james earl ray ajw

8/13/2019 James Earl Ray AJW

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THE MAFIA ND THE 1 \SSASSINATION OF DR. M RTIN LUTHER KING

b y A . J . Weberman

My i n t e r e s t i n Dr. K i n g ' s a s s a s s i n a t i o n began w i t h t h e ~ t r m ps h o t s ,

pho tog raphs o f t h r e e d e r e l i c t s wh o were p i c k e d - u p a s s u s p e c t s i n t h e

J o h n Kennedy a s s a s s i n a t i o n on November 2 2 , 1963 , a b o u t two h o u r s a f t e r Kennedy

was s h o t . One o f t h e s e men was a d e a d - r i n g e r f o r t h e s k e t c h o f K i n g ' s k i l l e r

f i r s t c i r c u l a t e d by t h e FBI . James E a r l Ra y ·. h a s i d e n t i f i e d t h i s man a s

Rao u l t h e man who s e t him up a s t h e f a l l - g u y i n t h e s l a y i n g . Ray h a s d e s c r i b e

Rao u l a s a b londe L a t i n who employed him on a c o n t r a c t b a s i s f o r a b o u t

one y e a r p r i o r t o t h e s h o o t i n g . Al though Ray n e v e r found o u t R a o u l ' s second

name o r where h e l i v e d , he was g i v e n some t e l e p h o n .e numbers by h im.



I n December o f 1973 Ray s e n t a s t a t e m e n t t o a l o c a l t e l e v i s i o n s t a t i o n < ·

i n which he swo re h e had p r o v i d e d h i s a t t o r n e y s w i t h b o t e l e p h o n e numbers

g iv e n t o him by Rao u l .

J:n 1976 Ray r e v e a l e d - I n F e b r u a r y 1 9 6 9 , a f t e r P e r c y Forman h a d e n t e r e d

i n t o l i t e r a r y c o n t r a c t s w i t h Huie I f u r n i s h e d Forman w i t h a Baton Rouge phone

number and a s k e d him t o i n v e s t i g a t e • • • Mr. Forman r e p l i e d , i n e f f e c t , t h a t i f

t h e r e were · t o b e any phone numbers r e f e r e d t o i n · · c o u r t he (Forman) wo u ld f u r n i s l

them t h r o u g h c o n t a c t s i n i n t e r s t a t e ga l lb l ing - Mr Forman m e n t i o n e d a Mr. MEYER

L NSKY a s h i s s o u r c e . • • • (USDC-Tenn C-76-274)

Al though Ray would n o t ment ion t h e s e phone numbers i n c o u r s e o f h i s

t r i a l , hav ing been s u f f i c e n t l y i n t i m i d a t e d b y t h e s p e c t o r o f Meyer Lansky and

mob; he g a v e them t o h i s b r o t h e r v ho f u r n i s h e d them t o a M i s s o u r i l a b o r l e a d e r

who g av e them t o t h e l a t e E.T. Osl::iorn : ) r, o f t h e N a s h v i l l e b a r t o h av e i n

v e s t i g a t e d . Mr Osborn r e p o r t e d t h e r e s i d e n t l i s t e d ~ n d e rt h e B a t o n Rouge phone

n u m b ~ ~~ a s a p a r i s h o f f ~ c lu n d e r t h e i n f l u e n c e o f a Teams te r U n i io n o f f i c a l

i n t h e Baton Rouge a r e a ; t h a t t h e r e s i d e n t l i s t e d i n New O r le a n s was , among

o t h e r t h i n g s , an a g e n t o f a M i d - e a s t o r g a n i z a t i o n d i s t r e s s e d b e c a u s e o f Dr.K i n g ' s r e p o r t e d , f o r t h c o m in g , b e f o r e h i s d e a t h , p u b l i c s u p p o r t o f t h e P a l e s t i n -

i a n Arab cause . (USDC Tenn Nash D i v ~ i v7338) Ray would l a t e r t l l Play b o y - No

g o v ern men t agency, l i k e t h e CIA would s h o t any. one p e r s o n . The modus o p e r a n d i

i n f o r e i g n c o u n t r i e s seems t o a h ; a y s be t o ·have someone e l s e do i ± : some fore;i .gr

i n t e l l i g e n c e a g e n c y.

I n 1975 Ray t o l d t h e A t l a n t a Jou rna l= Look , I know t h e t e l e p h o n e numbers

o f two men i n L o u i s i a n a . The a u t h o r i t i e s c o u ld ·have g o t t h e i r names . For some

r e a so n t h e y d i d n ' t v;ant t o p e r s u e t h e c a s e . Get t h e two g u y s i n New O r le a n s

and you w i l l know a l o t more .

F i n a l l y , i n 1977 , Ray made t h e t e l e p h o n e numbers p u b l i c . He s t a t e d t h a t

t h e phone numbers - p l u s an a d d r e s s - had been w r i t t e n b ack ward s on a r e c e i p t



i s s u e d by t h e Shelby< County J a i l . He even r e p r i n t e d t h i s i m p o r t a n t b i t o f

e v i d e n c e .

The B a t o n Rouge_ t e l ephone . number vr r i t t e n backwar ds on t h e r e c e i p t . b e lo n g s

t o Mrs. Ja n e and H e m a n Thompson o f B a t o n Rouge. Acco rd in g t o Ja c k Kershaw, who

r e p r e s e n t e d Ray i n 1977 , Thompson i s an e x - S h e r i f f o f Bato n Rouge. His w i f e r u n

t h e A b s t r a c t O f f i c e i n B a t o n Rouge. When I spoke vr t h Mrs . Thompson s h e a d m i t t e d

hav ing t h e number i n 1968 b u t s a i d sh e h ad n e v e r r e c e i v e d any c a l l s f ro m r e

s e a r c h e r s - w h o were t r y i n g t o l i n k t h e number t o t h e King s l a y i n g . Mr s . Thompson

s t a t e d she h ad n o th in g t o do w i t h i t . She t o l d me t h a t h e r h u sb an d was now

employed by a c o n s t r u c t i o n company. C o i n ~ i d e n t l y ,C h a r l e s S t i e n , who d r o v e

from Los Ange le s t o New O r le a n s w i t h Ray s a i d Ray i n d i c a t e d he was g o i n g t o

c o n t a c t a c o n s t r u c t i o n f i r m t h e r e . T ~ e FBI c o n t a c t e d o v e r a d o zen c o n s t r u c t i o n

f i r m s i n t h e New O r le a n s a r e a t o f i n d o u t w h e th e r t h e y had h e a r d o f o r s e e n

Ray. MURKIN FBI 44-38861-3463) But t h e FBI n e v e r i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e Thompsons

A i ~ t e l1 2 . 7 . 7 6 from SAC New O r le a n s (100-16800) RUC) t o D i r e c t o r FBI s e r i a l

o b s c u r e ) R e c e n t l y Ray has d e c i e d e d t h a t - v r e have; d f t e m i n e d t h a t t h i s phone

number was p l a n t e d on me ~ I n e v e r u s e d i t . There was an e a r l i e r p h o n e number

and I c a n ' t r e c a l l i t and we don t know i f we can l o c a t e i t . " ( L t r t o a u t h o r f rom

Ray 31Aug77)

I n O c to b e r o f 1977 I began c o r r e sp o n d i n g w i t h Ray and d i s c o v e r e d t h a t

h e o n ly remembered t h e l a s t f o u r d i g i t s o f t h e second. number an d t h o u g h t t h e

ex ch an g e maybe 866 o r 668. You h av e t h e l a s t f o u r d i g i t s on t h e r e c e i p t w r i t t e r

. backwards . 866 seems mo st f a m i l a r b u t I'i:n n o t s u r e . "

The 1968 Memphis C r i s s - C r o s s D i r e c t o r y l i s t e d 866-3757 a s L a v e n t h a l

Mar in e Supp ly. Ray. h ad r e c a l l e d t h a t i t was a name " s i m i l a r t o L e v i n a . So t h a t

was how Osb o u rn e c o n v i n c e d Ray t h e man was an a g e n t o f I s r e a l - s im p ly on t h e

b a s i s t h a t he vras J e w i s h .

Ray h ad a d m i t t e d t h a t he was n o t s u r e o f t h e ex ch an g e so I checked EVERY

exchange:: . in . New . O r le a n s · f o r numbers end ing i n 37 5 7 . When I checked u n d e r 833-



~ t m i l i e rn o t u n s i m i l a r t o 8 6 6 - found t h e number b e l o n g e d t o t h e Town and ·

Co u n t ry Mo te l , t h e . nerve c e n t e r o f o r g a n i z e d c r i m e - i n New.Or leans , wh ich was

owned by Don C a r l o s M a r c h e l l o ; t h e Go d f a t h e r o f t h e S o u t h w e s t . (Ha in e c r i s s

Cro ss D i r e c t o r y 1968 88-3757) Marche l lo h ad o n e ~employed Dav id F e r r i e , who

f i g u r e d p r o m in e n t l y i n J im G a r r i s o n ' s i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f t h e JFK c o n s p i r a c y

i n New O r l e a n s . F e r r i e was M a r c h e l l o ' s p e r s o n a l p i l o t . Teams te r l e a d e r Edward

P a r t a i n t o l d L i f e Magazine t h a t Ma r c h e l l o h ad vowed t o k i l l t h e s o n - o f - b i t c h

Bobby Kennedy and t h e FBI i s i n p o s s e s s i o n o f r e p o r t s whi ch s t a t e t h a t

s h o r t l y b e f o r e · King was gunned down someone o ' v e rh eard a c o n v e r s t a t i o n i n a

New O r le a n s f r u i t m a r k e t a b o u t k i l l i n g him. Ma r c h e l l o c o n t r o l s t h e t oma toe

b u s i n e s s i n New Or l e a n s .

~ Ma r c h e l l o i s t o New O r le a n s ·vrhat C a r lo Gambino was t o New York; C i t y

and b o t h men work unde r Meyer Lan sk y, who i s t h e b o s s o f b o s s e s o f t h e

- n a t i o n a l c r lme s y n d i c a t e .

No wonde r Forman, Ja c k Ru b y ' s e x - a t t o r n e y , t o l d Ray Lansky wo u ld c o n -

d u c t any i n v e s t i g ? t i o n r e g a r d i n g t h e phone n u mb ers . Lansky m i g h t h a v e r e -

cogn ized t o f f h a n d as h i s s u b o r d i n a t e s t e l e p h o n e number.

I n t e s t i m o n y t o C o n g r e s s , Aron Kahn o f t h e New O r le a n s Crime Commission

u n e q u i v o c a l l y s t a t e d t h a t t h e Town and Co u n t ry Ho' te l was t h e c e n t e r f o r t h e ·

mob i n N e ~ O r l e a n s . B u i l t . in 1953 by a c o n t r a c t o r who s u b s e q u e n t l y s u r f a c e d

a s a f r o n t - m a n f o r v a r i o u s Ma r c h e l l o r e a l i t y v e n t u r e s t h e Town and Count ry

Mo te l was i n . L t i a l l y managed by Nof io P e c o r a

On SE'ptember 3 0 , 1963 J a c k Ruby c a l l e d N o f i o P e c o r a . At t h a t t i m e he

was managing t h e T r o p i c a l To u r i s t C o u r t and T r a i l e r Camp, a n o t h e r Ma r c h e l l o

p r o p e r t y . · (CE2303p28, 21)

Kbhn-vlent on t o t e s t i f y t h a t t h e To•dn and County Mo te l once h a r b o r e d an

i n t e r s t a t e p r o s t i t u t i o n r i n g run by a p a r t n e r o f Lansky and t h a t t h e r e were

m a n y m o b - r e l a t e d d e a t h s t h a t occu red ~ ~ e r e The Mo te l was a nexus f o r t h e

N a t i o n a l Crime Sy n d i c a t e and t h a t Ma ic h e i l o h i m s e l f s t l l m a i n t a i n e d an o f f i c e

t h e r e . (Cong Rec. Kahn-August 6 , 1970 E7389)



Was Rao u l a member o f t h e n a t i o n a l c r i m e s y n d i c a t e ? Was h e a CIA a g e n t.

u s in g a m a f i a " s a f e h o u s e " ? O r d i d Ray i n v e n t R a o u 1 " - i n o r d e r t o h e l p s e l l

books · The t h i r d a l t e r n a t i v e i s g e t t i n g l e s s and l e s s l i k e l y i n l i g h t o f t h e

f a c t t h a t M a r i t a Lo ren z , who we h a v e b e e n h e a r i n g abr iu t so much i n t h e news

r e c e n t l y , h a s i d e n t i f i e d a n o t h e r one o f t h e t r a m p s a s h e r e x - l o v e r an d CIA

c o n t a c t , F r a n k S t u r g i s , o f Wa t e rg a t e fame.

Next week I am t u r n i n g t h i s an d o t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n o v e r t o t h e House

S e l e c t . Commit tee on A s s a s s i n a t i o n s , who have a l r e a d y c o p i e d a l l my f i l e s .

Th ere may be a " s u r p r i s e e n d i n g t o t h e k i l l i n g o f Kennedy and King a f t e r a l l



THE ASSASSINATION OF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER KING

-

James Ear l Ray i s now serv ing a l i f e sen tence f o r the murder o f the

Black Cil[ i l Rights Leader, Dr. Mart in Luther King, J r . He cla ims he had no

knowledge,of the :plot to murder Dr. King and was framed by RAOUL - whom he

has i d e n t i f i e d as the Oswald-l ike tramp - Da n i e l L . Carswel l . Evidence

uncovered i n the course o f i n v e s t i g a t i n g the Kennedy Assass in a t io n i n d i c a t e s

t h a t Ray, l i k e Oswald, had f u l l knowledge o f the murder : p l o t - with the ex

cep t io n o f the f a c t t h a t he was going to. be the fa l l -guy .

JAMES EARL RAY, born i n 1928, was always a :pawn i n someone e l s e ' s game.

Ray's pa::t:ents were poor whi tes and h i s f a t h e r was i nvo lved i n cr imina l p u r

s u i t s . Jimmey Ray never graduated from High School and was e j e c t e d from the

Army a f t e r two y ea r s o f se rv i ce . In the e a r l y 1 9 5 0 ' s he began to commit as e r i e s o f unimaginat ive, se l f - d e f e a t i n g cr imes i n h ~ d i n garmed robbery,

fo rg e ry and burg le ry. Ray became a r e c e d i v i s t and, l i k e so many o the r white

pr i sone rs , a confi rmed Nazi .

On Sunday, t he twen ty - th i rd o f Ap r i l , 1967, a f t e r serv ing seven year s ·

o f · ~ t w e n t yyear sen tence f o r armed robbery, Ray escaped from t h e Missour i

Sta te P e n i t e n t i a r y by conceal ing himsel f in a box t h a t would normal ly conta in

bread from the pr i son bakery.

Ray, l i k e Bremer (see page was approached by Gera ld Pa t r i ck Hemming*

t h rough a b r o t h e r - i n t h i s case Je r ry Ray, a high-ranking o f f i c i a l i n J .B .

S t o n e r ' s Nat ional Sta t e s Righ t s Par ty. Hemming had met Je r ry Ray i n 1964

t h rough Ed Co l l in s , . who would l a t e r be murdered by Hemming. ( see :page

*When I spoke with him, Hemming h in ted a t h i s involvement i n the King k i l l i n g :

A Navy guy from· Memphis approached us on the King th ing a week b e fo rei

( i t happened) . Moved in r i g h t next door to us i n El Monte. He wass t a t i oned i n Memphis and sa id he had money and f i n a n c i a l suppor t . Werewe i n t e re s t ed? • • • • These t h in g s occur QUite f reQuent ly . In a Freedomo f In fo rmat ion Act l e t t e r to the FBI, Hemming r eq u es t ed - Repor t toF.B . I . F i e l d Off ice , Los Angeles , r eg a rd in g su sp ec t i n a s sa s s i n a t i o n o fDr. Mart in Lu ther King . ( l t r to FBI 27 Aug 1975 from GPH; t ape-recorded

i n t e rv i ew w/GPH Apri l 77) .



Hemming to ld Jer ry t h a t _his bro the r ' s s t a tu s as a fug i t i ve was o f value to

the mob and t ha t a man named RAOUL wished to contac t him. A meeting was

arranged i n Montreal i n August 1967 between Ray and RAOUL .

According to Ray, the 35 year old blonde**Latin hinted t ha t i f he was

able to a s s i s t him i n ce r t a in p ro jec t s , he might be able to g e t him i d e n t i i c a

t ion papers and some money. Ray had a t l e a s t f ive other meetings w i t ~ Raoul At t h e i r l a s t meeting, Raoul to ld him to go to Windsor, Canada, where he

would give Ray some packages to br ing in to the United States . After the

mission was completed Ray was to dr ive to Birmingham, l a ~ a m a- the scene of

heavy f a c i a l s t r i f e in the 1 9 6 0 ' s - and l ay low u n t i l Raoul arr ived with

the r e s t o f the money for the smugglingjob. Raoul to ld Ray t h a t he had

spent a l o t of time in New Orleans and gave him severa l te lephone numbers

there .

Three days a f t e r Ray ar r ived in Birmingham he received a l e t t e r from

Raoul with the address and time of t h e i r next rendezvous. When they met,

' 'Raoul gave Ray $2000.00 i n small b i l l s and to ld him to buy a l a t e model

Mustang. Ray wri tes : I suppose I became involved ;in some s o r t o f p l o t to

k i l l King when I f i r s t took those packages in to the United S t a t e s from Canada.

I would th ink t had a l l been decided before the car was bought i n Birmingham

as no one would have given me three grand j u s t to haul narco t ics across the

border . (Look 11.26.68) .

Ray's next assignment was to order severa l hundred do l l a r s worth of

photographic equipment then dr ive down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where he would

hook-up with Raoul . After t h i s was accomplished both men drove back in to

Texas where Raoul gave Ray a spare t i r e he was supposed to smuggle in to

**Ray described Raoul to author William Bradford Huie as a Cuban ex i l e , ablonde ·La t in . In Huie' s book he _9hanges to a red-ha i red French Ca .nadi;Sn .



Mexico. By t h i s t ime Ray knew he was working f o r the National Crime Syndicate

s ince they had severa l border guards on t h e i r , p a y r o l L .La te r Ray would wr i t e

"In· the Spring o f 1968 I was working with agents o f the fed.eral government

inc luding Raoul. They t o ld me I was helping them to supply arms and guns to

the dub an refugees to over throw Ca'stro, the communest ( s i c ) i n Cuba. The

reason why I v e made t r i p s to Mexico was i n regard to he lp ing t he agen t s of

the f e d e r a l government to supply arms to cuban refugees there to overthr0'W

Castro . The fede;ral agents l ed me to be leave ( s i c ) t h a t I was working i n

Memphis i n Apri l fo r the same purpose. I knew I was working wi th f ede ra l

agents the way they had me passed across. the l 'Iexican and Canadian bo:t:ders • . . •

(44-38961-5811 Sec 81) .

Upon $UCcessfully completing the opera t ion Ray r ece ived two thousand

d o l l a r s , He then drove to Los Angeles, where he took up res idence i n a cheap

h o t e l . His assoc ia te s the re included Ri ta St ien , whose husband had died from

acute morphine poi.soning (FBI LA-44-1574). R i t a s cousin, Jl' yrial Tomaso had'been a r r e s t e d on seven fe lony charges i nvo lv ing n a r c o t i c s and fo rgery. (FBI 4

382861-5553) IV yrial convinced Ray to take heT'I cousin", Charles St ien , along

with him on a t r i p he was making to New Orleans . Ray agreed, but i n s i s t e d

t h a t the th ree r e g i s t e r fo rWal Lact=

f i r s t . Jim Ghrr ison descr ibed S t i e n as"a good boy who kept bad company". St ien was formerly marr ied to l 'Iickie

l 'Iedina, "Queen of Vice" i n New Orleans , dur ing ' l962 , 1963. He had a t l e a s t

one a r r e s t l inked with p r o s t i t u t i o n . St ien s t a t e d t h a t he never heard Ray

mention anyone by the name ·Of Ra.oul" dur ing the t r i p . However, he did say

t h a t a f t e r Ray spoke with a p a r t y from a pay phone loca ted i n the v i c i n i t y of

·Houston, Texas, he appeared to be " tense and somewhat i n deep · though t" .

(FBI LA 44-1574).



THE FBI 'S INVESTIGATION INTO RAY S PHONE CALLS TO RAOUL

The FBI a t t e mp t e d t o i n v e s t i g a t e R a y ' s c a l l s to .Raoul' ' by c h e c k i n g t h e

t o l l r e c o r d s o f a l l t h e t e l e p h o n e b o o t h s Ray migh t have used wh i l e t r a v e l i n g

from Los Angeles to New O r l e a n s . They conc luded . an e x h a u s t i v e s e a r c h o f

c o u n t l e s s t e l e p h o n e r e c o r d s , numbers and s u b s c r i b e r s produced n o t h i n g .

(Murk in 44-38861-2014) . Sometimes i t was i mp o s s i b l e t o ·check a s p e c i f i c phon

because t h e r e c o r d s had been d e s t r o y e d .• •

(44 -38861-2460) , I n o t h e r a r e a s

c o l l e c t c a l l s to New Or l e a n s would n o t show up on t h e t o l l t i c k e t s . I n

many c a s e s i t i s i mp o s s i b l e t o d e t e r m i n e i c e r t a i n ~ l l s were s i g n i f i c a n t

because o f heavy d e l e t i o n s .

I n t h e summer o f 1968 , L o u i s Lomax, a b l a c k j o u r n a l i s t from Los Angeles , ·

conv inced C h a r l e s S t e i n to accompany him on a t r i p to Texas i n o r d e r to f i n d

t h e pay phones Ray used when he c a l l e d R a o u l .

Lomax, b o r n August 16 , 1922 i n r u r a l Georg ia , had o b t a i n e d a Ma·sters

Degree f rom Yale i n 1947 and worked a s a newspaperman u n t i l 1951 , when he was

a r r e s t e d f o r ~ r c e n yand s e rv e d two y e a r s a t I l l i n o i s S t a t e P r i s o n a t J o l i e t ,

f rom 1952-1954 . Ray was i n c a r c e r a t e d t h e r e d u r i n g t h e same t ime p e r i o d

a l t h o u g h i n a d i f f e r e n t p a r t o f t h e p r i s o n .

There i s a s t r o n g p o s s i b i l i t y Lomax was r e c r u i t e d f o r i n t e l l i g e n c e work

wh i l e b e h i n d b a r s . A f t e r he was r e l e a s e d he began to w r i t e books a b o u t t h e

Black Mus l ims ,and t h e C i v i l R i g h t s s t r u g g l e , a r e a s o f i n t e r e s t to t h e

i n t e l l i g e n c e community. By 1965 he had become a wel l -known Los Angeles t e l e -

v i s i o n commenta tor and two y e a r s l a t e r he t r a v e l e d to Tha i l and , a l l e g e d l y

to do a book on t h e war he t h o u g h t was imminent t h e r e . (NYT 8 . 1 . 7 0 ) .

When King was s h o t Lomax conduc ted h i s own i n v e s t i g a t i o n . He c o n t a c t e d

C h a r l e s S t i e n and o f f e r e d him f o u r • thousand d o l l a r s to show him t h e t e l e p h o n e

b o o t h where Ray had c a l l e d Raoul f rom. Lomax asked t h e FBI to accompany



himsel f , St i en and a San Francisco Chronicle photographer on . the t r i p - the

FBI re fused* . (44-38861-2190 FBI Murkin) .

Lomax was doing the s to ry fo r the North American Newspaper All iance ,

NANA) the same o u t f i t P r i s c i ll a Johnson worked f o r, (see page . The

FBI.was unable to i d e n t i f y NANA as an a l l eged CIA f r o n t - according to t h e i r

informat ion NANA was . con t ro l l ed by Drev; Pearson, a n a t i o n a l l y sy n d ica t edcolumnis t wi th no in te l l igence community connec t ions .

St i en and Lomax f lew to New Orleans where they r en ted an automobile and

at tempted to re t race the journey, The FBI 's source t o ld them t h a t St i en was

ext remely vague about the phone boo th ' s l o c a t i o n but sa id t h a t a couple of

booths i n Uvalde seemed f ami l i a r, e spec ia l ly one a t an ENCO se rv i ce s t a t i o n ,

. When the FBI checked the t o l l recprds of the booth i n q_uestion they found

t h a t no : c a l l s had been made to New Orleans . Stein had o r i g i n a l l y sa id t h a t

Ray made the c a l l . j u s t west o f Houston, o f f : j :n terstate Highway Ten- an e igh t

l ane highway with a fenced- in access road. The booth was on the access road

wi th a Liq_uor Store nearby, The FBI checked nine booths around t h a t a r e a -

no c a l l s went out on December 16, 1967 to New Orleans . NURKIN FBI 44-38861-

2460; Memo: To Deloach; LA FBI 44-1574-5 .25 .68) .

After the t r i p was over Ste in said t h a t Lomax d e l i b e r a t e ly confused himand f e l t t h i s was due to the f a c t Lomax t r aced t r ave l i n reverse from the

way i t a c tu a l l y occur red . Ste in sa id t h a t i f he re t raced the t r i p from

Los Angeles to New Orleans he would remember. The FBI agent he t o ld t h i s to

suggested t h a t t h i s be done, bu t h i s super io r s thought o therwise . (LA44-l574

5 .9 .68 .

Louis Lomax's a r t i c l e s on the King k i l l i n g e i t h e r conta ined l eads t h a t

went nowhere - myster ious blonde g i r l s who disappeared o r threw suspic ion

The FBI. a l ready had .1.a: r e l i a b l e source: ; who would s u ~ ythem with d e t a i l e di n fo rm a t io n on the t r i p - the photographer who accompam.ed the p a i r was r epor t i ng back to the FBI,



in the di rec t ion o the FBI by s t a t i ng tha t they de l ibe ra te ly i ssued the wro

p r i n t s f o r Ray when he escaped f:rom the Missouri Sta te Prison. Actual ly i t

was the l oca l a u t h o r i t i e s who re leased the wrong Pr in ts . Lomax ca l led fo:r a

Warren-type o Commission to inves t iga te the King slaying. DeLoach MemoSect ion 27; LA-44-38861-enc; St Pete Times 5 .6 .68 .

S __________________ -~ -----------~~ ~ ~- - G o~ ~ ~ ; J ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 6 ~ ~~ - -

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On J u l y 31, 1970, Lomax l o s t c o n t r o l o f h i s c a r w h i l et r a v e ~ i ng e a s

o n I n t e r s t a t e Seven ty d u r i n g a l a t e n i g h t d r i v e . His c a r sk i d d e d o f f t h e

highway, o v e r t u r n i n g t h r e e t i me s . H de 1 ed o f a c o n c u s s i o n and i n t e r n a li n j u r i e s . NYT 8.1.70 .

1

- ..g_ _ _ _ - - - - - - - -



R Y IN. N E\v ORLE NS

When St i en and Ray reached New Orleans, Ray claims he c a l l e d the New

Orleans telephone number. I was asked where I was stp:ying then t o l d where

Raoul would meet me • . • • He wanted me to help take some guns i n t o Mexico and

the re would be t en o r twelve grand i n t f o r me :plus the usual promise of

t r a v e l documents. During the conversa t ion he sa id a f t e r ] got to Cuba I could

go any :place i n the world. I t o ld him I wasn ' t i n t e r e s t e d i n going to Cuba a

I wanted the trf? Vel documents and ' pa r t o f the money before I went to Mexico.

The :p ro jec t would s t a r t about the f i r s t o f May - he would wri te me as to the

sp e c i f i c date l a t e r on • • . • Late i n February he wrote and asked me to meet him

a t the b a ~ where we had met before i n New Orleans , t h a t we would go from there

to Atlan ta , Georgia ( the home o f Dr. King). I ca l l ed and sa id I would bet he re . ·

Ray r e tu rned to New Orleans and went to the bar. He wai ted a l l d a y

Raoul did no t show up. \\ hen he ca l l ed the te lephone home number he was to ld

Raoul had gone to Birmingham. Ray drove to Birmingham where Raoul t o ld

him· ~ wanted Ray to help him murder someone- Ray ' s r o l e was to purchase the

murder weapon and drive the get-away car. For h i s p a r t Ray was to r ece ive ten

thousand d o l l a r ~ Ray and Raoul drove to At lan ta t hen back to Birmingham

where Ray went to the Aeromarine Supply Company and purchased a d ee r r i f l e

.which Raoul found u n sa t i s f a c t o r y. Ray r e tu rned t fo r a l a rg e r - b o r e (30-06)

weapon which Raoul accepted . I n t e r e s t i n g l y enough, ..:Aeromari lile:Supply was

located i n the v i c i n i t y o f the. Headquarters o f General Doster, who assembled

the p i l o t s who :par t ic ipated i n the Bay o f Pigs invas ion .

Raoul and Ray drove to Memphis where a room had been reserved f o r Raya t the Rebel Motel under the a l i a s of John Willa rd . According to Ray,

*Thet h eSec

bar where Ray and Raoul were sup:posed to rendezvouss t r e e t from the Hotel Moneleone. ( see page ) .7 7 - FBI Murkin).

was l oca t ed ac ro ss(Memo: Conv w/Huie



a f t e r he checked i n , Raoul - t o l d me to r e n t the room a t the rooming house

(from which King was shot) a t 3 p.m ••• • • I rented a room from the woman (Bess ie

B:riewer). I s igned my name as John Wil lard • • • • then I went downsta i r s and

found Raoul i n the tavern ( J im ' s G r i l l ) . He had t o l d me to g e t him some

b inocu la rs ~ o I went up to the s to re and bought them and when I got back

Raoul was up i n the room .

When he gave the b inocu la r s to Raoul he was informed t h a t the h i t was to

take place sh o r t l y and t h a t he was· to double-park i n f r o n t of the rooming

house and g e t ready to speed away a,f ter the sho t ( s ) was f i r e d , Ray c la ims

he was in1•a gas s t a t i o n a t the time·KINQ WAS KILLED. No wi tn esse s have come

forward to cor robora te Ray's cla im. I t i s more l i k e l y t h a t Ray wai ted ou t -

s ide the rooming house i n c l a s s i c g e t - a w a y : . . m a n ~fash ion .

Meanwhile, Raoul walked down the co r r ido r o f ; t h e rooming house and i n t o

a f i l t h y bathroom t h a t was d i r e c t l y i n back o f the motel where King was s t ay

ing . When King s tepped out OJ . the balcony*Raoul sho t him with the 30-06·

r i f l e purchased and handled by Ray. ·Raoul dashed down the hal lway and out

the f r o n t door.

Severa l o f the r e s i d e n t s o f · t h e rooming house saw him. Manager Bess ie

Brewer.he?.rd the shot. coming from the back o f my rooming house , She ran

down the hal lway and encountered Raoul who was running i n the 'opposi te

d i r e c t i o n . When f lhe at tempted to .go out the. back door - a law enforcement

o f f i c e r was i n the back of the build.ing and i n s t r u c t e d both Mr. and Mrs,

Btewer to close the door and r e t u r n to t h e i r apartment , (ME 44-1987 2

plO-FBI DOC). Two o the r r e s i d e n t s o f the rooming house, Gracie and Charles

Stephens, also witnessed Raoul make h i s get-away.

According to R a y - I was s i t t i n g i n the Mustang when I heard a sho t .

· In a· minute o r so Raoul came running down the s t a i r s car ry ing my zipper

*Several King it suppor te rs }1ad begun chant ing f o r h i s appearance.



·- ·

b_ag down on the s idewalk. Then he J ed · th b kump ~ e ac sea t , covered-up with

a shee t and we took o ff .

When the FBI disp layed a photograph of James Ear l Ray to Bess ie Brewer

she t o l d them I j u s t d o n ' t know i f t was him . Gracie Stephens descr ibed

the man she saw as i n h i s f i f t i e s with s a l t and pepper h a i r . She sa id t ha t

t was d e f i n i t e l y not James Ear l Ray. On Ju ly 31, 1968, l e s s than two months

a f t e r Ra:y's a r r e s t i n London, Grace Stephens. was committed to a s t a t e mental

i n s t i t u t i o n , by an a s s i s t a n t admin i s t ra to r a t the hosp i ta l . Because the

commitment proceedings were i n i t i a t e d by an unauthor ized person, a Judge

eventua l ly ru led t i l l e g a l . Dr. Antonio Rubio, c l i n i c a l d i r e c t o r a t the

Bo1ivar Hospi ta l sa id Hrs. Stephens was suffe r ing from Korsakoff ' s Disease ,

One of the symptoms of t h i s r a r e malady j u s t happened_to be confabu:).at ion

a tendency to inven t s t o r i e s .

Char les Stephens, Grac ie ' s husband, t o ld the FBI t h a t j u s t p r i o r to

the a s sa s s i n a t i o n he heard the man who had checked i n to apartment 5B unde.r

the name o f Willard make seve ra l t r i p s to the. bathroom dur ing which he

f a i l e d to . f l u sh the t o i l e t o r run any water wi th the excep t ion o f the l a s t

t ime he was i n the bathroom. At t h i s t ime he f lushed the t o i l e t . Stephens

descr ibed the man he saw f l ee ing a f t e r the sho t s as a white male, 5 ' 10-11 ;

165 pounds; . s lender bu i ld ; ruddy complexion; sandy h a i r ; had a long sharp ,

·poin ted nose; wearing what appeared to be a dark blue or black s u i t , white

s h i r t and dark t i e . When shown a p ic tu re of James Ear l Ray, Char les

Stephens was quoted as saying - Unless he was wearing a wig or had a face

l i f t or something, i t s no t the man I saw. The h a i r i s too f u l l and the face

i s too young . Char les Stephens was .taken i n t o p r o t e c t i v e custody by the

Sta t e of Tennessee and held as a mate r i a l witnes s . (Montreal Sun 4 .18 ,68 ;

Wash Post 8.16.70; E 44-1987 JWB:raf 4.5 .68; FBI Memo Tolson:DeLoach 7 .2 .68) .



I t i s t rue t h a t the descr ip t ion o f eyewitnesses to the Mart in Luther

i n g assass ina t ion are ap t to be clouded by the f ac t tha t Bessie Brewer 's

es tab l i shmen t was more of a f lop-house fo r a lcoho l i cs than a rooming house .

None- the- less , the f ac t t ha t a l l th ree eyewitnesses f a i l ed to i d e n t i f y the

gunman as Ray in .tes t imony given shor t ly a f t e r the assass ina t ion i s s ign i f i c a2

Raoul had jumped out a t a s top l igh t e i g h t blocks away from the murderscene. Raoul ' s next move i s a mystery. One p o s s i b i l i t y i s t h a t he went ·to

the William Lem Hotel , where he had reg i s te red as a guest the n igh t before .

At the Hotel he jo ined an assoc ia te , then both men f lew to Houston on a

commercial a i r l i n e r This supposi t ion i s based on an FBI document which

s t a t e s t h a t on Apri l 4, 1968 two men reg i s te red a t the Lem Hotel under fa l se

names and addresses , then f lew out of Memphis on the night o f the murder under

d i f f e r e n t f i c t i t i o u s names. The FBI got f ive l a t e n t f inge rp r in t s from t h e i r

r e g i s t r a t i o n cards but were unable to i d en t i fy them. MURKIN 44-38861-5301;

44-38861-5048).

Ray headed South then doubled-back to Atlan ta . Without Raoul ' s. r lv

sponsorsh ip Ray was l eftAon 'h is own devices . He abandoned the Mustang and

made h i s way to Europe via Canada, with a Canadian passport he f r audu len t ly

o b t i n e d y looking . through fo r ty year o ld Canadian newspapers fo r male

b i r t h s When he found Engl ish sounding names, Ray looked fo r the same names

i n a c u r r e n t te lephone d i rec to ry. He su rve i l l ed these people and found one

who's desc r ip t ion f i t h i s When he found tha t t h i s man had never appl ied f o r

a passport , he appl ied f.or one in hi s name. Researchers such as Mark Lane

assumed t h a t Ray needed · - in te l l igence community help to o b t a i n a passport o f .

someone who ac tua l ly looked l i k e him.

From Europe Ray hoped to go to Angola where he would e n l i s t in the

Portuguese mercinary army.

Soon th .a u t h o r i t i e s found the Mustang and through t were able to l oca te

th f d P On which a c i r c l e appeared arounday's room i n At lan ta ' where ey oun a rna

-----------------------



Dr. King 's r es idence . A map with the Texas Book DE)pository prominent ly markeJ

was :found among Oswald's posses s ions . Other s i m i l a r i t i e s inc luded a r i : f le

with a t e l e scop ic s igh t , e a s i l y t r aced back to t s owner, which was found on

both crime scenes and there were a l so no eyewitnesses to e i t h e r shoot ing ,

The FBI even tua l ly compared the p r i n t s :found on the r i f l e with a l l known

fug i t ives and came up with the r e v e l a t i o n t h a t Er ic Starve Gal t , ( t h e a l i a s

Ray used c i r c a 1968) was r e a l l y James Ear l Ray. The "b iggest man-hunt" n

h i s to r y o f f i c i a l l y began.

Care fu l ana ly s i s of the FBI ' s NURKIN* f i l e r ev ea led t h a t the FBI f a i l e d

to put t oge the r a composite sketch of the suspec t based on d e sc r i p t i o n s f u r

nished to them by eyewitnesses to the shoot ing i n Memphis. In s t ead , they r e -

l i e d on the r e c o l l e c t i o n s of people who came i n t o c o n ~ a c twith Ray when he

l i ved i n Birmingham - such as the owners o:f the gun shop where he purchased

the a s sa s s i n a t i o n weapon, (44-388861-254 Apr i l 8, 1968 FBI Teletype) . A

r e c e n t l y d e c l a s s i f i e d Air Telegram from the Sp ec ia l Agent i n Charge inMemphis

revea l s t h a t t h i s ske tch was:

• • • • accep tab le to Birmingham witnesses , I t , however, was re( jected

by f ive rooming house witnesses i n Memphis. This would seem

i n g l y suggest a p o s s i b i l i t y , as has been previous ly c o n s i d e r ~ d

t h a t the re may wel l be two people involved i n the murder.

(44-38861-253-FBI) .

The on ly ske tches based on the r epor t s of eyewi tnesses to the a c tu a l " h i t "'

were drawn by B i l l Harrington, Memphis Commercial Appeal sta:f:f a r t i s t and

by Sergio Jaube r t , Mexico Oit:y Pol ice a r t i s t . They are r epr in ted on page ·

Har r ing ton ' s ske tch was b ; ~ s e don "desc r ip t i ons of men l iv in g i n the Memphis

rooming house from which t{le k i l l e r f i r e d . (FBI44-38811-473 Page 2 Secion A),

J a u b e r t ' s was p u t t t o g e t h e r , on the day of the assass ina t ion , from A de-, '

*The FBI acronymn fo r the "Murder of King".



:provided by the FBI fol lowing specula t ion t h a t the a s sa s s i n may have

f l e d to 1 1exi co". . UPI tele:pho to NXP-MXP l - 4 / 1 0 / 68) , When United Press

:published Jauber t ' s sketch, the FBI ' s Legal At tache i n Mexico Ci ty cabled

J . Edgar Hoover and informed h i m - "Jauber t • • • • has not been :i;n d i r e c t con tac t

with t h i s o ff i c e and has, according to :police sources , r e l i e d comple te ly on

press accounts .concerning the appearance of the· Uniden t i f i ed Sub jec t " , (44-

98861-1181 FBI) . The FBI a l so denied tliey were: "looking fo r any i nd iv idua lI

i n Mexico", (44-38861-1108 EBI). B o t ~ o fthese s ta tements a re f a l s e .• Jauber t

may not have been i n d i r e c t contac t with the FBI ~ e g a lAttache, None- the- less ,

the i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t h i s ske tch was based on, could have come from the FBI

i n d i r e c t l y v i a the Mexipan Po l i ce , The FBI was d e f i n i t e l y look ing f o r a

"sharp-nosed" suspec t iri Mexico. An Arizona co l lege s tuden t was de ta ined a t

the Mexican-American border because he f i t t h i s descr ip t ion , NYT 4 .11 .68 ) .

The FBI never re leased th ) i r s k e t c h - ins tead they obtained Ray ' s gradua t ion

p i c t u r e from bar tender ing school and r e leased t h a t .

Many people were s t ruck by the'",d:ts-similari ty between the photograph o f

Ray (o r "Gal t") and the ske tches t h a t appeared i n the media. Ex-FBI agent

William Turner, who was working withJ im Garr ison on h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n of the

Kennedy Assas s ina t ion , r e a l i z e d t h a t the Jauber t ske tch c lo se ly resembled the

Oswald-l ike tramp, whom we have i d e n t i f i e d as CIA assass in Daniel L. CarswelL

"The sharp po in ted nose , the wide mouth and th in l i p s the f i rm s e t o f the jaw.

I remembered something - the photograph of a suspec t being taken i n to custody

by two shotgun carry ing Dal las pol icemen", (San Fran Chron 5•6-68 f i n a l horne

e d i t i o n FBI#44-38861-A).

Exact ly one day a f t e r the Turner pres s c o n f e r e n c e . . : R i c h a r a : : S p r a( see

page - - - - ~ held a press conference in New York Ci ty about the s i m i l a r i t y .

An a r t i c l e appeared i n the New ¥ark Times which q_uoted Sprague as ·saying the

tramps were probably a bunch of l o c a l drunkards. In 1975 Sprague was appointed•

. . . . .



--to- a presHg lous Pr e s id e n t i a l · ·commission-by former. ' l larren Commission. m e ~ b e

Gerald Ford, NYT 4.11 .68 ; Comm.on Elec t ron i c Funds Trar{·sfer broch;_.re),

Sprague· gave the photographs to Ray' s· conf idan t , . Wil l i am Bradford Huie •

( l t r from F e n s t e r - f i l e s from Sprague to F e n s t e r ) . Sprague r e c a l l s :

I met Huie in-New York._.;.he· had never heard about "Frenchy"*o r the photographs and the: resemblance to the Mexican ske_tch, ••

t seemed to shake him up considerab ly, -He had not connectedthe two assass ina t ions u:p -to t h a t p o i n t , - I showed him my _comparison (and Turner ' s ) and gave him copies o f two o r t h ree·of . the tramp .photos. He sa id he would ma]-te sure they wereseen by Ray to see i f he c_ould i d e n t i f y "Frenchy" as R a o u l ~

Sometime l a t e r , he t o l d me during a phone c a l l , t h a t Formanhad shown the photos- to Ray and t h a t Ray had no t been able toi d e n t i f y. "Frenchy ' ,

.

Huie had g iven c·op,ies o f the photo.s to Forman who went to v i s i t Ray.

Ray r e c a l l s t h i s v i s i t :

And he had a pict .ure fo r me to look a t . This p i c t u r e wasabout 8Xl0 i n . Mr. Forman sa id Mr. Huie had g iven him· thep i c t u r e and t h a t Mr, Huie had got the : ;p ic tu re from somebodyi n the Federal g o v e r n ~ e n tThe p i c t u r e conta ined two o rt h ree men fo l lowed by 2 o r 3 policemen. Mr. Forman desc-ribed one o f them i n the p i c t u r e as an "ant i -communis t"cuban refugee who was a r r e s t e d a t the time .President ·Kennedy was sho t . "The a r r e s t took place i n Dal las , I wasto ld " . I was asked i f I would i d e n t i f y the man i f he was

.brought to Memph:i:s. I sa id no, ' a l though he did looks i m i l a r to the man I was involved with . Afte r I wouldn ' ti d e n t i f y the man about. a l l I was t o l d was th a t I would goto the elec;t ric cha i r i f I went to t r i a l : • • • •

( l t r from Ray to SenEast land3.14 .69 Sec 78 FBI Murkin F i l e )

In 1977 Lawrence Gonzalez o f Playboy Magazine, ( see page : - - - - ) a s t rong

c r i t i c o f so -ca l l ed CIA conspiracy t h e o r i s t s " exhibi ted p ic tu r e s o f " theI

tramps" to Ray and he chose Carswel l

t h a t the f i r s t t ime" he ~ a i d- I t ' s

once aga in - "Percy Forman showed me

a p i c t u r e t h a t I found ou t was c l a s .

by the Rockefe l l e r Commission, • • • the man's n a m e ' s - c l a s s i f i e d . Forman, a t one

t ime, wanted to have t h i s i nd iv idua l a r re s ted , I 'm p r e t t y sure t h a t was the

i nd iv idua l . They br ing him to Memphis t hen I was going to i d e n t i f y h i m ~ : a n

he was going to use t h a t in_ the defense" . (Playboy August 1977).

*Sprague ' s mislead ing name f o r D a n i e l L . Carswel l .

----·.



- Before the Playboy in te rv iew Ray sa id he wouldil}_ t i d e n t i f y the t h i r d

tramp as Raoul no t t h a t he c o u l d n ' t , Ray thought Raoul was a member o f

the Nat ional Crime Syndicate and t h a t should he f i n g e r him, he would be as

good as dead,

On June 8, 1968, James Ear l Ray was a r r e s t e d in London, England, and

e x t r a d i t e d : t o Memphis, where he would s tand t r i a l f o r murdering J)octor King.

Ray h i r e d Arthur Hane9• a former CIA opera t ive who compensated the wives o f

the Birmingham, Alabama p i l o t s k i l l e d i n the Bay o f Pigs invasion , as h i s

a t to rney. Hanes had rece ived the money f o r the widows from the Cuban RevolutiOJ

ary Council while he was Mayor o f Birmingham and he t o ld r e p o r t e r s - I t

d o e sn ' t take a Phi Beta Kappa key to see there i s an i n t e r n a t i o n a l communist

conspiracy \0()pera t ing ·here) • • • • my c l i e n t i s a t oo l o f revo lu t iona ry groups

f inanced by Cuba . NYT 1973 a r t y Waldron; Memphis Tenn Comm App 7 .28 ,p8) .

Hanes h i r e d a l o c a l p r i v a t e de tec t ive named Renfro Hays as an i n v e s t i g a t o r l

Hays t o l d a source, who was repo r t i ng back to the FBI, t h a t he was r e l y i n g

heav i ly f o r defense s t r a tegy on an a r t i c l e inRampar t s Magazine by FBI-

c r i t i c Will iam Turner. This in format ion was meant to harden the a n t i - c o n -

sp i r acy s tance o f the FBI by assoc i a t i ng cosp i racy theory with one o f t h e i r

most voca l c r i t i c s .

Hanes t r i e d to convince Ray to p lead g u i l t y i n order to avo id the e l e c t r i c :

cha i r, Ray dismissed Hanes and Ray h i red Percy Forman, a homicide s p e c i a l i s t

from Dal las who had helped defend Nat ional Crime Syndicate member Jack Ruby.

Forman a l l e g e d l y v i s i t e d Ray ' s fami ly i n St . Louis and asked them to persuade

Ray to plead g u i l t y . Ray e x p l a i n e d - The g i s t o f Forman's message was t h a t

i f the p lea were not for thcoming, the FBI would have both o f my bro the rs

indict ,ed f o r compl ic i ty i n the King homicide . Forman would l a t e r swear under

oath t h a t Ray had t o l d him he had invented Raoul f o r Huie ' s b e n e f i t . NY a i

News 6.14 .77) .



JAMES EARL RAY'S TRIAL

Ray 's t r i a l was sho r t and sweet . He knew t h a t ; ;racing R a o u l ; ~ sphone

numbers might l ead back to the Nat iona l Crime Syndicate and c.er ta in dea th .

He c o u l d n ' t use the phone numbers i n hi s defense , His only hope o s tay ing

a l i v e was to plead g u i l t y b e fo re Judge Pres ton Bat t le , who d ied t h ree weeks

a f t e r accep t ing Ray's g u i l t y p lea and sen tenc ing him to n ine ty -n ine yea rs .

Ray r e fused to assure Judge Ba t t l e t h a t . t h e r e was no co n sp i r acy and a

week a f t e r B a t t l e s death, Ray f i l e d a motion fo r a new t r i a l , which was

denied by Judge Arthur Fag_uin, Ray then f i l e d an appeal which was a l so

denied. (l iURKIN 44-38861-5818), Had B.at t le l i ved Ray,.very·,weJ:Lmight have

been granted a new t r i a L The f e i s t y Judge t o ld r e p o r t e r s he had t roub le

be l i ev ing a man o Ray's i n t e l l i g e n c e could p u l l something l i k e the Mart in

Luther King k i l l i n g off , by h imse l f ,

In December o 1973 Ray sen t a s ta tement to a lo c a l t e l e v i s i o n s t a t i o n

i n which he swore he had provided h i s a t to rneys with two telephone numbers

given to him by "Raoul" . Ray t o ld the Atlan ta Journa l - "Look, I know the

te lephone;numbers o two men i n Louis iana . The a u t h o r i t i e s could have go t

t h e i r nanies. For some reason they d i d n t want ::to pursue the case . Get the

two guys i nNew

Orleans and you w i l l know a l o t more",In 1976 Ray r ev ea led - "In Fe])r)lary 1969, I fu rn ished Percy Forman with

a Baton Rouge phone number and asked him to i n v e s t i g a t e , ••• Mr. Form;m repl ied , '

in e f f e c t , t h a t i the re were to be any phone numbers r e f e r r e d to i n cour t

·he (Forman) would furnis ,h them through con tac t s i n i n t e r s t a t e gambling - Mr.

Forman mentioned a Mr. HEYER LANSKY as h i s source . . • • (USDC-Tenn C-76-274).

'Al though Ray had not mentioned these phone numbers i n the course o h i s

t r i a l , having been s u f f i c i e n t l y in t imida ted by the spec tor o Meyer Lansky,·

he gave them to h is bro the r wp fu rn ished them to a Missouri l a b o r leader*

*Lawrence Calahan o the St . Louis Steamf i t t e r s Union, Ray knew Ca:).ahan fromLeavenworth Fed e ra l Prison .



who gave them to " the l a t e E_.T, Osborn, J r . , o f the Nashvi l le bar to have .~ n

ves t iga t ed , Mr. Osborn repor ted the re s iden t l i s t e d under the Baton Rouge

phone number was a pa r i sh o f f i c i a l under the in f luence of a Teamster Union

o f f i c i a l i n the Baton Roug'e area; t h a t the r e s iden t l i s t e d in New Orleans was

among o the r th ings , an agent o f a Mid-eas t organ iza t ion d i s t r e s s e d because o f

Dr.King 's reported,

forthcoming, beforeh i s

death , publ ic suppor t of ' the

P ales t in i an Arab cause". USDC Tenn Nash Div-Civ 7338).

Fina l ly, i n 1977, Ray made the te lephone numbers publ ic . He s t a t e d t h a t .

the phone numbers - p lus a n _ a d d r e s s - had been wri t t en backwards on a r e c e i p t :

i s sued by the Shelby County J a i l . He even r ep r in t ed t h i s importan t b i t of

evidence,

The Baton Rouge te lephone number wr i t t en backwards on the r e c e i p t be

longed;,to Mrs. Jane and Herman Thompson of Baton Rouge. Thompson i s an ex

Sher i ff o f Baton Rouge. His wife runs the Abstrac t Off ice the re , When I

spoke with Mrs, Thompson she admi t.ted having the number in 1968 bu t sa id she

had never rece ived any c a l l s from James Earl Ray·or from re sea rche rs who were

t ry ing to l i n k her number to the King s lay ing . She to ld me t h a t her husband

was now emplpyed by a cons t ruc t ion company. Co-inc iden ta l ly, Char les Stien:J

sa id Ray ind ica ted he was going to contact a cons t ruc t ion f irm i n NewO r l e a

The FBI contac t$d over a dozen cons t ruc t ion f i rms i n the New Orleans ·area to

f ind out whether they had heard o f o r seen Ray. MURK IN FBI 44-38861-3463).:

The FBI never i nves t i ga t ed the Thompsons, ( A i r t e l 12,7. 76 from SAC New Orleans

(100-16800) RUC) to Direc tor FBI s e r i a l obscure) . Recently Ray has decided

t ha t - we have determined t h a t t h i s phone number lJas planted on me - I never

used i t . There was an ear:Lier phone number and I c a n ' t r e c a l l t and we d o n '

know i f we can l oca t e i t . ( l t r to author from Ray 31Aug77).

In October o f 1977 I began corresponding with Ray and discovered t h a t he

only remembered the l a s t four d i g i t s of the second number and thought t he ·

exchange maybe 866 o r 668. You have the l a s t four d i g i t s on the r e c e i p t

wr i t t en backwards. 866 seems most f ami l i a r but Pro not sure" •

.

---------·--



The 1968 Memphis C r o s sDirec tory l i s t e d 866-3757 as Leventhal

Marine Supply. Osbourne had probab ly concluded t h a t s ince Leventha l was

Jewish and belonged to a Zion i s t organizat ion, he was . a.n agent o f a Mid-east

organiza t ion" - I s r a e l i In t e l l i g ence .

Ray had admitted t h a t he was not sure o f the exchange so I checked EVER

exchange n New Orleans fo r numbers ending i n 3757. When I checked under

833-3757, a number not unsimi lar to 866-3757, I found the number belonged to

The Town and Country Motel, the nerve cen te r of organ ized crime i n New Orlean

owned by Don Car los M a r c ~ l l o (see pages ) (Haine Criss-Cross 1 9 6 8 - 833-3757).

.Not ~ n f yt h a t , i t was the same number David Fer r ie had ca l led

from h i s Motel r ~ o mi n Houston (see page ) on November 23, 1963:

ack Ruby had ca l l ed the former manager o f the Town and C ~ u n t r ysho r t ly be-

fore the Kennedy . assass ina t ion (see page .

Marc . _e l l o was a close assoc ia te o f Meyer Lansky. The Tqwn and Country

Motel once harbored an i n t e r s t a t e p r o s t i t u t i o n r ing run by a pa r tn e r o f

Lansky and many mob-related deaths occur red the re . This explained why Forman

t o ld Ray Lansky would "conduct the i nves t iga t ion regarding the phone numbers

Ray possessed" . Marc . e l l o himsel f maintained an o ff i ce a t the Town and

C o u n t r ~C ong. Rec. Kohn-August 6, 1970 E7389).

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obta ined could a l so be l inked to the Nationa l Crime

Synd ica t e . Ray s a i d he had come by the name and address s h o r t l y before



·-·-- - ..... · -· ... - . ··

and was informed t h a t the subjec t m ig h Jh av e a cr imina l record" . The a t ~ ~r epor ted back t h a t the man's name was plrobably Rosenson, t h a t he had a con-

v i c t i o n i n New Orleans Federa l Court fo a n a r c o t i c s v i o l a t i o n and t h a t the

11\iami te lephone di rec to ry l i s t e d a Randy Rosenson a t 11802 North West South

River Drive, l' iami. (Ray s ta tement 12 .28 . 73: Atlan ta Journa l 10 .1 . 75;

USDC-Tenn C-76-274) .

Don Car los Marc ;e l lo a l l e g e d l y con t ro l s n a r c o t i c s t r a f f i c i n New Orleans

and the p o s s i b i l i t y e x i s t s t h ~ R o s e n s o nworked f o r him. Ray sen t me a l e t t e r

i n which he wrote - "There was an a r t i c l e i n the Knoxvi l le News Sent ine l ,

which says Rosenson was i n Knoxvil le during the e s c ~ p e- he had c a r t roub le

going through town and thus was delayed severa l days ••• I suppose t was j u s t

co- incidence • • •



BERNARD FENSTERWALD

In the e a r l y 1970 's Ray. h i red Bernard Bud Fensterwa],d as h i s a t to rney

and k ep t him on desp i t e the recu r r ing c i rcums tan t i a l evidence Fens terwald was

sec re t ly working f o r the CIA.

Fensterwald was born i n Nashvi l le , Tennessee, on August 2, 1921. When

Bud was twenty hi s mother was a d e leg a te to the Southern Conference on Human

Welfare . George MacMillan ( see page was a l so connected with t h i s organ-

i za t i o n through i t s paren t group - the Southern Regional Counci l . In t e re s t ing ly

enough, Dr. J u l i u s Mader l i s t s the Southern Regional council as a CIA-front .

MURKIN 44-3886-4358; FBI W O 62-112697-l ; CIA 500 L i s t .

Bud came from a very r i c h family and graduated from Harvard Law School

Late r t h a t yea r Fens terwald and h i s mother v i s i t e d the Sovie t Union which had

j u s t begun al lowing American t o u r i s t s in . Many sp i e s , i s g ~ i s eas t o u r i s t s

v i s i t e d the USSR around t h i s t ime.

In the ea r ly 1960 's Fensterwald worked fo r the Kefauver Committee, which

had i n v e s t i g a t e d organized crime i n the ea r ly 1950 ' s bu t

worked fo r i t focusing on the drug i ndus t ry. Organized

Messick r e p o r t s Bud was f i r e d by Kefauver.

was, a t the time Bud..

crime exper t Hank



·.

In 1960, Senator Henning died and Edward V, Long was appointed to take

h i s place . In 1963 Long was named Chairman of the Sub-committee On Adminis

t r a t i v e P r a c t i c e and Procedure .

While serv ing in t h i s capac i ty Long was approached by the Teamsters, who

had been shopping* ' fo r a Congressional Committee to i n v e s t i g a t e Attorney

Robert Kennedy's Ju s t i c e Department.Teamster boss;- Jimmy Hoffa was i n t e n t. j

on r e t a l i a t i n g agains t RFK f o r i n v e s t i g a t i n g the Teamsters ' connect ions with·

organized crime, Long agreed to take up the f i g h t aga in s t Bobby Kennedy's

abusive methods which were proving so succes s fu l i n combating the Nat iona l

Crime Syndica te . As Chief Counsel, Long se l ec t ed Bernard Fensterwald, who

a l l eged ly h a ~ b o r e da grudge a t a i n s t the K e n n ~ d y sFensterwald was descr ibed

as a heaVY f i n a n c i a l suppor ter who had f a i l e d to g e t the Ambassadorial pos t

he wanted when Kennedy was e l e c t e d . (Li fe -Lamber t -5 .26 .67) ,

The Committee held widely publ ic ized hear ings and did p len ty o f damage;

to Kennedy, Whiil .ei t was,;flJ.nctioning, Fens te rwald ' s o ld boss, Estes , 'Kefauver.

died . (approx. Ju ly 1963). In 1967 Long was c a l l e d before the Senate Eth ic s

Committee r eg a rd in g h i s connect ion with Hoffa/Lansky and i n December of 1968

he wa<; fo rced to re<>ign. Fensterwald was out-of-work. (FBI WFO 112697- l ) .

Two months a f t e r l e av in g Long's Get Robert Kennedy Committee (January1969) Fensterwald founded The Committee to Inve<>tigate Assas s ina t ions (CTrA).

The purpo<>e of CTIA wa > to i nves t i ga t e the Kennedy k i l l i n g s

of CTIA i n c lu d ed Richard A. Sprague ( see page _ _ _ who worked

The pr inc ipa l s

with Ernilo Q.

Daddario, a high CIA o f f i c i a l Comm on Elec Funds Transfer brochure ) , He had

a l so worked fo r Boeing v ia t h e i r accountan ts - Touche, Ross and Company and

had s t a r t e d h i s career a t Northrup Airc ra f t . \vho • s who i n CIA, Computers and

Automation 5 .70 ) . Third i n command under Fensterwald was :former Treasury

*Senator Edward Long was connected to Jimmy Hoffa through h i s c lose per:;;onalf r i end , Attorney Morris Shenker 1 who worked on a f i ve f igure r e t a i n e r bas i sfo r Hoffa. I n January 1975 Fen?Jterwald t e s t i f i e d i n beha l f o f MorrisShenker a t a Nevada Gaming Control Board Hearing.

i



Agent Kennard Smith who Gerald Patr ick H e ~ i n gsa id was involved i n a l leged

CIA a c t i v i t i e s i nvo lv i ng diverse consp i rac ies (7 6 - 371-CrCa USDC-Miami) .

CTIA moni to r e d th e s t a t e - o f - t h e - a r t o f assass ina t ion r esearch and d i s -

seminated d i s i n f o rmation such as the a l l eged height discrepancy between the

tramps and Hunt and Stu rg i s . They par t i c ipa ted in many other a c t i v i t e s whose

a i m was to s u ppress th e t r u t h about the CIA's Domestic Assass ina t ion Program.

By 1972 CTIA had r e ached i t s peak. I t was aro un d t h i s t i ~ e th a t Fen s t e r

wald 's old boss , Ed Long, died . On the night of his demise, Long had to ld

h is sec re ta ry t h a t he had ea ten some cany whi c h t a s ted b i t t e r and t h a t he

feared he had been poisoned. In Apri l of 1973 Long ' s body was exhumed. All

t r aces of the pois on had e i t h e r disappear e d , or there was no poison t he re inthe f i r s t plaoe . (NYT 5 .3 .73 ) .

In l a t e 1972 , ex - CIA Securi ty Direc to r James McCord re ta ined Fensterwald

as h i s counsel in t he wa t e rga te a f f a i r . Mc Cor d had decided t o p ro tec t the

CIA and blame Watergate on Richard Nixon, McCord's f i r s t lawyer , Gerald Alch

t e s t i f i e d he heard Mr. McCord say t h a t CTIA had been funded by McCord

Associa tes a t the same time McCord was working fo r CIA. The l i n k betwe en CIA

and CTI A was Loui s Russe l l . (see page . IJil t v/ J/;,{ c_ w /4 J lf-,.J

- r /b:r: . A G - E~- ~ t f 1 1 /? '{ ' ( w ~ < . _f ~ f f fh.t. / J v~ ~ '< ~t . L - - f ; e t d u~ v f e{c_CJ1-to{u . · (v tA ff 'f 5 fo / ~ , S - f -/ t v J J ~ ( /WJ ./_f<e j

~ 5 stt._ t N J / e . , r t~ : > ~ v -_ -~ * '~ / ov J e_ ( o W t l 't l ~ ~ C A f J i f ~ i ' l . f t t ls ~ _

f 4~ f l fi l 6 ~ t. 1:- 1_ ~ > ~ w> tre{ ; ; . , c l ro t V r~ t' /v ~ ~ J_

/ R r ' l J - b . ~ jJy . k ~ - 1 , . -6 . d~ , _ - f _ .f{.e /Jt / . f/? f/r//JC v-t.i__cfb ~ J/,pv;y) / f7Z f/f. e / P ' ~f __l # .r t - ' - - - J ;NJ - - 1 ~ 4 L, ( f l . /~ _} w ~u r C/(£CP ?.-t 6y _ _

t ( . . , - b ~/ tJ J _ D _ L ~ J . . _ (fXJ, :f1-t ~ - l - ' ~: : : . . £ . . . .~ = = - - - - - = - - =- - , - -

~ In Ju ly 1973, about a mon t ha f t e r Al c h ' s t e s t imony, Russel l was found d e a d ~

In the Fa l l o f 1973, CTIA held a conference a t George t own Univers i ty

during which Fensterwald was denounced as an agent of the Cent ra l In te l l igence

Agency. CTIA began to decl ine although Fensterwald he ld on long enough to



i n a Canadian pr ison and proposes to t e s t i f y to give a complete expose o f the

King murder case and to give names and te lephone numbers of the f tour •• , weal by

s o c i a l l y prominent Americans • • • • one black ••• who hi red him • • • • • f o r a hundred

thousand d o l l a r s to k i l l Dr. King . L:i,:v:ingston has been descr ibed as A

p i s t o l packing Iv emphis lawyer who i s a lso a Specia l Deputy S h er i ff , (WP L4.71

11.14 . 74) .iving,§t6n:;contacted::another I'iemphis a t to rney, Russe l l x.

Thompson, and asked him to rep resen t the h i red k i l l e r s . Thompson had t o ld

the FBI t h a t during the i n i t i a l s tages o f the James Ear l .Ray case he a s s i s t e d :

Attorney Ar thur Hanes, Sr. of Birmingham, Alabama , (SAC Memphis 44-1987 P) ,

When I asked Thompson about t h i s as soc i a t i on i n 1977 he to ld me - Hanes lead.me to be l ieve t was h i s in t en t ion , as t was our i n t en t ion ; to be assoc ia ted

with him as l o ca l counsel on the Ray case , .I th ink Ray discharged Hanes be

fore t r e a l l y developed . (Recorded Telephone conv. approx. 1 . 77 w/R.X.

Thompson). The Thompson/Banes a l l i a n c e wa·s r a the r odd since Thompson was a

member o f an int.egra ted law fi rm ~ h i hrepresented the NAACP Legal Defense

Fund i n Memphis, Hanes, on the other hand, was a s t r i c t seg reg a t io n i s t .

Thompson to ld the FBI he rece ived a phone c a l l from the gunman (whose

a l i a s i s de le ted by the FBI) who requested t h a t Thompson come to Det ro i t to

meet him. Thompson to ld .him t h a t he must come to Memphis i f he wished tor e t a i n him as his counsel , (FBI44-38861-5955). The al leged gunman furn ished

Thompson with the te lephone number of a motel in a small town i n Ontar io ,

Canada (FBI 44-38861-5950). When he phoned there he was t o ld to wire $700,

i tnmediately and t h a t t would take a t l e a s t three thousand do l l a r s to round

up a l l the people involved and ge t them to Memphis .

Recently dec l a s s i f i ed NURKIN documents revea l Livingston had two

with one of the al leged gunmen and ' took the man to v i s i t with Ray, who

, m e e t ~

to see him. Bernard Fensterwald was presen t a t one .of these meet ings.

refused

Living-

stori asked the D i s t r i c t Attorney General t o advance the gunmen t r ave l funds.

The DAG re fused , s ince he was convinced the e n t i r e a f f a i r was a swindle .

(44-388861-5947-FBI - NURKIN).



Ray was even tua l ly gran ted a hear ing f o r a new t r i a l before Federa l

Judge Robert McRae. At the hear ing Fensterwald and h i s assoc i a t e s charged

Huie and Forman h a d coerced Ray i n t o a g u i l t y plea · to prese rve the econom

value o f the book so Ray had, in e ff e c t , been de·prived of counse l . Fens teF-

wald ' s s t a r witness was Ray ' s bro the r, an ex-convic-t;.

The t h ree h i red k i l l e r s never mater ia l i zed desp i t e promises o f immunity

from prosecu t ion i n r e t u r n f o r t h e i r tes t imony, Ray's motion f o r a new

was denied . The Supreme Court re fused to r ever se t h i s den ia l .

t r i a l

In 1976 Ray f i n a l l y f i r e d F e n s t e r wa l d - who had s t a r t e d a law f i rm with

John Dean's co-counsel , Robert McClandless, McClandless was connected with

Southern Cap i t a l , which John Marks, co-au thor o f The CI and The Cul t o f

I n t e l l i g e n c e and former Sta te Department i n t e l l i g e n c e · ana ly i s t , c a l l s the

CIA's l a r g e s t remaining p r o p r i e t a r y , Miami Herald 7 .18 .76) . McClandless

and Fensterwald had o ff i c e s above those of In t e r t e l (see page ) ,

. I n l a t e 1976 an a r t i c l e t i t l e d I s Fensterwald a CI Plan t? was

publ ished i n . t h e Washington S t a r. The a r t i c l e concerned .Fenste rwald ' s

a t tempt to become Chief Counsel o f the House Selec t Committee on Assass ina

t i ons and poin ted to h i s par tne r sh ip with McClandless.

In1977 Fensterwald

was madethe

sub jec tof

athorough

a u d i tby

theI n t e r n a l Revenue Serv ice , (Wall St ree t Jou rna l ) . That very same y e a r Bud

opened h i s f i l e s to r esea rcher s and I was ab le to ob ta in copies o f many of

them. Fens te rwald ' s sec re t a ry, who had j u s t r e t u r n e d from a t r i p to Cuba,

asked me how I had the nerve to ask f o r documents a f t e r ; i l . l l t h a t you sa id

and wrote about Bud . I expla ined t h a t I obta ined documents from the CI

on a regu la r b a s i s .



THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEW OF THE MURKIN INVESTIGATION

On J a n u a r y 11 , 1977 t h e Dep ar tmen t o f J u s t i c e r e l e a s e d t h e i r r e p o r t on

t h e King murde r which had b e e n s p a r k e d by w id e s p r e a d c h a rg e s o f FBI c o m p l i c i t y

a n d / o r c o v e r - u p i n t h e k i l l i n g . J . Ed g ar Hoover had r e p e a t e d l y c h a r a c t e r i z e d

King a s a s e x u a l d e g e n e r a t e • • • unde r co mmu n i s t i c i n f l u e n c e J . Ed g ar compared

King t o C a s t r o i n t h e l a t e 19SO•s and was d e t e r m in e d t o s t o p t h e r i s e o f a

b l a c k m e s s i a h . King was p u t unde r t o t a l e l e c t r o n i c s u r v e i l l a n c e an d t a p e s

o f him making l o v e t o someone o t h e r t h a n h i s w i f e were m a i l e d t o h i s w i f e i n.J

an a t t e m p t t o r u i n h i s m a r r i a g e . The i n i t i a l J u s t i c e Depar tment r e p o r t c o n t a i n -

ed a r e f e r ence t o a woman King \ l a s i n v o lv e d w i t h who had a c h i l d b o r n t o h e r

i n 1 9 6 5 . ReJ Repor t Of t h e DOJ Task Fo r c e - Se c r e t - FB I MURKIN pB) When t h e FBIdiJCIJ el,cJ. k ln?Jt.d i l f f s ~ e

s u i c i d e i n h i s you th and had o n ce t h r e a t e n e d t o l e a p from a window i a woman

r e f u s e d t o sa y s h e l o v e d him, t h e y w r o t e a l e t t e r t o King o f f e r i n g him a c h o i c e

be t ween h a v in g h i s p r i v a t e l i f e e x p o s e d o r k i l l i n g h i r n se l f - K i n g , t h e r e i s

o n l y one t h i n g l e f t f o r you t o d o ~ y o u a r e done , t h e r e i s no way o u t . ( D . O . J .

Repor t p l l 6 : Newsweek 1 2 . 1 . 7 5 )

The FBI was b e h i n d a t l e a s t one an t i - consp i r acY- book. A s s i s s t a n t D i r e c t o r

Car tha De Loach s u gg ~ ~t e d t o J . Ed g ar Hoover t h a t t h e FBI g e t Reade rs D i g e s t

t o commiss ion Gero ld Frank , who worked c l o s e l y w i t h t h e FBI on h i s book The

Boston S t r a n g l e r t o do a book on t h e King s l a y i n g . A Read er s D i g e s t e d i t o r

had c a l l e d K in g - T h e mo st dange rous man n Amer ica t oday DeLoach b e l i e v e d t h a t

c o r e t t a King and Ralp h Ab ern a th y wer e d e l i b e r a t l y p l o t t i n g t o keep Ki n g ' s

a s s a s s i n a t i e n in t h e news by p u l l i n g t h e r u s e o f m a i n t a i n i n g t h a t Ki n g ' s m u r d e r

was d e f i n i t e l y a c o n sp i r a c y • • • a r a n k t r i c k i n o r d e r t o k eep t h e money coming i n .

De l oa.:h Rdrnit.Ced h i s i n f o r m a t i o n came from a w i r e t a p . (Mm::kin 4 4 - 3 8 8 r < s ~

Frank e \ m t u a l l y p u b l i s h e d wi:bh Doubleday and r e p o r t e d l y r e c e i v e d a < .11 · dred

thousand d o l l a r advance . · NYT 3 . 1 3 . 69)



The documents on which t h i s p a r t o f t h e Task F or c e Repor t i s b as ed s t a t e -

11The r e a s o n f o r t h e removal o f O f f i c e r R e d d i t t was due t o t he r e c e i p t o f

a t e l ephone c a l l from P h i l Manuel . (Unident Doc po ss s e r i a l 317 ¥E-44-1987p5)

I n May , 1969 R e d d i t t was g iven t h e a n nua l L i b e r t y B e l l Award . b y LeonJ a w o r s k i , who i s c l o s e l y c onn e c t e d w i t h t h e CIA. (ME-44-1987)

Th e J u s t i c e Depar tment Task Force added t h a t Mr. Manuel n e i t h e r had

a p r e ~ :nt r e c o l l e c t i o n o f p r o -

v i d i n g t h e i n fo rmat ion r e g a r d i n g t h e t h r e a t t o t h e Memphis P o l i c e Depar tmen t

n o r does he have a memorandum o f t h e even t Mr. Ma nue l ' s Committee has o f t e n

been c r i t i c a l o f t h e FBI and t h i s may be a t r a n s p a r e n t e f f o r t t o d i s c r e d i t

him.t i ~r to t h e Red d i t i n c i d e n t , a Negro Fi reman s u s ~ e c t e do f l e f t w i n g

l e a ni ~g s wa$ t r a n s f e r e d o u t o f t h e F i r e S t a t i o n S u r v e i l l a n c e p o s t . (ME-44-

1 9 8 ~7 ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- -

The Department o f J u s t i c e r e p o r t c onc lu de d Ray was l y i n g a b ou t t h e

e x i s t e n c e o f Raoul • • • an underwor ld f i g u r e • • • and Ra y ' s s e l f - s e r v i n g a t t r i b u t i o n

o f Raoul who d i r e c t e d him t o buy t h e c a r and who s u p p l i e d him wi th t h e

c a sh i s u n c o r r o b o r a t e d • • • t h e s o u r c e s f o r Ra y ' s funds s t i l l remain a ~ s t e r

t oda y • • • we have n o t ad d re s s ed h e r e t h e B u r e a u s h a n d l i n g o f p a r t i c u l a r c o n

s p i r a c y l e a d s because o f t h e l a r g e number o f a l l e g a t i o n s i n v o l v e d . Bureau

f i l e s can be checked f o r e a c h r e p o r t e 4 - l e a d and t h e r e s u l t i n g i n v e s t i g a t i o n on

t h a t l e a d t r a c e d t o i t s c o n c l u s i o n . The FBI ag en t who headed t h e Mar t i n Lu t h e r

King Task F orce , F r e d Folsom , had a b r o t h e r who was suspec t ed o f be i ng an

ag en t o f t h e KGB. His mother was d e s c r i b e d a s a communist s y m p a t h i z e r. Folsom

had s p i e d on b o t h o f them f o r t h e FBI . Memo t o L e a v i t t r e MLK 100-106670 p2 ,3 )

The Repo:t;t s u g g es t ed Raoul migh t be R a y ' s y ounger b r o t h e r , J e r r y . Wa s

t he J u s t i c e Department t e l l i n g Ray t h a t i h e c o n t i n u e d t o i n s i s t on a c on

s p i r a c y t hey would i nvo lve h i s k i d b r o t h e r i n i t ? S e v e r a l weeks l a t e r an a r t i c l e



i n New Times conc luded J e r r y Ray was Raoul c i t i n g P e r c y Fo rman ' s s t a t e m e n t

t h a t J e r r y was w i t h Ray when he p u r c h a s e d t h e r i f l e i n Birmingham . (Ne\V Times J.1

1 A t t o r n e y Genera l G r i f f e n B e l l com m ent ed - I t h i n k t h a t i you r e a d t h e

t you c o u l d l e a n t o e i t h e r s i d e o n i t • • I d l i k e t o t a l k w i t h James

E a r l Ray • • • R a y ' s z z e n t a t t o r n e y, F e n s t e r w a l d - a s s o c i a t e James L e s a r , a d v i s e d

Ray a g a i n s t t h e m e e t i n g w i t h B e l l .

I n J u n e o f 1977 Ray and some o f h i s f e l l o w c o n v i c t s b u i l t a p i p e l a d d e r

and went o v e r t h e w a l l o f t h e Brushy Mounta in P r i s o n i n Te n n e s s e e . Three d ay s

l a t e r Ray was c a p t u r e d abou t f i v e m i l e s away. One o f t h e men he e s c a p e d w i t h

was b l a c k .



I

Ot h e r Raoul • h o a x e s c a n b e t r a c e o . back t o Thompson. I n 1977 , R a y sI

a t t o r n e y, J a c k Kershaw, announce _d h e h ad ._d i s c o v e r e d t h e i d e n t i t y o f • R a o u l •

~ d h a d a p h o t ~ g r p h o ~him i n h i s p o s s e s s i o n . FBI Murkin

documents r e v e a l t h a t Kershaw b e l i e v e s RaouL t o b e i d e n t i c a l w i t h one R OUL

S A N T ~ A G OESTEJO MARTINEZ. His s o u r c e o f i n f o r m a t i o n was one ~ l i f fA n d r ~ s

and an u n i d e n t i f i e d man who went t o t h e FBI and t o l d them h i s l i f e , and t h a t/

o f h i s f a m i l y i n Wash in g to n , D . c . , were i n d a n g e r b e c a u s e t h i s s t o r y was a b o u t

t o b r e a k . FBI t r a c e s on Andrews i n d i c a t e d t h a t i n 1 9 7 4 , o n e C l i f f o r d H o ~ e

Andrews h ad b een i n c o n t a c t w i t h R a y s a t t o r n e y , R o b e r t L i v i n g s t o n , an d i n d i c -

a t e d h i s knowledge o f and i nvo lvement i n , a c o n s p i r a c y r e ; t h i s m a t t e r . A•

D i s t r i c t A t t o r n e y Genera l i n M e m p h ~ swho had b een i n c o n t a c t w i t h Andrews ,. . .

b e l i e v e d t h e reve la t1 .ons by ~ d ~ sw e ~ ea hoax p e r p e t r a t e d t o swi n d l e L i v i n g -

s t o n o u t o f f u n d s . Andrews was s u b~ e ~ u d h t l yi n t e r v i e w e d an d d e n i e d an y know-

l e d g e o f t h e King s l a y i n g . ( F B I S B 4 - 3 7 1 J44-38861-622 7 )

When I s p o k e w i t h Kershaw i n t h e f a l l o f 1977 h e t o l d me t h a t h i s p i c t u r e

o f Raoul was o n e p f t h e • t ramp s h o t s and t h a t h e t h o u g h t I s h o u l d mee t w i t h

Ray and a s k l h i m t o i d e n t i f y t h e pho tog raphs o f C a r s w e l l . B e f o r e t h i s m e e t i n g

. could . be . r r ~ g e dRay f i r e d Kershaw and h i ~ r e Mark Lane a s h i ~ a t t o r n e y.



b e f o r e t h e King a s s a s s i n a t i e n r e t i r e d FBI I n s p e c t o r Memphis

P o l i c e D i r e c t o r Fran k H o l l o m a n , o r d e r e d b l a c k D e t e c t i v e Edward E . R e d d i t t who

had d e v e lo p e d p l a n t o cordon o f f t h e a r e a i n t h e e v e n t o f an a t t e m p t on

K i n g ' s l i f e t o wi th d raw from t h e s e c u r i t y d e t a i l . Death t h r e a t s h a d a l l e g e d l y

b e e n made a g a i n s t him. The Dep ar tmen t o f J u s t i c e r e p o r t s t a t e d :

In o u r e f f o r t s t o t r a c e t h e so u r c e o f t h e t h r e a t we have fo u n dt h a t P h i l i p R. Manuel , an i n v e s t i g a t o r w i t h t h e S e n a t e I n v e s t i -g a t i n g Commit tee , was i n Memphis on A p r i l 4 1 9 6 8 . Wh i l e a t t h eMemphis P o l i c e Dep ar tmen t h e a d v i se d them t h a t an i n f o r m a n t i n t h eM i s s i s s i p p i Peace and Freedom P a r t y t o l d him t h e y h a d p l a n s t o k i l l

Negro L i e u t e n a n t i n Memphis.

· s



THE SAUSAGE AND EGGS MAN HQM

In January 1976 the Vi l l ag e Voice s e e . ~ p a g e~ · - - · - - - - ) ·.ran a s t o r y by Dick

Russel l t h a t a l l eged t h a t Jack Youngblood,(see page

fo r tune invo lved i n the overthrow of Arbenz and the r i s e

) \¥.'"' _.•.s o l d i e r - o f -

t I · fo: qwer o Fide l

Castro , was involved in the Mart in Luther King assass ina t ion . This s t o r y

seems to have or ig ina t ed from Russel l X. Thompson and ';layne Chasta in .

In 1969 Thompson had telephoned Jack Greenburg of the NAACP Legal De

fense Fund and t o ld him he knew the names o f o the r people involved with Ray

i n the King s lay ing . Greenburg bel ieved Thompson was a r e l i ~ b l esource from

h i s pas t con tac t with him and n o t i f i e d

19March 1969). The FBI did not t r y to

the FBI. (FBI Doc #44-.34961,-5626. \.

in te rv iew Thompson s i ~ c ethey f e l t.,

t h a t he was u n r e l i a b l e from p a s t con tac t s wi th him, A week a f t e r King was

gunned down Thompson had showed up a t t4e Memphis Fie ld Off ice and advised

them t h a t s h o r t l y a f t e r the a s sa s s i n a t i o n of Doctor King a person who gave

h i s name a s Tony Benavides v i s i t e d him and revea led - The a s s a s s in l e f t

the scene of the shoot ing on a motorcycle and the r i f l e recovered on the

a s sa s s i n a t i o n scene was a decoy - the ac tua l r i f l e had a l r ead y been mel ted

down . Thompson quoted Benevides as saying - I bel ieve my roommate k i l l e d

King. I t w i l l be my l .ousy l u ck t h a t the po l i ce w i l l a r r e s t me and charge me

with King ' s murder. They picked me up l a s t Friday . (Univ. Review 1 . 7 5 ) .

Thompson descr ibed Benevides as a blonde Lat in and a l so advised :

I t o ld Himes about t h i s blonde La t in and poss ib ly on t h a tb a s i s Ray had come up with ' the Raoul charac te r. Therewas a l so a p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t Hanes himself might have manu-factured the cha rac t e r Raoul, based on the da ta I had f u rnished about a blonde La t in . Benvenides was pr,obablyi d e n t i c a l to a person i n town who had c a l l e d on one ortwo preachers and had fu rn ished a s i m i l a r type s to ry.(FBI M O #44-1987).

In add i t ion to t h i s , l lr. Thompson sa id another susp ic ious c i rcumstance ,

as f a r as he was concerned, was th a t · h e had l ea rned :



, _ _ ,_ ------·-· .• • • • a man by the name o f JIM SANDERS was i n J im ' s G r i l l( loca ted i n the a rea o f the' rooming house) , had order Jdsausage <;>nd eggs <;>t approx imate ly the t ime o f the sho<;>tingof Dr. K1ng, and 1 t was repor ted t h a t Sanders did not · lea.;ve ·•

the counter as so many o ther s i n J im ' s G r i l l did , b u t i n - ·s tead ordered a b ee r and cont inued to e a t , (FBI JVIFO #44-1987).

In Apr i l 1974, Wayne Chastain, a Memphis j o u r n a l i s t who covered King 's

l a s t two days and was on the murder scene with in ten minutes a f t e r King was. ; ,

sho t , wrote a s to ry fo r Computer 's and Automation Magazine* i n which he

a l l eged t h a t the man who v i s i t e d Thompson and the two min i s t e r s was , i den t i ca l

with the man who ordered sausage and eggs i n J im ' s G r i l l . In the a r t i c l e

Chastain cla imed t'o know the i d e n t i t y of the man, who eke ; c a l l e d "Jack

Armstrong'/ but re fused to r evea l i t . Chastain had shown p i c t u r e s o f Arm,.,:

st rong" to Lloyd Jowers, the owner of J im ' s G r i l l . Jowers a l l e g e d l y sa id

he was the "Sausage and Eggs Man . Thompson had i d e n t i f i e d the photos as

c l o s e l y resembling the blimae La t i n " who v i s i t e d him sh o r t l y a f t e r the

a s s a s s i n s t i o n . Chastain claimed the t,.o Minis te r s a l l i d e n t i f i e d ' J i r S ~ ~ ~ : . ;·a s . t h e myster ious v i s i t o r . Fina l ly, Chasta in contended t h a t dur ing an i n t e r

view with Ray'· he was t o l d ~tha,t ' . ~ ~ ; V ' . . . , : · ~ + ~ o J ' I ~ fhad been shadowing him hours be

fo re the a s sa s s i n a t i o n , Chastain c i t e d no documents, t r a n s c r i p t s o r t ape -

record ings to s u b s t a n t i a t e any o f t h i s .

Then, i n e a r l y 1976, the Dick Russe l l s t o r y r an i n the Vil lage Voice

exposing the "factH t h a t Armstrong was the code name fo r Jack Youngblood,

a so ld i e r. : o f - fo r tune who had helped break Col, Ca s t i l l o Armas ( see page.

out o f a Guatemalan pr i son , then went to work f o r Castro smuggling arms.

Afte r Fide l took power Youngblood t r aye led to /lliami where he was a r r e s t e d f o r

a t tempt ing to kidnap Rolando Jl ' lasferrer. '1/hen he r e a l i z e d Cas t ro had become

a communist, Youngblood began to work aga in s t him and may have been involved

. i n an arms-smuggling deal wi th Jack Ruby. (Vi l l age Voice 1. '19.76).

In 1977 the FBI re l ea sed a r e p o r t which revea led t h a t the man who

ordered sausage and eggs i n J im ' s G r i l l on the day o f the a s s a s s i n a t i o n had

*Computers and Automation ( see page - . , ; ; - r : c o n s i s t e n t l y publ i shed the works .ofBernard Fensterwald. ( < : ~c lose f r i end o f Chastain) and Richard Sprague,



... - .

~ · -

~

•••

rD -3 0 Z IF. • • ·. 4 - 1 ~ · 6 4 c'EDERAL EWREAU OF INVESTIGATION

4 6 8D a ~- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

. LOY JOWERS o • n e r , J i ~ s G r i l l , 418 Sou t h Main ·S t r e e t . a d v i ~ e dt h a t a ~ a p p r o A i m a t ~ l y3 : 5 5 p . m . onA p r i l 4 , 1968. he a r r i v e d a t t h e G r i l l , and p a r k e d d i r e c t l y i nback o f a w h i t e Mus ta ng t h a t ~ a b p a r k e d on t h e s t r e e t d i r e c t l yi n f r o n t o f h i s G r i l l . He ~ t a t e dt h a t b e b e l i e v e d t h a t t h ec a r had M i s s i s s i p p i l i c e n s e p l a t e s on i t b e c a u s e t h e y w e r e o f ano r a n g e o r o r a n g i s h - y e l l o w c o l o r . He s t a t e d t h a t upon p a r k i n g t h ec a r he w e n t i n t o t h e G r i l l whe r e he s a ~ a s t r a n g e r s i t t i n g a t t h eb a r h a v i n g a meal . He s t a t e d t h a t i t ~ a s u n u s u a l f o r him t o g e tan y s t r a n g e c u s t o m e r s i n t h e G r i l l s i n c e ~ o s t o f h i s c u s t o m e r s

w e r e l o c a l p e o p l e o f a s t e a d y n a t u r e . Mr . JOWERS d e s c r i b e d t h es t r a n g e r as f o l l o w s :

Race:Se x :H e i g h t :Weig h t :Bui ld :Age:H a i r :Complex ion :D r e s s :

.

Wh i teMa le5 ' 8 t o 5 ' 9160 p o u n d sHeavy27 t o 30Sandy ·Ruddy~ e n r i n ga d a r k s u i t .

He s t a t e d t h a t t h e man f i n i s h ed h i s me a l an d l e f t t h eG r i l l , and he c o u l d n o t n o t i c e i n w h ich d i r e c t i o n h e w a l k e d ,b u t h e d i d n o l g e t i n t o t h e • h i t e Mu s t a n g , w h ich was p a r k e d i nf r o n t o f t h e ~ r i l l .

Mr. JOWERS s t a t e d t h a t t h i s same i n d i v i d u a l r e t u r n e dt o t h e G r i l l a t abou 8 : 00 p . m. o n A p r i l 5, 1968 , and o r d e r e db r e a k f a s t . Mr. JOWERS s t a t e d t h a t i n h i s e s t i m a t i o n , t h i si n d i v i d u a l a c t e d s t r a n g e l y b e c a u s e b e seemed v e r y c a l m whene v e r y o n e e l s e a t t he G r i l l and i n t h e a r e a was e x c i t e d o v e r t h es h o o t i n g . Ir. v i ew o f t h e f a c t t h a t he f e l t t h e i n d i v i d u a l wasa c t i n g s • .r a n g e and a l s o bec ause b e was a s t r a n g e r i n t h e a r e a ,Mr . JOWERS c a l l e d t h e P o l i c e , an d t o l d t h e m t h a t he b ad a man o f

a s u s p i c i o u s n a t u r e a t t h e G r i l l . He s a i d t h a t when t h e s t r a n g e r48

4 / 5168 Memphis , Tenr.esseeOn _ _ _ _ _ _ a1 _ _ _ F il e # - - - 4- 1987

S s ~by

_ - ,. . -,' l . I IC i i i 5 * * v· - ~ ; : · ~ .. . - D at e >di c ta ted 5_ _ _8_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

- - · - - -



X 44 19872

. .

l .

. .•

f i n i s h e d h i s b r e a k f a s the

l e f t t h e G r i l land was

a r r e s t e d

o n t h e s i d e w a l k i n f r o n t o f t h e G r i l l by t h e Memphis · P o l i c e

Dep ar tmen t .

·

f



-- --- · .. · ·---·- · · · · · · · ····-····· . · · · · · · 1

been a r re s ted when he re tu rned the next day. The FBI i d e n t i f i e d him as GENE

PE RSON CRAWFORD of Jackson, Tennessee - who was determined to have had no

pa r t i n the murder of Dr. Mart in Luther King; J r .

(NE 4-4--1897 4-.5 .68) . The

"sausage and egg" s to ry was nothing more than d is in fo rmat ion .

RAY'S TESTIMONY T HOUSE ASSASSINATIONS COMMITTEE

The House Assass inat ions Committee was ab le to disprove Ray's. s to ry th a t

he had no knowledge of a murder conspi·rac;r. The evidence they presented to

the American publ ic ind ica ted Ray may very well have been s ta lk ing Doctor King,

e i t h e r w i t t i n g ly or unwi t t ing ly. Ray did no t mention the tramp, Carswell ,

Carlos Nachel lo o r any of the other poin ts we had touched on dur ing our

lengthy correspondence nor did he shed any new: l i g h t on the i d e n t i t y o f RAOUL

o r ever o f f e r persuas ivee v i e n ~ e

t h a t he ex i s t ed , Ray's s t a r witnes s , Dloyd. .Dean Cowden, admit ted t h a t he l i e d under oath when he sa id he saw Ray a t a

gas s t a t i o n a t the time Dr. King was shot . Cowden sa id hi s s ta tement to Lane

was "rehearsed" with Renfro Hays (see page _____ , Ray's most r ecen t l e t t e r

advises me to "mention some of the i tems you have w r i t t e n to me about , to the. . '

Se lec t Committee • • • • the s t u f f about Hemming and Carswell i s i n t e r e s t i n g but I

don t have the money and resourc;es to inves t iga te t and I 'm t i re-d of foo l ing

with the l e g a l . systell ".



FRENCY

Jt- LV J A V ' l t f l

s-Yo-2o?.4-

-. U Sl{e tch o f MLK k i l l e r dravm Ap r i l 1 0 by Serg io ~ a ub e r - Ga r : x . x ~ l i ± b £

a l l e g e d l y f r om desc r i p t on pro v id ed by FBI i s dead r i nge r f or Val l ee

a zzS imi l a r MO ' s - t r acea b l e r i f l ~ found on scene I po l i c e r ad io ne t1o rk p a ne t c ~ t e

Ca rca no - Remingt on Oswa l d D e s c r i p t i on - Must a ng chaceMap o f Daitll;a s v·Ti th BD .B. :N. c i r c l e d - f llap o f Atlanta ~ t h Ki ng s ho u sRay t raveled t o NO t o b e e t i n d u s t i a l i s t c i r c l e d .

Pr ov in c i a l Mot o r Lodge zz 12 I 17 - 1903.1 · i s ~ 1 S < l S~J z t a c t _ ve i n a nt-C a s t t o a c t i v i t i e s .l;;lad Mexi can co nn e c t i ons

x c hec ke d i n t o Dal l as Hote l = days be fo r e k i l l i n g - uha b l e t o f i nTur me r

S k oi mic k se n t Sprag .te p ix ' )f him i n 1969

NYT- Ap r i l 11 68

Rolando Ve l oz Canales sa id man with shar p nos e had g o t t en p e c"mi t to t r ave lto mexic o under fa l s e name a n d ph one I - FBI sa y s t v1as 19 yaar.s ~ . a o ld~ Q i s t ud e n t f ~ x o o xr e oor ted t o me i n Pr i s ona .Dr Kings d r iv e r So lo mon Jones J r . s a);J wh i t eman w t h s ome t h i ng wh i t e o ve rfac e jump f rom bu sh e s ac ro ss s t r e e t f r om mu rde r sc e n e r i g h t a f t e r sho t shave b ee n f l r e d . - n ear t b o ~ t o mf l o o r o f a s sa sslhns x ~ M m r ')om:ln ghou Be .On l y ha d bee n i n X]Jl X MZ h o t e l onr::' 6.ay before s n i p e r moved i n acros s s t r e e t .

FBI sa y s s ke t c h i s n o t o f f i c a l bu t wa s rnade from r ad io b roadca s t s g i v tngE FBI s d e s c r i p t i o n .

F i r t h Es t a e t eLI VINGST ON - Rayr s n ev a t t o r n e y - 3 me n paid q u a r t e r of mi l l o n d o l l a r s

t o k i l l TOn g by 4 p r .)mi n en t American b u s i ne s s m< ~n . Me t Ja c l{ t r m s t o n ~a nd

Raoul . Raoul o f f e r ed him cha n ce t o r ~ n gu ns t o a n t l - C a s t ~ oi t e s

x March 68 ~ t o l d t o go to va r i o u s s o u r th e rn c l t i e s - R&y we n t to mov l e sRaolll d id n eg o t i a t i on g . b ought Ray mus t a ng t 1 ld t o b .ty r i f e . too .·: t

to Memphis l e f t t a t borad ing ho u s e . 1tfen t to mov ees t h en hlm Raoulwe n t t o Al t l a n t a - h eard n ews a nd went t o Lo n down Six wi tnes Ge s gave s ~ e c h

of Vz. l l e e .



LHO ® 2XI BUM RESEMBLES POLICE SKETCH OF

GX MAIITIN LUTHER DCXXX KINGS KILLER

BILL TURNER r ea l i z e s t h a t the Pol ice Sketch of KINGS k i l l e r , (some r epor t ssay t was from dea furn . by roominghouse owner GRACIE STEVENs-others say clooks l i k e one o f the bums. Holds a press congerence on West Coast - Sprague

and f r i ends hold another on East Coast . (p r iva te phone conversat ion)Art i c l e a ~ p w a r sin NYT -PHOTOS CITED BY RESEARCH GROUP IN KENNEDY DEATH.(NYT- F r i May 24, 196 81 . - -- · . . - - -

1 . Ske t ch was provided to Pol ice by Mexico's SERGIO JAUBERT from descr ip t ionprov ided by FBI. Apri l 11-F.BI DISCLAIMS SKETCH-THE fb i sa id toda y t hadnot d is t r ibu ted any sketch o f the King assass in . The ske tch c i rcu la ted iMexico was apparant ly made from r ad i o broadcas ts g iv ing the FBI 's uxx

R ~ a ~ £ a P ~ R S t Q d ~ t • P ~ ~ 1 t b e ~ b m u l d g e t a .desc r i p t i on . No sketch has bean authorized by the FBI (NYT). Actual l ya the EXE FBI ha d ·probably given the M xican Police the desc r ip t ion of

the ~ a x m a x s h a r pnosed-man since t was rumoredk he was headedt h a t way. They foundt a ph oney permit t h a t a man who f i t suspec tsdesc r ip t ion had f i l l e d out - but ~ the FBI t raced the man downand found t was only a · s tudent • • • • (NYT Apri l 11 68

Zodiac - Dec 28 ~ 9 7 3- Ray, i n f i f t e n n page s ta tement about h i s s u i t aga ins tTenn, says t h a t he had the phone #s of an agent of a "middle eastKern or i e n ted organ iza t i on" and Ne w Orleans man close to a Louisana teamaeer o ff i ca l "R ~ p o r t e d l ydumping the Fenster (WSM Nashvi l le TV News Report- Zodiac) u ~ w1973- Jus t ice Dept t ry ing to t r ansger him to Fed Prison t i l ~ ~ -6(,( 1,. , . ,_:5L . . O I > U ~ APQf:t-• f ' foc . ff61 ' ( •C. . f ~ J 1 ~ N ~ - r

WP Feb 8 1974 - Ray in s o l i t a r y. FENSTERWALD, LASARrlawyers. Brother i sfrom Chicago.

MAY 25, 1974 - Nashvil le Tenn AP -Livingsoon says RAY was hired by "fourJlalli: Kill: wealthy, pr1minent Am e r i can c i t i z ens" to murderKING. Will t a l k fo r 1mmuni ty. Sounds l ike 2 ws "weal thy indusQt r i a l i s t co v e r s to ry Bender gave ex i le s (DAY 25) ·

Liv ingston i s quoted i n Mimai Phe on ix Oct 2, 1974as ~ saying-"There are th ree men who propose to t e s t i f yto give a complete expose of the King murd e r case • • .A z s ~

OCT 1974- Judge McRae ± s t a r t s hear ings .

NYT Oct 30 1974 - Ray says he was Patsey-"In quest ion ing by h i s a t to rneyt h ~ smorning, Mr Ray sa id t h a t he had been shown 10 o r 12p ic tu res" of "Latin appearing" i nd iv idua l s while hw was awai t ingt r i a l i n 1968. One of th e se photographe, he sa id , wad of a manwho had been a r re s ted in Dallas fo r ques t ioning on th e day t h a tPres iden t Kennedy was assass ina ted there in 1963. " I waa:s askedi:f I would i d e n t i f y the man i f he was brought t o Memphis MrRay sa id . "I sa id bo, although h e did look s imi la r to t he par tyI wa s involved with' ' The man a r re s ted i n Da la.as was not charged,and h i s name was not menit oned in hh e courteoom today. He wasi d en t i f i ed as an anti-Communist Cuban



KING-KENNEDY-KILLING SIMILARITIES

~1 . Rif le with t e l e scop ic s i t e found a t bothK crime scenes.

2. Both x • K a ~ i Kt r acab le to Pa ts ie s .

x : i t i . x m J m l m X : u l [ J I [ U : . x x : t k a : t x ~ : t l a x . 1 d l l x x x

3. Map with book Deposi tory marked found i n LHO possessions - m a p withKings house and church found i n JAMES EARL RAYS car.

4. RAYS f i r s t lawyera was ex- CIA agent (HANES -NYT 1973)

5 . Ray was handled by Blonde Lat in named Raoul who convinced him he wasworking f ~ r a n t i - C a s t r ~ Cubans i n gun smuggling opezation •••

6. Lack of witnesses t o ac tua l shooting

7 . a l l i s t i c discrepancies -FBI couldnt say f o r s ure tha t b u l l e t t h a t ~ i ~ l

King came from RAYS K.K r i f l e • NYT gat

james earl ray ajw

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