Here is a memo, dated February 21, 1997, from the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) on army intelligence in Dallas. Fletcher Prouty's allegations were dismissed. Here is the link for this document at the Mary Ferrell Foundation website. Prouty had claimed that he had "worked with military presidential protection units," but the document says (on page 10) that "On balance, in his ARRB interview Prouty seemed to be much less knowledgeable about any such units than he suggested in his various writings, leaving us with virtually nothing to follow up on." Prouty had also claimed in one of his books that the "316th Field detachment of the 112th Military Intelligence Group" was told to "stand down" and help in Dallas. This was based on a phone call he had made to a member of the unit, the number two man...but Prouty could not remember his name. The commander of the 316th. Colonel Rudolph Reich denied the allegations. He told the ARRB that neither the 316th nor the 112th "ever undertook such missions" and denied talking to Prouty. "Of Prouty's allegation in general, Reich remarked, 'That guy has been smoking something...'" On page 13, you can see that Prouty admitted that he had "no idea how they [the Secret Service] run their business." Coming Up: The Reich complaint about Mark Lane, and the complete ARRB interview with Reich.

It was a blast chatting with Rob Clark about my new book, On The Trail of Delusion, Jim Garrison: The Great Accuser. Click here to listen or download the podcast.

Barry Ryder is one of the most knowledgeable people around on the JFK assassination. He lives in the U.K., and he excels at a lost skill - writing book reviews. Here is his review of my book on Amazon.co.uk. If you go to his profile page, you'll fine his other reviews. For instance, here is his review of Destiny Betrayed by James DiEugenio. Here is the text of his review of my book: This superb investigation of Garrison and his vindictive pursuit of Clay Shaw is required reading – not just for those who have an interest in the case – but for anybody who doubts that people who hold high, public office, could actually be mad, bad and dangerous to know. Litwin’s investigation – and ‘On The Trail Of A Delusion’ most assuredly is an investigation, not merely ‘a book’ - finally exposes the full extent of Jim Garrison’s mania and dishonesty. Earlier works by James & Laidlaw, Brener, Kirkwood, Epstein and Lambert all shone their own bright lights into Garrison’s dark fantasy and this stunning book finally tears away the last vestiges of pretence that Garrison was a courageous man who was onto something. Litwin proves that he was neither. The book is replete with letters, documents, memos, official reports, press cuttings and interviews. Everything is accurately sourced and the reader can have total confidence in the author’s citations. Litwin presents the evidence for all to see. Indeed, early in his introduction, the author tells of his first impressions as he began collating and examining the material. He writes, “The more I read, the more it confirmed the fact that Jim Garrison had nothing.” There are numerous examples of Garrison’s paranoia and a memo that he wrote to Bill Boxley on June, 12, 1967 is quite staggering. Fred Litwin can barely disguise his incredulity when writing about it. He says, “I now have hundreds of these sorts of memos, and while one could find them endlessly amusing, they are actually nothing of the sort.” Indeed they’re not. They’re proof positive that Garrison was a lunatic. Many of Garrison's empty boasts are included in the book, such as, “There will be arrests. Charges will be filed and on the basis of these charges, convictions will be obtained.” And, “My staff and I solved the case weeks ago. I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t have evidence beyond the shadow of a doubt. We know the key individuals, the cities involved and how it was done.” These were two of Garrisons most bloated claims and, of course, he never convicted anybody at all for the assassination of President Kennedy. Fred Litwin revisits all of the characters that were drawn into Garrison’s ‘theatre of the absurd’. Some people rushed to be part of the production whilst others, less fortunate, were mired it its ever expanding swamp of tragicomedy. Most of the characters will be familiar to readers of the subject; Dean Andrews, Jack Martin, Vernon Bundy all wobble and falter across the pages. The hare-brained Perry Russo and his ‘objectifying sessions’ make for chilling reading. Fred Litwin has dug deep and uncovered others whose names and experiences will be new to many. Garrison cut a swathe of destruction that was far wider than many people realise. The staggeringly ridiculous ‘Oswald/Ruby code’ that Garrison thought was concealed in Oswald’s address book is discussed by Litwin and any reader who still believes that Garrison was sane after reading it, is probably as mad as Garrison was. Chapter nine deals with Shaw’s trial. Litwin embraces and expands on the earlier works of Kirkwood, Brener and Lambert. Of special interest here is the issue of ‘the Clinton witnesses’. Whatever the reader chooses to believe about this episode, one thing is clear; the jury didn’t believe that it happened. Other State witnesses come and go and – in view of the not guilty verdict – none were believed. Spiesel, Bundy, Hardiman, Mrs Parker and Mr & Mrs Tadin all floundered badly on the stand. The jury had only to believe the testimony of one of these people in order to convict Shaw. They didn’t believe any of them. The author highlights Judge Christenberry’s post-trial ruling against Garrison which became necessary after he continued to pursue Shaw for alleged perjury. Christenberry’s judgement was scathing of the DA’s methods, witnesses and motivation. Litwin captures the moment perfectly and, when read, there is a sense that, at last, the madness is over. As the book moves on, regular themes emerge: Garrison’s credulity and paranoia are constant factors; his innate suspicion of gay men is ever present in his thoughts and deeds; his obsession with ‘propinquity’ is always available to help underpin his ‘theories’. Jim Garrison was worse than eccentric, he was mentally ill. There were many people who were sure of it. Carlos Quiroga, Kerry Thornley and Edgar Eugene Bradley were three and Litwin gives voice to them all in this excellent expose. By chapter 17, the author brings the story up to 1975 and the famous Geraldo showing of the Zapruder film – or rather a showing of an inferior, pirated copy that the nutty Robert Groden had ‘acquired’. Thereafter, Litwin retraces the sequence events that led to the formation of the House Selected Committee on Assassinations. Garrison’s statements to the Committee showed that he was still utterly obsessed with Z ‘a conspiracy’ but, he’d begun to make changes to it. Many of his original certainties were now not quite so certain and they were being replaced by new certainties. This outstanding book moves to its close as it arrives in the 1980’s and the eventual publication of Garrison’s sour-grapes book ‘On The Trail Of The Assassins’. He tried hard to excuse and explain ‘what-really-happened’ back in ‘69, but the book made little impact. That changed in the early 1990’s when Oliver Stone decided to make a film about the case. ‘JFK’ hit the screens and a generation bought into Kevin Costner’s sanitised depiction of the nut-case Garrison. Litwin writes extensively and scathingly about the film. Virtually every scene was pure invention – with concocted dialogue to help things along. Litwin also draws attention to the fact that the film has a distinct homophobic element. Gratuitous scenes – which feature invented characters – lean heavily on Clay Shaw’s gay orientation. Garrison repeatedly insisted that JFK was killed by a group of gay men in a “..homosexual thrill killing..” Despite there not being one iota of evidence to support the notion that Oswald was a gay man in league with other gay men, Stone chose to appeal to the basest nature of his audience by accepting and presenting Garrisons prejudice as being true. It wasn’t. Litwin gives the entire film a much-deserved hammering. I particularly enjoyed this segment and I think that many readers will, too. ‘On The Trail Of A Delusion’ runs to its conclusion with some more outstanding, in-depth research by its author. Shaw’s ‘relationship’ with (variously) the CIA and/or Permindex/CMC is examined. It has long been known that the original ‘story’ which was featured in ‘Paese Sera’ was a communist plant. Litwin follows the paper trail and presents his inescapable conclusion that the whole allegation was baseless. The book finishes as Litwin casts a critical eye over the few, remaining ‘defenders’ of Jim Garrison. (All historical tyrants have defenders, of course.) These acolytes are simply disciples of a false god, peddling false gospels. They inhabit internet forums and occasionally get books published. What they never do, of course, is take their ‘evidence’ to their Congressman. When it comes to investigative skill and determination, Fred Litwin leaves these people in his wake. Indeed, if Garrison had been half as smart as Fred Litwin, the entire New Orleans debacle would never have happened. Shaw would have been able to live out his life doing the things that he loved; Restoring parts of the French Quarter and writing plays. This is a stunning book. It picks up the baton from James & Wardlaw, Kirkwood, Brener, Epstein and Lambert. Fred Litwin has done Clay Shaw’s memory and history a great service. Barry Ryder

L. Fletcher Prouty was the real Mr. X in Oliver Stone's film JFK. He made several allegations in the film - notably that Secret Service protection was lax for the presidential motorcade in Dallas, and that the Secret Service turned down an offer of help from military intelligence. He also made further allegations in his books about the assassination. The Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) interviewed Prouty in 1996. Guess what? He couldn't provide evidence for any of his allegations. Here is the ARRB memo in its entirety. There is a lot more about Prouty in my book, On The Trail of Delusion, Jim Garrison: The Great Accuser.

I wouldn't be surprised if many visitors to my blog have never heard of Louis Bloomfield. He was a corporate lawyer in Montreal and some of his clients were shareholders of the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC), an organization in Rome trying to set up a World Trade Center and make Rome an important trading hub. But, was he tied to the JFK assassination? Clay Shaw was on the Board of Directors as well. Three days after Shaw was arrested a communist-controlled newspaper Paese Sera alleged that CMC was a CIA front designed to funnel money to right-wing extremists. Here is an excerpt of my book about Louis Bloomfield and CMC. There is a lot more information in my book on this topic, along with several additional illustrations. It's time for the truth about Permindex and Louis Bloomfield to come out.

Ah yes, more propinquity. This memo comes complete with Jim Garrison notations. There is no date on the memo. Perhaps he wrote this for the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA).. #1, #2, #3 are all pretty arcane. Garrison tries to tie Ferrie to Ruby because Ferrie had called a department store in which Ruby's brother had a contract to do some cleaning. I posted a memo about this earlier in my blog. # 5 is pretty funny. Turns out that Oswald and Ruby both called a Ft. Worth television station. How that links them is beyond me. # 7 is absurd. A phone number in Ruby's notebook has the same last four digits as a phone number in Oswald's notebook (2550). Garrison told staffer Tom Bethell that there were "callsigns" on "some radio frequency." Garrison's notation says "another Oswald-Ruby correlation - apparently a Company cryptonym." Bertha Cheek shows up a couple of times. In number 8, she is the sister of Earlene Roberts, who helped run the rooming house that Oswald stayed in in Dallas. Supposedly, she did a real estate deal with Jack Ruby. Where does one go with such a 'lead?' Cheek is also mentioned in #26. In #23, Gorden Novel played billiards with a Thomas Cox. Cox's name is supposedly in Shaw's notebook, and a former stripper for Jack Ruby says he roomed with Ruby before the assassination. Really? Tom Bethell's diary said that "Cox is supposed to have admitted something about Shaw's alleged involvement to a third party." Why I am not surprised we never hear from Cox again? Starting Tomorrow: Garrison's memos to the HSCA.

Now, here's a useless memo, no? What is there to say about this memo, except that it is completely useless. Now, here is a tenuous link! Garrison investigator Bill Turner finds out that Ferrie has called a department store. And, lo and behold, there is a link because Jack Ruby's brother provided custom cleaning for that store. Turner was a former FBI agent who was fired in 1961. Was this the second Oswald? Yet another Oswald. How many have there been? I'd wait, wouldn't you? Good move to wait until he was in a better mood. The Federal Reserve Board An insane memo. Can you imagine – the Federal Reserve stabilized the US dollar after the assassination? What chutzpah!

Here is a memo that Louis Ivon, an investigator for Garrison, wrote in November 1968. The basic premise is that, because there are differing accounts of Oswald's height, he must have been impersonated at some point. This was always a theme of Garrison's - he believed that Kerry Thornley, a Marine colleague of Oswald, was the "second Oswald." The memo claims that the first to notice the impersonation was Robert Oswald. "If you really want to know what I think, it is that Robert knew this returning defector was not really Lee." The last two pages are classic. "Bill Boxley [a Garrison investigator] said that the CIA has successfully put over impersonations so that even mothers are fooled." And, so the reason Oswald stayed away from his mother is not because he wasn't crazy about her, but, yes, she might see through the impersonation. "My idea is that, since she is a very sharp woman and had already noticed the difference in the texture of his hair, he realized that it was dangerous to stay around her. She might at any time see thru the imposture." Indeed, "a lesser woman could be fooled, but not our Marguerite." And, of course, "Marina knew it, too." You can read more about Thornley and the "second Oswald" in my book, On The Trail of Delusion. Garrison even floated the idea that it is Thornley, and not Oswald in the backyard photos!

One business day after Clay Shaw was acquitted, Garrison charged him with two counts of perjury - for denying that he knew David Ferrie or Lee Harvey Oswald. The two counts of perjury carried a twenty-year term, the same as the conspiracy charge Shaw had just beaten. Garrison had his work cut out for him. He clearly felt he did not have enough evidence to convict Shaw because he instructed his staff to find new leads. Once again, he was going to have to find the evidence after the indictment. His staff redoubled their efforts, and memos started flying in on some new but mostly old leads, or more accurately rumors. Garrison even gave instructions on how to name and file these memos with the new leads (to be titled "Shaw Leads II.". The strangest lead was the "Mardi Gras Ball Caper." In February 1962, over ninety people were arrested at a "fag ball" during Mardi Gras. The party was described as "extremely lewd," and several people were naked. The Times-Picayune of February 26, 1962 noted that a policeman's dog "flushed out one man from a sewer pipe after he leaped out a window and attempted to flee." Now, seven years later, it was time to have a closer look at this party. A Garrison memo dated March 20, 1969, states that "this lead sounds like an old one which was presumably checked out but its insistent re-appearance suggests that there may possibly be more here than merely smoke. The report is that Ferrie and Shaw were present at a faggot Mardi Gras Ball in Jefferson Parish and that one of them was arrested." Frederick Soule of the vice squad prepared a list of the people arrested, along with their addresses, noting that it was a "party for perverts." Shaw and Ferrie were not on the list. Garrison had to rely on the next best thing: propinquity. David Gentry, a friend of Clay Shaw's, had identified Shaw's friends and acquaintances. Garrison cross-checked the lists and found that Shaw knew a few of the arrested people. But what on earth could be done with that information? But Garrison did find that propinquity did yield some additional leads. A memo dated March 27, 1969 titled, "The New Shaw Lead File," by Andrew Sciambra listed a variety of leads. Here is the section on the 'fag ball.' Leonard Frank and Dea Diettrick lived in buildings owned by Shaw; James Mooney lived on the same block as Oswald; William Johnson's address was 935 Burgundy, and Shaw once owned 937 Burgundy; Philip Geraci testified before the Warren Commission that he once met Oswald when he was fifteen, but this Phil Geraci was forty-nine. There was also a "Long Shot Special:" William Johnson worked at the Dallas International Trade Mart, and Shaw worked at the New Orleans International Trade Mart. Obviously, nothing of substance came out of the 'fag ball' leads. My book, On The Trail of Delusion, goes over many of the other silly leads that were being considered in 1969.

Here is a five-page report from David Snyder, a New Orleans reporter who was a stringer for Time and who also worked, at different times, for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the New Orleans States-Item. Notice the complaints of headaches and the fact that Ferrie thought he was seriously ill. Snyder was not the only person to see Ferrie in bad shape. An informant for Garrison had infiltrated Ferrie's life and here is what he wrote: Ferrie was very scared of Garrison - he knew that, as someone who had faced morals charges for playing with an underage teenage boy, he faced a very dangerous time in prison. I'll have more to say about his death in later blog posts. Ferrie had a full forensic autopsy - and the results were quite clear that he did not commit suicide.

As I started going through the papers of Jim Garrison, I started finding some really crazy, wacky memos. I put them aside in a file, and I now have over 150 of such memos. So, here are five that I found amusing. Every week or so, I'll post more of these memos. Investigative Leads? Garrison’s team was obsessed with gay sex. Because they initially believed that the JFK assassination was a homosexual thrill killing, they thought that anything related to homosexuality might lead them somewhere. I doubt police were called to Shaw’s residence. He was a very circumspect man, and the idea of him being naked on his balcony is hard to believe. It’s hard to see how any of this was viewed as an “investigative lead.” There was no other memo about the supposed orgy and the Jefferson Parish authorities. 2. Now, here's some good information She was placed in a sanitorium for treatment of alcoholism. All of this information was “submitted for evaluation.” I don’t think it went very far. Interestingly, this was the same mental hospital where Oswald supposedly applied for a job and the same place that treated Rose Cherami. 3. Even Garrison Had Trouble With This One... Bill Turner was a reporter for Rampart's magazine and he also did some investigative work for Garrison. He had been an FBI agent but was fired in the early 1960s. Many of his memos are really funny! Here's a Turner memo on Ruby and Lyndon Johnson being in the same bar in Mexico. Even though it is far-fetched, Turner still wants to investigate. 4. Why Didn't He Call the FBI? An important lead which was probably missed by the Warren Commission. 5. Remember the Game Telephone? This so-called lead, which is just fourth-degree hearsay, goes absolutely nowhere.

One of the most interesting stories in my book is contained in Chapter 16, "Arsenic and Old Perrin." I tell the story of two Garrison investigators, Bill Boxley and Joel Palmer who were sent out to look into Robert Perrin, the husband of Nancy Perrin Rich. She testified before the Warren Commission. She had told them that she had briefly worked for Jack Ruby in Dallas, and that he had been involved in running guns to Cuba. There were numerous problems with her testimony - she could remember very little about the meetings - and she had very little credibility. You can read her testimony in Warren Commission Volume XIV, Pages 330-364. But, don't forget to read the exhibits that accompany her testimony in Volume XXVI - you'll see why she has little credibility. Robert Perrin had lived in Dallas and New Orleans, and thus Garrison thought he could provide the connective tissue between the genesis of a conspiracy in New Orleans and the actual assassination in Dallas. The only problem was that Perrin committed suicide in 1962. You'll have to read the entire story to believe it. At the end, Warren Commission critics Harold Weisberg and Vincent Salandria convinced Garrison that Boxley was a CIA plant, and he was promptly fired from the investigation. Palmer then disappeared. I found Joel Palmer. And we started discussing the case. He is still a big believer in Jim Garrison and his investigation. While researching my book, I came across a memo written by Harold Weisberg: I sent this memo to Joel and asked him if he wanted to comment on it. I told him that I would publish his response. He then sent me a 3,000+ word reply which proved to be a little too big for my book. So, to honor my pledge, I am posting his reply (edited for spelling) so that everybody, not just purchasers of my book, can read it. What makes it interesting is that Palmer disagrees with many of the conspiracy critics who actually believe that Boxley was CIA. Palmer confirms, as I write in my book, that Garrison was 100% behind the Perrin investigation. Here is his reply: If you prefer, you can download the .pdf file below.