Post by John Duncan on Jun 26, 2020 21:42:36 GMT -5
This was written by Gil Jesus in June 2004.
The FBI interviewed a man in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on November 14, 1963, who claimed to have prior knowledge of a plot to kill President John F. Kennedy (JFK) had been jailed for stealing three cars on September 30th.
The man claimed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan and that he was able to ascertain through his travels around the country that "a militant group of the National States' Rights Party was planning to assassinate the President and other high-level officials. He stated that he does not believe this is planned for the near future, but he believes that the attempt will be made."
The report added that the FBI believed him to be attempting to make some sort of deal in order to avoid prosecution for the car theft charge. Incredibly, they concluded that there was no information developed that would indicate any danger to the President in the near future or during his trip to Dallas.
In the early morning of November 17, 1963, William Walter, a security clerk in the FBI's New Orleans office, received a teletype from FBI headquarters warning of a possible assassination attempt on Kennedy during his coming trip to Dallas on November 22nd. Walter said that he was alone when he received the teletype marked "URGENT" and signed, "DIRECTOR".
The following is a copy of that teletype:
URGENT 1:45 AM EST 11-17-63 HLF 1PAGE
TO ALL SACS
FROM DIRECTOR
THREAT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT KENNEDY IN DALLAS TEXAS NOVEMBER TWENTYTWO DASH TWENTYTHREE NINETEEN SIXTYTHREE.
MISC INFORMATION CONCERNING BUREAU HAS DETERMINED THAT A MILITANT REVOLUTIONARY GROUP MAY ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT KENNEDY ON HIS PROPOSED TRIP TO DALLAS TEXAS
NOVEMBER TWENTYTWO DASH TWENTYTHREE NINETEEN SIXTYTHREE.
ALL RECEIVING OFFICES SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CONTACT ALL CIS; PCIS LOGICAL RACIAL AND HATE GROUP INFORMANTS AND DETERMINE IF ANY BASIS FOR THREAT. BUREAU SHOULD BE KEPT ADVISED OF ALL DEVELOPMENTS BY TELETYPE.
SUBMIT FD THREE ZERO TWOS AND LHM OTHER OFFICES HAVE BEEN ADVISED
END AND ACK PLS.
MO.......
DL........
NO.......
RT TI TU CLR.....
Kennedy visited Miami as scheduled on November 18th, but as a result of the taped information provided by the Miami Police and their fear of trouble from anti-Castro exiles, his planned motorcade through that city was cancelled and he was flown in to a scheduled speech by helicopter instead.
The Miami police had received word of a threat by a "mobile, unidentified gunman with a high-powered rifle fitted with a scope". In addition, an anonymous typed postcard dated 11/16/63 and sent to the Chief of Police said that the "Cuban Commandos have the bombs ready for killing JFK" and that they'd use them either "at the airport or the convention hall".
In addition, the Secret Service received an "organized crime" threat pertaining to the same (11/18) trip.
Tampa police reported that they had received a threat from someone they describe as a "white male age 20 slender in build, etc." A Nov. 8 memo from the Secret Service indicated that the original threat had been made in October and that "subject stated he will use a gun, and if he couldn't get closer he would find some other way. Chief of Police J.M.Mullins said that three people had made threats against the President, and although one was still in jail at the time of the president's visit, he did not know if the other two had followed the presidential caravan to Dallas.
The Dallas papers announced that the motorcade route most likely would "move west on Main St. through the downtown area." However, the Chief of the Secret Service, Forrest Sorrels, made a slight change in the route: a right hand turn which would put the motorcade north on Houston St., and a left-hand turn onto Elm St. The purpose of the change was to obtain access to Stemmons Freeway. The route change was communicated to both Dallas papers, which published the amended route on Tuesday, November 19th.
In the early morning hours of November 20, 1963, a drug addict and prostitute named Rose Cheramie was found lying on the side of the road near Eunice, Louisiana.
She had been thrown from a moving car. Battered and bruised and in a state of near hysteria, she was transported to Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson. She appeared to be under the influence of some drug. State Police Lieutenant Francis Fruge, investigating the incident, asked her what had happened. She told him that she had been travelling from Florida to Dallas with two Latin men. When he asked he what they were going to do in Dallas, she replied, "pick up some money, pick up my baby and....kill Kennedy." At the State Hospital, she repeated her claim to the doctors several times, saying that the President would be murdered in two days and said that she got her information from "word in the underworld". But because of her emotional state at the time, she was thought to be in a drug-induced delirium and her story was not believed.