by Joan Mellen
p. 294: “penetrated the assassination operation”: “Foreign Group Has Facts— DA” by Clarence Doucet. Times-Picayune, July 12, 1968. See also the Peter Kihss article for the New York Times, published in the Denver Post as “Assassins—Spy Link Told,” July 12, 1968, p. 13; “Foreign ‘Ally’ Confirms CIA JFK Link— DA,” States-Item, July 12, 1968.
p. 294: “anti-Garrison propaganda”: Fred Newcomb to Edd, George, Larry and Harold, January 15, 1969.
p. 295: Robert Lee Perrin and Nancy Perrin Rich: A sample of the documents reflecting Boxley’s investigation of the Perrins with Joel Palmer are as follows: September 16, 1968, Interview of Nancy Perrin Rich by Joel Palmer; Joel Palmer interviewing Mrs. Hamilton (Nancy Perrin Rich Hamilton); Memorandum, September 25, 1968, from Boxley, re: interview with employees of Robert Perrin; To: Jim Garrison from Reid and Palmer re: Perrin and Ferrie, 1 page; September 26, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Boxley, interview with Preston Rar, regarding Robert Perrin, 2 pages; September 29, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Reid and Palmer; October 1, 1968, to Garrison from Boxley re: photos of Perrin; October 1, 1968, Memorandum, to Jim Garrison from Boxley, identification of Robert Lee Perrin, 2 pages; October 11, 1968, To: Jim Garrison from: Barbara Reid and Joel Palmer, Re: Interview with Lloyd Eagen of Lietz-Eagen funeral home concerning disposition of body of Robert Perrin; November 12, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Palmer; November 12, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Joel Palmer; November 12, 1968, discrepancies in morgue and police reports on Robert Perrin, 4 pages; November 13, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Boxley re: Perrin; November 13, 1968, to Jim Garrison from William C. Boxley; November 13, 1968, Nancy Perrin resume, 13 pages; November 13, 1968, Memorandum to Jim Garrison from William C. Boxley—Nancy Perrin resume; November 22, 1968, to Jim Garrison from Boxley re: arsenic death of Perrin November 22, 1968; To Jim Garrison from William C. Boxley— August 28, 1962, 7 pages; November 22, 1968, To: Jim Garrison from William C. Boxley Subject: Preliminary analysis of Nancy Perrin telephone calls; November 26, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from James L. Alcock, Re: Arthur E. Wise Jr., Lt. State Police, Re: Perrins; December 2, 1968, letter to Boxley from Mrs. Elmer Perrin; December 6, 1968, to: Sgt. Louis Ivon from: Frank Meloche, Re: Robert Perrin, w/m, Information received from Mrs. Cooksy of the Charity Hospital Record Division; December 9, 1968, Press release of the firing of Boxley; December 13, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, from Andrew Sciambra re: Mrs. Marianne Dereyna, 115 E. Avery Street, Pensacola, Florida re: Robert Perrin; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview with Mr. Schulmer, Cafeteria manager, Tulane University, regarding Mrs. James F. Cole, 1715 Calhoun Street, New Orleans, Louisiana; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview of the Kittess Family, 2522 York Street, New Orleans Louisiana regarding: Robert & Nancy Perrin; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from: Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview with James F. Cole, 2108 Cedardale, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, regarding: Robert Perrin; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from: Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview of: Mrs. Betty Miller, 1111 S. Dupre Street, New Orleans, Louisiana; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from: Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview with Rev. A. Kruschevski, 4515 Galvez Street, New Orleans, La., 899- 6378, Re: Robert Perrin; November 23, 1968, and November 25, 1968, Apartments on Calhoun Street; December 13, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew J. Sciambra re: Interview with James F. Cole, State Welfare Department, Third and Boyd Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana re: Robert Perrin; December 13, 1968, to: Jim Garrison from Andrew Sciambra, Re: Robert Perrin, Deposition of legal action between Aydelotte and Bradley; December 2, 1968, to: Louis Ivon from Sgt. Fred Williams, Re: Occupants 1711-1717 Calhoun in 1962–63; December 13, 1968, To: Jim Garrison, From: Andrew Sciambra, Re: Interview with Ralph L. Barnett, 717–2nd Street, Gretna, Louisiana, Regarding Nancy Perrin; January 20, 1969, Affidavit from Joel Palmer in the matter of Boxley, Perrin and the E. E. Bradley charge, 3 pages. One of the witnesses to the statement is Penn Jones Jr.
p. 295: “solved the case”: Re: William Boxley, From: Andrew Sciambra, December 6, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 295: Garrison allowed Boxley to remain: Interview with Louis Ivon, May 27, 2001.
p. 295: Jim telephoned Louie: Interview with Louis Ivon, May 3, 1999.
p. 295: Moo Moo and Ivon investigate: Memorandum, December 6, 1968, From: Andrew Sciambra, Re: William Boxley.
p. 296: “certain of the actions”: Steven J. Burton to Jim Garrison, December 20, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 296: “Who was Clay Shaw?” Interview with Jim Rose, June 13, 1999.
p. 296: Elmer Robert Hyde: To: Andrew Sciambra, From: Bill Turner, Subject: Elmer Robert Hyde, November 25, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 296: “an edge of bitterness”: E-mail from Ross Yockey, May 15, 2000.
p. 296: Turner told Boxley to get out of town: E-mail, Bill Turner to Joan Mellen, April 26, 2000.
p. 296: “request elucidation”: CIA, From: Donovan E. Pratt, DC/CI/R & A, 104-10515-10040, 80T01357A, Memo: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination: William Clarens Wood Jr., Alias William Boxley, January 3, 1969, 7 pages, NARA, Date of release: August 15, 2002. See also CIA, Memorandum For: Director, Domestic Contact Service, Subject: Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination, William Clarens Wood Jr., alias William Boxley, 201-83427, Reference: CI/R & A memorandum, subject as above, 3 January 1969, From: Donovan E. Pratt. DC/CI/R & A, 104-10189- 10193, JFK, 89T01357A, NARA.
p. 296: they had been keeping an eye on him: See CIA, To: Director, Domestic Contact Service. Att’n: Deputy Director, DCS From: Chief, Houston Office. 26 April 1968, Subject: Bill Wood, Agent for Jim Garrison, Making Inquiries in Dallas, signed by Ernest A. Rische, 104- 10189-10241, 80T01357A, NARA.
p. 296: Boxley asks Rothermel for a job: Re: Garrison file, January 29, 1969, AARC. Rothermel reports it to the FBI, Memo to J. Gordon Shanklin, January 6, 1969.
p. 296: Rothermel attempted to “guide” Jim Garrison’s investigation: CIA, “Jim Garrison,” January 26, 1968, 104-10515-10129, 80T01357A, Title: Report on Jim Garrison, NARA. Release date is August 16, 2002.
p. 296: Bradley lived across the street: CIA, Report: Garrison file, From: Paul Rothermel, January 29, 1969, CIA 104-10170-10480, NARA.
p. 297: Kohn’s rumors: Investigative Report, July 18, 1968, MCC.
p. 297: sardonic irony: For a comprehensive summary and transcription of this December 11th press conference, see MCC Investigative Report, December 18, 1968, See also “Garrison Hits IRS Probe: ‘Obvious Harassment,’” Times-Picayune, October 25, 1968, section 1, p. 22.
p. 297: Garrison in federal court on the medical evidence: Numa Bertel represented the office. See United States of America ex rel. State of Louisiana, Petitioner, v. Dr. James B. Rhoads, Respondent, Before: Judge Charles W. Halleck, January 31, 1969, Miscellaneous no. 825-69A.
p. 297: Garrison tries to get autopsy X-rays and photographs: New Orleans conference, September 1968, pp. 52–53, part II. See also “Garrison’s Effort to Subpoena Kennedy Photos Faces Hurdles,” New York Times, January 11, 1969; “A U.S. Judge Denies Kennedy Photos to Garrison,” New York Times, January 18, 1968, p. 25. The Philadelphia Inquirer is less biased: “Garrison Links Case on Shaw to U.S. Held Data,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 18, 1960. p. 16. “Any and all documents”: Reply to Major Contentions in Government’s Pleading of January 16, 1969, State of Louisiana v. Clay Shaw, NO 825-68A.
p. 297: long since disappeared: Evidence that photographs were missing comes, according to Dr. Gary Aguilar, from Robert Knudsen, a former White House photographer who developed negatives and had been shown the complete photographic inventory. At least one image was not in the inventory he viewed for the HSCA in 1978. A former FBI agent named Francis X. O’Neill told T. Jeremy Gunn of the ARRB that one of the photographs “looks like it’s been doctored in some way . . . it would appear to me there was a—more of a massive wound”: Testimony before the ARRB, September 12, 1997. The other FBI agent present at the autopsy, James Sibert also said the head wound “was more pronounced,” and the photograph he
viewed looked now “like it could have been reconstructed.” Dr. Robert McClelland has been even more specific about President Kennedy’s head wounds. See chapter eighteen. Others spoke of a “large defect in the back side of the head” with “what appeared to be some brain hanging out of this wound” and “what appeared to be an exit wound in the posterior portion of the skull.” This latter comes from a senior general surgery resident named Ronald Coy Jones. An anesthesiologist named Gene Aikin saw that “the right occipital/ parietal region was the exit.” These citations are courtesy of Dr. Aguilar. As Jim Garrison had said, there is always someone sitting under the oak tree. The three pathologists who performed President Kennedy’s autopsy, Humes, Boswell and Finck united in what HSCA would call “gross errors.”
p. 298: “Misprision of treason”: Section 2382 of the Federal Criminal Code (Title 18 of the U.S. Code). The maximum punishment is seven years. The case law is scant to nonexistent. There were cases in the 1860s, one a jury charge trying to determine whether the Southern secession qualified as treason (January 14, 1861); another describes a mutiny involving government boats, an 1863 case: see 30 f.CAS. 1032 (1861): in re: Charge to Grand Jury; and 26 F.CAS. (18) (1863): U.S. v. Greathouse. The law reads: “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.”
p. 298: “gunshot wound of the left temple”: Commission Exhibit no. 392, November 22, 1963, 4:45 p.m. Doctor: Robert N. McClelland, “Statement Regarding Assassination of President Kennedy.” For the description of Dr. McClelland’s conversation with a Garrison assistant, See interview with Dr. Robert N, McClelland, December 31, 2003.
p. 299: the issue of Richard Case Nagell testifying: Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 183, 186, 229. See also The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 664.
p. 299: “the most important witness”: Dick Russell interview with Jim Garrison, October 16, 1975; The Man Who Knew Too Much, p. 47.
p. 299: “absolutely genuine”: Jim Garrison at the New Orleans conference.
p. 299: CIA might try to “eliminate” him: FBI, To: Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Attention: Mr. S. Papich, From: Deputy Director for Plans, Subject: Richard Case Nagell, December 13, 1968, CSCI-316/ 04781-68. 62-109060-6624, NARA. Later Nagell said both that he had given Jim Garrison no information (Report of George R. Babineau, CPT. MC Psychiatrist, U.S. Army Hospital, Berlin, NARA), which was not true, and that he had been told by Garrison that his life was in danger, which was also not true: FBI, To: Director, FBI, From: Legat, Bern, June 7, 1968, 124-10269-10094, 89-69-4087, 4088, NARA.
p. 299: Thomas Breitner does not say Shaw was introduced as “Bertrand” in Turner’s report: Interview Report—Assassination, March 17, 1967, Subject: Clay Shaw, Possible Contacts in Bay Area, NODA, NARA. Breitner tells Turner that Shaw introduced himself as “Clay Bertram” in a September 23, 1967, report. See also Notes of Richard Popkin, August 15, 1968.
p. 299: Norton was willing to testify: Interview with Donold P. Norton, February 4, 2003.
p. 299: Loran Hall was also another Bertrand witness: See Jack Huston to Jim Garrison, June 12, 1967, NODA, NARA. “That fruit, Shaw or Bertrand, whatever, is going to cause a hell’va lot of heat if someone doesn’t get to him,” Hall said.
p. 299: “who had been in trouble with the law”: “Garrison Takes Blame for Trial,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 19, 1969, p. 20. See also “Garrison Says Evidence Rules Cost Him Verdict,” New York Times, March 15, 1969.
p. 299: Edward James Whalen . . . to murder Jim Garrison: Memorandum, September 18, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: James L. Alcock, Re: Edward James Whalen, NODA, NARA.
p. 299: Girnus: Edward Girnus as witness: For Girnus’ testimony about the station wagon: See: Conversation between James L. Alcock and an informant—Interview conducted Saturday, January 13, 1968, transcribed January 16, 1968, NODA, NARA. See also Memorandum, December 7, 1967, To: Jim Garrison, From: James L. Alcock, Re: Edward Julius Girnus, Prison #A-90420-A, NODA, NARA; the flight plan is also available, NODA, NARA. See also: Edward J. Girnus to Sir: (Cliency Navarre), September 7, 1967, and Navarre to Girnus, August 31, 1967. There are also unsigned lead letters regarding Girnus.
p. 300: Broshears had been sent to an institution: Jim Garrison at the New Orleans conference, p. 149.
p. 300: Hicks would not be needed: See “Ex-Convict Awaits Call to New Orleans Trial,” by Jack Taylor. Sunday Oklahoman, January 26, 1969, courtesy of Larry Hancock.
p. 300: “flying at night with no lights”: Jim Garrison at the New Orleans conference, pp. 167–168.
p. 300: Lane lobbied hard: Interview with Stephen Jaffe, June 15, 1999.
p. 300: “with my luck”: Interview with Mark Lane, February 6, 1998.
p. 300: “probably made a mistake”: Jim Garrison to Jonathan Blackmer, July 15, 1977, AARC.
p. 300: “frozen with fear”: Jim Garrison at New Orleans conference, September 1968. See also Jim Garrison to Mrs. Kern Stinson, January 24, 1968, NODA, NARA.
p. 300: the government stops William Walter from testifying: Interview with William Walter, January 3, 2000.
p. 300: “ace-in-the-hole”: “Clyde Johnson Killed, Report,” Times-Picayune, July 24, 1969, section 2, p. 3.
p. 301: “The CIA must have gotten to him”: Interview with William Alford, May 28, 1998.
p. 301: Connally’s animosity: Hugh Aynesworth to Edward F. Wegmann, January 30, 1969. This letter was on the Newsweek letterhead.
p. 301: Shaw team worried: Document headed: “Jim Garrison,” Papers of Edward F. Wegmann.
p. 301: Billings: Life lawyers told Billings to stay out of New Orleans: Interview with Richard N. Billings, September 12, 2002.
p. 301: have to be criminal: “not in itself have been wrong”: H. T. Jordan Jr. v. USA; Gervase A. Breyand v. USA. 8459, 8451, 10th circuit, December 5, 1966.
p. 301: as long as one of his co-conspirators was involved: Rudolph J. Nassif v. USA, 8th circuit, December 6, 1966. Louisiana law mirrored the federal statutes: “Basically, there is very little to distinguish between these two statutes. Both require a conspiracy between two or more people to commit a crime and both provide that one of the parties to the conspiracy must do an act to effect, or in furtherance of the object of the conspiracy,” Supreme Court of the United States, October term, 1968, no. Clay L. Shaw v. Jim Garrison, on Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans Division, Jurisdictional Statement, p. 164.
p. 301: “I wasn’t ready”: Interview with William Walter, January 5, 2000.
p. 301: “let it go to trial”: “I don’t think it will ever come to trial”: Jim Garrison interviewed by Mark Lane, August 1968, quoted in “Jim Garrison: It May Never Come to Trial,” Los Angeles Free Press.
CHAPTER 19
p. 302, Epigraph: “I will not be able to produce any bank presidents”: Jim Garrison interviewed by the BBC, March 1967, AARC. With the exception of the testimony of Vernon Bundy and Charles Spiesel, the transcript of State of Louisiana v. Clay Shaw is available at AARC or as “The Garrison Transcripts CD-ROM”
p. 302: “talking about UFOs”: Jim Garrison interviewed by Dick Russell, December 1980.
p. 302: Jim Garrison feels as if he is Santiago: On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 228.
p. 302: Alcock will prosecute: “Garrison Won’t Head Shaw Prosecution,” States- Item, January 14, 1969, section 1, p. 1.
p. 302: Hong Kong flu: Jim Garrison to Mr. Irwin E. Pilet, January 13, 1969, NOPL.
p. 303: “one of the most powerful men”: Interview with Mark Lane, February 6, 1998.
p. 303: “erroneous game card”: Memo to Jonathan Blackme
r, Re: Statements of Perry Russo (made while under hypnosis) re: Clay Shaw, David Ferrie and Other Individuals, August 16, 1977, NARA.
p. 303: “put it all together”: Kirkwood, American Grotesque, p. 223.
p. 303: never hospital whites, as he would confirm later: Interview with Corrie Collins, February 3, 2001.
p. 304: “our main case was the perjury case”: Jim Garrison interviewed by Dick Russell, December 1980.
p. 304: “the one real piece of linkage”: Interview with Richard Popkin, June 10, 1999.
p. 304: Dymond’s attempt to impugn Bundy: January 15, 1969, Cross-Examination of Vernon Bundy, State vs. Shaw, Papers of Edward F. Wegmann, NARA.
p. 305: Russian roulette: That both Garrison and Alcock knew about Spiesel’s eccentricities is irrefutable, interview with John Volz, May 21, 1999.
p. 305: Shaw had owned 906 Esplanade: Testimony of Arthur J. Bidderson before the Orleans Parish Grand Jury, January 9, 1969, NODA, NARA.
p. 305: did not identify the exact building: “New York Witness Fails to Find Shaw Apartment” by Gerald Moses. Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, February 9, 1969; “Shaw Witness Fails to Find Party Site,” Washington Post, February 9, 1969.
p. 305: Spiesel had been investigated by Walter R. Holloway: FBI To: Director, FBI, From: SAC, Dallas, February 7, 1969, 62-109060- 6715, NARA. This investigation was quite extensive. See also Statement of Tony Bacino, undated, Papers of Edward F. Wegmann.
p. 305: Boris Spiesel was a furrier: CIA, Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Spiesel, Charles I., #357204, Reference: Washington Star clipping dated 8 February 1969, 12 February 1969, NARA.
p. 305: “four minutes”: Hugh Aynesworth on WDSU radio, March 3, 1969, “Press and Prejudice: The Clay Shaw Trial,” moderated by Larry Johnson.
p. 305: “the Jack O’Diamonds”: Jack Dempsey interviewed by Jim DiEugenio, September 2, 1994.
p. 306: “Spiesel was a setup”: Interview with Richard Popkin, June 10, 1999.
p. 306: “shooting a fish in a barrel”: On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 237.