Post by Rob Caprio on Jan 27, 2019 23:39:35 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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In 1964 the Warren Commission (WC) were not very interested in many things if they led them towards the area of conspiracy in the assassination of President John F . Kennedy (JFK). The WC was most interested in things, and people, who pointed to Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as being the sole guilty person in the death of JFK. Therefore, they left many avenues of investigation unexplored, but despite this truth, they felt confident in their conclusion of LHO acting alone.
This post will look at another lead that pointed to conspiracy that the WC didn't take seriously, but the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) looked into during their tenure.
The HSCA Says…Rose Cheramie.
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On November 20, 1963, Rose Cheramie was found lying in the road in Eunice, Louisiana. She was bruised and disoriented. She was taken to the Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana, where she was diagnosed as being in withdrawal from drugs. While being treated she told the doctor that JFK would be killed during his upcoming trip to Dallas, Texas.
Since it was assumed that she was in narcotic withdrawal her comments were not taken seriously. However, when her comments became true two days later the state police were called and her comments were passed on.
Upon questioning she stated that she had been a stripper in Jack Ruby's nightclub, and she was involved in transporting heroin from Florida to Houston at Ruby's insistence when she quarreled with the men traveling with her.
The city of Houston is important to the JFK assassination narrative. This is the city David Ferrie drove to on the afternoon of the assassination in a terrible storm to go either “ice skating” or “geese hunting.” Ferrie was witnessed standing by a pay phone for several hours, but never skating at a Houston ice rink.
The heroin is interesting too as a number of sources over the years have said that the assassins were paid in heroin instead of money (i.e. Stephen Rivele’s Corsican Mob theory). This makes sense since money can be traced, but heroin cannot be traced. More on this topic later on.
She further told the police the following.
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Cheramie said the men pushed her out of a moving car and left her for dead. After the assassination, Cheramie maintained Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald had known each other well. She said she had seen Oswald at Ruby's night club and claimed Oswald and Ruby had been homosexual partners. (HSCA X, p. 199)
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Cheramie wasn’t the only person to see LHO at Ruby's night club, Carousel, as I have highlighted numerous other people who saw the same thing in my “Statements That Sink The WC's Conclusions” series, therefore, this statement cannot be dismissed out of hand.
The part about them knowing each other well shows us one of the reasons why the WC ignored her as they claimed that the two had no prior relationship. If they had no prior relationship how did Jack Ruby know the correct name of LHO's one man chapter of Fair Play for Cuba Committee that he started in New Orleans? Remember, he corrected Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade during the press conference on the night of the assassination when he gave the wrong name. How did Ruby know better than the DA or the Dallas Police Department (DPD) when he supposedly did not know LHO prior to November 22, 1963?
Of course, the HSCA wouldn't find Cheramie credible either, but explained why they found her story interesting.
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Nevertheless, allegations involving Rose Cheramie, often counted among the “mysterious” deaths, was of particularly interest to the committee, since it indicated a possible association of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby; an association of these individuals with members of organized crime; and possible connection between Cheramie’s confinement at the state hospital in Jackson, La. And Oswald's search for employment there in the summer of 1963. (HSCA X, pp. 199-200)
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The government investigations never seem to find anything suspicious. They said OVER 50 people who were associated with the investigation of the assassination all died within three years, but the HSCA mocks the notion that this is mysterious by putting that word in quotes. Sure, over 50 people dying that soon after an event is normal, I guess.
We then finally see the key things that she offered to the case – LHO and Ruby's relationship, their possible ties to the mob and the issue of Cheramie being seen at the state hospital where LHO attempted to find work at in the summer of 1963.
I will fill in more details as the HSCA’s overview is lacking in some details as it cuts to the chase (and hurries to discredit her). Lt. Fruge would accompany Cheramie to the state hospital* which was a one-or-two-hour drive and on the way, he began to ask her routine questions since she seemed more lucid than before. He said he got non-routine answers to his questions and the following is from his deposition for the HSCA.
[*NOTE: This was the same hospital Garrison said LHO tried to get a job within the summer of 1963 while he was in Clinton with two men believed to be David Ferrie and Clay Shaw. Is this just another in a long line of coincidences?]
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She related to me that she was coming from Florida to Dallas with two men that were Italians or who resembled Italians. They had stopped at this lounge…and they had a few drinks and had gotten into an argument or something. The manager of the lounge threw her out and she got on the road and hitchhiked to catch a ride, and this is when she got hit by a vehicle. (HSCA X, p. 201; original -- Lt. Frances Fruge HSCA deposition, p. 8)
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www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=220032#relPageId=10
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She said they appeared to be Italian or Italian looking, but it should be kept in mind that Latin looking men could look Italian too and a group of Cubans would fall into this category. The lounge owner, Mac Manual, told Fruge that he remembered this and that the two men were known as “pimps” and that they routinely brought prostitutes from Florida. Manual also told Fruge that when Cheramie had become intoxicated (was it this or was she drugged?) and rowdy, one of the men “slapped her around” and threw her outside. (JFK Document 0141414) Fruge said he showed the bar owner a stack of photographs of mug shots and asked Manual if he could identify any of them. According to Fruge, the bar owner chose the photo of a Cuban exile by the name of Sergio Arcacha Smith, and another Cuban Manual believed to be named Osanto. (Ibid., pp. 28 & 30; HSCA Interview p. 15) The name Smith will be immediately known to those that have studied this case as he was the head of the New Orleans “Cuban Revolutionary Front” in 1961 and had been friends with David Ferrie. Both Smith and Ferrie were believed to have ties to Carlos Marcello (Mob boss for New Orleans) too. Smith moved from New Orleans in 1962 and moved to Miami, but he would wind up in Houston later on. A connection between Cheramie and Smith would be very significant, but to date no one has really tried to find one. Of course, Smith denied any connection.
While trying to hitch a ride she was struck by an automobile driven by Frank Odom. He would stop and take her to Moosa Memorial Hospital.
The HSCA then sought to find corroboration for Cheramie's statements. They noted her statements as “allegations” and looked into her mental state. If only the WC and HSCA displayed this type of due diligence for the WC “star witnesses.” Unfortunately, only witnesses who didn't agree with the WC's version of events received this kind of treatment.
They then go through a litany of issues that she had with drugs and alcohol addiction to attack her credibility, but how does this change her comments about JFK being killed when he came to Dallas? Didn't that actually happen? What am I missing here?
They did find corroboration for her story (something that never happened for the WC star witnesses by the way) and told us the following.
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(9) The committee interviewed one of the doctors on staff at East Louisiana State Hospital who had seen Cheramie during her stay there at the time of the Kennedy assassination. The doctor corroborated aspects of the Cheramie's allegations. Dr. Victor Weiss verified that he was employed as a resident physician at the hospital in 1963. He recalled that on Monday, November 25, 1963, he was asked by another physician, Dr. Bowers, to see a patient who had been committed on November 20 or 21. Dr. Bowers allegedly told Weiss that the patient, Rose Cheramie, had stated before the assassination that President Kennedy was going to be killed…She did not have any specific details of a particular assassination plot against Kennedy, but had stated the “word in the underworld” was that Kennedy would be assassinated. (HSCA X, pp. 200-201)
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Again, what she claimed happened so the HSCA was left with trying to show that Cheramie never made these comments, but there was corroboration for her comments.
The HSCA picks up the details of what happened next.
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(13) On November 22, when he heard the President had been assassinated, Fruge said that he immediately called the hospital and told them not to release Cheramie until he had spoke with her…Under questioning Cheramie told Fruge that the two men traveling with her from Miami were going to Dallas to kill the President. For her part. Cheramie was to obtain $8,000 from an unidentified source in Dallas and proceed to Houston with the two men to complete a drug deal. Cheramie was also supposed to pick up her little boy from friends who had been looking after him.
(14) Cheramie further supplied detailed accounts of the arrangement for the drug transaction in Houston. She said that reservations had been made at the Rice Hotel in Houston. The trio was meet a seaman who was bringing in 8 kilos of heroin to Galveston by boat. Cheramie had the name of the seaman and the boat he was arriving on. Once the deal was completed, the trio would proceed to Mexico. (HSCA X, pp. 201-202)
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Here is a recap of what Cheramie told Fruge during his interview.
1) That the two men traveling with her from Miami were going to Dallas to kill the President. (Lt. Frances Fruge HSCA deposition, p. 3)
www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=149188#relPageId=14
2) She was to obtain $8,000 (worth $81, 130.98 today) from an unidentified source in Dallas and proceed to Houston with the two men to complete a drug deal. (Ibid.)
3) She was also supposed to pick up her little boy from friends who had been looking after him. (Ibid.)
4) She said they were to stay at the Rice Hotel in Houston and meet a seaman who was bringing in 8 kilos of heroin to Galveston by boat. She had the name of the seaman and the boat he was arriving on, and once the deal was made they were to proceed to Mexico. (Ibid.)
One can’t read this stuff and NOT think of David Ferrie’s drive through the worst storm in history (up to that time) to get to Houston, can they? Was he to meet these folks and fly them to Mexico? The issue of heroin is an ironic issue as this was a mainstay product of Vietnam and many researchers have said that was the main reason for the whole war in the first place—access to top grade heroin. JFK was threatening this supply (and the potential of enormous amounts of money) in two ways.
Firstly, he was saying we were leaving the country by the end 1965 in terms of fighting components, and thus, NO war could be fought. Secondly, he had supported French President Charles DeGaulle’s call for independence for Algeria (a French Colony for a long time) and this was the main point of shipment to Europe and the Americas for the drug suppliers. By giving them this independence this allowed the new government to root out all these drug dealers and upset a very lucrative drug cartel. Many were very angry about this, and we see the result of this by the attempts on DeGaulle’s life and the killing of JFK as many of these players in this drug game have been mentioned in the murder of JFK over the years by researchers.
Finally, the trip to Mexico is intriguing as it seems quite a few folks flew there immediately after JFK’s demise (i.e. H. L. Hunt, General Walker, Pat Kirkwood, etc.) and that is where these folks were supposed to go.
Fruge told the HSCA that he told his superiors about this, and they told him to keep investigating and he did as well as take Cheramie into custody. He checked out the story of the drug deal and according to the chief customs agent in Galveston both the name of the boat and the seaman checked out. Supposedly, the customs agent had tailed the seaman when he got off the boat, but lost his trail, thus, they closed the case. But the fact there was a case at all would suggest they too suspected something was going on with that seaman and that boat.
Cheramie had told Fruge this as well.
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During a flight from Houston, according to Fruge, Cheramie noticed a newspaper with headlines indicating investigators had not been able to establish a relationship between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Cheramie laughed at the headline, Fruge said. Cheramie had told him that she had worked for Ruby, or “Pinky”, as she knew him, at his night club in Dallas, and claimed Ruby and Oswald “had been shacking up for years.” (HSCA X, p. 202)
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Could this be possible? Fruge would later confirm the fact that she had worked as a stripper for Ruby, (Louisiana State Police report of 4/4/67.) so could they have had a relationship? IF not the LHO we know, how about the other Oswald if you believe in the “two LHO” theory? Remember, the New Orleans LHO was a member in the Civil Air Patrol with David Ferrie, and no one can dispute that he was homosexual. It should be noted too that the HSCA cleaned up the comment as according to Fruge’s deposition she really said, “Them two queer sons-of-a-bitches. They’ve been shacking up for years." (Lt. Francis Fruge, HSCA deposition, p. 19)
We of course can’t support this stuff as the two major investigations did NOT bother to help us here, but these are legitimate questions that need answering to help us figure out the overall murder of JFK and who was behind it.
It should be noted that Fruge had his doubts too before the assassination about her claims as he said this in his HSCA deposition.
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When she came out with the Kennedy business, I just said, wait a minute, wait a minute, something is wrong here somewhere.
Now, bear in mind that she talked: she’d talk for a while, looks like the shots would have effect on her again and she’d go in, you know, she’d just get numb, and after a while she’d just start talking again. (Lt. Francis Fruge, HSCA deposition, p. 9)
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But, by the time of the assassination she was very lucid, and word spread through the hospital that she had predicted the assassination of JFK in advance. Beyond the nurses we have Dr. Wayne Owen (intern from LSU) who told the Madison Capital Times that he and other interns were told of the plot in ADVANCE of the assassination. Owen went on to say that Cheramie had told another intern that, "…that one of the men involved in the plot was a man named Jack Rubinstein." (2/11/68) Owen further stated, “We were all assured that something would be done about it by the FBI or someone. Yet we never heard anything." (Ibid.) Why was this NEVER checked out by the DPD or the FBI? How can the WC claim that they found the truth when they left so much unchecked?
On November 22, 1963, while watching television in the state hospital Cheramie again made remarks that were heard by several nurses. According to these witnesses she said, “…during the telecast moments before Kennedy was shot Rose Cheramie stated to them, ‘This is when it is going to happen’ and at that moment Kennedy was assassinated. The nurses, in turn, told others of Cheramie’s prognostication." (Memo of Frank Meloche to Louis Ivon, 5/22/67—Jim Garrison Investigation.) These comments most likely were referring to reports regarding the updated movements of the Presidential trip that circulated through the local channels since the motorcade itself was not televised. And of course, the assassination itself was reported on by network television almost immediately after it happened with CBS leading the way.
Cheramie would tell Dr. Victor Weiss the following while by being interviewed by him.
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Rose revealed that she had worked as a drug courier for Jack Ruby. I believe she also mentioned that she worked in the night club for Ruby and that she was forced to go to Florida with another man whom she did not name to pick up a shipment of dope to take back to Dallas, that she didn’t want to do this thing but she had a young child and that they would hurt her child if she didn’t. (Memo of Frank Meloche to Jim Garrison, 2/23/67)
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If true, this shows Ruby had a relationship with men who might have been directly involved in the assassination. This is very important, and it was never looked into for us by the WC or the HSCA. I wonder why? She had also said that the demise of JFK had come from “word in the underworld.” In America the term “underworld” had become synonymous with the Mafia. Obviously, the Mafia could not do this alone, but that was the area she would have knowledge of.
When Fruge asked his superior, Colonel Morgan, to call Captain Fritz of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) to update him on all of this he was told the following by Morgan regarding what Fritz told him about their interest.
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Colonel Morgan called Captain Fritz up from Dallas and told him what we had, the information that we had, that we had a person that had given us this information. And of course, there again it was an old friend, and there was a little conversation. But anyway, when Colonel Morgan hung up, he turned around and told us they don’t want her. They’re not interested.
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How in the world could Fritz and the DPD NOT be interested in this when it showed possible ties between LHO and Ruby, ties between Cheramie and Smith, ties between Ruby and the mob, and foreknowledge of the murder of the President of the United States? Well, I guess IF you were NOT really looking for the truth why would you have an interest in these dangerous topics, right?
The strange death of Cheramie has only added fuel to the fire of her claims as she was found dead on a road on September 4, 1965. She had been run over by a car and it was later argued that this was done to hide a shot to the head she had been given first. We don’t know for sure as the Louisiana State Police said this about the incident, “Cheramie died of injuries received from an automobile accident on a strip of highway near Big Sandy, Texas, in the early morning of September 4, 1965. The driver stated Cheramie had been lying in the roadway and although he attempted to avoid hitting her, he ran over the top of her skull, causing fatal injuries. An investigation into the accident and the possibility of a relationship between the victim and the driver produced no evidence of foul play. The case was closed."
What the report failed to mention, and Jim Marrs covered in his book, was the address the driver of the automobile that hit her gave was searched and found to be NONEXISTENT! Fruge said he searched this address in Tyler, Texas, and found it had never been in existence. Surely, this is strange, isn’t it?
Whether you think she is credible or not, we have to accept what she said BEFORE the assassination and weigh it with what happened two days, and shortly, later. She was spot on in my opinion. She again gave us her limited view of the plan just like Milteer and others, but it still adds pieces to the puzzle. How many of these people can be wrong or liars? I have highlighted quite a few already, and there are more to come.
IF you want to disbelieve her story you have to say Lt. Francis Fruge was a liar as he told what he reported to the HSCA and that is the only way around it. Unfortunately for this tactic though, there are other witnesses to her prediction as well.
What do you think of the Rose Cheramie story?
For the full report of Lt. Fruge, go here:
www.jfk-online.com/cherdoc2.html
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In 1964 the Warren Commission (WC) were not very interested in many things if they led them towards the area of conspiracy in the assassination of President John F . Kennedy (JFK). The WC was most interested in things, and people, who pointed to Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as being the sole guilty person in the death of JFK. Therefore, they left many avenues of investigation unexplored, but despite this truth, they felt confident in their conclusion of LHO acting alone.
This post will look at another lead that pointed to conspiracy that the WC didn't take seriously, but the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) looked into during their tenure.
The HSCA Says…Rose Cheramie.
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On November 20, 1963, Rose Cheramie was found lying in the road in Eunice, Louisiana. She was bruised and disoriented. She was taken to the Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana, where she was diagnosed as being in withdrawal from drugs. While being treated she told the doctor that JFK would be killed during his upcoming trip to Dallas, Texas.
Since it was assumed that she was in narcotic withdrawal her comments were not taken seriously. However, when her comments became true two days later the state police were called and her comments were passed on.
Upon questioning she stated that she had been a stripper in Jack Ruby's nightclub, and she was involved in transporting heroin from Florida to Houston at Ruby's insistence when she quarreled with the men traveling with her.
The city of Houston is important to the JFK assassination narrative. This is the city David Ferrie drove to on the afternoon of the assassination in a terrible storm to go either “ice skating” or “geese hunting.” Ferrie was witnessed standing by a pay phone for several hours, but never skating at a Houston ice rink.
The heroin is interesting too as a number of sources over the years have said that the assassins were paid in heroin instead of money (i.e. Stephen Rivele’s Corsican Mob theory). This makes sense since money can be traced, but heroin cannot be traced. More on this topic later on.
She further told the police the following.
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Cheramie said the men pushed her out of a moving car and left her for dead. After the assassination, Cheramie maintained Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald had known each other well. She said she had seen Oswald at Ruby's night club and claimed Oswald and Ruby had been homosexual partners. (HSCA X, p. 199)
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Cheramie wasn’t the only person to see LHO at Ruby's night club, Carousel, as I have highlighted numerous other people who saw the same thing in my “Statements That Sink The WC's Conclusions” series, therefore, this statement cannot be dismissed out of hand.
The part about them knowing each other well shows us one of the reasons why the WC ignored her as they claimed that the two had no prior relationship. If they had no prior relationship how did Jack Ruby know the correct name of LHO's one man chapter of Fair Play for Cuba Committee that he started in New Orleans? Remember, he corrected Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade during the press conference on the night of the assassination when he gave the wrong name. How did Ruby know better than the DA or the Dallas Police Department (DPD) when he supposedly did not know LHO prior to November 22, 1963?
Of course, the HSCA wouldn't find Cheramie credible either, but explained why they found her story interesting.
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Nevertheless, allegations involving Rose Cheramie, often counted among the “mysterious” deaths, was of particularly interest to the committee, since it indicated a possible association of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby; an association of these individuals with members of organized crime; and possible connection between Cheramie’s confinement at the state hospital in Jackson, La. And Oswald's search for employment there in the summer of 1963. (HSCA X, pp. 199-200)
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The government investigations never seem to find anything suspicious. They said OVER 50 people who were associated with the investigation of the assassination all died within three years, but the HSCA mocks the notion that this is mysterious by putting that word in quotes. Sure, over 50 people dying that soon after an event is normal, I guess.
We then finally see the key things that she offered to the case – LHO and Ruby's relationship, their possible ties to the mob and the issue of Cheramie being seen at the state hospital where LHO attempted to find work at in the summer of 1963.
I will fill in more details as the HSCA’s overview is lacking in some details as it cuts to the chase (and hurries to discredit her). Lt. Fruge would accompany Cheramie to the state hospital* which was a one-or-two-hour drive and on the way, he began to ask her routine questions since she seemed more lucid than before. He said he got non-routine answers to his questions and the following is from his deposition for the HSCA.
[*NOTE: This was the same hospital Garrison said LHO tried to get a job within the summer of 1963 while he was in Clinton with two men believed to be David Ferrie and Clay Shaw. Is this just another in a long line of coincidences?]
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She related to me that she was coming from Florida to Dallas with two men that were Italians or who resembled Italians. They had stopped at this lounge…and they had a few drinks and had gotten into an argument or something. The manager of the lounge threw her out and she got on the road and hitchhiked to catch a ride, and this is when she got hit by a vehicle. (HSCA X, p. 201; original -- Lt. Frances Fruge HSCA deposition, p. 8)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol10/html/HSCA_Vol10_0103a.htm
www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=220032#relPageId=10
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She said they appeared to be Italian or Italian looking, but it should be kept in mind that Latin looking men could look Italian too and a group of Cubans would fall into this category. The lounge owner, Mac Manual, told Fruge that he remembered this and that the two men were known as “pimps” and that they routinely brought prostitutes from Florida. Manual also told Fruge that when Cheramie had become intoxicated (was it this or was she drugged?) and rowdy, one of the men “slapped her around” and threw her outside. (JFK Document 0141414) Fruge said he showed the bar owner a stack of photographs of mug shots and asked Manual if he could identify any of them. According to Fruge, the bar owner chose the photo of a Cuban exile by the name of Sergio Arcacha Smith, and another Cuban Manual believed to be named Osanto. (Ibid., pp. 28 & 30; HSCA Interview p. 15) The name Smith will be immediately known to those that have studied this case as he was the head of the New Orleans “Cuban Revolutionary Front” in 1961 and had been friends with David Ferrie. Both Smith and Ferrie were believed to have ties to Carlos Marcello (Mob boss for New Orleans) too. Smith moved from New Orleans in 1962 and moved to Miami, but he would wind up in Houston later on. A connection between Cheramie and Smith would be very significant, but to date no one has really tried to find one. Of course, Smith denied any connection.
While trying to hitch a ride she was struck by an automobile driven by Frank Odom. He would stop and take her to Moosa Memorial Hospital.
The HSCA then sought to find corroboration for Cheramie's statements. They noted her statements as “allegations” and looked into her mental state. If only the WC and HSCA displayed this type of due diligence for the WC “star witnesses.” Unfortunately, only witnesses who didn't agree with the WC's version of events received this kind of treatment.
They then go through a litany of issues that she had with drugs and alcohol addiction to attack her credibility, but how does this change her comments about JFK being killed when he came to Dallas? Didn't that actually happen? What am I missing here?
They did find corroboration for her story (something that never happened for the WC star witnesses by the way) and told us the following.
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(9) The committee interviewed one of the doctors on staff at East Louisiana State Hospital who had seen Cheramie during her stay there at the time of the Kennedy assassination. The doctor corroborated aspects of the Cheramie's allegations. Dr. Victor Weiss verified that he was employed as a resident physician at the hospital in 1963. He recalled that on Monday, November 25, 1963, he was asked by another physician, Dr. Bowers, to see a patient who had been committed on November 20 or 21. Dr. Bowers allegedly told Weiss that the patient, Rose Cheramie, had stated before the assassination that President Kennedy was going to be killed…She did not have any specific details of a particular assassination plot against Kennedy, but had stated the “word in the underworld” was that Kennedy would be assassinated. (HSCA X, pp. 200-201)
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Again, what she claimed happened so the HSCA was left with trying to show that Cheramie never made these comments, but there was corroboration for her comments.
The HSCA picks up the details of what happened next.
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(13) On November 22, when he heard the President had been assassinated, Fruge said that he immediately called the hospital and told them not to release Cheramie until he had spoke with her…Under questioning Cheramie told Fruge that the two men traveling with her from Miami were going to Dallas to kill the President. For her part. Cheramie was to obtain $8,000 from an unidentified source in Dallas and proceed to Houston with the two men to complete a drug deal. Cheramie was also supposed to pick up her little boy from friends who had been looking after him.
(14) Cheramie further supplied detailed accounts of the arrangement for the drug transaction in Houston. She said that reservations had been made at the Rice Hotel in Houston. The trio was meet a seaman who was bringing in 8 kilos of heroin to Galveston by boat. Cheramie had the name of the seaman and the boat he was arriving on. Once the deal was completed, the trio would proceed to Mexico. (HSCA X, pp. 201-202)
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Here is a recap of what Cheramie told Fruge during his interview.
1) That the two men traveling with her from Miami were going to Dallas to kill the President. (Lt. Frances Fruge HSCA deposition, p. 3)
www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=149188#relPageId=14
2) She was to obtain $8,000 (worth $81, 130.98 today) from an unidentified source in Dallas and proceed to Houston with the two men to complete a drug deal. (Ibid.)
3) She was also supposed to pick up her little boy from friends who had been looking after him. (Ibid.)
4) She said they were to stay at the Rice Hotel in Houston and meet a seaman who was bringing in 8 kilos of heroin to Galveston by boat. She had the name of the seaman and the boat he was arriving on, and once the deal was made they were to proceed to Mexico. (Ibid.)
One can’t read this stuff and NOT think of David Ferrie’s drive through the worst storm in history (up to that time) to get to Houston, can they? Was he to meet these folks and fly them to Mexico? The issue of heroin is an ironic issue as this was a mainstay product of Vietnam and many researchers have said that was the main reason for the whole war in the first place—access to top grade heroin. JFK was threatening this supply (and the potential of enormous amounts of money) in two ways.
Firstly, he was saying we were leaving the country by the end 1965 in terms of fighting components, and thus, NO war could be fought. Secondly, he had supported French President Charles DeGaulle’s call for independence for Algeria (a French Colony for a long time) and this was the main point of shipment to Europe and the Americas for the drug suppliers. By giving them this independence this allowed the new government to root out all these drug dealers and upset a very lucrative drug cartel. Many were very angry about this, and we see the result of this by the attempts on DeGaulle’s life and the killing of JFK as many of these players in this drug game have been mentioned in the murder of JFK over the years by researchers.
Finally, the trip to Mexico is intriguing as it seems quite a few folks flew there immediately after JFK’s demise (i.e. H. L. Hunt, General Walker, Pat Kirkwood, etc.) and that is where these folks were supposed to go.
Fruge told the HSCA that he told his superiors about this, and they told him to keep investigating and he did as well as take Cheramie into custody. He checked out the story of the drug deal and according to the chief customs agent in Galveston both the name of the boat and the seaman checked out. Supposedly, the customs agent had tailed the seaman when he got off the boat, but lost his trail, thus, they closed the case. But the fact there was a case at all would suggest they too suspected something was going on with that seaman and that boat.
Cheramie had told Fruge this as well.
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During a flight from Houston, according to Fruge, Cheramie noticed a newspaper with headlines indicating investigators had not been able to establish a relationship between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald. Cheramie laughed at the headline, Fruge said. Cheramie had told him that she had worked for Ruby, or “Pinky”, as she knew him, at his night club in Dallas, and claimed Ruby and Oswald “had been shacking up for years.” (HSCA X, p. 202)
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Could this be possible? Fruge would later confirm the fact that she had worked as a stripper for Ruby, (Louisiana State Police report of 4/4/67.) so could they have had a relationship? IF not the LHO we know, how about the other Oswald if you believe in the “two LHO” theory? Remember, the New Orleans LHO was a member in the Civil Air Patrol with David Ferrie, and no one can dispute that he was homosexual. It should be noted too that the HSCA cleaned up the comment as according to Fruge’s deposition she really said, “Them two queer sons-of-a-bitches. They’ve been shacking up for years." (Lt. Francis Fruge, HSCA deposition, p. 19)
We of course can’t support this stuff as the two major investigations did NOT bother to help us here, but these are legitimate questions that need answering to help us figure out the overall murder of JFK and who was behind it.
It should be noted that Fruge had his doubts too before the assassination about her claims as he said this in his HSCA deposition.
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When she came out with the Kennedy business, I just said, wait a minute, wait a minute, something is wrong here somewhere.
Now, bear in mind that she talked: she’d talk for a while, looks like the shots would have effect on her again and she’d go in, you know, she’d just get numb, and after a while she’d just start talking again. (Lt. Francis Fruge, HSCA deposition, p. 9)
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But, by the time of the assassination she was very lucid, and word spread through the hospital that she had predicted the assassination of JFK in advance. Beyond the nurses we have Dr. Wayne Owen (intern from LSU) who told the Madison Capital Times that he and other interns were told of the plot in ADVANCE of the assassination. Owen went on to say that Cheramie had told another intern that, "…that one of the men involved in the plot was a man named Jack Rubinstein." (2/11/68) Owen further stated, “We were all assured that something would be done about it by the FBI or someone. Yet we never heard anything." (Ibid.) Why was this NEVER checked out by the DPD or the FBI? How can the WC claim that they found the truth when they left so much unchecked?
On November 22, 1963, while watching television in the state hospital Cheramie again made remarks that were heard by several nurses. According to these witnesses she said, “…during the telecast moments before Kennedy was shot Rose Cheramie stated to them, ‘This is when it is going to happen’ and at that moment Kennedy was assassinated. The nurses, in turn, told others of Cheramie’s prognostication." (Memo of Frank Meloche to Louis Ivon, 5/22/67—Jim Garrison Investigation.) These comments most likely were referring to reports regarding the updated movements of the Presidential trip that circulated through the local channels since the motorcade itself was not televised. And of course, the assassination itself was reported on by network television almost immediately after it happened with CBS leading the way.
Cheramie would tell Dr. Victor Weiss the following while by being interviewed by him.
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Rose revealed that she had worked as a drug courier for Jack Ruby. I believe she also mentioned that she worked in the night club for Ruby and that she was forced to go to Florida with another man whom she did not name to pick up a shipment of dope to take back to Dallas, that she didn’t want to do this thing but she had a young child and that they would hurt her child if she didn’t. (Memo of Frank Meloche to Jim Garrison, 2/23/67)
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If true, this shows Ruby had a relationship with men who might have been directly involved in the assassination. This is very important, and it was never looked into for us by the WC or the HSCA. I wonder why? She had also said that the demise of JFK had come from “word in the underworld.” In America the term “underworld” had become synonymous with the Mafia. Obviously, the Mafia could not do this alone, but that was the area she would have knowledge of.
When Fruge asked his superior, Colonel Morgan, to call Captain Fritz of the Dallas Police Department (DPD) to update him on all of this he was told the following by Morgan regarding what Fritz told him about their interest.
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Colonel Morgan called Captain Fritz up from Dallas and told him what we had, the information that we had, that we had a person that had given us this information. And of course, there again it was an old friend, and there was a little conversation. But anyway, when Colonel Morgan hung up, he turned around and told us they don’t want her. They’re not interested.
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How in the world could Fritz and the DPD NOT be interested in this when it showed possible ties between LHO and Ruby, ties between Cheramie and Smith, ties between Ruby and the mob, and foreknowledge of the murder of the President of the United States? Well, I guess IF you were NOT really looking for the truth why would you have an interest in these dangerous topics, right?
The strange death of Cheramie has only added fuel to the fire of her claims as she was found dead on a road on September 4, 1965. She had been run over by a car and it was later argued that this was done to hide a shot to the head she had been given first. We don’t know for sure as the Louisiana State Police said this about the incident, “Cheramie died of injuries received from an automobile accident on a strip of highway near Big Sandy, Texas, in the early morning of September 4, 1965. The driver stated Cheramie had been lying in the roadway and although he attempted to avoid hitting her, he ran over the top of her skull, causing fatal injuries. An investigation into the accident and the possibility of a relationship between the victim and the driver produced no evidence of foul play. The case was closed."
What the report failed to mention, and Jim Marrs covered in his book, was the address the driver of the automobile that hit her gave was searched and found to be NONEXISTENT! Fruge said he searched this address in Tyler, Texas, and found it had never been in existence. Surely, this is strange, isn’t it?
Whether you think she is credible or not, we have to accept what she said BEFORE the assassination and weigh it with what happened two days, and shortly, later. She was spot on in my opinion. She again gave us her limited view of the plan just like Milteer and others, but it still adds pieces to the puzzle. How many of these people can be wrong or liars? I have highlighted quite a few already, and there are more to come.
IF you want to disbelieve her story you have to say Lt. Francis Fruge was a liar as he told what he reported to the HSCA and that is the only way around it. Unfortunately for this tactic though, there are other witnesses to her prediction as well.
What do you think of the Rose Cheramie story?
For the full report of Lt. Fruge, go here:
www.jfk-online.com/cherdoc2.html