False Witness

by Patricia Lambert

  8. Nicholas C. Chriss, “Melodrama, But the Plot Is Obscure,” Los Angeles Times, March. 26, 1967; Bethell Diary, p. 11.

  9. Pershing Gervais, telephone interview, Sept. 3, 1993 (“absolutely crazy”); Hugh Exnicios, Lynn Loisel, and Al Beaubouef, “Conference,” twenty-nine-page transcript, March 10, 1967 (Loisel: “sack of roaches”); Billings Personal Notes (didn’t trust; lied), pp. 2, 4.

  10. Jack Martin’s close relationship with Garrison continued until the latter part of 1967, when a break occurred. It was probably precipitated by an odd and revealing document Martin filed with the Recorder of Mortgages for the Parish of Orleans (in Book No. 2126) and with the Louisiana Secretary of State (in Book 8, Folio 83) entitled, “Articles of Incorporation of ‘Garrison-Intelligence-Agency.’ ” The purpose of this “independent intelligence force” was “to render and give aid to Jim Garrison, and to otherwise support him in his efforts.” “Dear Jim,” Martin wrote, in his letter sending a copy of the articles to Garrison, “Well, I’ve done as you wanted.” Martin described his preparation and filing of the papers for the entity “otherwise known as ‘Garrison’s Guerrillas,’ just as we’ve talked about.” He had “kited a couple of checks (cause we were broke),” Martin said, “to get these papers filed.” Written in the upper right-hand corner of Martin’s letter in Garrison’s hand is this: “Spoke to J.M. [Jack Martin] 12/3/67. Must be abolished.”

  11. Russo–Gurvich Interview, pp. 56–59. This draft-dodging scheme involved a false theft charge filed by the “victim,” a woman, followed by the young man’s arraignment. While the case “rolled a while” the draft board was advised of the charges through a “regular form letter.”

  12. New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 30, 1967.

  13. Nicholas C. Chriss, “New Orleans: Melodrama, But the Plot Is Obscure,” Los Angeles Times, March 26, 1967.

  14. Gurvich Conference, tape #2, pp. 19–20; Pershing Gervais, telephone conversation with author, Aug. 22, 1993; David Ehrenstein, “JFK—A New Low For Hollywood,” The Advocate, Jan. 14, 1992; Warren Rogers, “The Persecution of Clay Shaw,” Look, Aug. 26, 1969.

  15. Jim Garrison, interview, Playboy, Oct., 1967, p. 70.

  16. Jack Anderson, “Jim Garrison Accused of Molesting Boy, 13: Crime Commission Asks Grand Jury to Probe,” Bell–McClure Syndicate, Feb. 23, 1970. The content of Anderson’s conversation with William Krummel was repeated by Anderson to a representative of the New Orleans Times-Picayune and included in that newspaper’s file on the story (from the files of David Snyder).

  17. Ibid.

  18. Telephone interview with the victim of the fondling episode, Dec. 7, 1993; interview with the victim’s older brother, Dec. 15, 1993.

  19. Chandler Interview.

  20. This was not the only mention of drugs in connection with Garrison. A New Orleans physician pointed out that Garrison’s “facial expression manifested what we call a flat affect,” meaning that it didn’t reflect the intensity of the moment which, he said, is characteristic of a drug abuser. Since Garrison had a back problem he could have been abusing a prescription drug.

  21. FBI memorandum, describing Frank W. Manning’s statements to a Bureau representative, dated March 6, 1967, and letter of same date transmitting memorandum to the White House (FBIHQ Main File No. 67-446884, James Carothers Garrison). The Manning investigation was instituted at the time of the judges’ defamation charge against Garrison. It was never made public, nor completed—it was dropped when the Supreme Court ruled in Garrison’s favor. Manning offered his file to the FBI, suggesting that the Bureau complete the investigation, but the Director declined.

  22. Paul Hoch, Echoes of Conspiracy, vol. 1, 1986, p. 10; Garrison, letter to Ted Gandolfo, April 14, 1986.

  23. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Sept. 13, 1965 (O’Hara); Warren Rogers, “The Persecution of Clay Shaw,” Look magazine, Aug. 26, 1969, p. 54.

  24. Kirkwood, American Grotesque, pp. 527–528 (Kohn); Brener, The Garrison Case, p. 226.

  25. Robert Hare, Without Conscience (New York: Pocket Books, 1993), pp. 25, 29, 34–56, 75, 102–123.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Iris Kelso, “Final Judgment,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, Oct. 25, 1992.

  28. Hare, Without Conscience, pp. 46–49.

  29. Ibid., pp. 38, 45.

  30. Bethell Diary, p. 9.

  31. Brener, The Garrison Case, p. 269.

  32. Kevin Walsh wrote to Oliver Stone on April 25, 1991, and to George Lardner and Oliver Stone on June 21, 1991, calling on both to use their “stature” to obtain the release of the files

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  1. David Lifton, “Is Garrison Out of his Mind?” Open City, May 31–June 6, 1968. This represents corrected text; the original contained printing errors—dropped lines and transpositions.

  2. A 1996 newsletter published by one of the pro-Garrison groups linked James Phelan and Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in a way so obscure it was incomprehensible. Attesting to Woodward’s suspicious background, the author quoted a writer who noted that Woodward had attended Yale where the CIA is “encouraged to recruit” (“Star Reporters or Government Flaks?” Probe, Jan.–Feb., 1996).

  3. James Phelan’s three (Random House) books are, Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years (1976); Scandals, Scamps and Scoundrels: The Casebook of an Investigative Reporter (1982), which contains a long chapter on Jim Garrison; and The Money: The Battle for Howard Hughes’s Billions (1997), written with Lewis Chester. Phelan also assisted in the production of a fourth book, Hoax, The Inside Story of the Howard Hughes-Clifford Irving Affair, by Stephen Fay, Lewis Chester, and Magnus Linklater (New York: The Viking Press, 1972).

  4. Garrison’s supporters make the following charges about Phelan: (1) That he turned the Sciambra memorandum over to the CIA when he had it copied at the Desert Inn, the Las Vegas turf of Robert Maheu. (Phelan was interested only in Maheu’s copying machine and didn’t even see him that day.) (2) Fabricated the story about Garrison’s “homosexual thrill-killing” theory. (William Gurvich told Shaw’s attorneys about it in 1967; Russo recited the “theory” in his 1971 statements to them and said it came from the D.A.’s office; several references to it, tied directly to Garrison, including at least one direct quote, are found in the Billings Personal Notes; and journalist Nicholas C. Chriss connected it to Garrison [See chapter 6, note 17].) (3) Was some sort of FBI groupie because he reportedly briefed that agency on his Garrison information two weeks before it was published. (The evidence suggests this didn’t happen: Phelan had no recollection of it; it would have been uncharacteristic of him; one of the FBI agents supposedly involved denied to Phelan that he dictated the memo ascribed to him; and the information transmitted to the FBI contains errors Phelan would not have made. Phelan briefed a large number of Post attorneys and staffers about his Las Vegas trip; any one of them could have passed the information to the FBI, and if the Bureau had reason to protect the real source, the obvious person to identify would have been Phelan. [FBI Memorandum, from R. E. Wick to Mr. DeLoach, April 3, 1967; FBI Memorandum, dictated by R. E. Lenihan, April 5, 1967; FBI Airtel, from the Director, dictated by R. E. Lenihan, to the New Orleans field office, April 12, 1967.])

  5. George Lardner, Jr., “On the Set: Dallas in Wonderland,” The Washington Post, May 19, 1991.

  6. James Bates, “Garrison Estate Files Lawsuit Over JFK Net Profits,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 18, 1995.

  7. Cynthia Wegmann, testimony, Assassination Records Review Board public hearing in New Orleans, June 28, 1995.

  8. Shaw Journal, p. 40.

  9. Ibid., p. 3.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Clay Shaw, letter to Sylvia Meagher, July 8, 1968; Sylvia Meagher, letter to Clay Shaw, June 1, 1968.

  12. Telephone conversation with Tom Samoluk, July 15, 1997.

  13. Steven Tilley, telephone interview with author, July 20, 1998.

  14. The first hypnosis session (on March 1, 1967) began with Dr. Fatter telling Russo to visualize a television s
creen. The second and third sessions (on March 9 and 12, 1967) began with Fatter telling Russo to visualize a descending staircase. Garrison’s composite begins with the descending staircase, followed by the television set. Fatter gave Russo the post-hypnotic suggestion at the end of the third session; it appears at the end of Garrison’s “A” document. (Fatter, preliminary hearing transcript, pp. 409–422; Garrison Memo; Russo hypnosis transcripts, March 1, 1967, March 12, 1967.)

  15. For example, Jim Garrison’s document made Dr. Fatter’s leading questions seem unimportant, and it obscured the timing and intent of the post-hypnotic suggestion Fatter gave Perry Russo.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  1. Shaw NBC Interview.

  2. Leonard Gurvich, telephone interview with author, April 2, 1996. Since then Gurvich expressed his views in a letter to the New Orleans Times-Picayune on April 28, 1996.

  3. Posner, Case Closed, p. 446.

  4. In 1993 I informed Steven Tilley, the archivist in charge of the JFK Collection, about the Christenberry proceeding, and he ordered a copy of the transcript for the Collection.

  PRESS CONFERENCE, MARCH 2, 1967

  1. Steven Tyler, documentary film, He Must Have Something, 1992.

  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Many of those I interviewed provided documents from their personal files that proved to be invaluable. I also drew extensively on government records, and data generated by Jim Garrison, those assisting him, and others caught up in his investigation. I used the full range of media sources, in particular the two New Orleans newspapers. The interviews I conducted, and other material not included here, are cited as they appear in the source notes.

  BOOKS AND ARTICLES

  “A Matter of Reasonable Doubt.” Life, November 25, 1966.

  Anson, Robert Sam. “The Shooting of JFK.” Esquire, November 1991.

  Beaver, Frank. Oliver Stone: Wakeup Cinema. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994.

  Bethell, Tom. “Conspiracy to End Conspiracies.” National Review, December 16, 1991.

  Blakey, G. Robert, and Richard N. Billings, The Plot to Kill the President. New York: Times Books, 1981.

  Brener, Milton. The Garrison Case: A Study in the Abuse of Power. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1969.

  Chandler, David. “The Devil’s D.A.” New Orleans, November 1966.

  ———. “The Assassin’s Trail.” Westword, November 25–December 1, 1992.

  Clayman, Charles B., ed. Encyclopedia of Medicine. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1989.

  Crowdus, Gary. “Personal Struggles and Political Issues: An Interview with Oliver Stone.” Cineaste, vol. 16, no. 3, 1988.

  Ehrenstein, David. “JFK—A New Low For Hollywood.” The Advocate, January 14, 1992.

  Epstein, Edward Jay. Counterplot. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1969.

  ———. “The Second Coming of Jim Garrison.” Atlantic Monthly, March 1993.

  “The Garrison Investigation: How and why it began.” New Orleans, April 1967.

  Garrison, Jim. A Heritage of Stone. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970.

  ———. On the Trail of the Assassins: My Investigation and Prosecution of the Murder of President Kennedy. New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1988; Warner Books, 1991.

  ———. The Star Spangled Contract. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1976.

  Hare, Robert D. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. New York: Pocket Books, 1993.

  James, Rosemary, and Jack Wardlaw. Plot or Politics?: The Garrison Case and Its Cast. New Orleans: Pelican Publishing House, 1967.

  JFK: The Book of the Film. Compiled by Jane Rusconi. New York: Applause Books, 1992.

  Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. Memorial Edition. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964.

  Kirkwood, James. “Surviving.” Esquire, December 1968.

  ———. American Grotesque. 2d ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970.

  Lane, Mark. Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK? New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1991.

  Lifton, David S. Best Evidence. New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc., 1980.

  ———. “Is Garrison Out of His Mind?” Open City, May 31–June 6, 1968.

  Marrs, Jim. Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1989.

  Oglesby, Carl. The JFK Assassination. New York: Signet, 1992.

  Phelan, James. “The Vice Man Cometh.” The Saturday Evening Post, June 1963.

  ———. “A Plot to Kill Kennedy? Rush to Judgment in New Orleans.” The Saturday Evening Post, May 6, 1967.

  ———. “Clay Shaw.” Penthouse, November 1969.

  ———. Scandals, Scamps and Scoundrels: The Casebook of an Investigative Reporter. New York: Random House, 1982. Chap. 8, “Jim Garrison v. Clay Shaw.”

  Posner, Gerald. Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK. New York: Random House, 1993.

  Prouty, L. Fletcher. JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1992.

  Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and twenty-six volumes of Hearings and Exhibits. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964.

  Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives, and twelve volumes of Hearings and Appendices, 1979.

  Roberts, Gene. “The Case of Jim Garrison and Lee Oswald.” The New York Times Magazine, May 21, 1967.

  Rogers, Warren. “The Persecution of Clay Shaw.” Look, August 26, 1969.

  Stone, Oliver. “Oliver Stone Talks Back.” Premiere, January 1992.

  Scheer, Robert. “Oliver Stone Builds His Own Myths.” Los Angeles Times, Calendar, December 1991.

  Schiff, Stephen. “The Last Wild Man.” The New Yorker, Aug. 8, 1994.

  Talbot, Stephen. “60s Something.” Mother Jones, March-April 1991.

  Thompson, Josiah. Six Seconds In Dallas. New York: Bernard Geis Associates, 1967.

  ———. “The Cross Fire That Killed President Kennedy.” The Saturday Evening Post, December 2, 1967.

  Weisberg, Harold. Oswald In New Orleans. New York: Canyon Books, 1967.

  Whalen, Richard J. “The Kennedy Assassination.” The Saturday Evening Post, January 14, 1967.

  Williams, Harry T. Huey Long. New York: Vintage Books, 1981.

  Wise, David. “Secret Evidence on the Kennedy Assassination.” The Saturday Evening Post, April 6, 1968.

  Yarbrough, Jeff. “Heart of Stone.” The Advocate, April 7, 1992.

  COURT TRANSCRIPTS

  Clay L. Shaw, Arrestee. Criminal District Court For The Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, No. M-703. 1967 transcript.

  State of Louisiana v. Clay L. Shaw. Criminal District Court, Parish of Orleans, No. 198-059. 1969 transcript.

  Clay L. Shaw v. Jim Garrison. United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans Division, No. 71-135. 1971 transcript.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  James Phelan was the first and staunchest champion of this work. He shared with me his knowledge of the case, his files, his unique writer’s eye, his wisdom, and his friendship. David Snyder’s information was invaluable and his assistance ongoing. William Wegmann answered all my questions with fine humor and steered me to the Christenberry hearing. Irvin Dymond provided indispensable insights. Salvatore Panzeca’s recollections inform the pages of this book. Cynthia Wegmann shared with me her father’s papers and her memories of Clay Shaw and that difficult time.

  Edward O’Donnell provided a copy of his report on Perry Russo’s polygraph test and recalled his meetings with Garrison about it. David Chandler contributed firsthand knowledge of Garrison’s personal life and his arrangement with Life magazine. Leonard Gurvich provided insights into Garrison and the personalities in his office, as well as details concerning Perry Russo’s first polygraph. Hugh Aynesworth described his experiences with Garri
son and sent a batch of useful material. Barbara Snyder recalled her impressions of David Ferrie and their conversations during his final days. James Kruebbe recounted his polygraph examination of Vernon Bundy and the scene in Garrison’s office afterwards, and shared the report he wrote concerning all of it.

  Richard Kilbourne enlightened me on the Clinton witnesses. Richard Kilbourne, Jr. enlightened me on the history and culture of that region. Meeting the remarkable Anne Dischler was one of the highlights of my research; I am indebted to her for sharing her records and recollections. Aline Woodside (who directed me to Anne Dischler) and Dr. Frank Silva filled in missing pieces of the puzzle surrounding East Louisiana State Hospital.

  Herbert W. Christenberry, Jr. (whom I contacted after this book was written) passed on information about his father. Harry Connick’s cooperation was generous, and his description of his meeting with Oliver Stone was revealing. Dr. Edwin Weinstein informed me about the nature of sodium Pentothal. Raymond Comstock supplied useful information. It was gracious of James Alcock to speak to me.

  Over the past five years, Paul Hoch has been a trusted touchstone on all matters concerning this book; he also read all the revisions. Tom Dardis has been a valuable and ongoing source of guidance. Terry Nixon made a contribution to my earliest effort. Milton Brener offered valuable practical advice. Bill Lambert, Shirley Warmuth, and Joe Warmuth also read the manuscript and provided helpful comments.

  Steve Tilley and his staff at the National Archives answered my inquiries, kept my orders filled, and helped make my time there productive. David Lifton loaned me his Garrison clippings. Gus Russo shared his amazing personal directory. Amalie Phelan and Ginger Liebovitz provided insights in their field. A conversation with my nephew Terry Brossett caused me to embark on this book.

  John Diamond kept the project afloat and my spirits up. Dr. Daniel Reeves kept me physically intact. The encouragement of friends and family kept me on an even keel. I am especially indebted to Mike Billings, Shirley Warmuth, Vicki Bleak, Marguerite Edelstein, Ginger Beattie, Amalie Phelan, Don Bleak, Joe Warmuth, Karen Beattie, Maurice Edelstein, Jeannette Billings, Pat Jacobs, Jesse Billings, and Lois Lambert. Without the confidence and support of my husband, this book would not have been written.