Vince Palamara's new book, The Plot to Kill President Kennedy in Chicago and other Traces of Conspiracy Leading to the Assassination of JFK, is an epic failure. Despite the enticing title, Palamara does not provide any evidence of a plot in Chicago in November 1963.
Now it's time to look at Palamara's other eight supposed pieces of corroborating evidence.
PRS Agent Glen Bennett (page 208 in the Kindle edition)
PRS Agent Glen A. Bennett told the HSCA: “[He] remembers the name Vallee but does not recall why.”
I don't understand how this corroborates a plot. Bennett worked in the Protective Research Section in Washington D.C.
Palamara leaves out this section from Bennett's outside contact report with the HSCA:
Agent Joseph Noonan (pages 208 - 209 in the Kindle edition)
Agent Joseph E. Noonan, Jr.: As previously noted, Noonan “participated directly in surveillance involving Tom Mosely and Homer Echevarria … he and [the] other agents were uneasy that the Cubans might have some ties to the CIA … a little later they received a call from Headquarters to drop everything on Mosely and Echevarria and send all memos, files, and their notebooks to Washington and not to discuss the case with anyone.” Noonan also knew about the Vallee case. In addition, the administrative assistant of the Intelligence Division (formerly known as PRS) made an interesting observation to Agent Bob Ritter soon after the Reagan assassination attempt (3/30/81), “She [unnamed] came to me later in the day and said she wanted to ‘warn me’ … She’s been around a long time. She started in the Chicago Field Office and worked there during the JFK assassination [This had to be either Charlotte Klapkowski or June Marie Terpinas]. She told me that ‘funny things’ went on back then and she has the same feeling again … she wouldn’t elaborate on that. She did say that SAIC Richards told her to type only the original of my report. No copies were to be made, not even the standard agent’s copy. And she was ordered to shred my original handwritten submission! She knew how strange that was. She warned me to look out for myself.”
Noonan did work on the Echevarria case. Once the Secret Service was convinced that "there was no violation over which the United States Secret Service as jurisdiction," everything was turned over to the FBI.
Palamara then infers wrongdoing from a report after the Reagan assassination attempt. We have no idea what they were really talking about.
The story comes from the book, Breaking Tecumseh's Curse: The Real-life Adventures of the U.S. Secret Service Agent Who Tried to Change Tomorrow, by Jan Marie and Bob Ritter. Palamara doesn't give the complete dialogue from the book: (page 309 in the Kindle edition)
“There’s still more. I wrote up my findings and gave them to the administrative assistant of ID to be typed. She came to me later in the day and said she wanted to ‘warn me.’”
“Warn you of what?” I asked.
“She’s been around a long time. She started in the Chicago Field Office and worked there during the JFK assassination. She told me that ‘funny things’ went on back then and that she has the same feeling again.”
“What kind of funny things?”
“I don’t know; she wouldn’t elaborate on that. She did say that SAIC Richards told her to type only an original of my report. No copies were to be made, not even the standard agent’s copy. And she was ordered to shred my original handwritten submission! She knew how strange that was. She wanted to warn me to look out for myself.”
This dialogue is with an unnamed administrative assistant. When Ritter asks what kind of funny things, she answers, "I don't know." Does this dialogue tell us anything about a supposed Chicago plot?
As for Charlotte Klapkowski, who worked in the Chicago office and typed up reports, here is an excerpt from her outside contact report with the HSCA:
Agent James S. Griffiths (page 209 in the Kindle edition)
“Griffith[s] stated that the name of Thomas Vallee was familiar and remembers a case concerning Vallee but does not remember any of the details.” In the Fall of 1963, shortly before the ill-fated Chicago trip, Chicago Police Lieutenant Berkeley F. Moyland’s son, Moyland Junior, told author James Douglass that his father counseled Vallee after hearing his threatening remarks about JFK, warning him that this kind of talk could lead to serious consequences. Moyland Senior took the extra step of phoning the Secret Service with a warning about Vallee. However, it was not Moyland but an FBI informant named “Lee” whose alert disrupted the four-man rifle team and potential patsy Vallee as well. The Treasury Department (with jurisdiction over the Secret Service) swore Moyland to secrecy over the matter, although Moyland confided in his son in his final years. One wonders if the “Lee” was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Again, this is all about Thomas Arthur Vallee and has nothing to do with a Chicago plot.
Here is an excerpt from the outside contact report of Agent Griffiths:
On the next page, it states that "he had no knowledge of any of the information in Edwin Black's article."
As for Berkeley Moyland, here is one of the few documents in which he is mentioned:
None of this relates to a Chicago plot.
Palamara then says that it was "an FBI informant named "Lee" whose alert disrupted the four-man rifle team and potential patsy Vallee as well." But the source for that is Edwin Black's article:
A few hours after that meeting adjourned, the phone rang in the Chicago office of the Secret Service. Agent Jay Lawrence Stocks was for a few hours the ranking agent, so he took the call. It was the Federal Bureau of Investigation calling from Washington. The FBI man warned Stocks of a serious and dangerous four-man conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy at the Army-Air Force game. The suspects were rightwing para-military fanatics, armed with rifles and telescopic sights. The assassination itself would probably be attempted at one of the Northwest Expressway overpasses. This information came from an informant named "Lee."
All of this information was either made up for came from Abraham Bolden. Black wrote in his article that he talked to Jay Stocks but he wouldn't answer any questions. Black then writes that a teletype from James Rowley "clanged out confirmation of the conspiracy." But no one has ever seen such a teletype. Black then goes on to say that the Chicago office was understaffed and so "reinforcements were sent in from other offices around the country." And yet, not one agent anywhere has come forward to corroborate the supposed plot.
Chicago American column (pages 209 - 210 in the Kindle edition)
Chicago’s American, 11/26/63: “Daly Diary” by Maggie Daly: “The word is that the assassination of President Kennedy was planned at a meeting on Chicago’s west side in the early part of February.… That a dissident Cuban group financed Lee Harvey Oswald and that he lived on occasional money from the members and occasional money from his mother.”
Here is the column by Maggie Daly:
How on earth does this relate to a plot in Chicago in November? And of course Oswald was not getting money from the members of this group or his mother. Does Palamara believe that Oswald was part of the conspiracy?
In a footnote, Palamara references this article:
Palamara mentions the quote from Ruth Paine that "I understand there are people in the Chicago area who are talking of helping her, too,"
Does he really think that corroborate a Chicago plot?
Agent Edward Z. Tucker (pages 210 -211 in the Kindle edition)
Agent Edward Z. Tucker: told the HSCA the details of his involvement in the Thomas Arthur Vallee investigation. From the HSCA interview:” Tucker told us that for security reasons, on or about October 30, 1963, he recalls going to interview a subject named Vallee, who was supposed to represent a threat to the President. This was a customary practice prior to Presidential visits. Accompanied by Agent Tom Strong, he visited Vallee at his rooming house on the north side of Chicago. He was troubled by his conversation with Vallee, who he says had one or more rifles in his possession. Absent any Federal sanctions, Tucker reported back to the Secret Service office about his misgivings. The next day Vallee’s landlady, whom Tucker suspects was the informant, called the Secret Service office and said that Vallee had told her that he was not going to work on Saturday, November 2nd, the day JFK was coming to Chicago. Tucker said it was this information which caused the Secret Service to alert the Chicago Police Department to place surveillance on Vallee. He is aware that they did, and that Vallee was arrested by two Chicago Police officers on November 2nd before the President was due in Chicago. On that Saturday morning, Tucker’s assignment had been to go to the airport (O’Hare) and meet the President. He did not recall that he was to ride in the Pilot car in the motorcade, but he said he did not go into the Secret Service office downtown and was therefore unaware of any other subjects that the Secret Service might have had in custody at the time. If this happened, he was not informed about it, he said. When he reached the airport in the morning of November 2, 1963, he was told that the President had canceled his trip to Chicago but that several Members of Congress had arrived, and the Secret Service was told to escort them to the Army-Air Force Academy game at Soldier Field. He thinks he went home instead.”
A whole paragraph about Thomas Arthur Vallee. This has nothing to do with a supposed Chicago plot.
Palamara does not include this excerpt from Tucker's outside contact report with the HSCA:
Agent Gary M. McLeod (page 211 in the Kindle edition)
Agent Gary M. McLeod: told the HSCA that he did recall the name Thomas Arthur Vallee and that Agent Ed Tucker was assigned to the Vallee case that involved guns but does not remember any involvement with the Chicago Police. Here, McLeod is dead wrong.
I can't figure out what Palamara's point is. Faulty memory?
HSCA Report (page 211 in the Kindle edition)
HSCA Report: “One agent [Robert Motto] did state there had been a threat in Chicago during that period, but he was unable to recall details.” Specifically, Robert J. Motto told the HSCA: “The trip was cancelled. I think they told us at the [Air Force/ Army game at Soldier’s Field], but we decided to watch it anyway … When I got back to the office, someone said there had been threats.” Please note Motto confirming a threat and actually using the plural “threats” in his actual interview, not the summary.
First, Motto talked about Edwin Black and his article:
Here is what Motto said about 'threats':
Palamara puts great emphasis on the use of the word 'threats.' Note that he did not say plot and note that his memory is very unclear. This is hardly corroboration of a plot.
Agent Louis B. Sims (page 211 in the Kindle edition)
Agent Louis B. Sims: told the HSCA: “He could not remember dates but he recalls it could have been any time up to a year prior to the assassination, he was assigned to conduct a surveillance on a subject that was either Puerto Rican or Cuban. He does not remember any specific details other than it involved gun running and it appeared to be a very sensitive investigation. He stated the names Echevarria and Manuel Rodriquez were familiar; but he couldn’t place them.” Please note Sims stating that the subject was “Puerto Rican” as his first thought. Mr. Bolden told the HSCA that Mr. Vallee was independent of the four-man team, and he told the author the same thing, adding that the confusion was “done intentionally by the government agencies.” Sims later became involved in the Watergate investigation:
Again, there is nothing here to corroborate a plot. Sims remember somebody involved in gun running. It certainly might have been Echevarria, but he is very uncertain. Sims was very much involved in the investigation of Abraham Bolden, and he told the HSCA that the evidence against Bolden was overwhelming.
Palamara quotes Bolden as saying that Vallee was independent of the four-man team, but then why is continually bringing up Vallee as corroboration for the four-man team?
Previous Relevant Blog Posts
An examination of Palamara's first eight pieces of corroborating evidence for the plot.
A look at the origin of the supposed plot.
A look at Homer Echeverria.
A look at Lloyd John Wilson.
Chad Nagle tries to argue that there was a plot.
The HSCA did speak to Edwin Black. It was a memorable interview.
There is no evidence of a plot in Chicago against JFK.
Bolden's story about the supposed Chicago plot has changed over the years.
An examination of supposed other plots against JFK.
Bolden didn't say one word about a supposed plot against JFK in Chicago.