Post by Rob Caprio on Mar 9, 2023 17:25:53 GMT -5
All portions are ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The Warren Commission (WC) reached a preconceived conclusion. That much should be obvious to even the most devout WC defender. IF not, then they should read this from the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA).
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On page 128 of their Report they wrote the following.
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For its part, the FBI mechanically ran out thousands of leads, but it FAILED to make use of its Cuban section of the Domestic Intelligence Division or to DEVELOP or SYSTEMATICALLY PURSUE INVESTIGATIVE HYPOTHESES of possible Cuban complicity. It must be said that the FBI generally EXHAUSTED its resources in CONFIRMING the case against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin, a case that Director J. Edgar Hoover, at least, SEEMED DETERMINED TO MAKE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE ASSASSINATION. (HSCA Report, p. 128)(Emphasis mine)
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This says it all. The FBI, thus, the WC, “exhausted their resources” in showing it was Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO), and LHO alone, but it did NOT spend much, if any time, in the way of finding other leads or options from the get-go. We know other people were detained, but in most cases there is no mention or record of who they were. We do have access to a few though, but it is just a fleeting glimpse.
One such mention is really just a blurb from Jim Leavelle’s account of his actions from 11/22 to 11/24/63. In Leavelle Exhibit A, page 499 we see the following comment.
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The uniform officers came up with a white man named William Sharp of 3439 Detonte, who the officers said had been up in the building across the street from the book depository WITHOUT A GOOD EXCUSE. I took charge of this man and escorted him to the Sheriff’s office, where I placed him with OTHER WITNESSES.
Several Burglary and Theft department detectives came in and volunteered their services for interrogation. I told them that if they would work with the Sheriff’s deputies, questioning the witnesses, I would return to the SCENE OF THE SHOOTING to assist in the search. (Jim Leavelle Exhibit A, p. 499) (Emphasis mine)
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Several questions jump to mind after reading this quick blurb by Leavelle. First of all, the officers felt this man warranted being brought in due to having “no good excuse” when there were so many other things that needed to be done, so why was he taken to the Sheriff’s department without even a question by Leavell (he does not mention questioning him at all)? Secondly, why would you place this SUSPECT with witnesses? Did he say he witnessed something? Was he brought in because he said he witnessed something? NO is the answer according to what Leavelle wrote, so why was he put in with witnesses?
Thirdly, why would you let a suspect in a MURDER be questioned by Burglary and Theft detectives? Finally, what “scene of the shooting” was he talking about? I guess he means the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD), but as we have seen in other posts the majority of witnesses, including many police officers, thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll (GK) and the railroad yards! So why was he so sure so fast the TSBD was the ONLY scene of the shooting at best?
These questions will never be answered now, but keep them in mind when you read the WC’s conclusion. Another man some have said may have been involved was Jack Lawrence. He came to Dallas shortly before the shooting and got a job as an automobile salesman at the Downtown Lincoln-Mercury dealership. Yes, the SAME dealership LHO, or someone acting like him, came into on November 9, 1963 to test drive an automobile (This was covered in "Statements That Sink The WC"s Conclusions #84 — Albert Bogard Issue.") and made a comment that he had NO money now, but would be coming into a good bit shortly.
IF we go to CE-3078, page 686 we will see the following from an FBI report from 9/9/64.
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He [Robert Teeter] said that Lawrence was an undesirable salesman, in that he was NOT a resident of Dallas or vicinity, and seemed to be just DRIFTING around the country. Lawrence listed some personal references, and those references did NOT answer correspondence sent to them, inquiring about Lawrence. When Lawrence went to work at Downtown Lincoln-Mercury, he was NOT given a demonstrator to use, because they had NO information as to Lawrence’s personal history or background, other than what Lawrence HAD TOLD THEM. When these references failed to reply, because he just did not work out, and was not the type of salesman liked to have working for them, in that he did not mix well with other salesman OR THE CUSTOMERS. (CE 3078, p. 686)(Emphasis mine)
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I can’t speak for others, but to me this sounds exactly like a PAID ASSASSIN’S or criminal’s background would sound. He would not of course have legitimate, or very good references as he would take these jobs as “cover” for his real mission. Unfortunately for President Kennedy, Lawrence was NOT fired UNTIL AFTER the assassination. Today we would like to think this couldn’t happen as most employers want ALL your information up front, but there are still jobs you can get with NO information (paid under the table types). To me, and according to Richard E. Sprague who worked on the HSCA investigation, Lawrence is a man who should have been investigated further. According to Sprague, in his book “Taking of America, 1-2-3”, he said Lawrence was a new recruit from Los Angeles (remember there was a plot that was planned for Los Angeles in the summer/fall of 1962). Possibly he was brought in by Jim Braden?
Here is what Sprague wrote about Lawrence in his book.
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The assassination group, having failed in Miami and Chicago, moved an operational team into Dallas during the second week in November of 1963. Shaw, Ferrie, Gabaldin and other high-level plotters travelled in other directions, establishing alibis as planned. On November 22, Gabaldin was in Mexico City, Shaw was in San Francisco, and Ferrie was in New Orleans. The team moving into Dallas included Albert Osborne, William Seymour, Emilio Santana, Frenchy, Fred Crisman, Jim Hicks, Jim Braden, and a new recruit from Los Angeles, Jack Lawrence. There was also a back-up rifle team of Cubans to be used at a location near the International Trade Mart in the event something went wrong at Dealey Plaza.
Where the Teams Stayed
The teams stayed at two locations in Dallas for two weeks. One was a rooming house run by a woman named Tammie True. During this period final preparations for the assassination in Dealey Plaza were made. These included the collecting of and planting of evidence used to frame Oswald, the recruiting of the Dallas police participants, and the plans for the escape of the team members by car and by train. The riflemen selected were William Seymour in the Depository Building, Jack Lawrence and Frenchy on the grassy knoll, and Emilio Santana in the Dal Tex building. Jim Hicks was set up as radio coordinator and a man with each of the riflemen had a two-way radio. They were Jim Braden, Dal Tex; Fred Crisman, knoll; unidentified American (tall tramp), knoll; and a man in the TSBD Building. Osborne was in overall charge of the Dallas teams, but he did not go to Dealey Plaza. A fifth gunman, known to researchers as the umbrella man, was stationed on the street with an umbrella weapon furnished by the CIA. He was accompanied by another Cuban acting as a radio man.
Dealey Plaza
On the day of the assassination four men with rifles, accompanied by their radio men and several other team members, moved into Dealey Plaza. Seymour and a radio man entered the TSBD Building through the freight entrance and worked their way to the roof. Santana and Braden went into the Dal Tex building through the freight entrance on Houston St. and up a back staircase to the second floor. Lawrence, Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp took up two positions on the grassy knoll. Lawrence was inside the westernmost cupola after parking his car in the parking lot behind the knoll. Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp were near the fence. Jim Hicks was in the Adolphus Hotel a few blocks away, testing the two-way radio communication with the four radio men, until he proceeded to the Plaza and mingled with a large crowd (near the corner of Houston and Elm Streets). The umbrella man stood near the Stemmons Freeway sign on Elm Street accompanied by his radio man.
The other team members stationed themselves in the crowd (along Elm Street). After the shots were fired, they circulated through the crowd in front of the TSBD on Elm Street, on the grassy knoll, and behind the TSBD Building, identifying themselves as Secret Service agents and asking witnesses and officials questions to find out whether the assassins had been detected. There are clear photos of one of these men. One other man was at the corner of the wall on the grassy knoll.
The Shots
Jack Lawrence did not fire a shot in the first round because from his cupola position he did not have a clear shot.
Upon command from his radio man, Jack Lawrence fired his first shot from a pedestal on the west side of the south entrance to the western cupola on the grassy knoll. The shot may have hit Connally's wrist.
Escape Routes
The gunmen who did escape followed these routes: Jack Lawrence got into his car parked behind the cupola and either drove or was driven back to his cover job location at the automobile agency. He left almost immediately afterward and travelled to North Carolina.
Dramatis Personae
Jack Lawrence
Resident of West Virginia and southern California. Minuteman and adventurer. Fired shots.
Richard E. Sprague, “Taking of America, 1-2-3”, 1976, Chapter 5
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Lawrence’s quick arrival, departure and shady personal history makes many consider him a suspect of some kind. Also, he was seen reentering the dealership shortly after the assassination whereby he went to the bathroom and according to some, he threw up. More importantly, he had mud on his shoes and lower pants area and we know footprints were found in the muddy ground BEHIND THE PICKET FENCE. We will never now for sure, but if 1/10th the effort was spent on Lawrence that was spent on LHO we may know for sure. Why did this never happen?
Others who were detained and never held were Jim Braden, Larry Florer, and the three famous “tramps”, whoever they were. (Numerous names have been given such as Doyle, Sturgis, E.H. Hunt, Harrelson, Frenchy, Gedney, etc...) IF the police would have acquired the REAL NAME for Braden they would have hit the jackpot! Brading had alleged ties to the mob in Southern California, the word alleged is necessary, but does not refute this claim as he had 35 arrests on his record but was still walking free. He had to have the right connections for this to happen. These connections were shown when Jim Garrison tried to subpoena him during his trial of Clay Shaw and Governor Ronald Reagan TURNED DOWN THE REQUEST! This is almost unheard of between states in the U.S.
Braden (really Brading) was in Dallas for "oil business" meetings according to him. His parole record mentioned a meeting with H.L. Hunt, a witness (Hunt chief of security Paul Rothermal) placed Braden and three friends at the offices of Lamar Hunt the afternoon before the assassination. Brading's presence in Hunt's office will be confirmed in a FBI report.
Coincidentally, Jack Ruby accompanied a young woman to the Hunt office that same afternoon. And on the twenty-first, Brading checked into the Cabana hotel in Dallas, where Jack Ruby just happened to visit sometime around midnight that same evening.
Who was the young woman? According to Hunt's former chief aide, John Curington, Marina Oswald met with Hunt two days before the shooting, could she have been this young woman?
[This was written a good number of years ago and I know who the woman is now. A brand new "Statements That Sink..." will be coming soon.]
On November 23, Hunt asked his chief aide to see what kind of security the police had for Oswald. The aide reported that Oswald had very little protection and that security was very lax at police headquarters where Oswald was being kept. Hunt flew to Washington, D.C., shortly after receiving this report. Oswald was killed on November 24. Draw your own conclusions, but remember the "Mr. Hunt" note from LHO? The WC defender camp wants everyone to think this is a fake, but was it? Documents declassified in 1983 revealed that FBI apparently believed the note was addressed to H. L. Hunt's ultra-conservative millionaire son, Nelson Hunt.
Back to Braden, he was in the Dal-Tex building at the time of the shooting and drew the attention of the elevator operator as being the only unknown man he sees that day. Feeling the man doesn't belong in the building the operator seeks out a policeman, who detains the suspicious man, bringing him to the Sheriff's office for questioning. They hold him for nearly three hours, he tells them his name is Jim Braden, and that he is in Dallas on oil business. He shows them identification, and explains he had entered the building in hopes of finding a telephone to call his mother. Braden further asserts he entered the building only after the assassination occurred. Here is his account in his deposition given to the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
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Before me, the undersigned authority, on this the 22 day of November A.D. 1963 personally appeared Jim Braden, Address 621 S. Barrington Drive Apt 6 Los Angeles Calf. Office 215 S. La Cienega Blvd. Beverly Hills, California, Age 49 , Phone No. 4725301 Home
Deposes and says:
I am here on business (oil business) and was walking down Elm Street trying to get a cab and there wasn't any. I heard people talking saying "My God the President has been shot." Police cars were passing me coming down toward the triple underpass and I walked up among many other people all watching them. I moved on up to the building across the street from the building that was surrounded and I ask [sic] one of the girls if there was a telephone that I could use and she said "Yes, there is one on the third floor of the building where I work". I walked through a passage to the elevator they were all getting on (freight elevator) and I got off on the third floor with all the other people and there was a lady using the pay telephone and I ask [sic] her if I could use it when she hung up and she said it was out of order and I tried to use it but with no success. I ask [sic] her how I can get out of this building and she said that there is an exit right there and then she said wait a minute here is the elevator now. I got on the elevator and returned to the ground floor and the colored man who ran the elevator said you are a stranger in this building and I am was [sic] notsuppose [sic] to let you up and he ran outside to an officer and said to the officer that he [sic] had just taken me up and down in the elevator and the officer said for me to identify myself and I presented him with a credit card and he said well we have to check out everything and took me to his superior and said for me to wait and we will check it out. I was then taken to the Sheriffs office and interrogated.
/s/ Jim Braden
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963
/s/ Evelyn Cox
Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas
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If you think the DPD and Sheriff’s office would detain someone at this time for asking to use a phone ONLY then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you to look at. Notice he says he was taken to the Sheriff’s office and “interrogated”! Is that normal for a person who just wants to use the phone? Something about him tipped them off. The same thing was seen with Larry Florer as he too approached the Dal-Tex building looking for a phone and he too would be detained. His story is very much like Jim Braden’s. Here is a portion of his deposition.
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Before me, the undersigned authority, on this the 22nd day of November A.D. 1963 personally appeared Larry Florer Address 3609 Potomac, Dallas, Texas Age 23 , Phone No. LA 1-7150
Deposes and says:
…I stood there for a few minutes and then a lady that was standing next tome [sic], I asked her where there was a telephone, and she said that the only pay phone that she knew of was in the County Records building. She said that there were a lot of phones on the third floor of this building that I was standing in front of. She said that she worked on the third floor and there was probably a phone up there that I could use. So I rode up the elevator with this lady and got off onthe [sic] third floor with this lady and we walked to the information desk and this lady went on back to her department, to her spot. So then I, there was a lady at the information desk and I asked her if I could borrow her telephone and she said that all the lines were busy, or something to that effect. So I stood there for a minute and a fellow walked up to me. He asked me what I want ed [sic] and he told me that I couldn't use the phone. So I walked back down to the elevator and rode it back down to the lobby. As soon as I got to the lobby I walked back outside and the fellow that I had talked to about using the phone was pointing out the window, pointing toward me and said that I was the man that was on the third floor. At this time two officer [sic] walked up to me and said for me to come with them. These offices brought me to the County Sheriff's Office. At no time did I see anyone leaving the building, the Texas School Book Depository, while I was across the street from it.
/s/ Larry Florer
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963
/s/ C. C. Gentry
Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas
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Again, we get the innocent, I just wanted to use a phone spiel. Why were the police detaining folks coming out of the Dal-Tex building if NO one thought SHOTS ORIGINATED FROM THERE? Notice how Florer was pointed out like LHO would be in Texas Theater by the man he asked about using a phone. Was requesting to use a phone a crime?
Eventually, the police accept his explanation and release him. Jim Braden is actually Eugene Hale Brading, an ex-con from Southern California with reputed underworld ties. If the DPD knew his actual name they would have seen he was a parolee with 35 arrests on his record!
Richard E. Sprague, who worked with the HSCA investigators, said they turned up evidence to show Braden was part of the team that went into the Dal-Tex building via the freight elevator and took the backstairs to the second floor. The shooter was, according to Sprague, Emilio Santana with Braden as the radio operator. They were part of a three team effort. They used the broom closet in the Dal-Tex building on the second floor and in the Atlgens photo a dark arm is seen protruding from this open window near the fire escape.
Further Southern California mob ties are evident in Dealey Plaza that day. At 12:33 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig see the police detain a Latin man whom they have seized on Elm St. In a few minutes Craig will see the same man driving a Rambler station wagon. The Latin man is released from police detainment by someone who *says he is a Secret Service agent.* Craig will eventually identify this "agent", from photographs, as being possibly Edgar Eugene Bradley - an ex-convict allegedly connected to the mob in Southern California. (Bradley is also in LA on the night RFK is assassinated.)
These are but a few of the many examples of people being detained that should have caused major red flags for the DPD if they were really interested in finding out what happened to the 35th President, but alas, they decided to back off and focus on one "lone-nut" instead.
The HSCA’s comments and these individuals stories sink the conclusion the WC reached “after considering all options” as it is apparent they focused on NO one but LHO from the very beginning.
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The Warren Commission (WC) reached a preconceived conclusion. That much should be obvious to even the most devout WC defender. IF not, then they should read this from the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA).
*************************************************
On page 128 of their Report they wrote the following.
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historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0079b.gif
For its part, the FBI mechanically ran out thousands of leads, but it FAILED to make use of its Cuban section of the Domestic Intelligence Division or to DEVELOP or SYSTEMATICALLY PURSUE INVESTIGATIVE HYPOTHESES of possible Cuban complicity. It must be said that the FBI generally EXHAUSTED its resources in CONFIRMING the case against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin, a case that Director J. Edgar Hoover, at least, SEEMED DETERMINED TO MAKE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE ASSASSINATION. (HSCA Report, p. 128)(Emphasis mine)
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This says it all. The FBI, thus, the WC, “exhausted their resources” in showing it was Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO), and LHO alone, but it did NOT spend much, if any time, in the way of finding other leads or options from the get-go. We know other people were detained, but in most cases there is no mention or record of who they were. We do have access to a few though, but it is just a fleeting glimpse.
One such mention is really just a blurb from Jim Leavelle’s account of his actions from 11/22 to 11/24/63. In Leavelle Exhibit A, page 499 we see the following comment.
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The uniform officers came up with a white man named William Sharp of 3439 Detonte, who the officers said had been up in the building across the street from the book depository WITHOUT A GOOD EXCUSE. I took charge of this man and escorted him to the Sheriff’s office, where I placed him with OTHER WITNESSES.
Several Burglary and Theft department detectives came in and volunteered their services for interrogation. I told them that if they would work with the Sheriff’s deputies, questioning the witnesses, I would return to the SCENE OF THE SHOOTING to assist in the search. (Jim Leavelle Exhibit A, p. 499) (Emphasis mine)
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0260a.htm
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Several questions jump to mind after reading this quick blurb by Leavelle. First of all, the officers felt this man warranted being brought in due to having “no good excuse” when there were so many other things that needed to be done, so why was he taken to the Sheriff’s department without even a question by Leavell (he does not mention questioning him at all)? Secondly, why would you place this SUSPECT with witnesses? Did he say he witnessed something? Was he brought in because he said he witnessed something? NO is the answer according to what Leavelle wrote, so why was he put in with witnesses?
Thirdly, why would you let a suspect in a MURDER be questioned by Burglary and Theft detectives? Finally, what “scene of the shooting” was he talking about? I guess he means the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD), but as we have seen in other posts the majority of witnesses, including many police officers, thought the shots came from the Grassy Knoll (GK) and the railroad yards! So why was he so sure so fast the TSBD was the ONLY scene of the shooting at best?
These questions will never be answered now, but keep them in mind when you read the WC’s conclusion. Another man some have said may have been involved was Jack Lawrence. He came to Dallas shortly before the shooting and got a job as an automobile salesman at the Downtown Lincoln-Mercury dealership. Yes, the SAME dealership LHO, or someone acting like him, came into on November 9, 1963 to test drive an automobile (This was covered in "Statements That Sink The WC"s Conclusions #84 — Albert Bogard Issue.") and made a comment that he had NO money now, but would be coming into a good bit shortly.
IF we go to CE-3078, page 686 we will see the following from an FBI report from 9/9/64.
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historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pages/WH_Vol26_0361b.gif
He [Robert Teeter] said that Lawrence was an undesirable salesman, in that he was NOT a resident of Dallas or vicinity, and seemed to be just DRIFTING around the country. Lawrence listed some personal references, and those references did NOT answer correspondence sent to them, inquiring about Lawrence. When Lawrence went to work at Downtown Lincoln-Mercury, he was NOT given a demonstrator to use, because they had NO information as to Lawrence’s personal history or background, other than what Lawrence HAD TOLD THEM. When these references failed to reply, because he just did not work out, and was not the type of salesman liked to have working for them, in that he did not mix well with other salesman OR THE CUSTOMERS. (CE 3078, p. 686)(Emphasis mine)
historymatters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/html/WH_Vol26_0361b.htm
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I can’t speak for others, but to me this sounds exactly like a PAID ASSASSIN’S or criminal’s background would sound. He would not of course have legitimate, or very good references as he would take these jobs as “cover” for his real mission. Unfortunately for President Kennedy, Lawrence was NOT fired UNTIL AFTER the assassination. Today we would like to think this couldn’t happen as most employers want ALL your information up front, but there are still jobs you can get with NO information (paid under the table types). To me, and according to Richard E. Sprague who worked on the HSCA investigation, Lawrence is a man who should have been investigated further. According to Sprague, in his book “Taking of America, 1-2-3”, he said Lawrence was a new recruit from Los Angeles (remember there was a plot that was planned for Los Angeles in the summer/fall of 1962). Possibly he was brought in by Jim Braden?
Here is what Sprague wrote about Lawrence in his book.
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The assassination group, having failed in Miami and Chicago, moved an operational team into Dallas during the second week in November of 1963. Shaw, Ferrie, Gabaldin and other high-level plotters travelled in other directions, establishing alibis as planned. On November 22, Gabaldin was in Mexico City, Shaw was in San Francisco, and Ferrie was in New Orleans. The team moving into Dallas included Albert Osborne, William Seymour, Emilio Santana, Frenchy, Fred Crisman, Jim Hicks, Jim Braden, and a new recruit from Los Angeles, Jack Lawrence. There was also a back-up rifle team of Cubans to be used at a location near the International Trade Mart in the event something went wrong at Dealey Plaza.
Where the Teams Stayed
The teams stayed at two locations in Dallas for two weeks. One was a rooming house run by a woman named Tammie True. During this period final preparations for the assassination in Dealey Plaza were made. These included the collecting of and planting of evidence used to frame Oswald, the recruiting of the Dallas police participants, and the plans for the escape of the team members by car and by train. The riflemen selected were William Seymour in the Depository Building, Jack Lawrence and Frenchy on the grassy knoll, and Emilio Santana in the Dal Tex building. Jim Hicks was set up as radio coordinator and a man with each of the riflemen had a two-way radio. They were Jim Braden, Dal Tex; Fred Crisman, knoll; unidentified American (tall tramp), knoll; and a man in the TSBD Building. Osborne was in overall charge of the Dallas teams, but he did not go to Dealey Plaza. A fifth gunman, known to researchers as the umbrella man, was stationed on the street with an umbrella weapon furnished by the CIA. He was accompanied by another Cuban acting as a radio man.
Dealey Plaza
On the day of the assassination four men with rifles, accompanied by their radio men and several other team members, moved into Dealey Plaza. Seymour and a radio man entered the TSBD Building through the freight entrance and worked their way to the roof. Santana and Braden went into the Dal Tex building through the freight entrance on Houston St. and up a back staircase to the second floor. Lawrence, Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp took up two positions on the grassy knoll. Lawrence was inside the westernmost cupola after parking his car in the parking lot behind the knoll. Frenchy, Crisman and the tall tramp were near the fence. Jim Hicks was in the Adolphus Hotel a few blocks away, testing the two-way radio communication with the four radio men, until he proceeded to the Plaza and mingled with a large crowd (near the corner of Houston and Elm Streets). The umbrella man stood near the Stemmons Freeway sign on Elm Street accompanied by his radio man.
The other team members stationed themselves in the crowd (along Elm Street). After the shots were fired, they circulated through the crowd in front of the TSBD on Elm Street, on the grassy knoll, and behind the TSBD Building, identifying themselves as Secret Service agents and asking witnesses and officials questions to find out whether the assassins had been detected. There are clear photos of one of these men. One other man was at the corner of the wall on the grassy knoll.
The Shots
Jack Lawrence did not fire a shot in the first round because from his cupola position he did not have a clear shot.
Upon command from his radio man, Jack Lawrence fired his first shot from a pedestal on the west side of the south entrance to the western cupola on the grassy knoll. The shot may have hit Connally's wrist.
Escape Routes
The gunmen who did escape followed these routes: Jack Lawrence got into his car parked behind the cupola and either drove or was driven back to his cover job location at the automobile agency. He left almost immediately afterward and travelled to North Carolina.
Dramatis Personae
Jack Lawrence
Resident of West Virginia and southern California. Minuteman and adventurer. Fired shots.
Richard E. Sprague, “Taking of America, 1-2-3”, 1976, Chapter 5
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Lawrence’s quick arrival, departure and shady personal history makes many consider him a suspect of some kind. Also, he was seen reentering the dealership shortly after the assassination whereby he went to the bathroom and according to some, he threw up. More importantly, he had mud on his shoes and lower pants area and we know footprints were found in the muddy ground BEHIND THE PICKET FENCE. We will never now for sure, but if 1/10th the effort was spent on Lawrence that was spent on LHO we may know for sure. Why did this never happen?
Others who were detained and never held were Jim Braden, Larry Florer, and the three famous “tramps”, whoever they were. (Numerous names have been given such as Doyle, Sturgis, E.H. Hunt, Harrelson, Frenchy, Gedney, etc...) IF the police would have acquired the REAL NAME for Braden they would have hit the jackpot! Brading had alleged ties to the mob in Southern California, the word alleged is necessary, but does not refute this claim as he had 35 arrests on his record but was still walking free. He had to have the right connections for this to happen. These connections were shown when Jim Garrison tried to subpoena him during his trial of Clay Shaw and Governor Ronald Reagan TURNED DOWN THE REQUEST! This is almost unheard of between states in the U.S.
Braden (really Brading) was in Dallas for "oil business" meetings according to him. His parole record mentioned a meeting with H.L. Hunt, a witness (Hunt chief of security Paul Rothermal) placed Braden and three friends at the offices of Lamar Hunt the afternoon before the assassination. Brading's presence in Hunt's office will be confirmed in a FBI report.
Coincidentally, Jack Ruby accompanied a young woman to the Hunt office that same afternoon. And on the twenty-first, Brading checked into the Cabana hotel in Dallas, where Jack Ruby just happened to visit sometime around midnight that same evening.
Who was the young woman? According to Hunt's former chief aide, John Curington, Marina Oswald met with Hunt two days before the shooting, could she have been this young woman?
[This was written a good number of years ago and I know who the woman is now. A brand new "Statements That Sink..." will be coming soon.]
On November 23, Hunt asked his chief aide to see what kind of security the police had for Oswald. The aide reported that Oswald had very little protection and that security was very lax at police headquarters where Oswald was being kept. Hunt flew to Washington, D.C., shortly after receiving this report. Oswald was killed on November 24. Draw your own conclusions, but remember the "Mr. Hunt" note from LHO? The WC defender camp wants everyone to think this is a fake, but was it? Documents declassified in 1983 revealed that FBI apparently believed the note was addressed to H. L. Hunt's ultra-conservative millionaire son, Nelson Hunt.
Back to Braden, he was in the Dal-Tex building at the time of the shooting and drew the attention of the elevator operator as being the only unknown man he sees that day. Feeling the man doesn't belong in the building the operator seeks out a policeman, who detains the suspicious man, bringing him to the Sheriff's office for questioning. They hold him for nearly three hours, he tells them his name is Jim Braden, and that he is in Dallas on oil business. He shows them identification, and explains he had entered the building in hopes of finding a telephone to call his mother. Braden further asserts he entered the building only after the assassination occurred. Here is his account in his deposition given to the Dallas Police Department (DPD).
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Before me, the undersigned authority, on this the 22 day of November A.D. 1963 personally appeared Jim Braden, Address 621 S. Barrington Drive Apt 6 Los Angeles Calf. Office 215 S. La Cienega Blvd. Beverly Hills, California, Age 49 , Phone No. 4725301 Home
Deposes and says:
I am here on business (oil business) and was walking down Elm Street trying to get a cab and there wasn't any. I heard people talking saying "My God the President has been shot." Police cars were passing me coming down toward the triple underpass and I walked up among many other people all watching them. I moved on up to the building across the street from the building that was surrounded and I ask [sic] one of the girls if there was a telephone that I could use and she said "Yes, there is one on the third floor of the building where I work". I walked through a passage to the elevator they were all getting on (freight elevator) and I got off on the third floor with all the other people and there was a lady using the pay telephone and I ask [sic] her if I could use it when she hung up and she said it was out of order and I tried to use it but with no success. I ask [sic] her how I can get out of this building and she said that there is an exit right there and then she said wait a minute here is the elevator now. I got on the elevator and returned to the ground floor and the colored man who ran the elevator said you are a stranger in this building and I am was [sic] notsuppose [sic] to let you up and he ran outside to an officer and said to the officer that he [sic] had just taken me up and down in the elevator and the officer said for me to identify myself and I presented him with a credit card and he said well we have to check out everything and took me to his superior and said for me to wait and we will check it out. I was then taken to the Sheriffs office and interrogated.
/s/ Jim Braden
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963
/s/ Evelyn Cox
Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas
Quote off
If you think the DPD and Sheriff’s office would detain someone at this time for asking to use a phone ONLY then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you to look at. Notice he says he was taken to the Sheriff’s office and “interrogated”! Is that normal for a person who just wants to use the phone? Something about him tipped them off. The same thing was seen with Larry Florer as he too approached the Dal-Tex building looking for a phone and he too would be detained. His story is very much like Jim Braden’s. Here is a portion of his deposition.
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Before me, the undersigned authority, on this the 22nd day of November A.D. 1963 personally appeared Larry Florer Address 3609 Potomac, Dallas, Texas Age 23 , Phone No. LA 1-7150
Deposes and says:
…I stood there for a few minutes and then a lady that was standing next tome [sic], I asked her where there was a telephone, and she said that the only pay phone that she knew of was in the County Records building. She said that there were a lot of phones on the third floor of this building that I was standing in front of. She said that she worked on the third floor and there was probably a phone up there that I could use. So I rode up the elevator with this lady and got off onthe [sic] third floor with this lady and we walked to the information desk and this lady went on back to her department, to her spot. So then I, there was a lady at the information desk and I asked her if I could borrow her telephone and she said that all the lines were busy, or something to that effect. So I stood there for a minute and a fellow walked up to me. He asked me what I want ed [sic] and he told me that I couldn't use the phone. So I walked back down to the elevator and rode it back down to the lobby. As soon as I got to the lobby I walked back outside and the fellow that I had talked to about using the phone was pointing out the window, pointing toward me and said that I was the man that was on the third floor. At this time two officer [sic] walked up to me and said for me to come with them. These offices brought me to the County Sheriff's Office. At no time did I see anyone leaving the building, the Texas School Book Depository, while I was across the street from it.
/s/ Larry Florer
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963
/s/ C. C. Gentry
Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas
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Again, we get the innocent, I just wanted to use a phone spiel. Why were the police detaining folks coming out of the Dal-Tex building if NO one thought SHOTS ORIGINATED FROM THERE? Notice how Florer was pointed out like LHO would be in Texas Theater by the man he asked about using a phone. Was requesting to use a phone a crime?
Eventually, the police accept his explanation and release him. Jim Braden is actually Eugene Hale Brading, an ex-con from Southern California with reputed underworld ties. If the DPD knew his actual name they would have seen he was a parolee with 35 arrests on his record!
Richard E. Sprague, who worked with the HSCA investigators, said they turned up evidence to show Braden was part of the team that went into the Dal-Tex building via the freight elevator and took the backstairs to the second floor. The shooter was, according to Sprague, Emilio Santana with Braden as the radio operator. They were part of a three team effort. They used the broom closet in the Dal-Tex building on the second floor and in the Atlgens photo a dark arm is seen protruding from this open window near the fire escape.
Further Southern California mob ties are evident in Dealey Plaza that day. At 12:33 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig see the police detain a Latin man whom they have seized on Elm St. In a few minutes Craig will see the same man driving a Rambler station wagon. The Latin man is released from police detainment by someone who *says he is a Secret Service agent.* Craig will eventually identify this "agent", from photographs, as being possibly Edgar Eugene Bradley - an ex-convict allegedly connected to the mob in Southern California. (Bradley is also in LA on the night RFK is assassinated.)
These are but a few of the many examples of people being detained that should have caused major red flags for the DPD if they were really interested in finding out what happened to the 35th President, but alas, they decided to back off and focus on one "lone-nut" instead.
The HSCA’s comments and these individuals stories sink the conclusion the WC reached “after considering all options” as it is apparent they focused on NO one but LHO from the very beginning.