Here is a Tom Bethell article from the American Spectator of December 1998:
A couple of quotes stuck out:
First Money Quote:
People have said to me: He can't have just arrested Clay Shaw with no evidence. But that is what he did. The evidence produced at his trial was manufactured by unscrupulous people, using witnesses who were either mentally unbalanced (as in the case of the man who fingerprinted his own children to make sure that the government did not substitute ringers who spied on him), or who avoided prison by testifying as the D. A. wished.
Second Money Quote:
I have no doubt that he [Jim Garrison] was taking bribes, however. Once I was with him in New York on one of his jaunts, this time to Life magazine, the editors rolling their eyes as they realized he was making a day of it. Garrison took me to a nearby bar later. When the check came, he produced a thick roll of $50 bills. "Money doesn't mind who spends it," he said, enigmatically. I wondered where it came from. Later, we learned more. According to the 1971 federal indictment, Garrison had in the years 1967 - 68 received $60,000 in "bribe monies contributed by defendants," to keep them "free of any substantial law-enforcement interference." In a rash press release, Garrison explained that his former chief investigator, Pershing Gervais, later "turned" by the Feds, had wanted to see him at home one night. Saying he was in a rush to catch a plane, he showed up and handed Garrison an envelope, asking him to hold it for a few days. "It was unsealed, so I glanced inside," Garrison wrote. "I saw a large number of bills, the smallest denomination of which appeared to be $50." Early the next morning, there was a knock at the door and Garrison was arrested by U. S. marshals.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts regarding Tom Bethell
The complete story behind the memo that Bethell gave to Sal Panzeca.
Tom Bethell compiled some of the craziest letters to Jim Garrison.
I've added many new pages to the Bethell diary from the Sylvia Meagher archives.
Additional information about a meeting with Perry Russo and James Phelan.
Tom Bethell wrote Sylvia Meagher details about a meeting he had with Richard Billings in which they discussed Perry Russo and James Phelan.
Bethell sat through the Shaw trail and he wrote Meagher about what happened.
Tom Bethell had lots to say about Mark Lane's usage of Jim Garrison's files.
An article by Tom Bethell from the Washington Monthly of March 1976.
A tribute to Tom Bethell and an article he wrote for the National Review.