Jim Phelan: Just Another Government Shill

On May 6, 1967, the Saturday Evening Post ran an anti-Garrison article by journalist James Phelan titled “A Plot to Kill Kennedy? Rush to Judgement in New Orleans.” Phelan, who had previously authored an article praising the DA's attempts to clean up New Orleans, “The Vice Man Cometh,” was scathing in his attack on Garrison's assassination probe. Phelan's new article went to the very heart of the case by attempting to undermine the credibility of Garrison's star witness, Perry Russo, and implying that his crucial account had been planted in his head through the use of hypnosis. As the basis for his story Phelan used two documents he had been given by the all-too-trusting Garrison within days of Clay Shaw's arrest. As Phelan explained to author James Kirkwood, “The two things he gave me were the memorandum of [Assistant DA Andrew] Sciambra's when he first interviewed Russo in Baton Rouge and the second one was a transcript of Russo's answers when he was hypnotized by Dr. Fatter.” [1]

Phelan found that during the hypnosis session—actually one of three—Russo had described a gathering at David Ferrie's apartment in which Ferrie, “Leon” Oswald and “Clem Bertrand”—whom he identified as Clay Shaw—had discussed a plot to assassinate Kennedy but the memo Sciambra had made of his first meeting with Russo contained no mention of the “assassination party.” From this, Phelan concluded that Russo had not brought up the crucial gathering until he was hypnotized by the DA's office and suggested that when he took the stand at Clay Shaw's preliminary hearing, “Perry Russo did not know, when he testified, what was fact and what was hypnotic hallucination.” [2] But Phelan knew better.

When Phelan had raised the apparent discrepancy with Garrison it had been explained to him that the memo he had read was technically not the first “Sciambra memo.” As Sciambra would explain under oath at the Shaw trial, he had begun transcribing his notes two days after his interview with Russo in Baton Rouge but having written little more than a paragraph Sciambra was interrupted by Russo's arrival in New Orleans. At that point Sciambra and fellow assisstant DA, Al Oser, took Russo over to Mercy Hospital where Orleans Parish Coroner, Dr. Nicholas Chetta administered Sodium Pentathol (commonly referred to as “truth serum”). Russo then repeated the same story he had told in Baton Rouge, including the “assassination party.” The following day, Sciambra and Oser went into the DA's office and dictated a memo of the Sodium Pentathol session which included the following passage:

I then asked him if he could remember any of the details about CLAY BERTRAND being up in FERRIE'S apartment and he told me that he was in FERRIE'S apartment with CLAY BERTRAND and FERRIE and the roommate [Note: the “roommate” was the man known to Russo as “Leon” whom he identified as Lee Harvey Oswald] and he remembers FERRIE telling him that "We are going To kill John F. Kennedy" and that "it won't be long". He said FERRIE again repeated his earlier statement that he could plan the perfect assassination of the President because he could fly anything that had wings on it and he had perfect availability of exit out of the country. When I asked him who FERRIE was referring to when he said "we", he said "I guess he was referring to the people in the room". He said this was not the first time that FERRIE had talked to him about how easy it would be to assassinate the President. He said that FERRIE, in September and October of 1963, became obsessed with the idea that he could pull off a perfect assassination. [3]

This became the first “Sciambra memo.” He then went back to transcribing his notes from the February 25 interview in Baton Rouge but did not include the details of the “assassination party” that had already been covered in the memo of the Sodium Pentathol session. As Sciambra admitted, this second memo was “hastily done, it was incomplete, it was inaccurate, there were omissions in it, and it does not reflect what Perry Russo told me during my first interview in Baton Rouge on February 25.” [4]

Phelan was not satisfied with Sciambra's explanation and demanded a meeting with Russo which Sciambra happily arranged. Phelan then travelled to Baton Rouge, taking with him photographer Matt Herron, and confronted Russo with Sciambra's second memo. Phelan claimed that during this meeting Russo admitted to him that he had not mentioned the assassination plot until he was “Down in New Orleans”—presumably under the influence of Sodium Pentathol. [5] At that point according to Phelan, “I said to Matt Herron, 'Did You hear that?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Burn it in your head, kid. I mean right now, burn it in your head because someday you're going to be in court on this and I'm going to have to tell this story and you're my witness.'” [6] Perhaps not surprisingly, Russo denied making any such admission to Phelan. But Russo was not the only one to contradict Phelan's story.

Phelan's “witness” Matt Herron was subpoenaed by Shaw's defense team but they did not put him on the stand. Apparently they did not like what he had to say. Years later, researcher Jim DiEugenio tracked Herron down and asked him what Russo had really said to Phelan. “In a recent interview I did with him,” DiEugenio writes, “Matt Herron said that Russo told Phelan that he mentioned the meeting with Bertrand in Baton Rouge.” [7] That's right, Herron supported Russo's account! And not only did he say that Phelan had lied about what Russo said, he revealed that before they even met with Russo, Phelan told Herron he was going to destroy Garrison. [8]

So why was Phelan out to ruin Garrison's investigation?

Because Jim Phelan was just another government shill.

The first person Phelan went to see with the documents he had pried out of Garrison's hands was notorious CIA/FBI asset and Guy Bannister associate, Robert Maheu. [9] From there he flew to Washington where handed copies over to FBI agent H.P. Leinbaugh and dutifully reported everything he knew about Garrison's investigation. [10] Phelan always denied that he was informing to the Bureau on Garrison but as Jim DiEugenio wrote, “The ARRB declassified three documents which exposed his informing to the FBI about his talks with Garrison, his turning over of Garrison's documents, and further, his rants about the DA and how he had to be stopped.” [11] All Phelan asked was that “his identity as the source of this material should be fully protected.” [12]

Which is pretty much the type of request one would expect from a weaselly little government shill.


1. James Kirkwood, American Grotesque, p. 162.
2. Saturday Evening Post, May 6, 1967, p. 25.
3. NODA memorandum, February 27, 1967.
4. State of Louisiana V. Clay Shaw testimony of Andrew Sciambra, February 12, 1969.
5. Kirkwood, p. 165.
6. Ibid.
7. James DiEugenio, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Buglisoi's Bungle. A Comprehensive Review of Reclaiming History, Part 5: Bugliosi vs. Garrison and Stone, or How to Investigate a New Orleans Conspiracy from Pasadena.
8. Ibid.
9. Kirkwood, p. 162.
10. Joan Mellen, A Farewell to Justice, p. 144-145.
11. DiEugenio.
12. FBI memorandum 62-109060-5113.

Introduction Pt. 2

With Andrews refusing to help, despite Garrison warning that he would call him in front of the Grand Jury, Garrison and his staff began combing the French Quarter looking for leads. Initial searches yielded no results but eventually assistant DA Andrew Sciambra was told by the bar bartender at “Cosimo’s” that Clay Bertrand was the alias of Clay Shaw, director of the New Orleans International Trade Mart. [1] According to Garrison, the bartender felt it was no big secret and, sure enough, “my men began encountering one person after another in the French Quarter who confirmed that it was common knowledge that “Clay Bertrand” was the name Clay Shaw went by.” [2] The problem Garrison encountered was that no one was willing to go on record and provide a signed statement.

On February 17, 1967, Garrison's investigation, which had been operating in secret, hit the headlines. “DA HERE LAUNCHES FULL JFK DEATH PLOT PROBE” the New Orleans States Item revealed. The day after the story broke, two of Garrison’s assistants, Lou Ivon and Andrew Sciambra, visited David Ferrie at his apartment to gauge his reaction. Ferrie was sick, unable to eat and showing signs of deterioration. According to Allan Campbell, Ferrie had shown him the States Item article and exclaimed, “I’m a dead man!“ During the course of his conversation with Ivon and Sciambra, Ferrie continued to deny any involvement in the assassination. He said that he had never heard of Shaw or Bertrand and complained that he was being framed. [3] The following afternoon, Ferrie called Ivon, begging for his protection. “They’re going to kill me!” he cried. Ivon quickly called Garrison who instructed him to check Ferrie into the Fountainebleau Hotel under a false name. According to Ivon, Ferrie broke down and admitted that he had worked for the CIA, that he knew Shaw and that Shaw too had worked for the agency. He also admitted that he knew Oswald but still claimed that he was not involved in the assassination. [4] Ivon left the Fountainebleau around 2:00 AM but when he returned a few hours later, Ferrie was no longer there. Three days later, David W. Ferrie was found dead in his apartment.

With Ferrie dead, Garrison concentrated on building his case against Clay Shaw. One thing that had become abundantly clear to Garrison during the course of his investigation, was that the majority of Oswald’s contacts during the summer of 1963 were people that had been in some way connected to the CIA. Garrison suspected the same of Shaw, but was unable to prove it. The man who was to become Garrison’s star witness against Clay Shaw came to the DA’s attention on February 24, 1967, just a few days after Ferrie’s death. Perry Russo, an insurance salesman from Baton Rouge and an acquaintance of Ferrie, gave an interview to the Baton Rouge States-Times about Ferrie's anti-Kennedy remarks. The next day, Garrison sent assistant DA Andrew Sciambra up to Baton Rouge to talk with Russo. Russo told Sciambra about a meeting he had attended at Ferrie’s apartment in the summer of 1963. According to Russo, Ferrie and his guests at the gathering had discussed a plan to assassinate President Kennedy. Present at the gathering were a group of Cubans, a man he thought was Ferrie’s roommate named “Leon” and an older man named “Clem Bertrand.” The party, he said, discussed using a “triangulation of crossfire.“ Sciambra produced a stack of photographs from his brief case and asked Russo to identify anyone he knew. He recognized a number of Cubans and identified “Leon” as Lee Harvey Oswald. Most importantly, he identified a picture of Clay Shaw as the man he’d known as “Clem Bertrand.”

Russo agreed to travel back to New Orleans to meet with Garrison. Once he arrived at Garrison‘s office on Monday 27, Russo was asked to describe “Bertrand” to a police artist named Robert Buras. The finished picture was an exact likeness of Clay Shaw. Given the importance of Russo’s account, it was decided that more should be done to test its veracity. Russo was taken over to Mercy Hospital where he was administered Sodium Pentothal (commonly referred to as “truth serum“) by Orleans Parish Coroner, Dr. Nicholas Chetta. Under the effects of Sodium Pentothal, Russo confirmed the details of the meeting at Ferrie’s apartment. He also corrected Sciambra when used the name “Clay.” Russo knew the man as “Clem Bertrand.” He described him as “a tall man with white kinky hair, sort of slender.” [5] “There’s not a chance at all that what this kid said is not true” Dr. Chetta said. “It had to have happened.” [6] On March 1, Russo was put under hypnosis by Dr. Esmond Fatter, during which time he recalled the date, the place and the “big guy” with “white hair” named “Clem Bertrand.” A second hypnosis session confirmed all of the details of the first. Satisfied that he had done all he could to test the truthfulness of Perry’s story, Garrison obtained a warrant for the arrest of Clay Shaw.

Following Shaw's arrest, Garrison filed a motion for a preliminary hearing - something he was not obliged to do but felt that “because of the enormity of this accusation, we should lean over backward and give the defendant every chance.” [7] The preliminary hearing, of course, essentially worked in the defendant’s favour since Louisiana law at that time did not oblige prosecutors to share the names of their witnesses with the defence. At the hearing, Garrison presented a new witness, a heroin addict named Vernon Bundy. Bundy testified that in June or July of 1963, he had been preparing to shoot-up at the Lake Pontchartrain seawall when a black sedan pulled into the parking lot. The driver, a tall grey-haired man, got out and walked past Bundy to talk to a younger man. The pair spoke for fifteen to twenty minutes and the driver of the sedan handed a roll of money to the younger man. Bundy claimed to have overheard the younger man ask, “What am I going to tell her?” to which the grey-haired man replied, “Don’t worry about it. I told you I’m going to take care of it.” Bundy also claimed that the younger man dropped some yellow leaflets and that after the two men had left he had walked over and picked one up. On it, he said, was some writing about Cuba. [8] Bundy would identify the two men as Clay Shaw and Lee Harvey Oswald.

The three judge panel at the preliminary hearing agreed that there was enough evidence to indict Shaw for conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. At this point, Garrison could have filed a charge against Shaw “just by signing it and depositing it with the city clerk.” Instead, he chose to take the extra precaution of voluntarily presenting his case before the Grand Jury. If the Grand Jury had failed to indict Shaw it would have meant the end of Garrison’s case. It did not. Shaw was indicted and Garrison spent the next two years trying to bring his case to trial. During those two years, Garrison's staff and witnesses would be the subject of a relentless smear campaign by the national media. Not surprisingly, a fair trial was rendered impossible and Shaw was acquitted of all charges.

1. Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, p. 85.
2. Ibid. p. 86.
3. Joan Mellen, A Farewell to Justice, p. 102.
4. Bill Davy, Let Justice Be Done, p. 66.
5. Mellen, p. 115.
6. Ibid.
7. Playboy interview.
8. Davy, p. 124-125.

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.