Dan wrote:Last TWO elections! Try the last 9 elections! Cetainly the last 5.Where do Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish fit into your startling Binion opinion?
I got interested in this case when I discovered the Binion trial......I KNOW of the silver....it was stolen by the Binion crime family from Doby Doc's estate....
History lesson about money
Benny had some political clout in Las Vegas and Nevada...oh you know the old saying money talks and everything walks....it wasn't due to his intellect ... he learned to read and write at age 50 when he served time in the pen for federal income tax evasion....this time is bribes did not work...
Now Benny had a friend named Harry Claiborne who through Binion's influence was appointed a Federal Judge in Nevada. Footnote: Harry was the defense attorney for RD Matthews during his deposition by the House Select Committee on Assassinations ...small world we have here....Old Harry later became the Impeached Federal Judge of the latter part of this century... Question time: does any here know why? If not I will post the answer...Al Gore and Hillary were there for Claiborne's impeachment....
Now Benny had a friend named Harry Claiborne who through Binion's influence was appointed a Federal Judge in Nevada. Footnote: Harry was the defense attorney for RD Matthews during his deposition by the House Select Committee on Assassinations ...small world we have here....Old Harry later became the Impeached Federal Judge of the latter part of this century... Question time: does any here know why? If not I will post the answer...Al Gore and Hillary were there for Claiborne's impeachment....
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS
DEPOSITION OF RUSSELL DOUGLAS MATTHEWS,
a witness produced, sworn, and examined on Monday, the 3rd day of April, in the year of our Lord 1978, between the hours of 8 o'clock in the forenoon and 6 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, in Room 4-003,, Federal Courthouse, 210 Las Vegas Boulevard, in the City of Las Vegas and in the State of Nevada, before the Select Committee on Assassinations, House of Representatives of the United States of America.
APPEARANCES:
For the Committee:
JAMES WOLF,
Deputy Chief Counsel,Select Committee on Assassinations,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DONALDA. PURDY,
Staff Counsel,
Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington. D.C.
For the witness:
HARRY E. CLAIBORNE,
108 South Third Street,
Las Vegas, Nevada.
NAOMI BOLSTAD was sworn to accurately and correctly report in stenotypy the complete proceedings had in the taking of the deposition of Russell Douglas Matthews.
RUSSELL DOUGLAS MATTHEWSof lawful age, being produced, sworn, and examined on the part of the Committee, deposeth and saith:
MR. WOLF: For the record, it should be noted that the Magistrate was Joseph L. Ward, and we are currently in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 5, 1978
My name is James Wolf, Mr. Matthews. My co-counsel is Donald Purdy. We both, pursuant to House Resolution and Committee Rule 4, have been designated counsel empowered to take your statements under oath.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Would you please state your name for the record?
A. Russell Douglas Matthews.
Q. What is your current address
A. 4412 Lilliput Lane, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Q. Mr. Matthews, have we given your counsel a copy of the Committee rules and the Committee resolutions prior to the commencement of this deposition?
A. Yes.
Q. And, Mr. Matthews, you understand this deposition on your behalf is being taken at your request as opposed to is that correct?
A. Yes, I guess you could say that, yes.
Q. And, for the record, you are accompanied by counsel today?
A. Yes.
MR. WOLF: Could counsel please identify himself on the record?
MR. CLAIBORNE: Harry E. Claiborne, 108 South Third Street, Las Vegas, Nevada.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q Mr. Matthews, the entire record today will be transcribed. After the Committee has received a copy of the transcription, we will send you a copy of that record and ask you to sign and verify that, that it is a true, complete, and accurate account of the testimony you have given. We will then ask you to sign a statement to that effect and return it to us at the Committee's offices. If you desire to make any changes in the transcription, I would request that you contact us and we will make the appropriate arrangements. If you do sign and verify the transcript, we will then provide you a copy for your permanent records of the transcript.
Q. Mr. Matthews, where were you born and what was the date of your birth?
A. July 26, 1920; Aspermont, Texas.
Q How long did you live in Aspermont, Texas? A Until I was seven years old. Q Where did you move at that time? A Dallas, Texas. Q How long did you reside in Dallas?
A. The rest of my life until the last seven years. I moved here a little over seven years ago.
Q. You moved here in approximately 1971? A Yes; January of 1971. Q And in Dallas, Texas, what was the first Job you held while you were living there? A I don't remember. I have had a lot of jobs there. I don't remember the first one really. I was just a kid. I worked in filling stations. I don't remember.
Q. Could you run through a chronology for us of some the jobs you currently remember in Dallas that you held? A No, no, not that long ago I can't. I have been in business for myself most of my life.
Q. You are self-employed?
A. Yes.
Q. While in Dallas, do you remember ever working for any other person? Were you ever employed at a club?
A. No, sir, not--no, sir.
Q. When did you first meet Mr. Jack Ruby?
A. I can't really tell you that. I didn't know him that well. I don't really know how to answer that. I can't answer it. I don't know. How I really met him I don't know.
Q. Do you remember approximately when you met him?
A. Let me see. I guess maybe the late "50s, somewhere around there I suppose. I am just guessing because I wasn't that close an acquaintance that it sticks out in my mind.
Q. What were the circumstances of the first meeting you recall with Jack Ruby?
A. I don't recall any. I didn't have any meetings with him. I knew him to speak to him on the street but I don't remember ever having any meetings with him. Q What was the first time that you remember ever speaking to him on the street? A That is impossible for me to say. I don't know.
Q. How do you estimate it was the late 1950s?
A. Well, I'm just guessing. It seemed like he had been around Dallas or I'd heard his name or seen him on the street for a few years before this Kennedy assassination. I am just assuming it was the late '50s. I don't really remember.
Q. Do you recall ever being asked by FBI agents when you first met Jack Ruby?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have no memory of FBI agents interrogating you?
A. I remember FBI agents talking to me about it. I don't remember that they asked that particular question.
Q. In response to the FBI interview, would you have told them in 1963 or '64, I would assume that would be--
A. I suppose; '63, whenever it happened.
Q. (Continuing) '63, would you have told them at that time a true account of your recollection of when you first met Jack Ruby?
A. If I told them it was a true account. I don't recall what I told them.
Q. Mr. Matthews, let me show you, for the record-- A All Fight.
Q. (Continuing) --a copy of an interview conducted with you by the Federal Bureau of Investigation dated December 15, 1963, and ask you to read that at this time.
A. Twelve years; I don't remember saying that. No, sir. I don't remember saying that I'd known him 12 years and I don't think I had.
Q. If you had known him 12 years, that would have meant you first met him in 1951, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir, I suppose that is true. but I don't remember saying this. I remember some of these other things I said. I don't recall saying that I'd known him for 12 years. I don't remember that. It has been some time ago, you know.
Q. Is your testimony today that that statement-
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Counsel, could I have a copy?
MR. WOLF: Surely.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Is your testimony today that that statement would be incorrect?
A. I can't really say. sir, to tell you the truth. It has been some time ago and if I said I'd known him 12 years--like I say, some of those things that they asked me I remember saying. I don't remember saying I'd known him 12 years. I was not a close friend of his. I never had any mix with him socially or anything. I just don't remember how long I'd known him. You go a year or two and don't see somebody sometimes. I didn't know him that well.
Q. What was the nature of your interaction with Jack Ruby?
A. Nothing. He was a man that was well known around on the streets of Dallas. If you pass by him on the street he's liable to introduce himself to you, so if I'd pass him I'd say hello. I don't know what else to tell you.
Q.Were you familiar with the clubs in Dallas that Jack Ruby visited?
A. I've heard that he had some clubs. I have never been in one of them.
Q. You have never been in the Carrousel Club?
A. I don't know where the Carrousel Club was actually.
Q. Did you know of any other clubs that Jack Ruby had?
A He has had several clubs around Dallas but I don't recall the names. Now, where the Carrousel Club--I didn't know he had--I don't recall the names of any of them. I don't remember ever being in any club Jack Ruby had. If I have been, I don't remember it.
Q Did you ever live in Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What period of time was that?
A. 1958 and '59 .
Q. Was that continuous that you lived there during that time?
A. No; I went to Cuba in 1958 and when Castro,--they, had the revolution, I came back for a few months and then went back and stayed until November 1959.
Q. Do you recall what time you returned to the States? You said Castro had the revolution.
A. Castro took over in the revolution, I think it was January 1, 1959, which I returned to the United States and I stayed--I don't remember the exact date that I went back; maybe a month or so.
Q. Did you come to the United States directly after the revolution, would it have been January of '59?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you stayed in the United States approximately how long?
A.I'd say a month or two. I don't remember now; until things got settled down. I had a place of business there. Q And then you returned to Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you do in Cuba upon your return?
A. I owned two bars there.
Q. Which bars were those?
A. I owned a bar in the Plaza Hotel in the lobby and I owned a bar on Henio Street. H-e-n-l-o or something, I don't remember how you spell it.
Q. What was the name of that bar, do you recall?
A. No; Sportsman's Club, I think.
Q. While in Cuba did you know Mr. Lewis McWillie?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How did you know Mr. McWillie?
A. He lived in Dallas. I had known him for several years in Dallas.
Q. Was that prior to your going to Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When you first went to Cuba, did you have a job before you left for Cuba?
A. No, sir.
Q. Upon your arrival in Cuba, who did you stay with or who did you first meet?
A. I stayed in a hotel by myself.
Q. Did you have any meetings with Mr. McWillie at that time? A No, sir. Mr. McWillie wasn't even in Cuba when I went there.
Q. And you established the bars by yourself?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. During the period of time you were in Cuba, 1959, did you meet Mr. McWillie often?
A. No.
Q. What was the first time that you met Mr. McWillie in Cuba? A I don't know how to answer that question. You are talking about something that happened 18 or 19 years ago and I really can't truthfully answer.
Q. Well, Mr. McWillie was a friend of yours from Dallas, isn't that true?
A. I knew him in Dallas, yes, sir.
Q. Did he call you when he arrived in Cuba?
A. No.
Q. How did you first find out he was in Cuba?
A. I don't know. I might have just run into him. You're talking about something that happened 18, 19 years ago. I don't really remember.
Q. I understand that. Do you recall any of your discussions with Mr. McWillie?
A. No. I didn't have that many discussions with him.
Q. Approximately how often did you see him?
A. Oh, I'd probably pass by him once every two or three months or so. I don't know.
Q. Do you how, did Jack Ruby ever visit Cuba?
A. I didn't see him.
Q. Have you heard that he visited Cuba?
A. I have heard since this thing came out that he was there, yes, sir.
Q. He did not visit you while he--
A. (Interrupting) No, sir, I did not see him. I didn't even how he was there.
Q. Did you ever discuss with Mr. McWillie the fact that Jack Ruby visited Cuba?
A. I don't remember that I have.
Q.Do you know Mr. Tony Zoppi?
A. Yes, sir.
Q.How do you know Mr. Zoppi?
A. Mr. Zoppi used to be the entertainment writer or critic for the Dallas Morning News before he came to work here in Las Vegas. I knew him very casually.
Q. Have you maintained contact with him since he came to Las Vegas?
A. No, sir. I just knew who he was, that's all.
Q. Have you ever met Mr. Zoppi?
A. I think I have. I think so, yes.
Q. Has Mr. Zoppi ever discussed with you a trip Jack Ruby took to Cuba?
A. No, sir. Mr. Zoppi has never discussed anything with me. I
guess this is a period of 20, 25 years, I doubt if I have ever spoken to him three times, three or four.
Q. Where were you when you heard that Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. In my home at that address you have there; Irving, Texas. Q When was the last time before the assassination that you saw Jack Ruby? A I don't know, sir. I don't know, because I had no meetings with him of any consequence. There wouldn't be any way--I never stopped and talked to him or anything. I might have spoken to him on the street. I really don't know.
Q. What were your thoughts when you heard that Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald, given the fact that Jack Ruby was a person you knew even though casually?
A. I just couldn't believe it actually. Probably just like anyone else, I couldn't believe that anyone would do what he did. It was unbelievable to me that someone would walk in a police station and do that. If that is the reaction you're looking for, I couldn't believe it.
Q. Is there any way for you to determine when the last time prior to the assassination that you saw Jack Ruby was?
A. No, sir, I can't answer that. I don't know.
Q. Did you have any contact with Jack Ruby subsequent to the assassination? A Not sir.
Q. Were you married to a woman known as Elizabeth Ann Matthews?
A. Yes.
Q. When did you divorce Ms. Matthews?
A. I don't remember the year. The questions you ask me happened 18, 20 years ago. It is impossible for me to remember the exact dates.
Q. Was it in the early '50s, late '50s, or early '60s, can you state that?
A. Probably the late '50s.
Q. Late '50's?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. It was before John F. Kennedy became President, to the best of your recollection?
A. Maybe right about that time, to the best of my recollection, right close to that time, yes, sir.
Q. Where did your ex-wife continue to live after you divorced her?
A I don't have any idea.
Q. Did you live, prior to your divorce, in Shreveport, Louisiana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Are you aware, did your ex-wife ever live in Shreveport, Louisiana?
A. I think that she could have. I might have heard that. I'm not sure.
Q. Subsequent to your divorce, did you maintain contact with your wife?
A. Before we were divorced?
Q. After your divorce.
A.. NO
Q. You had no contact with her at all?
A. I don't say that I haven't seen her or spoken to her, but as far as any contact--
Q. Do you know where she is living now?
A. I have no idea.
Q. What was the last address that you know she was living at, what city?
A. I don't have any idea, sir. I don't know for sure. Q What was her maiden name?
A. Flanagan.
Q. Have you heard of the allegation that Jack Ruby made a phone call to your ex-wife the month before the assassination?
A. No, I didn't even know they knew each other.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Mr. Matthews, was your relationship or your contact with Jack Ruby such that you ever made or received a phone call from him?
A. Not to my knowledge, no, sir, not that I ever recall.
Q. What was Jack Ruby's reputation in the community? You said he was well known. What was he well known for?
A. I say he was well known because he speaks to you on the street. He was the kind of a man--I just knew he ran clubs. I don't know that much about his reputation. He was a person who would make himself known if you were ever around him.
Q.Do you know anyone who was close to Jack Ruby?
A. No, I couldn't--I don't know that I did.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Did Jack Ruby have a good relationship with the Dallas Police Department?
MR. CLAIBORNE: How would he know?
A. Not knowing him any better than I do, I don't see how you think I could answer a question like that. I don't know.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. To the extent you knew Mr. Ruby's reputation in the community.
A. I don't know his reputation in the community. I just knew him as a passing acquaintance.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Did you ever have the occasion to have dinner or coffee or a drink with Jack Ruby?
A. Not that I ever recall. I don't ever remember sitting down at a table with him.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Mr. Matthews, we are going to commence a new area of questioning now which will relate to your knowledge of Jack Ruby's involvement in activities that were going on in Dallas in the 1950s and early 1960s. To your knowledge, was there activity in Dallas which involved gun running or smuggling of arms or narcotics to Cuba?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Was there any gun running oF smuggling of arms or narcotics to Mexico?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know a John Thomas Mason?
A. John Thomas Mason?
Q. Yes.
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Do you know a Robert Ray McKeown?
A. I don't remember the name, sir. No, I don't think so.
Q. Do you know a Joseph Raymond Merola?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Dominick Bartone?
A. No, sir.
Q. Again addressing the period from 1947 through the early 1960s, and breaking the periods down into categories to put Jack Ruby's activities in context-
MR. CLAIBORNE: '47 to '50?
MR. WOLF: Yes, when Jack Ruby first moved to Dallas.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Prior to 1947 to put Jack Ruby in historical context, was there in Dallas people engaged in gambling activities?
A. I don't know that Jack Ruby ever was.
Q. The question is prior to 1947 were people in Dallas engaged in gambling activities.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Were there people involved; you are not talking about Ruby?
MR. WOLF: The question is whether there were people involved in gambling--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): '47 to '50?
MR. WOLF: Prior to 1947.
MR. CLAIBORNE: I am going to object to that and ask for a statement of materiality.
MR. WOLF: The statement of materiality is that Jack Ruby moves to Dallas in 1947. There is a substantial question whether the move to Dallas was in part an operation of organized crime from Chicago moving into the Dallas area. To determine whether or not that is correct, it necessary that the entire picture of crime operations in Dallas, both prior to 1947 and subsequent, be put into its proper context.
MR. CLAIBORNE: That is rather broad and far reaching. As I understand it, your theory is in 1957 that Jack Ruby moved to Dallas, Texas, and that there was people involved in gambling and crime and that you want this witness to explore whether or not there was any connection between Ruby and gambling activities, is that what your--
Mr. WOLF: Yes, that's right. The year was--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Why don't you ask him that?
MR. WOLF: The year was 1947, not 1957. That is why the first question addressed itself to 1947.
MR. CLAIBORONE: Why don't you ask him whether or not he knew--
MR. WOLF: We will be addressing that question. It was, first, more important to determine the general posture in Dallas as to organized or lack or organized crime activity in the Dallas area.
MR. CLAIBORNE: All right.
A. Sir, I was in the Marine Corps during World War II and I didn't get back to the United States until the last part of 1945, or really the first part of 46, and there wasn't any organized gambling of any kind for anyone that I knew of then.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. That was in 1946?
A. Well, I got back from the Marine Corps I think October, November of 1945, so I didn't really know about anything until 1946.
Q. And in 1946-'47 are you familiar with, during those two years, two years prior to Jack Ruby moving to Dallas, do you know, were individuals engaged in gambling activities in the Dallas area?
A. Well, sir, as far as people engaged in gambling, I suppose people gamble somewhere every day. I didn't see any gambling I don't think in the context you're talking about.
Q. What type of gambling generally did you see at that time?
A. I didn't see any gambling as far as any gambling casinos being open, if that's what you have reference to.
Q. Generally, I would appreciate your description, and this is for historical context.
A. I suppose anybody might bet on a football game or a boxing match on TV or something. I don't know what kind of gambling you're talking about.
Q. Were there any gambling clubs?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard of the Redman Club?
A. The Redman's Club; yes, sir. That wasn't a gambling club.
Q What type of club was that?
A. It was a social club for members only, but there was no dice games or roulette or any kind of gambling there. They might have had some friendly poker games occasionally between the members. It was not a gambling club.
Q Are you familiar with the Top of the Hill Club?
A. I've heard the name. I've never been in it.
Q. Do you know if in the Top of the Hill Club any gambling activities took place?
A. If they took place that late, I didn't never know anything about it. I'd heard of it earlier. After I got back they were talking about it used to be gambling there. If there was gambling there at the time you are asking me, I didn't know it.
Q. Do you know the plantation Club?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard of a Mr. Hyman Fader?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Let me return for one second to a question that I asked on gun running. Do you know Johnnie Grasaffi?
A. Johnnie Grasaffi; yes, I think I do know who you're talking about, yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Grasaffi?
A. Just heard his name, maybe seen him a few times.
Q. Where did you see Mr. Grasaffi?
A. I don't remember.
Q. What period of time did you know him, when did you first meet him and approximately how often did you see him?
A. I suppose it was in the late '40s, the best I remember. I wasn't a close friend of his or anything like that.
Q. Do you know what type of activities Mr. Grasaffi was engaged in?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard of Mr. Grasaffi being engaged in any activities involving gun running or smuggling?
A. No, sir.
Q. In 1947 was there in Dallas a crackdown on gambling activities?
A. I suppose there might have been. I wasn't involved in it so I don't know, but I have heard this, yes, that they had an election and there might have been something going on before that that were no longer allowed. I have heard this, yes.
Q. Which election are you referring to?
A. I think it was 1946, I guess. I don't remember-- was that--I don't know. You probably have it written down in front of you there.
Q. Is this the election involving Sheriff Guthrie?
A. Yes, sir, I think that was the election I am talking about.
Q What was the effect of that election, to the best of your knowledge?
A. I just heard people talk that a lot of things involved in gambling, whatever it amounted to, that it didn't go on any more. Like I say, that's just about the time I got back from World War II.
Q. Do you recall, did people involved in gambling activities stop gambling or did some of them move out of the city, of what was the general result of the election?
A. I had no way of knowing, sir. That was just about the time I got back from World War II. I don't know who was doing it.
Q. Have you heard that many of the people involved in gambling left Dallas and moved to Las Vegas?
A. No, I don't remember that I heard that. Do you know if that is true?
Q. It possibly could be, yes, sir. Do you know Mr. Joseph Slaten?
A. Joe Slaten; yes, sir, I used to know him.
Q. How did you know Mr. Slaten?
A. He owned a club there in Dallas. He used to have clubs. There was never any gambling involved in them.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Jack Ruby knew Mr. Joseph Slaten?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Do you know a James Henry Dolan?
A Yes, sir.
Q How do you know Mr. Dolan?
A. I just met him. I don't remember how I met him. I knew him casually.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Dolan?
A. I don't know sir.
Q. Do you know a James Robert Todd?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Todd?
A. He was just an acquaintance of mine from 25 years ago or so. I don't remember how I first met him.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Todd was involved in any gambling activities?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Was Mr. Todd ever involved in activities involving safe cracking?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Todd?
A. I don't know that either. They might have known each other. I don't know.
Q Are you familiar with the AGVA Union?
A. What is A-G-V-A.
MR. PURDY: American Guild of Variety Artists.
A. I think--it has something to do with performers and that; I know what the union is.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Were you familiar with it in Dallas?
A. No. I mean, I don't know anything about it.
Q. You don't know anything about it?
A. No. I think this fellow Dolan worked for them when he was there but I don't know anything about it.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Dolan?
A. No. BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Do you know any of the interaction Jack Ruby may have had with people involved in AGVA?
A. No, sir, I have no idea.
Q. Do you know an Isadore Max Miller?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And how do you know her?
A. Just an old acquaintance that I have known around Dallas for years. It is impossible for me to remember how I met a man first 25 or 30 years ago.
Q. Was he involved in any gambling activities?
A. I never did see him involved in any. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew him?
A. I don't know that either.
Q. Do you know Mr. Harry Urban?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Urban?
A. The same way, just that he lived in Dallas all of his life and I have. I don't know. I can't tell you how I first met him.
Q. Did you know him socially or did you ever have any business with Mr. Urban?
A. No, sir.
Q. Which way did you know him?
A. I just knew him as a speaking acquaintance.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Urban was involved in any gambling activities?
A. I never did any gambling with him. I couldn't say that. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Urban?
A. I don 't know.
Q. Did you know Mr. Harry Hall?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Also known as Harry Sinclair?
A. No, sir.
Q. During the period of 1958 through 1960 were you aware of any gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. I don't know how I could have, sir. I was living in Havana, Cuba. You Just established that a few minutes ago.
Q. But you could have been aware of gambling activities?
A. No, I had no way of being aware of it.
Q. Do you know Mr. Paul Rowland Jones?
A. I have heard his name. I don't know him, no.
Q. You have never met Mr. Jones?
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Did Mr. Ruby know Mr. Jones?
A. I have no way of knowing that.
Q. Do you know Mr. James Breen?
A. James what? Q Breen, B-r-e-e-n.
A. No, not that I remember.
Q. Was there in the period 1958 through 1960 any drug trafficking ongoing in the city of Dallas?
A. Sir, you just established that I lived in Havana, Cuba, in those years and I don't know how you would expect me to know anything like that.
Q. Some of your associates may have spoken to you--
A. (Interrupting) How would any associates--I was living in Havana, Cuba. I don't even know if I saw anyone from Dallas in that period of time.
Q. You stated you saw Mr. McWillie, Who was from Dallas.
A. McWillie was living in Havana, Cuba, When I saw him, sir.
Q. After your return to Dallas in 1961--is that right?
A. 1960, November of 1960.
Q. And how do you recollect that date?
A. I Just remember that it was just about the time of Kennedy's election. That's the reason I remember.
Q. After your return to Dallas from 1960 to 1963 were you aware of any gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were you aware of any drug trafficking involving people in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Helen Alfonse Roan?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that Jack Ruby was involved in gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that he was involved in drug trafficking?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that he was involved in prostitution activities?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have already testified that you could not characterize Jack Ruby's general relationship with the Dallas police. However, let me ask, was it practice, to your knowledge, in Dallas to have individuals give kickbacks to the Police Department, individuals who ran particular clubs?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby ever gave any kickbacks to the police?
A. I would have no way of knowing that, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby was ever a police informant?
A. I have no way of knowing that.
Q. Do you know Mr. Sam Campisi?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Campisi?
A. I went to school with Campisi, Sam Campisi, when we were kids. I have known him all my life.
Q. Have you ever had any business dealings with Campisi?
A. Business dealings, no, I don't remember that we ever had any business dealings. He was a friend of mine. I knew him until the time he died. I went to his funeral.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Campisi?
A. I don't know. They could have. They were both in the kind of business that they're in the public eye. They could have known each other. One of them had clubs. The other had a restaurant. I don't know anything about their relationship.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joe Campisi?
A. Yes, sir, he is Sam's brother. I know him well.
Q. Was your relationship with Joe Campisi the same as your relationship with Sam?
A. Joe was a little older, but yes, sir, I've known him for years.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Ruby knew Mr. Joe Campisi?
A. They could have, sir. I don't how anything about their relationship.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joseph Civello?
A. No, sir. I've heard his name.
Q. You have never met him?
A. I might have met him at some time. I can't say that I haven't met him but I wasn't a friend of his or close associate.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Ruby knew Mr. Civello?
A. No, sir, I don't know that.
Q. Do you know Mr. Dusty Miller?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name?
A. I don't remember that I did. I don't remember.
Q. Do you know Mr. Lenny Patrick?
A. No, not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard the name?
A. Not that I remember-
Q. Do you know Mr. David Yaras?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. Barney Baker?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Do you know Mr. Nofio pecora?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. You do know and currently work for, in fact, Mr. Benny Binion, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir, I know Mr. Benny Binion. I work for him now.
Q. When did you first meet Mr. Binion?
A. It was out here, I guess. I don't remember what year. It was 20, 25 years ago, I guess, 20 or 25. I don't remember.
Q. When you say "out here," do you mean Las Vegas?
A. Las Vegas, yes, sir.
Q. At that time you were living in the City of Dallas?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How did you first meet Mr. Binion in Las Vegas?
A. I don't remember. He is in business. I guess I maybe visited, someone introduced us, I guess. I don't know.
Q. Was he living in Las Vegas at that time?
A. Benny Binion; yes, sir, he had a place of business.
Q. And you were here on--
A. (interrupting) Visiting.
Q. Did you maintain contact with Mr. Binion after you returned to Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. When did you next see Mr. Binion?
A. I don't know. I came out here quite often.
Q. When you first moved to Las Vegas, did you immediately go to work for Mr. Binion?
A.No, sir.
Q.Who did you first work for in Las Vegas?
A. Johnie Lane in a racing sports club. The name of it was the paddock Racing Sports Club, on First Street.
Q. How long did you work there?
A. Three and a half years.
Q. Who did you work for after that time?
A. Benny Binion.
Q. Have you maintained contact with Mr. Lewis McWillie in Las Vegas?
A. No, sir.
Q. When was the last time you spoke to Mr. McWillie?
A. Well, he worked at the Horseshoe for a while. I believe that is the last time that I've seen him.
Q. What time period was that that he worked there?
A. Let's see, I guess he has been gone away from there over a year ago, I suppose. He was working there when--we were working the same place together. I saw him then. I don't recall seeing him any since then.
Q. While you were in Cuba did you ever have any business dealings with Mr. McWillie?
A. No, sir.
Q. Subsequent to your return from Cuba end his return from Cuba, did you ever have any business dealings with him?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did Mr. McWillie ever discuss Jack Ruby with you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Ralph Paul?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Norman Rothman?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. James Bradin?
A.. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Eugene Hale Brading?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Mr. Ben Whittaker?
A. Yes, I've heard his name. I don't know that I have ever met him personally.
Q. Do you know what activities Mr. Whittaker was engaged in?
A. He owned a hotel there in Dallas that I knew of. That's the reason he was well known. He owned some race horses. That's the way I heard his name. Q Did you hear that Mr. Whittaker was involved in gambling prior to 1947?
A.Not to my knowledge, no, sir.
Q.Do you know a Pat McFay Kirkland? 567
A.What name?
Q.Pat McFay Kirkland.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Prior to your moving to Cuba what were you doing in Dallas, Texas?
A.I was in the bail bond business.
Q. And why did you decide to move to Cuba?
A.I don't know. I just did, that's all. The business I was in wasn't doing any good. QDid you contact anybody in Cuba prior to moving there?
A.No.
Q. Had you ever been in Cuba prior to moving there?
A.No, sir.
Q. Did you just fly yourself down and move into a hotel?
A. I just went down to look. I heard there were opportunities there. There was a lot of tourist activity. Q The first time you went down, in effect, you wound up staying for about a year, is that correct?
A. No, sir, I came back and got my clothes and things like that and then went back and made a deal with somebody about a club. 568
Q.The first time you went down was to establish a business opportunity?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long were you down on that trip?
A. A week or two, the best I remember.
Q. How long did you return to Dallas for?
A. Just long enough to get things packed, a day or so, and went back.
Q. Who did you see on that first trip to establish your business opportunity? AI don't remember the name.It was a Cuban. Those names are very difficult to remember. I made arrangements to buy a club from him.
Q. Was it a Cuban National?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was it a businessman or someone affiliated with the government?
A. No, no, he wasn't affiliated with the government. He owned a club.
Q. He owned a club and he sold the club to you?
A. Yes.
Q. Which club was that?
A. That was the one on Henio Street, the Sportsman's Club.
Q.Was that the only club you bought that trip? 569
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When did you buy your second club?
A. The first part of 1959.
Q. And you kept the other club in operation as well as the second?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. After you permanently moved to Cuba did you ever return to the United States until Castro took over?
A. Now, I returned when Castro took over. That is the only time.
Q. But you didn't come back for a visit or anything?
A. No.
Q. Do you recall the date on which you bought the second club? You said it was 1959.
A. It was the first part of 1959 right after I returned--l don't remember the exact date. I returned from the United States the first couple of days of 1959- I stayed a week or two and went back. It was right in that period of time; January or February.
Q. You bought the second club in Cuba after Castro had taken over?
A. Yes, sir. Q Did you feel that was a good investment to make at that time? A It wasn't that much money involved. It was a lease thing from the hotel. I had to buy the merchandise and the right to it.
Q.What hotel was that?
A. The Plaza Hotel.
Q.In your arranging the lease was it necessary to deal with any of the new Cuban government officials?
A. No, sir.
Q. The first club you owned outright, is that right?
A. Yes. sir.
Q. And the second club you just leased?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any association with the Dovil Hotel?
A. I lived there for a while.
Q. Did you ever operate any club there?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any association with the Sans Souci Hotel?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Salvador Arearena? Let me spell the last name--
A. (Interrupting) It doesn't make any difference. You don't have to spell it because I don't know anybody who has a name close to that.
Q. He is also known as Sammy Paxton.
A. Oh, yes, I do know who you're talking about. He was an acquaintance of mine, yes.
Q. How did you know Mr. Paxton?
A. He had a club down there in Cuba. One of them wasn't too far from mine.
Q. Do you know what club he worked at?
A. I didn't know he worked at a club. He owned a club there. He had a club; a drink place, not a gambling club.
Q. Do you know the name of it?
A. No, I don't recall that.
Q. Did Mr. Paxton known Mr. Santos Trafficante?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know Mr. Nick Cammata?
A. No, sir.
Q. C-a-m-m-a-t-a?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Michael McLaney?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that Mr. McLaney was an owner of the National Casino?
A. I'd heard that while I was living down there but I never met him.
Q. Do you know Mr. Dino Cellini?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard that name before?
A. I don't remember. I could have, yes, sir. I think I have heard that name.
Q. But you have never met Mr. Cellini?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Santos Trafficante?
A. No, sir..
Q. Have you heard that name before?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Frank Ragano?
A. Frank who?
Q. Ragano, R-a-g-a-n-o.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever meet Mr. Meyer Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever spoken with Mr. Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever meet or speak with Mr. Jake Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were you familiar with the Tropicana Club in Havana?
A. No, sir. Familiar with it, I knew it was there. I didn't have anything to do with it.
Q. Do you know who owned or operated the Tropicana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard the name John Roselli?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have never heard Mr. Roselli's name?
A. Oh, yes, in a paper here lately I saw something about him, yes. I never met him or heard of him before.
Q. Do you recall what it said in the paper?
A. It said he got killed. They found him out in the ocean or something. I saw that in the paper.
Q. You never met or spoke with Mr. Roselli?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard of a Mr. Sam Giancana?
A. I have heard the name, Yes, sir. I've seen him in the newspapers.
Q. Have you ever spoken to Mr. Giancana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Robert Maheu?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have heard that name?
A. I have heard the name, seen it in the papers.
Q. Do you know Mr. Frank Rosenthal?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Rosenthal?
A. Well, Frank Rosenthal was running the Rose Bowl Race and Sports Book when I was working that business, and we had occasion to do business with each other.
Q.That was here in Vegas?
A. Here in Las Vegas, yes.
Q. Did you know Mr. Rosenthal while you were in Cuba?
A. No, sir.
Q. When was the first time you remember meeting Mr. Rosenthal?
A. When I was working at the Paddock Race and Sports Book and he had the Rose Bowl. I guess the first year was 1971.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Rosenthal had any activities in Cuba?
A. No, sir, I have no knowledge of that.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Rosenthal knew Jack Ruby?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Eugenio Leal, L-e-a-l?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Evaristo Garcia?
A.No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Rafael Garcia Bongo?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Raphael Gener?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Angelo Brano?
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Mr. Bruno is from Philadelphia. Have you ever heard that--
A. (Interrupting) I have never been to Philadelphia in my life.
Q. Have you ever heard he may have had an interest in some of the Cuban casinos?
A. Not to my knowledge, no sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Gil Beckly?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Sam Benton?
A. Sam what?
Q. Benton, B-e-n-t-o-n.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Norman Rothman?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Sam Manarino.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Counsel, I would like a statement of materiality and the purpose for the record. This man, you are asking him name after name after name that he doesn't know.
MR. WOLF: He--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Let me finish, if you will please. You young men have a job to do, and I appreciate that. l don't want to interfere. That is why I haven't made any objection, and I won't if I understand the situation, but it seems to me terribly time consuming to ask a man a whole lot of questions that you know in advance that he doesn't know or you don't have some information that he knows.
MR. WOLF: If I may respond.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Those kinds of question are considered by every court that has heard such propositions to be just not right. If you have reason to believe he knows some of these people and he can be helpful in giving you information in that area, he is perfectly willing to do so, but please don't take up our time just running through a list of Italians. It seems like now you have a list of all of the Italians who have immigrated to this country maybe in a certain year.
MR. WOLF: Well, I will point out two propositions. First of all, as you are certainly aware, this is not a court--
MR. CLAIBORNE: I understand that.
MR. WOLF: this is a legislative proceeding--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): I am just asking for a statement so the record will show it.
MR. WOLF: I am just saying it is a legislative proceeding and, of course, the standards for relevancy and pertinency are different in a legislative proceeding than in a court proceeding.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Counsel, I am well aware of that. I have been Special Counsel in one of the Senate Committees in hearings myself. I am well aware of that.
MR. WOLF: These people we are listing--in response to your second point--are all individuals who are involved in Cuban activities. We do not know whether or not Mr. Matthews knew them. That is the purpose of asking these questions.
MR. CLAIBORNE.: But do they have any connection with Ruby?
MR. WOLF: There is a connection with Ruby, yes, in some of them. As you are well aware, Mr. Matthews has responded that he knew some and not others. We do not know which individuals.
MR. CLAIBORNE: I think he has responded he has known one out of about the last 30 names you have read off..
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Have you heard of the name Mr. Charles Routine?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard the name Babe Baron?
A. What is it?
Q. Babe Baron, B-a-r-o-n.
A. No, not that I know of.
Q. Are you familiar with General Baron?
A. No.
MR. CLAIBORNE: General Baron who used to be at the Sands Hotel--
MR. WOLF: That could be.
MR. CLAIBORNE (continuing): --here in Vegas?
MR. WOLF: Yes.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Did you know him when he was here?
THE WITNESS: No, sir, I didn't know him.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q.Do you know a Willie Bischoff?
A. No.
Q. Did you know Mr. John Wilson Hudson?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever met with Mr. H.L. Hunt?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Hunt?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard of Mr. Hunt?
A. Everybody has heard of him, sir.
Q. Were you ever present at a meeting where the possibility of killing Castro was discussed?
A. No, sir. You mean a meeting with Mr. Hunt?
Q. Either a meeting with Mr. Hunt or without Mr. Hunt.
A. No, sir.
Q. You were never present at any meeting?
A. No, sir.
Q. Prior to the assassination of President Kennedy had you ever heard people discussing assassinating Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Subsequent to the assassination of President Kennedy did you hear any people discussing the possibility of assassinating Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that the assassination of President Kennedy was in retaliation for an attempted assassination on Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. John Eli Stone?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Stone?
A. He is just another man I've known for 30 years or so. I don't remember when I first met him.
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Stone?
A. No, business dealings, no, I didn't have any business dealings with him.
Q. Where did Mr. Stone reside?
A. Dallas, Texas.
Q. Did you ever go to Las Vegas with Mr. Stone?
A. With him; I don't remember that we got on the same plane and came together. I have seen him out here.
Q. Do you recall when--you said you came on the same plane. Do you--
A. (Interrupting) I say I don't recall--you asked did I come with him. I said I don't remember that we came together on the same plane. I have seen him on a lot of occasions out here in Las Vegas.
Q. Did you ever take a Joint trip, even if you weren't on the same plane, from Dallas to Las Vegas?
A. Not that I remember, no, sir. I won't say that that is impossible but I guest don't remember it.
Q. Do you know If any people here in Las Vegas were interesting in funding Jack Ruby's legal fees?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joseph Gebron, G-e-b-r-o-n?
A. Yes, I knew him. He is dead now.
Q. How did you know him?
A. Just another old acquaintance around Dallas I have known for years.
Q. Was he involved--prior to 1947 you know if he was involved in any gambling activities?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if he was involved in any gambling activities from 1947 through 1960?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was he involved in any gambling activities subsequent to 1960?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was he arrested with you in 1967 on bookmaking charges?
A. He got arrested on the street and they arrested me at the same time. They didn't arrest us together. They took us to jail together.
Q. What was the charge you were arrested on?
A. They arrested us for investigation of bookmaking and there was no charge ever made.
Q. Have you ever heard of the Skynight Club?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby ever went there?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. You stated that you knew Mr. Johnnie Grasaffi?
A. I knew him casually, yes, sir.
Q. Do you know what activities Mr. Grasaffi engaged in?
A. I have no idea.
Q. Have you ever heard that before the mob assumed control of Dallas that Mr. Grassaffi would have to be run out of town?
A. I didn't know the mob ever got control of Dallas. I didn't hear the other, either. No, sir, I didn't hear either one of them.
Q. You currently work for Mr. Binion, as you testified. Do you know why Mr. Binion left Dallas in 1947?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Has he ever discussed that with you?
A. No. He doesn't have to discuss anything with me.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Binion was engaged in gambling activities in Dallas prior to 1947?
A. I don't know. I told you, when I returned back from the Marine Corps, he wasn't at that time.
Q. Mr. Binion never discussed with you his activities in Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Mr. Binion aside from your current employment?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did Jack Ruby ever suggest doing any type of business deal with you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Are you familiar with any business dealings that Jack Ruby engaged in?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard of Mr. Carlos Marcelo?
A. I've heard the name, yes, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Rudy knew him?
A. I don't have any way of knowing that.
Q. Did anybody hire Jack Ruby to kill Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. I don't know.
Q. Did anybody hire Lee Harvey Oswald to kill President Kennedy?
A. I have no idea.
Q. Is there any general information you could tell us about Jack Ruby that would be helpful to the Committee in investigating the assassination of President Kennedy?
A. I don't know anything I could tell you, sir. I don't know. He was a very slight acquaintance of mine, just a passing acquaintance.
Q. Can you characterize him personality wise?
A. He was an outgoing sort of a man. That is one reason a lot of people knew him. He was an outgoing personality and would make himself known or introduced to you if you were around him.
Q. Was he an emotional kind of person?
A. He seemed to be a nervous kind of a fellow. He was aggressive, you know, he wanted to be introduced, he'd give you a card, "Come to my club," things like that. That's all I really know about him.
Q. Was he a violent person?
A. I never saw--I don't have any way of knowing that. I never saw any occasion.
Q. Did you ever see him engaged in any fights or arguments? A No, sir.
Q. Did you know any of Jack Ruby's sisters or brothers?
A. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Matthews, I believe that concludes our deposition. If you would like to make any statement for the record that will be helpful to the Committee, it would be most appreciated.
A. I don't know what I can tell you, sir. If I could help you I would.
MR. WOLF: Thank you very much, Mr. Matthews. As we explained, we will send you a copy of this deposition
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS
DEPOSITION OF RUSSELL DOUGLAS MATTHEWS,
a witness produced, sworn, and examined on Monday, the 3rd day of April, in the year of our Lord 1978, between the hours of 8 o'clock in the forenoon and 6 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, in Room 4-003,, Federal Courthouse, 210 Las Vegas Boulevard, in the City of Las Vegas and in the State of Nevada, before the Select Committee on Assassinations, House of Representatives of the United States of America.
APPEARANCES:
For the Committee:
JAMES WOLF,
Deputy Chief Counsel,Select Committee on Assassinations,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DONALDA. PURDY,
Staff Counsel,
Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington. D.C.
For the witness:
HARRY E. CLAIBORNE,
108 South Third Street,
Las Vegas, Nevada.
NAOMI BOLSTAD was sworn to accurately and correctly report in stenotypy the complete proceedings had in the taking of the deposition of Russell Douglas Matthews.
RUSSELL DOUGLAS MATTHEWSof lawful age, being produced, sworn, and examined on the part of the Committee, deposeth and saith:
MR. WOLF: For the record, it should be noted that the Magistrate was Joseph L. Ward, and we are currently in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 5, 1978
My name is James Wolf, Mr. Matthews. My co-counsel is Donald Purdy. We both, pursuant to House Resolution and Committee Rule 4, have been designated counsel empowered to take your statements under oath.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Would you please state your name for the record?
A. Russell Douglas Matthews.
Q. What is your current address
A. 4412 Lilliput Lane, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Q. Mr. Matthews, have we given your counsel a copy of the Committee rules and the Committee resolutions prior to the commencement of this deposition?
A. Yes.
Q. And, Mr. Matthews, you understand this deposition on your behalf is being taken at your request as opposed to is that correct?
A. Yes, I guess you could say that, yes.
Q. And, for the record, you are accompanied by counsel today?
A. Yes.
MR. WOLF: Could counsel please identify himself on the record?
MR. CLAIBORNE: Harry E. Claiborne, 108 South Third Street, Las Vegas, Nevada.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q Mr. Matthews, the entire record today will be transcribed. After the Committee has received a copy of the transcription, we will send you a copy of that record and ask you to sign and verify that, that it is a true, complete, and accurate account of the testimony you have given. We will then ask you to sign a statement to that effect and return it to us at the Committee's offices. If you desire to make any changes in the transcription, I would request that you contact us and we will make the appropriate arrangements. If you do sign and verify the transcript, we will then provide you a copy for your permanent records of the transcript.
Q. Mr. Matthews, where were you born and what was the date of your birth?
A. July 26, 1920; Aspermont, Texas.
Q How long did you live in Aspermont, Texas? A Until I was seven years old. Q Where did you move at that time? A Dallas, Texas. Q How long did you reside in Dallas?
A. The rest of my life until the last seven years. I moved here a little over seven years ago.
Q. You moved here in approximately 1971? A Yes; January of 1971. Q And in Dallas, Texas, what was the first Job you held while you were living there? A I don't remember. I have had a lot of jobs there. I don't remember the first one really. I was just a kid. I worked in filling stations. I don't remember.
Q. Could you run through a chronology for us of some the jobs you currently remember in Dallas that you held? A No, no, not that long ago I can't. I have been in business for myself most of my life.
Q. You are self-employed?
A. Yes.
Q. While in Dallas, do you remember ever working for any other person? Were you ever employed at a club?
A. No, sir, not--no, sir.
Q. When did you first meet Mr. Jack Ruby?
A. I can't really tell you that. I didn't know him that well. I don't really know how to answer that. I can't answer it. I don't know. How I really met him I don't know.
Q. Do you remember approximately when you met him?
A. Let me see. I guess maybe the late "50s, somewhere around there I suppose. I am just guessing because I wasn't that close an acquaintance that it sticks out in my mind.
Q. What were the circumstances of the first meeting you recall with Jack Ruby?
A. I don't recall any. I didn't have any meetings with him. I knew him to speak to him on the street but I don't remember ever having any meetings with him. Q What was the first time that you remember ever speaking to him on the street? A That is impossible for me to say. I don't know.
Q. How do you estimate it was the late 1950s?
A. Well, I'm just guessing. It seemed like he had been around Dallas or I'd heard his name or seen him on the street for a few years before this Kennedy assassination. I am just assuming it was the late '50s. I don't really remember.
Q. Do you recall ever being asked by FBI agents when you first met Jack Ruby?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have no memory of FBI agents interrogating you?
A. I remember FBI agents talking to me about it. I don't remember that they asked that particular question.
Q. In response to the FBI interview, would you have told them in 1963 or '64, I would assume that would be--
A. I suppose; '63, whenever it happened.
Q. (Continuing) '63, would you have told them at that time a true account of your recollection of when you first met Jack Ruby?
A. If I told them it was a true account. I don't recall what I told them.
Q. Mr. Matthews, let me show you, for the record-- A All Fight.
Q. (Continuing) --a copy of an interview conducted with you by the Federal Bureau of Investigation dated December 15, 1963, and ask you to read that at this time.
A. Twelve years; I don't remember saying that. No, sir. I don't remember saying that I'd known him 12 years and I don't think I had.
Q. If you had known him 12 years, that would have meant you first met him in 1951, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir, I suppose that is true. but I don't remember saying this. I remember some of these other things I said. I don't recall saying that I'd known him for 12 years. I don't remember that. It has been some time ago, you know.
Q. Is your testimony today that that statement-
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Counsel, could I have a copy?
MR. WOLF: Surely.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Is your testimony today that that statement would be incorrect?
A. I can't really say. sir, to tell you the truth. It has been some time ago and if I said I'd known him 12 years--like I say, some of those things that they asked me I remember saying. I don't remember saying I'd known him 12 years. I was not a close friend of his. I never had any mix with him socially or anything. I just don't remember how long I'd known him. You go a year or two and don't see somebody sometimes. I didn't know him that well.
Q. What was the nature of your interaction with Jack Ruby?
A. Nothing. He was a man that was well known around on the streets of Dallas. If you pass by him on the street he's liable to introduce himself to you, so if I'd pass him I'd say hello. I don't know what else to tell you.
Q.Were you familiar with the clubs in Dallas that Jack Ruby visited?
A. I've heard that he had some clubs. I have never been in one of them.
Q. You have never been in the Carrousel Club?
A. I don't know where the Carrousel Club was actually.
Q. Did you know of any other clubs that Jack Ruby had?
A He has had several clubs around Dallas but I don't recall the names. Now, where the Carrousel Club--I didn't know he had--I don't recall the names of any of them. I don't remember ever being in any club Jack Ruby had. If I have been, I don't remember it.
Q Did you ever live in Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What period of time was that?
A. 1958 and '59 .
Q. Was that continuous that you lived there during that time?
A. No; I went to Cuba in 1958 and when Castro,--they, had the revolution, I came back for a few months and then went back and stayed until November 1959.
Q. Do you recall what time you returned to the States? You said Castro had the revolution.
A. Castro took over in the revolution, I think it was January 1, 1959, which I returned to the United States and I stayed--I don't remember the exact date that I went back; maybe a month or so.
Q. Did you come to the United States directly after the revolution, would it have been January of '59?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you stayed in the United States approximately how long?
A.I'd say a month or two. I don't remember now; until things got settled down. I had a place of business there. Q And then you returned to Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did you do in Cuba upon your return?
A. I owned two bars there.
Q. Which bars were those?
A. I owned a bar in the Plaza Hotel in the lobby and I owned a bar on Henio Street. H-e-n-l-o or something, I don't remember how you spell it.
Q. What was the name of that bar, do you recall?
A. No; Sportsman's Club, I think.
Q. While in Cuba did you know Mr. Lewis McWillie?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How did you know Mr. McWillie?
A. He lived in Dallas. I had known him for several years in Dallas.
Q. Was that prior to your going to Cuba?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When you first went to Cuba, did you have a job before you left for Cuba?
A. No, sir.
Q. Upon your arrival in Cuba, who did you stay with or who did you first meet?
A. I stayed in a hotel by myself.
Q. Did you have any meetings with Mr. McWillie at that time? A No, sir. Mr. McWillie wasn't even in Cuba when I went there.
Q. And you established the bars by yourself?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. During the period of time you were in Cuba, 1959, did you meet Mr. McWillie often?
A. No.
Q. What was the first time that you met Mr. McWillie in Cuba? A I don't know how to answer that question. You are talking about something that happened 18 or 19 years ago and I really can't truthfully answer.
Q. Well, Mr. McWillie was a friend of yours from Dallas, isn't that true?
A. I knew him in Dallas, yes, sir.
Q. Did he call you when he arrived in Cuba?
A. No.
Q. How did you first find out he was in Cuba?
A. I don't know. I might have just run into him. You're talking about something that happened 18, 19 years ago. I don't really remember.
Q. I understand that. Do you recall any of your discussions with Mr. McWillie?
A. No. I didn't have that many discussions with him.
Q. Approximately how often did you see him?
A. Oh, I'd probably pass by him once every two or three months or so. I don't know.
Q. Do you how, did Jack Ruby ever visit Cuba?
A. I didn't see him.
Q. Have you heard that he visited Cuba?
A. I have heard since this thing came out that he was there, yes, sir.
Q. He did not visit you while he--
A. (Interrupting) No, sir, I did not see him. I didn't even how he was there.
Q. Did you ever discuss with Mr. McWillie the fact that Jack Ruby visited Cuba?
A. I don't remember that I have.
Q.Do you know Mr. Tony Zoppi?
A. Yes, sir.
Q.How do you know Mr. Zoppi?
A. Mr. Zoppi used to be the entertainment writer or critic for the Dallas Morning News before he came to work here in Las Vegas. I knew him very casually.
Q. Have you maintained contact with him since he came to Las Vegas?
A. No, sir. I just knew who he was, that's all.
Q. Have you ever met Mr. Zoppi?
A. I think I have. I think so, yes.
Q. Has Mr. Zoppi ever discussed with you a trip Jack Ruby took to Cuba?
A. No, sir. Mr. Zoppi has never discussed anything with me. I
guess this is a period of 20, 25 years, I doubt if I have ever spoken to him three times, three or four.
Q. Where were you when you heard that Jack Ruby assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. In my home at that address you have there; Irving, Texas. Q When was the last time before the assassination that you saw Jack Ruby? A I don't know, sir. I don't know, because I had no meetings with him of any consequence. There wouldn't be any way--I never stopped and talked to him or anything. I might have spoken to him on the street. I really don't know.
Q. What were your thoughts when you heard that Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald, given the fact that Jack Ruby was a person you knew even though casually?
A. I just couldn't believe it actually. Probably just like anyone else, I couldn't believe that anyone would do what he did. It was unbelievable to me that someone would walk in a police station and do that. If that is the reaction you're looking for, I couldn't believe it.
Q. Is there any way for you to determine when the last time prior to the assassination that you saw Jack Ruby was?
A. No, sir, I can't answer that. I don't know.
Q. Did you have any contact with Jack Ruby subsequent to the assassination? A Not sir.
Q. Were you married to a woman known as Elizabeth Ann Matthews?
A. Yes.
Q. When did you divorce Ms. Matthews?
A. I don't remember the year. The questions you ask me happened 18, 20 years ago. It is impossible for me to remember the exact dates.
Q. Was it in the early '50s, late '50s, or early '60s, can you state that?
A. Probably the late '50s.
Q. Late '50's?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. It was before John F. Kennedy became President, to the best of your recollection?
A. Maybe right about that time, to the best of my recollection, right close to that time, yes, sir.
Q. Where did your ex-wife continue to live after you divorced her?
A I don't have any idea.
Q. Did you live, prior to your divorce, in Shreveport, Louisiana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Are you aware, did your ex-wife ever live in Shreveport, Louisiana?
A. I think that she could have. I might have heard that. I'm not sure.
Q. Subsequent to your divorce, did you maintain contact with your wife?
A. Before we were divorced?
Q. After your divorce.
A.. NO
Q. You had no contact with her at all?
A. I don't say that I haven't seen her or spoken to her, but as far as any contact--
Q. Do you know where she is living now?
A. I have no idea.
Q. What was the last address that you know she was living at, what city?
A. I don't have any idea, sir. I don't know for sure. Q What was her maiden name?
A. Flanagan.
Q. Have you heard of the allegation that Jack Ruby made a phone call to your ex-wife the month before the assassination?
A. No, I didn't even know they knew each other.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Mr. Matthews, was your relationship or your contact with Jack Ruby such that you ever made or received a phone call from him?
A. Not to my knowledge, no, sir, not that I ever recall.
Q. What was Jack Ruby's reputation in the community? You said he was well known. What was he well known for?
A. I say he was well known because he speaks to you on the street. He was the kind of a man--I just knew he ran clubs. I don't know that much about his reputation. He was a person who would make himself known if you were ever around him.
Q.Do you know anyone who was close to Jack Ruby?
A. No, I couldn't--I don't know that I did.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Did Jack Ruby have a good relationship with the Dallas Police Department?
MR. CLAIBORNE: How would he know?
A. Not knowing him any better than I do, I don't see how you think I could answer a question like that. I don't know.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. To the extent you knew Mr. Ruby's reputation in the community.
A. I don't know his reputation in the community. I just knew him as a passing acquaintance.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Did you ever have the occasion to have dinner or coffee or a drink with Jack Ruby?
A. Not that I ever recall. I don't ever remember sitting down at a table with him.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Mr. Matthews, we are going to commence a new area of questioning now which will relate to your knowledge of Jack Ruby's involvement in activities that were going on in Dallas in the 1950s and early 1960s. To your knowledge, was there activity in Dallas which involved gun running or smuggling of arms or narcotics to Cuba?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Was there any gun running oF smuggling of arms or narcotics to Mexico?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know a John Thomas Mason?
A. John Thomas Mason?
Q. Yes.
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Do you know a Robert Ray McKeown?
A. I don't remember the name, sir. No, I don't think so.
Q. Do you know a Joseph Raymond Merola?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Dominick Bartone?
A. No, sir.
Q. Again addressing the period from 1947 through the early 1960s, and breaking the periods down into categories to put Jack Ruby's activities in context-
MR. CLAIBORNE: '47 to '50?
MR. WOLF: Yes, when Jack Ruby first moved to Dallas.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Prior to 1947 to put Jack Ruby in historical context, was there in Dallas people engaged in gambling activities?
A. I don't know that Jack Ruby ever was.
Q. The question is prior to 1947 were people in Dallas engaged in gambling activities.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Were there people involved; you are not talking about Ruby?
MR. WOLF: The question is whether there were people involved in gambling--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): '47 to '50?
MR. WOLF: Prior to 1947.
MR. CLAIBORNE: I am going to object to that and ask for a statement of materiality.
MR. WOLF: The statement of materiality is that Jack Ruby moves to Dallas in 1947. There is a substantial question whether the move to Dallas was in part an operation of organized crime from Chicago moving into the Dallas area. To determine whether or not that is correct, it necessary that the entire picture of crime operations in Dallas, both prior to 1947 and subsequent, be put into its proper context.
MR. CLAIBORNE: That is rather broad and far reaching. As I understand it, your theory is in 1957 that Jack Ruby moved to Dallas, Texas, and that there was people involved in gambling and crime and that you want this witness to explore whether or not there was any connection between Ruby and gambling activities, is that what your--
Mr. WOLF: Yes, that's right. The year was--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Why don't you ask him that?
MR. WOLF: The year was 1947, not 1957. That is why the first question addressed itself to 1947.
MR. CLAIBORONE: Why don't you ask him whether or not he knew--
MR. WOLF: We will be addressing that question. It was, first, more important to determine the general posture in Dallas as to organized or lack or organized crime activity in the Dallas area.
MR. CLAIBORNE: All right.
A. Sir, I was in the Marine Corps during World War II and I didn't get back to the United States until the last part of 1945, or really the first part of 46, and there wasn't any organized gambling of any kind for anyone that I knew of then.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. That was in 1946?
A. Well, I got back from the Marine Corps I think October, November of 1945, so I didn't really know about anything until 1946.
Q. And in 1946-'47 are you familiar with, during those two years, two years prior to Jack Ruby moving to Dallas, do you know, were individuals engaged in gambling activities in the Dallas area?
A. Well, sir, as far as people engaged in gambling, I suppose people gamble somewhere every day. I didn't see any gambling I don't think in the context you're talking about.
Q. What type of gambling generally did you see at that time?
A. I didn't see any gambling as far as any gambling casinos being open, if that's what you have reference to.
Q. Generally, I would appreciate your description, and this is for historical context.
A. I suppose anybody might bet on a football game or a boxing match on TV or something. I don't know what kind of gambling you're talking about.
Q. Were there any gambling clubs?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard of the Redman Club?
A. The Redman's Club; yes, sir. That wasn't a gambling club.
Q What type of club was that?
A. It was a social club for members only, but there was no dice games or roulette or any kind of gambling there. They might have had some friendly poker games occasionally between the members. It was not a gambling club.
Q Are you familiar with the Top of the Hill Club?
A. I've heard the name. I've never been in it.
Q. Do you know if in the Top of the Hill Club any gambling activities took place?
A. If they took place that late, I didn't never know anything about it. I'd heard of it earlier. After I got back they were talking about it used to be gambling there. If there was gambling there at the time you are asking me, I didn't know it.
Q. Do you know the plantation Club?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard of a Mr. Hyman Fader?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Let me return for one second to a question that I asked on gun running. Do you know Johnnie Grasaffi?
A. Johnnie Grasaffi; yes, I think I do know who you're talking about, yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Grasaffi?
A. Just heard his name, maybe seen him a few times.
Q. Where did you see Mr. Grasaffi?
A. I don't remember.
Q. What period of time did you know him, when did you first meet him and approximately how often did you see him?
A. I suppose it was in the late '40s, the best I remember. I wasn't a close friend of his or anything like that.
Q. Do you know what type of activities Mr. Grasaffi was engaged in?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard of Mr. Grasaffi being engaged in any activities involving gun running or smuggling?
A. No, sir.
Q. In 1947 was there in Dallas a crackdown on gambling activities?
A. I suppose there might have been. I wasn't involved in it so I don't know, but I have heard this, yes, that they had an election and there might have been something going on before that that were no longer allowed. I have heard this, yes.
Q. Which election are you referring to?
A. I think it was 1946, I guess. I don't remember-- was that--I don't know. You probably have it written down in front of you there.
Q. Is this the election involving Sheriff Guthrie?
A. Yes, sir, I think that was the election I am talking about.
Q What was the effect of that election, to the best of your knowledge?
A. I just heard people talk that a lot of things involved in gambling, whatever it amounted to, that it didn't go on any more. Like I say, that's just about the time I got back from World War II.
Q. Do you recall, did people involved in gambling activities stop gambling or did some of them move out of the city, of what was the general result of the election?
A. I had no way of knowing, sir. That was just about the time I got back from World War II. I don't know who was doing it.
Q. Have you heard that many of the people involved in gambling left Dallas and moved to Las Vegas?
A. No, I don't remember that I heard that. Do you know if that is true?
Q. It possibly could be, yes, sir. Do you know Mr. Joseph Slaten?
A. Joe Slaten; yes, sir, I used to know him.
Q. How did you know Mr. Slaten?
A. He owned a club there in Dallas. He used to have clubs. There was never any gambling involved in them.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Jack Ruby knew Mr. Joseph Slaten?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Do you know a James Henry Dolan?
A Yes, sir.
Q How do you know Mr. Dolan?
A. I just met him. I don't remember how I met him. I knew him casually.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Dolan?
A. I don't know sir.
Q. Do you know a James Robert Todd?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Todd?
A. He was just an acquaintance of mine from 25 years ago or so. I don't remember how I first met him.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Todd was involved in any gambling activities?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Was Mr. Todd ever involved in activities involving safe cracking?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Todd?
A. I don't know that either. They might have known each other. I don't know.
Q Are you familiar with the AGVA Union?
A. What is A-G-V-A.
MR. PURDY: American Guild of Variety Artists.
A. I think--it has something to do with performers and that; I know what the union is.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Were you familiar with it in Dallas?
A. No. I mean, I don't know anything about it.
Q. You don't know anything about it?
A. No. I think this fellow Dolan worked for them when he was there but I don't know anything about it.
BY MR. PURDY:
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Dolan?
A. No. BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Do you know any of the interaction Jack Ruby may have had with people involved in AGVA?
A. No, sir, I have no idea.
Q. Do you know an Isadore Max Miller?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And how do you know her?
A. Just an old acquaintance that I have known around Dallas for years. It is impossible for me to remember how I met a man first 25 or 30 years ago.
Q. Was he involved in any gambling activities?
A. I never did see him involved in any. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew him?
A. I don't know that either.
Q. Do you know Mr. Harry Urban?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Urban?
A. The same way, just that he lived in Dallas all of his life and I have. I don't know. I can't tell you how I first met him.
Q. Did you know him socially or did you ever have any business with Mr. Urban?
A. No, sir.
Q. Which way did you know him?
A. I just knew him as a speaking acquaintance.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Urban was involved in any gambling activities?
A. I never did any gambling with him. I couldn't say that. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Urban?
A. I don 't know.
Q. Did you know Mr. Harry Hall?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Also known as Harry Sinclair?
A. No, sir.
Q. During the period of 1958 through 1960 were you aware of any gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. I don't know how I could have, sir. I was living in Havana, Cuba. You Just established that a few minutes ago.
Q. But you could have been aware of gambling activities?
A. No, I had no way of being aware of it.
Q. Do you know Mr. Paul Rowland Jones?
A. I have heard his name. I don't know him, no.
Q. You have never met Mr. Jones?
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Did Mr. Ruby know Mr. Jones?
A. I have no way of knowing that.
Q. Do you know Mr. James Breen?
A. James what? Q Breen, B-r-e-e-n.
A. No, not that I remember.
Q. Was there in the period 1958 through 1960 any drug trafficking ongoing in the city of Dallas?
A. Sir, you just established that I lived in Havana, Cuba, in those years and I don't know how you would expect me to know anything like that.
Q. Some of your associates may have spoken to you--
A. (Interrupting) How would any associates--I was living in Havana, Cuba. I don't even know if I saw anyone from Dallas in that period of time.
Q. You stated you saw Mr. McWillie, Who was from Dallas.
A. McWillie was living in Havana, Cuba, When I saw him, sir.
Q. After your return to Dallas in 1961--is that right?
A. 1960, November of 1960.
Q. And how do you recollect that date?
A. I Just remember that it was just about the time of Kennedy's election. That's the reason I remember.
Q. After your return to Dallas from 1960 to 1963 were you aware of any gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were you aware of any drug trafficking involving people in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Helen Alfonse Roan?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that Jack Ruby was involved in gambling activities in the City of Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that he was involved in drug trafficking?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that he was involved in prostitution activities?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have already testified that you could not characterize Jack Ruby's general relationship with the Dallas police. However, let me ask, was it practice, to your knowledge, in Dallas to have individuals give kickbacks to the Police Department, individuals who ran particular clubs?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby ever gave any kickbacks to the police?
A. I would have no way of knowing that, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby was ever a police informant?
A. I have no way of knowing that.
Q. Do you know Mr. Sam Campisi?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Campisi?
A. I went to school with Campisi, Sam Campisi, when we were kids. I have known him all my life.
Q. Have you ever had any business dealings with Campisi?
A. Business dealings, no, I don't remember that we ever had any business dealings. He was a friend of mine. I knew him until the time he died. I went to his funeral.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby knew Mr. Campisi?
A. I don't know. They could have. They were both in the kind of business that they're in the public eye. They could have known each other. One of them had clubs. The other had a restaurant. I don't know anything about their relationship.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joe Campisi?
A. Yes, sir, he is Sam's brother. I know him well.
Q. Was your relationship with Joe Campisi the same as your relationship with Sam?
A. Joe was a little older, but yes, sir, I've known him for years.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Ruby knew Mr. Joe Campisi?
A. They could have, sir. I don't how anything about their relationship.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joseph Civello?
A. No, sir. I've heard his name.
Q. You have never met him?
A. I might have met him at some time. I can't say that I haven't met him but I wasn't a friend of his or close associate.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Ruby knew Mr. Civello?
A. No, sir, I don't know that.
Q. Do you know Mr. Dusty Miller?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name?
A. I don't remember that I did. I don't remember.
Q. Do you know Mr. Lenny Patrick?
A. No, not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard the name?
A. Not that I remember-
Q. Do you know Mr. David Yaras?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. Barney Baker?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Do you know Mr. Nofio pecora?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. You do know and currently work for, in fact, Mr. Benny Binion, is that correct?
A. Yes, sir, I know Mr. Benny Binion. I work for him now.
Q. When did you first meet Mr. Binion?
A. It was out here, I guess. I don't remember what year. It was 20, 25 years ago, I guess, 20 or 25. I don't remember.
Q. When you say "out here," do you mean Las Vegas?
A. Las Vegas, yes, sir.
Q. At that time you were living in the City of Dallas?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How did you first meet Mr. Binion in Las Vegas?
A. I don't remember. He is in business. I guess I maybe visited, someone introduced us, I guess. I don't know.
Q. Was he living in Las Vegas at that time?
A. Benny Binion; yes, sir, he had a place of business.
Q. And you were here on--
A. (interrupting) Visiting.
Q. Did you maintain contact with Mr. Binion after you returned to Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. When did you next see Mr. Binion?
A. I don't know. I came out here quite often.
Q. When you first moved to Las Vegas, did you immediately go to work for Mr. Binion?
A.No, sir.
Q.Who did you first work for in Las Vegas?
A. Johnie Lane in a racing sports club. The name of it was the paddock Racing Sports Club, on First Street.
Q. How long did you work there?
A. Three and a half years.
Q. Who did you work for after that time?
A. Benny Binion.
Q. Have you maintained contact with Mr. Lewis McWillie in Las Vegas?
A. No, sir.
Q. When was the last time you spoke to Mr. McWillie?
A. Well, he worked at the Horseshoe for a while. I believe that is the last time that I've seen him.
Q. What time period was that that he worked there?
A. Let's see, I guess he has been gone away from there over a year ago, I suppose. He was working there when--we were working the same place together. I saw him then. I don't recall seeing him any since then.
Q. While you were in Cuba did you ever have any business dealings with Mr. McWillie?
A. No, sir.
Q. Subsequent to your return from Cuba end his return from Cuba, did you ever have any business dealings with him?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did Mr. McWillie ever discuss Jack Ruby with you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Ralph Paul?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Norman Rothman?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. James Bradin?
A.. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Eugene Hale Brading?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know a Mr. Ben Whittaker?
A. Yes, I've heard his name. I don't know that I have ever met him personally.
Q. Do you know what activities Mr. Whittaker was engaged in?
A. He owned a hotel there in Dallas that I knew of. That's the reason he was well known. He owned some race horses. That's the way I heard his name. Q Did you hear that Mr. Whittaker was involved in gambling prior to 1947?
A.Not to my knowledge, no, sir.
Q.Do you know a Pat McFay Kirkland? 567
A.What name?
Q.Pat McFay Kirkland.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not that I remember.
Q. Prior to your moving to Cuba what were you doing in Dallas, Texas?
A.I was in the bail bond business.
Q. And why did you decide to move to Cuba?
A.I don't know. I just did, that's all. The business I was in wasn't doing any good. QDid you contact anybody in Cuba prior to moving there?
A.No.
Q. Had you ever been in Cuba prior to moving there?
A.No, sir.
Q. Did you just fly yourself down and move into a hotel?
A. I just went down to look. I heard there were opportunities there. There was a lot of tourist activity. Q The first time you went down, in effect, you wound up staying for about a year, is that correct?
A. No, sir, I came back and got my clothes and things like that and then went back and made a deal with somebody about a club. 568
Q.The first time you went down was to establish a business opportunity?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long were you down on that trip?
A. A week or two, the best I remember.
Q. How long did you return to Dallas for?
A. Just long enough to get things packed, a day or so, and went back.
Q. Who did you see on that first trip to establish your business opportunity? AI don't remember the name.It was a Cuban. Those names are very difficult to remember. I made arrangements to buy a club from him.
Q. Was it a Cuban National?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was it a businessman or someone affiliated with the government?
A. No, no, he wasn't affiliated with the government. He owned a club.
Q. He owned a club and he sold the club to you?
A. Yes.
Q. Which club was that?
A. That was the one on Henio Street, the Sportsman's Club.
Q.Was that the only club you bought that trip? 569
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When did you buy your second club?
A. The first part of 1959.
Q. And you kept the other club in operation as well as the second?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. After you permanently moved to Cuba did you ever return to the United States until Castro took over?
A. Now, I returned when Castro took over. That is the only time.
Q. But you didn't come back for a visit or anything?
A. No.
Q. Do you recall the date on which you bought the second club? You said it was 1959.
A. It was the first part of 1959 right after I returned--l don't remember the exact date. I returned from the United States the first couple of days of 1959- I stayed a week or two and went back. It was right in that period of time; January or February.
Q. You bought the second club in Cuba after Castro had taken over?
A. Yes, sir. Q Did you feel that was a good investment to make at that time? A It wasn't that much money involved. It was a lease thing from the hotel. I had to buy the merchandise and the right to it.
Q.What hotel was that?
A. The Plaza Hotel.
Q.In your arranging the lease was it necessary to deal with any of the new Cuban government officials?
A. No, sir.
Q. The first club you owned outright, is that right?
A. Yes. sir.
Q. And the second club you just leased?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any association with the Dovil Hotel?
A. I lived there for a while.
Q. Did you ever operate any club there?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any association with the Sans Souci Hotel?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Salvador Arearena? Let me spell the last name--
A. (Interrupting) It doesn't make any difference. You don't have to spell it because I don't know anybody who has a name close to that.
Q. He is also known as Sammy Paxton.
A. Oh, yes, I do know who you're talking about. He was an acquaintance of mine, yes.
Q. How did you know Mr. Paxton?
A. He had a club down there in Cuba. One of them wasn't too far from mine.
Q. Do you know what club he worked at?
A. I didn't know he worked at a club. He owned a club there. He had a club; a drink place, not a gambling club.
Q. Do you know the name of it?
A. No, I don't recall that.
Q. Did Mr. Paxton known Mr. Santos Trafficante?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know Mr. Nick Cammata?
A. No, sir.
Q. C-a-m-m-a-t-a?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Michael McLaney?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that Mr. McLaney was an owner of the National Casino?
A. I'd heard that while I was living down there but I never met him.
Q. Do you know Mr. Dino Cellini?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard that name before?
A. I don't remember. I could have, yes, sir. I think I have heard that name.
Q. But you have never met Mr. Cellini?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Santos Trafficante?
A. No, sir..
Q. Have you heard that name before?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Frank Ragano?
A. Frank who?
Q. Ragano, R-a-g-a-n-o.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever meet Mr. Meyer Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever spoken with Mr. Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever meet or speak with Mr. Jake Lansky?
A. No, sir.
Q. Were you familiar with the Tropicana Club in Havana?
A. No, sir. Familiar with it, I knew it was there. I didn't have anything to do with it.
Q. Do you know who owned or operated the Tropicana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard the name John Roselli?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have never heard Mr. Roselli's name?
A. Oh, yes, in a paper here lately I saw something about him, yes. I never met him or heard of him before.
Q. Do you recall what it said in the paper?
A. It said he got killed. They found him out in the ocean or something. I saw that in the paper.
Q. You never met or spoke with Mr. Roselli?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard of a Mr. Sam Giancana?
A. I have heard the name, Yes, sir. I've seen him in the newspapers.
Q. Have you ever spoken to Mr. Giancana?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Robert Maheu?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have heard that name?
A. I have heard the name, seen it in the papers.
Q. Do you know Mr. Frank Rosenthal?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Rosenthal?
A. Well, Frank Rosenthal was running the Rose Bowl Race and Sports Book when I was working that business, and we had occasion to do business with each other.
Q.That was here in Vegas?
A. Here in Las Vegas, yes.
Q. Did you know Mr. Rosenthal while you were in Cuba?
A. No, sir.
Q. When was the first time you remember meeting Mr. Rosenthal?
A. When I was working at the Paddock Race and Sports Book and he had the Rose Bowl. I guess the first year was 1971.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Rosenthal had any activities in Cuba?
A. No, sir, I have no knowledge of that.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Rosenthal knew Jack Ruby?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Eugenio Leal, L-e-a-l?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever heard that name before?
A. Not to my knowledge.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Evaristo Garcia?
A.No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Rafael Garcia Bongo?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Raphael Gener?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Angelo Brano?
A. No, sir, not that I remember.
Q. Mr. Bruno is from Philadelphia. Have you ever heard that--
A. (Interrupting) I have never been to Philadelphia in my life.
Q. Have you ever heard he may have had an interest in some of the Cuban casinos?
A. Not to my knowledge, no sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Gil Beckly?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Sam Benton?
A. Sam what?
Q. Benton, B-e-n-t-o-n.
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Norman Rothman?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard the name Sam Manarino.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Counsel, I would like a statement of materiality and the purpose for the record. This man, you are asking him name after name after name that he doesn't know.
MR. WOLF: He--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): Let me finish, if you will please. You young men have a job to do, and I appreciate that. l don't want to interfere. That is why I haven't made any objection, and I won't if I understand the situation, but it seems to me terribly time consuming to ask a man a whole lot of questions that you know in advance that he doesn't know or you don't have some information that he knows.
MR. WOLF: If I may respond.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Those kinds of question are considered by every court that has heard such propositions to be just not right. If you have reason to believe he knows some of these people and he can be helpful in giving you information in that area, he is perfectly willing to do so, but please don't take up our time just running through a list of Italians. It seems like now you have a list of all of the Italians who have immigrated to this country maybe in a certain year.
MR. WOLF: Well, I will point out two propositions. First of all, as you are certainly aware, this is not a court--
MR. CLAIBORNE: I understand that.
MR. WOLF: this is a legislative proceeding--
MR. CLAIBORNE (interrupting): I am just asking for a statement so the record will show it.
MR. WOLF: I am just saying it is a legislative proceeding and, of course, the standards for relevancy and pertinency are different in a legislative proceeding than in a court proceeding.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Counsel, I am well aware of that. I have been Special Counsel in one of the Senate Committees in hearings myself. I am well aware of that.
MR. WOLF: These people we are listing--in response to your second point--are all individuals who are involved in Cuban activities. We do not know whether or not Mr. Matthews knew them. That is the purpose of asking these questions.
MR. CLAIBORNE.: But do they have any connection with Ruby?
MR. WOLF: There is a connection with Ruby, yes, in some of them. As you are well aware, Mr. Matthews has responded that he knew some and not others. We do not know which individuals.
MR. CLAIBORNE: I think he has responded he has known one out of about the last 30 names you have read off..
BY MR. WOLF:
Q. Have you heard of the name Mr. Charles Routine?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard the name Babe Baron?
A. What is it?
Q. Babe Baron, B-a-r-o-n.
A. No, not that I know of.
Q. Are you familiar with General Baron?
A. No.
MR. CLAIBORNE: General Baron who used to be at the Sands Hotel--
MR. WOLF: That could be.
MR. CLAIBORNE (continuing): --here in Vegas?
MR. WOLF: Yes.
MR. CLAIBORNE: Did you know him when he was here?
THE WITNESS: No, sir, I didn't know him.
BY MR. WOLF:
Q.Do you know a Willie Bischoff?
A. No.
Q. Did you know Mr. John Wilson Hudson?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever met with Mr. H.L. Hunt?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. Hunt?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard of Mr. Hunt?
A. Everybody has heard of him, sir.
Q. Were you ever present at a meeting where the possibility of killing Castro was discussed?
A. No, sir. You mean a meeting with Mr. Hunt?
Q. Either a meeting with Mr. Hunt or without Mr. Hunt.
A. No, sir.
Q. You were never present at any meeting?
A. No, sir.
Q. Prior to the assassination of President Kennedy had you ever heard people discussing assassinating Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Subsequent to the assassination of President Kennedy did you hear any people discussing the possibility of assassinating Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Had you ever heard that the assassination of President Kennedy was in retaliation for an attempted assassination on Fidel Castro?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know Mr. John Eli Stone?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know Mr. Stone?
A. He is just another man I've known for 30 years or so. I don't remember when I first met him.
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Stone?
A. No, business dealings, no, I didn't have any business dealings with him.
Q. Where did Mr. Stone reside?
A. Dallas, Texas.
Q. Did you ever go to Las Vegas with Mr. Stone?
A. With him; I don't remember that we got on the same plane and came together. I have seen him out here.
Q. Do you recall when--you said you came on the same plane. Do you--
A. (Interrupting) I say I don't recall--you asked did I come with him. I said I don't remember that we came together on the same plane. I have seen him on a lot of occasions out here in Las Vegas.
Q. Did you ever take a Joint trip, even if you weren't on the same plane, from Dallas to Las Vegas?
A. Not that I remember, no, sir. I won't say that that is impossible but I guest don't remember it.
Q. Do you know If any people here in Las Vegas were interesting in funding Jack Ruby's legal fees?
A. No, sir, not to my knowledge.
Q. Do you know Mr. Joseph Gebron, G-e-b-r-o-n?
A. Yes, I knew him. He is dead now.
Q. How did you know him?
A. Just another old acquaintance around Dallas I have known for years.
Q. Was he involved--prior to 1947 you know if he was involved in any gambling activities?
A. I don't know.
Q. Do you know if he was involved in any gambling activities from 1947 through 1960?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was he involved in any gambling activities subsequent to 1960?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Was he arrested with you in 1967 on bookmaking charges?
A. He got arrested on the street and they arrested me at the same time. They didn't arrest us together. They took us to jail together.
Q. What was the charge you were arrested on?
A. They arrested us for investigation of bookmaking and there was no charge ever made.
Q. Have you ever heard of the Skynight Club?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Ruby ever went there?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. You stated that you knew Mr. Johnnie Grasaffi?
A. I knew him casually, yes, sir.
Q. Do you know what activities Mr. Grasaffi engaged in?
A. I have no idea.
Q. Have you ever heard that before the mob assumed control of Dallas that Mr. Grassaffi would have to be run out of town?
A. I didn't know the mob ever got control of Dallas. I didn't hear the other, either. No, sir, I didn't hear either one of them.
Q. You currently work for Mr. Binion, as you testified. Do you know why Mr. Binion left Dallas in 1947?
A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Has he ever discussed that with you?
A. No. He doesn't have to discuss anything with me.
Q. Do you know if Mr. Binion was engaged in gambling activities in Dallas prior to 1947?
A. I don't know. I told you, when I returned back from the Marine Corps, he wasn't at that time.
Q. Mr. Binion never discussed with you his activities in Dallas?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever have any business dealings with Mr. Binion aside from your current employment?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did Jack Ruby ever suggest doing any type of business deal with you?
A. No, sir.
Q. Are you familiar with any business dealings that Jack Ruby engaged in?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you heard of Mr. Carlos Marcelo?
A. I've heard the name, yes, sir.
Q. Do you know if Jack Rudy knew him?
A. I don't have any way of knowing that.
Q. Did anybody hire Jack Ruby to kill Lee Harvey Oswald?
A. I don't know.
Q. Did anybody hire Lee Harvey Oswald to kill President Kennedy?
A. I have no idea.
Q. Is there any general information you could tell us about Jack Ruby that would be helpful to the Committee in investigating the assassination of President Kennedy?
A. I don't know anything I could tell you, sir. I don't know. He was a very slight acquaintance of mine, just a passing acquaintance.
Q. Can you characterize him personality wise?
A. He was an outgoing sort of a man. That is one reason a lot of people knew him. He was an outgoing personality and would make himself known or introduced to you if you were around him.
Q. Was he an emotional kind of person?
A. He seemed to be a nervous kind of a fellow. He was aggressive, you know, he wanted to be introduced, he'd give you a card, "Come to my club," things like that. That's all I really know about him.
Q. Was he a violent person?
A. I never saw--I don't have any way of knowing that. I never saw any occasion.
Q. Did you ever see him engaged in any fights or arguments? A No, sir.
Q. Did you know any of Jack Ruby's sisters or brothers?
A. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Matthews, I believe that concludes our deposition. If you would like to make any statement for the record that will be helpful to the Committee, it would be most appreciated.
A. I don't know what I can tell you, sir. If I could help you I would.
MR. WOLF: Thank you very much, Mr. Matthews. As we explained, we will send you a copy of this deposition
I think the anti-Castro Cuban retaliation angle, nor the pro-Cuban theory of vendetta vigilantes does not enter into this equation for a resonable conclusion for this murder ....
The anti-Castro group was very small and there was not sufficent anti-Castro sentiment to make a dent....the only people that would have motivation to go up against Castro were the people who owned interests in casinos in Cuba that Castro was going to give the boot to....
the pro-Castro people would not have any reason to off JFK...
Fact has it that JFK and Castro were in peaceful negotiations at this time and JFK said"Leave Castro and his governement ALONE".
CASTRO has been quoted as saying "ARE YOU CRAZY??? I would NEVER go up against the UNITED STATES!!!!!" JFK EXPRESSED EXTREME CONCERN THAT PEOPLE IN THE CIA WERE INTO SOME EVIL WRONG-DOINGS...QUOTES COMING UP....
The anti-Castro group was very small and there was not sufficent anti-Castro sentiment to make a dent....the only people that would have motivation to go up against Castro were the people who owned interests in casinos in Cuba that Castro was going to give the boot to....
the pro-Castro people would not have any reason to off JFK...
Fact has it that JFK and Castro were in peaceful negotiations at this time and JFK said"Leave Castro and his governement ALONE".
CASTRO has been quoted as saying "ARE YOU CRAZY??? I would NEVER go up against the UNITED STATES!!!!!" JFK EXPRESSED EXTREME CONCERN THAT PEOPLE IN THE CIA WERE INTO SOME EVIL WRONG-DOINGS...QUOTES COMING UP....
Moo Cow wrote:I think the anti-Castro Cuban retaliation angle, nor the pro-Cuban theory of vendetta vigilantes does not enter into this equation for a resonable conclusion for this murder ....The anti-Castro group was very small and there was not sufficent anti-Castro sentiment to make a dent....the only people that would have motivation to go up against Castro were the people who owned interests in casinos in Cuba that Castro was going to give the boot to....the pro-Castro people would not have any reason to off JFK...Fact has it that JFK and Castro were in peaceful negotiations at this time and JFK said"Leave Castro and his governement ALONE".CASTRO has been quoted as saying "ARE YOU CRAZY??? I would NEVER go up against the UNITED STATES!!!!!" JFK EXPRESSED EXTREME CONCERN THAT PEOPLE IN THE CIA WERE INTO SOME EVIL WRONG-DOINGS...QUOTES COMING UP....
>In a comment made to a Columbia University class on Nov. 12, 1963,
ten days
>before his assassination, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
allegedly said:
>
>"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to
destroy the
>American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the
citizen of this
>plight."
>
>In this matter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy appears to be the subject
of his own
>book... a true Profile of Courage.
>
>
>
>
>Copyright @ 2005
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>In a comment made to a Columbia University class on Nov. 12, 1963,
ten days
>before his assassination, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
allegedly said:
>
>"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to
destroy the
>American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the
citizen of this
>plight."
>
>In this matter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy appears to be the subject
of his own
>book... a true Profile of Courage.
>
>
>
>
>Copyright @ 2005
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's the whole article ;
John F. Kennedy vs The Federal Reserve
Anthony Wayne
On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order 11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal Government at interest. With the stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business. The Christian Law Fellowship has exhaustively researched this matter through the Federal Register and Library of Congress. We can now safely conclude that this Executive Order has never been repealed, amended, or superceded by any subsequent Executive Order. In simple terms, it is still valid.
When President John Fitzgerald Kennedy - the author of Profiles in Courage -signed this Order, it returned to the federal government, specifically the Treasury Department, the Constitutional power to create and issue currency -money - without going through the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. President Kennedy's Executive Order 11110 [the full text is displayed further below] gave the Treasury Department the explicit authority: "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This means that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation based on the silver bullion physically held there. As a result, more than $4 billion in United States Notes were brought into circulation in $2 and $5 denominations. $10 and $20 United States Notes were never circulated but were being printed by the Treasury Department when Kennedy was assassinated. It appears obvious that President Kennedy knew the Federal Reserve Notes being used as the purported legal currency were contrary to the Constitution of the united States of America.
FED NOTE
US NOTE
United States Notes" were issued as an interest-free and debt-free currency backed by silver reserves in the U.S. Treasury. We compared a "Federal Reserve Note" issued from the private central bank of the United States (the Federal Reserve Bank a/k/a Federal Reserve System), with a "United States Note" from the U.S. Treasury issued by President Kennedy's Executive Order. They almost look alike, except one says "Federal Reserve Note" on the top while the other says "United States Note". Also, the Federal Reserve Note has a green seal and serial number while the United States Note has a red seal and serial number.
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and the United States Notes he had issued were immediately taken out of circulation. Federal Reserve Notes continued to serve as the legal currency of the nation. According to the United States Secret Service, 99% of all U.S. paper "currency" circulating in 1999 are Federal Reserve Notes.
Kennedy knew that if the silver-backed United States Notes were widely circulated, they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve Notes. This is a very simple matter of economics. The USN was backed by silver and the FRN was not backed by anything of intrinsic value. Executive Order 11110 should have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level (virtually all of the nearly $9 trillion in federal debt has been created since 1963) if LBJ or any subsequent President were to enforce it. It would have almost immediately given the U.S. Government the ability to repay its debt without going to the private Federal Reserve Banks and being charged interest to create new "money". Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S.A. the ability to, once again, create its own money backed by silver and realm value worth something.
Again, according to our own research, just five months after Kennedy was assassinated, no more of the Series 1958 "Silver Certificates" were issued either, and they were subsequently removed from circulation. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to all future presidents not to interfere with the private Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. It seems very apparent that President Kennedy challenged the "powers that exist behind U.S. and world finance". With true patriotic courage, JFK boldly faced the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt:
1) war (Viet Nam); and,
2) the creation of money by a privately owned central bank. His efforts to have all U.S. troops out of Vietnam by 1965 combined with Executive Order 11110 would have destroyed the profits and control of the private Federal Reserve Bank.
xoxox
Executive Order 11110
AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10289 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS AFFECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, it is ordered as follows:
SECTION 1. Executive Order No. 10289 of September 19, 1951, as amended, is hereby further amended - (a) By adding at the end of paragraph 1 thereof the following subparagraph (j): "(j) The authority vested in the President by paragraph (b) of section 43 of the Act of May 12, 1933, as amended (31 U.S.C. 821 (b)), to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for redemption of any outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe the denominations of such silver certificates, and to coin standard silver dollars and subsidiary silver currency for their redemption," and (b) By revoking subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 thereof. SECTION 2. The amendment made by this Order shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil or criminal cause prior to the date of this Order but all such liabilities shall continue and may be enforced as if said amendments had not been made.
JOHN F. KENNEDY THE WHITE HOUSE, June 4, 1963
xoxox
Once again, Executive Order 11110 is still valid. According to Title 3, United States Code, Section 301 dated January 26, 1998:
Executive Order (EO) 10289 dated Sept. 17, 1951, 16 F.R. 9499, was as amended by:
EO 10583, dated December 18, 1954, 19 F.R. 8725;
EO 10882 dated July 18, 1960, 25 F.R. 6869;
EO 11110 dated June 4, 1963, 28 F.R. 5605;
EO 11825 dated December 31, 1974, 40 F.R. 1003;
EO 12608 dated September 9, 1987, 52 F.R. 34617
The 1974 and 1987 amendments, added after Kennedy's 1963 amendment, did not change or alter any part of Kennedy's EO 11110. A search of Clinton's 1998 and 1999 EO's and Presidential Directives has also shown no reference to any alterations, suspensions, or changes to EO 11110.
The Federal Reserve Bank, a.k.a Federal Reserve System, is a Private Corporation. Black's Law Dictionary defines the "Federal Reserve System" as: "Network of twelve central banks to which most national banks belong and to which state chartered banks may belong. Membership rules require investment of stock and minimum reserves." Privately-owned banks own the stock of the FED. This was explained in more detail in the case of Lewis v. United States, Federal Reporter, 2nd Series, Vol. 680, Pages 1239, 1241 (1982), where the court said: "Each Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region. The stock-holding commercial banks elect two thirds of each Bank's nine member board of directors".
The Federal Reserve Banks are locally controlled by their member banks. Once again, according to Black's Law Dictionary, we find that these privately owned banks actually issue money:
"Federal Reserve Act. Law which created Federal Reserve banks which act as agents in maintaining money reserves, issuing money in the form of bank notes, lending money to banks, and supervising banks. Administered by Federal Reserve Board (q.v.)".
The privately owned Federal Reserve (FED) banks actually issue (create) the "money" we use. In 1964, the House Committee on Banking and Currency, Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, at the second session of the 88th Congress, put out a study entitled Money Facts which contains a good description of what the FED is: "The Federal Reserve is a total money-making machine. It can issue money or checks. And it never has a problem of making its checks good because it can obtain the $5 and $10 bills necessary to cover its check simply by asking the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving to print them".
Any one person or any closely knit group who has a lot of money has a lot of power. Now imagine a group of people who have the power to create money. Imagine the power these people would have. This is exactly what the privately owned FED is!
No man did more to expose the power of the FED than Louis T. McFadden, who was the Chairman of the House Banking Committee back in the 1930s. In describing the FED, he remarked in the Congressional Record, House pages 1295 and 1296 on June 10, 1932:
"Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government Board, has cheated the Government of the United States and he people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the maladministration of that law by which the Federal Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it".
Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are not Government institutions, departments, or agencies. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. Those 12 private credit monopolies were deceitfully placed upon this country by bankers who came here from Europe and who repaid us for our hospitality by undermining our American institutions.
The FED basically works like this: The government granted its power to create money to the FED banks. They create money, then loan it back to the government charging interest. The government levies income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. On this point, it's interesting to note that the Federal Reserve Act and the sixteenth amendment, which gave congress the power to collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. The incredible power of the FED over the economy is universally admitted. Some people, especially in the banking and academic communities, even support it. On the other hand, there are those, such as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, that have spoken out against it. His efforts were spoken about in Jim Marrs' 1990 book Crossfire:"
Another overlooked aspect of Kennedy's attempt to reform American society involves money. Kennedy apparently reasoned that by returning to the constitution, which states that only Congress shall coin and regulate money, the soaring national debt could be reduced by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve System, who print paper money then loan it to the government at interest. He moved in this area on June 4, 1963, by signing Executive Order 11110 which called for the issuance of $4,292,893,815 in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury rather than the traditional Federal Reserve System. That same day, Kennedy signed a bill changing the backing of one and two dollar bills from silver to gold, adding strength to the weakened U.S. currency.
Kennedy's comptroller of the currency, James J. Saxon, had been at odds with the powerful Federal Reserve Board for some time, encouraging broader investment and lending powers for banks that were not part of the Federal Reserve system. Saxon also had decided that non-Reserve banks could underwrite state and local general obligation bonds, again weakening the dominant Federal Reserve banks".
In a comment made to a Columbia University class on Nov. 12, 1963,
Ten days before his assassination, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy allegedly said:
"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the citizen of this plight."
In this matter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy appears to be the subject of his own book... a true Profile of Courage.
This research report was compiled for Lawgiver. Org. by Anthony Wayne
xoxox
What is the Federal Reserve Bank?
What is the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) and why do we have it?
by Greg Hobbs November 1, 1999
The FED is a central bank. Central banks are supposed to implement a country's fiscal policies. They monitor commercial banks to ensure that they maintain sufficient assets, like cash, so as to remain solvent and stable. Central banks also do business, such as currency exchanges and gold transactions, with other central banks. In theory, a central bank should be good for a country, and they might be if it wasn't for the fact that they are not owned or controlled by the government of the country they are serving. Private central banks, including our FED, operate not in the interest of the public good but for profit.
There have been three central banks in our nation's history. The first two, while deceptive and fraudulent, pale in comparison to the scope and size of the fraud being perpetrated by our current FED. What they all have in common is an insidious practice known as "fractional banking."
Fractional banking or fractional lending is the ability to create money from nothing, lend it to the government or someone else and charge interest to boot. The practice evolved before banks existed. Goldsmiths rented out space in their vaults to individuals and merchants for storage of their gold or silver. The goldsmiths gave these "depositors" a certificate that showed the amount of gold stored. These certificates were then used to conduct business.
In time the goldsmiths noticed that the gold in their vaults was rarely withdrawn. Small amounts would move in and out but the large majority never moved. Sensing a profit opportunity, the goldsmiths issued double receipts for the gold, in effect creating money (certificates) from nothing and then lending those certificates (creating debt) to depositors and charging them interest as well.
Since the certificates represented more gold than actually existed, the certificates were "fractionally" backed by gold. Eventually some of these vault operations were transformed into banks and the practice of fractional banking continued.
Keep that fractional banking concept in mind as we examine our first central bank, the First Bank of the United States (BUS). It was created, after bitter dissent in the Congress, in 1791 and chartered for 20 years. A scam not unlike the current FED, the BUS used its control of the currency to defraud the public and establish a legal form of usury.
This bank practiced fractional lending at a 10:1 rate, ten dollars of loans for each dollar they had on deposit. This misuse and abuse of their public charter continued for the entire 20 years of their existence. Public outrage over these abuses was such that the charter was not renewed and the bank ceased to exist in 1811.
The war of 1812 left the country in economic chaos, seen by bankers as another opportunity for easy profits. They influenced Congress to charter the second central bank, the Second Bank of the United States (SBUS), in 1816.
The SBUS was more expansive than the BUS. The SBUS sold franchises and literally doubled the number of banks in a short period of time. The country began to boom and move westward, which required money. Using fractional lending at the 10:1 rate, the central bank and their franchisees created the debt/money for the expansion.
Things boomed for a while, then the banks decided to shut off the debt/money, citing the need to control inflation. This action on the part of the SBUS caused bankruptcies and foreclosures. The banks then took control of the assets that were used as security against the loans.
Closely examine how the SBUS engineered this cycle of prosperity and depression. The central bank caused inflation by creating debt/money for loans and credit and making these funds readily available. The economy boomed. Then they used the inflation which they created as an excuse to shut off the loans/credit/money.
The resulting shortage of cash caused the economy to falter or slow dramatically and large numbers of business and personal bankruptcies resulted. The central bank then seized the assets used as security for the loans. The wealth created by the borrowers during the boom was then transferred to the central bank during the bust. And you always wondered how the big guys ended up with all the marbles.
Now, who do you think is responsible for all of the ups and downs in our economy over the last 85 years? Think about the depression of the late '20s and all through the '30s. The FED could have pumped lots of debt/money into the market to stimulate the economy and get the country back on track, but did they? No; in fact, they restricted the money supply quite severely. We all know the results that occurred from that action, don't we?
Why would the FED do this? During that period asset values and stocks were at rock bottom prices. Who do you think was buying everything at 10 cents on the dollar? I believe that it is referred to as consolidating the wealth. How many times have they already done this in the last 85 years?
Do you think they will do it again?
Just as an aside at this point, look at today's economy. Markets are declining. Why? Because the FED has been very liberal with its debt/credit/money. The market was hyper inflated. Who creates inflation? The FED. How does the FED deal with inflation? They restrict the debt/credit/money. What happens when they do that? The market collapses.
Several months back, after certain central banks said they would be selling large quantities of gold, the price of gold fell to a 25-year low of about $260 per ounce. The central banks then bought gold. After buying at the bottom, a group of 15 central banks announced that they would be restricting the amount of gold released into the market for the next five years. The price of gold went up $75.00 per ounce in just a few days. How many hundreds of billions of dollars did the central banks make with those two press releases?
Gold is generally considered to be a hedge against more severe economic conditions. Do you think that the private banking families that own the FED are buying or selling equities at this time? (Remember: buy low, sell high.) How much money do you think these FED owners have made since they restricted the money supply at the top of this last current cycle?
Alan Greenspan has said publicly on several occasions that he thinks the market is overvalued, or words to that effect. Just a hint that he will raise interest rates (restrict the money supply), and equity markets have a negative reaction. Governments and politicians do not rule central banks, central banks rule governments and politicians. President Andrew Jackson won the presidency in 1828 with the promise to end the national debt and eliminate the SBUS. During his second term President Jackson withdrew all government funds from the bank and on January 8, 1835, paid off the national debt. He is the only president in history to have this distinction. The charter of the SBUS expired in 1836.
Without a central bank to manipulate the supply of money, the United States experienced unprecedented growth for 60 or 70 years, and the resulting wealth was too much for bankers to endure. They had to get back into the game. So, in 1910 Senator Nelson Aldrich, then Chairman of the National Monetary Commission, in collusion with representatives of the European central banks, devised a plan to pressure and deceive Congress into enacting legislation that would covertly establish a private central bank.
This bank would assume control over the American economy by controlling the issuance of its money. After a huge public relations campaign, engineered by the foreign central banks, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was slipped through Congress during the Christmas recess, with many members of the Congress absent. President Woodrow Wilson, pressured by his political and financial backers, signed it on December 23, 1913.
The act created the Federal Reserve System, a name carefully selected and designed to deceive. "Federal" would lead one to believe that this is a government organization. "Reserve" would lead one to believe that the currency is being backed by gold and silver. "System" was used in lieu of the word "bank" so that one would not conclude that a new central bank had been created.
In reality, the act created a private, for profit, central banking corporation owned by a cartel of private banks. Who owns the FED? The Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York.
Did you know that the FED is the only for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes? The FED takes in about one trillion dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money.
Almost everyone thinks that the money they pay in taxes goes to the US Treasury to pay for the expenses of the government. Do you want to know where your tax dollars really go? If you look at the back of any check made payable to the IRS you will see that it has been endorsed as "Pay Any F.R.B. Branch or Gen. Depository for Credit U.S. Treas. This is in Payment of U.S. Oblig." Yes, that's right, every dime you pay in income taxes is given to those private banking families, commonly known as the FED, tax free.
Like many of you, I had some difficulty with the concept of creating money from nothing. You may have heard the term "monetizing the debt," which is kind of the same thing. As an example, if the US Government wants to borrow $1 million ó the government does borrow every dollar it spends ó they go to the FED to borrow the money. The FED calls the Treasury and says print 10,000 Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) in units of one hundred dollars.
The Treasury charges the FED 2.3 cents for each note, for a total of $230 for the 10,000 FRNs. The FED then lends the $1 million to the government at face value plus interest. To add insult to injury, the government has to create a bond for $1 million as security for the loan. And the rich get richer. The above was just an example, because in reality the FED does not even print the money; it's just a computer entry in their accounting system. To put this on a more personal level, let's use another example.
Today's banks are members of the Federal Reserve Banking System. This membership makes it legal for them to create money from nothing and lend it to you. Today's banks, like the goldsmiths of old, realize that only a small fraction of the money deposited in their banks is ever actually withdrawn in the form of cash. Only about 4 percent of all the money that exists is in the form of currency. The rest of it is simply a computer entry.
Let's say you're approved to borrow $10,000 to do some home improvements. You know that the bank didn't actually take $10,000 from its pile of cash and put it into your pile? They simply went to their computer and input an entry of $10,000 into your account. They created, from thin air, a debt which you have to secure with an asset and repay with interest. The bank is allowed to create and lend as much debt as they want as long as they do not exceed the 10:1 ratio imposed by the FED.
It sort of puts a new slant on how you view your friendly bank, doesn't it? How about those loan committees that scrutinize you with a microscope before approving the loan they created from thin air. What a hoot! They make it complex for a reason. They don't want you to understand what they are doing. People fear what they do not understand. You are easier to delude and control when you are ignorant and afraid.
Now to put the frosting on this cake. When was the income tax created? If you guessed 1913, the same year that the FED was created, you get a gold star. Coincidence? What are the odds? If you are going to use the FED to create debt, who is going to repay that debt? The income tax was created to complete the illusion that real money had been lent and therefore real money had to be repaid. And you thought Houdini was good.
So, what can be done? My father taught me that you should always stand up for what is right, even if you have to stand up alone.
If "We the People" don't take some action now, there may come a time when "We the People" are no more. You should write a letter or send an email to each of your elected representatives. Many of our elected representatives do not understand the FED. Once informed they will not be able to plead ignorance and remain silent.
Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution specifically says that Congress is the only body that can "coin money and regulate the value thereof." The US Constitution has never been amended to allow anyone other than Congress to coin and regulate currency.
Ask your representative, in light of that information, how it is possible for the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and the Federal Reserve Bank that it created, to be constitutional. Ask them why this private banking cartel is allowed to reap trillions of dollars in profits without paying taxes. Insist on an answer.
Thomas Jefferson said, "If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Jefferson saw it coming 150 years ago. The question is, "Can you now see what is in store for us if we allow the FED to continue controlling our country?"
"The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt."
John P. Curran, 1790
Financial Markets War Precious Metals The Federal Reserve Energy Survival
John F. Kennedy vs The Federal Reserve
Anthony Wayne
On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order 11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal Government at interest. With the stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business. The Christian Law Fellowship has exhaustively researched this matter through the Federal Register and Library of Congress. We can now safely conclude that this Executive Order has never been repealed, amended, or superceded by any subsequent Executive Order. In simple terms, it is still valid.
When President John Fitzgerald Kennedy - the author of Profiles in Courage -signed this Order, it returned to the federal government, specifically the Treasury Department, the Constitutional power to create and issue currency -money - without going through the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. President Kennedy's Executive Order 11110 [the full text is displayed further below] gave the Treasury Department the explicit authority: "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This means that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation based on the silver bullion physically held there. As a result, more than $4 billion in United States Notes were brought into circulation in $2 and $5 denominations. $10 and $20 United States Notes were never circulated but were being printed by the Treasury Department when Kennedy was assassinated. It appears obvious that President Kennedy knew the Federal Reserve Notes being used as the purported legal currency were contrary to the Constitution of the united States of America.
FED NOTE
US NOTE
United States Notes" were issued as an interest-free and debt-free currency backed by silver reserves in the U.S. Treasury. We compared a "Federal Reserve Note" issued from the private central bank of the United States (the Federal Reserve Bank a/k/a Federal Reserve System), with a "United States Note" from the U.S. Treasury issued by President Kennedy's Executive Order. They almost look alike, except one says "Federal Reserve Note" on the top while the other says "United States Note". Also, the Federal Reserve Note has a green seal and serial number while the United States Note has a red seal and serial number.
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and the United States Notes he had issued were immediately taken out of circulation. Federal Reserve Notes continued to serve as the legal currency of the nation. According to the United States Secret Service, 99% of all U.S. paper "currency" circulating in 1999 are Federal Reserve Notes.
Kennedy knew that if the silver-backed United States Notes were widely circulated, they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve Notes. This is a very simple matter of economics. The USN was backed by silver and the FRN was not backed by anything of intrinsic value. Executive Order 11110 should have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level (virtually all of the nearly $9 trillion in federal debt has been created since 1963) if LBJ or any subsequent President were to enforce it. It would have almost immediately given the U.S. Government the ability to repay its debt without going to the private Federal Reserve Banks and being charged interest to create new "money". Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S.A. the ability to, once again, create its own money backed by silver and realm value worth something.
Again, according to our own research, just five months after Kennedy was assassinated, no more of the Series 1958 "Silver Certificates" were issued either, and they were subsequently removed from circulation. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to all future presidents not to interfere with the private Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. It seems very apparent that President Kennedy challenged the "powers that exist behind U.S. and world finance". With true patriotic courage, JFK boldly faced the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt:
1) war (Viet Nam); and,
2) the creation of money by a privately owned central bank. His efforts to have all U.S. troops out of Vietnam by 1965 combined with Executive Order 11110 would have destroyed the profits and control of the private Federal Reserve Bank.
xoxox
Executive Order 11110
AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10289 AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS AFFECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY. By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, it is ordered as follows:
SECTION 1. Executive Order No. 10289 of September 19, 1951, as amended, is hereby further amended - (a) By adding at the end of paragraph 1 thereof the following subparagraph (j): "(j) The authority vested in the President by paragraph (b) of section 43 of the Act of May 12, 1933, as amended (31 U.S.C. 821 (b)), to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for redemption of any outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe the denominations of such silver certificates, and to coin standard silver dollars and subsidiary silver currency for their redemption," and (b) By revoking subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 thereof. SECTION 2. The amendment made by this Order shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil or criminal cause prior to the date of this Order but all such liabilities shall continue and may be enforced as if said amendments had not been made.
JOHN F. KENNEDY THE WHITE HOUSE, June 4, 1963
xoxox
Once again, Executive Order 11110 is still valid. According to Title 3, United States Code, Section 301 dated January 26, 1998:
Executive Order (EO) 10289 dated Sept. 17, 1951, 16 F.R. 9499, was as amended by:
EO 10583, dated December 18, 1954, 19 F.R. 8725;
EO 10882 dated July 18, 1960, 25 F.R. 6869;
EO 11110 dated June 4, 1963, 28 F.R. 5605;
EO 11825 dated December 31, 1974, 40 F.R. 1003;
EO 12608 dated September 9, 1987, 52 F.R. 34617
The 1974 and 1987 amendments, added after Kennedy's 1963 amendment, did not change or alter any part of Kennedy's EO 11110. A search of Clinton's 1998 and 1999 EO's and Presidential Directives has also shown no reference to any alterations, suspensions, or changes to EO 11110.
The Federal Reserve Bank, a.k.a Federal Reserve System, is a Private Corporation. Black's Law Dictionary defines the "Federal Reserve System" as: "Network of twelve central banks to which most national banks belong and to which state chartered banks may belong. Membership rules require investment of stock and minimum reserves." Privately-owned banks own the stock of the FED. This was explained in more detail in the case of Lewis v. United States, Federal Reporter, 2nd Series, Vol. 680, Pages 1239, 1241 (1982), where the court said: "Each Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region. The stock-holding commercial banks elect two thirds of each Bank's nine member board of directors".
The Federal Reserve Banks are locally controlled by their member banks. Once again, according to Black's Law Dictionary, we find that these privately owned banks actually issue money:
"Federal Reserve Act. Law which created Federal Reserve banks which act as agents in maintaining money reserves, issuing money in the form of bank notes, lending money to banks, and supervising banks. Administered by Federal Reserve Board (q.v.)".
The privately owned Federal Reserve (FED) banks actually issue (create) the "money" we use. In 1964, the House Committee on Banking and Currency, Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, at the second session of the 88th Congress, put out a study entitled Money Facts which contains a good description of what the FED is: "The Federal Reserve is a total money-making machine. It can issue money or checks. And it never has a problem of making its checks good because it can obtain the $5 and $10 bills necessary to cover its check simply by asking the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving to print them".
Any one person or any closely knit group who has a lot of money has a lot of power. Now imagine a group of people who have the power to create money. Imagine the power these people would have. This is exactly what the privately owned FED is!
No man did more to expose the power of the FED than Louis T. McFadden, who was the Chairman of the House Banking Committee back in the 1930s. In describing the FED, he remarked in the Congressional Record, House pages 1295 and 1296 on June 10, 1932:
"Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government Board, has cheated the Government of the United States and he people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the United States; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It has done this through the maladministration of that law by which the Federal Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it".
Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are not Government institutions, departments, or agencies. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. Those 12 private credit monopolies were deceitfully placed upon this country by bankers who came here from Europe and who repaid us for our hospitality by undermining our American institutions.
The FED basically works like this: The government granted its power to create money to the FED banks. They create money, then loan it back to the government charging interest. The government levies income taxes to pay the interest on the debt. On this point, it's interesting to note that the Federal Reserve Act and the sixteenth amendment, which gave congress the power to collect income taxes, were both passed in 1913. The incredible power of the FED over the economy is universally admitted. Some people, especially in the banking and academic communities, even support it. On the other hand, there are those, such as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, that have spoken out against it. His efforts were spoken about in Jim Marrs' 1990 book Crossfire:"
Another overlooked aspect of Kennedy's attempt to reform American society involves money. Kennedy apparently reasoned that by returning to the constitution, which states that only Congress shall coin and regulate money, the soaring national debt could be reduced by not paying interest to the bankers of the Federal Reserve System, who print paper money then loan it to the government at interest. He moved in this area on June 4, 1963, by signing Executive Order 11110 which called for the issuance of $4,292,893,815 in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury rather than the traditional Federal Reserve System. That same day, Kennedy signed a bill changing the backing of one and two dollar bills from silver to gold, adding strength to the weakened U.S. currency.
Kennedy's comptroller of the currency, James J. Saxon, had been at odds with the powerful Federal Reserve Board for some time, encouraging broader investment and lending powers for banks that were not part of the Federal Reserve system. Saxon also had decided that non-Reserve banks could underwrite state and local general obligation bonds, again weakening the dominant Federal Reserve banks".
In a comment made to a Columbia University class on Nov. 12, 1963,
Ten days before his assassination, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy allegedly said:
"The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the citizen of this plight."
In this matter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy appears to be the subject of his own book... a true Profile of Courage.
This research report was compiled for Lawgiver. Org. by Anthony Wayne
xoxox
What is the Federal Reserve Bank?
What is the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) and why do we have it?
by Greg Hobbs November 1, 1999
The FED is a central bank. Central banks are supposed to implement a country's fiscal policies. They monitor commercial banks to ensure that they maintain sufficient assets, like cash, so as to remain solvent and stable. Central banks also do business, such as currency exchanges and gold transactions, with other central banks. In theory, a central bank should be good for a country, and they might be if it wasn't for the fact that they are not owned or controlled by the government of the country they are serving. Private central banks, including our FED, operate not in the interest of the public good but for profit.
There have been three central banks in our nation's history. The first two, while deceptive and fraudulent, pale in comparison to the scope and size of the fraud being perpetrated by our current FED. What they all have in common is an insidious practice known as "fractional banking."
Fractional banking or fractional lending is the ability to create money from nothing, lend it to the government or someone else and charge interest to boot. The practice evolved before banks existed. Goldsmiths rented out space in their vaults to individuals and merchants for storage of their gold or silver. The goldsmiths gave these "depositors" a certificate that showed the amount of gold stored. These certificates were then used to conduct business.
In time the goldsmiths noticed that the gold in their vaults was rarely withdrawn. Small amounts would move in and out but the large majority never moved. Sensing a profit opportunity, the goldsmiths issued double receipts for the gold, in effect creating money (certificates) from nothing and then lending those certificates (creating debt) to depositors and charging them interest as well.
Since the certificates represented more gold than actually existed, the certificates were "fractionally" backed by gold. Eventually some of these vault operations were transformed into banks and the practice of fractional banking continued.
Keep that fractional banking concept in mind as we examine our first central bank, the First Bank of the United States (BUS). It was created, after bitter dissent in the Congress, in 1791 and chartered for 20 years. A scam not unlike the current FED, the BUS used its control of the currency to defraud the public and establish a legal form of usury.
This bank practiced fractional lending at a 10:1 rate, ten dollars of loans for each dollar they had on deposit. This misuse and abuse of their public charter continued for the entire 20 years of their existence. Public outrage over these abuses was such that the charter was not renewed and the bank ceased to exist in 1811.
The war of 1812 left the country in economic chaos, seen by bankers as another opportunity for easy profits. They influenced Congress to charter the second central bank, the Second Bank of the United States (SBUS), in 1816.
The SBUS was more expansive than the BUS. The SBUS sold franchises and literally doubled the number of banks in a short period of time. The country began to boom and move westward, which required money. Using fractional lending at the 10:1 rate, the central bank and their franchisees created the debt/money for the expansion.
Things boomed for a while, then the banks decided to shut off the debt/money, citing the need to control inflation. This action on the part of the SBUS caused bankruptcies and foreclosures. The banks then took control of the assets that were used as security against the loans.
Closely examine how the SBUS engineered this cycle of prosperity and depression. The central bank caused inflation by creating debt/money for loans and credit and making these funds readily available. The economy boomed. Then they used the inflation which they created as an excuse to shut off the loans/credit/money.
The resulting shortage of cash caused the economy to falter or slow dramatically and large numbers of business and personal bankruptcies resulted. The central bank then seized the assets used as security for the loans. The wealth created by the borrowers during the boom was then transferred to the central bank during the bust. And you always wondered how the big guys ended up with all the marbles.
Now, who do you think is responsible for all of the ups and downs in our economy over the last 85 years? Think about the depression of the late '20s and all through the '30s. The FED could have pumped lots of debt/money into the market to stimulate the economy and get the country back on track, but did they? No; in fact, they restricted the money supply quite severely. We all know the results that occurred from that action, don't we?
Why would the FED do this? During that period asset values and stocks were at rock bottom prices. Who do you think was buying everything at 10 cents on the dollar? I believe that it is referred to as consolidating the wealth. How many times have they already done this in the last 85 years?
Do you think they will do it again?
Just as an aside at this point, look at today's economy. Markets are declining. Why? Because the FED has been very liberal with its debt/credit/money. The market was hyper inflated. Who creates inflation? The FED. How does the FED deal with inflation? They restrict the debt/credit/money. What happens when they do that? The market collapses.
Several months back, after certain central banks said they would be selling large quantities of gold, the price of gold fell to a 25-year low of about $260 per ounce. The central banks then bought gold. After buying at the bottom, a group of 15 central banks announced that they would be restricting the amount of gold released into the market for the next five years. The price of gold went up $75.00 per ounce in just a few days. How many hundreds of billions of dollars did the central banks make with those two press releases?
Gold is generally considered to be a hedge against more severe economic conditions. Do you think that the private banking families that own the FED are buying or selling equities at this time? (Remember: buy low, sell high.) How much money do you think these FED owners have made since they restricted the money supply at the top of this last current cycle?
Alan Greenspan has said publicly on several occasions that he thinks the market is overvalued, or words to that effect. Just a hint that he will raise interest rates (restrict the money supply), and equity markets have a negative reaction. Governments and politicians do not rule central banks, central banks rule governments and politicians. President Andrew Jackson won the presidency in 1828 with the promise to end the national debt and eliminate the SBUS. During his second term President Jackson withdrew all government funds from the bank and on January 8, 1835, paid off the national debt. He is the only president in history to have this distinction. The charter of the SBUS expired in 1836.
Without a central bank to manipulate the supply of money, the United States experienced unprecedented growth for 60 or 70 years, and the resulting wealth was too much for bankers to endure. They had to get back into the game. So, in 1910 Senator Nelson Aldrich, then Chairman of the National Monetary Commission, in collusion with representatives of the European central banks, devised a plan to pressure and deceive Congress into enacting legislation that would covertly establish a private central bank.
This bank would assume control over the American economy by controlling the issuance of its money. After a huge public relations campaign, engineered by the foreign central banks, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was slipped through Congress during the Christmas recess, with many members of the Congress absent. President Woodrow Wilson, pressured by his political and financial backers, signed it on December 23, 1913.
The act created the Federal Reserve System, a name carefully selected and designed to deceive. "Federal" would lead one to believe that this is a government organization. "Reserve" would lead one to believe that the currency is being backed by gold and silver. "System" was used in lieu of the word "bank" so that one would not conclude that a new central bank had been created.
In reality, the act created a private, for profit, central banking corporation owned by a cartel of private banks. Who owns the FED? The Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York.
Did you know that the FED is the only for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes? The FED takes in about one trillion dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money.
Almost everyone thinks that the money they pay in taxes goes to the US Treasury to pay for the expenses of the government. Do you want to know where your tax dollars really go? If you look at the back of any check made payable to the IRS you will see that it has been endorsed as "Pay Any F.R.B. Branch or Gen. Depository for Credit U.S. Treas. This is in Payment of U.S. Oblig." Yes, that's right, every dime you pay in income taxes is given to those private banking families, commonly known as the FED, tax free.
Like many of you, I had some difficulty with the concept of creating money from nothing. You may have heard the term "monetizing the debt," which is kind of the same thing. As an example, if the US Government wants to borrow $1 million ó the government does borrow every dollar it spends ó they go to the FED to borrow the money. The FED calls the Treasury and says print 10,000 Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) in units of one hundred dollars.
The Treasury charges the FED 2.3 cents for each note, for a total of $230 for the 10,000 FRNs. The FED then lends the $1 million to the government at face value plus interest. To add insult to injury, the government has to create a bond for $1 million as security for the loan. And the rich get richer. The above was just an example, because in reality the FED does not even print the money; it's just a computer entry in their accounting system. To put this on a more personal level, let's use another example.
Today's banks are members of the Federal Reserve Banking System. This membership makes it legal for them to create money from nothing and lend it to you. Today's banks, like the goldsmiths of old, realize that only a small fraction of the money deposited in their banks is ever actually withdrawn in the form of cash. Only about 4 percent of all the money that exists is in the form of currency. The rest of it is simply a computer entry.
Let's say you're approved to borrow $10,000 to do some home improvements. You know that the bank didn't actually take $10,000 from its pile of cash and put it into your pile? They simply went to their computer and input an entry of $10,000 into your account. They created, from thin air, a debt which you have to secure with an asset and repay with interest. The bank is allowed to create and lend as much debt as they want as long as they do not exceed the 10:1 ratio imposed by the FED.
It sort of puts a new slant on how you view your friendly bank, doesn't it? How about those loan committees that scrutinize you with a microscope before approving the loan they created from thin air. What a hoot! They make it complex for a reason. They don't want you to understand what they are doing. People fear what they do not understand. You are easier to delude and control when you are ignorant and afraid.
Now to put the frosting on this cake. When was the income tax created? If you guessed 1913, the same year that the FED was created, you get a gold star. Coincidence? What are the odds? If you are going to use the FED to create debt, who is going to repay that debt? The income tax was created to complete the illusion that real money had been lent and therefore real money had to be repaid. And you thought Houdini was good.
So, what can be done? My father taught me that you should always stand up for what is right, even if you have to stand up alone.
If "We the People" don't take some action now, there may come a time when "We the People" are no more. You should write a letter or send an email to each of your elected representatives. Many of our elected representatives do not understand the FED. Once informed they will not be able to plead ignorance and remain silent.
Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution specifically says that Congress is the only body that can "coin money and regulate the value thereof." The US Constitution has never been amended to allow anyone other than Congress to coin and regulate currency.
Ask your representative, in light of that information, how it is possible for the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and the Federal Reserve Bank that it created, to be constitutional. Ask them why this private banking cartel is allowed to reap trillions of dollars in profits without paying taxes. Insist on an answer.
Thomas Jefferson said, "If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Jefferson saw it coming 150 years ago. The question is, "Can you now see what is in store for us if we allow the FED to continue controlling our country?"
"The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt."
John P. Curran, 1790
Financial Markets War Precious Metals The Federal Reserve Energy Survival
JFK "Quotes"
>>>
>>>Exerpts from Books:
>>>
>>> Forty ways to Look at JFK, by Gretchen Rubin, page 66;
>>>
>>>THE OPPONENT HE HOPED TO FACE IN THE 1964 ELECTION; Barry
>Goldwater..
>>>
>>>THE OPPONENT HE FEARED TO FACE IN THE 1964 ELECTION: Nelson
>>>Rockefeller..
>>>
>>>President Kennedy, Profile of Power, by Richard Reeves,
Page
>464
>>>Quotes:
>>>
>>>"Rockefeller gets away with murder." What's he doing for
>Negroes in New York?",
>
>>
>>>Kennedy remarked the next night at a small dinner party
in
>the White House.
>>>
>>>"He likes you,you know", said Teddy White who just
announced to
>
>the people
>>>around the table that he planned to write another 'Making
of
>the President'
>>>book in 1964 and hoped the President would co-operate. They
>both assumed
>>>Rockefeller would be the Republican nominee.
>>>
>>>"I like him too', Kennedy said of Rockefeller. . "But
thats
>not important.
>>>He'll get to hate me. It's inevitable."Also Lyndon Johnson
>reportably told his
>mistress Brown that he knew of
>the pending assassination, and said, "This is the last time that
son of a bitch
>
>tries to humiliate me."
>
>I think Rockefeller was behind the murder beyond a reasonable
doubt .
>
>
>
>His other fellow Federal Reserve private banker was Alan Dulles
who
>also was
>the head of the CIA, and had connections to Giancana and Giancana
to
>Binion...Binion's organization were the hit-man end of it as I have
>uncovered
>and
>discovered.
>
>
>>>
>>>Exerpts from Books:
>>>
>>> Forty ways to Look at JFK, by Gretchen Rubin, page 66;
>>>
>>>THE OPPONENT HE HOPED TO FACE IN THE 1964 ELECTION; Barry
>Goldwater..
>>>
>>>THE OPPONENT HE FEARED TO FACE IN THE 1964 ELECTION: Nelson
>>>Rockefeller..
>>>
>>>President Kennedy, Profile of Power, by Richard Reeves,
Page
>464
>>>Quotes:
>>>
>>>"Rockefeller gets away with murder." What's he doing for
>Negroes in New York?",
>
>>
>>>Kennedy remarked the next night at a small dinner party
in
>the White House.
>>>
>>>"He likes you,you know", said Teddy White who just
announced to
>
>the people
>>>around the table that he planned to write another 'Making
of
>the President'
>>>book in 1964 and hoped the President would co-operate. They
>both assumed
>>>Rockefeller would be the Republican nominee.
>>>
>>>"I like him too', Kennedy said of Rockefeller. . "But
thats
>not important.
>>>He'll get to hate me. It's inevitable."Also Lyndon Johnson
>reportably told his
>mistress Brown that he knew of
>the pending assassination, and said, "This is the last time that
son of a bitch
>
>tries to humiliate me."
>
>I think Rockefeller was behind the murder beyond a reasonable
doubt .
>
>
>
>His other fellow Federal Reserve private banker was Alan Dulles
who
>also was
>the head of the CIA, and had connections to Giancana and Giancana
to
>Binion...Binion's organization were the hit-man end of it as I have
>uncovered
>and
>discovered.
>
>
Bob wrote:I wonder what family fits the profile of being in banking, war profiteering and intelligence (CIA)? It doesn't take long to figure it out. The family BU$H.
NOW HERE IS WHERE THE BUSHES FIT IN....
Subject: Rockfeller and Rosthschild....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
picks the candidates for both parties. Now were getting hot.
Little known to most people are the money men behind the Federal
Reserve Bank
which is neither federal nor a reserve (check out the work of Eustace
Mullins
Secrets of the Federal Reserve; Ed Griffins Creature From Jekyll Island
and
Robert Gaylon Ross Whos Who of the Eliteall in my archives) the
Rothschilds
and the Rockefellers.
David Rockefeller is the front man for the family that owns and
controls most of
the money (Federal Reserve too) and gold on the planet the
Rothschilds. The
people that instigate and finance both sides of every war since the
Civil War
when they held Lincoln hostage for money. Abraham Lincoln didnt want to
kowtow
to them, and decided to take the money making back to the U.S. Treasury
and
create Silver Certificates. We know what happened to Lincoln. JFK tried
the same
thing, and we know what happened to him.
These men are all powerful.
Every President in memory had to meet with David Rockefeller for
approval before
running for office or getting the nomination. Their party affiliation
meant and
means nothing. These men choose who will wear the suit this time for
every
election. They NEVER lose. Now before you start saying conspiracy
theory do
the homework. I have all the shows and all the books still available on
site.
Put your fear aside and do the homework, I guarantee you wont be
disappointed
in anything except the hoax of voting perpetrated on us for centuries.
Read the
book David about Rockefeller. Google search the Rothschilds and you
will find
a bloody trail spanning centuries.
If we dont take control of our own money via the U.S. Treasury and
nationalize
the Federal Reserve Bank, we dont stand a chance. These same factions
will
continue picking the candidates or candied-dates as I call them, and we
will
think our vote counts for something. Drop the arguing over paper
ballots or
computer voting. It doesnt mean anything except one big laugh from the
secret
gangsters in charge. The only way to bring them down and get real
Americans who
give a damn to run for office is to take the bad guys on. Exposing them
and
their deadly games is the only way. They always pick candidates that
will do
their bidding, fight their wars, and fill their coffers. As far as
paper or
plastic I say give me real candidates and real money then lets go and
vote.
Note:
[1]. www.Meria.net
Source:
by courtesy & 2006 Meria Heller
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW HERE IS WHERE THE BUSHES FIT IN....
Subject: Rockfeller and Rosthschild....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
picks the candidates for both parties. Now were getting hot.
Little known to most people are the money men behind the Federal
Reserve Bank
which is neither federal nor a reserve (check out the work of Eustace
Mullins
Secrets of the Federal Reserve; Ed Griffins Creature From Jekyll Island
and
Robert Gaylon Ross Whos Who of the Eliteall in my archives) the
Rothschilds
and the Rockefellers.
David Rockefeller is the front man for the family that owns and
controls most of
the money (Federal Reserve too) and gold on the planet the
Rothschilds. The
people that instigate and finance both sides of every war since the
Civil War
when they held Lincoln hostage for money. Abraham Lincoln didnt want to
kowtow
to them, and decided to take the money making back to the U.S. Treasury
and
create Silver Certificates. We know what happened to Lincoln. JFK tried
the same
thing, and we know what happened to him.
These men are all powerful.
Every President in memory had to meet with David Rockefeller for
approval before
running for office or getting the nomination. Their party affiliation
meant and
means nothing. These men choose who will wear the suit this time for
every
election. They NEVER lose. Now before you start saying conspiracy
theory do
the homework. I have all the shows and all the books still available on
site.
Put your fear aside and do the homework, I guarantee you wont be
disappointed
in anything except the hoax of voting perpetrated on us for centuries.
Read the
book David about Rockefeller. Google search the Rothschilds and you
will find
a bloody trail spanning centuries.
If we dont take control of our own money via the U.S. Treasury and
nationalize
the Federal Reserve Bank, we dont stand a chance. These same factions
will
continue picking the candidates or candied-dates as I call them, and we
will
think our vote counts for something. Drop the arguing over paper
ballots or
computer voting. It doesnt mean anything except one big laugh from the
secret
gangsters in charge. The only way to bring them down and get real
Americans who
give a damn to run for office is to take the bad guys on. Exposing them
and
their deadly games is the only way. They always pick candidates that
will do
their bidding, fight their wars, and fill their coffers. As far as
paper or
plastic I say give me real candidates and real money then lets go and
vote.
Note:
[1]. www.Meria.net
Source:
by courtesy & 2006 Meria Heller
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found Meria Heller's article while I was researching material on Rockefeller from a tip Ireceived from a family member who told me years
ago that Rockefeller runs the whole world...he meant David.
Based on my findings on the subject, my relative was right on the money....
The Rockefeller family can be classed as one of the '13 satanic bloodlines' in the world.Article coming up.....
ago that Rockefeller runs the whole world...he meant David.
Based on my findings on the subject, my relative was right on the money....
The Rockefeller family can be classed as one of the '13 satanic bloodlines' in the world.Article coming up.....