison, Coup d’Etat, p. 16 of 5, AARC.
p. 273: “the time of the Druids”: Jim Garrison to Lou Ivon, January 19, 1968, Note handwritten appended to Memorandum, To: Louis Ivon, From: Jim Garrison, January 15, 1968, Re: CIA aspects/William Cuthbert (or Cusbert) Brady, NODA, NARA.
p. 273: Jones Printing Company: Garrison first sent Frank Meloche. Meloche visits Jones Printing, Memorandum, January 17, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Frank Meloche, Re: Interview of employees at Jones Printing Company, NODA, NARA. Douglas Jones was interviewed by Agent Donald C. Steinmeyer; Silver was interviewed by SA John M. McCarthy.
p. 273: bushy beard: Harold Weisberg to Joan Mellen, September 17, 2001. On February 13th, when Garrison investigators Simms and Sedgebeer visited Silver for a final confirmation, she was suddenly unable to identify a photograph of Thornley: See Memorandum, To: Louis Ivon, From: Detective Kent Simms and Sergeant Fenner Sedgebeer, February 14, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 273: Boxley insisted on accompanying Weisberg: Harold Weisberg to Joan Mellen, May 24, 2000.
p. 273: Jones and Silver identify Thornley: Harold Weisberg to Joan Mellen, October 18, 2001. See also Harold Weisberg Memo dated June 19, 1979, AARC.
p. 274: “a CIA agent”: Thornley went on the radio, WLCY Radio, St. Petersburg, February 5, 1968: Kerry W. Thornley and Bob Ruark, transcribed May 16, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: Thornley fought the subpoena: “Hearing Set on Tampan’s Subpoena from Garrison,” by Thom Wilkerson. Tampa Tribune, January 19, 1968; “Thornley Must Go To New Orleans,” by Thom Wilkerson. Tampa Tribune, January 23, 1968, p. 1. The district attorney’s office taped Thorn- ley’s calls with Sciambra, February 1968, tape available at NARA. Memora
ndum, February 7, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, Re: Kerry Thornley, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: “formally extradited”: “ExMarine Buddy of Oswald Is Subpoenaed,” Times-Picayune, January 10, 1968, p. 1.
p. 274: in New Orleans, Barbara Reid was known as a writer on the history of witchcraft: Essays on witchcraft by Reid are available: NODA, NARA. Reid came forward in August of 1967, Memorandum, To: Tom Bethell, From: Jim Garrison, August 29, 1967, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: sworn statement: Sworn statement of Barbara Reid is dated February 19, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: Peter Deageano corroborates Reid: Memorandum, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, October 26, 1967, Re: Kerry Thornley, NODA, NARA. p. 274: L. P. Davis saw Oswald and Thornley: Memorandum, January 30, 1968, To: File, From: Louie Ivon, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: Cliff Hall: Memorandum, January 30, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra, Re: Kerry Thornley, NODA, NARA; Memorandum, To: Jim Garrison, From: Richard V. Burnes, January 11, 1968, Re: Kerry Thornley’s Association with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans in 1963, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: “Oswald did not do it alone”: To: Jim Garrison, From: Bill Turner, Subject: Kerry Thornley, January 10, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 274: “Did I?”: Interview with Barbara Reid, Outside Contact Report by Martin J. Daly and Robert Buras, January 21, 1978, HSCA.
p. 275: Marina and Orlov: See Memorandum, June 28, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, District Attorney, From: Bill Turner, Re: Investigation, NODA, NARA. See also Memorandum, July 28, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: Bill Turner, Re: Investigation. Turner reports on a call from an editor at the University of Michigan paper noting that an “Alexander Orlov” had been employed by the university simultaneously with Marina’s being sent to the English Language Institute at Ann Arbor to learn English. The caller, “Steve Berkewitz” [sic] wonders whether “Orlov could be identical with the Colonel Orlov mentioned in the Warren Report as calling on Marena [sic] Oswald with George De Mohrenschildt.”
p. 275: what he knew about Russian espionage: Allan Smith, Dean of the University of Michigan law school, quoted in Edward Gazur, Alexander Orlov: The FBI’s KGB General (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2002), p. 359. The title is a bit of a misnomer: Orlov belonged no less to the CIA, although his defection occurred before the Agency came into existence.