Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation Into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination
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Flo, they’re going to kill him. They’re going to kill him when he gets to Texas.2
Another death that should be investigated is the case of Manuel Artime, who died on November 18, 1977. Gaeton Fonzi, Special Investigator to the U.S. Congress’ House Select Committee on Assassinations, was highly professional and not one to make wild claims. Yet, Fonzi concluded that Manuel Artime might have been a double agent working for Cuban Intelligence,3 and also included Artime’s death, specifically, as being of a suspicious nature:
There are some, what I call mysterious deaths. Artime fits into that
category—he got cancer awfully fast.4
Artime died from rapid-onset cancer just as he was preparing to testify before the 1977 Congressional Committee. It should be noted David Ferrie and Dr. Mary Sherman had been working on rapid-onset cancer to be used as an assassination technique targeting Fidel Castro. Notes about methods of inducing cancer were found in Ferrie’s apartment after his death. Artime was apparently playing both sides of the fence in the secret anti-Castro intelligence operations; working with Bobby Kennedy’s team but also passing info to the mob.5 Rolando Masferrer, a killer associated with Mobster Santo Trafficante’s organization, was brought into the anti-Castro operations through Johnny Roselli or Manuel Artime.6 Note that all the aforementioned witnesses died prior to, or during, the Congressional Committee that was specifically investigating links between the assassination and anti-Castro operations: Rolando Masferrer, Manuel Artime, Johnny Roselli, Sam Giancana, and George de Mohrenschildt.
1 Ibid.
2 John Simkin, “John Martino: Biography,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 11 Dec. 2012: http://www.spartacus
.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmartino.htm
3 John Simkin, “Manuel Artime: Biography,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 12 Dec. 2012: http://www.spartacus
.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKartimeM.htm
4 Ibid.
5 Waldron & Hartmann, Ultimate Sacrifice: http://www.ultimatesacrificebook.com/documentation.html
6 Ibid.
• Win Scott was the CIA Station Chief in Mexico City during the time period that Lee Harvey Oswald’s intelligence legend was being established in Mexico. He retired in 1969, and wrote a manuscript about his career and its adventures. The CIA’s Counterintelligence Chief, James Angleton, quickly confiscated many sensitive materials upon Scott’s death on April 26, 1971, reportedly of a heart attack. Angleton took a manuscript and three cartons of files, containing tape recordings of Lee Harvey Oswald. His son fought to get the materials back but was only partially successful; everything regarding his father’s life after 1947, was removed for reasons of “National Security.”1
Michael Scott was also told by a CIA source that his father had not died from natural causes.2
• Desmond Fitzgerald was in charge of all Clandestine Operations at CIA and reportedly died of a heart attack on July 23, 1967.3 But note what was written about that death by veteran Military Intelligence covert operative, Richard Case Nagell:
Now there is a corpse that should be exhumed and examined by a qualified pathologist.4
If you wonder what Mr. Nagell meant by the above statement—so do we. In fact, we should all probably be curious about that one.
• The death of Ed Voebel is another case of interest, primarily due to the fact that Voebel was a witness whose testimony actually proved that there had to be an intelligence “double” for Lee Harvey Oswald. Decades of research by author John Armstrong has substantiated that there had to be at least two “Oswalds” being used in the spy games of the U.S. intelligence community before, during, and after his staged defection to the Soviet Union. That so-called “defection” was an obvious intelligence maneuver and a very transparent one, at that.5
Voebel’s testimony documented the existence of the Oswald double because it proved, via documentation in dental history, that the Oswald he knew in school had a tooth knocked out—but the Oswald who was buried had no missing or crowned teeth. That really nails it down, because dental records never lie. It’s a fascinating story, from John Armstrong’s seminal
1 John Simkin, “Deaths of Witnesses Connected to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 13 Dec. 2012: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKdeaths.htm
2 Ibid.
3 John Simkin, “Desmond Fitzgerald: Biography,” Spartacus Educational, accessed 13 Dec. 2012: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKfitzgeraldD.htm
4 Russell, “Richard Case Nagell: The Man Who Knew Too Much,” http://www.dickrussell.org/articles/richard.htm
5 Belzer & Wayne, Dead Wrong, 116-125.
study of the matter, in the book, Harvey and Lee, portions of which are accessible online.1
Social Context
In a larger sense, the witness deaths in general—and the national security assassinations in particular—are indicative of a greater problem regarding the difficult maturation process of the American “experiment in Democracy.”
We are reminded of the timeless words of relentless District Attorney, Jim Garrison, reminiscing about the haunting events witnessed in his experience. It’s an admittedly long excerpt—and frankly, we should all study every syllable of it. Because precisely what Jim Garrison was worried about happening to the United States of America seems to be exactly what has happened. This is from a man who witnessed the fresh and horrific remains of Nazi concentration camps and it speaks from and to the heart of the whole human drama:
I was with the artillery supporting the division that took Dachau; I arrived there the day after it was taken, when bulldozers were making pyramids of human bodies outside the camp. What I saw there has haunted me ever since. Because the law is my profession, I’ve always wondered about the judges throughout Germany who sentenced men to jail for picking pockets at a time when their own government was jerking gold from the teeth of men murdered in gas chambers. I’m concerned about all of this because it isn’t a German phenomenon; it’s a human phenomenon. It can happen here, because there has been no change and there has been no progress and there has been no increase of understanding on the part of men for their fellow man.
What worries me deeply, and I have seen it exemplified in this case, is that we in America are in great danger of slowly evolving into a proto-fascist state. It will be a different kind of fascist state from the one of the Germans evolved; theirs grew out of depression and promised bread and work, while ours, curiously enough, seems to be emerging from prosperity. But in the final analysis, it’s based on power and on the inability to put human goals and human conscience above the dictates of the state. Its origins can be traced in the tremendous war machine we’ve built since 1945, the “military-industrial complex” that Eisenhower vainly warned us about, which now dominates every aspect of our life. The power of the states and Congress has gradually been abandoned to the Executive Department, because of war conditions; and we’ve seen the creation of an arrogant, swollen bureaucratic complex totally unfettered by the checks and balances of the Constitution.2
1 Armstrong, Harvey And Lee: The Magic Tooth: http://www.mindserpent.com/American_History/books/Armstrong/Tooth/Tooth.htm
2 JFK Lancer, “Jim Garrison’s Playboy Interview, Part Three,” accessed 4 Dec. 2012: http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison4.html
Mr. Garrison is, unfortunately, no longer with us, and therefore incapable of responding to his detractors, those self-proclaimed “conspiracy debunkers.” We are honored though, to close this book by responding to them on his behalf, and in his own words:
In a very real and terrifying sense, our Government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society. Of course, you can’t spot this trend to fascism by casually looking around. You can’t look for such familiar signs as the swastika, because they won’t be there. We won’t build Dachaus and Auschwitzes; the clever manipulation of the mass media is creating a concentration camp of the mind that promises to be far more effective in keeping the populace in line.
We’re not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find ourselves in gray uniforms goose-stepping off to work. But this isn’t the test. The test is: What happens to the individual who dissents? In Nazi Germany, he was physically destroyed; here, the process is more subtle, but the end results can be the same.
I’ve learned enough about the machinations of the CIA in the past year to know that this is no longer the dream world America I once believed in. The imperatives of the population explosion, which almost inevitably will lessen our belief in the sanctity of the individual human life, combined with the awesome power of the CIA and the defense establishment, seem destined to seal the fate of the America I knew as a child and bring us into a new Orwellian world where the citizen exists for the state and where raw power justifies any and every immoral act. I’ve always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my Government’s basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I’ve come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office. Huey Long once said, “Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.” I’m afraid, based on my own experience that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.1
1 Ibid.
Appendix
The following are the case-by-case conclusions for the fifty deaths investigated for this book.
Investigatory Results of Fifty Deaths Related To JFK Assassination
Victim
Date
Relationship
Determination
Officer J. D. Tippit
November 22, 1963
Dallas Police Department officer gunned down during the confusing exit of the JFK kill-team and the ex-filtration of a Military Intelligence “abort team” from Oak Cliff section of Dallas.
UNSOLVED MURDER: Was not shot by Lee Harvey Oswald as alleged.
Lee Harvey Oswald
November 24, 1963
U.S. Intelligence operative conducting simultaneous penetration of pro- and anti-Castro Cuban organizations, framed for assassination of JFK via “hijacked” anti-Castro intelligence operation.
MURDER: National Security Assassination that was brokered by the mafia.
Jack Ruby
January 3, 1967
Mob-affiliated nightclub owner who shot Oswald and was known to just about everyone connected to the JFK assassination; from Oswald to CIA and most points between. Worked on periphery of a top-secret “weaponized” cancer project and suspected it was used to terminate him after he was finally granted a new trial.
RAPID-ONSET CANCER: Possible National Security Assassination.
Jack Zangetty
Late November, 1963
Correctly predicted that Jack Ruby would eliminate Oswald and that the son of Frank Sinatra would be kidnapped to divert the public’s attention. Both took place just as he predicted and he was promptly murdered thereafter.
OFFICIALLY UNSOLVED MURDER: Eliminated by Mafia for knowing and talking too much.
Rose Cheramie (Melba Christine Marcades)
September 4, 1965
Officially classified as “accident victim,” she was a drug courier associated with Jack Ruby. She correctly predicted assassination two days prior to murder of JFK. She clearly possessed accurate foreknowledge and the fact that the victim was found on the property of the Chief of Security for Texas oilman H. L. Hunt is extremely relevant.
MURDER: Directly linked to JFK assassination.
Karyn Kupcinet
November 28, 1963
Did not place the mysterious phone call predicting the JFK assassination, but her murder may have been to divert the public’s attention (as the Sinatra kidnapping was), especially insofar as Chicago focus on Ruby and Chicago Mob.
OFFICIALLY UNSOLVED MURDER: Only relation to JFK assassination is as possible “shock crime.”
Grant Stockdale
December 2, 1963
Close friend of President Kennedy who supposedly jumped from his 13th-floor office because he was depressed. But the actual circumstances do not suggest suicide.
PROBABLE MURDER: Directly linked to JFK assassination.
Jim Koethe
September 21, 1964
Newspaper reporter who had been in Jack Ruby’s apartment the day Ruby shot Oswald. Killed by a karate chop to the neck. Officially ruled as a burglary and killed by the burglar. But all his notes for a book on JFK case were taken and never found.
OFFICIALLY UNSOLVED MURDER: Possible linkage to JFK assassination.
Bill Hunter
September 11, 1964
Also a newspaper reporter who also had been in Jack Ruby’s apartment the day Ruby shot Oswald. Victim was shot by police officer. Shooting appears accidental, but something of evidentiary importance may have occurred at Jack Ruby’s apartment on the day that he killed Oswald.
ACCIDENT, No apparent linkage to JFK assassination except victim’s presence at Ruby’s apartment.
Dorothy Kilgallen
November 8, 1965
Famous reporter who was the only one granted an interview by Jack Ruby. She vowed she would soon break the JFK case “wide open” and died of an overdose soon thereafter. Ruled Suicide or Accidental Overdose. But the crime scene was very clearly staged and her notes for her JFK book—as well as her “back-up” copy of them—completely vanished.
MURDER: Probable National Security Assassination—Direct linkage to JFK case.
Florence Pritchett Smith
November 9, 1965
Friend of Dorothy Kilgallen who had been entrusted with a back-up copy of Kilgallen’s notes and died the day after Dorothy. Cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage, apparently as a result of leukemia. But the notes were never found.
ILLNESS: No apparent linkage to JFK assassination except the disappearance of evidence.
Betty McDonald
February 13, 1964
Former dancer at Jack Ruby’s nightclub who provided the alibi for the shooter of another witness—Warren Reynolds. Although Reynolds was a clear case of witness intimidation, McDonald’s death in the Dallas jail appears unrelated.
SUICIDE OR MURDER: No apparent linkage to JFK assassination except clear case of witness intimidation upon Warren Reynolds.
Eddy Benavides
February, 1964
Domingo Benavides, the look-alike brother of the victim, eyewitnesses the murder of Officer Tippit (right after the JFK assassination) and was certain that his killer was not Oswald. His brother Eddy was then killed in a Dallas bar.
MURDER: No apparent linkage to JFK assassination except clear case of witness intimidation upon Domingo Benavides.
Bill Chesher
March 31, 1964
Auto mechanic who did have information about some of the links between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald, but appears to have died from natural causes.
HEART ATTACK: No apparent linkage to JFK assassination.
Hank Killam
March 17, 1964
Victim had known both Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald and was clearly in fear for his life, which he reported to anyone who would listen. Died from slit jugular vein and went crashing through the plate glass window of a store. Official determination was “suicide,” which was later changed to “accident.” But crime scene analysis clearly indicates homicide.
MURDER: National Security Assassination—Direct linkage to JFK case.
Gary Underhill
May 8, 1964
Veteran CIA agent who told friends he had direct knowledge of who was responsible for JFK’s murder. Like Killam, Underhill was also running for his life, also predicted his own murder, and also was murdered shortly after predicting it.
MURDER: National Security Assassination—Direct linkage to JFK case.
Guy Banister
June 6, 1964
Former head of FBI Chicago office who was a key handler of Oswald , the construction of Oswald’s intelligence “legend” and—in the opinion of District Attorney Garrison
—the set-up of Oswald as the fall guy. His extensive filing system then vanished.
HEART ATTACK: No immediate linkage to JFK assassination except the disappearance of evidence.
Hugh Ward
May 22, 1964
Hugh Ward and New Orleans’ Mayor Deslesseps Morrison died in the crash of the small plane piloted by Ward. Both men were connected to the whole New Orleans/Guy Banister apparatus at the heart of the conspiracy to kill JFK. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison was very interested in the actions of both men.
PLANE CRASH, POSSIBLE SABOTAGE: Double engine failure (concurrently) with fuel on board.
Deslesseps Morrison
May 22, 1964
No apparent inconsistencies, except for the virtually impossible coincidence that every witness connected to the Guy Banister aspect of the case had suddenly died just prior to their being sought in the investigation by District Attorney Jim Garrison.
PLANE CRASH, POSSIBLE SABOTAGE: Double engine failure (concurrently) with fuel on board.
Maurice Gatlin
May 28, 1965
Legal Counsel to the Minuteman group who was bag man (money transporter) for Guy Banister and CIA, and went off the 6th floor balcony of a hotel in Panama while Gatlin had been on a business trip.
HEART ATTACK + FALL FROM 6th FLOOR BALCONY: Possible linkage to JFK assassination.