Rose Cherami told Lt. Francis Fruge about an upcoming heroin deal. James DiEugenio in Destiny Betrayed wrote: (page 79) "So, on November 25, Fruge interviewed Cheramie again. He found out her Florida journey with the two men had originated in Miami. Also, that the men seemed to be part of the conspiracy rather than just cognizant of it. Cheramie's child was being held as ransom so that she would play her part in the drug deal. After the heroin transaction, she was to proceed to the Rice Hotel in Houston under an assumed name. Houston is in close proximity to Galveston, the town from which the drugs were coming in. From there, they were to escape to Mexico. Fruge had the heroin aspect of Cheramie's story investigated. Every part of it checked out from the correct ship name coming into Galveston to the reservations under a false name at the Rice Hotel." Of course, his source for that statement is Probe Magazine, July - August 1999. Let's have a closer look and see if "every part" of her story checked out. Here are the conclusions from the HSCA: Doesn't sound like every part of what she said checked out. Unfortunately, I don't have all the underlying reports sourced by the HSCA but I do have the Fruge interview, the Fruge deposition, and two Customs memos. Here is what Francis Fruge says about the dope incident in Houston. This is from his HSCA interview: I would have certainly asked Fruge some additional questions. For instance, who was the man who had the baby and the money? Did he really have her baby? If he did, did Fruge not try to get the baby back? What did Cherami say or do about her baby? Here is an excerpt from Francis Fruge's deposition: The seaman never appeared at the Rice Hotel with the heroin. The deal did not go down. Here is a Customs report: (courtesy of Larry Hancock) Cherami's information was just a "vague rumor." Here is a more detailed report: It appears that Cherami provided the names of some people who were already well-known to be involved in narcotics, and nothing more. Once they determined that she was crazy, they realized they were wasting their time, and packed up.

A previous blog post looked at Dr. Wayne Owens who conspiracy theorists maintain was a witness to Cherami's prediction. However, the evidence is clear that he did not directly speak to Cherami, but heard an account second or third-hand. Lt. Francis Fruge spoke to Cherami on the trip from Eunice to Jackson, but all she said was that she was going to Dallas to kill the President. And, that's if we believe Fruge who has his own credibility issues. For instance, Fruge, along with his investigative partner Anne Dischler, was involved in an expenses scandal: Opelousas Daily World, April 30, 1968 Did anybody at the Hospital in Jackson hear Rose Cherami predict the JFK assassination? Earlier this week, we included the statement of Mr. A. H. Magruder who told Garrison investigators that Dr. Victor Weiss had told him Cherami said that "the President and other Texas officials were going to be killed on their visit to Dallas." But, in another Garrison memo, Weiss was not sure if he talked to Cherami before or after the assassination: This is the only Garrison memo that reports on a conversation with Dr. Victor Weiss. He says he cannot remember if he spoke to Cherami before or after the assassination. Surely, had he talked to her before the assassination, he would not only remember it, but there would be some record of the discussion. No nurse or other personnel at the hospital has ever come forward a statement about what Cherami said before the assassination. What I find striking is that Dr. Weiss and Mr. Magruder both decided not to inform the FBI or the Warren Commission about Rose Cherami. That suggests to me that whatever she did say did not bother them too much. - probably because whatever she said was after the assassination. Dr. Victor Weiss was interviewed by the HSCA. He told them that he was asked by Dr. Bowers to see Rose Cherami on November 25, 2963 - after the assassination. He spoke to Cherami and she said she had worked for Jack Ruby. However, she did not have any specific details on an assassination plot and she said that "word in the underworld" was that Kennedy would be killed. The HSCA did not talk to Dr. Bowers. But Dr. Bowers did speak to researcher Robert Dorff. Here is a letter from Dr. Bowers: Dear Bob, This letter is intended to set the record straight regarding my alleged statements concerning Rose Cherami in conjunction with her November 1963 stay at East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana. You and I discussed this quite extensively during a series of telephone calls in early 2002. At that time you read a section on page 200 and 201 of Appendix 10 to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which stated, quote: "The commission [sic] interviewed one of the doctors on staff at the East Louisiana State Hospital who had seen Cheramie during her stay there at the time of the Kennedy assassination. The doctor corroborated aspects of [the Cheramie allegations]. Dr. Victor Weiss verified that he was employed as a resident physician at the hospital in 1963. He recalled that on Monday, November 25, 1963, he was asked by another physician, Dr. Bowers, to see a patient who had been committed November 20 or 21. Dr. Bowers allegedly told Weiss that the patient, Rose Cheramie, had stated before the assassination that President Kennedy was going to be killed." Dr. Weiss’s statement is untrue. I was not at the hospital on Monday, November the 25th. I spent that day working at my regular job at the Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. My regular tenure at East Louisiana State Hospital ended in July, 1963, when I moved to New Orleans and commenced work at the Baptist Hospital in that city. I worked weekdays Monday through Friday. On weekends I would drive to Jackson to earn extra money working in the medical division at the East Louisiana State Hospital. I never saw Rose Cherami and only found out about her allegations on Sunday, November the 24th, 1963, during a dove hunting engagement with Dr. Weiss. It was he who told me what she allegedly told Weiss and possibly others. I was never contacted by anyone from the House Select Committee on Assassinations. When I began getting telephone calls from assassination researchers informing me about the statements attributed to me, as memorialized [in Weiss's HSCA testimony], I called Dr. Weiss and asked him why he had said these things. Weiss rebuffed my inquiry and flatly refused to discuss it. I found that very odd as I had known and respected him for many years. I still cannot understand why he made those statements. On mature reflection I recalled that, during our dove hunting foray on Sunday, November the 24th, Dr. Weiss told me about Cherami’s allegations. That was the first time I heard any of this. I remember that incident because, while driving back to New Orleans that day, I heard on the radio that Oswald had been shot in the basement of the Dallas Police Department. Years later I personally reviewed Rose Cherami’s hospital records at the East Louisiana State Hospital and was unable to find any reference to her alleged remarks about an impending assassination of President Kennedy. I’m sorry I was unable to attend the JFK Lancers [sic] forum in Dallas and hope this letter makes clear that I had no contact with Rose Cherami. Sincerely, Donn E. Bowers, MD Dr. Bowers contradicts Dr. Weiss, but there is still no evidence that either of them spoke to Rose Cherami before the assassination. Francis Fruge went back to the hospital in Jackson to speak to the nurses. There are no statements from any of the nurses amongst the Garrison papers - and no nurses have ever come forward with a statement about Cherami. We do know from the HSCA that hospital records "gave no reference as to alleged statements made by Cheramie." The whole Cherami story doesn't make much sense. The conspirators, driving from Florida to Dallas, stop in Eunice, Lousiana. With them is a drug-addled prostitute. They then throw her out of the car, despite her foreknowledge of the assassination plot, and not only continue to Dallas to kill JFK, but then go on to Houston for a drug deal. That's a busy week, no?

What exactly did Rose Cherami tell Francis Fruge in the early morning hours on November 21, 1963 - after she had gotten over a heroin overdose and was under sedation? Here is an excerpt from an interview of Francis Fruge with the HSCA: According to Fruge, she said "We're going to kill President Kennedy when he comes to Dallas in a few days." That was the extent of their conversation. He elaborated further in his deposition to the HSCA: (courtesy of the Larry Hancock website) This hardly sounds like a plot, no? Fruge's next interview with Cherami was on November 25, 1963, and here is what she said: Hardly more details. Fruge then called his supervisor: How did they follow up on this information? They called up customs. And they end up taking Cherami to Houston to work a narcotics deal. The guys who were going to kill Kennedy on Friday, then had to complete a narcotics deal in Houston. She did not want to talk to the FBI: To be honest, I am not sure if Fruge was asking her about sharing her information on the JFK assassination or the narcotics deal. At one point, they called up Captain Fritz of the Dallas police and he wasn't interested - but did they tell him about Cherami's foreknowledge of the assassination or just the dope deal? Nonetheless, Fruge did not call the FBI, nor did he ever contact the Warren Commission. But the narcotics case was important to him - he flew her to Houston to work with customs to complete the deal. And this makes me think he didn't take her seriously about the JFK assassination. He did take her seriously about narcotics. After the dope deal fell through, "The Agent in charge of Customs in Houston called the Agents, probably F.B.I., and asked them if they wanted to talk to Cherami." Probably the FBI? Again, it appears that they called about the dope deal and not the assassination. If any of this is confusing, well, Jonathan Blackmer could have done a much better job of deposing Fruge. He doesn't appear to be that interested in the story, to be honest, and the HSCA never contacted Fruge's supervisors. And so, Fruge's April 4, 1967 report to Jim Garrison starts to make more sense. He didn't mention the JFK assassination in the memo because he was never convinced it was important. Garrison might have thought it was important, but not Fruge. As you can see, he mentions the Ruby - Oswald connection, but nothing about the JFK assassination. And everything that Cherami said about Ruby and Oswald was said after the assassination, and after Ruby shot Oswald. I love the last line, "Other statements made by subject, relative to your inquiry, are hear-say [sic], but are available, upon your request." Here is an article about Francis Fruge from the Eunice News, July 18, 1967: Note the last line - "He thinks she could have had direct knowledge of the assassination plot." This is far from definitive, no? He says he picked her up four days before the assassination, but he actually picked her up on November 20, 1963. Has the event already become hazy in his mind? Also, note that, once again, Fruge spends more time talking about dope smuggling than the JFK assassination. And in an upcoming post, you will see that not everything she said about the shipment of heroin checked out.

Joan Mellen, in her book A Farewell To Justice, claims that Rose Cherami was watching the Dallas motorcade on television on November 22, 1963: (page 206) "On Friday, November 22nd, at twenty minutes before noon, Rose was watching television in the hospital recreation area. Scenes in Dallas flashed on the screen. President Kennedy was on his way. "Somebody's got to do something!" Rose shouted. "They're going to kill the president!" No one paid any attention. The motorcade pulled into view. "Watch!" Rose cried out. "This is when it's going to happen! They're going to get him! They're going to get him at the underpass!" "POW!" Rose yelled as the shots rang out. Pretty creative, dialogue, no? Of course, the motorcade was not televised. Joan Mellen got this from the following memo: This is all so silly. Didn't Fruge already investigate? He picked up Rose Cherami from the hospital on November 27, 1963. Did no one say anything to him? Did he not ask anybody if Rose said anything after he brought her there? Did anybody in Garrison's office really believe she could have watched the motorcade on television? Joan Mellen wasn't the only conspiracy theorist to believe this nonsense. In the July - August, 1999 issue of Probe Magazine, James DiEugenio wrote: "At the hospital, Cheramie again predicted the assassination. On November 22nd, several nurses were watching television with Cheramie. According to these witnesses, "... during the telecast moments before Kennedy was shot Rose Cheramie stated to them, 'This is when it is going to happen' and at that moment Kennedy was assassinated. The nurses, in turn, told others of Cheramie's prognostication." (Memo of Frank Meloche to Louis Ivon, 5/22/67.) Although the Dallas motorcade was not broadcast live on the major networks, the nurses were likely referring to the spot reports that circulated through local channels in the vicinity of the trip." DiEugenio actually believes this memo corroborates her supposed foreknowledge. None of those nurses ever came forward with any information regarding Cherami. Her hospital records contain no indication she said anything about the JFK assassination.

Rose Cherami supposedly said that she worked for Jack Ruby. Was she a stripper, or a dope runner, or was she just making it all up? Is that Rose Cherami behind Jack Ruby? (Just a joke, people!) James DiEugenio, in Destiny Betrayed, writes: (page 79) "On November 26, Fruge flew Cheramie from Louisiana to Houston. In the back of the small Sesna [sic] 180, a newspaper was lying between them. One of the headlines read that the investigators had found no connection between Ruby and Oswald. When Cheramie read this, she started to giggle. She said that Ruby and Oswald did know each other. She understood this from working for Ruby." and: (page 182) "She told the doctor that the president and other Texas officials were going to be killed on Kennedy's upcoming visit to Dallas. Weiss told Magruder that, like Fruge, he did not pay very much attention to these meanderings by the patient. But after Kennedy was killed, he went back to her. She now said, after Ruby had shot Oswald, that Oswald knew Ruby since she had seen them together at Ruby's club." His source is a memo from 2/23/1967 from Detective Frank Meloche and Sergeant Sedgebeer to Jim Garrison. Here is that memo: There are two Garrison notations. The first, on the left side, reads: "Indicates that she did say this before the assassination." And, at the bottom, he wrote: "Note: This version has the FBI coming to pick her up! If this were the case, how did she get to Houston with Fruge?" And, Garrison is correct - she was not picked up by the FBI, she was picked up by Fruge. So Garrison should have realized that there was something not quite right with the statement. Also, there is the claim that Cherami worked as a "dope runner" for Jack Ruby. But, is there any evidence that Ruby was involved with dope in the 1960s? Of course, all of this is second-hand - it's just what Mr. Magruder remembers three years after the fact. He never even considered whether he should contact the FBI or the Warren Commission about the story. [By the way, Dr. Weiss told the HSCA that he talked to Cherami after the assassination.] We've previously posted Francis Fruge's memo to Jim Garrison from April 4, 1967 about Rose Cherami. Here is an excerpt from that memo: Fruge writes that "it was verified" that she once worked for Jack Ruby as a stripper. But there is not one piece of evidence to support that. Now look at what Fruge told the HSCA: Now, "he thinks that this might have been checked later." That sure doesn't sound like "verified," does it? Further, Cherami did not strip at the Carousel, but that was the only strip club Ruby owned. He did not own a club called the "Pink Door," or the "Red Door." Here's how James DiEugenio reports this in Probe Magazine: (July-August, 1999) "In fact, Fruge later confirmed the fact that she had worked as a stripper for Jack Ruby." But his source was just the Fruge memo shown above. Fruge's memory improved during his deposition, just ten days later: (courtesy of the Larry Hancock website) Now, it was definitely the Pink Door. And, now Cherami told Fruge that Ruby and Oswald had "been shacking up for years." Blackmer never asked Fruge about his earlier claim that he had "verified" that Cherami worked for Ruby. No one has come up with any evidence that Rose Cherami ever worked for Jack Ruby. Her FBI rap sheet provides another clue - when on earth could she have worked for Ruby? Jack Ruby opened the Carousel in 1960 - that was the only strip club he ever owned - so if she was a stripper, it would have been there. Here is her FBI rap sheet from the 1960s: As you can see, Cherami moved around quite a bit, and it doesn't appear that she was in Dallas all that much. She was arrested in Dallas on 5/15/63, but less than two weeks later, she was arrested in Norman, Oklahoma. So, when could she have worked for Jack Ruby? Keep in mind that she was repeatedly using narcotics, and you can see what she looked like in 1964. She doesn't look like a stripper to me. It's not impossible that she worked, for a very brief time, for Ruby - but, in the absence of any evidence, I'd say that she didn't. You can read the entire HSCA staff report on Cherami here.

The Rose Cherami story is a staple of conspiracy theorists - her supposed foreknowledge of the JFK assassination has become almost a founding myth. And no one is quite sure what she really said back in 1963. You can read more about the Cherami story here. James DiEugenio in his book Destiny Betrayed claims that Dr. Wayne Owen [sic] was one of the people who heard Rose Cherami talk about the assassination: (page 206) "The fact that she predicted the assassination in advance spread through the hospital. Dr. Wayne Owen, who had been interning from LSU at the time, later told the Madison Capital Times that he and other interns were told of the plot in advance of the assassination. Owen told the same newspaper that Cheramie [sic] had also revealed the name of one Jack Rubinstein in advance. Owen did not understand the significance of this until he learned that Rubinstein was Jack Ruby's real name. When Owen learned that Ruby was Rubinstein, he grew quite concerned. "We were all assured that something would be done about it by the FBI or someone. Yet we never heard anything." DiEugenio's source for this paragraph is the Madison Capital Times of February 11, 1968. This is an error since the Capital Times did not publish on Sundays, but the Madison Capital Times issues of February 1 - 3, 1968 did have articles about Dr. Owens. Here is the first article from February 1, 1968: This is clearly the article DiEugenio was sourcing - it has the quote from Dr. Owens that he references on the second page. The article also claims: Ten other students heard the allegation. Two of the former medical students have been called to testify by Jim Garrison. On Tuesday, November 19, 1963, the eleven interns came upon a room in which three men had been brought after an automobile accident. One man had a bullet wound and he died. One of the other men said that he knew of "a plot to kill President Kennedy." One of the men in the plot was Jack Rubinstein. The two men were released from the hospital. Several interns informed authorities in New Orleans about what happened. Now. does this sound like the Rose Cherami story? First, there is no Rose Cherami. Second, it was one of the two men who talked about the plot. Third, eleven witnesses who directly heard the allegation about the conspiracy - well, where are those witnesses? Nothing about this report sounds right. How come James DiEugenio doesn't say a word about what is really in this article? The reporter from the Capital Times called Jim Garrison's office. Here is the memo: Here is the article from February 2, 1968 of the Madison Capital Times: Some comments: The reporter called Andrew Sciambra who claimed the information from Dr. Owens "corroborates information we have already been working on - it fits in exactly." The Wisconsin State Journal said that Dr. Owen was "shaken by the inaccurate statements of The Capital Times." Dr. Owen said he heard this from a professor of psychology who "had been treating a woman patient in the hospital." She told him about the plot four days before the assassination. The Capital Times learned of the story from an anonymous caller. Here is the article from Wisconsin State Journal from February 2, 1968: Some comments: The Wisconsin State Journal says his name is Owens, not Owen. Owens attended a psychology discussion in New Orleans on the Monday preceding the assassination (November 18, 1963). The presiding professor of psychology talked about an experience treating a female patient at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She mentioned "Jack Rubinstein" or "Jack Ruby" and "suggested possible danger to the President." After the assassination, she said that Ruby was the assassin, not Oswald. The State Journal called James Alcock in Garrison's office and he said that the woman "was allegedly one of Ruby's strippers." So, Dr. Owens' story is second-hand, or third-hand, or might it have been fourth-hand - even then, It's not exactly the Rose Cherami story we know and love. The date is wrong - she was brought in on November 20, not November 18, and this is the first report I have seen that she said that Ruby was the assassin. Clearly, something is off about this report. There was another memo in the Garrison office: The next day, the last article in the series appeared in the Madison Capital Times: What's interesting is that Andrew Sciambra "read the Rose Cherami file" to the reporter from The Capital Times. Here is what he says Cherami told Lt. Francis Fruge about Jack Ruby: "Why, Jack knew Oswald well. They were very good friends. Oswald often visited Jack at the Carousel and I saw them talking to each other often." Now that is not exactly what was in Lt. Francis Fruge's April 4, 1967 report: There is nothing in Fruge's report about the assassination. He reports that Oswald and Ruby were "bed partners." Sciambra might have been reading from another report -- a Dr. Weiss supposedly heard Cherami talking about Ruby and Oswald being friends.. Note Fruge's last sentence: "Other statements made by subject, relative to your inquiry, are hear-say, but are available, upon your request." There was one more memo regarding Dr. Owens: So, the story originates with Dr. Gonzales. If he really did talk to Cherami, it seems like it was after the assassination, Did he hear it directly from Cherami? Why are there no memos about Dr. Gonzales? In fact, there is not a word that comes directly from Dr. Gonzales. James DiEugenio misled his readers by only telling a small part of the story. Had he done a modicum of research, he would have realized that Dr. Owens did not corroborate the Cherami story in any way, shape, form, or manner. More blog posts to come on Rose Cherami. Stay tuned.

My friend Steve Roe has made a very important discovery. He found an article from 1957 regarding Rose Cherami that directly relates to her credibility. Mug shot of Rose Cherami. She had been arrested on 10/19/64 for being drunk, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. You can read more about Rose Cherami here. Here is the article that Steve found. It's from the Tucson Daily Citizen from May 25, 1957. The article demonstrates her history of making false stories. Here is another Rose Cherami story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune from December 20, 1960: It's Rose Cherami week on my blog. Every day this week, we'll be debunking another Rose Cherami allegation by conspiracy theorists. Stay tuned! Update: The Doan case still gets a lot of interest. There is even a Facebook page.

I can't wait until September. Alecia Long's new book, Cruising for Conspirators: How a New Orleans DA Prosecuted the Kennedy Assassination as a Sex Crime, will be published in mid-September. Alecia Long is a Professor of History at Louisiana State University. I am very fortunate that Alecia gave me a manuscript to read, and I can assure you that this book belongs in your library. Here is my short review (a longer one will be posted in September): "Alecia Long breaks new ground in her important book, Cruising for Conspirators, by demonstrating the role of sexuality in understanding the assassination of JFK. Long dissects Jim Garrison's prosecution of an innocent gay man, Clay Shaw, with steady hands and shows how the entire affair needs to have its own place in LGBT history. This incredibly well-written book deserves to be in every major library in the country, and academics would be well-advised to use it in their classrooms." You can order the book here from the publisher. Here is the Amazon link. Here is the description of the book: New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison’s decision to arrest Clay Shaw on March 1, 1967, set off a chain of events that culminated in the only prosecution undertaken in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In the decades since Garrison captured headlines with this high-profile legal spectacle, historians, conspiracy advocates, and Hollywood directors alike have fixated on how a New Orleans–based assassination conspiracy might have worked. Cruising for Conspirators settles the debate for good, conclusively showing that the Shaw prosecution was not based in fact but was a product of the criminal justice system’s long-standing preoccupation with homosexuality. Tapping into the public’s willingness to take seriously conspiratorial explanations of the Kennedy assassination, Garrison drew on the copious files the New Orleans police had accumulated as they surveilled, harassed, and arrested increasingly large numbers of gay men in the early 1960s. He blended unfounded accusations with homophobia to produce a salacious story of a New Orleans-based scheme to assassinate JFK that would become a national phenomenon. At once a dramatic courtroom narrative and a deeper meditation on the enduring power of homophobia, Cruising for Conspirators shows how the same dynamics that promoted Garrison’s unjust prosecution continue to inform conspiratorial thinking to this day. Here are some of the blurbs: “This shocking narrative uncovers how decades of police surveillance in New Orleans created a vast paper trail that set the stage for a corrupt district attorney to frame the only man to face prosecution for John F. Kennedy’s assassination, creating a lasting homophobic conspiracy theory in the process. With keen historical sensitivity, Alecia Long reveals the longer patterns and plots that frame this must-read story.” — Jim Downs, author of Stand by Me: The Forgotten History of Gay Liberation "Exposing the corrupt world of New Orleans policing and the complex gay subculture that thrived in the city’s shadow, Long’s book features an intriguing cast of characters, including ambitious prosecutor Jim Garrison and closeted businessman Clay Shaw. More importantly, it uncovers how cultural notions of gay men as criminal sexual psychopaths came to permeate JFK conspiracy theories and American culture more generally." — David K. Johnson, author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government In Cruising for Conspirators Alecia Long offers us a fresh new perspective on an endlessly enthralling subject—the alleged conspiracy behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy—revealing how a pervasive cultural and institutional homophobia shaped the prosecution of the only person ever tried in the affair. This is an engrossing and important book, meticulously researched and profoundly relevant to our country’s ongoing attempts to grapple with the deep-rooted inequities of its past.” —Gary Krist, author of The Mirage Factory and Empire of Sin Do me a favor - buy one copy for yourself and one for a friend.

There's been no shortage of people coming forward who claim to have inside information about the assassination of JFK. Two of these people contacted the Garrison investigation in 1967 - Richard Case Nagell and David Kroman. Nagell would go on and become a staple of conspiracy theorists while Kroman has been largely forgotten. But their stories intertwine, at least at the beginning. Garrison's office received an intriguing letter in March of 1967: You can see Garrison's notation on the right regarding Long Beach: "1. To which Harry Olsen moved 2. which Darryl Garner recently visited 3. where reporter friend of Ruby was killed. (Question: What is significance of Long Beach?)" On the bottom Garrison wrote: "Question: Considering that Olsen the reporter + Garner all were friends of Ruby's - review Ruby L/D calls to see who he knew in Long Beach." The office attempted to put an ad in the Berkeley Barb, but they even had a problem with that. William Martin was an Assistant District Attorney and he would ultimately become the initial contact with Richard Case Nagell. Eventually, the ad was placed. Ad from the September 22-28, 1967 issue of the Berkeley Barb. The same ad ran a week later as well. So, who was Don Morgan? Gary Schoener, a JFK researcher, who at the time was a clinical psychology graduate student in Minneapolis, believes that he was David Kroman. I spoke to Schoener and he was pretty certain. Kroman was committed to the Springfield Medical facility at the end of March 1967, and Richard Case Nagell was there as well. Here is an article from the New York Times about Kroman. The Don Morgan letter is dated March 27, 1967 - the same date Kroman was committed. However, we don't know when the letter was actually sent. So, it is quite possible Kroman met Nagell on arrival and then wrote Garrison. Here is the FBI report from the local Minnesota office which has a lot of details about Kroman: Another FBI report took exception to Kroman's story of being assaulted: Dick Russell, author of the book The Man Who Knew Too Much, believes that Don Morgan was actually Vaughn Marlowe, the owner of a left-wing bookstore in Venice, California. Vaughn Marlowe posted a few messages on the Education Forum including this one: I find it strange to want to sign a letter as Gordon, but you end up typing and signing it as Morgan. It's interesting to note that after the ad was placed in the Berkeley Barb, the Garrison office then made contact with Kroman. They were already speaking to Nagell in April. Here is the first Garrison memo, written by Steve Jaffe, about a meeting with David Kroman's lawyer. This has to rank as one of the silliest Garrison memos out there. Oh my god, the Federal Reserve stabilized the currency after the assassination! What a horrible thing to do. Steve Jaffe then went and talked to David Kroman's brother: Now, this memo states that Kroman was first brought to Jaffe's attention via a telephone call during a Mort Sahl radio show. That could be true - there were several people interested in Kroman. I asked Gary Schoener what happened in the Garrison office after the ad in the Berkeley Barb appeared. He didn't know the answer. Steve Burton, a volunteer who helped Jim Garrison and was head of the Citizen's Committee of Inquiry in Los Angeles, ran into David Kroman in December 1967 and here is his memo: Stephen Jaffe then flew out to Minneapolis to meet David Kroman. Here is his memo: You can always count on Stephen Jaffe to believe almost anything. In this case, he finds Kroman to be "sane and reasonable." In a document from 1969 about a meeting between Stephen Jaffe and Fred Newcomb, there was this paragraph: Gary Schoener spent a lot of time working on David Kroman and found out lots of interesting details. Here is a letter he wrote to Paul Rothermel (head of security for H. L. Hunt) in 1969: Here is Rothermel's reply: Rothermel took an interest in Kroman because he accused H. L. Hunt of being involved in the assassination. David Kroman was never brought to New Orleans. I asked Gary Schoener about that and he replied, "Garrison was fixed on his belief about the assassin team (I think it was Alpha 66 or some derivative of that group) and I was unable to engage him in discussion of what I had brought down in terms of knowledge, questions, or the materials I brought." However, Richard Case Nagell is another story. Ultimately, Garrison would go to New York City and talk to Nagell for three hours in Central Park. He then spent six hours with Nagell at his hotel the next day. David Kroman and Richard Case Nagell were never considered viable witnesses for the Clay Shaw trial. Stay tuned, there will be future posts on Nagell coming up. UPDATE: After posting this piece on David Kroman, Gary Schoener sent me the following in e-mail. Here is his message verbatim: This is far more than I have seen about Kroman he was some sort of operative, for lack of a better word. First of all, he created a company which became the focus of an insurance fraud case -- the American Allied case. He ended up ruining the career of an up and coming politician, and had created a manuscript which attacked the liberal wing of the Democratic Farmer - Labor Party, entitled "The House that Hubert Built" (referring to Hubert Humphrey). he was clearly very immersed in things connected to Minnesota politics. I never got to read any of it but he claimed he had a lot of dirt in it. He was of interest to some legislators who were investigating him and the fraud. Secondly, he was engaged in some undercover work. I followed him one evening and found that he was doing work as a night janitor at a local psychiatric hospital. He told me he was photographing records -- took the camera in inside a lunch box. I could never find out which records he was looking at. Local psychiatrists who had examined him could not believe that he would work at that hospital since they would have recognized him, but turns out he managed shifts when they would not be there. Thirdly, at a time when I was recovering from a beating and loss of vision in any eye, he threatened me and told me it would be best if I got out of the case. The woman who was with me (I had to be driven places due to my physical situation) told me that she believed he had clearly threatened me. The lawyer Jerome Daly was a real crazy. He was one of those people pushing the theory that the US currency was fraudulent because there was not gold to back it up. By the way, after being released from prison and meeting with Garrison, I believe that Nagel ended up shortly afterwards in E. Berlin and was told that he was grabbed by the Stazi and then came back to the US as part of a spy swap. I cannot remember the source for this but I heart it from more than one. I have never taken Nagell at face value, but also do not have a theory about him (e.g. Douglas in JFK and the Unspeakable and some others do). Kroman was a bad actor, but I have no theories about him except that somehow he was involved in this case very early (e.g. well before me). As much as I believed both needed to be investigated I also believed that they were some sort of distraction or misdirection.

Here is the link to Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part One Here is the link to Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Two On March 26, 1971, Perry Russo was interviewed by Edward Wegmann, William Gurvich and Sal Panzeca. Wegmann and Panzeca were part of Clay Shaw's legal team; Gurvich had once worked for Garrison but left the investigation in June 1967 when he realized the whole thing was ridiculous. It's a long transcript - some 95 pages covering a variety of topics. It was the second interview they conducted with Russo; the first being on January 29, 1971 and that transcript is 60 pages. A third interview was in April. To give this all context, note that Judge Christenberry held three days of hearings, regarding the perjury charges against Clay Shaw, from January 25th to January 27th, 1971. Ultimately, he granted a permanent injunction against further prosecution of Clay Shaw. I don't know if anybody has published these transcripts - but this excerpt is explosive - and it shows you how Sciambra started to implant a false memory into Russo. Here is part of the transcript: It's an incredible story. Russo could only really remember seeing Shaw once - at the Nashville Wharf when Kennedy came to speak in 1962. His identification of Shaw at David Ferrie's service station is questionable, to say the least. Russo is very clear that he "could have figured out the plot" just from the questions that were asked by Sciambra. He told Russo that it was very important to link Ferrie and Shaw: "It was important that these two be linked together." And, Sciambra was the one who talked about a plot: "If you would be around Sciambra long enough you could find out exactly who murdered who and where and how and all that." Wegmann also says that Matt Herron confirmed to him that Russo had not talked about an assassination meeting in Baton Rouge, when he accompanied James Phelan - remember we published a Tom Bethell memo yesterday saying that Herron confirmed that in 1967.

Here's the link to Perry Russo Talks - In Baton Rouge, Part One The journalist James Phelan wrote a very interesting memo about the discrepancies and contradictions in Perry Russo's stories. I blogged this memo once before, but I want to put it up once again. This blog post relates to point 10 - the conversation with Perry Russo and James Phelan that took place in Baton Rouge in March of 1967. Russo told Phelan that he first mentioned an assassination plot in New Orleans, and not in Baton Rouge when initially interviewed by the press and by Andrew Sciambra. Note that Matt Herron accompanied James Phelan in Baton Rouge. Let's look at what James DiEugenio says about this in Destiny Betrayed: (page 246) "So the author looked up Mr. Herron and talked to him on two occasions. On both occasions, Herron said that Russo had told them that he mentioned Bertrand in Baton Rouge. And further, that Russo's statements on this were very strong in 1967. Because of this, Herron was surprised when he read Russo's testimony at the Shaw trial. He felt that, for whatever reason, it was now diluted. If you are counting, this is now three lies to three different people that Phelan told. Actually four lies, since he not only lied about Russo, but about what Herron would say about him." Fortunately, we have a memo from 1967 written by Tom Bethell about this incident, and guess what? Herron corroborates Phelan: This memo is very clear - it corroborates what Phelan reported, namely that Russo admitted that he did not discuss an assassination plot until he got to New Orleans. This contemporaneous memo trumps anything claimed, years later, by James DiEugenio. Tomorrow: Perry Russ Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Three Let's hear from Perry Russo and what he told Shaw's attorneys in 1971.

Just after David Ferrie died, Perry Russo called the media in Baton Rouge to talk about his experiences with the man. But he did not mention Clay Shaw, Lee Harvey Oswald, or any party where the assassination was discussed. Let's have a look at what he said. First, he gave an interview to WAFB on February 24, 1967: Some comments on this interview: David Ferrie talked in a joking way "that it could be done." And that was the entire conversation during the summer. No conversation with David Ferrie about Lee Harvey Oswald, and Russo had never heard of Oswald until the assassination. No mention of Clay Shaw or Clay Bertrand. He said Ferrie talked about how Castro was getting a bad deal, and that Castro was a good thing in Cuba. Ferrie had a roommate who was "sterile" as regards to politics. Russo "forgot" about his conversations with Ferrie after the Warren Report came out. The Baton Rouge State-Times Advocate also ran an article about Perry Russo on February 24, 1967: Russo said Ferrie talked about the "ease with which a President could be assassinated" but that it was just a "general conversation" No party, no meeting and nobody else was there. The Baton Rouge Advocate ran an article on February 25, 1967: Some comments: Russo did not take Ferrie's comments "seriously" until he saw Ferrie's picture in the newspapers upon his death. Even after JFK was assassinated, Russo did not think of this conversation with David Ferrie. One of Russo's friends also made the Baton Rouge State-Times Advocate on February 25, 1967.: So, how do conspiracy theorists treat the story told by Perry Russo in Baton Rouge? Here's Jim Garrison from On The Trail of The Assassins: (page 151) "When he [Russo] heard about our investigation, Russo wrote us a letter, but we never received it. Later he met a reporter from the Baton Rouge State-Times and in an interview the morning of Friday, February 24, he told him about a meeting he had attended at Ferrie's apartment at which the assassination of President Kennedy had been discussed." Garrison doesn't just ignore Russo's Baton Rouge story - he just changes it. James DiEugenio makes it seem like Russo had the same story from day one. Here is an excerpt from his book, Destiny Betrayed: (page 217) "In February of 1967, Perry Russo was a young insurance salesman living in Baton Rouge. He had also been a former friend of David Ferrie. Russo had written to Garrison when he became aware of his investigation, but the letter was never delivered. Russo then gave interviews to both a local TV station and a reporter from the Baton Rouge State-Times. When the interviews appeared, Garrison immediately sent Andrew Sciambra, a young assistant DA, to take a deposition from Russo in Baton Rouge. Russo said he had known Ferrie fairly well and had attended a gathering at Ferrie's apartment in mid-September of 1963. He revealed that, late in the evening, after most had left, he, Ferrie, two of Ferrie's friends, and several Cuban exiles remained. Russo had brought two friends to Ferrie's that night, Sandra Moffett and Niles Peterson. Both left early, but Peterson later remembered a man named Leon Oswald. By the time the discussion took place, both of Russo's friends were gone. Almost everyone else had left except Ferrie, Leon Oswald, and a tall, distinguished, white-haired man named Clem Bertrand." DiEugenio continues for several paragraphs and repeats the Russo story told in New Orleans after the hypnosis and sodium pentothal. He makes it all sound seamless - that Russo told one consistent story from the start. When first edition of Destiny Betrayed came out, James Phelan sent a letter, on October 9, 1992, to Ellen Ray, co-owner of Sheridan Square Press, publisher of Destiny Betrayed and On The Trail of the Assassins: "DiEugenio uses a different tactic. He falsified what Russo said when initially interviewed. See pages 143-145 in his book. He takes what Russo said under hypnosis in New Orleans, and moves it back a week to Baton Rouge. He thus falsely transforms Russo to a consistent witness who told only one story. This requires him to censor extensive passages of the trial record and eliminate the cause of Garrison's court disaster." I don't know if Ellen Ray sent a copy of the letter to James DiEugenio. What I do know is that DiEugenio did not change his text from the first edition of Destiny Betrayed to the second. Tomorrow: Another look at Perry Russo and his interview with James Phelan in Baton Rouge.