Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy

by Jim Marrs

Overview

What really happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963? Was the assassination of John F. Kennedy simply the work of a warped, solitary young man, or was something more nefarious afoot? Pulling together a wealth of evidence, including rare photos, documents, and interviews, veteran Texas journalist Jim Marrs reveals the truth about that fateful day. Thoroughly revised and updated with the latest findings about the assassination, Crossfire is the most comprehensive, convincing explanation of how, why, and by whom our thirty-fifth president was killed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465050871
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	10/22/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	656
Sales rank:	72,606
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jim Marrs is an award-winning journalist and independent researcher and writer. For over thirty years, he taught a course on the Kennedy assassination at the University of Texas at Arlington. Marrs lives in Springtown, Texas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction to the Revised Edition xv

Part I The Kill Zone

Dallas-The Stage Is Set 1

The Thirty-fifth President 1

Dealey Plaza-November 22, 1963 8

The Motorcade 8

The Crowd 16

Two Suspicions Men 29

The Babushka Lady 35

The Texas School Book Depository 39

The Distracting Seizure 42

The Man in the Doorway 45

The Oswald Encounter 51

The Triple Underpass 57

Smoke on the Grassy Knoll 58

The Third Wounded Man 62

The Grassy Knoll 66

The Zapruder Film 66

The Black Dog Man 74

The Badge Man 80

A Grassy Knoll Witness 83

Part II Means, Motives, and Opportunities

Lee Harvey Oswald-Assassin or Patsy? 90

A Mother in History 90

Oswald's Library Card 98

Semper Fidelis 100

Oswald Overseas 101

Oswaldskovich the Marine 106

Russians (Soviets and Solidarists) 109

Oswald and the U-2 109

Robert E. Webster-Another Oswald? 111

A Phony Defection 112

Comrade Oswald 116

A Whirlwind Romance 119

A Soviet Defector's Story 123

Cubans (Pro- and Anti-Castro Cubans) 127

Fidel Castro 127

Disaster at the Bay of Pigs 129

544 Camp Street 138

Oswald and the Exiles 140

Oswald's Girlfriend 143

Mobsters (Organized Crime) 149

Bootleggers and Boozers 150

Lucky Goes to War 152

Carlos Marcello 154

Santos Trafficante and Cuba 158

The War on Hoffa 160

Momo and His Girlfriends 163

Agents (The CIA and Other Intelligence Agencies) 167

The Manchurian Candidates 171

CIA-Mafia Death Plots 173

New Orleans 174

The Saga of Tosh Plumlee 175

Was Oswald a Spy? 179

A Message from Oswald 186

DeMohrenschildt and the Agency 189

The French Connection to the Assassination 192

G-Men (J. Edgar Hoover's FBI and the Secret Service) 199

The Top G-man 201

Did Oswald Work for the FBI? 210

Cuban Grand Central Station 219

The Secret Service 224

A Few Drinks at the Cellar 229

Rednecks and Oilmen (Right-wing Extremists and Texas Millionaires) 235

A Bullet for the General 236

The Miami Prophet 244

Nixon and the JFK Assassination 246

A Killing on Wall Street 253

Kennedy and Oilmen 256

Oswald's Friends 258

All the Way with LBJ 269

Soldiers (The Military) 280

The Military-Industrial Complex 280

Kennedy and Vietnam 284

The Man Who Was to Kill Oswald 289

Lone Gunmen on the Grassy Knoll 293

Part III Aftermath

Dallas 303

Mysterious Secret Service Men 309

The Black Car Chase 316

The Account of Roger Craig 318

The Three Tramps 322

The Mafia Man in Dealey Plaza 327

The Shooting of J. D. Tippit 330

The Arrest of Oswald 340

The FBI Takes Control 347

Two Hospitals 351

Jack Ruby at Parkland 356

The Switching of Bodies 364

Jack Ruby 370

Jack Ruby-Gangster 375

Jack Ruby-Gunrunner and FBI Informant 379

The Woman Who Foresaw the Assassination 385

Did Ruby and Oswald Know Each Other? 387

The Shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald 398

Jack Ruby's Warnings 400

The Sudden Death of Jack Ruby 410

The Evidence 415

An Incriminating Palm Print 422

Questionable Backyard Photos 430

Reenactment Problems 433

The Warren Commission 436

The Reluctant Chairman 438

Oswald and the FBI 447

Conflicts in the Testimony 451

The Single-Bullet Theory 458

The Garrison Investigation 466

Clay Shaw and Permindex 469

The House Select Committee on Assassinations 485

Blakey at the Helm 491

The Dallas Police Radio Recording 497

The Oliver Stone Film JFK 503

Preemptive Attacks 504

The Assassinations Records Review Board 506

Douglas Home's Discoveries 507

The Zapruder Film: Fundamental or Fraud? 509

Hollywood Takes a Look 512

A Question of Oswald 515

An Impostor 516

Was Oswald Really Oswald? 521

The Oswald Exhumation 524

Convenient Deaths 529

Early Deaths 532

Strange Deaths Continue 534

Part IV Conclusions

Assassination Coverage 543

A Likely Scenario 547

Sources and Notes 557

Index 581

Photographs follow page 302

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Marrs attempts to bring together the gist of all [the assassination] material into one ‘thorough source book’…. He neatly capsulizes the plethora of theories offered by critics of the lone-gunman theory…. Crossfire is compelling, albeit macabre, reading.”
—The Washington Post

“Marrs re-examines issues never satisfactorily resolved by the official inquiries…. Crossfire raises profound and deeply troubling questions.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The big daddy of the conspiracy books on the JFK assassination, and one that can’t be taken lightly. A sheer tour de force that may be the final word until 2039—when government files on the case can be unlocked.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The huge mass of evidence Marrs presents to support his theory is irresistibly intriguing.”
—Booklist

“Dallas journalist Marrs brings together, under one cover, diverse theories and facts…He points to the inconsistencies and unexplained elements embodied in the official version as to what transpired before, during, and after the President’s death.”
—Library Journal

“For its comprehensiveness alone, this would be the one book for anyone seeking a really thorough examination of the assassination…. Marrs is sensible and straightforward, giving every side of disputed questions, though it is clear that for him, as for most thoughtful people, the Warren Commission’s picture of Oswald as a lone assassin doesn’t work.”
—Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Twenty-five years after the event, assassination books continue to appear. Marrs, a Dallas-area journalist who teaches a college course on the event, has, however, produced a special one. Its nearly 600 pages are jammed with detail on every aspect of the shooting, the investigations, the suspicions that fell on the Mafia, the FBI, the CIA, anti-Castro Cubans--all the usual suspects. For its comprehensiveness alone, this would be the one book for anyone seeking a really thorough examination of the assassination (but it sorely needs an index). Marrs is sensible and straightforward, giving every side of disputed questions, though it is clear that for him, as for most thoughtful people, the Warren Commission's picture of Oswald as a lone assassin doesn't work. The author talked to witnesses never officially interviewed, even offers never-before-seen pictures (though these contain nothing very startling). His conclusion: Kennedy made so many enemies in business, the military, the right wing, the mob, that his death became inevitable. He sees no Washington-based assassination plot, simply a willingness at the highest level (specifically Lyndon Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover) to relax protective vigilance enough to allow the deed to be done. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

We have witnessed the publication of myriad works which purport to explain the events surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy, such as Anthony Summers's Conspiracy ( LJ 6/15/80). Although most of these accounts suggest that Kennedy's death was the product of a conspiracy, they offer different interpretations as to who conceived and perpetrated this heinous crime. Dallas journalist Marrs brings together under one cover diverse theories and facts advanced in many of these works. He points to the inconsistencies and unexplained elements embodied in the official versions as to what transpired in Dallas before, during, and after the President's death. He does not, however, provide a novel theory that would answer some of the vexing questions raised in a reconsideration of the assassination. Appropriate for those with a special interest in the topic.-- Gary L. Malecha, Weber State Coll., Ogden, Ut.

Library Journal

Marrs attempts to bring together the gist of all [the assassination] material into one ‘thorough source book'.... He neatly capsulizes the plethora of theories offered by critics of the lone-gunman theory.... Crossfire is compelling, albeit macabre, reading.”
—The Washington Post

“Marrs re-examines issues never satisfactorily resolved by the official inquiries.... Crossfire raises profound and deeply troubling questions.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The big daddy of the conspiracy books on the JFK assassination, and one that can't be taken lightly. A sheer tour de force that may be the final word until 2039—when government files on the case can be unlocked.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The huge mass of evidence Marrs presents to support his theory is irresistibly intriguing.”
—Booklist

“Dallas journalist Marrs brings together, under one cover, diverse theories and facts…He points to the inconsistencies and unexplained elements embodied in the official version as to what transpired before, during, and after the President's death.”
—Library Journal

From the Publisher