Post by Rob Caprio on Nov 24, 2018 18:11:52 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would look into people who could have been part of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), and one of these people was a mob boss.
The HSCA Says…Carlos Marcello.
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Carlos Marcello had a personal reason for wanting JFK to be dead—to get even for the humiliating deportation he and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), had put him through in April 1961. To men like Marcello personal reasons could be far more nasty than business reasons and this was very personal for him.
We know through the work of the HSCA that another person known to JFK assassination researchers was working for Carlos Marcello through his lawyer, G. Wray Gill, and that he was working on this issue of deportation. This of course was David Ferrie. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this in their report.
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The committee reviewed Ferrie's background. He had been fired by Eastern Airlines, and in litigation over the dismissal, which continued through August 1963, he was counseled by a New Orleans attorney named G. Wray Gill. Ferrie later stated that in March 1960, he and Gill made an agreement whereby Gill would represent Ferrie in his dismissal dispute in return for Ferrie's work as an investigator on other cases. One of these cases involved deportation proceedings against Carlos Marcello, the head of the organized crime network in Louisiana and a client of Gill. Ferrie also said he had entered into a similar agreement with Guy Banister, a former FBI agent (Special Agent-in-Charge in Chicago) who had opened a private detective agency in New Orleans. (HSCA Report, p. 143)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0087a.htm
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So we see David Ferrie had ties to Carlos Marcello and some have said he had some kind of tie to Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as well. This is NOT me making a claim, but rather what the HSCA said in their report.
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At the same time, the committee noted that Oswald's possible association with Ferrie might be distinguishable, since it could not be simply termed an anti-Castro association. Ferrie and Oswald may have had a personal friendship unrelated to Cuban activities….The committee concluded, therefore, that Oswald's most significant apparent anti-Castro association, that with David Ferrie, might in fact not have been related to the Cuban issue. (Ibid, p. 147)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0089a.htm
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For years the official narrative defenders have denied this relationship, but the HSCA believed there was a good chance of a personal relationship between LHO and Ferrie. Could this have allowed Ferrie to manipulate LHO? It must be remembered that LHO’s uncle, Charles “Dutz” Murret, did work for the Marcello syndicate, thus, perhaps Ferrie was placed in control of LHO after the DeMohrenschildts left for Haiti in April 1963. Given his uncle’s ties to the Marcello syndicate could LHO have ties in some way to the Marcello syndicate or could this have made him easy to control by them?
The HSCA would say this about Carlos Marcello and his possible involvement into the assassination of JFK.
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(6) Carlos Marcello.--The committee found that Marcello had the motive, means and opportunity to have President John F. Kennedy assassinated, though it was unable to establish direct evidence of Marcello's complicity.
In its investigation of Marcello, the committee identified the presence of one critical evidentiary element that was lacking with the other organized crime figures examined by the committee: credible associations relating both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby to figures having a relationship, albeit tenuous, with Marcello's crime family or organization. At the same time, the committee explicitly cautioned: association is the first step in conspiracy; it is not identical to it, and while associations may legitimately give rise to suspicions, a careful distinction must always be drawn between suspicions suspected and facts found. While the Warren Commission devoted extensive attention to Oswald's background and activities, the committee uncovered significant details of his exposure to and contacts with figures associated with the underworld of New Orleans that apparently had escaped the Commission.
One Such relationship actually extended into Oswald's own family through his uncle, Charles "Dutz" Murret, a minor underworld gambling figure. The committee discovered that Murret, who served as a surrogate father of sorts throughout much of Oswald's life in New Orleans, was in the 1940's and 1950's and possibly until his death in 1964: an associate of significant organized crime figures affiliated with the Marcello organization.
The committee established that Oswald was familiar with his uncle's underworld activities and had discussed them with his wife, Marina, in 1963. Additionally, the committee found that Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald, was acquainted with several men associated with lieutenants in the Marcello organization. One such acquaintance, who was also an associate of Dutz Murret, reportedly served as a personal aide or driver to Marcello at one time. In another instance, the committee found that an individual connected to Dutz Murret, the person who arranged bail for Oswald following his arrest in August 1963 for a street disturbance, was an associate of two of Marcello's syndicate deputies. (One of the two, Nofio Pecora, as noted, also received a telephone call from Ruby on October 30, 1963, according to the committee's computer analysis of Ruby's phone records.)
During the course of its investigation, the committee developed several areas of credible evidence and testimony indicating a possible association in New Orleans and elsewhere between Lee Harvey Oswald and David W. Ferrie, a private investigator and even, perhaps, a pilot for Marcello before and during 1963. From the evidence available to the committee, the nature of the Oswald-Ferrie association remained largely a mystery. The committee established that Oswald and Ferrie apparently first came into contact with each other during Oswald's participation as a teenager in a Civil Air Patrol unit for which Ferrie served as an instructor, although Ferrie, when he was interviewed by the FBI after his detainment as a suspect in the assassination, denied any past association with Oswald. (Ibid, pp. 169-170)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0100a.htm
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As you can see, the HSCA found quite a few tie-ins between the Marcello syndicate and LHO. While there is quite a bit of evidence to show LHO was involved with the intelligence community in some way, this shows he also had ways to be controlled by the major mob family in America in the early 1960s. The comment about “credible evidence” showing a relationship between Ferrie and LHO is very interesting and should have been followed up on given the weird antics of Ferrie on the day of the assassination and the way in which he died. But, as usual, it was left in limbo following the release of the HSCA’s report. Ferrie had connections to the Marcello syndicate and he had ties to the CIA so he is a person of interest for sure.
The HSCA dealt with a published account of Marcello’s alleged claim to knock off JFK as well. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this issue.
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The committee examined a widely circulated published account that Marcello made some kind of threat on the life of President Kennedy. in September 1962 at a meeting at his Churchill Farms estate outside New Orleans. It was alleged that Marcello shouted an old Sicilian threat, "Livarsi na petra di la scarpa!" "Take the stone out of my shoe!" against the Kennedy brothers, stating that the President was going to be assassinated. He spoke of using a "nut" to carry out the murder.
The committee established the origin of the story and identified the informant who claimed to have been present at the meeting during which Marcello made the threat. The committee also learned that even though the FBI was aware of the informant's allegations over a year and half before they were published in 1969, and possessed additional information indicating that the informant may in fact have met with Marcello in the fall of 1962, a substantive investigation of the information was never conducted. Director Hoover and other senior FBI officials were aware that FBI agents were initiating action to "discredit" the informant, without having conducted a significant investigation of his allegations. Further, the committee discovered that the originating office relied on derogatory information from a prominent underworld figure in the ongoing effort to discredit the informant An internal memorandum to Hoover noted that another FBI source was taking action to discredit the informant, "in order that the Carlos Marcello incident would be deleted from the book that first recounted the information.
The committee determined that the informant who gave the account of the Marcello threat was in fact associated with various underworld figures, including at least one person well-acquainted with the Marcello organization. The committee noted, however, that as a consequence of his underworld involvement, the informant had a questionable reputation for honesty and may not be a credible source of information.
The committee noted further that it is unlikely that an organized crime leader personally involved in an assassination plot would discuss it with anyone other than his closest lieutenants, although he might be willing to discuss it more freely prior to a serious decision to undertake such an act. In his executive session appearance before the committee, Marcello categorically denied any involvement in organized crime or the assassination of President Kennedy. Marcello also denied ever making any kind of threat against the President's life. (Ibid, pp. 171-172)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0101a.htm
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It is interesting that the FBI used the same tactic many of the official narrative defenders use—instead of checking out the claims made by the informant they simply attacked his credibility and him instead. It is also interesting that the HSCA discounted his claims due to his ties to the underworld that caused to him to have a “questionable reputation for honesty”, but they had NO such problem taking the word of a known mob boss! They seemed to simply take Marcello’s word for it that he was NOT involved in the mob and that he had nothing to do with JFK’s murder. I guess he did NOT have a “questionable reputation for honesty”, huh?
The aforementioned informant was named Edward Becker and he was a private investigator. He was an informant for author Ed Reid and not a federal agency. Supposedly Becker had a meeting with Carlos Marcello on September 11, 1962, where Marcello made comments that could lead one to believe he had been involved in the murder of JFK. The meeting Becker attended was held at Churchill Farms which was a 3,000-acre swampland plantation that was owned by Marcello and was outside of New Orleans. Author Ed Reid wrote about this meeting in his book, Grim Reapers, which was published in 1969. The meeting included Marcello and three other men and they had quite a bit to drink. The discussion ranged from business matters to sex and other things in between. At some point the topic of pressure on the “Mafia brotherhood” by the Kennedy brothers came up and Reid wrote the following regarding what was said.
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It was then that Carlos' voice lost its softness, and his words were bitten off and spit out when mention was made of U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who was still on the trail of Marcello. "Livarsi na petra di la scarpa!" Carlos shrilled the cry of revenge: "Take the stone out of my shoe!" "Don't worry about that little Bobby, son of a bitch," he shouted. "He's going to be taken care of!" Ever since Robert Kennedy had arranged for his deportation to Guatemala, Carlos had wanted revenge. But as the subsequent conversation, which was reported to two top Government investigators by one of the participants and later to this author, showed, he knew that to rid himself of Robert Kennedy he would first have to remove the President. Any killer of the Attorney General would be hunted down by his brother; the death of the President would seed the fate of his Attorney General.
* * * * * * *
No one at the meeting had any doubt about Marcello's intentions when he abruptly arose from the table. Marcello did not joke about such things. In any case, the matter had gone beyond mere "business"; it had become an affair of honor, a Sicilian vendetta. Moreover, the conversation at Churchill Farms also made clear that Marcello had begun to move. He had, for example, already thought of using a "nut" to do the job. Roughly 1 year later President Kennedy was shot in Dallas--2 months after Attorney General Robert Kennedy had announced to the McClellan committee that he was going to expand his war on organized crime. And it is perhaps significant that privately Robert Kennedy had singled out James Hoffa, Sam Giancana, and Carlos Marcello as being among his chief targets. (Henry Regnery Co., 1969, pp. 158-59.)
(374) In an interview with the committee, Reid said that his informant stated that Marcello seemed to be "very serious" as he spoke of' planning to assassinate President Kennedy. He further told the committee that while his informant had had great doubts at the time as to whether Marcello could or would have the President assassinated, immediately after the, assassination occurred, he came to believe that Marcello was in fact the perpetrator.
(375) Reid informed the committee that he believed his informant, man with underworld associations, was credible and trustworthy and had in fact provided "unusually reliable" information about organized crime on past occasions, including during the writing of "The, Green Felt Jungle.'; based on past association and contacts with the informant, Reid was "strongly inclined to believe his account of the Marcello meeting," although he was "not sure, what it all means in the final analysis." (HSCA, IX, p. 76)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/html/HSCA_Vol9_0042b.htm
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As we have seen the FBI got involved and immediately began finding things that were harmful to Becker’s credibility rather than investigating whether these claims were accurate or not. As for his ability to be near Marcello that may have come from his association with Carl Roppolo who was an oil geologist (like George deMohreschildt) who was alleged to be a close confidant of Marcello. A source had told the FBI that Roppolo was the son of Marcello’s sister and he was the one that setup the meeting with Marcello that Becker attended for a discussion involving business matters. (Ibid, p. 80)
Becker would tell the HSCA that his account of the meeting and discussion with Marcello in 1962 “is truthful. It was then and it is now. I was there.” (Ibid, p. 81) He would go on to say that "the FBI--their agents in Los Angeles--have tried to discredit me. They've done everything except investigate the information I gave Reid. They apparently have always said it was not the truth, but they've never investigated it to arrive at that judgment.” (Ibid) Becker would give the HSCA more details that they would include in Volume IX of their appendices.
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(403) Becker told the committee that he had worked as a private investigator during the years since, coordinating undercover investigative work for corporate clients, as well as working on various organized crime cases. During the early. 1960's he was doing investigative work for Julian Blodgett, a private investigator and former FBI agent.
(404) Becker told the committee that he and Roppolo had met with Marcello in late 1962 to seek his financial backing for an oil additive product they were planning to market. Due to Roppolo's close relationship with Marcello, the meeting was arranged without difficulty.
(405) Becker stated that he and Roppolo met with Marcello on three or four occasions in connection with the proposed business deal and that Marcello made his comments about President Kennedy during the first or second meeting. The meetings transpired between sometime in September 1962 and roughly January 1963. Only the three of them had been present during two or three of the meetings but a Marcello aide named "Liverde," a barber, had also been present once.
(406) Becker stated that Marcello had made his remarks about the Kennedy brothers after Becker said something to the effect that "Bobby Kennedy is really giving you a rough time." He could not recall the exact words Marcello used in threatening President Kennedy, but believed the account in Reid's book "is basically correct." Marcello was very angry and had "clearly stated that he was going to arrange to have President Kennedy murdered in some way." Marcello's statement had been made in a serious tone and sounded as if he had discussed it previously to some extent. Becker commented that Marcello had made some kind of reference to President Kennedy's being a dog and Attorney General Robert Kennedy the dog's tail, and had said "the dog will keep biting you if you only cut off its tail," but that if the dog's head were cut off, the dog would die.
(407) Becker stated that Marcello also made some kind of reference to the way in which he allegedly wanted to arrange the President's murder. Marcello "clearly indicated" that his own lieutenants must not be identified as the assassins, and that there would thus be a necessity to have them use or manipulate someone else to carry out the actual crime.
(408) Becker said that Marcello's alleged remarks about assassinating the President lasted only a few minutes during the course of the meeting. which went 1 to 2 hours.
(410) Becker told the committee that while he believed Marcello had been serious when he spoke of wanting to have the President assassinated, he did not believe the Mafia leader was capable of carrying it out or had the opportunity to do so. He emphasized that while he was disturbed by Marcello's remarks at the time, he had grown accustomed to hearing criminal figures make threats against adversaries. (Ibid, pp. 82-83)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/html/HSCA_Vol9_0045b.htm
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This is interesting stuff. Carlos Marcello was powerful and had a special privilege as his syndicate was the first family of the Mafia due to it establishing itself first in the 1880s in New Orleans. This gave him a certain entitlement to do things he wanted to do without permission, but for something this big one would have to think he would have had to secured it from the other major families in the United States as this could bring them all down if it backfired. Here is what the report said about his issue.
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Any evaluation of Marcello's possible role in the assassination must take into consideration his unique stature within La Cosa Nostra. The FBI determined in the 1960's that because of Marcello's position as head of the New Orleans Mafia family (the oldest in the United States, having first entered the country in the 1880's), the Louisiana organized crime leader had been endowed with special powers and privileges not accorded to any other La Cosa Nostra members. As the leader of "the first family" of the Mafia in America, according to FBI information, Marcello has been the recipient of the extraordinary privilege of conducting syndicate operations without having to seek the approval of the national commission. (HSCA Report, p. 172)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0101b.htm
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I can’t help but find it ironic that while J. Edgar Hoover (JEH) kept claiming there was no Mafia his own men showed there was in various reports and investigations. This is but one more falsehood he told to us IMO. As I said previously, despite his privileged status I doubt he would have entered into something like this without conferring with the other major families or groups as his actions could bring them all down if he failed or succeeded. While I truly believe parts of the Mafia were involved in the murder of JFK there is simply no way they could have orchestrated the vast cover-up we still see today without help from powerful government types. A former FBI agent and the chief investigator for the district attorney of Los Angeles County would give Becker an endorsement as being an honest person.
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(413) [Julian] Blodgett, a former FBI agent and chief investigator for the district attorney of Los Angeles County, informed the committee that he can "vaguely remember something" about Becker's having met with Marcello. Blodgett stated that he "can verify" that Becker traveled to New Orleans in September 1962, but could not recall any specific account of Becker's meeting with Marcello. Blodgett told the committee he regarded Becker as an honest person who was of "the most knowledgeable detail men" in the private investigation business. While noting that Becker "has been a controversial guy," Blodgett stated that he personally would believe Becker’s account of the alleged Marcello meeting. (HSCA IX, p. 83)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol9/html/HSCA_Vol9_0046a.htm
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Based on this endorsement it makes one wonder why the FBI did this when they were told of Becker’s comments in 1967.
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The committee determined further that in several instances Hoover's pledge to the Warren Commission that the FBI would continue to investigate information it received in years to come on the President's murder was not kept. The committee found specific cases in which the Bureau did not follow up on such information provided to it. Two examples relate to leads received from underworld sources.
In the first instance, the Bureau received information from Chief Justice Warren regarding organized crime figure John Roselli's claim of personal knowledge relating to Cuban or underworld complicity. The Bureau declined to investigate the information and did not take any action until President Johnson personally intervened. In the second instance, the Bureau received information from a source in 1967 regarding a reported meeting at which New Orleans Mafia leader Carlos Marcello had allegedly made a threat against the life of President Kennedy. Rather than investigating the information, Bureau personnel took repeated action to discredit the source. (HSCA Report, pp. 245-246)
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This shows us another falsehood JEH made as he had no intention of following up on leads that would make the WC’s conclusion look incorrect. We see they were told to discredit Becker instead of investigating the information. IF LHO was truly guilty, and the evidence showed this (which it does NOT), then why would this type of behavior be needed? It obviously would not have been needed, but it did occur, thus, we have to draw from this the conclusion that the WC’s conclusion of LHO acting alone is not correct.
Some may say why would Marcello say this in front of Becker, but as we have seen he was a close associate of Marcello’s nephew so he may have figured he would not repeat it. Then of course you have the obvious, if Becker repeated it at a time when Marcello was alive, he could have been killed. Perhaps his whole family could have been killed. Becker would have been very unwise to say anything about this before the time of the HSCA IMO. This series is not about sinking the WC’s conclusion as that has been done already by many researchers years ago, but rather about making us think more. Since my long series on sinking the WC has given you a better understanding of the case, what do you think of Carlos Marcello and his possible involvement? I think it is a very possible he was involved as the Kennedys were after him and they were about to possibly turn the drug pipeline off he was in charge of in the United States too which would have cost him a fortune. Michael Mertz (possibly Jean Souetre) ultimately worked for him too through his connection to the Guerini Brothers in Marseille, France, and he was in Dallas that afternoon and was arrested and then deported from the Unites States within 48 hours of the assassination.
I will look at other parts of this story in later posts in this series, but for now I am interested to hear what others think about Carlos Marcello.
themobmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/TMM15005-533x400_WebAssets_Marcello.jpg
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would look into people who could have been part of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), and one of these people was a mob boss.
The HSCA Says…Carlos Marcello.
*****************************************
Carlos Marcello had a personal reason for wanting JFK to be dead—to get even for the humiliating deportation he and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), had put him through in April 1961. To men like Marcello personal reasons could be far more nasty than business reasons and this was very personal for him.
We know through the work of the HSCA that another person known to JFK assassination researchers was working for Carlos Marcello through his lawyer, G. Wray Gill, and that he was working on this issue of deportation. This of course was David Ferrie. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this in their report.
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The committee reviewed Ferrie's background. He had been fired by Eastern Airlines, and in litigation over the dismissal, which continued through August 1963, he was counseled by a New Orleans attorney named G. Wray Gill. Ferrie later stated that in March 1960, he and Gill made an agreement whereby Gill would represent Ferrie in his dismissal dispute in return for Ferrie's work as an investigator on other cases. One of these cases involved deportation proceedings against Carlos Marcello, the head of the organized crime network in Louisiana and a client of Gill. Ferrie also said he had entered into a similar agreement with Guy Banister, a former FBI agent (Special Agent-in-Charge in Chicago) who had opened a private detective agency in New Orleans. (HSCA Report, p. 143)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0087a.htm
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So we see David Ferrie had ties to Carlos Marcello and some have said he had some kind of tie to Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as well. This is NOT me making a claim, but rather what the HSCA said in their report.
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At the same time, the committee noted that Oswald's possible association with Ferrie might be distinguishable, since it could not be simply termed an anti-Castro association. Ferrie and Oswald may have had a personal friendship unrelated to Cuban activities….The committee concluded, therefore, that Oswald's most significant apparent anti-Castro association, that with David Ferrie, might in fact not have been related to the Cuban issue. (Ibid, p. 147)
www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0089a.htm
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For years the official narrative defenders have denied this relationship, but the HSCA believed there was a good chance of a personal relationship between LHO and Ferrie. Could this have allowed Ferrie to manipulate LHO? It must be remembered that LHO’s uncle, Charles “Dutz” Murret, did work for the Marcello syndicate, thus, perhaps Ferrie was placed in control of LHO after the DeMohrenschildts left for Haiti in April 1963. Given his uncle’s ties to the Marcello syndicate could LHO have ties in some way to the Marcello syndicate or could this have made him easy to control by them?
The HSCA would say this about Carlos Marcello and his possible involvement into the assassination of JFK.
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(6) Carlos Marcello.--The committee found that Marcello had the motive, means and opportunity to have President John F. Kennedy assassinated, though it was unable to establish direct evidence of Marcello's complicity.
In its investigation of Marcello, the committee identified the presence of one critical evidentiary element that was lacking with the other organized crime figures examined by the committee: credible associations relating both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby to figures having a relationship, albeit tenuous, with Marcello's crime family or organization. At the same time, the committee explicitly cautioned: association is the first step in conspiracy; it is not identical to it, and while associations may legitimately give rise to suspicions, a careful distinction must always be drawn between suspicions suspected and facts found. While the Warren Commission devoted extensive attention to Oswald's background and activities, the committee uncovered significant details of his exposure to and contacts with figures associated with the underworld of New Orleans that apparently had escaped the Commission.
One Such relationship actually extended into Oswald's own family through his uncle, Charles "Dutz" Murret, a minor underworld gambling figure. The committee discovered that Murret, who served as a surrogate father of sorts throughout much of Oswald's life in New Orleans, was in the 1940's and 1950's and possibly until his death in 1964: an associate of significant organized crime figures affiliated with the Marcello organization.
The committee established that Oswald was familiar with his uncle's underworld activities and had discussed them with his wife, Marina, in 1963. Additionally, the committee found that Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald, was acquainted with several men associated with lieutenants in the Marcello organization. One such acquaintance, who was also an associate of Dutz Murret, reportedly served as a personal aide or driver to Marcello at one time. In another instance, the committee found that an individual connected to Dutz Murret, the person who arranged bail for Oswald following his arrest in August 1963 for a street disturbance, was an associate of two of Marcello's syndicate deputies. (One of the two, Nofio Pecora, as noted, also received a telephone call from Ruby on October 30, 1963, according to the committee's computer analysis of Ruby's phone records.)
During the course of its investigation, the committee developed several areas of credible evidence and testimony indicating a possible association in New Orleans and elsewhere between Lee Harvey Oswald and David W. Ferrie, a private investigator and even, perhaps, a pilot for Marcello before and during 1963. From the evidence available to the committee, the nature of the Oswald-Ferrie association remained largely a mystery. The committee established that Oswald and Ferrie apparently first came into contact with each other during Oswald's participation as a teenager in a Civil Air Patrol unit for which Ferrie served as an instructor, although Ferrie, when he was interviewed by the FBI after his detainment as a suspect in the assassination, denied any past association with Oswald. (Ibid, pp. 169-170)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0100a.htm
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As you can see, the HSCA found quite a few tie-ins between the Marcello syndicate and LHO. While there is quite a bit of evidence to show LHO was involved with the intelligence community in some way, this shows he also had ways to be controlled by the major mob family in America in the early 1960s. The comment about “credible evidence” showing a relationship between Ferrie and LHO is very interesting and should have been followed up on given the weird antics of Ferrie on the day of the assassination and the way in which he died. But, as usual, it was left in limbo following the release of the HSCA’s report. Ferrie had connections to the Marcello syndicate and he had ties to the CIA so he is a person of interest for sure.
The HSCA dealt with a published account of Marcello’s alleged claim to knock off JFK as well. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this issue.
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The committee examined a widely circulated published account that Marcello made some kind of threat on the life of President Kennedy. in September 1962 at a meeting at his Churchill Farms estate outside New Orleans. It was alleged that Marcello shouted an old Sicilian threat, "Livarsi na petra di la scarpa!" "Take the stone out of my shoe!" against the Kennedy brothers, stating that the President was going to be assassinated. He spoke of using a "nut" to carry out the murder.
The committee established the origin of the story and identified the informant who claimed to have been present at the meeting during which Marcello made the threat. The committee also learned that even though the FBI was aware of the informant's allegations over a year and half before they were published in 1969, and possessed additional information indicating that the informant may in fact have met with Marcello in the fall of 1962, a substantive investigation of the information was never conducted. Director Hoover and other senior FBI officials were aware that FBI agents were initiating action to "discredit" the informant, without having conducted a significant investigation of his allegations. Further, the committee discovered that the originating office relied on derogatory information from a prominent underworld figure in the ongoing effort to discredit the informant An internal memorandum to Hoover noted that another FBI source was taking action to discredit the informant, "in order that the Carlos Marcello incident would be deleted from the book that first recounted the information.
The committee determined that the informant who gave the account of the Marcello threat was in fact associated with various underworld figures, including at least one person well-acquainted with the Marcello organization. The committee noted, however, that as a consequence of his underworld involvement, the informant had a questionable reputation for honesty and may not be a credible source of information.
The committee noted further that it is unlikely that an organized crime leader personally involved in an assassination plot would discuss it with anyone other than his closest lieutenants, although he might be willing to discuss it more freely prior to a serious decision to undertake such an act. In his executive session appearance before the committee, Marcello categorically denied any involvement in organized crime or the assassination of President Kennedy. Marcello also denied ever making any kind of threat against the President's life. (Ibid, pp. 171-172)
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It is interesting that the FBI used the same tactic many of the official narrative defenders use—instead of checking out the claims made by the informant they simply attacked his credibility and him instead. It is also interesting that the HSCA discounted his claims due to his ties to the underworld that caused to him to have a “questionable reputation for honesty”, but they had NO such problem taking the word of a known mob boss! They seemed to simply take Marcello’s word for it that he was NOT involved in the mob and that he had nothing to do with JFK’s murder. I guess he did NOT have a “questionable reputation for honesty”, huh?
The aforementioned informant was named Edward Becker and he was a private investigator. He was an informant for author Ed Reid and not a federal agency. Supposedly Becker had a meeting with Carlos Marcello on September 11, 1962, where Marcello made comments that could lead one to believe he had been involved in the murder of JFK. The meeting Becker attended was held at Churchill Farms which was a 3,000-acre swampland plantation that was owned by Marcello and was outside of New Orleans. Author Ed Reid wrote about this meeting in his book, Grim Reapers, which was published in 1969. The meeting included Marcello and three other men and they had quite a bit to drink. The discussion ranged from business matters to sex and other things in between. At some point the topic of pressure on the “Mafia brotherhood” by the Kennedy brothers came up and Reid wrote the following regarding what was said.
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It was then that Carlos' voice lost its softness, and his words were bitten off and spit out when mention was made of U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who was still on the trail of Marcello. "Livarsi na petra di la scarpa!" Carlos shrilled the cry of revenge: "Take the stone out of my shoe!" "Don't worry about that little Bobby, son of a bitch," he shouted. "He's going to be taken care of!" Ever since Robert Kennedy had arranged for his deportation to Guatemala, Carlos had wanted revenge. But as the subsequent conversation, which was reported to two top Government investigators by one of the participants and later to this author, showed, he knew that to rid himself of Robert Kennedy he would first have to remove the President. Any killer of the Attorney General would be hunted down by his brother; the death of the President would seed the fate of his Attorney General.
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No one at the meeting had any doubt about Marcello's intentions when he abruptly arose from the table. Marcello did not joke about such things. In any case, the matter had gone beyond mere "business"; it had become an affair of honor, a Sicilian vendetta. Moreover, the conversation at Churchill Farms also made clear that Marcello had begun to move. He had, for example, already thought of using a "nut" to do the job. Roughly 1 year later President Kennedy was shot in Dallas--2 months after Attorney General Robert Kennedy had announced to the McClellan committee that he was going to expand his war on organized crime. And it is perhaps significant that privately Robert Kennedy had singled out James Hoffa, Sam Giancana, and Carlos Marcello as being among his chief targets. (Henry Regnery Co., 1969, pp. 158-59.)
(374) In an interview with the committee, Reid said that his informant stated that Marcello seemed to be "very serious" as he spoke of' planning to assassinate President Kennedy. He further told the committee that while his informant had had great doubts at the time as to whether Marcello could or would have the President assassinated, immediately after the, assassination occurred, he came to believe that Marcello was in fact the perpetrator.
(375) Reid informed the committee that he believed his informant, man with underworld associations, was credible and trustworthy and had in fact provided "unusually reliable" information about organized crime on past occasions, including during the writing of "The, Green Felt Jungle.'; based on past association and contacts with the informant, Reid was "strongly inclined to believe his account of the Marcello meeting," although he was "not sure, what it all means in the final analysis." (HSCA, IX, p. 76)
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As we have seen the FBI got involved and immediately began finding things that were harmful to Becker’s credibility rather than investigating whether these claims were accurate or not. As for his ability to be near Marcello that may have come from his association with Carl Roppolo who was an oil geologist (like George deMohreschildt) who was alleged to be a close confidant of Marcello. A source had told the FBI that Roppolo was the son of Marcello’s sister and he was the one that setup the meeting with Marcello that Becker attended for a discussion involving business matters. (Ibid, p. 80)
Becker would tell the HSCA that his account of the meeting and discussion with Marcello in 1962 “is truthful. It was then and it is now. I was there.” (Ibid, p. 81) He would go on to say that "the FBI--their agents in Los Angeles--have tried to discredit me. They've done everything except investigate the information I gave Reid. They apparently have always said it was not the truth, but they've never investigated it to arrive at that judgment.” (Ibid) Becker would give the HSCA more details that they would include in Volume IX of their appendices.
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(403) Becker told the committee that he had worked as a private investigator during the years since, coordinating undercover investigative work for corporate clients, as well as working on various organized crime cases. During the early. 1960's he was doing investigative work for Julian Blodgett, a private investigator and former FBI agent.
(404) Becker told the committee that he and Roppolo had met with Marcello in late 1962 to seek his financial backing for an oil additive product they were planning to market. Due to Roppolo's close relationship with Marcello, the meeting was arranged without difficulty.
(405) Becker stated that he and Roppolo met with Marcello on three or four occasions in connection with the proposed business deal and that Marcello made his comments about President Kennedy during the first or second meeting. The meetings transpired between sometime in September 1962 and roughly January 1963. Only the three of them had been present during two or three of the meetings but a Marcello aide named "Liverde," a barber, had also been present once.
(406) Becker stated that Marcello had made his remarks about the Kennedy brothers after Becker said something to the effect that "Bobby Kennedy is really giving you a rough time." He could not recall the exact words Marcello used in threatening President Kennedy, but believed the account in Reid's book "is basically correct." Marcello was very angry and had "clearly stated that he was going to arrange to have President Kennedy murdered in some way." Marcello's statement had been made in a serious tone and sounded as if he had discussed it previously to some extent. Becker commented that Marcello had made some kind of reference to President Kennedy's being a dog and Attorney General Robert Kennedy the dog's tail, and had said "the dog will keep biting you if you only cut off its tail," but that if the dog's head were cut off, the dog would die.
(407) Becker stated that Marcello also made some kind of reference to the way in which he allegedly wanted to arrange the President's murder. Marcello "clearly indicated" that his own lieutenants must not be identified as the assassins, and that there would thus be a necessity to have them use or manipulate someone else to carry out the actual crime.
(408) Becker said that Marcello's alleged remarks about assassinating the President lasted only a few minutes during the course of the meeting. which went 1 to 2 hours.
(410) Becker told the committee that while he believed Marcello had been serious when he spoke of wanting to have the President assassinated, he did not believe the Mafia leader was capable of carrying it out or had the opportunity to do so. He emphasized that while he was disturbed by Marcello's remarks at the time, he had grown accustomed to hearing criminal figures make threats against adversaries. (Ibid, pp. 82-83)
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This is interesting stuff. Carlos Marcello was powerful and had a special privilege as his syndicate was the first family of the Mafia due to it establishing itself first in the 1880s in New Orleans. This gave him a certain entitlement to do things he wanted to do without permission, but for something this big one would have to think he would have had to secured it from the other major families in the United States as this could bring them all down if it backfired. Here is what the report said about his issue.
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Any evaluation of Marcello's possible role in the assassination must take into consideration his unique stature within La Cosa Nostra. The FBI determined in the 1960's that because of Marcello's position as head of the New Orleans Mafia family (the oldest in the United States, having first entered the country in the 1880's), the Louisiana organized crime leader had been endowed with special powers and privileges not accorded to any other La Cosa Nostra members. As the leader of "the first family" of the Mafia in America, according to FBI information, Marcello has been the recipient of the extraordinary privilege of conducting syndicate operations without having to seek the approval of the national commission. (HSCA Report, p. 172)
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I can’t help but find it ironic that while J. Edgar Hoover (JEH) kept claiming there was no Mafia his own men showed there was in various reports and investigations. This is but one more falsehood he told to us IMO. As I said previously, despite his privileged status I doubt he would have entered into something like this without conferring with the other major families or groups as his actions could bring them all down if he failed or succeeded. While I truly believe parts of the Mafia were involved in the murder of JFK there is simply no way they could have orchestrated the vast cover-up we still see today without help from powerful government types. A former FBI agent and the chief investigator for the district attorney of Los Angeles County would give Becker an endorsement as being an honest person.
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(413) [Julian] Blodgett, a former FBI agent and chief investigator for the district attorney of Los Angeles County, informed the committee that he can "vaguely remember something" about Becker's having met with Marcello. Blodgett stated that he "can verify" that Becker traveled to New Orleans in September 1962, but could not recall any specific account of Becker's meeting with Marcello. Blodgett told the committee he regarded Becker as an honest person who was of "the most knowledgeable detail men" in the private investigation business. While noting that Becker "has been a controversial guy," Blodgett stated that he personally would believe Becker’s account of the alleged Marcello meeting. (HSCA IX, p. 83)
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Based on this endorsement it makes one wonder why the FBI did this when they were told of Becker’s comments in 1967.
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The committee determined further that in several instances Hoover's pledge to the Warren Commission that the FBI would continue to investigate information it received in years to come on the President's murder was not kept. The committee found specific cases in which the Bureau did not follow up on such information provided to it. Two examples relate to leads received from underworld sources.
In the first instance, the Bureau received information from Chief Justice Warren regarding organized crime figure John Roselli's claim of personal knowledge relating to Cuban or underworld complicity. The Bureau declined to investigate the information and did not take any action until President Johnson personally intervened. In the second instance, the Bureau received information from a source in 1967 regarding a reported meeting at which New Orleans Mafia leader Carlos Marcello had allegedly made a threat against the life of President Kennedy. Rather than investigating the information, Bureau personnel took repeated action to discredit the source. (HSCA Report, pp. 245-246)
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This shows us another falsehood JEH made as he had no intention of following up on leads that would make the WC’s conclusion look incorrect. We see they were told to discredit Becker instead of investigating the information. IF LHO was truly guilty, and the evidence showed this (which it does NOT), then why would this type of behavior be needed? It obviously would not have been needed, but it did occur, thus, we have to draw from this the conclusion that the WC’s conclusion of LHO acting alone is not correct.
Some may say why would Marcello say this in front of Becker, but as we have seen he was a close associate of Marcello’s nephew so he may have figured he would not repeat it. Then of course you have the obvious, if Becker repeated it at a time when Marcello was alive, he could have been killed. Perhaps his whole family could have been killed. Becker would have been very unwise to say anything about this before the time of the HSCA IMO. This series is not about sinking the WC’s conclusion as that has been done already by many researchers years ago, but rather about making us think more. Since my long series on sinking the WC has given you a better understanding of the case, what do you think of Carlos Marcello and his possible involvement? I think it is a very possible he was involved as the Kennedys were after him and they were about to possibly turn the drug pipeline off he was in charge of in the United States too which would have cost him a fortune. Michael Mertz (possibly Jean Souetre) ultimately worked for him too through his connection to the Guerini Brothers in Marseille, France, and he was in Dallas that afternoon and was arrested and then deported from the Unites States within 48 hours of the assassination.
I will look at other parts of this story in later posts in this series, but for now I am interested to hear what others think about Carlos Marcello.
