Jim Garrison writes in his book, On The Trail of the Assassins, that Jules Ricco Kimble was an "important witness." Well, he did tell an interesting tale:
"One day in late 1961 or early 1962, he [Kimble] received a phone call from Ferrie, who asked if he would like to take an overnight plane trip with him. Kimble was agreeable; he met Ferrie at the airport and at that time learned that Shaw was coming along. They were going to fly to Canada to pick someone up."
Garrison alleges that once in Montreal, Shaw cam back the next day to return to New Orleans with a "Mexican or Cuban" man.
Did this really happen? Let's have a look at a Garrison investigative memo about Jules Ricco Kimble.
In this statement, taken in September 1967, Kimble says "he had had knowledge of a flight that David Ferrie told to Canada. He thought it was involving some Minute Men [sic] operation. Again he offered to gather this information for our office."
One month later, Kimble's story had changed. Here is Kimble's statement:
Interesting that in the memo, Kimble talks about his wife..but that while drinking in the Golden Lantern, a gay bar, Ferrie introduced him to Shaw.
In this statement, Kimble went on the plane trip with Ferrie and Shaw, and it wasn't for Minutemen business.
Of course, Clay Shaw did not like to fly. Here is another memo:
Shouldn't Garrison have been suspicious of such a changing story? Given what we know about Shaw - remember Shaw took the train to San Francisco in November 1963 - does it make sense he got into a Cessna to fly to Montreal?
Garrison does mention Shaw's aversion to flying. To Garrison, this meant it was "more than a routine mission." Garrison also claims that Ferrie "never filed flight plans," which helps explain why there is no evidence that such a flight took place.
The story gets even stranger. Just three days before the date of the second Kimble memo, he was arrested on some pretty major charges:
So, did Kimble give his statement after he was arrested? Was there some sort of deal for him to incriminate Shaw?
By the way, Kimble was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. You can read more about him here.
Kimble is currently serving a sentence for murder in Oklahoma.