Manipulated, Fabricated, and Disappearing Evidence
by John Armstrong


In 1996, thirty-three years after the assassination of President Kennedy, one of the FBl's top scientists, Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, disclosed that the FBI crime lab had fabricated evidence in the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings. In April, 1997 an expose in The Wall Street Journal suggested that the FBI's bad habit of cooking evidence to help convict people with fraudulent scientific testimony may have been even more extensive than acknowledged in a report by the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Bromwich. This is nothing new. Following the assassination of President Kennedy the FBI manipulated, altered, and fabricated evidence relating to HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald's backgrounds in order to identify him as the “lone gunman," and it is fairly easy to show why and how this was done.

One of the FBI's first objectives in the assassination of President Kennedy should have been to determine whether or not other members of government were targeted by friends and associates of Oswald or members of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. After Lincoln's assassination in 1865 government authorities focused their attention on possible co-conspirators who were soon identified, arrested, and brought to justice. After the events of 9/11 senior government officials were moved to safety in case a broader attack against the United States was in progress.  According to Vice President Cheney, “I got on the telephone with the President, who was in Florida, and told him not to be at one location where we could both be taken out.” Mr. Cheney kept President Bush flying in the air on 9/11 while he and his wife Lynn left on a helicopter for a secure and still undisclosed location.

But after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 the FBI did not launch an investigation to determine if other senior government officials were assassination targets. They did not launch an investigation to determine if Oswald had accomplices, but within 24 hours were preparing a written report to show that he acted alone.

This rush to judgment soon became the guiding principle for almost all major U.S. news outlets. Less than a month after the assassination, in a document withheld from the American people for more than 50 years, FBI personnel noted that the policy of the NBC network "will be to televise only those items which are in consonance with Bureau report." The clear implication was that other evidence, potentially conflicting with the FBI's version of events, would be withheld by NBC.



Immediately after the assassination, the FBI did not launch an investigation to determine if Oswald visited Mexico City and attempted to secure visas to Cuba and the Soviet Union (they finally began investigating Mexico City in March, 1964). And they did not launch an investigation to determine the possibility of foreign involvement. How could FBI director Hoover, whose priority had always been to protect the reputation of the Bureau, risk criticism by not conducting these investigations? The answer was likely because Hoover knew, as early as 1960 when HARVEY Oswald was in Russia and LEE Oswald was in the USA, that both young men worked for the CIA. And on 11/22/63, when HARVEY Oswald was accused of assassinating President Kennedy, Hoover probably knew or strongly suspected involvement by the US government agency who created the two Oswalds.

In early 1960, while (HARVEY) Oswald was living in Russia, Hoover notified the State Department that someone was using Oswald's birth certificate. As the Bureau began receiving reports about a “LEE Oswald”, who was in the USA and connected with anti-Castro Cubans, there is good reason to believe that FBI Director Hoover learned about the CIA's “Oswald project”. After HARVEY Oswald returned to the USA with his Russian wife and child in 1962 the FBI began monitoring his activities. In the months preceding the assassination the FBI was actively investigating Oswald's alleged visit to Mexico City. A month before the assassination FBI agent Milton Kaack reviewed (LEE) Oswald's birth records in New Orleans, while Dallas based FBI agent James Hosty was leaving notes for Oswald by placing them under the door to his apartment. Shortly after the assassination it was obvious that Hoover knew a great deal about about Oswald. At 4 p.m., less than 3 hours after President Kennedy was assassinated, Hoover told Attorney General Robert Kennedy that (LEE) Oswald "went to Cuba on several occasions, but would not tell us what he went to Cuba for." This conversation occurred only an hour after (HARVEY) Oswald's arrest.

In 1963 virtually all of HARVEY and LEE's activities were controlled by their CIA handlers in the months leading up to the assassination. For example, LEE Oswald would not have approached Robert McKeown, a former gun-runner and close friend of Fidel Castro, and attempted to purchase rifles from him without orders (probably from the CIA's David Phillips). HARVEY Oswald, known to the Bureau since 1960, would not have become involved with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC), photographed by FBI informants while handing out brochures, arrested, and interviewed on the radio by FBI informant and CIA contact Bill Stuckey without orders. Who would have given orders for HARVEY Oswald to become involved with the FPCC, and why? The orders probably originated with his CIA handlers (David Phillips, Mexico City), and were given to someone with close connections to the FBI, perhaps Guy Bannister in New Orleans (former SAIC of the FBI's Chicago office who was in frequent contact with Hoover). HARVEY may have been told that he could help the FBI by starting a local FPCC chapter and recruiting new members, while working for the Bureau as an undercover confidential informant. Oswald used Bannister's office for this venture and even stamped “544 Camp St.” (Bannister's address) on some of the FPCC brochures. Bannister's investigator, George Higgenbotham, told Bannister that he saw Oswald and another young man handing out FPCC leaflets in front of the Trade Mart. Bannister replied, “Cool it. One of them is mine.” Bannister told his secretary, Delphine Roberts, “He's with us, he's associated with this office.” Mrs. Roberts said, “I presumed then, and am now certain, that the reason for Oswald being there was that he was required to act undercover.” Oswald's leaf-letting was filmed by an FBI agent with a 35 mm camera. WDSU-TV cameraman Orvie Aucoin, an active FBI informant, filmed Oswald as he passed out leaflets. CIA agent William Gaudet watched Oswald hand out literature from his office in the Trade Mart. If Oswald was working undercover for the FBI this could explain why, after arrested in New Orleans, he spoke with FBI agent John Lester Quigley for an hour and a half. FBI security clerk William Walter told the HSCA that he saw several of Oswald's files in the FBI office in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. The files were security and informant files designated with “105” or “134” classifications. Oswald may have thought his assignment as an undercover confidential informant was to identify and report Castro sympathizers to the FBI. But the real reason for the CIA to initiate (HARVEY) Oswald's undercover assignment was to have him working for the FBI on November 22, 1963. His employment with the Bureau virtually guaranteed that when Hoover learned that Oswald had been accused of assassinating President Kennedy, he would go into “cover-up mode” immediately. Hoover knew that HARVEY Oswald was working for the CIA when he “defected” to the Soviet Union. FBI agents had been monitoring Oswald since his return from the Soviet Union eighteen months earlier. And now, on the day President Kennedy was assassinated, HARVEY Oswald was not only a CIA asset but was also probably working undercover for the FBI. Hoover knew that Oswald did not shoot the President, and he knew there was no reason to believe Oswald had any co-conspirators. There was no reason to believe other US government officials were targets. There was no reason to believe there was any foreign involvement. But Hoover did know about HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald, and he knew that two “Oswald's” were unexplainable. Hoover's top priority was to locate and eliminate any and all records and documents relating to the second Oswald.

NOTE: We must remember that Oswald's brother, John Pic, was shown photos of HARVEY Oswald passing out FPCC literature in New Orleans. After looking at the photos John Pic told Warren Commission attorney Albert Jenner, “No, sir. I would be unable to recognize him.” Jenner responded, “As to whether he was your brother?” Pic replied, “That is correct.” Once again, John Pic refused to identify HARVEY Oswald as his brother.
John Pic told the Warren Commission he did not recognize this picture
of Harvey Oswald as his brother


Before HARVEY Oswald was even charged with the President's murder, Hoover began focusing attention on records and documentation related to “Lee Harvey Oswald's” employment as a teenager in New Orleans and his attendance at junior high schools in New York, New Orleans, and Ft. Worth. Acquisition, manipulation, and/or destruction of these records was paramount, and absolutely essential because they showed HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald in different locations at the same time. These records had to be confiscated and destroyed in order to hide the existence of two “Lee Harvey Oswald's”. This may be the only time in our nation's history when the FBI began investigating a murder by focusing on the teenage school and employment records of the accused assassin.

November 22. Jimmy Hudnell, a long time employee of Tuague & Co. in New Orleans remembered, “After listening to news about the assassination on the TV and radio (afternoon of 11/22/63) Mr. Tujague told us (employees), 'The FBI will probably be here soon, so you folks go home and I'll call you next week.'” LEE Oswald had worked at Tujague's from July, 1955 through July, 1956 (while HARVEY attended Warren Easton HS in 1955 and allegedly worked at JR Michaels and the Pfisterer Dental Lab in 1956). And in January, 1961 (while HARVEY was in Russia) LEE Oswald had approached Bolton Ford (New Orleans) and discussed purchasing trucks to send to Cuba. The purchaser was listed as “Friends of Democractic Cuba” and Gerard Tujague was the Vice-President. His friend Guy Bannister was one of the founding members and was on the Board of Directors. When FBI agents arrived at Tujague and Co. they confiscated all original employment records for LEE Oswald from July, 1955 through July, 1956.


That afternoon (11/22/63) the Dallas Police searched Oswald's rooming house (1026 N. Beckley) and Ruth Paine's garage (2515 W. 5th, Irving, TX), where the majority of evidence consisted of Oswald's personal possessions (225 items). Each and every item taken was initialed by the Dallas Police, listed on a handwritten inventory, and listed on a type-written inventory at DPD headquarters (WC-Stoval A, Stoval B, Turner 1). Around midnight all items were photographed on the floor of the Dallas Police station. The Dallas Police had jurisdiction to investigate the murder of JFK in Dallas, but their investigation had to be curtailed as soon as possible and turned over to the FBI.









November 22. The Dallas Police found an Italian made Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, serial number C2766, on the 6th floor of the Book Depository where Oswald was working on the day of the assassination. FBI agents soon contacted the owner of Crescent Firearms, Louis Feldsott, whose company had imported thousands of Italian rifles. Feldsott searched company records and advised the agents that a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, serial number C2766, had been sold to Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago on June 18, 1962. Feldsott gave his original records involving the purchase, sale, and transportation of the weapon to the FBI agents.


November 23. A few hours later, in the early morning hours of November 23, FBI agents arrived at Klein's Sporting Goods and were met by Klein's Vice President William Waldman. After reviewing Klein's microfilm records for several hours the agents asked Waldman if they could take one of the rolls of microfilm to their laboratory. Waldman agreed and the agents left with the roll of microfilm, which disappeared while in FBI custody. The FBI provided the Warren Commission with photographs of documents which allegedly showed that Klein's purchased the rifle from Crescent Firearms in early 1963 and then sold the mail order rifle to Oswald in March, 1963. However, records provided by Louis Feldsott showed that his company sold “C2766” to Klein's in June, 1962. Feldsott's records were never given to the Warren Commission and disappeared while in FBI custody.

At 4:00 a.m. EST a US Navy plane, en route from Mexico City, landed in Washington, DC. Aboard the plane was FBI agent Eldon Rudd who was carrying a package that contained photographs, and possibly a tape recording, of a man the CIA identified as “Lee Harvey Oswald” who allegedly visited the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. Six hours later, at 10:00 a.m., FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had the photographs and told President Lyndon Johnson, “We have up here the tape recording and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy using Oswald's name. That picture and tape recording do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there.” The FBI Director told President Johnson, on a tape recorded conversation, that a second “Oswald” had recently visited the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. Johnson immediately understood that a 2nd Oswald indicated the likelihood of a conspiracy, though he may not have known the identity of the conspirators. Within 24 hours of the assassination both Hoover and Johnson knew that two “Lee Harvey Oswalds” were somehow involved and both men knew that this could never be made public. Johnson also knew that his close friend Hoover and his FBI could make a conspiracy “disappear”. All the President needed to do was put the FBI in charge of the investigation.

President Johnson told his aide, Cliff Carter, to contact Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade and order him “not to allege a conspiracy”, and then to order Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry to immediately turn over all of the evidence collected by the Dallas Police to the FBI. Curry told the Warren Commission, “We got several calls insisting we send this, and nobody would tell me exactly who it was that was insisting, 'just say I got a call from Washington, and they wanted this evidence up there,' insinuated it was someone in high authority that was requesting this....” When former CIA Director and Warren Commission member Allen Dulles heard Curry's answer, he abruptly adjourned the hearing. When Curry's testimony resumed not another word was mentioned about “someone in high authority.” Curry later said, “about midnight Friday night --- November 22 --- we agreed to let the FBI have all the evidence and they said they would have an agent stand by and when they were finished with it, return it to us.” During the early morning hours of November 23, FBI agent Vincent Drain took the items of evidence from the Dallas Police, boarded an Air Force C130 at Carswell AFB, and departed at 3:10 am (11/23/63) for Washington, DC .

A few hours later, around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (11/23/63), FBI document specialist James Cadigan received Oswald's possessions (225 items) at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. Warren Commission attorney Melvin Eisenberg questioned Cadigan about certain documents that were included among Oswald's possessions. Cadigan said, “On November 23, when the vast bulk of this material came in it was photographed......to select one item out of four or five hundred, I cannot, in all honesty, say I definitely recall seeing this....” The item of evidence that Eisenberg was discussing is not important. What is important--very important--is that Eisenberg, and the WC, now knew the FBI had received the evidence gathered by the Dallas Police (Oswald's possessions-225 items) on November 23, several days before the FBI “officially” became involved in the investigation. Less than 24 hours after the assassination all of Oswald's possessions were at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC.

Early Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after the assassination, the assistant principal of Stripling Junior High School, Frank Kudlaty, received a phone call from his boss, Mr. Wylie. Wylie instructed Kudlaty to go to Stripling, locate (HARVEY) Oswald's school records, and give those records to FBI agents who were on their way to the school. Mr. Kudlaty located the records, briefly reviewed the records, and learned that (HARVEY) Oswald had attended the 9th grade at Stripling during the fall semester of 1954 (while LEE Oswald was attending the ninth grade at Beauregard JHS in New Orleans). When the two FBI agents arrived Mr. Kudlaty gave them the records, locked up the school, and returned home (click here for interview with Frank Kudlaty). The Stripling records, collected by two FBI agents the day after the assassination, disappeared and were never seen by the Warren Commission nor the public. (HARVEY) Oswald's original school records at Arlington Heights High School (Ft. Worth) also disappeared that weekend.

That same day, November 23, FBI Associate Director Clyde Tolson sent a memo to FBI official Alan Belmont. Tolson wrote, "Shanklin said results of the investigation have been reduced to written form and consequently the information will all be available for these two supervisors. We can prepare a memorandum to the Attorney General (Robert Kennedy) to set out the evidence showing that Oswald is responsible for the shooting that killed the President. We will show that Oswald was an avowed Marxist, a former defector to the Soviet Union and an active member of the FPCC, which has been financed by Castro. We will set forth the items of evidence which make it clear that Oswald is the man who killed the President." Only one day after the assassination the FBI had already decided that Oswald killed Kennedy, and all they needed to do was to make sure the items of evidence, which were now in their possession, supported their report. FBI official William Sullivan knew the FBI's capabilities and said, "When an enormous organization like the FBI with tremendous power still can sit back and shuffle the deck of cards and pick up the card they want to show you it may be you're not going to get the entire picture as fully as you would otherwise.... If there were documents that possibly he (Hoover) didn't want to come to the light of the public, then those documents no longer exist, and the truth will never be known." 


November 24. HARVEY Oswald was shot and killed by former gun-runner and night club owner Jack Ruby. Ruby has been portrayed by the media as a mob-connected night club owner from Chicago. But a study of Ruby's background from the mid-1950's onward reveals that he was heavily involved in supplying guns and arms to Castro with operations in the Florida Keys, New Orleans, and Kemah, Texas. In the early 1960's Ruby contacted CIA-gun runner Robert McKeown, who was a close personal friend of Fidel Castro. Ruby wanted to sell Jeeps to Castro and offered to pay McKeown to write a letter of introduction on his behalf to Castro. LEE Oswald, who was with Ruby throughout the summer of 1963 in Dallas, approached McKeown in September, 1963 and wanted to purchase rifles from him.

NOTE: Ruby ran guns to Castro in the late 1950's, probably under CIA direction. In the early 1960's LEE Oswald was with CIA sponsored anti-Castro Cubans while HARVEY was on CIA assignment in Russia. Ruby and LEE Oswald were seen together on numerous occasions in Dallas during the summer and fall of 1963, while HARVEY was in New Orleans and likely working undercover for the FBI. A few months later HARVEY Oswald was in the Dallas jail, and posed a serious threat to both the FBI and CIA. That threat was eliminated when Jack Ruby killed HARVEY Oswald.

November 25. Early on Monday morning FBI agents arrived at Dolly Shoe in New Orleans and confiscated all original employment records for HARVEY Oswald from January through April, 1955 (while LEE Oswald was attending the ninth grade at Beauregard JHS in New Orleans). FBI agents soon arrived at the Pfisterer Dental Laboratory in New Orleans and confiscated all original employment records for HARVEY Oswald from October, 1957 through May, 1958 (while LEE Oswald was in the Marine Corps in Japan). They spoke with the owners and employees, one at a time, and instructed each person not to talk to each other or with anyone about Oswald's employment at Pfisterer's. Hoover knew that (HARVEY) Oswald's employment at the Pfisterer Dental Lab in 1957-58 (CE 1386) created a serous problem, because during this time (LEE) Oswald was in the Marines in Japan. In an honest investigation, to learn Oswald's employment history, the FBI would simply have requested a schedule of payments made to the Social Security Administration on behalf of Oswald by his former employers. They also could have asked the IRS or the Louisiana Dept. of Revenue for a schedule of taxes (federal and/or state) withheld from Oswald's payroll. But such information, from government records, would place (HARVEY) Oswald in New Orleans in 1957-58 at the Pfisterer Dental Lab while (LEE) Oswald was in the Marines in Japan.

At FBI headquarters Oswald's possessions were examined for fingerprints by using a brown “fingerprint ink”. After examination a special chemical was added that neutralized the brown ink and caused it to become clear. This procedure was known as “desilvering”. The FBI lab was still examining the items of evidence for fingerprints when they were ordered to gather the items in preparation for their return to Dallas. But many of these items had not yet been “desilvered” and were still covered with the brown fingerprint ink. WC attorney Eisenberg asked Cadigan about Oswald's FPCC card (CE 820) and said, “Do you know why CE 820 was not processed or desilvered?” Cadigan replied, “Time was of the essence and this material, I believe, was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days.....” The typewritten transcript of Cadigan's original testimony is in the National Archives, but it has been altered. Someone (the handwriting appears to be Allen Dulles) drew lines through the words, “this material, I believe, was returned to the Dallas Police within two or three days...” This portion of Cadigan's testimony was deleted and does not appear in his testimony as published on page 434 of Volume VII of the Warren Volumes.


After James Cadigan's testimony WC attorney Eisenberg, and Commission members, learned for the first time that the hundreds of items confiscated by the Dallas Police (Oswald's possessions) had been quietly taken to FBI headquarters on November 23 and then secretly returned 3 days later to the Dallas Police (11/26/63). Cadigan's testimony was altered, because neither the FBI nor the Warren Commission wanted the public to find out that the FBI had secretly taken all items of evidence to FBI headquarters less than 15 hours after the assassination.

After the FBI returned the evidence to the Dallas Police on November 26, the FBI and Dallas Police jointly photographed, numbered, and inventoried all items. Each item was listed and numbered individually, line by line, and appear on Warren Commission Exhibit CE 2003, pp 263-283. But CE 2003 shows 455 items of evidence—not the 225 items of evidence originally sent to the FBI on November 23—but 455 items of evidence!! From November 23 through November 26 the FBI added over 230 items of evidence to the original 225 items, and then quietly returned the “evidence” to the Dallas Police. After the joint FBI/DPD inventory and photographing was complete (11/26/63) the FBI took the evidence, and the 5 rolls of undeveloped film, to Washington, DC. The Dallas Police requested the FBI to process the film and return three photographs of each item of evidence. That afternoon (11/26/63) President Johnson announced the FBI was taking over the investigation. And that evening, with WFAA film crews recording the event, all items of “evidence” and the 5 rolls of undeveloped film were turned over to the FBI by the Dallas Police and immediately taken back to Washington, DC.
WC 2003 is the joint FBI/DPD inventory of evidence items returned to the Dallas Police on 11/26/63.
All 455 items of evidence were numbered, photographed, and listed on this 20 page inventory.


The 5 rolls of undeveloped film contained photographs of 455 items, and many of those items were still covered with the brown fingerprint ink from the FBI laboratory. Any private citizen, researcher, or investigator who looked at these photographs (taken at DPD headquarters on 11/26/63) would want to know how and when these items had been treated with the brown fingerprint ink. To avoid questions that would show the items of evidence were in FBI custody from 11/23/63 to 11/26/63, the FBI deleted all of the negatives that showed any trace of the brown fingerprint ink.

A large number of evidence items were covered with the brown fingerprint ink when photographed jointly by the FBI/DPD on 11/26/63. These items were photographed on rolls #2, #3, and #4 and these original rolls of film soon disappeared. The FBI also deleted negatives on roll #1 and roll #5. They then made copies of the rolls of film and returned copies of these rolls to the Dallas Police on December 1, 1963. When the film arrived in Dallas, Police
 Chief Jesse Curry noticed that the FBI had not provided any photographs. He also noticed that many negatives were missing and immediately notified the FBI by letter. Hoover responded (by letter) to Curry and blamed the missing negatives on the Dallas Police photographer. Hoover said the DPD photographer had used “faulty technique” when photographing Oswald's possessions. But if there was any 'faulty technique' it could be seen, frame by frame, on the original film. The fact is that each of the original 5 rolls of film disappeared while in FBI custody. The FBI returned roll #1 and #5 to the Dallas Police, but both of these rolls were copies made by the FBI. The two rolls of copied film are all that remains in the Dallas Police Archives. By comparing the negatives on these two rolls with the DPD/FBI inventory of November 26 (WC Exhibit CE 2003, pp 263-283), it is easy to see which frames were removed by the FBI and which frames were altered.

A number was placed beside each item of evidence when photographed that corresponded with the joint DPD/FBI type-written inventory (CE 2003). The first roll of film ends at negative 163. Negatives 168, 169 and 175 are among the negatives deleted by the FBI, but these items are listed and described on the inventory. The items listed are Oswald's (fabricated) W-2 tax forms for Dolly Shoe (1955), Tujague's (1955 & 1956), JR Michels (1956) and the Pfisterer Dental Lab (1956). But none of these W-2 forms were found by the Dallas Police among Oswald's possessions. None were listed on the DPD inventories. None are among the items photographed on the floor of the Dallas Police station. But all of these W-2 forms are listed on the joint DPD/FBI inventory of November 26. And, none of these W-2 forms were treated with the brown fingerprint ink. They are all forgeries.

These W-2 forms appear for the first time on the joint FBI/Dallas Police inventory of November 26, only after Oswald's possessions were returned from FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. Each W-2 form has the initials of FBI laboratory technician Robert Frazier, and each of these W-2 forms was created in Washington, DC. The negatives of these W-2 forms were removed for a good reason--if photographs of any of these W-2 forms had been seen by DPD officials or officers, they would have been recognized as forgeries because they had not been initialed by the Dallas Police during their search of Oswald's room at 1026 N. Beckley or Ruth Paine's house, nor were they on either of the two DPD inventory lists, nor were they among Oswald's possessions when photographed on the floor of DPD headquarters.



The creation of W-2 forms within days of the assassination is proof positive that top FBI officials knew intimate details of HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald's backgrounds as teenagers. The W-2 forms were created in order to “merge” the backgrounds of HARVEY and LEE and show that one “Lee Harvey Oswald” could have worked at these companies and attended junior high and high school prior to joining the US Marine Corps (click here for the details). Their creation shows that top FBI officials were not only familiar with the backgrounds of HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald, but also shows their intent and willingness to keep this information secret. The creation of the W-2 forms momentarily resolved the problem of HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald being in different locations at the same time on multiple occasions. But there was still a big problem. In 1963 detailed records at the Social Security Administration clearly showed the dates of Oswald's teenage employment. These records posed a serious problem and could never be made public. In 1963 Marina Oswald applied for Social Security benefits shortly after her husband's death. She was entitled to receive benefits based upon his lifetime earnings from 1955 through 1963. However, all SSA details of Oswald's employment prior to 1962 were withheld and never made available to Marina, the Warren Commission, the HSCA, the ARRB or the public. The identity of the person or organization responsible for the SSA's refusal to release Oswald's 1955 through 1961 social security records from 1963 onward remains unknown. In 1978 the HSCA wrote to the Social Security Administration and asked for copies of Oswald's file. The SSA responded by providing Oswald's employment records for 1962 and 1963. But for employment records prior to 1962 the SSA advised the HSCA to review the Warren Commission report (click here for details).

Many items of “evidence”, such as the W-2 forms, were added to Oswald's possessions by the FBI and today are very easy to identify, if you know what to look for. The original 225 items were initialed by Dallas Police officers, appear on the original handwritten and type-written inventories, and were photographed on the floor at DPD headquarters. But the 230 items of evidence that were added by the FBI do not have initials by Dallas Police officers, they do not appear on either the handwritten or type-written Dallas Police inventories, and were not photographed on the floor at DPD headquarters. Why would the FBI add over 230 items of evidence? The items obtained by the Dallas Police belonged to HARVEY Oswald, but most of the 230 items added by the FBI either belonged to LEE Oswald, were added to help frame HARVEY Oswald for the assassination, or were added to help merge the historical background of HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald into one fictional “Lee Harvey Oswald”.

After the FBI completed their manipulation and alteration of Oswald's possessions, Hoover sent a letter to Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry in March, 1964. The letter stated, "the Bureau has re-photographed all of the material in possession of the Bureau and will send a complete set of these photographs to you by separate mail." Included among the hundreds of new FBI photographs were photographs of the W-2 forms (each initialed by FBI lab technician Robert Frazier). To complete the charade, Hoover also sent a new inventory list and explained, "The inventory list submitted by your office November 26, has been superseded by the list furnished to your office by the FBI Laboratory dated February 1, 1964. The list submitted by your office (11/26/63) is incomplete and is not completely accurate." Hoover attempted to blame the Dallas Police and his Dallas field office for producing the "incomplete and inaccurate" inventory--the joint FBI/DPD inventory of November 26, 1963 (WC exhibit #2003).


If in 1964 the public had known that more than half of the original Dallas Police film disappeared while at FBI headquarters, that Dallas Police film had been altered while in possession of the FBI, that original items of evidence were altered, that original items of evidence were added by the FBI, then the public would have demanded to know why the FBI was tampering with evidence.

A few days after the assassination United Press International (UPI) stated that an exhaustive FBI report now nearly ready for the White House will indicate that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone and unaided assassin of President Kennedy. Hoover had leaked information from the report to United Press hoping to blunt the drive for an independent investigation of the assassination. His efforts failed and President Johnson created the Warren Commission on November 29. The most important member appointed to the Commission was former CIA director Allen Dulles, who attended more Commission meetings than any other member. The FBl's number three official, William Sullivan, said “Hoover did not like to see the Warren Commission come into existence. He showed marked interest in limiting the scope of it or circumventing the scope of it and taking any action that might result in neutralizing it.” Hoover was concerned the Warren Commission would take testimony from witnesses that conflicted with the FBl's already completed report naming Oswald as the lone assassin. But Hoover was probably more concerned the Commission would discover the existence of a second “Lee Harvey Oswald,” known to Hoover since June 1960 (memo to the State Department), and the numerous FBI reports that show (LEE) Oswald was in the USA (Florida, New Orleans, Dallas) while HARVEY Oswald was in the Soviet Union. He was also concerned that his own agents would discover the existence of a second Oswald. SA James Hosty, who was monitoring HARVEY Oswald in the months preceding the assassination, came face to face with him for the first time during Oswald's first interrogation on 11/22/63. After the interrogation ended, Hosty was ordered by an FBI counterintelligence officer not to investigate Oswald's background. Hoover needed to make sure the evidence showed that one “Lee Harvey Oswald” was responsible for the assassination, while Allen Dulles scrutinized the testimony of key witnesses, “adjourned” meetings when witness provided conflicting testimony, altered witness testimony, and kept a watchful eye on fellow WC members.

William Sullivan said “if there were documents that possibly Hoover didn't want to come to the light of the public, then those documents no longer exist, and the truth will never be known.” In that one sentence, Sullivan told us how the FBI handled an investigation: if they (FBI) didn't want documents to come to the light of the public, then those documents would disappear." The FBI followed a consistent pattern which they used again and again to manipulate evidence in their attempt to merge the backgrounds of HARVEY and LEE and to frame Oswald (HARVEY) for the assassination. This was the pattern used by the FBI to fabricate evidence that allowed the Warren Commission to conclude that "Lee Harvey Oswald," acting alone, assassinated President Kennedy.

1) confiscate all original items of evidence

2) alter, manipulate, fabricate, or destroy original items of evidence

3) photograph the newly created or altered “evidence”

4) destroy the original items of “evidence” from which copies were made

5) provide the Warren Commission with photographic copies of the FBI's newly created “evidence”

Now, let's look at some of the many documents and items of evidence that the FBI altered, manipulated, and withheld from the WC and the public.


  • A small German camera was found and initialed by Dallas Police Detectives Gus Rose and Richard Stovall during their search of the Paine's garage in Irving, TX. The small spy camera was listed on the detective's handwritten inventory, the DPD typed inventory, the joint Dallas Police/FBI inventory (item #375) and was one of the items of evidence photographed on 11/26/63. Rose said, “Among the property we found a little Minox minature camera and on checking it, it did have a little roll of film in it.” All items of evidence, including the 5 rolls of film used to photograph the evidence, were given to the FBI. The chain of custody for the small Minox camera from the Paine's garage to the FBI was complete. The 5 rolls of film were developed at FBI headquarters, but by the time copies of the film were returned to the Dallas Police many negatives were missing. One of the missing negatives was of the Minox camera. The FBI did not want to explain why a poor, common laborer, such as Oswald, possessed a very expensive Minox spy camera. Rumors were beginning to circulate that Oswald was working for the FBI as a confidential informant. Anything that hinted of a connection between Oswald and the intelligence community had to be suppressed. FBI agents Vincent Drain and Warren DeBrueys created a second inventory and changed the Minox camera to a Minox light meter. They then sent photographs of the “light meter” to the Dallas Police in an attempt to convince them that the item was a light meter and not a camera. FBI agents met with Gus Rose on three separate occasions and tried to convince him to change the item to a light meter. Rose discussed the problem with DPD Captain Fritz and, after getting his approval, refused to change the inventory. The FBI intentionally tried to change the Minox camera into a Minox light meter to make it appear that Oswald did not own an expensive spy camera. The Minox camera, however, did not disappear and today can be found at the National Archives. But to make sure that nobody could trace ownership of the camera by serial number, the small Minox was filled with a heavy unknown substance that prevents it from being opened and exposing the serial number. The FBI tried to “change” the Minox camera into a Minox light meter to suit their purpose. But they never explained the additional 9 rolls of Minox film found by the Dallas Police, initialed by the Police, listed on the DPD inventory, and listed on the joint FBI/DPD inventory.

  • Sargeant Calvin Owens was near the TSBD when he heard there was a shooting in Oak Cliff that involved a fellow police officer. Owens, accompanied by Captain Westbrook and assistant DA Bill Alexander, got into his squad car and drove to Oak Cliff. By the time the officers arrived at 10th & Patton, Tippit's body had been removed and taken to the hospital. Westbrook heard over the police radio that a suspicious person had been seen running into a nearby library, and was immediately driven to that location. After he returned to 10th & Patton the area was filled with police officers, curious onlookers, and witnesses to the shooting. Westbrook, somehow, came into possession of a wallet that contained identification for Oswald and for Alec Hidell. (An unidentified civilian allegedly gave this wallet to Sgt. Croy who gave it to Sgt. Owens who gave it to Capt. Westbrook. However, not one of these police officers ever reported handling this wallet). Westbrook called out to FBI agent Bob Barrett who approached Westbrook and saw the wallet, along with Captain George Doughty, Sargeant Calvin Owens, Sgt. Kenneth Croy, and Accident Investigator Howell Summers. WFAA TV cameraman Ron Reiland was at the scene and filmed these police officers as they inspected the wallet. The first person known to have this wallet in his possession at 10th & Patton was Captain Westbrook, and FBI agent Bob Barrett said it was Westbrook who kept the wallet. This was the only piece of evidence prior to Oswald's arrest that contained identification for "Alec Hidell," who allegedly ordered the rifle that was found on the 6th floor of the TSBD and identification for Lee Harvey Oswald, which identified him as the most likely suspect in Tippit's murder. This wallet was perhaps the most incriminating and important piece of evidence on November 22, 1963. But the real significance of the wallet is the fact that someone knew, in advance, that Oswald would be accused of Tippit's murder and linked to the assassination of President Kennedy, and that person brought a wallet containing Oswald's identification to 10th & Patton to frame him.

    • Captain Westbrook was the ranking officer at 10th & Patton and knew police procedure as well as anyone. If Westbrook was not the person who brought the wallet to 10th & Patton, he should have insisted on a "chain of custody" for the wallet, written a detailed report about the wallet and it's contents, entered the wallet into evidence at DPD headquarters, and discussed the wallet with the Warren Commission. The fact that Captain Westbrook totally ignored police procedure and did nothing about the wallet is reason to believe that he was the person responsible for bringing the wallet and later making it disappear. FBI agent Bob Barrett said that it was Westbrook who kept the wallet. The existing evidence shows that Westbrook, after inspecting the contents of the wallet, called out the names "Lee Oswald" and "Alec Hidell" as probable suspects in the Tippit murder. Several police officers then briefly held and inspected the wallet before it disappeared in the hands of Captain Westbrook. Westbrook, Owens, and Croy testified before the Warren Commission, but not one of these men was asked, nor did they volunteer, any information about finding a wallet that linked Oswald to both the Tippit shooting and the assassination of the President. We can now understand that this wallet had to disappear because the police removed (HARVEY) Oswald's wallet from his rear pocket after he was arrested while en route to the police station. A second wallet at 10th & Patton, which also contained identification for Oswald and Hidell, was unexplainable and could never, ever be made public.

    The week after the assassination Department of Public Safety employees in Austin, TX saw and handled Oswald's driver's license.    Aretha Frair said Oswald's license was “the talk of the office” and was soon removed from the TDPS active files at the request of a “government agency.” Ray Sundy, Joyce Bostic, Inez Laake, Gayle Scott, Peggy Smith, Mrs. Ernie Isaacs, Mrs. Lee Bozarth and Aretha Frair saw Oswald's pink Texas driver's license in the TDPS office in Austin. These people knew from personal experience that Oswald had a Texas driver's license, and their combined knowledge is irrefutable.

    The public needed to be convinced that Oswald did not drive. And so the Warren Commission responded by focusing attention on people who said Oswald could not drive--Robert Oswald, Marina Oswald, Ruth and Michael Paine, while totally avoiding the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS). Robert Oswald and the Paines testified that Oswald could not drive, and Marina denied every situation that involved Oswald driving a car. The WC took testimony from a number of people who saw Oswald drive a car, including Cliff Shasteen, Edith Whitworth, Gertrude Hunter, Leonard Hutchinson, and other people who saw Oswald drive a car in Irving, TX in the summer and fall of 1963. People at the Sports Drome Rifle Range, Downtown Lincoln Mercury, a radio station Alice, TX, New Orleans, Baton Rogue, LA and other locations saw (LEE) Oswald drive on multiple occasions. Many people knew and testified that (LEE) Oswald could drive, but if Oswald's ability to drive was confirmed then questions would be raised: Did he drive to Mexico and south Texas in September, 1963? Did he drive to Robert McKeown's near Houston on Labor day weekend, 1963? Did he drive Jack Ruby's car during the summer of 1963--when (HARVEY) Oswald was in New Orleans? In 1964 the WC did not ask the TDPS if Oswald had a driver's license, ignored the majority of witnesses who said that Oswald could drive, and concluded that Oswald was unable to drive a car. It is very, very difficult to believe that not a single person associated with the WC placed a phone call to the Dallas Police or to the Texas Dept. of Public Safety to ask if Oswald had a driver's license or owned a car. But if someone did place a call and discovered that a second “Lee Harvey Oswald” did have a valid Texas driver's license, then the Commission's only option was to accept the testimony of Robert Oswald, Marina, the Paines and conclude that Oswald could not drive, which is precisely what they did.

    The Death of top level FBI officials

    In 1977, around the same time the House Select Committee on Assassinations was becoming active, numerous top level FBI officials suddenly died. 
    1) William C. Sullivan was the third highest ranking FBI official, behind Hoover and Tolson, and played a major role in the in-house investigation of the JFK Assassination. In June, 1972 Sullivan had lunch with his friend, Robert Novak. He told Novak that someday he would probably read about his (Sullivan's) death in some kind of an accident, but not to believe it because he would be murdered. Sullivan had become a critic of the tactics of J Edgar Hoover. He had publicly called Hoover a “master blackmailer” and a man who was suffering from “senility.” Sullivan knew a great deal about the inter workings of the FBI and had likely had most of the inside details on the development of the so called fingerprint evidence. The Committee wanted to question him, but on November 9, 1977, only days before he was to testify to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he was murdered. Twenty minutes before sunrise sixty-five-year-old Sullivan was walking through the woods near his retirement home in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. He was on his way to meet hunting companions when twenty-two-year-old Robert Daniels, Jr., son of a state policeman, shot and killed him. Daniels had a .30 caliber rifle, with a telescopic sight, and said he mistook Sullivan for a deer. The authorities called it an accident, and Daniels was fined five hundred dollars.

    2) Louis Nicholas, special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover and his liaison with the Warren Commission died from heart attack in June, 1977.

    3) Alan H. Belmont was head of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division Belmont and was in charge of investigating the assassination of JFK. In 1964 Belmont tried to persuade the Warren Commission that the palm print found on the alleged assassination rifle was Oswald's. The HSCA wanted to carefully question him again about his testimony, but before he could testify Belmont died in August of 1977.

    4) James Cadigan was a document expert who told the Warren Commission that Oswald's possessions first arrived at FBI headquarters in the early morning hours of November 23. He then said those items were returned to the Dallas Police a few days later (on November 26). Cadigan examined the paper bag from the Texas School Book Depository Building that the alleged Oswald RIFLE was supposed to have been wrapped in along with the tape. In August, 1977, before he was able to tesify to the HSCA, Cadigan died from a so-called "accidental fall" fall in his home.

    5) J. M. English was head of the FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory where Oswald’s rifle and pistol were tested. He was in charge of the FBI forensic lab that had conducted forensic analysis of all of the JFK assassination evidence. English had examined the alleged OSWALD rifle and pistol. The HSCA wanted to know what happened to the evidence pertaining to the rifle and fingerprints, but English died of a heart attack in October, 1977 and never testified.

    6) Donald Kaylor was a chemist and fingerprint expert who examined prints found at the assassination scene. In 1964 Kaylor told the Warren Commission that the palm print found on the alleged assassination rifle was Oswald's. The HSCA wanted to carefully question him, as well as Alan Belmont, again about his testimony, but before he could testify Kaylor died of a heart attack in October, 1977.

    7) Regis Kennedy was a senior agent in the FBI assigned to New Orleans. He was one of two FBI agents assigned as contact men for Lee Harvey Oswald in his role as FBI informer. Kennedy had been sent to Dallas to help in the JFK investigation and knew a great deal about the fingerprint evidence. Kennedy died of a heart attack in 1978, shortly after testifying before the House Select Committee.