JFK Assassination Forum
JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion & Debate => JFK Assassination Plus General Discussion And Debate => Topic started by: Michael T. Griffith on June 09, 2025, 01:45:04 PM
-
One of the most obvious giveaways of conspiracy is Jack Ruby's stalking and shooting of Oswald.
Let us start with two key pieces of evidence: (1) Jack Ruby's letter to his guard Al Maddox, in which he told Maddox he was framed and that he killed Oswald in order to silence him, and (2) the fact that Ruby was twice seen loitering near the police building earlier that morning, clearly blowing to pieces his spontaneous-action alibi.
Here's the most important part of Ruby's letter to Maddox:
"You've known me for a long time and you you've known how I struggled make my clubs go. Also Lynn has known me up to this time I've that I've gotten into trouble. Johny Crank, myself, and Lynn have been out to dinner many times and I'm sure they know what kind of person I am. Well, this all adds up to what I'm going to tell you. That I've been framed for the assassination, that my motive was to silence Oswald."
Dallas sheriff Al Maddox was one of Ruby's guards from 1963 until the very last days when Ruby fell ill. Ruby secretly handed over a short letter to Maddox, who kept the letter secret for some 25 years. Maddox displayed and discussed the letter publicly for the first time during a 1992 TV program The Kennedy Assassinations: Coincidence of Conspiracy? A handwriting expert appeared on the program and verified that the letter was in Jack Ruby's handwriting.
As for Ruby's suspicious loitering near the police building earlier that morning, two WBAP-TV employees encountered Ruby near the police building twice between 7:30 and 10:00 AM. The police had told journalists that Oswald would be transferred at 10:00 AM. Shortly after 9:00 AM, the police cleared the basement of all but police department personnel, and guards were stationed at the top of the Main and Commerce Street auto ramps leading down into the basement.
John Smith, a video reporter for WBAP-TV, saw Ruby at about 8:00 AM on 11/24 standing on the Commerce St. sidewalk. The WBAB-TV truck was parked on Commerce St. about 25 feet from the basement ramp. Smith spoke to Ruby. Smith saw Ruby again at about 10:00 AM next to the ramp. Smith said Ruby looked like a person who was "just killing time."
Ira Walker, a WBAB-TV employee, saw Ruby between 7:30 and 8:00 AM near the WBAB-TV truck. Walker said he first saw Ruby shortly after the armored truck was backed into the police department basement. Ruby came up to the TV truck and asked if Oswald had been brought down yet. Walker told him "no." Walker said Ruby came up to the truck again a while later and asked the same question.
The fact that Ruby showed up before and during the timeframe originally given for Oswald's transfer destroys his spontaneous-action alibi. It also belies his claim that he drove to downtown Dallas to wire money to one of his dancers. He actually arrived at the police building over 3 hours before he went to the Western Union office. I should add that there was a Western Union office in Oak Cliff, close to Ruby's residence. If he truly just needed to send money, he could have simply gone to the Western Union in Oak Cliff.
Another problem with Ruby's alibi story is that the HSCA determined that no more than 55 seconds elapsed between the time Ruby said he went down the Main Street ramp and the time he shot Oswald. Ruby claimed he went down the ramp when Lt. Pierce's car drove up the ramp, but Pierce did not start driving up the ramp until 55 seconds before Ruby fired at Oswald (9 HSCA 143). Moreover, Ruby sent his telegram 4 minutes before he shot Oswald. What was Ruby doing in the 3 minutes between his sending of the telegram and his alleged trip down the Main Street ramp?
Needless to say, these facts alone further blow to pieces the claim that Ruby's shooting of Oswald was an unplanned, spontaneous act of rage.
In addition to noting the 4 minutes between Ruby's telegram and his firing at Oswald, the HSCA found it improbable that Ruby could have made it from the Western Union office to his shooting spot in the basement in just 55 seconds if he entered via the Main Street ramp, and that Ruby most likely entered the basement via a door in the alley:
The evidence available indicates that Jack Ruby did not come own the Main Street ramp when Lieutenant Pierce's car exited. The weight of the eyewitness evidence belies this route, and the testimony of various witnesses who supported this route was often inconsistent and inconclusive. Further, the fact that 55 seconds had elapsed between the time the police car cleared the crowd at the bottom of the ramp and the moment of the shooting militates against the Main Street ramp route. This interval would had to have included driving the car up the ramp, hesitation at the ramp entrance before pulling out into the street, Ruby's walk down the ramp and his momentarily positioning himself behind Detective Harrison's shoulder before darting out to shoot Oswald (a movement which is evident from the video tapes and photographs of the incident). While this amount of action is possible in that time, it is improbable.
The alley route was the most likely alternative because of the factors of time and distance, the lack of security in the garage area and along the entire route, and the testimony concerning the security at the doors along the route. This possibility was not considered or investigated by the FBI or the Dallas Police Department and was virtually ignored by the Warren Commission. (9 HSCA 146)
-
[...]
Dear Mike,
Are you going to continue to avoid answering the 25 questions I've asked you?
Here they are, again:
Questions for Michael T. Griffith and his KGB-approved Tinfoil-Hat Conspiracy Theorist ilk:
1) How do you explain the Backyard Photos which show Oswald holding the Carcano that was found on the sixth floor of the TSBD?
2) How do you explain Oswald's leaving his wedding ring at Mrs. Paine's house that morning?
3) How do you explain Buell Wesley Frazier's and Linnie Mae Randle's seeing Oswald carry a long package that morning?
4) How do you explain Oswald's palm print and fingerprints on the Carcano?
5) How do you explain the three shells found on the Sniper's Nest floor that had marks from Oswald's Carcano?
6) How do you explain the fact that two of them were close together under the window, but the third one was off far to the shooter's right?
7) How you explain Oswald's prints on the paper bag?
8 ) How do you explain Oswald's prints on two of the four functional boxes in the Sniper's Nest?
9) How do you explain the fact that most of the witnesses heard three shots that came from the general direction of the TSBD?
10) How do you explain the fact that the first shot missed everything?
11) How do you explain JBC's distinctly hearing a rifle shot before he was hit?
12) How do you explain the first shot's sounding differently than the second and the third shot to many of the witnesses?
13) How do you explain the elliptical wound in JBC's back?
14) How do you explain the nature of the wound to JBC's wrist?
15) How do you explain the fact that CE-399, which had the Carcano's marks on it, was so strangely deformed and had no damage to its nose?
16) How do you explain the puffing-outward of JBC's jacket in Z-223 and the flapping of his lapel in Z-224?
17) How do you explain JFK's reacting "so quickly" compared to JBC's reacting "so slowly"?
18) How do you explain Howard Brennan's and Amos Euins' seeing a man fire from the Sniper's Nest window?
19) How do you explain JFK's head's going forward and down about 2.25 inches between Z-312 and Z-313?
20) How do you explain the Carcano's ballistics marks on the two large bullet fragments found in the limo?
21) How did a bullet allegedly fired from The Grassy Knoll neither damage the left side of JFK's brain, wound Jackie, nor damage the interior of the limo behind her?
22) How do you explain the fact that even the crummy Knotts Lab analysis showed that the bullet that struck JFK in the back had a downward trajectory?
23) How do you explain Oswald's not hanging around the TSBD to be included in the informal roll call?
24) How do you explain Oswald's getting out of Whaley's taxi about three blocks past his rooming house?
25) My favorite: Whether or not the KGB trained or programmed Oswald to be an assassin, how do you explain the fact that all of the incoming non-CIA (e.g., State, Navy) cables on his defection were routed to probable KGB mole Bruce Leonard Solie's office in the mole-hunting Office of Security instead of where they normally would have gone -- the Soviet Russia Division -- and why did they all disappear into a "black hole" there for at least six weeks -- with some of them not reappearing until after the assassination?
-- Tom
-
You've said that the Zapruder films (plural; there were four, the original and three first generation copies) were faked; the backyard photos were faked (including the negative?), the autopsy was faked, the autopsy x-rays faked, the autopsy photos faked, the Warren Commission was faked (a whitewash/coverup), the news media through Operation Mockingbir*d has lied, there are disinformation agents right now and in the past (for decades?) manipulating the public, that Oswald conspired with Clay Shaw and David Ferrie to assassinate JFK, that the "umbrella man" was coordinating the shooting by multiple sniper teams, that Oswald was framed for shooting Tippit, that Doug Horne's books on the assassination should be read (he's a body alterationist) and now Jack Ruby was one of the conspirators (who ordered him to shoot Oswald?).
But it was "only 20 to 30 people"? You have a multi-decade conspiracy involving two or three generations of Americans doing all of this.
Do you ever stop and write out what you think happened? Then take a look at what you think took place?
-
I am not going to bother answer Tom Graves response, which says nothing about the evidence Jack Ruby stalked and killed Oswald in order to silence him, not as some spontaneous act of rage. Most of his laundry list of questions are based on debunked assumptions/claims.
You've said that the Zapruder films (plural; there were four, the original and three first generation copies) were faked; the backyard photos were faked (including the negative?), the autopsy was faked, the autopsy x-rays faked, the autopsy photos faked, the Warren Commission was faked (a whitewash/coverup), the news media through Operation Mockingbir*d has lied, there are disinformation agents right now and in the past (for decades?) manipulating the public, that Oswald conspired with Clay Shaw and David Ferrie to assassinate JFK, that the "umbrella man" was coordinating the shooting by multiple sniper teams, that Oswald was framed for shooting Tippit, that Doug Horne's books on the assassination should be read (he's a body alterationist) and now Jack Ruby was one of the conspirators (who ordered him to shoot Oswald?).
I don't even believe half of this stuff. Where are you getting that I've ever said that Mockingbird is still active? That Oswald conspired with Ferrie "to assassinate JFK," that Umbrella Man was coordinating the shooting?
And, FYI, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Ruby killed Oswald on order from the Mafia in order to silence Oswald. I notice you said absolutely nothing about the evidence that Ruby lied about his spontaneous-rage alibi, lied about how he entered the basement, and lied about why he went to the Western Union office downtown when there was a Western Union close to his residence.
But it was "only 20 to 30 people"? You have a multi-decade conspiracy involving two or three generations of Americans doing all of this.
I already addressed this argument of yours in a previous reply in another thread. Did you not read it? When I say "20 to 30 people," again, I'm talking about those who were part of the plot and who knew why the cover-up was being done. There were many more than 20 to 30 people involved in the cover-up, but most of them were either simply following orders, were led to believe it was vital for national security that they cooperate and did so without understanding the big picture, or participated for reasons not directly related to the plot and without a knowledge of the plot.
-
I am not going to bother answer (sic) Tom Graves' response. Most of his laundry list of questions are based on debunked assumptions/claims.
Dear Mike,
The assumptions / claims of the following questions have been debunked by whom?
1) How do you explain the Backyard Photos which show Oswald holding the Carcano that was found on the sixth floor of the TSBD?
2) How do you explain Oswald's leaving his wedding ring at Mrs. Paine's house that morning?
3) How do you explain Buell Wesley Frazier's and Linnie Mae Randle's seeing Oswald carry a long package that morning?
4) How do you explain Oswald's palm print and fingerprints on the Carcano?
5) How do you explain the three shells found on the Sniper's Nest floor that had marks from Oswald's Carcano?
6) How do you explain the fact that two of them were close together under the window, but the third one was off far to the shooter's right?
7) How you explain Oswald's prints on the paper bag?
8 ) How do you explain Oswald's prints on two of the four functional boxes in the Sniper's Nest?
9) How do you explain the fact that most of the witnesses heard three shots that came from the general direction of the TSBD?
10) How do you explain the fact that the first shot missed everything?
11) How do you explain JBC's distinctly hearing a rifle shot before he was hit?
12) How do you explain the first shot's sounding differently than the second and the third shot to many of the witnesses?
13) How do you explain the elliptical wound in JBC's back?
14) How do you explain the nature of the wound to JBC's wrist?
15) How do you explain the fact that CE-399, which had the Carcano's marks on it, was so strangely deformed and had no damage to its nose?
16) How do you explain the puffing-outward of JBC's jacket in Z-223 and the flapping of his lapel in Z-224?
17) How do you explain JFK's reacting "so quickly" compared to JBC's reacting "so slowly"?
18) How do you explain Howard Brennan's and Amos Euins' seeing a man fire from the Sniper's Nest window?
19) How do you explain JFK's head's going forward and down about 2.25 inches between Z-312 and Z-313?
20) How do you explain the Carcano's ballistics marks on the two large bullet fragments found in the limo?
21) How did a bullet allegedly fired from The Grassy Knoll neither damage the left side of JFK's brain, wound Jackie, nor damage the interior of the limo behind her?
22) How do you explain the fact that even the crummy Knotts Lab analysis showed that the bullet that struck JFK in the back had a downward trajectory?
23) How do you explain Oswald's not hanging around the TSBD to be included in the informal roll call?
24) How do you explain Oswald's getting out of Whaley's taxi about three blocks past his rooming house?
25) Whether or not the KGB trained or programmed Oswald to be an assassin, how do you explain the fact that all of the incoming non-CIA (e.g., State, Navy) cables on his defection were routed to probable KGB mole Bruce Leonard Solie's office in the mole-hunting Office of Security instead of where they normally would have gone -- the Soviet Russia Division -- and why did they all disappear into a "black hole" there for at least six weeks -- with some of them not reappearing until after the assassination?
-
Dear Mike,
The assumptions/claims of the following questions have been debunked by whom?
[SNIP of repetition of list of questions based on false assumptions or exaggerations]
Are you aware that the HSCA's polygraph experts found that the GSR readings from Ruby's polygraph indicate he was lying when he said was not involved in the assassination?
Are you aware that in 1977 a former IRS organized crime informant who dealt with Ruby revealed that Ruby had foreknowledge of the assassination? (This revelation was not disclosed until 2017 when two reports on the informant's disclosure were released.)
How do you explain Ruby's admission in a note to his jailer Al Maddox that he killed Oswald in order to silence him? The note only surfaced in 1992 when Maddox decided it was safe to release it. The handwriting was verified as Ruby's handwriting.
-
I am not going to bother answer Tom Graves response, which says nothing about the evidence Jack Ruby stalked and killed Oswald in order to silence him, not as some spontaneous act of rage. Most of his laundry list of questions are based on debunked assumptions/claims.
I don't even believe half of this stuff. Where are you getting that I've ever said that Mockingbird is still active? That Oswald conspired with Ferrie "to assassinate JFK," that Umbrella Man was coordinating the shooting?
And, FYI, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Ruby killed Oswald on order from the Mafia in order to silence Oswald. I notice you said absolutely nothing about the evidence that Ruby lied about his spontaneous-rage alibi, lied about how he entered the basement, and lied about why he went to the Western Union office downtown when there was a Western Union close to his residence.
I already addressed this argument of yours in a previous reply in another thread. Did you not read it? When I say "20 to 30 people," again, I'm talking about those who were part of the plot and who knew why the cover-up was being done. There were many more than 20 to 30 people involved in the cover-up, but most of them were either simply following orders, were led to believe it was vital for national security that they cooperate and did so without understanding the big picture, or participated for reasons not directly related to the plot and without a knowledge of the plot.
Sorry, you simply cannot exclude the people you believe altered the evidence, covered things up in their investigations. from your answer. You believe the Warren Commission was a sham, a fraud, a whitewash, correct? To prevent WWIII? Or for what reason? The people who carried that out *have* to be included in your answer. The question is - and has always been - how many people were involved in your conspiracy to assassinate the president. That is, the actual act and the conspiracy around it, before and after. From soup to, pardon the expression, nuts. We're not talking just about the shooting in Dealey Plaza. Or those who ordered it. Everything.
Covering up what happened and framing Oswald are essential parts of the assassination. The easy part is killing the President. The hard part is covering your tracks. You can't subtract the people who you think did this coverup, who altered evidence (Were they fools? Did they not know what they were being asked to do? People were asked to alter the x-rays and simply said okay?) from your numbers to make it small.
Your problem and those fellow conspiracists who believe much of this was faked, the films, the photos, the x-rays, the autopsy, is that you have so many people involved over so many decades that the whole plan is absurd, it contradicts human nature, the way people behave, the way the world works. So you have to limit your answer to 20-30.
Let's try again: Okay, so in addition to the original 20-30 you have how many people involved over these past 60-plus years?
As to the other points:
Do you or do you not believe there are government disinformation agents right now actively disseminating disinformation to coverup what happened in the assassination? Yes or no?
Do you or do you not believe that the CIA used Operation Mockinbird to disseminate disinformation in the media or use "assets" in the media to coverup their role in the assassination? Yes or no? Who ordered this? Who are/were these reporters? Seymour Hersh? Tim Weiner? Max Holland? Who? Is this disinformation program, in some form, still happening? Yes or not?
As to Garrison: In an exchange with me you said you believed Garrison's claims that a eyewitness, Perry Russo, heard/saw Oswald, Ferrie and Shaw conspire to kill JFK. That's the key part of the Garrison claim. Are you now retracting it? You don't believe Russo?
Do you still believe Shaw and Ferrie were involved? The only evidence of their involvement is the Perry Russo claim. Which you don't believe? What other evidence is there? They were seen with Oswald? That's evidence of their involvement? You think Shaw tried to get a lawyer for Oswald? Why would Shaw try to get a lawyer for Oswald if Oswald wasn't involved? But he, Shaw, was? You do realize that none of this makes sense?
Finally, let's concentrate on this claim: You wrote that "The HSCA concluded that Ruby killed Oswald on orders from the Mafia."
Sorry no, they did no such thing. In fact they concluded the opposite. Viz., that based on the evidence they found that organized crime, i.e., the Mafia, was NOT involved in the assassination.
Here is what they specifically said in their conclusions (one of which was that Lee Oswald fired all of the shots that struck JFK):
(https://www.drivehq.com/file/DFPublishFile.aspx/FileID12517546046/Keymgme5krkuxbk/mob.JPG)
They added that the evidence "does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved." "Preclude the possibility" is not concluding anything and it certainly doesn't say Ruby was the hitmen for the Mafia's hit.
Link: https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0005a.htm
-
One of the most obvious giveaways of conspiracy is Jack Ruby's stalking and shooting of Oswald.
Let us start with two key pieces of evidence: (1) Jack Ruby's letter to his guard Al Maddox, in which he told Maddox he was framed and that he killed Oswald in order to silence him, and (2) the fact that Ruby was twice seen loitering near the police building earlier that morning, clearly blowing to pieces his spontaneous-action alibi.
Here's the most important part of Ruby's letter to Maddox:
Dallas sheriff Al Maddox was one of Ruby's guards from 1963 until the very last days when Ruby fell ill. Ruby secretly handed over a short letter to Maddox, who kept the letter secret for some 25 years. Maddox displayed and discussed the letter publicly for the first time during a 1992 TV program The Kennedy Assassinations: Coincidence of Conspiracy? A handwriting expert appeared on the program and verified that the letter was in Jack Ruby's handwriting.
As for Ruby's suspicious loitering near the police building earlier that morning, two WBAP-TV employees encountered Ruby near the police building twice between 7:30 and 10:00 AM. The police had told journalists that Oswald would be transferred at 10:00 AM. Shortly after 9:00 AM, the police cleared the basement of all but police department personnel, and guards were stationed at the top of the Main and Commerce Street auto ramps leading down into the basement.
John Smith, a video reporter for WBAP-TV, saw Ruby at about 8:00 AM on 11/24 standing on the Commerce St. sidewalk. The WBAB-TV truck was parked on Commerce St. about 25 feet from the basement ramp. Smith spoke to Ruby. Smith saw Ruby again at about 10:00 AM next to the ramp. Smith said Ruby looked like a person who was "just killing time."
Ira Walker, a WBAB-TV employee, saw Ruby between 7:30 and 8:00 AM near the WBAB-TV truck. Walker said he first saw Ruby shortly after the armored truck was backed into the police department basement. Ruby came up to the TV truck and asked if Oswald had been brought down yet. Walker told him "no." Walker said Ruby came up to the truck again a while later and asked the same question.
The fact that Ruby showed up before and during the timeframe originally given for Oswald's transfer destroys his spontaneous-action alibi. It also belies his claim that he drove to downtown Dallas to wire money to one of his dancers. He actually arrived at the police building over 3 hours before he went to the Western Union office. I should add that there was a Western Union office in Oak Cliff, close to Ruby's residence. If he truly just needed to send money, he could have simply gone to the Western Union in Oak Cliff.
Another problem with Ruby's alibi story is that the HSCA determined that no more than 55 seconds elapsed between the time Ruby said he went down the Main Street ramp and the time he shot Oswald. Ruby claimed he went down the ramp when Lt. Pierce's car drove up the ramp, but Pierce did not start driving up the ramp until 55 seconds before Ruby fired at Oswald (9 HSCA 143). Moreover, Ruby sent his telegram 4 minutes before he shot Oswald. What was Ruby doing in the 3 minutes between his sending of the telegram and his alleged trip down the Main Street ramp?
Needless to say, these facts alone further blow to pieces the claim that Ruby's shooting of Oswald was an unplanned, spontaneous act of rage.
In addition to noting the 4 minutes between Ruby's telegram and his firing at Oswald, the HSCA found it improbable that Ruby could have made it from the Western Union office to his shooting spot in the basement in just 55 seconds if he entered via the Main Street ramp, and that Ruby most likely entered the basement via a door in the alley:
Ruby also lied about talking to Seth Kantor at Parkland after the assassination. It was a mafia hit, and Oswald was a part of it. Ruby had plenty of "friends" in the DPD, so entry into the building would have been easy.
-
As to Garrison: [...] you [Michael Griffith] said you believed Garrison's claims that an eyewitness, Perry Russo, heard/saw Oswald, Ferrie and Shaw conspire to kill JFK. That's the key part of the Garrison claim. Are you now retracting it? You don't believe Russo? Do you still believe Shaw and Ferrie were involved? The only evidence of their involvement is the Perry Russo claim. Which you don't believe? What other evidence is there? They were seen with Oswald? That's evidence of their involvement?
I think it's been established that Russo, in his foolish Dean Andrews-like striving for fame, somehow mistook Ferrie's homosexual roommate and longtime friend -- "dirty" (he worked at NASA as a mechanic), bearded, tall-and-thin James "Lew"/"Leon" Lewallen -- for cleanshaven 5' 9.5" Oswald.
-
Sorry, you simply cannot exclude the people you believe altered the evidence, covered things up in their investigations. from your answer. You believe the Warren Commission was a sham, a fraud, a whitewash, correct? To prevent WWIII? Or for what reason? The people who carried that out *have* to be included in your answer. The question is - and has always been - how many people were involved in your conspiracy to assassinate the president. That is, the actual act and the conspiracy around it, before and after. From soup to, pardon the expression, nuts. We're not talking just about the shooting in Dealey Plaza. Or those who ordered it. Everything.
Covering up what happened and framing Oswald are essential parts of the assassination. The easy part is killing the President. The hard part is covering your tracks. You can't subtract the people who you think did this coverup, who altered evidence (Were they fools? Did they not know what they were being asked to do? People were asked to alter the x-rays and simply said okay?) from your numbers to make it small.
Your problem and those fellow conspiracists who believe much of this was faked, the films, the photos, the x-rays, the autopsy, is that you have so many people involved over so many decades that the whole plan is absurd, it contradicts human nature, the way people behave, the way the world works. So you have to limit your answer to 20-30.
Let's try again: Okay, so in addition to the original 20-30 you have how many people involved over these past 60-plus years?
As to the other points:
Do you or do you not believe there are government disinformation agents right now actively disseminating disinformation to coverup what happened in the assassination? Yes or no?
Do you or do you not believe that the CIA used Operation Mockinbird to disseminate disinformation in the media or use "assets" in the media to coverup their role in the assassination? Yes or no? Who ordered this? Who are/were these reporters? Seymour Hersh? Tim Weiner? Max Holland? Who? Is this disinformation program, in some form, still happening? Yes or not?
As to Garrison: In an exchange with me you said you believed Garrison's claims that a eyewitness, Perry Russo, heard/saw Oswald, Ferrie and Shaw conspire to kill JFK. That's the key part of the Garrison claim. Are you now retracting it? You don't believe Russo?
Do you still believe Shaw and Ferrie were involved? The only evidence of their involvement is the Perry Russo claim. Which you don't believe? What other evidence is there? They were seen with Oswald? That's evidence of their involvement? You think Shaw tried to get a lawyer for Oswald? Why would Shaw try to get a lawyer for Oswald if Oswald wasn't involved? But he, Shaw, was? You do realize that none of this makes sense?
My conclusion is that Garrison stumbled upon part of the Oswald-sheep-dipping operation in New Orleans. I believe Shaw, Ferrie, and Banister were part of the operation. I think this was by far Garrison's most significant contribution to our understanding of the plot.
I believe Dean Andrews was telling the truth when he said a Clay Bertrand called him about being Oswald's lawyer.
I also believe Harold Weisberg was telling the truth when he said Andrews told him Clay Shaw was Clay Bertrand, and when Weisberg said Andrews made him promise not to reveal this until after he, Andrews, died.
I further believe that Lou Ivon was telling the truth when he said Ferrie told him that he had worked for the CIA, that Shaw was Bertrand, and that Oswald had been in Banister's office many times.
I don't see how anyone could view Ferrie's late-night 11/22/63 trip to Houston as anything but highly suspicious.
I have a hard time believing Perry Russo's story, although I would not be shocked to learn it is true.
I've already answered your theoretical argument about the number of people involved in the cover-up and whether they fully knew what they were doing and why they were doing it. You need to explain the hard scientific evidence that the autopsy x-rays were altered.
Finally, let's concentrate on this claim: You wrote that "The HSCA concluded that Ruby killed Oswald on orders from the Mafia."
Sorry no, they did no such thing. In fact they concluded the opposite. Viz., that based on the evidence they found that organized crime, i.e., the Mafia, was NOT involved in the assassination.
Here is what they specifically said in their conclusions (one of which was that Lee Oswald fired all of the shots that struck JFK):
(https://www.drivehq.com/file/DFPublishFile.aspx/FileID12517546046/Keymgme5krkuxbk/mob.JPG)
They added that the evidence "does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved." "Preclude the possibility" is not concluding anything and it certainly doesn't say Ruby was the hitmen for the Mafia's hit. Link: https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0005a.htm
You missed this statement on Ruby in the HSCA report:
<<< In assessing the significance of these Ruby contacts . . . the pattern of contacts did show that individuals who had the motive to kill the President also had knowledge of a man who could be used to get access to Oswald in the custody of the Dallas police. In Ruby, they also had knowledge of a man who had exhibited a violent nature and who was in serious financial trouble. The calls, in short, established knowledge and possible availability, if not actual planning. (p. 156). >>>
And this segment on Ruby from the HSCA report:
<<< The committee noted that other Ruby activities and movements during the period immediately following the assassination--on November 22 and 23--raised disturbing questions. For example, Ruby's first encounter with Oswald occurred over 36 hours before he shot him. Ruby was standing within a few feet of Oswald as he was being moved from one part of police headquarters to another just before midnight on November 22. Ruby testified that he had no trouble entering the building, and the committee found no evidence contradicting his story. The committee was disturbed, however, by Ruby's easy access to headquarters and by his inconsistent accounts of his carrying a pistol. In an FBI interview on December 25, 1963, he said he had the pistol during the encounter with Oswald late in the evening of November 22. But when questioned about it by the Warren Commission, Ruby replied, "I will be honest with you. I lied about it. It isn't so, I didn't have a gun." Finally, the committee was troubled by reported sightings of Ruby on SaPersonay, November 23, at Dallas police headquarters and at the county jail at a time when Oswald's transfer to the county facility had originally been scheduled. These sightings, along with the one on Friday night, could indicate that Ruby was pursuing Oswald's movements throughout the weekend.
The committee also questioned Ruby's self-professed motive for killing Oswald, his story to the Warren Commission and other authorities that he did it out of sorrow over the assassination and sympathy for the President's widow and children. Ruby consistently claimed there had been no other motive and that no one had influenced his act. A handwritten note by Ruby, disclosed in 1967, however, exposed Ruby's explanation for the Oswald slaying as a fabricated legal ploy. Addressed to his attorney, Joseph Tonahill, it told of advice Ruby had received from his first lawyer. Tom Howard, in 1963: "Joe, you should know this. Tom Howard told me to say that I shot Oswald so that Caroline and Mrs. Kennedy wouldn't have to come to Dallas to testify. OK?"
The committee examined a report that Ruby was at Parkland Hospital shortly after the fatally wounded President had been brought there on November 22, 1963. Seth Kantor, a newsman then employed by Scripps-Howard who had known Ruby, later testified to the Warren Commission that he had run into him at Parkland and spoken with him briefly shortly before the President's death was announced. While the Warren Commission concluded that Kantor was mistaken. The committee determined he probably was not. The committee was impressed by the opinion of Burt W. Griffin, the Warren Commission counsel who directed the Ruby investigation and wrote the Ruby section of the Warren report. Griffin told the committee he had come to believe, in light of evidence subsequently brought out, that the Commission conclusion about Kantor's testimony was wrong." (pp. 158-159) >>>
Go read the books by the HSCA's chief counsel and deputy counsel, G. Robert Blakey and Gary Cornwell. They make it clear they believe Ruby's shooting of Oswald was a Mafia hit. It had all the earmarks of a carefully planned Mafia hit. And I again point out that we have Ruby's own handwritten admission that he was "framed" and that he shot Oswald to "silence" him.
Do you know who visited Ruby in jail after his arrest? Take a guess. It was Joseph Campisi, a Carlos Marcello Mafia capo/lieutenant, who had a close association with Ruby. The HSCA also discovered that Ruby knew Joseph Civello, the Marcello-appointed Mafia boss of Dallas.