1 Ibid.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
And Hank was a big, confident man who didn’t shy away from a problem. He was over six feet tall, over two hundred pounds, and one tough customer, by all accounts. His wife was absolutely certain he would never have committed suicide, because he just wasn’t that type of a guy. The way his wife put it was that she didn’t know who killed him, but “I know he wouldn’t have jumped through any window.”1
Earl Killam also related the bizarre events in the middle of that night which led to Hank’s murder:
I know my mother said he got a phone call at 4:00 a.m. the night he died, went out of the house, and a car door was heard to slam.
I know he didn’t have a car, and less than thirty minutes later, he was found dead.
I know too, that it is possible that someone picked him up, slit his jugular vein, threw him into the window to make it look like an accident.
Then, as everyone else who comes in close contact with the case, Earl
Killam popped the poser: “Who would have thought of suicide? You don’t commit suicide by jumping through a ground floor window.”2
And get a load of this:
But earlier that same evening, Officer Reeves had answered another call concerning Killam. Reeves was summoned to 316 West Romana Street, where he had found Killam waiting in front of the house. There was fear showing in Killam’s eyes and he claimed that he was going to be killed.”3
So let’s walk through this crime scene.
• It’s four-thirty in the morning. The victim has a slit jugular vein, carotid artery, and a three-inch gash on his neck.
• There’s a trail of blood leading from the broken window, into the department store—a trail about four-feet-long; which would mean that the victim’s body necessarily must have struck the window with a tremendous force, in order to propel the lost blood an additional four feet from the point of impact.
• Plus, there’s a two-foot high ledge that our victim would have had to leapfrog over, in order to get into the proper position to go through the window.
• And the victim’s body is found 50-feet away from the window.
So, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out this one, folks. Our victim obviously had a lot of “help” going through that plate-glass window at high speed; help in the form, most
1 Gene Bell, “Widow of Mystery Suicide Links 4 Key Figures in JFK Assassination Plot,” April 16, 1967, National Enquirer, cited in “The Death of Hank Killam – The Ultimate Cold Case,” The Education Forum: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9053
2 Thomas Porter, “Officials Blast Theory of Suicide in Death of Man Who Claimed He Knew Too Much,” April 16, 1967, National Enquirer, cited in “The Death of Hank Killam – The Ultimate Cold Case,” The Education Forum: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9053
3 Ibid.
likely, of at least one guy on each arm, propelling him through that window, probably for the purpose of disguising the manner in which his already slashed throat had been slashed.
We also found out what the victim may have been running from. While researching another death, we came across this important link back to Hank Killam:
William “Bill” Waters died on May 20, 1967. Police said he died of a drug overdose (Demerol). No autopsy was performed. His mother said Oswald and Killam came to her home before the assassination and her son tried to talk Oswald and Killam out of being involved. Waters called FBI agents after the assassination. The FBI told him he knew too much and to keep his mouth shut.1
And Killam has been traced to New Orleans where DA Jim Garrison contended that three men, including Lee Harvey Oswald, planned the Kennedy killing.
Hank Killam was in and out of New Orleans during September, October, and November of 1963.
He is also listed in police files there.2
Conclusions Based On Evidentiary Indications
Murder: Definitely linked to JFK assassination. Victim’s fears were very realistic and he even correctly predicted his own murder.
More than any other death we investigated in this book, the death of Hank Killam was not only suspicious, but was rather a blatant case of harassment and then murder, due to some extremely sensitive information which the victim quite obviously possessed. Hank actually knew that he was going to be killed as a result of certain knowledge he possessed about individuals, related to the JFK assassination. He didn’t think he was going to be killed; he knew he was. He was even aware that there was nothing he could do about it, presumably due to the “high nature” of the people who wanted him dead. At the end, he gave up running. Shortly afterward, he received a three-inch gash on his neck that severed his jugular vein and was then apparently thrown through a plate-glass window to make that appear to be the cause of death.
Hank Killam’s brother deserves and gets the last word on this case:
My brother was scared.
He may not have been important to the Warren Commission but he sure was important to someone.3
1 Penn Jones, Jr., “Disappearing Witnesses,” Jan 1984, The Rebel magazine: http://www.maebrussell.com/Disappearing%20Witnesses/Disappearing%20Witnesses.html
2 Thomas Porter, “Officials Blast Theory of Suicide in Death of Man Who Claimed He Knew Too Much,” April 16, 1967, National Enquirer, cited in “The Death of Hank Killam – The Ultimate Cold Case,” The Education Forum: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9053
3 Roberts & Armstrong, The Dead Witnesses, 9.
Victim
Veteran CIA agent, Gary Underhill
Cause of Death
Gunshot behind left ear
Official Verdict
Suicide
Actual Circumstances
Like Hank Killam, Underhill was clearly running for his life. Also like Killam, his fears were very well-founded; he predicted his own murder, and he was murdered very soon after.
Inconsistencies
1. Underhill was right-handed and it would be extremely awkward—not to mention totally pointless—for a right-handed person to commit suicide by shooting themselves behind the left ear.
2. As an experienced CIA operative, if Underhill expressed concerns that his life was in danger, there are concrete reasons to believe those fears were valid.
3. Immediately after the assassination of President Kennedy, Underhill “put two and two together;” he knew exactly “who did it” and he also even knew that “they knew he knew.” Therefore, hours after the assassination, he fled Washington in fear of his life. When he got to New York, he was very specific in the reasons and warnings he gave to a close friend (see text below). He knew he would be killed—and was.
16
Gary Underhill,
May 8, 1964
Like Hank Killam, Gary Underhill seemed to be acutely aware—“certain” would actually be the correct word—that people were trying to kill him as a direct result of knowledge he possessed about the JFK assassination.
As Underhill succinctly summarized his situation to a close friend:
I know who they are.
That’s the problem.
They know I know.1
For the above reason, Underhill firmly believed he was a “loose end” who needed to be “taken care of.” And then he was.
There’s very good reason to believe that Underhill knew exactly what he was talking about. He had a long career as a covert agent with U.S. Intelligence which is very well documented. Some of the “official version” backers have tried to paint the picture that there’s no evidence that Underhill was a CIA agent,2 but experienced researchers and JFK authors like James DiEugenio have thoroughly disproven those bogus attempts. Gary Underhill was indeed a veteran U.S. Intelligence agent.
Here are the facts of the matter:
Posner writes that there is no source for the claim that Gary Underhill was a former CIA agent, and “no corroboration that he ever said there was CIA complic
ity in the assassination.” I hate to plug my own work, but in Destiny Betrayed, Posner would have learned there are several sources for Underhill’s wartime OSS career and his later CIA consulting status, including Underhill himself. As for his accusations about the CIA and the murder of JFK, he related them quite vividly to his friend Charlene Fitsimmons within twenty-four hours of the shooting. She then forwarded a letter to Jim Garrison relating the incident in detail.3
So, the pertinent question here would be whom exactly was Underhill talking about when he used the word “they” in “I know who they are” and “They know I know.” Well, not to put words in someone else’s mouth, this is exactly the way that Gary Underhill described his problem to his friend, Charlene Fitsimmons, after he fled Washington, D.C. in imminent fear for his life. And keep in mind that this was mere hours after the assassination of President Kennedy—Underhill immediately panicked, got into a car, and feeling he had to immediately get out of Washington, drove to the home of a friend whom he knew he could trust in Long Island, New York.
This is exactly what he told her:
This country is too dangerous for me. I’ve got to get on a boat. Oswald is a patsy. They set him up. It’s too much. The bastards have done something
1 Paul Golais, April 8, 2001, The Citizen’s Voice: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKunderhillG.htm
2 Gerald Posner, Case Closed ( : 1993).
3 James DiEugenio, “Review of Gerald Posner’s book, Case Closed”: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKunderhillG.htm
outrageous. They’ve killed the president! I’ve been listening and hearing things. I couldn’t believe they’d get away with it, but they did. They’ve gone mad! They’re a bunch of drug runners and gun runners—a real violence group. I know who they are. That’s the problem. They know I know. That’s why I’m here.’1
What Underhill was specifically describing was a special group within the CIA that was involved in drugs and gunrunning to Southeast Asia. He really did know who they were.
Underhill also said that “the Kennedy murder wasn’t as cut and dried as it might appear.” According to the friend, “Underhill said that he knew the people involved (and that they knew he knew) and he fled Washington for his life.” He indicated that “A small clique in the CIA were responsible” who “were conducting a lucrative business in the Far East” in “gunrunning and other contraband, manipulating political intrigue to serve their ends.” Underhill told his friend “Kennedy had gotten wind of something going on so he was killed before he could blow the whistle.”2
Historian John Simkin summarized the key point that Underhill had put together:
Underhill believed there was a connection between Executive Action, Fidel Castro, and the death of Kennedy: “They tried it in Cuba and they couldn’t
1 Paul Golais, April 8, 2001, The Citizen’s Voice: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKunderhillG.htm
2 Gary Richard Schoener, “A Legacy of Fear,” May 2000, Fair Play Magazine: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKunderhillG.htm
Veteran CIA agent, Gary Underhill, told his friends that he was running for his life because he knew who conspired against JFK and “They know I know.”
get away with it. Right after the Bay of Pigs, but Kennedy wouldn’t let them do it. And now he’d gotten wind of this and he was really going to blow the whistle on them. And they killed him!1
Executive Action was a special highly secret CIA and Military Intelligence unit that was attempting assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. It has been suggested that President Kennedy was actually killed by a “turnaround” operation from that unit.
Conclusions Based On Evidentiary Indications
Murder: Definitely linked to JFK assassination. Victim’s fears were very realistic and he even correctly predicted his own murder.
1 John Simkin, “Gary Underhill: Biography,” http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKunderhillG.htm
Victim
Guy Banister, Private Investigator
Cause of Death
Heart Attack
Official Verdict
Natural Causes
Inconsistencies
Banister, former head of the FBI Chicago office, was a rabid anti-communist in general and anti-Castroist in particular. He developed a huge and intricate filing system on Communist activities and all his files disappeared after his death, apparently having been seized by authorities unknown.
No inconsistencies in his death are apparent, except for the virtually impossible coincidence that every witness connected to the Guy Banister aspect of the case—including Guy Banister himself—suddenly died just prior to their being sought in the investigation of their connections to Lee Harvey Oswald; see text below, as well as the following entries for Hugh Ward, Deslesseps Morrison, Maurice Gatlin, and David Ferrie.
17
Guy Banister,
June 6, 1964
As historian John Simkin observed, Banister is a key link in the JFK assassination, and closely associated with two other key players, David Ferrie and New Orleans Mafia Boss Carlos Marcello, for whom Ferrie worked as pilot and private investigator:
In 1963, Banister and David Ferrie began working for the lawyer G. Wray Gill and his client, Carlos Marcello. Later, Banister was linked to the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy. On August 9, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald distributed leaflets that supported Fidel Castro and his government in Cuba. On these leaflets was the address 544 Camp Street, New Orleans. This was also the office of Carlos Bringuier, an anti-Castro exile.1
The office referenced above led investigators to Guy Banister, because his detective agency was virtually part of the same office; technically around the corner at a different street address but, realistically, in the same building and right next door.
Around the corner from 544 Camp Street, located in the same building, was 531 Lafayette Street, which housed the detective agency run by Banister. This raised suspicions that Oswald had been involved in a right-wing conspiracy to kill Kennedy.2
Jack Martin was a private investigator employed by Banister, who eventually confided in District Attorney Garrison:
…Martin told friends that Banister and David Ferrie had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. According to Martin, Ferrie was the getaway man whose job it was to fly the assassin out of Texas. He also claimed that Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald from their days in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol and had given him lessons on how to use a rifle with a telescopic sight.3
Ferrie became a very popular witness, sought for interviews, first, by the FBI, and then very seriously investigated by Jim Garrison.
1 John Simkin, “Guy Banister: Biography,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 17 Oct. 2012: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbannister.htm
2 Ibid.
3 John Simkin, “Jack Martin: Biography,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 25 Nov. 2012: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmartinJ.htm
On November 25 (three days after the assassination), Martin was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He told them that he thought Ferrie had hypnotized Oswald into assassinating Kennedy.1
David Ferrie was indeed a highly accomplished hypnotist, and that has been established.
This information eventually reached Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans. He interviewed Martin about these accusations. Martin claimed that during the summer of 1963, Jim Garrison now became convinced that a group of right-wing activists, including Banister, David
Ferrie, Carlos Bringuier, and Clay Shaw, were involved in a conspiracy with the CIA to kill John F. Kennedy. Garrison claimed this was in retaliation for his attempts to obtain a peace settlement with Cuba and Vietnam.2
The links between Oswald and Banister have been established. They weren’t just the matter of Oswald’s pamphlets having been stored in Banister’s office, as some apologists for the Warren Commission have made it out to be.3 Oswald had been in Banister’s office and had also bee
n seen in Banister’s company, and the two quite obviously knew each other.
Delphine Roberts worked for Banister and later became his mistress. Roberts told Anthony Summers that during the summer of 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald worked for Banister. She said she was in the office when Banister suggested that Oswald should establish a local Fair Play for Cuba Committee. This story was supported by her daughter, who met Oswald during this period.4
Former FBI agent and author, William Turner, being a cautious investigator, was at first skeptical of those who noted the convenient deaths associated with the JFK assassination witnesses. But he was eventually swayed by the impossible series of “coincidences”:
As I sat in Garrison’s office discussing the fates of Banister, Ward, and Gatlin, my mind flashed back to the previous November when Ramparts had run a story on the “mysterious deaths” theory of doughty Texas editor Penn Jones Jr. . . . The mysterious-deaths article so fascinated Walter Cronkite that he sent a film crew to Midlothian for a CBS News series on Jones. Although the theory caught on as “evidence” of a conspiracy, I was bemusedly skeptical.
But the untimely deaths of Banister, Ward and Gatlin gave me pause that there might in fact have been systematic elimination of people who knew too much.5
1 Ibid.
2 Ibid.
Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation Into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination Page 16