Introduction

“I only wish the press would allow our case to stand or fall on its merits in court. It appears that certain elements of the mass media have an active interest in preventing this case from ever coming to trial at all and find it necessary to employ against me every smear device in the book.” - Jim Garrison, October 1967

Garrison’s involvement in the Kennedy case began on the weekend of the assassination when he discovered that Lee Harvey Oswald had spent the summer of 1963 in New Orleans and had been seen with a rather unique character named David Ferrie. Private detective and police informant, Jack Martin, had telephoned assistant District Attorney, Herman Kohlman to inform him of a mysterious trip to Texas that Ferrie had taken with two friends, Alvin Beauboeuf and Melvin Coffee, on the day of the President’s murder. Martin told Kohlman that Ferrie had known Oswald for some time and may have been his superior officer in the Civil Air Patrol. [1] Martin would tell the FBI on November 25, that Ferrie might have assisted Oswald in purchasing a foreign firearm. [2] The FBI and Secret Service would claim that Martin recanted his claims. However the HSCA noted “that the FBI overstated Martin's recantation in its information to the secret service. Martin had cautioned the FBI that he had no evidence to support his suspicions but that he believed they merited investigation.” [3]

Two days after Martin‘s call, Ferrie was back in New Orleans and was brought into the DA’s office for questioning. Garrison found “indigestible his explanation that he had driven through a thunderstorm to go ice-skating in Texas” [4] and turned Ferrie over to the FBI for further questioning. The FBI, who were already committed to the lone nut solution, promptly released him without charge.

Three years passed before a conversation with former Warren Commissioner Hale Boggs raised doubts in Garrison’s mind about the official version of the assassination. Garrison began to work his way through the Warren Report and it’s 26 volumes of hearings and evidence, finding, like Harold Weisberg and Mark Lane before him, that the conclusions in the report contradicted the evidence. Garrison soon found himself checking out the 544 Camp Street address that had been stamped on some of the pro-Castro literature Oswald had handed out in the summer of 1963. When he discovered that 544 Camp Street was the side entrance to the offices of Guy Bannister, a former FBI man and right-wing extremist for whom David Ferrie had worked, Garrison decided to reopen his investigation.

Garrison discovered that on January 20, 1961, two men claiming to represent an anti-Castro organization called Friends of Democratic Cuba, had attempted to purchase some trucks from the Bolton Ford dealership in New Orleans. As Garrison wrote in On The Trail of the Assassins:

This was only three months before the abortive Bay of Pigs attempt to invade Cuba, the great turkey that Kennedy had inherited from the preceding administration. One of the men was a powerfully built Latin with a thick neck and a distinct scar over his left eyebrow. The other was a thin, Anglo-Saxon who was obviously in charge. The two men indicated that they wanted to buy ten Ford pickup trucks. They wanted a bid from Bolton Ford on the price. The Latin identified himself as “Joseph Moore” but said the bid had to be in the name of “Oswald.” The young Anglo-Saxon confirmed this, explaining that “Oswald” was his name…the real Lee Oswald was in the Soviet Union that day…[5]

Garrison immediately became interested in the Friends of Democratic Cuba (FDC) and obtained a copy of the organization’s articles of incorporation. “There, among the organization’s incorporators, was the ubiquitous name of Guy Bannister” [6] The FDC was ostensibly incorporated to collect funds to aid the ant-Castro cause. The funds were to be channelled through the Frente Revolucionario Democratic (FRD) whose delegate in New Orleans was Sergio Archacha Smith. The FDC was, in fact, a dummy front for a CIA operation which involved shipping supplies in and out of Cuba. It was most likely through Archacha Smith that Bannister became acquainted with Ferrie. Both Bannister and Ferrie were involved in a munitions raid in Houma, Louisiana, in which various grenades, small arms ammunition and bazooka shells were stolen. [7] In February of 1962, Bannister assisted Ferrie in fighting his dismissal from Eastern Airlines and in exchange Ferrie did research for Bannister. [8]

 

Warren commission apologists maintain that Oswald had no connection to Bannister or the Camp Street address despite its appearance on Oswald’s leaflets. However, Bannister’s secretary and mistress, Delphine Roberts, testified to the HSCA that sometime in 1963 Oswald filled out a form as one of Bannister’s agents. Delphine later told journalist Anthony Summers that Oswald “came back a number of times. He seemed to be on familiar terms with Bannister and with the office. As I understood it he had use of an office on the second floor…There were various leaflets up there pertaining to Fair Play for Cuba.” [9] It should be noted that Roberts’ stories expanded over time and the HSCA questioned her credibility. There is no doubt, however, that she was in a position to observe the events at Bannister’s office.

 

Two former marines, Daniel Campbell and his brother Allen Campbell, worked for Bannister infiltrating left-wing groups on college campuses. Daniel Campbell remembered seeing a young man “with a marine haircut” enter Bannister’s office and use the telephone. The next time he saw the young man was when his picture was shown on television as the accused assassin of President Kennedy. [10] Allen Campbell claimed that on one of the days when Oswald was passing out his FPCC literature on Camp Street, Delphine Roberts came into the office to complain that “that young man is passing out pro-Castro leaflets in the street.” According to Campbell, Bannister replied “Don’t worry about him. He’s a nervous fellow, he’s confused. He’s with us, he’s associated with this office.” [11]

 

Further confirmation of a Bannister-Oswald association comes from South-eastern Louisiana University Professor of history, Michael L. Kurtz. Kurtz wrote:

I saw Oswald and Banister together twice. The first time, in May 1963, Bannister and Oswald arrived on campus of Louisiana State University in New Orleans and entered a classroom. A fellow student of mine, George Higgenbotham, introduced Bannister, who, in turn, introduced Oswald…On the second occasion…I walked into Mancuso’s, a small coffee shop…and drank a cup of coffee. Sitting together at a table some twenty feet away were Guy Bannister and Lee Harvey Oswald. Bannister waved to me, and I waved back.

As Bannister had died of a heart attack in 1964, Garrison’s prime suspect was, of course, the enigmatic David Ferrie. Born in March 18, 1918 in Cleveland, Ohio, Ferrie had originally planned on becoming a Catholic priest. He entered St. Mary’s Seminary in 1938 where he was considered “unbalanced” and “erratic in behaviour” by his classmates. Dismissed from St. Mary’s in 1940, Ferrie went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College. He then took up flying and, after taking lessons at the Sky Tech Airway Service, found employment with Eastern Airlines. Ferrie also enlisted in the Army Reserve and commanded a Civil Air Patrol squadron in New Orleans where he encouraged young boys to drink, showed them pornographic movies and took nude photographs. It was through his CAP squadron that Ferrie first came to know a young Lee Harvey Oswald. Several CAP members, John Irion, George Boesch, Jerry Paradis, Frederick O’Sullivan, Edward Voebel, Collin Hamer and Anthony Atzenhoffer, confirmed Oswald’s CAP membership to Garrison’s staff in 1967. Jerry Paradis told the HSCA in 1978, “Oswald and Ferrie were in the unit together. I know they were because I was there. I specifically remember Oswald. I can remember him clearly, and Ferrie was heading the unit then. I’m not saying that they may have been there together, I’m saying it’s a certainty.” [13] Despite these recollections, lone nut theorists would continue to claim that Ferrie and Oswald were not acquainted right up until 1993 when former CAP member John Ciravolo discovered a photograph showing the two together at a CAP barbecue.

In 1959, Ferrie was being investigated by U.S. Customs who had him under surveillance for possible gun-running activities. It was around this time that Ferrie‘s right-wing extremism began to manifest itself. He wrote to the Air Force, “There is nothing I would enjoy better than blowing the hell out of every damn Russian, Communist, Red or what-have-you. We can cook up a crew that will really bomb them to hell…I want to train killers.” [14] When communist revolutionary Fidel Castro seized power, Ferrie flew missions into Cuba as a contract agent for the CIA. His closest associate at this time was a former Cuban Congressman named Eladio del Valle who would later meet a gruesome death within 24 hours of Ferrie’s own death. It was also around this time that Ferrie began to lose all of his bodily hair as the result of an affliction known as alopecia totalis. He attempted to cover up his hair loss by making a toupee from reddish-brown monkey fur and drawing on eyebrows with greasepaint. The more Garrison learned about David Ferrie and his relationship with Oswald, the more he began to believe that Ferrie was involved in the assassination. He was soon called back to Garrison’s office for questioning where he continued to deny ever having met Oswald despite witness statements to the contrary.

On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Ferrie had visited the home of Oswald’s former landlady, Jessie Garner, to ask about Oswald’s library card. When Garner refused to talk to him, Ferrie went to Oswald’s neighbour, Mrs. Eames. It seems that Ferrie was worried that his own library card had been found amongst Oswald’s possessions following his arrest. [15] Ferrie and his two companions, Beauboeuf and Coffee, took off for Houston, Texas. Coffee later claimed that Ferrie had proposed the trip, for relaxation, and had made arrangements a couple of days in advance. They had left, he said, around 7:00 PM and carried no guns with them. Beauboeuf, on the other hand, claimed that the trip was his idea and that it had been planned a week in advance. He also said that there were no guns in the car. Ferrie’s version was that the three had left “after supper” to go ice skating and hunting. According to Ferrie, the trio had each taken a shotgun. [16] The only point all three agreed on was that at some point that evening they made their way to an ice skating rink in Houston. Once at the rink, however, Ferrie did no skating. According to the rink’s manager, Chuck Rolland, Ferrie made and received several calls on the public phone. Rolland also testified that Ferrie had called to inquire about the rink’s services a week or so in advance. [17] From there, the three drove to Galveston and checked into the Driftwood Motel. On Sunday the 24th, they began their journey back to New Orleans. Stopping at a gas station along the way, Ferrie placed a call to G. Wray Gill who told him that the authorities wanted to question him. Ferrie dropped his companions off in New Orleans and made his way to Southeastern University in Hammond, Louisiana. On Monday afternoon he returned to New Orleans and appeared at the District Attorney’s office for questioning. The exact purpose of Ferrie’s Texas trip remains a mystery. Jack Martin told the DA’s office that he believed that Ferrie was supposed to be the getaway pilot in the assassination.

At the same time as investigating Ferrie, the deceased Guy Bannister and their Cuban friends, Garrison began to search for the mysterious Clay Bertrand. The name “Clay Bertrand” appears in the Warren Commission hearings, if not in the report, thanks to the testimony of jive-talking New Orleans lawyer, Dean Andrews. Andrews had received a call from Bertrand on the day after the assassination, asking him to fly to Dallas to represent Lee Harvey Oswald. Andrews was in Hospital at the time, recovering from a bout of pneumonia, and was unable to go. As he told the commission, Andrews had met Oswald before:

Mr. LIEBELER: I am advised by the FBI that you told them that Lee Harvey Oswald came into your office some time during the summer of 1963. Would you tell us in your own words just what happened as far as that is concerned?

Mr. ANDREWS: I don't recall the dates, but briefly, it is this: Oswald came in the office accompanied by some gay kids. They were Mexicanos. He wanted to find out what could be done in connection with a discharge, a yellow paper discharge, so I explained to him he would have to advance the funds to transcribe whatever records they had up in the Adjutant General's office. When he brought the money, I would do the work, and we saw him three or four times subsequent to that, not in the company of the gay kids. He had this Mexicano with him. I assume he is a Mex because the Latins do not wear a butch haircut.

Mr LIEBELER: The first time he came in he was with these Mexicans, and there were also some gay kids. By that, of course, you mean people that appeared to you to be homosexuals?

Mr ANDREWS: Well, they swish. What they are, I don't know. We call them gay kids. [18]

After much questioning regarding Oswald and the “gay kids,” Andrews begins to talk about the mysterious Bertrand:

Mr LIEBELER: Did there come a time after the assassination when you had some further involvement with Oswald, or at least an apparent involvement with Oswald; as I understand it?

Mr ANDREWS: No; nothing at all with Oswald. I was in Hotel Dieu, and the phone rang and a voice I recognized as Clay Bertrand asked me if I would go to Dallas and Houston--I think--Dallas, I guess, wherever it was that this boy was being held--and defend him. I told him I was sick in the hospital. If I couldn't go, I would find somebody that could go.

Mr LIEBELER: You told him you were sick in the hospital and what?

Mr ANDREWS: That's where I was when the call came through. It came through the hospital switchboard. I said that I wasn't in shape enough to go to Dallas and defend him and I would see what I could do.

Mr LIEBELER: Now what can you tell us about this Clay Bertrand? You met him prior to that time?

Mr ANDREWS: I had seen Clay Bertrand once some time ago, probably a couple of years. He's the one who calls in behalf of gay kids normally, either to obtain bond or parole for them. I would assume that he was the one that originally sent Oswald and the gay kids, these Mexicanos, to the office because I had never seen those people before at all. They were just walk-ins.

Mr LIEBELER: You say that you think you saw Clay Bertrand some time about 2 years prior to the time you received this telephone call that you have just told us about?

Mr ANDREWS: Yes; he is mostly a voice on the phone.

Mr LIEBELER: What day did you receive the telephone call from Clay Bertrand asking you to defend Oswald?

Mr. ANDREWS: I don't remember. It was a Friday or a Saturday.

Mr. LIEBELER: Immediately following the assassination?

Mr. ANDREWS: I don't know about that. I didn't know. Yes; I did. I guess I did because I was--they told me I was squirrelly in the hospital. [19]

Andrews offered varying descriptions of Clay Bertrand, telling the FBI that he was six feet two inches and the commission that he was five feet eight inches. Reading his testimony before the commission, it is obvious that at least one of the reasons for his failure to identify Bertrand was his intimidation at the hands of the FBI:

Mr. LIEBELER: Let me ask you this: When I was down here in April, before I talked to you about this thing, and I was going to take your deposition at that time, but we didn't make arrangements, in your continuing discussions with the FBI, you finally came to the conclusion that Clay Bertrand was a figment of your imagination?

Mr. ANDREWS: That's what the Feebees put on. I know that the two Feebees are going to put these people on the street looking, and I can't find the guy, and I am not going to tie up all the agents on something that isn't that solid. I told them, "Write what you want, that I am nuts. I don't care." They were running on the time factor, and the hills were shook up plenty to get it, get it, get it. I couldn't give it to them. I have been playing cops and robbers with them. You can tell when the steam is on. They are on you like the plague. They never leave. They are like cancer. Eternal. [20]

Regardless of Andrews’ testimony, the commission followed the pattern of the FBI report and came to the conclusion that Andrews had been heavily medicated at the time he supposedly spoke to Bertrand. This, of course, enabled them to dismiss the whole story as “a figment of his imagination.” Defenders of the official scenario have continued to promote this allegation even though it is refuted by the FBI’s own evidence. Andrews’ secretary, Eva Springer told the FBI that Andrews had called her at 4:00 PM on November 23, to inform her of the Bertrand call. Another of Andrews’ employees, R.M. Davis, confirmed that Andrews was “positive that a person named Clay Bertrand had called him on the phone.” [21] The FBI checked Andrews’ hospital records and discovered that he had not received any medication until 8:00 PM, four hours after he had called Springer. [22]

In October of 1966, Garrison took Andrews to lunch in an effort to discover the true identity of Bertrand. Andrews initially insisted that he hadn’t actually seen Bertrand and did not know what he looked like. According to Garrison, Andrews claimed that “if I give you that name you keep trying to get, then it’s goodbye Dean Andrews. It’s bon voyage Deano. I mean like permanent. I mean like a bullet in my head.” Anthony Summers confirmed that his “own brief contact with Andrews suggested that the fear stayed with him for years afterwards.” [23]

1. HSCA Report p. 143.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid, p. 145.
4. Jim Garrison, A Heritage of Stone, p. 102.
5. Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 58.
6. Ibid.
7. 10HSCA127.
8. Ibid.
9. Anthony Summers, Conspiracy, p. 229.
10. Ibid, p. 127.
11. Bil Davy, Let Justice Be Done, p. 40.
12. Michael Kurtz, Crime of the Century, p. xxxix.
13. Davy, p. 5.
14. Ibid, p. 7.
15. 10HSCA113-114.
16. Davy, p. 46.
17. Ibid.
18. 11H326.
19. Ibid, p. 331-332.
20. Ibid, p. 334.
21. Davy, p. 51-52.
22. Ibid.
23. Summers, p. 241.