Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Why do people think Oswald was involved with the Mafia?

For three years, he lived in Russia, where he spent his days soldering radios together. He wasn't involved with the Mafia there and then, was he?

OK. So then, he comes back to the USA in June 1962. It's a year and a half out from the assassination, and he has no connections to the Mafia at this point, right?

He and Marina then settle in the Dallas area, first living with dear brother Robert and then with dear mother Marguerite and then eventually on their own. Oswald goes to Peter Gregory, a Russian geologist, hoping that his endorsement of Oswald's Russian speaking and reading ability will lead to a job as an interpreter or translator, but nothing comes of it. 

However, what does come of it is that through Peter's son Paul, the Oswald's get introduced to the Russian emigre community in Dallas, known as the White Russians. But, he's still nowhere near any Mafia ties though, right? 

That leads to Oswald meeting George DeMohrenshildt, and they become good friends, odd as that seems, as different as they were. But, still no Mafia in Oswald's life, right? George didn't introduce him to the Mafia, did he?

In October 1962, Oswald starts working at Jaggars/Chiles/Stovall, the CIA connected photo lab in Dallas. And by the way, you know it had to be working for the government just from their name. What company trying to appeal to the public or even to other companies would call themselves Jaggars/Chiles/Stovall? 

But, Oswald holds that job until late April (which was a long time for him) and then, upon being fired, he decides (somehow) to go to New Orleans to find work. 

So, let's be clear: we are only 7 months out from the assassination at this point, and there isn't the slightest bit of Mafioso in Oswald's life. At this point in time, he has no more association with the Mafia than you do, right?

However, it was just 5 months that he was in New Orleans. He supposedly went to Mexico City in late September, but that's a lie. What he really did during that time, we don't know. John Armstrong thinks that he may have gone to Houston looking for work, but that's uncertain. We'll say it's a black box. 

But, he gets back to Dallas in early October, and you know what he did from then on. He stayed at the Y, and eventually, he got his job at the TSBD due to Ruth Paine and the kindly neighbor ladies of Irving talking about his job prospects. But, the whole time he was at the TSBD, nobody has ever suggested any Mafia ties for him then. Right? So, that means the last two months of his life, he was also Mafia-free.

So, that leaves the 5 months in New Orleans as the ONLY time that anybody can possibly claim that Oswald was involved in any way with the Mafia.  Those 5 months out of his entire life are it. 

So, we have to talk about those 5 months. But, let's start by looking at the big picture of Oswald's life in New Orleans. He worked at the Reily Coffee Company as a machine greaser.  So, that's how he spent his days. What about his evenings, nights, and weekends? According to Marina Oswald, he spent them with her. She said he came home after work and spent his nights and weekends with her. She said he didn't go out at night. She said they went to the park on the weekends. She said they sometimes went to movies. Or, they went to get ice cream. She said nothing about him disappearing. So, between his work life and his home/family life, how much time does that leave for him to get entrenched with the Mafia? 

And let's also look at the big picture in terms of interests and values. What interest would the Mafia have in him? The Mafia was anti-Castro, right? Didn't Castro nationalize the casinos in Havana, stripping Meyer Lansky of much of his wealth? What interest would they have in this pro-Castro machine greaser? Or, do you think it was Oswald's great prowess as a marksman that interested the Mafia? But, the only shooting Oswald did post- Marines (and he practically flunked his last shooting test in the Marines) was to go rabbit hunting a few times in Russia with his friends, using a shotgun, which was the only kind of rifle allowed in Russia. 
And reportedly, David Lifton talked to some of his Russian friends who said that Oswald was a lousy shot and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

So again, I ask you, what the hell interest would the Mafia have in Oswald? And what the hell interest would he have in them? 

This graphic was made by a fool named Dave O'Brien, who is selling his ridiculous book, Through the Oswald Window. And, I know it's ridiculous because I read all the chapter excerpts. 

So, these are supposed to be Oswald's Mafia connections. So, he was tied to the Mafia through Jack Ruby. You see the red line going down on the lower right. Except: not only did Oswald not know Ruby, but Ruby was not in the Mafia either. Ruby knew some Mafia, but that doesn't mean he was in the Mafia. Dave O'Brien asks: How could Jack Ruby be the one guy who knew exactly when Oswald was going to be brought down? The Mafia must have tipped him off, right? Actually, Ruby didn't know anything. The whole reason why the "jail transfer" got delayed is because the Dallas Police were waiting for Ruby to get there. And he was just going about his business. He wasn't conspiring with them or with anybody. Nobody tipped him off. Nobody told him it was going to happen at 11:20.  That's ridiculous. What happened is that Ruby got there when he got there, and it was well before the televised spectacle. And once he got there, he got processed, meaning that the police jumped him in the garage and scurried him up to the 5th floor. And when they got there, they told him that he shot Oswald. He didn't know a thing about it. But, he was strung out on drugs, and he had this weird, extreme devotion to the Dallas Police; so he believed them. Ruby said that it wasn't that crowded in the garage when he was there. But, after Ruby was apprehended and scurried away, they gave reporters and cameramen some time to fill the garage and get ready. And then they put on the Garage Spectacle as we know it, using James Bookhout as Ruby's surrogate. That's what happened (!) for Christ's sake.  It had nothing to do with Ruby knowing anything. He knew nothing. Nothing! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Do you hear me?

So, the whole Ruby-Oswald connection to the Mafia is complete, total, utter nonsense. 

Next, what about the David Ferrie connection to the Mafia? First, there is the famous picture of young Oswald in the Civil Air Patrol where it's David Ferrie second from the left and Oswald far right.

    
However, I can tell you with certainty that John Armstrong is convinced that that is not the Oswald of fame on the far right; that that is "Lee" and not "Harvey" the Oswald of fame. And if true, that would mean that there was no prior connection between David Ferrie and the Oswald of fame. 

So, what was Oswald's involvement with David Ferrie in New Orleans?  We are in a very murky area when we talk about it. I don't know if Dave O'Brien is a follower of Judyth Baker, but she makes a lot of claims about Oswald and Ferrie, and she wrote a whole book about Ferrie. But remember my position: that she is deranged, mentally ill, that she didn't even know Oswald, never mind David Ferrie. There isn't a stitch of evidence that she ever knew Oswald or Ferrie or anybody else. It's just her claiming it, her lip-flapping it.  

Supposedly, Oswald's ties to the Mafia started with David Ferrie and then went to Clay Shaw. That's why Jim Garrison was investigating Shaw, right? But, how much do we really know? What is bankable? Even when Garrison was investigating it, David Ferrie turned up dead. So, nothing could be gotten from him. Oswald was already dead, and Clay Shaw not only denied ever having met Oswald- he denied ever having met David Ferrie!

Garrison produced several witnesses from Clinton LA who claimed to see Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald together in a black Cadillac.  

Is it true? Did it really happen? I don't know, but I certainly don't consider it bankable. As I told you, Marina said that Oswald spent all his non-working time with her. The distance between New Orleans and Clinton is 85 miles. So, do you think that Oswald made a trip there without telling his wife and without her knowing that he was gone? 

But, even if you assume that it's true, it still doesn't establish a Mafia connection for Oswald. The fact is that Oswald could have known Ferrie and Shaw without necessarily having any Mafia connection. 

Then, the last Mafia link on Dave O'Brien's chart is Charles "Dutz" Murret, Oswald's uncle, the husband of his Aunt Lillian. For the record: he wasn't really Oswald's uncle- not even by marriage, let alone by blood. Charles Murret was the uncle of "Lee" the other Oswald- not the Oswald of fame. 

But, was Charles Dutz Murret a Mafioso? You can read his testimony to the Warren Commission. See what you think. And note that he claimed to have picked Oswald up at the bus station when he arrived in New Orleans, and that his luggage consisted of "two dufflebags." And that's it. No rifle! So, how the hell did the rifle get to New Orleans for Ruth Paine to take back to Irving in September? 

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/murret_c.htm

The claim of Charles Murret being Mafioso relates mostly to his bookmaking. Well, I had an uncle who was a bookmaker in New York City. He was pretty big-time too. One of his regular customers was Babe Ruth. I kid you not. And, my uncle knew people in the Mafia, but he wasn't a Mafioso. 

So, what is there that's bankable about the Oswald of fame having any connection to the Mafia and being involved with the Mafia? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! NOT A GOD-DAMN THING! 

People like Dave O'Brien do more harm to the JFK truth movement than John McAdams, David Von Pein, and Gerald Posner combined. The very worst thing that you can do for Oswald is spread false conspiracy stories about him. Dave O'Brien is a buffoon who is so clueless about the JFK assassination that he's not just like a bull in a china shop- he's like a blind bull in a china shop. He lives in a fantasy world, and his stories are pure fiction. 

The Lee Harvey Oswald of fame was just the patsy in the JFK assassination, and all this Mafia talk is just baiting, battering, and buttering up the buffs.