This article appeared in The Sun , first in 1969 and then in 1973: The Sun, July 18, 1973, a newspaper in Tangipahoa Parish. Murray posits a conspiracy at the end of his article that is just plain ridiculous. Clay Shaw was chosen as a sacrificial goat in order to destroy Garrison so that there will never be another inquiry into the JFK assassination. It's bad enough that he wrote this article in 1969 but to reprint it in 1973 is bizarre. Clay Shaw saw Murray's article and wro

Conclusion Clay Shaw with his attorney Edward Wegmann at a press conference after his arrest for conspiring to kill President John. F. Kennedy. No one came to help Clay Shaw. The Department of Justice could have investigated the bribery allegations against Garrison and charged him with a variety of crimes. Perhaps that would have stopped the entire investigation and ended the prosecution of Clay Shaw. But President Johnson told Attorney General Ramsey Clark not to interfere,

The Bonderman Memo I think this was a photograph taken when Shaw was being booked on March 1, 1967. His lawyers Sal Panzeca and Ed Wegmann are on the left, and Garrison Chief Investigator Lou Ivon is on the right. David Bonderman, a special assistant in the DOJ, was given the task of reviewing the materials submitted by Shaw's attorneys. Here is his memo from April 3, 1969: David Bonderman died in December of 2024. Bonderman writes that "prosecutorial discretion covers at lea

Clay Shaw's Acquittal; New Charges; and Wegmann Goes Back to the Department of Justice. March 3, 1967, Clay Shaw arrives for a press conference after his arrest. Our last post ended with the start of Clay Shaw's trial for conspiring to kill JFK. During the course of the trial, there was ample opportunity for the Department of Justice to get involved and help Clay Shaw. For instance: Clay Shaw's attorneys had trouble with the Clinton witnesses because they did not have access

Wegmann files a forty-five-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Photo from Rosemary James' article, "The Dark Side of Not Guilty," in New Orleans Magazine. In May of 1968, Wegmann filed a forty-five-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. What does he have to lose? The DOJ won't help him so perhaps the courts will help. Click here for his complaint. Wegmann asks for "a 'sanctuary' in this Court to grant him relief from the irreparable ha

Wegmann Files a Civil Rights Complaint with the Department of Justice. Clay Shaw leaving the court house in New Orleans. Our last post on Clay Shaw left off with Ed Wegmann sending a letter to John Doar at the Department of Justice in late-September of 1967. He promised Doar that information on the case was being compiled and would soon be sent to him. As you can see in this post, there is some desperation on the part of Shaw's attorneys. They don't have many cards to play an

Wegmann Goes Back to Washington with Irvin Dymond Clay Shaw on the left, 1944 - 1945, with General Thrasher. In mid-September 1967, Wegmann and Dymond flew north to Washington D.C. They enlisted the help of Herbert 'Jack' Miller, a former assistant attorney general, who had been hired by Robert Kennedy in 1961. They told Miller that they waned to meet with someone at the CIA who can "steer them to the true facts and circumstances," of the various allegations being made by Gar

The CIA Gets Involved On March 4, 1967, Paese Sera , a communist-controlled newspaper in Rome began a multi-part series on Clay Shaw and the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC), a world trade center. The articles alleged that Clay Shaw was on the CMC's Board and that the CIA used the organization to funnel American dollars to ultra-rightists. Paese Sera, March 4, 1967 This hit the New Orleans newspapers in April: New Orleans States-Item, April 25, 1967 The story was again menti

Ed Wegmann Goes to Washington Part Two of our series on Clay Shaw discussed the Washington Post  article of March 3 , 1967 in which Ramsey Clark said that the FBI had investigated and cleared Shaw right after the JFK assassination. This made it sound like the FBI suspected Clay Shaw back in 1963 - 1964. Wegmann realized they needed some clarification and he sent a telegram to the Department of Justice requesting a meeting but was turned down. He also phoned the FBI who told

The DOJ is Told Not to Get Involved. The FBI Follows Suit. Jim Garrison's investigation into the JFK assassination became public in late February of 1967. Garrison bragged that he had solved the case. Washington Post, February 24, 1967 Washington got wind that he was also alleging that Lyndon Johnson was somehow linked to the assassination: This headline was from a later speech by Garrison but it illustrates his belief that Johnson was hiding something. Garrison, to my knowle

The Setting in New Orleans This is Part One of a ten-part series on attempts by Clay Shaw and his attorneys to get help from the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA. As you will see, nobody stepped up to help. In 1995, Patricia Lambert started submitting proposals to publishers for a biography of Clay Shaw. She ultimately published in 1999 False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK . In 2005, she put together a book prop

Victor Marchetti Jefferson Morley's Substack recently touted the importance of Victor Marchetti, author of The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence . Morley writes this about Clay Shaw: Marchetti said that [CIA Deputy Director of Plans Tom] Karamessines told him that Shaw was a long-time high-level asset who assisted in operations. Another CIA man, Ray Rocca, said he thought Garrison would obtain a conspiracy conviction . The CIA’s cover story, still believed by credulous reporte

Cover of New Orleans Magazine, March 1971 This issue of New Orleans Magazine, with its cover story by Rosemary James, was in the papers...

Headline from Variety after the 1929 stock market crash. Chad Nagle and Dan Storper published an article this week on Jefferson Morley's...

Here is what Clay Shaw had to go through to get permission to occasionally leave New Orleans. In this case, he wanted to visit his...

Here is a very good case study in the duplicity of Jim Garrison's investigation. Somehow, a witness statement from 1967 is turned on its...

A very good article in Newsweek about Clay Shaw: "Shaw was forced to sell his house on Dauphine [Street] and move into smaller quarters....

Was Jim Garrison really after the truth in his JFK assassination probe? Here are three instances in which he was incredibly...

Clay Shaw's cancer was unfortunately not "happily cured." He died on August 15, 1974. New Orleans States-Item, August 15, 1974 New...

Here is a letter that Clay Shaw wrote to poet Rod McKuen: The United States Supreme Court had decided not to hear an appeal from a lower...