Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery

by Norman Mailer

  The headquarters of the Central Committee of the CP is located on Karl Marx Street, an eight-story yellow metal and brick structure. It is a rectangular-shaped [building] with almost none of the gaudy decorations seen on most buildings in the city. “The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP of the Republic of Byelorussia” is the imposing title carried by a short stocky man in his late 50’s, K. T. Mazarof. Rarely seen on the streets, he and his family occupy a huge 8-room apartment on the top floor of a government apartment house on Prospekt Stalin. Entrance to this apartment building is guarded day and night by one uniformed policeman who checks passes and keeps unauthorized persons out. Here is also the residence of several ministers, such as Minister of Education K. S. Poroshebed, and Minister of Administration E. Zhezhel. Mazarof controls and directs all activities in his republic with authority no United States governor ever enjoyed, since his authority cannot be controlled or challenged by court orders or injunctions as it often is in the United States. Mazarof is responsible directly to Moscow and the Party Presidium chaired by Khrushchev. He appears in the reviewing box in the center of his cronies on the May 1st and November 7th holidays where he waves a congenial hand occasionally without the trace of a smile . . .

  Corruption in the USSR takes [its] major form in embezzling and greasing of palms . . . In 1961, the death penalty for embezzlement of state funds in large sums was reenacted as an answer to widespread pilfering of goods, crops, and embezzlement of money and state bonds. On any collective farm, there is a certain percentage of state goods illegally appropriated by the collective farmers for their own private use to make up for low wages and therefore low living conditions. Often [these goods are] sold to private individuals, stores, or at open market types of bazaars. These goods may consist of only a pilfered lamp or piglet, or may run to scores of sheep or cows hidden in backwater swamps or thick pine forest and sold by the appropriator, [either] piecemeal or in wholesale lots, to crooked store supervisors, who are supposed to buy state meats and crops at government prices but pocket the difference in price from the black market without making entrance in their books that such merchandise was bought for state prices. Such practices are so common that without them, many stores would be almost empty if they had to rely on the sporadic poor-quality meat brought in from the state slaughterhouses at high prices. The directorship of even a small fruit or milk store opens up wide opportunities for lucrative enterprises by persons with even a slight business sense. It is almost impossible for the authorities to act on such goings-on because of difficulty in obtaining proof in acceptable amounts; such goings-on are usually in small amounts. Materials such as electrical appliances are often riddled with speculation, which often leads to poor goods or bad foods brought in and sold under the counter. Examples are horse meat used to supplement a “beef stew.” Most of the bureaucratic apparatus can be detoured by a well-placed 10-spot. Persons occupying most of the housing ministry and passport office and visa offices expect remuneration for the life and death services which all Russians seek—namely—to receive permission for an apartment, and official visas to live in such an apartment. [By the] compulsory laws of the Soviet Union, without a city visa stamp, a person cannot work in that city. Once a position or work is decided upon or taken, it is a very difficult process to secure permission and work in order to receive an apartment in another city, therefore, to live in another city. In such instances, the administrator of an apartment house may expect 60–100 rubles for his stamp of approval on a request blank for an apartment, or to [approve] moving into an apartment already occupied by a family who is expecting to leave one city for another, the usual method of getting an apartment or room without having to wait on the so-called housing list, on which [it] may take 5–7 years to receive a one-room “apartment.” . . .

  On election day, all voters go to the polls (usually a school) and vote; they are given a ballot, which they drop into a box. On the ballot is the single name of the candidate for each post. That’s all anybody ever does to “vote.” This system ensures a 99% voter turnout and predetermined victory. In each polling place, there is a booth for secret balloting (crossing out the candidate and writing in your own). Under Soviet law, anyone can do this; nobody does for the obvious reason that anyone who enters the booth may be identified. There is a Soviet joke about the floor dropping out from under anyone stepping into the booth. But the fact is that if the entire population used the polling booth, they could beat the system. However, years of mass discipline and fear have made the people afraid to attempt any such demonstration. And with no means of communication in the hands of a would-be candidate, there is no way to communicate with the people and whip up support for a dark-horse candidate . . .

  GLOSSARY OF NAMES

  An asterisk indicates a pseudonym. Occasionally, by request, a person is identified only by his or her first name. A few women who testified before the Warren Commission were identified by married names only (i.e., Mrs. John Doe instead of Mary Doe) and are so listed in this glossary.

  JOHN ABT: a New York lawyer whom Oswald tried to contact after his arrest in Dallas

  ROSA AGAFONOVA: senior interpreter at Moscow’s Hotel Berlin Intourist office

  ADRIAN ALBA: proprietor of a garage next door to Reily Coffee Co.

  ALBINA: friend of the Zigers’

  ALIK: first name used most frequently for Oswald by his Russian friends and acquaintances

  ALKA: variant of Alik

  ALYOSHA: nickname given Oswald by Stellina

  DEAN ADAMS ANDREWS: lawyer whose office was visited by Oswald

  COLONEL ANDREYEV*: KGB officer who interrogated Yuri Merezhinsky

  DON RAY ARCHER: Dallas police detective who was present at Oswald’s murder and assisted in Ruby’s arrest

  EUSEBIO AZCUE: Consul at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City in 1963

  THOMAS BAGSHAW: Oswald’s roommate at Atsugi airbase in Japan

  MARRION BAKER: motorcycle police officer in the Kennedy motorcade

  SAMUEL BALLEN: corporate executive who met with Oswald at George De Mohrenschildt’s request

  GUY BANISTER: retired FBI agent who was working as a private detective while Oswald was in New Orleans

  TOMMY BARGAS: Oswald’s supervisor at Leslie Welding

  PAULINE VIRGINIA BATES: public stenographer who transcribed portions of Oswald’s essay on life in the USSR

  GALINA (GALYA) BELYANKIN: Yuri Belyankin’s wife, a model who knew Marina and Lee

  YURI BELYANKIN: Moscow-based cinematographer who met Marina and Lee while working in Minsk

  MARY BLEDSOE: Oswald’s first landlady when he returned to Dallas from Mexico City in October 1963

  KONSTANTIN (KOSTYA) BONDARIN: student at Minsk Medical Institute; briefly one of Marina’s boyfriends in 1961

  PROFESSOR BONDARIN: faculty member of Minsk Medical Institute

  GEORGE BOUHE: unofficial leader of the Russian émigré community in Dallas

  JACK BOWEN: Oswald’s co-worker at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

  ELMER BOYD: Dallas police officer present during some of Oswald’s questioning on November 22–24, 1963

  HOWARD BRENNAN: a witness who saw a rifleman in a window of the Texas School Book Depository

  JOHNNY BREWER: shoe store manager who saw Oswald enter the Texas Theatre without paying and had cashier call the police

  CARLOS BRINGUIER: anti-Castro Cuban exile; one of Oswald’s opponents in the New Orleans radio debate

  EMILE BRUNEAU: friend of Charles Murret; arranged bail for Oswald after his arrest in New Orleans

  EDWARD BUTLER: head of the anti-Communist Information Council of the Americas; one of Oswald’s opponents in the New Orleans radio debate

  RICHARD CALL: served with Oswald in USMC, California

  DONALD CAMARATA: served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

  JOHN CARRO: social worker who knew Oswald during his stay at Youth House in New York in 1953

  GALI CLARK: Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in
Dallas

  MAX CLARK: Dallas lawyer, married to Gali Clark

  LUCILLE CONNELL: Sylvia Odio’s friend

  PETER CONNOR: served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

  SHERMAN COOLEY: served with Oswald in USMC boot camp

  LARRY CRAFARD: handyman at Jack Ruby’s nightclub

  JESSE CURRY: Dallas Chief of Police

  “GATOR” DANIELS: served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

  NELSON DELGADO: served with Oswald in USMC, California

  GEORGE DE MOHRENSCHILDT: Russian émigré; Oswald’s best friend in Dallas

  JEANNE DE MOHRENSCHILDT: George De Mohrenschildt’s fourth and last wife

  WILLIAM DONOVAN: Oswald’s radar supervisor in USMC, California

  SILVIA DURAN: secretary to the Cuban Consul at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City in September 1963

  LYDIA DYMITRUK: Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

  EDDIE DZHUGANIAN: a romantic interest of Marina’s in Leningrad

  MYRTLE EVANS: helped Oswald find an apartment when he returned to New Orleans in spring of 1963

  JOHN FAIN: FBI agent who interviewed Oswald in Dallas after his return to the U.S.

  DAVID FERRIE: associate of Guy Banister and adult leader of Civil Air Patrol in New Orleans when Oswald was a teenaged member

  DECLAN FORD: Katya Ford’s husband

  KATYA FORD: Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

  WESLEY FRAZIER: Ruth Paine’s neighbor and an employee at Texas School Book Depository

  WILL FRITZ: Dallas Police Captain; Oswald’s chief interrogator after his arrest

  GALINA (GALYA): Marina’s half-sister

  MRS. JESSE GARNER: the Oswalds’ New Orleans landlady on Magazine Street

  JIM GARRISON: New Orleans District Attorney who brought Clay Shaw, a prominent businessman, to trial for conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy

  PHILLIP GERACI: a teenager present in Carlos Bringuier’s New Orleans store when Oswald initially approached the Cuban exile

  ELLA GERMANN: Oswald’s radio factory co-worker whom he courted for nine months

  PAVEL GOLAVACHEV: Oswald’s friend and KGB informant

  JOHN GRAEF: Oswald’s supervisor at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

  EVA GRANT: Jack Ruby’s sister

  STEPAN VASILYEVICH GREGORIEFF*: KGB officer, Minsk; developer (analyst and administrator) on Oswald case

  PETER PAUL GREGORY: Russian-born petroleum engineer who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

  GURI: Valya Prusakova’s father

  ANNA HALL: Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Fort Worth

  LORAN HALL: anti-Castroite who claimed that he visited Sylvia Odio with a companion who resembled Oswald

  JAMES HOSTY: FBI agent who twice visited Ruth Paine’s home looking for Oswald

  INESSA: Marina’s girlfriend in Minsk

  IRINA*: Marina’s girlfriend in Leningrad

  WILLIAM JARMAN: Oswald’s co-worker at the Texas School Book Depository

  KATYA: worker at Minsk radio factory

  ALEX KLEINLERER: Russian émigré who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

  NELLYA KORBINKA: student at the Foreign Languages Institute, Minsk, with whom Oswald claimed to have had an affair

  LUDMILA KUZMICH: Larissa’s older sister; wife of Mikhail Kuzmich and Valya and Ilya’s neighbor

  MIKHAIL KUZMICH: MVD medical officer, Ilya’s co-worker and neighbor; Larissa’s brother-in-law

  VALERY KOSTIKOV: KGB officer attached to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City; saw Oswald during his visits to the Embassy

  VLADIMIR (VOLODYA) KRUGLOV: student Marina met during a summer visit in 1957 to Ilya and Valya

  IGOR IVANOVICH GUZMIN*: Chief of Counterintelligence, KGB, Byelorussia, at the time of Oswald’s arrival in Minsk

  LARISSA (LYALYA): Marina’s best friend in Minsk; Valya and Ilya’s neighbor

  CHARLES LEBLANC: Oswald’s co-worker at Reily Coffee Co.

  LIBEZIN: Party Secretary at Minsk radio factory

  LIKHOI: KGB nickname for Oswald used frequently in surveillance reports

  LYUBA: Marina’s aunt; Ilya’s sister

  MAGDA*: worker at Minsk radio factory

  CARLOS MARCELLO: head of the Mafia in New Orleans

  GENERAL MAROV*: composite character expressing the views of three high-ranking KGB officers in Moscow and Minsk, all of whom wished to remain anonymous

  FRANCIS MARTELLO: New Orleans police lieutenant who interviewed Oswald after his arrest for the street altercation with Bringuier

  PRISCILLA JOHNSON MCMILLAN: American writer who interviewed Oswald in Moscow; later, Marina’s biographer

  JOHN MCVICKAR: Snyder’s assistant at the American Embassy, Moscow, at the time of Oswald’s arrival

  ALEXANDER MEDVEDEV: Marina’s stepfather

  KLAVDIA (KLAVA) MEDVEDEV (NÉE PRUSAKOVA): Marina’s mother

  PETYA MEDVEDEV: Marina’s half-brother

  YEVDOKIA MEDVEDEV: Marina’s step-grandmother

  ANNA MELLER: Russian émigrée who knew the Oswalds in Dallas

  YURI MEREZHINSKY: student at Minsk Medical Institute, son of high-ranking scientists

  LAWRENCE MEYERS: Jack Ruby’s friend

  ALINE MOSBY: UPI reporter who interviewed Oswald in Moscow

  DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY: served with Oswald in USMC

  CHARLES (DUTZ) MURRET: Oswald’s uncle; Lillian Murret’s husband

  DOROTHY MURRET: Oswald’s cousin; Lillian Murret’s daughter

  JOHN MURRET: Lillian Murret’s son; Oswald’s cousin

  LILLIAN MURRET: Oswald’s aunt; Marguerite’s sister

  MUSYA: Marina’s aunt; Ilya’s sister

  NALIM: KGB nickname (meaning “eel-like”) for Oswald; used in some reports

  OLEG NECHIPORENKO: KGB officer attached to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City as a consular officer, present during one of Oswald’s visits to the Embassy

  NIKOLAEV: engineer who worked with Ilya in Arkhangelsk, said by the Prusakov family to be Marina’s natural father

  HAROLD NORMAN: Oswald’s co-worker at Texas School Book Depository

  JOYCE MURRET O’BRIEN: Lillian Murret’s daughter

  ANNIE ODIO: Sylvia Odio’s sister

  SYLVIA (SILVIA) ODIO: Cuban exile living in Dallas who testified to the Warren Commission that Oswald, accompanied by three Cuban strangers claiming to be anti-Castro associates of her father, visited her home in late September 1963

  HART ODUM: FBI agent who contacted Marina on several occasions after the assassination

  DENNIS OFSTEIN: Oswald’s co-worker at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall

  YAEKO OKUI: young Japanese woman with whom Oswald had an extended conversation at a party

  MACK OSBORNE: served with Oswald in USMC, California

  MARGUERITE CLAVERIE OSWALD: Oswald’s mother

  MARINA PRUSAKOVA OSWALD: wife of Lee Harvey Oswald

  ROBERT OSWALD: Oswald’s older brother

  VADA OSWALD: Robert Oswald’s wife

  MICHAEL PAINE: Ruth Paine’s estranged husband

  RUTH PAINE: Marina’s friend in whose home she, June, and Rachel lived after the Oswalds returned to Dallas from New Orleans

  INNA PASENKO: student at Minsk Foreign Language Institute

  OREST PENA: owner of the Habana Bar in New Orleans

  JOHN PIC: Oswald’s older half-brother

  MARGERY (MARGY) PIC: John Pic’s wife

  SASHA PISKALEV: medical student; suitor to Marina in Minsk

  JERRY PITTS: served with Oswald in USMC, Japan

  DANIEL POWERS: served with Oswald in USMC

  MAX PROKHORCHIK: worker at Minsk radio factory; married Ella Germann

  ILYA PRUSAKOV: Marina’s uncle and a colonel in the MVD