JFK: The Dead Witnesses

JFK: The Dead Witnesses

By

Craig Roberts

And

John Armstrong

An Original Publication of Consolidated Press International

Copyright © by Craig Roberts and John Armstrong

Cover art copyright © by Craig Roberts and John Armstrong

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatever except for the purposes of review, research in limited quantity, quotes limited to one page or less, and portions originally derived from official U.S. government (public domain) sources.

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 978-1-62274-058-1

First Consolidated Pres printing: January 1995

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Printed in U.S.A.

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Books by Craig Roberts

Kill Zone; A Sniper Looks at Dealey Plaza (Consolidated Press, 1994)

Police Sniper (Pocket Books, 1993)

Combat Medic—Vietnam (Pocket Books, 1991)

The Medusa File: Crimes and Coverups of the U.S. Government (CPI 1997)

Books by Craig Roberts and Allen Appel

Hellhound (Avon, 1994)

Books by Craig Roberts and Charles W. Sasser

One Shot—One Kill; America's Combat Snipers (Pocket Books, 1990)

The Walking Dead; A Marine's Story of Vietnam (Pocket Books, 1989)

Crosshairs on the Kill Zone (Pocket Books 2007)

A mathematician hired by the London Sunday Times in February 1967 concluded that the odds of the number of witnesses involved in assassination of John F. Kennedy dying between November 22, 1963 and that date, (18 in number) were one hundred thousand trillion to one.

Since that date the number of deaths have increased to more then 115.

JFK

The Dead Witnesses

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Judge Jim Garrison, a true patriot and crusader for the truth.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank those individuals who made this book possible:

Jim Marrs, author of Crossfire; The Plot That Killed Kennedy, for his assistance in developing the listing of witnesses who met their fate, and for providing initial details of their deaths;

J. Gary Shaw, author of Cover-Up, for his invaluable help in providing details on the death of Roscoe White and other related characters;

John W. Hughes, author of Square Peg for a Round Hole, for lending direction and helpful suggestions on format and presentation;

And the numerous librarians and research specialists who made this work possible.

Introduction

Jim Marrs, author of Crossfire; The Plot That Killed Kennedy, wrote: In the three-year period which followed the murder of President Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald, 18 material witnesses died—six by gunfire, three in motor accidents, two by suicide, one from a cut throat, one from a karate chop to the neck, five from natural causes.

In the time period ranging from November 22, 1963 to August, 1993, over 115 witnesses have died or fallen victim to death by strange circumstances, suicides or murder. This book relates not only the names of the dead, but gives brief biographies on what connection they had with the Kennedy assassination, what they may have known about the case, and the cause of death. The authors have not speculated upon any motives behind their deaths, other than dealing with the facts of each demise and what direct evidence the deceased might have been able to provide investigators and researchers.

To define exactly what a dead witness is in the context of this work, the authors have listed not only those who might have witnessed the events that took place in Dealey Plaza, but those who had a connection—sometimes remote—with the principals or the events that transpired previous to November 22, 1963, and those that happened afterward.

Of particular interest is the fact that the greatest number of deaths coincided with the four main investigations conducted by government entities: The Warren Commission (1964-65); the Jim Garrison investigation of the New Orleans connection, and later, Clay Shaw (1965-69); the Senate Committee investigation (1974-76), and the House Committee on Assassinations investigation (1976-79). By graphing out the dates of death, the authors discovered that they peaked in the months leading up to, and during, the above named inquiries—sometimes with an important witness being killed, or committing suicide only days or hours prior to their scheduled testimony.

Other strange connections surfaced during the writing of this book. The reader will note certain parallels and linkages between many of the key players and various private corporations and government entities. Of note are the connections between Life magazine, its editors and reporters, and the intelligence community. In this instance, there are well defined links between the publications and employees of Henry Luce (Life and Fortune magazines), members of the OSS and CIA, the various operations against Cuba, and the Kennedy assassination. Other interesting links between many of the people listed within this book and private and government entities will also be noted, such as those international contacts provided by Clay Shaw, George De Morenschildt, Paul Ragorodsky, DeLesseps Morrison, and others.

In 1977, due to the unusual number of deaths, the House Select Committee on Assassinations felt compelled to look into the situation. But the Committee, stating that it could not make a valid study due to the large number of people involved and the odd manner of many of the deaths, decided it would be unable to come up with any valid conclusions in the time limits allotted to the Committee.

Along this line, the number of deaths, and the manner in which people died, between the years of 1963 and 1982, were as follows:

The number of deaths coming to the attention of the public, and Jim Garrison during the time period of his investigations, obviously worried the CIA. In a 1967 memo to Central Intelligence Agency Chief's of Station transmitted by CIA headquarters at Langley, the initiator writes:

Such vague accusations as that ‘more than 10 people have died mysteriously’ can always be explained in some rational way: e.g., the individuals concerned have for the most part died of natural causes; the [Warren] Commission staff questioned 418 witnesses—the FBI interviewed far more people, conducting 25,000 interviews and reinterviews—and in such a large group, a certain number of deaths are to be expected.

If the CIA was not involved with any of the deaths, then it seems a mystery why such a memo would have to be disseminated. Then, to add further flame to the fire, CIA technicians testified before the Senate Committee (Church Committee) in 1975 that a variety of Termination with Extreme Prejudice (TWEP) weapons had been used throughout the years, and many were chosen because they left no postmortem residue.

In one particular memo, the author states:

"You will recall that I mentioned that the local circumstances under which a given means might be used might suggest the technique to be used in that case. I think the gross divisions in presenting this subject might be:

(1) bodies left with no hope of the cause of death being determined by the most complete autopsy and chemical examinations;

(2) bodies left in such circumstances as to simulate accidental death;

(3) bodies left in such circumstances as to simulate suicidal death;

(4) bodies left with residue that simulate those caused by natural death..."

Regarding deaths that could be simulated to appear as natural causes, the various assassination experts within the intelligence communities of the world knew quite well of the effects of such chemical agents as sodium morphate, which caused heart attacks; thyon phosphate, which is a solution that can suspend sodium morphate and provide a vehicle to penetrate the surface of the skin with the chemical (which is used to coat something the victim might touch); and beryllium, which is an extremely toxic element that causes cancer and fibrotic tumors.

Various poisons abound, and even death by suffocation is mentioned in CIA documents as being able to produce a death by natural causes—whatever that means.

Not every death noted in this book is a mystery. Many can be attributed to a passage of time, and of the end of the natural life spans of the deceased. However, it should be remembered that there are still a great number who do not fit the above categories, and their deaths may forever remain suspect.

As a final note, some of those listed have little available information regarding their biography or demise. For these few, the authors have merely noted their names, relationship to the case, date of death (if known), and when possible, cause of death. These individuals were included to provide the most complete listing possible for the reader and future researchers. And in some cases, the only information available regarding the date of death is the year in which the person died and a brief description of any connection the deceased might have had with the assassination. This lack of information was caused by not being able to determine the locality in which the person died (which would provide a local obituary and subsequent leads for police reports, etc.). In all other cases the authors have made a concerted effort to provide a concise, yet detailed, account of the connection of each dead witness to the Kennedy assassination.

The readers must draw their own conclusions.

We thought we ranked above the chance of ill.

Others might fail, not we, for we were wise—

Merchants in freedom. So, of our free will

We let our servants drug our strength with lies.

The pleasure and the poison had its way

On us as on the meanest, till we learned

That he who lies will steal, who steals will slay.

Rudyard Kipling

The Covenant

1914

The Dead

Lee Harvey Oswald

November 24, 1963

Lee Harvey Oswald was the first, and most important, dead witness. He was killed by being shot in the side by night club owner and Mafia link Jack Ruby (Rubenstein). Ruby later died in jail of what he described as assassination by cancer. See Jack Ruby for Details.

Karyn Kupcinet

November 28, 1963

The first person known to have been murdered after Oswald, that may have had a connection with the Kennedy assassination, was a 23 year-old Hollywood actress and daughter of a Chicago newspaper columnist. Karyn Kupcinet, the daughter of Chicago Sun-Times reporter Irv Kupcinet, was found dead in her Hollywood apartment on December 1st, but the autopsy revealed that she had died three days earlier.

Kupcinet had moved to Hollywood three years earlier to break into television, and had been quite successful. After attending Wellesley, and graduating from the Actors Studio in New York, she had managed to make appearances on the Red Skelton Show, U.S. Steel Hour, Hawaiian Eye, and Surfside 6." She even appeared with Jerry Lewis and on the Donna Reed Show.

But on Wednesday night, November 27th, after a dinner with friends Mark Goddard and his wife Marcia, she left for home and was never seen alive again.

On Friday, November 30th, Mark Goddard went to Kupcinet's apartment to check on her after two days of trying to call, but receiving no answer. What Goddard saw after opening the unlocked door was appalling.

We called her name and thought she might be asleep because the TV was on, Goddard reported to police. But she wasn't asleep. For when Goddard turned on the lights and approached Kupcinet to try and wake her, he discovered that the young actress was laying on her side, with flecks of blood around her mouth, face and on a pillow. She was not breathing, and by the looks of the corpse, she had been dead for some time.

The scene showed almost no signs of struggle. Only a bowl of cigarettes and a coffeepot had been knocked to the floor, and no other furniture appeared to have been disturbed. Whoever had killed her had managed to creep up behind her undetected to strangle her to death. Then, after finishing the grisly act, they made their escape without even attempting to make it appear as a burglary or robbery—and the autopsy showed no evidence of sexual assault. The motive was simply murder.

What did Karyn Kupcinet know about the Kennedy assassination? It was later said that she had been overheard talking about the assassination before the event—possibly after something she had picked up from Chicago connections. Did she really know something in advance? If so, the possibility of her serving as a witness ended five days after Lee Harvey Oswald was eliminated.

Cause of death: Murder by strangulation.

Captain Michael D. Groves

December 3, 1963

Captain Groves, who commanded the JFK honor guard for Kennedy's funeral, died under mysterious circumstances seven days after the funeral. While eating dinner, he took a bite of food, paused briefly as a pained look came over his face, then passed out and fell face down into his plate. He died instantly.

On December 12th, his possessions and mementos—which had been sent home to Birmingham, Michigan—were destroyed in a fire of mysterious origin.

The Honor Guard, for some mysterious reason, had been practicing for a presidential funeral for three days before the assassination.

Captain Groves was 27 years old at the time of this death.

Cause of death: Unknown. Possibly poison.

Jack Zangretti

December, 1963

Jack Zangretti (AKA Jack Zangetty) a mob figure, was the manager of The Red Lobster, a gambling resort and motel located at Lake Lugert, Oklahoma. The lake is located between the small towns of Hobart and Altus, a little over 200 miles northwest of Dallas.

The resort, which cost over $300,000, was on a par with many of the gambling casino hotels in Las Vegas. At a time when gambling and drinking were illegal in Oklahoma, the club flourished. High rollers from all over the country made appearances and had clandestine meetings at The Red Lobster, and law enforcement officials seemed not to notice anything odd about the resort.

On November 23, 1963—the day after the assassination when Oswald was in Dallas police custody—Zangretti told friends that ...a man named Jack Ruby will kill Oswald tomorrow, and in a few days, a member of the Frank Sinatra family will be kidnapped just to take some of the attention away from the assassination. Jack Ruby did kill Oswald, and Frank Sinatra's son was kidnapped which made national headlines.

Two weeks later Zangretti was found floating in lake Lugert with bullet holes in his chest. According to the medical examiner, he was estimated to have died at least a week earlier.

The Red Lobster ceased to exist a few months later. It was demolished, and all traces of its existence were removed. Only the weed-covered foundations remain today.

Cause of death: Murder by multiple gunshots.

Warren Reynolds

January, 1964

Reynolds heard